T. V. Kapali Sastry provides an overview of Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Guru Nanak and Guru Govind Singh
Chaitanya next went on a tour in the South, visiting all the famous shrines as far as Rameshwaram. At Srirangam he stayed four months. Through Travancore and Malabar he made his way up the west coast, visited Sringeri Math founded by Shankaracharya. Through the Canarese country he came to Udipi, famous as the home of Madhvacharya. He proceeded to Kolhapur, thence to Pandharpur, went northwards beyond Bombay as far as the Narmada river; then turned and struck directly across Central India following the Godavari, came to Rajahmundry where he renewed his converse with the governor, Ramanand Roy, a pious man with whom he had first come in contact on his way to the South. Finally he returned to Puri amid general rejoicing of his disciples after nearly two years of wande Of the two Vaishnava works which he found in his travels and highly valued and got copied, one was the very popular Krishnakarnamrita of Lilasuka Bilvamangal which he obtained at Pandharpur. He had once before set out for pilgrimage to Brindavan but had to return after travelling a short distance. This time he succeeded in reaching Brindavan. His biographies recount his experiences on the way and his encounters with notable scholars which would fill a volume. But one notable convert to the Chaitanya cult we must note. Prakashananda Saraswati, the leading Vedantic scholar of Benares, had for long scoffed at Chaitanya. He had even said: “I have heard of a Sanyasi in the country of Gaur (Bengal), a sentimentalist, Chaitanya is his name-a deceiver, a magician. His bewitching art is such that all are charmed at sight of him. The great scholar Vasudeva Sarvabhauma has gone mad after him, I hear! His sentimentality will not sell at Kashi. Listen to the Vedanta, don’t go to him.” That self-same man now surrendered to the sentimentality when Chaitanya was returning from Brindavan! He was a recruit worthy to rank with Saryabhauma.
Chaitanya next went on a tour in the South, visiting all the famous shrines as far as Rameshwaram. At Srirangam he stayed four months. Through Travancore and Malabar he made his way up the west coast, visited Sringeri Math founded by Shankaracharya. Through the Canarese country he came to Udipi, famous as the home of Madhvacharya. He proceeded to Kolhapur, thence to Pandharpur, went northwards beyond Bombay as far as the Narmada river; then turned and struck directly across Central India following the Godavari, came to Rajahmundry where he renewed his converse with the governor, Ramanand Roy, a pious man with whom he had first come in contact on his way to the South. Finally he returned to Puri amid general rejoicing of his disciples after nearly two years of wande Of the two Vaishnava works which he found in his travels and highly valued and got copied, one was the very popular Krishnakarnamrita of Lilasuka Bilvamangal which he obtained at Pandharpur.
He had once before set out for pilgrimage to Brindavan but had to return after travelling a short distance. This time he succeeded in reaching Brindavan. His biographies recount his experiences on the way and his encounters with notable scholars which would fill a volume. But one notable convert to the Chaitanya cult we must note. Prakashananda Saraswati, the leading Vedantic scholar of Benares, had for long scoffed at Chaitanya. He had even said: “I have heard of a Sanyasi in the country of Gaur (Bengal), a sentimentalist, Chaitanya is his name-a deceiver, a magician. His bewitching art is such that all are charmed at sight of him. The great scholar Vasudeva Sarvabhauma has gone mad after him, I hear! His sentimentality will not sell at Kashi. Listen to the Vedanta, don’t go to him.” That self-same man now surrendered to the sentimentality when Chaitanya was returning from Brindavan! He was a recruit worthy to rank with Saryabhauma.
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