CC Adi 14.5

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta - Ādi-līlā - Chapter 14: Lord Caitanya's Childhood Pastimes

Ādi-līlā 14.4 - Ādi-līlā 14.6

Compare Versions: CC 1975 with CC 1996

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXT 5

vande caitanya-kṛṣṇasya

bālya-līlāṁ mano-harām

laukikīm api tām īśa-

ceṣṭayā valitāntarām

SYNONYMS

vande — I worship; caitanya-kṛṣṇasya — of Lord Caitanya, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself; bālya-līlā — pastimes of childhood; manaḥ-harām — which are so beautiful; laukikīm — appearing ordinary; api — although; tām — those; īśa-ceṣṭayā — by manifestation of supreme authority; valita-antarām — quite fit although appearing differently.

TRANSLATION

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the childhood pastimes of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Although such pastimes appear exactly like those of an ordinary child, they should be understood as various pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 9.11) this statement is confirmed as follows:

avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam

paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto mama bhūta-maheśvaram

“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.” To execute His pastimes, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears on this planet or within this universe like an ordinary human being or human child, yet He maintains His superiority as the Supreme Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as a human child, but His uncommon activities, even in His childhood—like the killing of the demon Pūtanā or the lifting of Govardhana Hill—were not the engagements of an ordinary child. Similarly, although the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, as they will be described in this chapter, appear like the activities of a small boy, they are uncommon pastimes impossible for an ordinary human child to execute.

Ādi-līlā 14.4 - Ādi-līlā 14.6