Antya 10: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Accepts Prasāda from the Devotees

The following summary of Chapter Ten is given by Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Amrta-pravaha-bhasya. Before the Ratha-yatra ceremony, all the devotees from Bengal started for Jagannatha Puri as usual. Raghava Panḍita brought with him various kinds of food for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The food had been cooked by his sister, whose name was Damayanti, and the stock was generally known as raghavera jhali. Makaradhvaja Kara, an inhabitant of Panihati who accompanied Raghava Panḍita, was the secretary in charge of accounting for the raghavera jhali, the bags of food carried by Raghava Panḍita.

The day when all the devotees arrived at Jagannatha Puri, Lord Govinda was enjoying sporting pastimes in the water of Narendra-sarovara. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu also enjoyed the ceremony in the water with His devotees. As previously, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu performed the cleansing ceremony at Gunḍica and chanted the famous verse jagamohana-pari-munḍa yau. After kirtana ended, He distributed prasada to all the devotees and also took some Himself. Then He lay down at the door of the Gambhira to take rest. Somehow or other Govinda came by and massaged His feet. Govinda could not go out that day, however, and therefore he was unable to accept prasada. From the character of Govinda it is to be learned that we may sometimes commit offenses for the service of the Lord, but not for sense gratification.

Govinda, the personal servant of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, induced the Lord to eat all the food delivered by the devotees of Bengal for His service. All the Vaisnavas used to invite Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to their homes. The Lord accepted the invitation of Caitanya dasa, the son of Sivananda Sena, and ate rice and yogurt there.