Sri Murari Gupta, the 21st branch of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, was born in Srihatta (Sylhet – presently in Bangladesh), the paternal home of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and later he shifted to Navadwip. He belonged to the family of vaidya (physicians). Sri Murari Gupta and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu studied in the same school. Mahaprabhu used to tease Murari by raising many topics of discussion and subsequently defeating him.
cikitsā karena yāre ha-iyā sadaya
deha-roga bhāva-roga, — dui tāra kṣaya
(Sri Chaitanya Caritamrita – Adi Lila 10.51)
Sri Murari Gupta was such an expert physician that not only would he treat patients for their material ailments, but being a devotee of the Supreme Lord, he would also bestow spiritual advancement and thereby treat their spiritual diseases.
He would regularly participate in sankirtana at Srivas Angan. He was the treasure house of the Love of Godhead. His humility and meekness melted the heart of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. One day, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu tried to allure Sri Murari to worship Lord Krishna. Mahaprabhu told Sri Murari Gupta that Lord Sri Krishna is the emperor of sweetness, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the origin of all incarnations. In this way, Mahaprabhu described the transcendental qualities of Lord Sri Krishna and requested Murari to take shelter of Krishna. Sri Murari Gupta humbly accepted the position as servitor and order-carrier of Mahaprabhu.
The whole night, Sri Murari Gupta couldn’t sleep. He cried continuously, thinking he had to give up the worship of his beloved Sri Raghunatha. The next morning, Sri Murari fell at the lotus feet of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and submitted an appeal that he would commit suicide because he couldn’t give up the worship of Sri Raghunatha, nor could he disobey Mahaprabhu. Hearing this, Mahaprabhu became very happy with Sri Murari Gupta’s devotion and praised him for setting an example as a perfect servitor of the Lord.
During the Mahaprakash Lila, when Mahaprabhu exhibited devotional ecstasy for 21 hours, the Lord revealed the past identities of several of His intimate associates and blessed them with many boons. To Sri Murari Gupta, Gauranga revealed Sri Raghunatha in a beautiful form, whose body colour was like fresh green grass, holding a bow and arrow in His hands. Next to Him were Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughna, and an army of monkeys who praised the Lord with hymns and prayers. Lord revealed that Murari was none other than the incarnation of Hanuman. Having darshan of His beloved Lord Sri Rama, Sri Murari Gupta fainted on the floor in ecstasy.
Once, in the house of Srivasa Thakura, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu were seated together. Upon arrival, Sri Murari Gupta first offered respects to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, then to Nityananda Prabhu, and finally to the other Vaishnavas present there. However, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu remarked that Sri Nityananda Prabhu was older than Him and therefore Sri Murari Gupta should have offered respects to Nityananda Prabhu first. After understanding the proper social etiquette from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Murari Gupta followed as instructed by Mahaprabhu.
On another occasion, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in the house of Murari Gupta and exhibited the pastime of the Boar incarnation. The Lord lifted a water pot with His beautiful tusks and told Sri Murari to sing praises in His glorification. Astonished to see the Boar form of Mahaprabhu, Sri Murari Gupta glorified the Lord, saying: even Ananta Shesha, whose one hood carries the burden of millions of universes, cannot reach the end of the Lord’s glories even with a thousand hoods. So how could Sri Murari Gupta glorify the Lord? In this way, he expressed his helplessness.
Sri Murari continued that even the Vedas, which are accepted as the final authority throughout the material creation, cannot know the Lord in actuality. It is only by the mercy of the Supreme Lord that one can know Him in truth. Being satisfied with Sri Murari Gupta’s praises, the Lord informed him that He (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu) is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, descended to spread harinam sankirtana to the fallen souls. The Lord declared that He cannot tolerate any harm towards His devotees, even if the miscreant happens to be His own son, like Narakasura. Narakasura, the son of Varahadeva and Mother Earth, was initially good in nature. But due to bad association, he became cruel towards devotees. Ultimately, the Lord was forced to kill him in order to protect His beloved devotees.
On one occasion, a devotee of the Lord prepared food for Lord Chaitanya using an excessive amount of ghee. The following day, the Lord felt unwell and visited Murari Gupta for medical assistance. Lord Chaitanya simply drank some water from Murari Gupta’s waterpot and was immediately restored to health. The natural remedy for indigestion is to drink a little water, and since Murari Gupta was a physician, he gave the Lord drinking water and cured Him.
Sri Murari Gupta was an example of an ideal householder.
He never accepted charity from friends; he practised as a physician and maintained his family with his earnings. As an eternal associate of the Lord, he was fixed at the lotus feet of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. He expertly narrated all of Lord Chaitanya’s childhood and boyhood pastimes in his great Sanskrit epic, Sri-Krishna-Chaitanya-carita-mahakavya (also called Karcha, diary).
