Question: Did the associates of Lord Caitanya know they were incarnations? Did Haridas Thakuir know he was an incarnation of Brahma? Did Sarvabauma Bhattacarya did he know at some stage that he was an incarnation of Brihaspati?

Jayapataka Swami:  Lord Caitanya revealed to some who they were, like He showed Murari Gupta that he was Hanuman. So some of His devotees were shown who they were, but we are not clear that every devotee knew who they were, but they showed those qualities. So if he has the qualities of Prahlad, then we can know that he is Prahlad. So Haridas Thakur was beaten in 22 marketplaces. But he prayed to Krsna, please forgive these executioners because they don’t know what they are doing. Lord Caitanya showed that He took the hits on His back as He could not tolerate that His devotee should be punished. When Haridas Thakur saw this he fainted, but if he realized that he was Brahma that is not mentioned. So maybe someone may know and maybe not. Like Yamaraja was cursed to become a sudra. So he took birth as Vidura and he was the son of a sudrani. So whether he knew whether he was Yamaraja or not, it is not sure, but later he knew he was cursed to become a sudra, so he chose to be a sudra in the family of Krsna. So interesting question. But the point is that some knew at the beginning and some knew at the end. Haribol!
05-NOVEMBER-2019 MUMBAI, INDIA