Vāsudeva Vipra was Mahāprabhu’s great devotee in South India. It is very difficult to recognize a devotee. When a devotee is very poor and materially undistinguished, it is very hard for an ordinary mundane person to recognize him. Mahāprabhu revealed Vāsudeva Vipra’s glories to the world. While wandering through South India, Mahāprabhu blessed a brāhmaṇa named Kūrma. Vāsudeva Vipra was a leper, who upon learning that Mahāprabhu was at Kūrma’s house, went there in the hope of getting sight of Him. He learned from Kūrma, however, that the Lord had already departed. Vāsudeva was so disappointed at this news that he fell down on the ground and fainted.

The all-knowing and most merciful Lord is so affectionate to His devotees that even though He had already walked a good distance from there, He returned to grant His darśana to Vāsudeva and embraced him. Mahāprabhu’s touch immediately cured him of his leprosy and turned him into a healthy and handsome young man. The Lord is everywhere. If one is eager to attain Him, one can attain Him. The Lord can only be won over by devotion. He takes no notice of any mundane qualification or virtue. He took no notice of Vāsudeva’s advanced case of leprosy but embraced him out of His affection for him as a devotee.

Vāsudeva was an incredible individual. The open sores of his body were home to maggots, which fed off the puss and blood that oozed from them. If one of them should fall from the wound, Vāsudeva would pick it up off the ground and put it back. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.7.136-7)

When Vāsudeva Vipra saw the limitless mercy of the Supreme Lord, he responded in his amazement with a verse spoken by Sudāmā Vipra from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam:

kvāhaṁ daridraḥ pāpīyān kva kṛṣṇaḥ śrī-niketanaḥ
brahma-bandhur iti smāhaṁ bāhubhyāṁ parirambhitaḥ

I am a sinful, poor and low-class brāhmaṇa whereas Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the abode of the Goddess of Fortune. Though I am an unqualified brāhmaṇa, He has taken me in His arms and embraced me. This is truly astonishing. (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.89.16)

Such mercy could never be found in an ordinary human being. Ordinary people would stay far away from Vāsudeva, being disgusted by the foul odour of his disease, but Mahāprabhu, the independent Lord, not only touched him but embraced him.

It should be remembered that a Vaiṣṇava’s body is never material. It is transcendental and completely pure. Mahāprabhu’s unparalleled affection for His devotees was displayed through the following conversation with Haridāsa Ṭhākura, which has been described in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta as follows:

Haridāsa said, “You are the merciful Supreme Lord; no one can understand the depths of Your heart. Vāsudeva had such terrible leprosy that his gaping wounds were full of maggots. You are so merciful that You embraced him in spite of it. Your embrace turned him into a young man as beautiful as Cupid. No one can understand the waves of Your mercy.”

The Lord answered, “A devotee’s body is never material. The devotee’s transcendental body is made of divine and ecstatic spiritual substance.” (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 3.4.188-191)

A person who is averse to Śrī Kṛṣṇa sees a Vaiṣṇava’s body only externally and thus is deprived of the vision of his spiritual form.

When Vāsudeva became a handsome young man by the Lord’s miraculous touch, he became afraid that he would become vain and that would be his downfall. Those who are proud are deprived of the Lord’s mercy and are not even qualified to chant the Names of the Lord.

Mahāprabhu considered Vāsudeva Vipra to be most qualified and instructed him to act as an ācārya:

The Lord said, “You will never become vain if you constantly chant Kṛṣṇa’s Name. Deliver the fallen souls by instructing them about Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa will very quickly accept you.” (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.7.147-8)