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Bhaktivedanta College Bhaktivedanta Online Online Course: Caitanya Caritamrita -- The Nectar Acts of r Caitanya, Part 1 Instructor: Krishna

Kshetra Das (Kenneth R. Valpey) November-December 2012 General Introduction to the Course What sort of course is this? Based on the course given at Bhaktivedanta College for students pursuing a bachelors degree in Theology and Religious Studies, in cooperation with Chester University, U.K. Caitanya-caritamrita (CC) is a rich repository of the vision, philosophy, theology, and early history of Caitanya Vaisnavism or Gaudiya Vaisnavism. Our aim: to gain essential understanding of important themes of the CC, enabling a fuller appreciation of the text and greater access to reading and relishing it. My approach will be largely thematic and analytic . . . Our main resource is the BBT publication of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupadas translation of CC, with his purports. We will also refer at times to a scholarly translation (of E. Dimock and T. Stewart, published by Harvard University Press), and we will also ask students to read various secondary articles about the CC, to listen

in on discussions by various scholars. (Some of these articles may be a bit challenging to read, but worth the effort). Lesson One Entering the Caitanya-caritamrita What sort of book is the Caitanya-caritamrita? What does it include, and what is its purpose? How does it relate to other sacred texts of the Caitanya Vaisnavas, such as the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and the works of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan? In this lesson we will make our initial approach to the CC, considering its importance to the Gaudiya tradition. First Week Readings: Prabhupadas CC Preface & Introduction CC 1.1.1-17 (in verse numbering, Adi-ll = 1 (for the first digit); Madhya-ll = 2 and Antya-ll = 3; CC 1.1.1-17 means verses 1 through 14 of chapter 1, Adi-ll). Chapter headings (in the TOC) for Adi-, Madhya-, and Antya-Lls as given in the Harvard edition of CC. 1. Various ways we can read the text Caitanya Caritamrita can be read as . . . o narrative: biography, sacred biography, or hagiography expect to hear me frequently say according to Krishnadas Kaviraja (to emphasize that the CC is his particular perspective) reflects certain biographical/hagiographical patterns

the term carita . . . o commentary: on the Bhgavata Pura quotes more than 250 verses of the BhP o record: of the early community of Caitanyas followers focus on the first generation of Caitanyas followers o the voice of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan as a summary of their teachings, providing systematic theology o the culmination of a several-decade process of articulating who is Sri Caitanya. setting out what we may call a caitanyology o a compendium of Gauya Vaiava (/Caitanya Vaiava) practices o poetry & a text on Caitanya Vaiava aesthetics (rasa-theory) Bengali is mainly in payar metre, plus occasional tripad sections great emphasis on mdhurya-rasa, with other rasas also represented. a milestone in the history of Bengali literature 2. Several ways to view or read r Caitanyas life account r Caitanyas life as o a 16th century Bengali brahmin with strong emotions (!) o an crya teacher by example as well as by precept o a perfect devotee of Krishna, or as a bhgavata o a re-enactment of Krishna-lila

o in relation to the various persons he interacts with . . . 3. The CC as the product of one particular author Who was the author of the CC? Krishnadas Kavirja (1517 1615+?) was . . . o follower of Nitynanda Prabhu o follower of the Goswamis of Vrindavan (esp. Rpa and Raghunthadsa) o receiver of blessings to write; a deeply learned poet (kavirja) o admirer of ri Caitanya and of Vrindavandas Thakura o aged (when writing CC) and humble (2.2.90; 1.5.205-210) 4. Contexts and inter-textuality of Caitanya-caritamrita The CC in relation to other texts (+ more next week): o consider an image of concentric circles, with CC in the center, then Bhagavatam, then Gita representing the largest circle . . . o Sri Caitanya-caritamrta consists of a total of 11,519 verses of which 851 verses are drawn from different (Sanskrit) scriptures. for more details see http://www.vaniquotes.org/wiki/Category:Scriptural_Origin s_of_Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta_Verses

di 1.1 vande gurn a-bhaktn am vatrakn tat-prak ca tac-chakt ka-caitanya-sajakam

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the spiritual masters, the devotees of the Lord, the Lords incarnations, His plenary portions, His energies and the primeval Lord Himself, r Ka Caitanya. di 1.2 vande r-ka-caitanyanitynandau sahoditau gauodaye pupavantau citrau an-dau tamo-nudau I offer my respectful obeisances unto r Ka Caitanya and Lord Nitynanda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gaua to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.

Forum question: What means canonical text (in general), and why might we refer to the Caitanya Caritamrita as a canonical text? Question to Prabhupadas CC Preface: 1. List (in short phrases) all the sorts of non-difference, or identity that you can find mentioned or suggested in Prabhupadas CC Preface. Questions to Prabhupadas CC Introduction 1. According to Prabhupada, summarize what is distinct and distinctive about r Caitanya and his teachings.

2. The subject matter of Caitanya-caritmta primarily deals with what is beyond this material creation. Yet, as we will see, the narrative is very much about events happening in this world. Please comment on this (apparent?) contradiction. Question to CC 1.1.1-17 1. Very briefly, what would you say is being accomplished in these initial verses of the CC? (here and in subsequent reading assignments: purports need not be read [unless you want to], as we are concentrating in this course on the CC text itself.)

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