From chap 23 of Chaitanya Bhagavata

Ecstatic kirtan and march continued from - Kazi part 1

The Lord's charming looks overshadowed the attractiveness of

millions of cupids put together. I am at a loss to find the

appropriate similes to describe the Lord's beauty yet I venture

to do so only by His mercy alone otherwise who can dare to

attempt such an impossible task. He glowed like a mountain of

gold, His body being smeared with sandal paste sometimes looked

like the rising full moon. His curly dark tresses were decorated

with the fragrant Malati garlands; a sweet smile clung intimately

to His lips that can win the hearts of all the muses. the clear

markings of sandalwood tilak with a red dot of Vermilion adorned

His beautiful broad forehead. He raised His arms up in the sky

chanting the name of Hari and danced; the knee long flower

garland around His neck swayed with each movement. His upraised

arms glistened like fine tapering pillars of gold, His body

became drenched with the incessant flow of ecstatic tears from

His lotus petal eyes. As the ecstatic feelings increased the

hairs of His body stood on end like the ever fresh Kadamba

flower. The moist reddish lips so exquisite and when parted

revealed a symmetrical set of pearl like white teeth; the long

arched eyebrows languished almost all the way up to the beginning

of His ears. His strong shoulders shamed the king of elephants

and His chest was broad and full. The brahman thread hung

loosely across His chest. Laksmi devi and Tulasi devi are

constantly praying for the shelter of His lotus feet. That

Supreme Lord wears His fine and clean clothes very artistically.

the uptilted nose is aristocratic and the sinewy tendons of His

neck gives the impression of being the neck of the king of the

forest, strong and powerful, He towers over the others, His long

body well formed and proportionate whining like a mountain of

Mother gold. Everyone looking at Him commented on His divine and

beautiful presence. The millions who milled around for this

momentous occasion were very fortunate in spite of their large

number they all received the Lord's benedictions by being able to

see the Lord's exquisite transcendental face. They simply stared

at Him irresistibly drawn to His beauty and exclaimed out loud

the Lord's name each time uncontrollable emotions welled within

their hearts.

Next - how the kirtan builds up and everyone forgets themselves 

and sing and dance and roll on the ground in ecstasy. Just when 

you think that the kirtan couldn’t get any wilder, and the ecstasy 

couldn’t get any higher, Lord Gaurhari takes the kirtan to a whole

 new level, and even the eternal residents in Vaikuntha are amazed 

and hanker for this bliss, and everyone forgets themselves and sing 

and dance and roll on the ground.

The citizens had nicely decorated their doorways with banana

trees, water pots, mango leaves, and green coconuts. The ghee

lamp flickered in every house and an offering plate sat on the

altars with yogurt, grains, and Dhruva grass. All this happened

as if at the command of some unseen voice. Out on the street

men, women children joined the congregation all intoxicated with

sublime joy: oblivious to every other care. Seeing the carefree

citizens leaving their house unguarded a thief thought to

himself, "this is good opportunity for me to clean out the

people's belongings." But as time passed and the chanting

entering his ears took affect, the thief got rid of his stealing

tendencies and also joined in with the others joyously chanting

Lord Hari's sweet transcendental name.

The streets were strewn with puffed rice and coins thrown by the

citizens as they watched the chanting procession passing by and

then later they themselves joined up with the procession and so

the marchers swelled in numbers. One should not consider these

descriptions as exaggerations. Such happenings are commonplace

when the Supreme Lord is present. When Lord Krishna was in

Dvaraka, it is described in the Srimad Bhagavatam, that He made

appear in a twinkling of an eye nine hundred thousand palaces all

bedecked with jewels and marble. Again in the Harivamsa it is

described that when Lord Krishna was having water sports with the

Yadus in the salt water ocean that surrounds Dvaraka the entire

ocean in a moment turned nectarine sweet. And now that very same

Supreme Lord is almost unconscious with sublime bliss dancing and

chanting so naturally all auspicious happenings are occurring.

