Mahaprabhu's
Danda and 3.5 Devotees

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Caracas, Venezuela
20 September 2009

One time I went with many devotees to Kalna, Gauri Das Pandit's house. Now we are making a temple there, a Ladies' Ashram. Gurudev told me to make a ladies' ashram in Bamunpara, but it is a village and it is not very safe for the Western ladies, that is why I started that temple in Kalna.

When we were in Kalna at that time, some local devotees called us, "Come, come, come!" They said it was Nityananda Prabhu's wedding place, but I told them, "Nityananda is Svayam Bhagavan, He is the Lord Himself—do not mix your wedding with Nityananda Prabhu's wedding." They think Nityananda Prabhu is a human, but Nityananda Prabhu is Saksad Balaram, He is actually Mul-Sankarsan. He is the Controller and the ashraya-vigraha (embodiment of shelter). Without the mercy of ashraya—without the mercy of Gurudev, without the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu—you cannot get Krishna. It is necessary to take some shelter, and He is the shelter vigraha, that is why we must serve Nityananda Prabhu.

You know what happened at Gauri Das Pandit's house, and I saw yesterday that Nitai and Gaura here in Caracas have that kind of mood too...

Do you have any questions?

Question: Why did Nityananda Prabhu break Mahaprabhu's danda?

Nityananda and Mahaprabhu were going to Puri, and it was at that time that Nityananda Prabhu broke Mahaprabhu's danda. It happened at Atharnala. It is a good question why Nityananda Prabhu broke it. Chaitanya-charitamrita itself says (2.5.157), "Inho kene danda bhange, tenho kene bhangaya: why Nityananda Prabhu broke the danda, and why did Mahaprabhu allow Him to break the danda?" It is actually the will of the Lord, but Mahaprabhu showed His anger towards Nityananda Prabhu, "You have broken My danda! It is not good!"

Gurudev told me there were two causes.

All Deities' paraphernalia—like conch, like Mahaprabhu's bed, Mahaprabhu's peacock fan (pakha), chamar (yak-tail whisk), even the temple itself—all is Nityananda Prabhu, all is ashraya vigraha, that is why we do not pay dandavat inside the temple [the Deities' room], we do not blow the conch inside the temple [the Deities' room]. Similarly, the danda is also Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu thought, "Why should Mahaprabhu carry Me? I should carry Him!" This is one of the causes, and the other cause is this. Mahaprabhu is Bhagavan, Krishna Himself, and it is not necessary for Krishna to take sannyas, it is not necessary for Him to practise—why should Krishna practise for Himself? It is like we do ekadasi, but Lord Nityananda Prabhu, Lord Mahaprabhu do not do ekadasi—we offer Them the bhog and They eat it happily. In the same way, why should Mahaprabhu take sannyas? What is the necessity to take sannyas and carry danda? We have a human body, so we will take danda, but it is not necessary for Bhagavan to do it. Nityananda Prabhu thought in this way, but Mahaprabhu said to Him, "O Nityananda, You know what I have come in this world for, You know what for I have come as a devotee—to teach devotion!"

Do you understand?

They ask so many hard questions like this in Russia. They read so much. Do you know what question they once asked me in Russia in 2002? I was giving the class in the morning and somehow it was mentioned that Mahaprabhu had three and a half (close) devotees—Svarup Damodar, Ray Ramananda, Sikhi Mahiti, and Sikhi Mahiti's sister, Srimati Madhavi Devi. I was on the stage with all the other sannyasis when suddenly the ladies got up from their chairs and one of them asked, "We ladies do so much service, why is a lady considered only a half?!" The answer is not written in the scripture, but I gave her an answer and later asked Gurudev if that answer was correct, and Gurudev said it was the right answer.

What answer did I give?

The ladies do all services—they clean, cook, and so on, but there is one 'but'. Madhavi Devi cooked for Mahaprabhu, but she is a lady, so she could not go in front of Mahaprabhu and feed Him. She cooked everything, but Svarup Damodar and Ray Ramananda would take the food to Mahaprabhu and feed Him, so she did only half of the service. She also washed all clothes, but she could not go and give them to Mahaprabhu—she did everything when Mahaprabhu was not in the house. That is why it is said she is a half. Gurudev said, "You gave the right answer."

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