dekhi' uparÄga hÄsi', śīghra gaá¹…gÄ-ghÄá¹e Äsi'
Änande karila gaá¹…gÄ-snÄna
pÄÃ±Ä uparÄga-chale, ÄpanÄra mano-bale,
brÄhmaṇere dila nÄnÄ dÄna
dekhi' - seeing; uparÄga - the eclipse; hÄsi' - laughing; śīghra - very soon; gaá¹…ga-ghÄá¹e - on the bank of the Ganges; Äsi' - coming; Änande - in jubilation; karila - took; gaá¹…gÄ-snÄna - bath in the Ganges; pÄÃ±Ä - taking advantage of; uparÄga-chale - on the event of the lunar eclipse; ÄpanÄra - His own; manaḥ-bale - by the strength of mind; brÄhmaṇere - unto the brÄhmaṇas; dila - gave; nÄnÄ - various; dÄna - charities.
Seeing the lunar eclipse and laughing, Advaita Ä€cÄrya and HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura immediately went to the bank of the Ganges and bathed in the river in great jubilation. Taking advantage of the occasion of the lunar eclipse, Advaita Ä€cÄrya, by His mental strength, distributed various types of charity to the brÄhmaṇas.
It is the custom of Hindus to give in charity to the poor as much as possible during the time of a lunar or solar eclipse. Advaita Ä€cÄrya, therefore, taking advantage of this eclipse, distributed many varieties of charity to the brÄhmaṇas. In ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (10.3.11) there is a statement that when Kṛṣṇa took His birth, Vasudeva immediately took advantage of this moment and distributed ten thousand cows to the brÄhmaṇas. It is customary among Hindus that at the time a child is born, especially a male child, the parents distribute great charity in jubilation. Advaita Ä€cÄrya was actually interested in distributing charity because of Lord Caitanya’s birth at the time of the lunar eclipse. People could not understand, however, why Advaita Ä€cÄrya was giving such a great variety of things in charity. He did so not because of the lunar eclipse but because of the Lord’s taking birth at that moment. He distributed charity exactly as Vasudeva did at the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s appearance.
