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Library » Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta » Ādi-līlā » CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CC Ādi 14.51

Bengali

আপনি চন্দন পরি’ পরেন ফুলমালা ।
নৈবেদ্য কাড়িয়া খা’ন—সন্দেশ, চাল, কলা ॥ ৫১ ॥

Text

āpani candana pari’ parena phula-mālā
naivedya kāḍiyā khā’na — sandeśa, cāla, kalā

Synonyms

āpani — Himself; candana — pulp of sandalwood; pari’ — smearing over the body; parena — takes; phula-mālā — the flower garlands; naivedya — offering of food; kāḍiyā — snatching; khā’na — begins to eat; sandeśa — the sweetmeats; cāla — rice; kalā — bananas.

Translation

Without the permission of the girls, the Lord would take the sandalwood pulp and smear it on His own body, put the flower garlands on His neck, and snatch and eat all the offerings of sweetmeats, rice and bananas.

Purport

According to the system of worship, when something is offered to deities outside one’s home, it is generally not cooked food but raw rice, bananas and sweetmeats. Out of His causeless mercy, the Lord would snatch the offerings from the girls and eat them, admonishing the girls not to worship the demigods but to worship Him. This worship of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is recommended in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam
yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi su-medhasaḥ

“One should worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead who appears in this Age of Kali with His associates as the Pañca-tattva: the Lord Himself and His associates Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Advaita Prabhu, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu and Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura. In this age an intelligent person worships the Pañca-tattva by the method of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and, if possible, distributing prasādam.” Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is introducing this bona fide method of worship in the Western world. Its members are going from village to village and town to town with Deities of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, teaching people how to worship the Lord by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, offering prasādam and distributing prasādam to people in general.