Text 22
Prithukunda uttarete Mathura nagari
Sashti-tirtha Madhuvana parama sundara
Bahujana-kirna janapada subistara
Darsana pabitra hau nayana amara
Translation –
North of Prithu Kunda is the town of Mathura and Sashti-tirtha, which are exceedingly beautiful and which lie within the forest of Madhuvan (in Vraja). It is very populous and full of grand residences. May my eyes become purified beholding this exalted place.
Purport –
Traveling North of Prithu Kunda we reach the residence of Chand Kazi, who was none other than the incarnation of King Kamsa, Krishna’s maternal uncle. But unlike Dvapara Yuga, where Lord Krishna killed Kamsa, Lord Chaitanya delivered Chand Kazi by bestowing His causeless mercy upon him and transforming him into a devotee. This is a vital difference between Krishna’s and Mahaprabhu’s pastimes. Lord Gauranga kills the sin and not the sinner. Thus the offenders in Lord Gauranga’s pastimes do not receive the despicable impersonal liberation (sayujya mukti) like in Krishna’s pastimes but instead, they are blessed with pure love of God. That is why Lord Gauranga’s pastimes are considered to be the highest. This place, where the residence of Chand Kazi is located is non-different to the land of Mathura.
Previously when the demigods learnt that Mahaprabhu was about to descend in Navadvipa, Vishwakarma (chief architect of the demigods) came down to Nadia and witnessed that it would be hard to get water on the roads where the Lord would do kirtana in the future. So one night he dug out sixty (Sasthi) wide ponds, the last being at the Kazi’s village. Just beside the residence of Kolavecha Sridhara, we can see even today the remains of a dug out, surrounded by raised edges. This was one of these sixty ponds that were dug out by Vishwakarma.