Vrndavan das Thakur first says, "All glories, all glories to Lord Goursunder. All glories to the son of Jaggath Misra, Who is the Controller of all universal controllers. All glories to Nityananda the life of Gadadhar, all glories all glories to Advaita, the shelter of devotees. All glories to all the devotees of Lord Caitanya and all glories to those who hear the qualities and talks of Lord Caitanya for they will be blessed with devotional service—Krsna consciousness. All glories to the ocean of mercy, Lord Caitanya. All glories to His image of service, Lord Nityananda. For knowledge of Lord Caitanya, one requires the grace of His ideal paramount servant, just as Brahma is able to recite the knowledge of four Vedas by being a pure devotee of Krsna, by having His mercy. Immediately after Lord Brahma's birth from the lotus stem coming from Lord Vishnu's navel, he could not see anything and he had no energy to understand anything, but by the Lord's grace Brahma was able to have a vision of the divine sky, the Vaikuntha. Vrndavan das Thakur says, "Can anyone know anything without the grace of the Supreme Lord. The Lord is inconceivable, therefore no one can understand His reasons for descending. However, in Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad-gita there are verses which explain different reasons given for the Lord's descent, such as in Gita Forth Chapter, 7th and 8th verses. These verses explain clearly that to establish dharma, religious principles, the Lord comes age after age and to maintain the devotees and destroy the miscreants, He appears. And when the Lord wants to establish the dharma for any age, He comes with His associates to spread it throughout the world. In the Kali-yuga the dharma, the religious principles, are Nama Sankirtan, Lord Hari and the Lord will appear as the son of Saci. This is confirmed in Srimad Bhagavatam in the 11th Canto, 5th chapter, 31st & 32nd verses, where it says that the Age of Kali the dharma for all is chanting of the Holy Names and it will be propounded by Lord Caitanya, who is the same as Narayana. In Kali Yuga the sankirtana dharma would be propagated in all ways by Him, that He will take birth among the human kind, and Ananta-deva, Lord Siva, all the Vrsni's, the Rsi's will all appear along with Him to be His associates. As great devotees, they will all appear and they will be known as the limbs of the Lord. They will be appearing from a village known as Navadvipa and some from Chatragram and some from Radhe, and the country Radeshe(?) and the village known as Srihat, and that is in the west, and also from the eastern side the associates will be taking birth. They will be taking birth in many many places, in many various countries. Those beloved devotees who are taking birth in Navadvipa are Srivas Pandit, Sriram Pandit, Sri Chandra & Shekardev, Proilokyapugita. And the devotees from Chatragram, Pundararik, Vidyanidhi, Caitanya Vallabh dutt, and Vasudev, and Srila Haridas Thakur will be born in the village known as Buddhn. Lord Nityananda is going to be born in the village known as Ekchaka. His father's name is Hadai Pandit. The ocean of mercy, the deliverer of Devotional service is born in this village of Ekchaka, Who is Lord Nityananda. Let all of the demigods shower blossoms on this holy town at that moment of his birth. On that day every home will be blessed with auspiciousness. In the village known as Trihut, Sri Paramananda Puri, the beloved disciple of Madhavendra Puri will be born. Then there is a rhetorical question: on the bank of the Ganges where Lord Caitanya has appeared, so why His devotees have appeared in so many foreign places? The answer to that question is given here. Those places where there is no water of the Ganges flowing, and there is no Hari-nam, in these places the five Pandava brothers never went on pilgrimage. But many of Lord Caitanya's disciples were born in places where there is no visitation of the Pandavas, or water of the Ganges or any Hari-Nam sankirtan, like Haridas Thakur being born in a Mohammedan place. But the answer is given that the devotee's birth place makes any place holy, so Lord Caitanya ordered His eternal associates to take birth in all these foreign places just to sanctify them. All the devotees were born in far-away distant places, and they assembled in one by one in Nabadwip just before Lord Caitanya's appearance. Therefore Nabadwip was full of great vaisnav Mahabhagavats just before Lord Caitanya appeared. In all the three worlds there was not such a place as Nabadwip at that time. No one can describe the opulence of Nabadwip at that time. Many many lacs of people were taking bath in the Ganges at the time of His appearance. The people of Nabadwip were also bestowed with great learning; by the mercy of the goddess Saraswati it was a great place of learning. From all over the world, the Vedic world, people would go to Nabadwip for higher studies.*