The ocean of people now surged forward in slow fluid motion like

the Ganga's current that flowed besides them. They all danced

and chanted surrounding the dancing golden form of the Lord.

Advaita Acarya, Haridas Thakura, Srivas Pandita and other senior

associates of the Lord led huge groups of dancing and chanting

devotees, everyone exulting in the bliss of the Lord's presence.

Those who could not sing were now singing with sweet melodious

voices. The Lord was surrounded by the best singers like Murari,

Mukunda Datta, Ramai, Govinda, Vakreswar, Vasudeva and others.

Lord Nityananda and Gadadhara Pandit danced on either side to the

Lord submerged in divine bliss. And always the dancing and

prancing form of the Lord brought wonderment and exhilaration in

the hearts of all those who beheld His golden form.

This was a magnificent sight; the dancers moved forward in

rhythmic motions and the millions of burning torches were also in

motion, their licking flames animated in a passionate dance. It

was night, but the dancing figure of the Lord was clearly visible

as if bathed in autumn full moonlight. Sometimes His body was

covered with shining dust particles and at other times He bathed

His transcendental form in the cascading tears of ecstasy. The

different ecstatic symptoms appeared in His body, sometimes

shivering, sometimes profuse perspiration, again at times

horripilation, changing like the seasons. The sound of the

Lord's name reverberated throughout the universe, "Hari Haraya

nama Krishna Yadavaya namah, Gopal Govinda Ram Sri Madhusudana",

"Hari Rama, Rama Hari". Some devotees danced on their own but

there were many large groups of devotees dancing together keeping

time with clapping hands. Another wonderful sight was that those

devotees carrying torches and oil containers together. Navadvipa

was ringing with sounds of sublime jubilation, as if the Lord's

spiritual abode Vaikuntha, had descended, and residents of

Navadvipa acquired the same characteristics as the residents of

Vaikuntha. They All manifested four-arms but because they were

so engrossed in the ecstasy of chanting and dancing that they did

not even notice this divine transformation on their person, the

ever increasing bliss of Vaikuntha was now here. as they passed

by the bank of The Ganga, Lord Caitanya dancing in the midst

looked like Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaj; a flute in His

hand and the garland of wild flowers around His neck swayed.

The devotees had never experienced the ecstasy of such a massive

congregational chanting. They forgot their bodily identity, their

tribulation; they sang and danced and rolled on the ground. Many

persons became emboldened and made their views heard to the

public. One said, "where did the rascal Kazi go now, if I just

find him I will sever his head." Others shouted out aloud the

names of certain atheistic persons and beat the ground, as if

sealing their fate with a stroke, some of them even ran helter

skelter trying to locate them. there was no accounting the

number of people singing, or how many were playing on the Mrdanga

drums. Navadvipa was flooded with the nectarine showers of love

of Godhead, so much so that even the eternal residents of

Vaikuntha were hankering for this bliss. Even Lord Ananta, Lord

Siva and Lord Brahma never experience this kind of joy. Sublime bliss

had descended over the entire planet as the Lord danced with His

associates and devotees, and there was no place for anything

inauspicious or impure. This was the Lord's first major nagar

sankirtan.

Next - The demigods join in the kirtan, even those with hearts of stone,

are moved to tears, The procession moved on but no one knew where they were going.

There was just one resounding thunder of the Lord's name piercing

the coverings of the material world that was all pervading. The

demigods accompanied by their associates came to see the Lord.

When they saw Him they alike the humans also became overwhelmed

with transcendental joy. They mingled in with the crowd dressed

as humans to avoid detection and joined in with gusto singing and

dancing. All the demigods were present, Brahma, Siva, Varuna,

Kuvera, Indra, Yamaraj, Soma the moongod, etc. They became aware

that everyone present there was experiencing transcendental

ecstacy so they went along with the devotees wanting more of the

Lord's association. Thus the humans and the demigods were

chanting the Lord's holy name together.

