Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s2.56

c6.s2.56

But there was a very large and influential section of people, consisting chiefly of the proud scholars and the self-satisfied élite of the city, who looked upon the uproarious movement as a public nuisance; and their initial attitude of scornful indifference soon became one of active opposition. The aid of the Muhammadan Kāzi of Navadvīpa was invoked, but the sight of a Nagara-kīrtana, organised and led by Caitanya himself, is said to have convinced the Muhammadan magistrate of its spiritual nature, and he acknowledged it by joining the party himself!¹ At any rate, the opposition appears to have proved an obstacle to the movement. We are told in the *Caitanya-caritāmṛta* (Ādi viii. 10-11; xvii. 262-268) that Viśvambhara at last resolved to win over these unbelievers by severing all local ties and embracing the universally honoured life of a Saṃnyāsin. The motive which influenced him to adopt asceticism was probably diverse and complex; at best, it is left obscure.¹ He is reported to have said:² "As I must save these men, I have to adopt the life of asceticism. When they see me as an ascetic, they will bow down to me, and in bowing their guilt will be destroyed, and I shall rouse Bhakti in their purified hearts. Then will these godless men be saved. There is no other means, and this is the best way." But the real reason was probably much deeper. It must have been his innate predilection to asceticism and the more imperious urge of passionate devotion which drove him to a complete abandonment of self to the service of his deity; and there is a hint of such an inner motive in the report of his statement made elsewhere (*C-C*, Madhya iii. 7-9) that the life of an ascetic would give him opportunities for an exclusive devotion to Kṛṣṇa. He, therefore, induced Keśava Bhāratī to initiate him as a Saṃnyāsin under the name of Śrīkṛṣṇa-caitanya, usually abbreviated to Caitanya, which now became the universally accepted name. The initiation took place, in the presence of his three followers (Nityānanda, Candraśekhara Ācāryaratna and Mukunda-datta), at Katwa, not far from Navadvipa on the other side of the Ganges, towards the end of the month of Māgha, in Śaka 1431 (=January, 1510 A.D.), when Caitanya was barely twenty-four years old.¹ Keśava Bhāratī lived at Katwa, and as there was very little personal intercourse between him and Caitanya, he does not appear in any way to have influenced the spiritual disposition of his disciple either before or after the initiation. He was perhaps chosen as the Saṃnyāsa-guru because he happened to be a well-known Saṃnyāsin near at hand, who was capable of performing the ceremony. The particular order that Caitanya joined probably made as little difference to his religious consciousness as even his very act of becoming a Saṃnyāsin itself.² He never strictly conformed to the severe passionless life of an Indian ascetic, to which he imparted a new spirit by his emotional faith. He went beyond his ascetic teachers in matters of belief and practice: and, unlike the founders of some other Vaiṣṇava sects, he gave Rādhā a prominent place in his thought and his worship, although in matters of personal purity and self-denial he kept rigidly to his ascetic vow.