It is a common knowledge that the activities of Sri Caitanya have been divided into three phases - 'Adi', 'Madhya' and 'Antya leela' by his famous biographer Krishnadas Kaviraj. His predecessor Brindaban Das has done the same thing but has used the term 'Khanda' indicating thereby that he was doing it in respect of his Caitanya Mangal, which came to be known as Caitanya Bhagavata during the later part of the 17th century. But by mentioning Lee/a', Krishnadas was indicating the activities of Sri Caitanya himself. And we all find that while the first phase begins at his birth at Navadvip in February, 1486 A.D., it ends in December 1509 AD. when Sri Caitanya returns from Gaya after per¬forming the obsequies in respect of his deceased father Jagannath Misra. At Gaya he was primarily initiated by Isvar Puri to worship Gopala. The second phase ends in 1510 A.D. during the last week of January when he finally accepted 'Sannyasa' from Keshab Bharati who chris¬tened him as Srikrishna Caitanya. It now needs no mention that the 'Antya Leela' or the third phase of the life of Caitanya relates to his activities that were interspersed from 1510 to 1533 A.D. Neelacal was used as the centre for his activities of this stage although he visited Bengal at least twice, went to Brindaban and extensively toured South India within 1510-14 A.D.
The interregnum between Caitanya's return from Gaya and acceptance of Sannyasa was, to my mind, the most important period of his life. He did take three very important decisions during the intervening twelve months. These were : accepting Sannyasa, carrying out a dif¬ferent ideology for a new sect of the Vaisnavas and staying at Neelacal for the rest of his life. All these three decisions were exceedingly crucial in their different perspectives. For example, the decision of his accepting Sannyasa would appear illogical to us in the background of his family history. Sachi Devi gave birth to eight daughters all of whom died prematurely. Her first son and the ninth child Bisvarup had already taken Sannyasa and left his parents at the age of sixteen. Bisvambhar had his second wife. Bishnupriya, at home. He knew it pretty well that his renunciation of family life would be an unkind attitude towards his mother and wife both.
In regard to the second decision, we cannot forget that it cannot be discussed in this article. It requires much more space and time. The third decision in regard to spending life at Neelacal was taken after weighing different pros and cons as it was also partially related to the background of the first decision.There were two other shrines where Caitanya could stay on and those were Brindaban and Banaras or Kashi. Brindaban was not properly developed then and not much of safety and security was available there. Kasi, on the other hand, was a centre for the Vedantists who would fiercely oppose to the dualistic theory of the Vaisnavas. Brindaban and Kashi were also far-off places and the relation of these places with Bengal was scanty. So it appeared to Caitanya that Neelacal did not have any alternative at that time for being chosen as his residence.
After accepting Sannyasa at Katwa Sri Caitanya came to see his mother at Shantipur. He told her about his decision to go to Neelacal. Sachi Devi readily supported the decision and said-
Tate ei jukti bhalo mor mane lay
Neelachale rahe jadi dui karya hay.
Neelachal Navadvipe sai dui ghar
Loka gatagati varta pabo nirantar.
(It appears to me that if he (Caitanya) stays at Neelacal it would be better as it would serve two purposes. Neelacal and Navadwip are like two f djacent houses. People very often go there and I will get all information about Caitanya almost every now and then).
I life to add to it that apart from this facility, which was of course quite important, there was another facet of this decision. Sri Jagannath is considered synonymous with Krishna and this was an additional consideration for Caitanya who was a devout Vaisnava. We also find that he was considered Ridha-bhava dyuti- suvalita Krisna-svarupa an incarnation of Krishna with the staunchest love and lustre of Radha. Outwardly Caitanya's complexion was also too fair for which he is sometimes described as 'Antah Krisna vahir gaura'.
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