After Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He went to live in Jagannath Puri. There, He converted the greatest scholar of the day, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. After meeting Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the great scholar Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya questioned his brother-in-law Gopinath Acharya about the Avatar of the present age, Kali-yuga. Gopinath had been living in Nabadwip, and he was a follower of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In his own way, Sarvabhauma began to praise Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as a beautiful man and a great scholar.
«I have great attraction for Him», he said, «But I don’t think it wise that at such a young age He has taken sannyas, the renounced order of life. He has such a long life ahead of Him; how will He be able to keep up the dignity of the life of a sannyasi, a life of renunciation? I can’t sit by and do nothing. I like this boy very much. I shall have to help Him as a guardian, so that He may not lose His prestige by giving up sannyas, attracted by the fascination of worldly pleasures.»
Gopinath could not tolerate all this guardian-like advice. He told Sarvabhauma, «This young man, who is very beautiful, charming, and scholarly, has attracted your attention, and you want to become His guardian to keep up the purity of His life. Do you think you will have to help Him? What do you mean by saying all these things? Don’t you know that He is really the incarnation of Godhead for this age? He is the Avatar for Kali-yuga; He inaugurated the yuga-dharma of Nam-sankirtan in Nabadwip, and His appearance is mentioned in the scriptures.» Sarvabhauma replied, «No, no! You are not talking to an ordinary person. Don’t think that you can say whatever you like and I will accept it. I am a hard nut to crack. What are you saying? There is no Kali-yuga-avatar. One of the names of Visnu mentioned in the Visnu-sahasra-nama in the Mahabharata is Triyuga, «The Lord who appears only in three ages». That means that the Lord has no incarnation in Kali-yuga except Kalki, who is a Pastime incarnation and not the Yuga-avatar, the incarnation for the age.» Gopinath replied, «You think yourself so learned, but although you have studied all the scriptures, and are so proud of your learning, the Mahabharata and Srimad Bhagavatam are the main scriptures of the followers of eternal religious principles, and still you have no particular knowledge about that.»
At that time, Gopinath Acharya quoted passages from the Srimad Bhagavatam and Mahabharata (Krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam, suvarna-varna hemango). In this way, he pressed his point: «Here we find the direct Avatar for the Age of Kali. He has appeared to spread Nam-sankirtan. He is not a man, but the Supreme Lord, Krishna Himself.» Sarvabhauma said, «No, no. Go away. Mind your own business. Don’t think that you can instruct me.» And in this way they argued.
Later, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya told Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, «I would like to teach You Vedanta philosophy, so that You can keep up the standard of Your renunciation. I will teach You that this world is nothing, so that You never feel any charm to again enter into mundane life.» Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, «Yes, you are my guardian. Whatever you say, I must do. I will come and learn Vedanta philosophy from you at whatever time is suitable for you.
Then Gopinath Acharya told Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, «Sarvabhauma is saying this because he doesn’t know Your real identity.» Sriman Mahaprabhu replied, «Why are you speaking against him? He is My guardian. He was My father’s classmate, so he has great affection for Me. It is out of affection that he poses himself as My guardian and looks after My welfare. I don’t find any fault in that.»
In a few days, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu began to hear Vedanta from Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, and as Sarvabhauma would speak, He would remain silent like a good boy, as if He were hearing with a submissive attitude. But after he had been teaching Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for seven days, Sarvabhauma had some doubt in his mind. He thought, «What is the matter? I am such a great scholar in Vedanta and logic, and I am trying my best with all my intelligence to put before Him the inner meaning of Vedanta, but I draw no response from Him. He is only quietly attending my discourse as if He is deaf and dumb. And I can’t say that He does not understand me, for He has a sharp intellect. I am sure of this, but still He gives no appreciation, no response whatsoever. He raises no question and gives no indication whether He understands or not — nothing of the kind. Then what am I doing?» He could not keep himself any longer. He put the question straight to the Lord: «For more than seven days I have been explaining the inner meaning of Vedanta to You. Many sannyasis come to me to learn about Vedanta, but You don’t have any question about my talk, my explanation? You maintain a strange and wonderful silence. What is the reason?
Then, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed Himself. He said, «Sarvabhauma, what you explain is on the basis of Sankar’s philosophy, but I heard that it was by the order of the Lord that Sankar Acharya concealed the real purpose of Vedanta. Its author, Vyasadev, is a completely theistic person, and he has prepared this Vedanta, but what you say is all based on atheistic scholarship.»
Sarvabhauma was a very intelligent man. He realised, «In a very gentle way, He wants to tell me that what I am explaining is all bogus. I am labouring diligently to explain Vedanta to my utmost capacity for the last seven days, and now He shows His true colours and says that what I am explaining is all false. What is He saying?» Still, in a gentlemanly way, Sarvabhauma with some hesitation asked Sriman Mahaprabhu, «You say that what I have been explaining for the last seven days is all unsubstantial and unreal. Then can You give the proper meaning? If this is all improper and false, then what is the real meaning of Vedanta?» Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu humbly replied, «If you order Me to explain Vedanta, I will try. The sutras or codes of Vedanta are lustrous in themselves. They are self-evident. The proper reading of the sutras leads towards Parabrahma, Krishna.» Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu began with this introduction. He said that Srimad Bhagavatam is the real explanation and commentary on Vedanta. It is mentioned in the Garuda-purana:
artho ’yam brahma-sutranam bharatartha-vinirnayah
gayatri-bhasya-rupo ’sau vedartha-paribrmhitah
«Srimad Bhagavatam represents the real purport of Vedanta-sutra. And although it is very difficult to draw out the real purpose of the one-hundred-thousand-verse epic Mahabharata, the great history of the world, Srimad Bhagavatam has come to give its real meaning. The mother of all Vedic knowledge is the gayatri-mantra. Srimad Bhagavatam gives the gist of gayatri in a very full-fledged way. And the supplementary truths of the Vedas are also found within Srimad Bhagavatam.» Therefore, Vedanta must be explained in the line of the truth which has been expressed in the Srimad Bhagavatam. Only then can the real meaning be understood.