However, their knowledge was material. The pandits were very proud and they were advanced in logic, in arguing and rhetorical polemics. People were devoid of devotion to Lord Krsna, which is the first prophecy in the scriptures for Kali Yuga—that nobody would chant the Holy Name. Everyone thought "work is worship" and everyone read the book Chandi which is a book explaining how to achieve material happiness by worshipping the goddess Durga. Everyone was very fond of that kind of puja. With great pride they would worship different kinds of gods and goddesses, offering great wealth to their temporary images. And the sons would waste their money bequeathed to them by elder generations. Although great Brahmins, high-caste brahmins, still they did not know the true meaning of the sastras.*
These pandits would read the sastras and misinterpret them, so they and their disciples, the speaker of the sastra and the hearer of that sastra would simply be sinking together to death. It was never explained that the dharma, the religious principle for this age is Nam-sankirtan. So this offence without any qualities, would take them away from the truth. They all developed anti-devotional qualities. They would read Srimad Bhagavatam and Bhagavad Gita but without the devotional tongue, the whole thing was useless. In this way the Lord's illusory energy had all the people under its spell, the spell of worldly pleasures. When the devotees saw this, the great Mahabhagavatas who were associates of Lord Caitanya, when they came and saw the state of affairs of these Pandits, this devotionless Pandits, they were very very sad and they wondered, how is it possible for these souls to be uplifted?" They are so much involved in material pleasures. They go to school every day but not a single one of them is taking the name of Krsna. The devotees would always spend their time doing their own work, and Lord Adwaita doing his puja would make loud exclamations to call on Lord Krsna, which pierced the covering of this universe and entered into the Vaikuntha sky. Therefore Adwaita bestowed his mercy on the whole universe with the blessings of Bhakti-yoga. The other people, these ostentatious Pandits and worldly-minded folk, felt very unhappy about Adwaita's ways. People were drunk by drinking the intoxication of material life, and thus nobody could understand about Krsna's devotion or Krsna's worship. They worship the hobgoblins and demons, without any understanding. They offered meat-prasadam, so-called prasadam, and took meat in the name of prasadam, and then singing, dancing all night making a rucus, not listening to any of the auspicious messages of Lord Krsna. As the people were devoid of Krsna consciousness, the demigods were not pleased with them and especially Sri Adwaita Acarya was feeling great sadness in his mind. But Adwaita, whose very nature is complete compassion for the living entities, thought of ways to save them. "If only my Lord, the Supreme Lord would come, descend, He would be able to uplift all these fallen souls. Will the Lord of Vaikuntha make Himself manifested, singing and dancing and raising all these fallen souls unto Him?" Unendingly in this way, Adwaita Acarya would pray, and offer his puja to Lord Krsna in this mood. Adwaita acarya is therefore the reason for Lord Caitanya's appearance, and Lord Caitanya Himself said this many times.
Of the Vaisnava community in Nabadwip their was Srivas Pandit, and three other brothers, and in their home Lord Caitanya was to play his lila.
All day and all night they would chant "Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare" and perform worship of Krsna, and bathe in the Ganges. And other devotees would take birth there by the order of Lord Caitanya; they were all eternal associates of Lord Caitanya. There names are mentioned here: Candrashekar, Jagadish, Gopinath, Sriman, Modhara, Sri Garuda, and Ganga das. People were full of talks completely unrelated to Visnu, and they questioned the very proofs about Visnu bhakti and the Vedas. If they heard anyone speaking about Krsna, or Krsna kirtan, they would avoid them, leave them or reject them from their company. Eventually the grief of the devotees and Adwaita became so great that Advaita no longer took any food or meals. "Why the people are not chanting, why they are not dancing? Krsna kirtan? Why no one is taking to this message?"
