duḥkhÄ« vaiṣṇava dekhi' tÄá¹…re karÄna bhojana
gauá¸Ä«yÄ Äile dadhi, bhÄta, taila-mardana

 duḥkhÄ« vaiṣṇava - a poverty-stricken Vaiṣṇava; dekhi' - seeing; tÄá¹…re - to him; karÄna bhojana - gives food for eating; gauá¸Ä«yÄ Äile - when a Bengali Vaiṣṇava came to MathurÄ; dadhi - yogurt; bhÄta - cooked rice; taila-mardana - massaging mustard oil on the body.


Text

Subuddhi RÄya used to spend his savings to supply yogurt to Bengali Vaiṣṇavas who came to MathurÄ. He also gave them cooked rice and oil massages. When he saw a poverty-stricken Vaiṣṇava, he would use his money to feed him.

Purport

There is a special reference for the maintenance of Bengali Vaiṣṇavas. A Gauá¸Ä«ya Vaiṣṇava is a Bengali Vaiṣṇava. Most of the devotees of Lord Caitanya at that time were Gauá¸Ä«yas and OriyÄs, inhabitants of Bengal and Orissa. There are still many hundreds of thousands of His followers in Bengal and Orissa. Bengalis are habituated to eating cooked rice as their staple food. When they went to MathurÄ in the north, they found that the people generally ate chapatis or roá¹­is made of wheat. The Bengalis could not digest this food because they were used to cooked rice. Therefore as soon as Subuddhi RÄya saw a Bengali Vaiṣṇava arriving in MathurÄ, he would try to supply him with cooked rice. Bengalis are also accustomed to taking a massage with mustard oil. In any case, Subuddhi RÄya wanted to serve the Vaiṣṇavas according to their needs. Therefore he would supply yogurt to ease the digestion of food eaten in MathurÄ, particularly the chapatis and roá¹­is made with wheat.