Page 21 - Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (English)

Birth and Childhood Pastimes 7

sweets are produced from earth, she explained,
crude earth cannot nourish the body as do
sweets. Accepting the impracticality of monism,
Viçvambhara proposed, “From now on give Me
sweets and I will no longer eat dirt.”
Seeing the full moon one evening Nimai
called out, “Mother, Mother! Give Me the moon!
Give it to Me!” And He began to cry. From
within the house Çacédevé brought a picture of
Kåñëa and presented it to her darling boy. When
Gauracandra, the golden moon, saw Kåñëacandra,
the black moon, He became pacified.

When a certain brähmaëa on pilgrimage
arrived at Navadvépa, Jagannätha Miçra hosted
him and supplied him rice and other provisions
*
for his çälagräma-çilä. The brähmaëa cooked and
offered everything, but just then baby Nimäi came
and ate some of the rice. Although the brähmaëa
lamented that his offering had been defiled by
restless Nimäi, upon Jagannätha Miçra’s request he
agreed to cook again. As the brähmaëa was offering
the newly prepared items, again Nimäi came and
tasted them. This time Jagannätha Miçra locked
his son in a room, and after apologizing profusely,

* From the river Gaëòaké, a genre of black stone that is
nondifferent from Lord Viñëu and worshiped as such.