120719 Antya 18 Rescuing the Lord from the Sea.mp3 (36 minutes, 16.6 MB)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gives the following summary of the Eighteenth Chapter:

On an autumn evening when the moon was full, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu walked along the seashore near the Aitota temple. Mistaking the sea for the Yamuna River, He jumped into it, hoping to see the water pastimes Krishna enjoyed with Srimati Radharani and the other gopis. As He floated in the sea, however, He was washed away to the Konarka temple, where a fisherman, thinking that the Lord’s body was a big fish, caught Him in his net and brought Him ashore. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was unconscious, and His body had become unusually transformed. As soon as the fisherman touched the Lord’s body, he became mad in ecstatic love of Krishna. His own madness frightened him, however, because he thought that he was being haunted by a ghost. As he was about to seek a ghost charmer, he met Swarup Damodar Goswami and the other devotees on the beach, who had been looking everywhere for the Lord. After some inquiries, Swarup Damodar could understand that the fisherman had caught Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in his net. Since the fisherman was afraid of being haunted by a ghost, Swarup Damodar gave him a slap and chanted Hare Krishna, which immediately pacified him. Thereafter, when the devotees chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra loudly, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to His external consciousness. Then they brought Him back to His own residence.

(Excerpt from the summary of Chapter 18 from Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita by Srila Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, translation and commentary by Srila Prabhupad)