aṅguṣṭhamātraḥ puruṣo jyotirivādhūmakaḥ īśāno bhūtabhavyasya sa evādya sa u śvaḥ etadvai tat “The person the size of a thumb is like a fire free of smoke; The lord of what was and what will be; the same today and tomorrow.” (transl. by Olivelle) It is about the greatness of a supreme deity/God. Any preacher or person can claim to be this deity — whoever likes. The words apply to Caitanya as much as to any other god or person. Taking words out of context and interpreting them in their own favour is a favourite technique of Caitanya’s followers, starting with Jīva Gosvāmin (more on this below). Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja’s translation does little justice to the quote that says: “golden hair and a golden beard; is completely golden”. All other words of translation are a fitting of meaning to the desired result. This section of the Upaniṣad deals with the sounds and mantra-s of the Ṛgveda and Sāmaveda; that they are earth and fire; that they are wind and sky, moon and sun; that they are lustre and darkness, etc. If Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja or those who compiled this book had not deliberately shortened the mantra and tried to pass off the mention of yellow colour as the colour of Gaurāṅga aka Caitanya, the reader would have seen a very different picture: “Now, sā is the white luster of the sun and ama, the dark, the pitch-black — and that makes ‘Sāma.’ Now, the golden person we see within the sun — he has golden hair and a golden beard; he is completely golden, down to the very tips of his nails. His eyes are like deep blue lotuses. His name is ‘Up’ (ud), for he has risen up (udita) above all evils. Anyone who knows this undoubtedly rises up above all evils. The two songs (geṣṇa) of that golden person are the Ṛg and the Sāman. He is therefore the High Chant (udgītha), and, because he sings it, also the High Chanter (udgātṛ). He rules over the worlds beyond the sun and over the desires of gods. That was with respect to the divine sphere.” (transl. by Olivelle) The author of the passage tried very hard to make it similar to the Chāndogya-upaniṣad mantra, but with “Gauḍīya” material. This can be seen at least by looking at mantra-s 8.1.1 and 8.1.2: atha yad idam asmin brahmapure daharaṃ puṇḍarīkaṃ veśma daharo ’sminn antarākāsaḥ tasmin yad antas tad anveṣṭavyaṃ tad vāva vijijñāsitavyam iti The mention of the word māyā-puram as the birthplace of Caitanya in the passage gives away the affiliation and most probable identity of the author or his followers. Māyāpura was declared as the birthplace of Caitanya by Kedāranātha Bhaktivinoda aka Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. The fact is that before Bhaktivinoda’s move to Krishnagar and frequent trips to Navadvīpa between 1886 and 1890s, Caitanya’s birthplace and sacred place of pilgrimage was Navadvīpa. After moving, Bhaktivinoda engaged in what today would be called subversive activities. He started publishing articles, organizing meetings and gatherings, trying his best to smear the local paṇḍita-s, presenting them as greedy for money and fame, and trying to win over the local intellectuals (bhadralok) by convincing them that Māyāpura was the true birthplace of Caitanya, which was revealed to him through divine revelation, and Navadvīpa was just a city. Bhaktivinoda showed them maps, interviewed the locals, etc. The intellectuals did not want to quarrel with an influential official, the paṇḍita-s resisted to the last. This little known story to the adherents of Gaudiya Math and ISKCON I will tell in the near future. The traditional Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas do not recognise this idea. We have no reason to consider Māyāpura as the birthplace of Caitanya. We know from the Gauḍīya sampradāya literature that Caitanya was born and lived in Navadvīpa. Everything else is fantasy. The Chāndogya-upaniṣad was composed in the eighth to sixth centuries BC. In the 15th century A.D. and until the 1890s, it was Navadvīpa that was the centre of learning and the birthplace of Caitanya, not Māyāpura. Even assuming that the Chāndogya-upaniṣad would have spoken of Caitanya, it would have spoken of Navadvīpa, not Māyāpura, which became a “holy place” only in the 1890s. The passage presented by Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja and passed off by him as the mantra of the Chāndogya-upaniṣad is pure fake. The correct translation of this mantra is: When the seer sees that Person, the golden-colored, the creator, the Lord, as the womb of brahman; Then, shaking off the good and the bad, the wise man becomes spotless, and attains the highest identity. As we can see the mantra speaks a little differently than Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja has presented it. There are no phrases in the mantra “he becomes full of knowledge”, “consequently renounces material attachment”, “his body created from material nature as well”, “Thus becoming completely free from matter”, “he gains his Supreme friend (Īśvara)”, “That Supreme soul has an attractive”, “the father of Lord Brahmā”. Translation of the mantra of the Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad 3.8: “I know that immense Person, having the color of the sun and beyond darkness. Only when a man knows him does he pass beyond death; there is no other path for getting there.” Translation of the mantra of the Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad 3.12: “The Person, clearly, is the immense Lord. He is the one who sets in motion the real. The Imperishable One rules over the light, this totally flawless attainment.” (transl. by Olivelle) The words “Supersoul” and “Sriman Mahaprabhu”, “pure bhakti” are missing from the mantra 3.12. Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja is wishful thinking. And here is a convenient occasion to claim that the words “mahān prabhur” — is Caitanya. This mantra was interpreted in favour of Caitanya as early as Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. We know from his biography that during the period of 1886 he was actively studying the Upaniṣads, their language, style and structure. The Caitanya-upaniṣad just appeared in 1887, as did most of the “proofs” of Caitanya’s avatārahood, which the founders and main ācārya-s of the school did not mention. The Gaudiya Maths and ISKCON continue to regard these “proofs” as authentic.