When He was a mere baby crawling in the yard, one day a snake appeared before Him, and the Lord began to play with it. All the members of the house were struck with fear and awe, but after a little while the snake went away, and the baby was taken away by His mother.
Once He was stolen by a thief who intended to steal His ornaments, but the Lord took a pleasure trip on the shoulder of the bewildered thief who was searching for a solitary place in order to rob the baby. It so happened that the thief, wandering hither and thither, finally arrived just before the house of Janannatha Misra and, being afraid of being caught, dropped the baby at once. Of course the anxious parents and relatives were glad to see the lost child.
Once a pilgrim brahmana was received at the house of Jagannatha Misra, and when he was offering food to the Godhead, the Lord appeared before him and partook of the prepared food. The eatable had to be rejected because the child touched them, and so the brahamana had to make another preparation. The next time the same thing happened, and when this happened repeatedly for the third time, the baby was finally put to bed.
At about twelve at night when all the members of the house were fast asleep within their closed rooms, the pilgrim brahmana offered his specially prepared foods to the Deity, and, in the same way, the baby Lord appeared before the pilgrim and spoiled his offerings. The brahmana then began to cry, but since everyone was fast asleep, no one could hear him. At that time the baby Lord appeared before the fortunate brahmana and disclosed His identity as Krsna Himself. The brahmana was forbidden to disclose this incidence, and the baby returned to the lap of His mother.
There are many similar incidences in His childhood. As a naughty boy He sometimes used to tease the orthodox brahmanas who used to bathe in the Ganges. When the brahmanas complained to His father that He was splashing them with water instead of attending school, the Lord suddenly appeared before His father as though just coming from school with all His school clothes and books. At the bathing ghat He also used to play jokes on the neighboring horls who engaged in worshiping Siva in hopes of getting good husbands. This is a common practice amongst unmarried girls in Hindu families. While they were engaged in such worship, the Lord naughtily appeared before them and said,"My dear sisters, please give Me all the offerings you have just brought for Lord Siva. Lord Siva is My devotee, and Parvati is My maidservant. If you worship Me, then Lord Siva and all the other demigods will be more satisfied."
Some of them refused to obey the naughty Lord, and He would curse them that due to their refusal they would be married to old men who had seven children by their previous wives.
Out of fear or sometimes out of love the girls would also offer Him various goods, and then the Lord would bless them and assure them that would have very good young husbands and that they would be mothers of dozens of children. The blessings would enliven the girls, but they used often to complain of these incidences to their mothers.
In this way the Lord passed His early childhood.
When He was just sixteen years old He started His own chatuspathi(village school conducted by a learned brahmana). In this school He would simply explain Krsna, even in readings of grammar. Srila Jiva Gosvami, in order to please the Lord, later composed a grammarr in Sanskrit, in which all the rules of grammar were explained with examples that used the holy names of the Lord. This grammar is still current. It is known as Hari-namamrta-vyakarana and is prescribed in the syllabus of schools in Bengal.
During this time a great Kashmir scholar named Kesava Kasmiri came to Navadvipa to hold discussions on the sastras. The kashmir pandit was a champion scholar, and he had travelled to all places of learning in India.
Finally he came to Navadvipa to contest the learned pandits there. The pandits of Navadvipa decided to match Nimai Pandit (Lord Caitanya) with the Kashmir Pandit, thinking that if Nimai Pandit were defeated, they would have another chance to debate with the scholar, for Nimai Pandit was only a boy. And if the Kashmir Pandit were defeated, then they would even be more glorified because people would proclaim that a mere boy of Navadvipa defeated a champion scholar who was famous throughout India.
It so happened that Nimai Pandit met Kesava Kasmiri while strolling on the banks of the Ganges. The Lord requested him to compose a Sanskrit verse in praise of the Ganges, and the pandit within a short time composed a hundred slokas, reciting the verse like a storm and showing the strength of his vast learning.
