vande caitanya-kṛṣṇasya
bÄlya-lÄ«lÄá¹ mano-harÄm
laukikÄ«m api tÄm Ä«Å›a-
ceá¹£á¹ayÄ valitÄntarÄm
vande - I worship; caitanya-kṛṣṇasya - of Lord Caitanya, who is Kṛṣṇa Himself; bÄlya-lÄ«lÄ - pastimes of childhood; manaḥ-harÄm - which are so beautiful; laukikÄ«m - appearing ordinary; api - although; tÄm - those; Ä«Å›a-ceá¹£á¹ayÄ - by manifestation of supreme authority; valita-antarÄm - quite fit although appearing differently.
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto the childhood pastimes of Lord ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu, who is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Although such pastimes appear exactly like those of an ordinary child, they should be understood as various pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
In the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (9.11) this statement is confirmed as follows:
avajÄnanti mÄá¹ mÅ«á¸hÄ mÄnuṣīṠtanum ÄÅ›ritam
paraá¹ bhÄvam ajÄnanto mama bhÅ«ta-maheÅ›varam
“Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be.†To execute His pastimes, the Supreme Personality of Godhead appears on this planet or within this universe like an ordinary human being or human child, yet He maintains His superiority as the Supreme Lord. Lord Kṛṣṇa appeared as a human child, but His uncommon activities, even in His childhood — like the killing of the demon PÅ«tanÄ or the lifting of Govardhana Hill — were not the engagements of an ordinary child. Similarly, although the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, as they will be described in this chapter, appear like the activities of a small boy, they are uncommon pastimes impossible for an ordinary human child to execute.