Everyone would meet in the home of Srivas Pandit for kirtan and from outside people would hurl abuses at them saying "This is not the proper behavior for brahmins, to be singing and dancing. Everyone was very much inimical to the house of Srivas where all the vaishnavas would meet. Foolish outsiders would shout and the devotees would cry at their low state of consciousness. Hearing the abuses cast at his devotees, Adwaita's anger grew like fire and he assured all the vaisnavas, Srivas and his brothers, that "soon Krsna will be among us." He promised them that if Krsna did not come to reveal his mercy upon them, "then I shall manifest four arms and destroy them with my Cakra." Then the devotees, with firm determination, began again their puja of Lord Krsna's lotus feet, and making spiritual progress. When devotees went through Nabadwip they did not hear any discussion of devotional topics.
Then the Lord sent His plenary portion, Anantadeva in the form of Lord Nityananda, to be born. In the month of Mag, (dec.-Jan.) on the 13th day after the full moon, which is an auspicious day. His mothers name was Padmavati. In the village of Ekchaka Lord Nityananda was born. His father's name was Harai Pandit, a very learned brahmin. The bestower of devotion, the ocean of mercy, Lord Nityananda has taken his birth, and the demigods showered the place with flowers. And in His life he will walk through the world as Paramahamsa, Mahatma, to save the fallen souls.
In the village of Nabadwip their lived a brahmin by the name of Jagganath Misra, who was equal in qualities to Vasudeve, Who was Kashapa father of Vamanadeve, Dasarath the father of Lord Rama, Vasudeve, the father of Lord Krsna, that self-same Jagganath Misra is he. His good wife Sachi is a great personality and she is the image of devotion to Visnu. They had many children who died at birth. At this time she gave birth to a son by the name of Visvarupa, who was as beautiful as cupid. This made the brahmin couple very happy. At a very early age Visvarupa learned the true import of the sastras and had no attraction for worldly pleasures. One evening Sati and Jagganath Misra had a dream of a great sound from Anantadeva, announcing the arrival of Gouracandra. And they saw a figure of light, a great being, come to them and this personality said that the "Lord will soon be coming through you." And they saw all the demigods arrayed before them and they were uttering prayers. "Glory glory to the great Master, the Lord of All. All glories to sankirtan, which is the reason for His descent. All glories to the dharma of the Vedas and the sadhus and the brahmins. All glories to the destroyer of the non-devotees, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the form of Time. All glories to the Supreme Controller Who is All Truth and full of auspiciousness. That same personality exists in all of the unlimited universes as Garbodaksayee Visnu, and that same personality is now living in the womb of Sachi.
*Sarbo means the womb, so the Garbodaksayee Visnu lies in the universe as the womb which gives birth to Lord Brahma and all universal affairs. That same Garbodaksayee Visnu, who is non-different from Krsna, non-different from Lord Caitanya, is lying down in the water of Sachi's womb.
