This place is located near Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya School
The house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya has not been preserved. A small temple has been opened in its place, where the Deities of Sri Sri Sri Radha-Krishna are worshiped.
History of Sarvabhauma
Srila Prabhupada writes: “At birth, Sarvabhaum was called Bhattacarya by Vasudeva. He was born in Vidyanagar, about four kilometers from the Navadvipa and Changpahati train stations. His father was a very famous man named Maheshvara Visarada. It is said that Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya was the greatest expert on the logic of his time in India. He studied in Mithila (Bihar) with the famous logic teacher Pakshadhara Mishra, who did not allow his students to write down his explanations. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya possessed such a gift that he memorized his explanations and, upon returning to Navadvipa, founded his own school of logic, thereby diminishing the significance of Mithila ... Many authoritative historians believe that the illustrious logician named Raghunatha Shiromani was also a student of Sarvabharha Bhatta. In fact, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya stood at the head of all the logicians of his time. Although he himself was a grhastha (family man), he taught the logic of even many sannyasis. ”
Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya opened in his house a school of nava nyaya (“new logic”), where many young students studied logic. The school continued to exist even after the illustrious scholar, at the invitation of King Orissa Maharaja Prataparudra, left for Puri.
“In Jagannatha Puri, Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya founded the school of Vedanta philosophy, a great connoisseur of which he was also. When Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya first met Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he invited the Lord to study the Vedanta under his guidance, but later he himself became a disciple of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu to learn from Him the true meaning of Vedanta. Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya was lucky to see the six-armed image of Lord Caitanya, Shadbhuja ... Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya wrote a book of one hundred verses called Caitanya-sataka or Sushloka-sataka ... from the heavenly planets ”(Caitanya-caritamrita, Adi 10.130, comm.).
Nimai Pandit
At the time of His adolescence, Lord Caitanya was completely absorbed in his studies, and it seemed that nothing else interests Him. Rising early in the morning, He hurried to the house of Gangadasa Pandita, where faithful followers were waiting for him - Nimai was a recognized leader among his peers. He openly argued with everyone who dared to make independent judgments. Nimai and His friends usually emerged victorious in such disputes. If one of his classmates dared to show off His knowledge of the scriptures or grammar of Sanskrit in His presence, Nimai immediately ridiculed him:
“Who's trying to reject or surpass Me ?!” Who is this great scientist? Does he have a clue about the rules of conjugation, that with stupid complacency takes up the grammar ?! One vanity drives him! Hey ignorant expert, you will not answer any of my questions in an open debate!
Nimai was the best student in the Gangadas Pandita School. Subsequently, having mastered Sanskrit and logic perfectly, He opened his own school. In the most joyful mood, He often walked along the streets of Navadvipa, surrounded by His disciples and classmates, delighting everyone with brilliant wit. There were books in His hands. No one in Navadvipa dared to seek errors in His reasoning, and only the brahmana Gangadasa Pandita could discuss with the Lord.
Fulfilling the desire of Gangadasa, and also wanting to support the family, Nimai opened his own school, where he began to teach Sanskrit. He wrote his own commentary on a grammar textbook. At the same time, He began to study logic at the Vasudeva Sarvabhauma school and also began to write comments. Despite his young age, Nimai taught so brilliantly that he amazed everyone, including Gangadasu Pandita himself.
Nimai Pandit came to the Sarvabhauma school and organized a debate here. Sarvabhauma had by then left for Puri, and the school was led by one of his students, Raghunatha (Kanabhatta) Shiromani. The following story is associated with his name.
Lord Caitanya in the house of Vidya Vachaspati
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that people who once danced with the Lord at night kirtans in the house of Srivas Thakur, and who now came to Vidyanagar and Kuliya Grama, felt the same way that the gopis felt when they saw Krishna
at Kuruksetra, during a solar eclipse. They were so happy to see Lord Caitanya, but their hearts were breaking with pain at the sight of His garment as a sannyasi. They again wanted to see His magnificent black hair, His jewelry from malati flowers ... They wanted to return Him to Srivas-angam. The meeting of the Lord with the inhabitants of Navadvipa in Vidyanagar and Kuliya is a manifestation of the original Ratha-yatra from krsna-lila.
Vidya Vachaspati was the brother of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. His house was in Vidyanagar. Lord Caitanya stopped here on his way from Puri to Vrindavan. The Caitanya-Bhagavata says so.