When Sriman Mahaprabhu mentioned Srimad Bhagavatam, Sarvabhauma, being a learned pandit could not deny its validity. He said, «Yes, I also like Srimad Bhagavatam. And I especially like this one very beautiful verse. At that time, Sarvabhauma, to regain lost prestige, began to explain the atmarama verse of Srimad Bhagavatam:
atmaramas cha munayo nirgrantha apy urukrame
kurvanty ahaitukim bhaktim ittham-bhuta guno harih
«Even the liberated souls fully satisfied in the self are irresistibly attracted by the superexcellent qualities of Krishna and surrender to Him with unalloyed devotion.»
Sarvabhauma explained this verse in nine different ways, while Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as before, sat silently hearing. After he had finished his explanation, Sarvabhauma thought that he had regained his position to a certain extent. Still, as a courtesy, he asked Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, «Are You satisfied with this explanation? If You can give any more light to this verse, I will listen to that.» Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him, «If you order me, I may try.» Then He gave eighteen different types of explanations of that verse, leaving aside the nine already given by Sarvabhauma.
At that time, while listening to the explanation of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sarvabhauma gradually saw that he was losing his position. His pride was finished. Astounded, he thought, «This youth, this young boy, is not an ordinary person. No ordinary intellect can refute my arguments. Leaving aside all of my attempts to explain this verse, He gave eighteen wonderful explanations of this particular verse. What is this? Such consistent, irresistible, devotional, and beautiful explanations are coming, superseding all those that with great energy and effort I explained. No human being can surpass my explanations. No human intellect can cross mine. This is a different sort of explanation. It is all-encompassing. But it is coming from this young boy? What is this?»
Gradually, he lost his faith in himself and became baffled. He recalled how Gopinath Acharya had said that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was not a human being and thought, «It is not possible for a human to explain things in this way — it is something supernatural.» Then Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed to Sarvabhauma His spiritual position as Narayan and Krishna combined. In a trance, Sarvabhauma saw all these things and fell at the Lord’s feet, and almost completely lost consciousness.
When he arose from his trance, he found that boy still sitting there like a student with great humility. Then Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu asked him, «May I go for today?» Sarvabhauma said, «Yes, you may go now.» The Lord went away, and Sarvabhauma remained there. After some time, he recovered, and began to think, «What have I seen? Four-handed Narayan, then Krishna playing the flute! I was not defeated by a man — that is my solace. Sarvabhauma become a changed man and composed two verses:
vairagya-vidya-nija-bhakti-yoga-
siksartham ekah purusah puranah
sri-krsna-chaitanya-sarira-dhari
krpambudhir yas tam aham prapadye
«I surrender unto the lotus feet of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is an ocean of mercy. He is the original personality of Godhead, Krishna, and has descended to teach us the real meaning of knowledge, renunciation, and devotion to Him.»
kalan nastam bhakti-yogam nijam yah
praduskartum krsna-chaitanya-nama
avirbhutas tasya padaravinde
gadham gadham liyatam chitta-bhrngah
«Let the honeybee of my mind dive deep into the lotus feet of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna Himself. He has appeared to revive the path of unalloyed devotion, which had almost become lost due to the influence of time.»
These two verses were composed by Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya expressing that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Lord Himself. The next day, early in the morning, Sriman Mahaprabhu, with some prasadam from the Jagannath Temple, ran to Sarvabhauma while he was still in bed. He cried in a loud voice, «Sarvabhauma, how wonderful is this prasadam! It has a very extraordinary taste. Please take it. I have come for you with this prasadam.» Sarvabhauma arose from bed as Mahaprabhu offered him the prasadam, and he could not but accept it without cleansing his mouth. Ordinarily a brahman pandit, early in the morning, will first cleanse his mouth, bathe, offer different prayers, and only then take prasadam. But when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally came and offered it to him with His own hand, what could Sarvabhauma do? He had to accept that prasadam. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told him, «We have previously experienced the taste of so many things like ghee, rice, sweets, and spices. We all know what flavours they have, but this is wonderful. This has touched the lips of Krishna Himself. It is extraordinarily wonderful and tasteful.» Then, Sarvabhauma eagerly ate that prasadam and began uttering some mantras:
suskam paryusitam vapi nitam va dura-desatah
prapti-matrena bhoktavyam natra kala-vicharana
«One should take the mahaprasad of Sri Krishna as soon as one receives it, without consideration of time or place, even though it may be dried up, stale, or brought from a distant country.»
na desa-niyamas tatra na kala-niyamas tatha
praptam annam drutam sistair bhoktavyam harir abravit
«The prasad of Sri Krishna is to be taken by gentlemen as soon as it is received, without hesitation. There are no regulative principles concerning time and place. This is the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.»
He took prasadam, and the Lord and servant embraced one another and began to dance in ecstasy. As they danced, the symptoms of ecstasy appeared in both of them. They perspired, trembled, and shed tears. Absorbed in ecstatic love, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, «Today, I have conquered the whole world, for I have converted a scholar like Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Now, he has so much faith in mahaprasad that without performing any Vedic rituals, he took the prasadam. My mission is successful!»
From that day on, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya knew nothing but the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and could only explain the scriptures with the conclusions of devotion. Seeing that Sarvabhauma had become a follower of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Gopinath Acharya began to clap his hands and dance. He said, «Well, Sarvabhauma, what do you think now?» Sarvabhauma replied, «Gopinath, you are my real friend, for it is by your grace that I received the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.»