Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj tells to following delightful story in the final chapter of the first part (Adi-līlā) of his biography of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu – the Caitanya Caritāmṛta.
One day an all-knowing astrologer came to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s door. Prabhu showed him all honor and then put a question to him. “Who was I in my past life, according to astrology?”
The astrologer set to work. After calculating planetary conditions and contemplating them carefully, the all-knower astrologer perceived the image of a being composed of extremely brilliant light, in which rested all the spiritual worlds. Seeing this man to be the absolute truth, the supreme spirit, the ultimate controller, great confusion struck the astrologer. He was at a loss for words.
Prabhu once again asked, so the all-seeing astrologer finally spoke. “In your past life you were the perfectly complete shelter of the universes, the Supreme Personality of Godhead with infinitude in all six categories of opulence. In the present you are the same as you were in the past: the very form of inconceivable, eternal bliss.”
With a smile Prabhu mildly dismissed him., “You don’t know anything! In my past life I was a cowherd boy. I took birth in the home of a cowhearder and there I cared for the cows. Because of these good deeds, I have now become the son of a Brahmana.”
The all-knower said, “By contemplating the planetary positions I perceived so much majesty in you. Therefore I become confused. But I know for certain that the divine form I envisioned is in your past life is non-different from this body you now have. To see any difference between them would be the spell of your maya (illusory magic). Whatever you were in the past, and whatever you are now, I pay my respects to you!”
How did Prabhu pay the astrologer for his reading? He honored him with the highest treasure in the 14 worlds or beyond, the treasure of pure, ecstatic divine love of Godhead.
Jai Gaura Hari!
The Enquirer 