In Vidyanagara, Lord Caitanya, along with a servant, stayed with Sri Vidya Vachaspati, the brother of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. Seeing an unexpected guest, Vidya Vachaspati immediately realized that before him was none other than Lord Gaurasundara Himself. The Lord smiled sweetly at him, happy that he saw the holy brahmana. He hugged Vidya Vachaspati and said:
“I have one request for you.” My heart calls me to Vrindavan, but before that I wanted to spend a few days here, to bathe in the Ganges. Please find Me a quiet bathing place, where huge crowds will not pursue Me.
Vidya Vachaspati listened carefully to the Lord and agreed to help Him.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu stayed in his house for several days. But can a person hide the sun? All Navadvipa already knew about the arrival of the Lord. Like a fire, rumors spread everywhere that Sri Caitanya had stopped at Vidyanagara. Exulting, people walked in droves to the house of Vidya Vachaspati, trampling grass and thorny bushes on the way, not noticing them. Forest thickets turned into wide roads. Everyone had only one thing in their tongue - the holy name of the Lord. They walked and dreamed of seeing Gauranga, of asking for His blessings, of how they would pray for forgiveness for past insults.
Crowds of people gathered at the crossing, everyone wanted to get to the other side of the Ganges rather. The boatmen swore, seeing hundreds of people stuffed into their boats, which caused them to sink and sink. People took off their clothes and gave them to the boatman, rewarding him for losses, and tried to swim to the other shore. Some tried to swim in clay pots, others - on the trunks of trees, others floated right like that. The air was filled with shouts of “Hari! Hari! ”
After crossing the Ganges, people went to the house of Vidya Vachaspati and fell at his feet, begging to let them into the house and let him see Lord Caitanya.
Hearing the loud chanting of the holy name, Sri Caitanya left the house to bless the huge crowd.
Seeing Lord Caitanya, people jumped and danced with happiness, loudly sang the holy names and fell down on the ground prostrate. Raising their hands, many of them prayed:
“Lord, please save us sinners.”
The Lord answered:
- Chant the name of Krishna, worship Him and hear about His pastimes. May Lord Krishna become the greatest treasure of your life!
All Vidyanagar was filled with people. People were sitting on the tops of trees, standing on the roofs of houses. The eyes of the people were fixed on the beautiful face of Gauranga.
But suddenly the Lord disappeared. And no one saw when and how this happened. Sri Vachaspati began to seek the Lord everywhere. Not finding Him anywhere, he realized that the Lord was gone.
People outside, unable to wait for Sri Caitanya, decided that the Lord had gone into the house, avoiding the crowd. Vidya Vachaspati, heartbroken, went out to the crowd and told them the sad news about the departure of Lord Gauranga. People did not believe and continued to think that the Lord took refuge in a secluded place to avoid a mad crowd, and continued to wait, not losing hope. One by one, they approached Vachaspati and begged him to let them in or ask the Lord to go out. He patiently tried to explain the truth to them, but his sincerity did not convince them. Time passed, and when people finally realized that the Lord had indeed left, they were very upset, and a hail of rebuke fell upon Vachaspati. Brahman, already upset by the departure of the Lord, was now forced to listen to the currents of abuse, which made his soul unbearable. He did not know what to do now. At that moment, a brahmana approached him and whispered in his ear:
- Lord Caitanya went to Kuliya Grama.
Vachaspati sighed in relief, warmly embraced the brahmana and rushed to the crowd with joyful news. The crowd answered loudly, "Hari! Hari! ”And rushed to Qulia. Every hour the crowd grew. It was impossible to understand where these endless streams of people came from. All overturned boats could not be counted. But for some reason no one was hurt, everyone safely crossed the Ganges.
Arriving in Qulia, Vidya Vachaspati immediately began to search for Gauranga. Finding the Lord, the brahmana bowed before Him. Having offered prayers, he rose to his feet and spoke:
“You are the Most High and independent in everything.” You are not bound by rules and conventions. But people who are crowding in the streets now do not understand this simple truth and are very angry and scolding me, thinking that I hid You in my house. Have mercy, show yourself to them for a moment, and then they will believe that I am an honest man, as befits a true brahmana.
Lord Caitanya agreed to fulfill his request. As soon as He appeared before the people, people plunged into an ocean of bliss ...
Everyone in Kulia was liberated by the presence of the Lord. The most exalted and the most fallen - all have found His mercy. Many people came to Sri Caitanya and asked for forgiveness for past insults. The Lord generously forgave everyone.
Translated from dhama.dayalnitay.ru