17.18
tabe sapta-prahara chila prabhu bhavavese
yatha tatha bhakta-gana dekhila visese
SYNONYMS
tabe—thereafter; sapta-prahara—twenty-one hours; chila—remained; prabhu—the Lord; bhava-avese—in ecstasy; yatha—anywhere; tatha—everywhere; bhakta-gana—the devotees; dekhila—saw; visese—specifically.
After this incident, the Lord remained in an ecstatic position for twenty-one hours, and all the devotees saw His specific pastimes.
PURPORT
In the Deity’s room there must be a bed for the Deity behind the Deity’s throne (This system should immediately be introduced in all our centers.
It does not matter whether the bed is big or small; it should be of a size the Deity room can conveniently accommodate, but there must be at least a small bed.) One day in the house of Srivasa Thakura, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu sat down on the bed of Visnu, and all the devotees worshiped Him with the Vedic mantras of the Purusa-sukta, beginning with sahasra-sirsa purusah sahasraksah sahasra-pat.
This veda-stuti should also be introduced, if possible, for installations of Deities.
While bathing the Deity, all the priests and devotees must chant this Purusa-sukta and offer the appropriate paraphernalia for worshiping the Deity, such as flowers, fruits, incense, arati paraphernalia, naivedya, vastra and ornaments.
All the devotees worshiped Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu in this way, and the Lord remained in ecstasy for seven praharas, or twenty-one hours.
He took this opportunity to show the devotees that He is the original Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, who is the source of all other incarnations, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (10.8): aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah sarvam pravartate.
All the different forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or visnu-tattva, emanate from the body of Lord Krsna.
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu exposed all the private desires of the devotees, and thus all of them became fully confident that Lord Caitanya is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Some devotees call this exhibition of ecstasy by the Lord sata-prahariya bhava, or “the ecstasy of twenty-one hours,” and others call it mahabhava-prakasa or maha-prakasa.
There are other descriptions of this sata-prahariya bhava in the Caitanya-bhavagata, Chapter Nine, which mentions that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu blessed a maidservant named Duhkhi with the name Sukhi.
He called for Kholaveca Sridhara, and showed him His maha-prakasa.
Then He called for Murari Gupta and showed him His feature as Lord Ramacandra.
He offered His blessings to Haridasa Thakura, and at this time He also asked Advaita Prabhu to explain the Bhagavad-gita as it is (gitara satya-patha) and showed special favor to Mukunda.