nija-loka laÃ±Ä prabhu ÄilÄ vÄsÄghara
vÄrÄṇasÄ« haila dvitÄ«ya nadÄ«yÄ-nagara

 nija-loka laÃ±Ä - with His personal associates; prabhu - ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu; ÄilÄ vÄsa-aghara - came to His residential place; vÄrÄṇasÄ« - the city of VÄrÄṇasÄ«; haila - became; dvitÄ«ya - second; nadÄ«yÄ-nagara - NavadvÄ«pa (Nadia).


Text

ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu then returned to His residence with His personal associates. Thus He turned the whole city of VÄrÄṇasÄ« into another NavadvÄ«pa [NadÄ«yÄ-nagara].

Purport

Both NavadvÄ«pa and VÄrÄṇasÄ« were celebrated for their highly educational activities. At the present time these cities are still inhabited by great, learned scholars, but VÄrÄṇasÄ« is especially a center for MÄyÄvÄdÄ« sannyÄsÄ«s who are learned scholars. However, unlike NavadvÄ«pa, there are hardly any devotees in VÄrÄṇasÄ«. Consequently a discussion of ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam was very rare in VÄrÄṇasÄ«. In NavadvÄ«pa, such a discussion was quite ordinary. After ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu visited VÄrÄnaṣī and turned PrakÄÅ›Änanda SarasvatÄ« and his disciples into Vaiṣṇavas, VÄrÄṇasÄ« became like NavadvÄ«pa because so many devotees began discussing ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. Even at the present moment one can hear many discussions on ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam taking place on the banks of the Ganges. Many scholars and sannyÄsÄ«s gather there to hear ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam and perform saá¹…kÄ«rtana.