CC Antya 18 (1975) Summary
A summary of the Eighteenth Chapter is given by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya. On an autumn evening when the moon was full, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu walked along the seashore near the Āiṭoṭā temple. Mistaking the sea for the Yamunā River, He jumped into it, hoping to see the water pastimes of Kṛṣṇa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and the other gopīs. As He floated in the sea, however, He was washed away to the Koṇārka temple, where a fisherman, thinking that the Lord's body was a big fish, caught Him in his net and brought Him ashore. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu 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 Kṛṣṇa. 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 Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī and the other devotees on the beach, who had been looking everywhere for the Lord. After some inquiries, Svarūpa Dāmodara could understand that the fisherman had caught Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in his net. Since the fisherman was afraid of being haunted by a ghost, Svarūpa Dāmodara gave him a slap and chanted Hare Kṛṣṇa, which immediately pacified him. Thereafter, when the devotees chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra loudly, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to His external consciousness. Then they brought Him back to His own residence.