Nimai Pandit at once memorized all the slokas without an error.He quoted the sixty-fourth sloka and pointed out certain rhetorical and literary irregularities. He particularly questioned the pandit's use of the words bhavani-bhartuh. He pointed out that the use of these two words are redundant. Bhavani means the wife of Siva, and who else can be her bharta, or hunsband.
He also pointed out several other discrepancies, and the Kashmir pandit was struck with wonder. He was astonished that a mere student of grammar could point out prior to any public meeting, the news spread like wildfire all over Navadvipa.
But finally Kesava Kasmiri was ordered in a dream by Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, to submit to the Lord, and thus the Kashmir pandit became a follower of the Lord.
The Lord was then married with great pomp and gaiety, and at this time He began to preach the congregational chanting of the holy name of the Lord at Navadvipa. Some of the brahmanas became envious of His popularity, and they put many hindrances on His path. They were so jealous that they finally took the matter before the Muslim magistrate at Navadvipa.
Bengal was then governed by Pathans, and the governor of the province was Nawab Hussain Shah. The Muslim magistrate of Navadvipa took up the complaints of the brahmans seriously, and at first he warned the followers of Nimai Pandit not to chant loudly the name of Hari. But Lord Caitanya asked his followers to disobey the orders of the Kazi, and they went on their sankirtana(chanting) party as usual.
The magistrate then sent constables who interrupted a sankirtana and broke some of the mrdangas(drums). When Nimai Pandit heard of this incidence He organized a party for civil disobedience. He is the pioneer of the civil disobedience movement in India for the right cause. He organized a procession of 100,000 men with thousands of mrdangas and karatalas(hand cymbals), and this procession passed over the roads of Navadvipa in defiance of the Kazi who issued the order.
Finally the procession reached the house of the Kazi, who went upstairs out of fear of the masses. The great crowds assembled at the Kazi's house displayed a violent temper, but the Lord asked them to be peaceful.
At this time the Kazi came down and tried to pacify the Lord by addressing Him as his nephew. He pointed out that Nilambara Cakravarti referred to him as an uncle, and consequently, Srimati Sacidevi, the mother of Nimai Pandit, was his sister. He asked the Lord whether his sister's son could be angry at His maternal uncle. and the Lord replied that since the Kazi was His maternal uncle he should receive his nephew well at his home.
In this way the issue was mitigated, and the two learned scholars began a long discussion on the Koran and Hindu sastras. The Lord raised the question of cow killing, and the Kazi properly answered Him by referring to the Koran. In turn the Kazi also questioned the Lord about cow sacrifice in the Vedas is not actually cow killing. In that sacrifice an old bull or cow was sacrificed for the sake of receiving a fresh younger life by the power of Vedic mantras. But in the Kali-yuga such cow sacrifies are forbidden becuase there are no qualified brahmanas capable of conducting such a sacrifice.
In fact, in Kali-youga all yajnas(sacrifies) are forbidden because they are useless atempts by foolish men. In Kali-yuga only the sankirtana yajna is recommended for all practical purposes. Speaking in this way, the Lord finally convinced the Kazi, who became the Lord's follower. The Kazi thenceforth declared that no one should hinder the sankirtana movement which was started by the Lord, and the Kazi left this order in his will for the sake of progeny.
The Kazi's tomb still exists in the area of Navadvipa, and Hindu pilgrims go there to show their respects. The Kazi's descendants are residents, and they never object to sankirtana, even during the Hindu Muslim riot days.
This incidence shows clearly that the Lord was not a so-called timid Vaisnava. A Vaisnava is a fearless devotee of the Lord, and for the right cause he can take any step suitable for the purpose. Arjuna was also a Vaisnava devotee of Lord Krsna, and he fought valiantly for the satisfaction of the Lord. Similarly, Vrjrangaji, or Hanuman, was also a devotee of Lord Rama, and he gave lessons to the nondevotee part of Ravana.
The principles of Vaisnavism are to satisfy the Lord by all means. A Vaisnava is by nature a nonviolent, peaceful living being, and he has all the good qualities of God, but when the nondevotee blasphemes the Lord or His devotee, the Vaisnava never tolerates such impudency.