Monday Morning Greetings 2026 #11 – The Mystery Verse II

The audience for Monday Morning Greetings is varied. There are senior practitioners on the path of bhakti and others that just have interest in spiritual topics and how I present them. Usually, I speak on general subjects that have relevance to all my readership. Last week I shared a bit of esoteric Vaiṣṇava scholarship. As I haven’t fully finished the subject of that piece, I will write about it again this week. I hope everyone will still find the continued discussion of the “mystery verse” to be interesting.

The Mystery Verse II

Last week I elaborately explained how Verse Eight of Chapter Twenty of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta is apparently out of place in the context of what is being discussed there. I didn’t have time or space in my post to explain that after I introduced this subject in a seminar, I discovered that there was a commentary on that subject.

Every year Hari Pārṣada Dās, a respected ISKCON Sanskrit scholar, was invited to be a presenter at my Puri retreat. He would also attend my classes. After our class on this subject, when I asked if there were any reflections on my presentation, he offered a comment.

He explained, there was a commentary on that verse by Radha Govindanath, a renowned Vaiṣṇava academic scholar of the early 20th century. In the commentary, he first described the problem:

Verse Eight is an anomaly. Previous to this verse Śrī Caitanya’s painful feeling of separation in the mood of Śrī Radha was described. Why then is He suddenly experiencing harṣa (jubilation)?

Also, He has already completed His mission of preaching the holy name (saṅkīrtana). Why is He suddenly bringing it up again? And even from inside Gambhīra where He is relishing viraha-bhava (the mood of separation from Krishna)?[1]

Radha Govindanath then reconciles Verse Eight with what was spoken before:

What is described before Verse Eight is Śrī Radha in the mood of mohanākhya-mahābhāva (the highest level of Her devotion). One of the anubhāvas (after-effects) of that devotion is listed as brahmāṇḍa-kṣobha-kāritvaṁ (seeing the entire universe in a state of agitation). This is described in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi 14.181-182.

Śrī Caitanya in the mood of mohanākhya-mahābhāva, Śrī Radha’s highest level of devotion, saw the universe suffering, especially in Kali-yuga, and felt compassion.

She (or more precisely Śrī Caitanya in that mood) saw only one solution for the souls of Kali-yuga, and that is hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana.

She (Śrī Caitanya in that mood) thus became joyous and hopeful for the jīvas of this age. Śrī Caitanya then spoke our mystery verse to Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya inside Gambhīra.

“In great jubilation, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, ‘My dear Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya, know from Me that chanting the holy names is the most feasible means of salvation in this Age of Kali.’” Antya-līlā 20.8

It was thus not an anomaly for Śrī Caitanya in the deepest mood of Śrī Radha to feel compassion for the souls of Kali-yuga and glorify hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana. Verse Eight thus fits perfectly in the context of the chapter.

When I had seen this particularly quandary myself and could not find a reference to support my claim, I had some lingering doubt if what I saw was true. It was thus edifying to discover that such an eminent commentator on the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta also saw the same thing. I still liked, however, my own explanation:

“When feeling mercy, it’s natural to feel gratitude for the cause of one’s mercy. What is the mercy that Śrī Caitanya is experiencing? His two missions, both His preaching mission and his cultivation of rādhā-bhāva, have both been successfully completed due to the mercy of the holy name. How can He forget that, especially as it only due to the mercy of the holy name that He is experiencing the height of Śrī Radha’s love? Our mystery verse is thus a natural expression of gratitude for the holy name and what it has given Him.”

[1] I discussed this quandary much more elaborately in my last post of March 9th (https://wavesofdevotion.com/2026/03/09/the-mystery-verse/).