Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s2.62

c6.s2.62

After paying a visit to the venerable Advaita's house at Sāntipur, where he took a pathetic farewel from his heart-broken mother and the assembled Vaiṣṇava devotees of Navadvīpa, to whom his renunciation came as a terrible blow, he resolved to leave for Vṛndāvana. But he yielded to his mother's entreaties to reside permanently at Puri, where his friends and followers could visit him and whence pilgrims would frequently bring his news.¹ If Śacī Devī rose to the occasion and reconciled herself to her son's abandoning the life of the householder, her worthy son honoured his mother by allowing her word to determine his place of residence for life, and by relinquishing his cherished object of reclamation of the sacred sites of Vṛndāvana, of which we will speak presently. It reminds one of the story of the great Śaṃkara, who, Saṃnyāsin as he was, is said to have performed the funeral obsequies of his mother, and thus risen superior to the strict code of the recluse. Commending the care of his mother, wife and faithful followers to Advaita and other associates,² Caitanya departed within a month for Puri with only four disciples (Nityānanda, Dāmodara Paṇḍita, Jagadānanda and Mukunda) accompanying him.