mahotsava kara, saba bolÄha brÄhmaṇa
Äji dina bhÄla, — kariba nÄma-karaṇa

 mahotsava - a festival; kara - observe; saba - all; bolÄha - call; brÄhmaṇa - the brÄhmaṇas; Äji - today; dina - day; bhÄla - auspicious; kariba - I shall perform; nÄma-karaṇa - the name-giving ceremony.


Text

“I propose to perform a name-giving ceremony. We should observe a festival and call for the brÄhmaṇas because today is very auspicious.

Purport

It is a Vedic principle to observe a festival in connection with NÄrÄyaṇa and brÄhmaṇas. Giving a child a particular name is among the purificatory processes known as daÅ›a-vidha-saá¹skÄra, and on the day of such a ceremony one should observe a festival by worshiping NÄrÄyaṇa and distributing prasÄdam, chiefly among the brÄhmaṇas.

When NÄ«lÄmbara CakravartÄ«, ÅšacÄ«mÄtÄ and JagannÄtha MiÅ›ra understood from the marks on the Lord’s lotus feet that child NimÄi was not an ordinary child but an incarnation of NÄrÄyaṇa, they decided that on that very same day, which was very auspicious, they should observe a festival for His name-giving ceremony. In this connection we can particularly see how an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is ascertained by His bodily symptoms, His activities and the prediction of the Å›Ästras. By factual evidence a person can be accepted as an incarnation of God, not whimsically or by the votes of rascals and fools. There have been many imitation incarnations in Bengal since the appearance of Lord Caitanya, but any impartial devotee or learned man can understand that Lord Caitanya MahÄprabhu was accepted as an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa not on the basis of popular votes but by evidence from the Å›Ästras and bona fide scholars. It was not ordinary men who accepted ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the beginning His identity was ascertained by learned scholars like NÄ«lÄmbara CakravartÄ«, and later all His activities were confirmed by the six GosvÄmÄ«s, especially ÅšrÄ«la JÄ«va GosvÄmÄ« and ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ«, and many other learned scholars, with evidence from the Å›Ästra. An incarnation of God is such from the very beginning of His life. It is not that by performing meditation one can become an incarnation of God all of a sudden. Such false incarnations are meant for fools and rascals, not sane men.