tabe sapta-prahara chilÄ prabhu bhÄvÄveÅ›e
yathÄ tathÄ bhakta-gaṇa dekhila viÅ›eá¹£e
tabe - thereafter; sapta-prahara - twenty-one hours; chilÄ - remained; prabhu - the Lord; bhÄva-ÄveÅ›e - in ecstasy; yathÄ - anywhere; tathÄ - everywhere; bhakta-gaṇa - the devotees; dekhila - saw; viÅ›eá¹£e - specifically.
In the Deity’s room there must be a bed for the Deity behind His 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 ÅšrÄ«vÄsa ṬhÄkura, Lord Caitanya MahÄprabhu sat down on the bed of Viṣṇu, and all the devotees worshiped Him with the Vedic mantras of the Puruá¹£a-sÅ«kta, beginning with sahasra-śīrá¹£Ä puruá¹£aḥ sahasrÄká¹£aḥ sahasra-pÄt. 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 Puruá¹£a-sÅ«kta and offer the appropriate paraphernalia for worshiping the Deity, such as flowers, fruits, incense, Ärati paraphernalia, naivedya, vastra and ornaments. All the devotees worshiped Lord Caitanya MahÄprabhu 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, Kṛṣṇa, who is the source of all other incarnations, as confirmed in the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (10.8): ahaá¹ sarvasya prabhavo mattaḥ sarvaá¹ pravartate. All the different forms of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or viṣṇu-tattva, emanate from the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya MahÄprabhu 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 sÄta-prahariyÄ bhÄva, or “the ecstasy of twenty-one hours,†and others call it mahÄbhÄva-prakÄÅ›a or mahÄ-prakÄÅ›a. There is a description of this sÄta-prahariyÄ bhÄva in the Caitanya-bhÄgavata, Madhya-khaṇá¸a, chapter nine, which mentions that ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu blessed a maidservant named DuḥkhÄ« with the name SukhÄ«. He called for KholÄvecÄ ÅšrÄ«dhara and showed him His mahÄ-prakÄÅ›a. Then He called for MurÄri Gupta and showed him His feature as Lord RÄmacandra. He offered His blessings to HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura, and at this time He also asked Advaita Prabhu to explain the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ as it is (gÄ«tÄra satya-pÄá¹ha) and showed special favor to Mukunda.