The Spiritual Transformation # 34

34

He did not realize that the night was drawing to a close, and it was a knock at the door that brought him out of his meditation. Chaitanya entered, carrying a tray of food. The pain that had weighed upon him suddenly vanished. Chaitanya’s arrival resembled the gentle rays of the moon after a long and exhausting day of intense heat.

“This is no mortal being,” he found himself thinking. “He is truly an incarnation who has come from beyond.”

Without further hesitation, he prostrated himself at His feet, but Chaitanya hastened to lift him up.

“Please,” he said to him, “do not put me in such an awkward position. You are far older than I am for me to accept such homage from you. Come, let us sit down and partake of this sacred food that I have brought from the temple of Jagannath.”

Sarvabhauma, who under other circumstances would have refused—since he never ate before completing his morning religious duties, and especially without first washing his mouth, hands, and feet after the night—reflected on the simplicity and kindness of his visitor. He smiled gently and said:

“Sacred food should never be refused and must always be honored as soon as it is served, whatever the conditions may be: whether it is cold, dry, or even partly eaten by someone else.”

Chaitanya was very pleased to hear him speak in this way. This change of attitude relieved Him. As they ate together, He also savored the joy of having won over such a great man to His cause.

After the meal, euphoria suddenly overtook Sarvabhauma. A vision carried him beyond time and space, into an atmosphere saturated with tender emotions. He was immersed in transcendence. He could no longer utter a single word and had lost the thread of his thoughts: for a brief instant, he had just glimpsed an extraordinary apparition.

As he swallowed his last bite of food, while Chaitanya was smiling at him, he noticed something strange… It was no longer the same smile, nor the same deep eyes he had first observed when Chaitanya had challenged him on the seventh day of his discourse. Now, a powerful aura was emanating from Him.

Stunned, hardly believing his own eyes, he stepped back for a moment. But the enchantment continued: the entire form of Chaitanya’s body was transforming! He saw other arms appear, and hands holding divine attributes such as the lotus flower, the bow, the disc, and the mace.

No, he had not dreamed! It was indeed Lord Vishnu… Chaitanya was none other than Sri Vishnu Himself! Hardly had he reached this conclusion when the form changed once again. This time, he seized the precious opportunity to contemplate at leisure the wondrous features of Krishna, who stood before him in a posture dear to His devotees—bent gracefully in three places of His body while playing the flute.

His enchanting smile extended to the corners of His lotus-like eyes, and His dark-blue complexion resembled a rain-laden cloud during the monsoon season.

Sarvabhauma then realized his error, his negligence, and his lack of spiritual maturity. Fortunately for him, Krishna was ready to bless him with immeasurable grace. He did not know how or why, but God—Jagannath Himself—stood before him in the ordinary form of a young devotee.

Without losing a single second, he threw himself at the feet of Sri Chaitanya, clinging to Him with all his strength. In that position, he spontaneously composed many verses in His praise:

“Please allow me to take shelter in God, Sri Krishna, the Supreme and Original Person, who has descended into this world in the form of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to teach us true knowledge, devotional service, and detachment from all that does not lead us directly to Him.

He has come to this world because He is an ocean of generosity. I surrender at His lotus feet…”

Satisfied with his devotion, Chaitanya lifted him up, and the two of them began to sing and dance together. Caught in a whirlwind of ecstatic emotions, they embraced and wept with joy.

In their rapture, they did not notice the arrival of Sarvabhauma’s nephew, who was at first astonished to find his brother-in-law chanting the holy names of Krishna like the “madmen” he used to mock. He then understood that Chaitanya had bestowed upon him His causeless mercy.

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