As the procession passed the uncountable houses all nicely

decorated, the market places, the large squares one could

understand that Navadvipa was a very well populated and an

opulent town. It was impossible to count the people that lived

there. It seemed that because the Supreme Lord was to advent

here that He had arranged for many people to live here and

participate in His sankirtan movement. Just the number of ladies

who were chanting were so numerous that counting them would be

futile.

Everyone who saw the Lord dancing and chanting like a golden

flash could not contain their hearts and emotions. Even those

with hearts of stone were moved to tears falling to the ground

seeing how the Lord showered His causeless mercy and hearing the

sighs and sobs of sublime ecstasy of the devotees. As the Lord

danced repeating over and over again Lord Hari's name the garland

of flower swayed wildly. His beauty was breath taking, the way

the brahman thread hung carelessly over His shoulders, the dhoti

nicely pleated and tucked in place neatly, His golden frame

covered with fine glimmering dust. Tears flowed unrestrained

from His lotus eyes like the languid flow of the Mandakini Ganga

of his heavenly planets. Who would have liked to see the moon

after having seen the blooming lotus face of the Lord. As some

of the tear drops clung to the cleft of His fine nose they shone

like a string of white pearls. His glossy black locks entined

with the garlands around His head made a fine sight. The

devotees prayed, "O Lord please grant us this one desire that we

may hold within our hearts this pastime birth after birth." The

devotees were asking in this manner for benedictions from the

Lord as the Lord continued His extraordinary dancing pastime,

surrounded by His intimate associates. The Lord knew how to

inspire devotees to come and join and He danced always

reciprocating the mood and movement of the devotees. the Lord of

Vaikuntha danced as the devotees sang, "come and sing 'Hari,

Hari' all of you, fear not for the Holy name even though not

chanted purely will deliver you from death."

The author humbly describes in poetry the description of Lord

Caitanya as He danced. Lord Visvambhar the Lord of the Universe

danced along the bank of the Ganga. The devotees eagerly covered

themselves with the earth having the impressions of His lotus

feet. Wonderful ecstatic symptoms manifested on His person and

tears like nectar cascaded from His eyes; with a voice like the

rumble of thunder He chanted Lord Hari's name. Smiling sweetly

He raised His arms and sang. His golden form was much more

enchanting then Cupid. Charmingly dressed His black curly hair

was decorated with fresh and fragrant flower garlands; such

beauty sent the mind reeling as if when a person is afflicted by

the five amorous arrows of Cupid. In complete bliss Visvambhar

moved about in a restless dance, He was intoxicated with the holy

name. His body and limbs were perfectly shaped and beautiful

being nicely smeared with sandal paste. The garland around His

neck matched His love agitated movements. The arch of His

eyebrows were like Cupid's bow shooting arrows of enchantment.

His teeth were white and glistening like pearls, His benign face

was an ocean of mercy. How can I describe the many hundreds of

ecstatic emotions that manifested in Him, sometimes tears, or

shivering, or perspiration etc. At times He bent His body

in three places just like Krishna and played flute on His finger.

He moved about like a maddened elephant, He was the cynosure of

every eye. His brahman thread decorated His broad chest as if

Ananta Sesa had taken that thin form to serve His Lord. Lord

Nityananda and Gadadhara and all the other intimate devotees

danced by His side and each time they looked at the Lord they saw

the Lord smiling back at them. Lord Siva by chanting the name of

this Lord becomes mad and goes about naked, that same Lord is now

going on the streets of Navadvipa performing congregational

chanting, Laksmidevi, the goddess of fortune, is hankering always

to touch and dress this Supreme Lord's black curly locks and is

so attracted by His dress, that self same Supreme Lord is so

engrossed in singing and dancing that He rolls in the dust

inecstacy. Following Him are His devotees carrying millions of

flaming torches lighting up the world like the full moon and not

a soul could refrain form chanting the Lord's holy name. This

was such a marvel that Navadvipa had never witnessed, the

residents looked at each other and chanted "Hari, Hari".

for more march and kirtan, go to page 2 -  March to Kazi 2