Chapter Summary
A summary of the first chapter is given by ÅšrÄ«la Bhaktivinoda ṬhÄkura in his Amá¹›ta-pravÄha-bhÄá¹£ya as follows. When ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu returned to JagannÄtha PurÄ« from Vá¹›ndÄvana, all His devotees from other parts of India, upon receiving the auspicious news, came to Puruá¹£ottama-ká¹£etra, or JagannÄtha PurÄ«. ÅšivÄnanda Sena took a dog with him and even paid fees for it to cross the river. One night, however, the dog could not get any food and therefore went directly to ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu at JagannÄtha PurÄ«. The next day, when ÅšivÄnanda and his party reached JagannÄtha PurÄ«, ÅšivÄnanda saw the dog eating some coconut pulp offered to it by ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu. After this incident, the dog was liberated and went back home, back to Godhead.Meanwhile, ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ« reached Bengal, after returning from Vá¹›ndÄvana. Although he could not follow the Bengali devotees, after some time he also came to JagannÄtha PurÄ«, where he stayed with HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura. ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ« composed an important verse beginning with the words priyaḥ so ’yam, and ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu relished it very much. One day ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu, RÄmÄnanda RÄya, SÄrvabhauma Bhaá¹á¹ÄcÄrya and others went to the place of HaridÄsa ṬhÄkura and heard some of the verses RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ« had composed for his books Lalita-mÄdhava and Vidagdha-mÄdhava. After examining the manuscripts of these two books, RÄmÄnanda RÄya approved and appreciated them very much. After the period of CÄturmÄsya, all the devotees who had come from Bengal returned to their homes. ÅšrÄ«la RÅ«pa GosvÄmÄ«, however, remained at JagannÄtha PurÄ« for some time.