"By Your wish no one can understand, but it is by Your Pastimes that creations, maintenance and destruction are being taken care of. The whole universe, all many worlds, by Your wish can be destroyed. In the same way Kamsa and Ravana can be destroyed by You, what to speak of these small demons? Who is it who can understand Your divine reasons? Only You know Your own Mine, Oh Lord. By Your orders only one of Your servants can save the unlimited universes and up-lift them to God-consciousness. Therefore why You come Yourself is a secret only known to You. In the Satya Yuga You came in white color and You gave the dharma of austerities in the form of Nara Narayan Rishi holding the staff, water-pot and wearing matted locks, You established the dharma of brahmacary—complete disengagement in material sense gratification. In the Treta Yuga in beautiful red form, You came as the enjoyer of all sacrifices, and established the sacrifice dharma. Then in the transcendental color of a dark rain-cloud you came and established the dharma of Temple worship, Sri Vigraha worship. Dressed in yellow garments with the mark of srivatsa, the mark of Laksmi on Your own chest, You accepted the worship of the great kings at Dvaraka. And in the Kali Yuga, in the form of a brahmin, in the color of the sunshine, You will make the secret of the Vedas understood as sankirtan. No one can estimate the potency of all Your incarnations. In the fish incarnation, You saved the human society during great flood. In the form of a Tortoise, You benefited all jivas. In the form of a horse You broadcast the message of the Vedas and in the form of Aditya, You killed the demons Madhu and Kaitabya. In the form of a Boar, You daved and uplifted the universe. In the form of the Nrsnga You destroyed Hiranya Kasipu. And in the wonderful form of a dwarf You saved Bali Maharaj. In the form of Parasuram all the miscreant ksatriyas were driven off. In the form of Ramacandra You destroyed the demon Ravana and in the form of Balaram you displayed unlimited lilas. In the form of Buddha You preached the dharma of non-violence and at the end of this Yuga You will destroy all the miscreant, low-born mlecchas in the form of Kalki. In the form of Dhanvantari You produced the nectar from the ocean. In the form of the Swan You gave transcendental knowledge to Brahma and the four Kumaras. In the form of Narada Muni, playing the vina, You sing the qualities of Your Own Self. In the form of Vyasadeva You have Your literary incarnation. And in the form of Krsna You performed Your nectarean and clever pastimes in the gardens and groves of Gokula Vrndavan. And in this incarnation You will take the form of the great Mahabhagavata, and you will preach the sankirtan dharma all over the world. You will dance across this whole world and make everyone You meet become Your servant. Whoever meditates upon Your lotus feet eternally will be cured of all inauspiciousness. It will all be taken away from him. Even the lower regions, by Your vision only in——(?) will become immaculately pure. Even on the heavenly planets all the denizens will become Your servants. They will all dance and they will all sing and all praise Your glories. Who can describe the magnificence of all this power of Your incarnation because You are going to reveal the secret of the Veda which is devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That person, whoever mentions Your name, has performed all sacrificial performances perfectly. You are the object of meditation of all yogis because You are the Yogesware, the Supreme Master of all mystic powers and of all goals of meditation. Such an incarnation will appear, and we offer are humble obeisances to the home of Sachi and Jagganath Misra." In this way all the demi-gods assembled before Sachi and Jagganath Misra, disappeared.
On the full moon day in the month of Phalgoon (Feb-March) the Supreme Lord was to appear. On this full-moon evening, the moon was eclipsed, by the Lord's divine wishes. On this occasion, whenever there is an eclipse of any planet either sun, or moon, the people make auspicious sounds by blowing the conchshell or by performance of Hari-kirtan. So there were unlimited millions of people at the bank of the Ganges shouting "Haribol, Haribol." This was all arranged by the Lord Himself, that his appearance would be greeted by Harinam sankirtan, which would be His message to the world. This great vibration of Haribol! could not be contained within the covering of the universe. The common people thought an eclipse is inauspiciousness so we have to make these auspicious sounds to counteract the inauspiciousness. But the devotees said, "Wonderful, wonderful, somehow or other these people these atheists are chanting, so I hope the moon is always eclipsed." Old young, sick health, everyone was shouting "Haribol, Hari, Hari" and seeing the eclipsed moon. That evening the Supreme Personality of Godhead was born in the home of Sri Sachi. In great ecstasy, they heard and spoke their blessings to Sachi and Jagganath Misra. There was such ecstasy in the home of Jagganath Misra, it is not possible to describe,. And everyone in the whole of Nabadwip, barring none, came at once to pay their respects and shout "Hari Haribol" in the home of Jagganath Misra. This date of the Falgun Purnima is so auspicious that it is considered the day of liberation--that anyone who passes away on this day will become liberated. Lord Nityananda's appearance day is in the month of Magh, the 13th day, and Lord Caitanya's is the full moon day. On these days any kind of travel or any kind of auspicious work can be performed very successfully. If anyone performs any Krsna service, devotional service on these days, he will destroy his ignorance. If anyone hears the account of Lord Caitanya's appearance day it wipes away all fears and all distresses, and it also wipes away his birth and death rotation in the material universe. And the fruit of this hearing is that birth after birth you will have the association of Lord Caitanya by hearing the katha of Lord Caitanya.
End of Ch. 2.