Reaching Out

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

Srimad Bhagavad-gita says,

যদা যদা হি ধর্ম্মস্য গ্লানির্ভবতি ভারত ।
অভ্যুত্থানমধর্ম্মস্য তদাত্মানং সৃজাম্যহম্ ॥

yada yada hi dharmasya, glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya, tadatmanam srjamy aham

"O Bharata, whenever there is a decline of religion and an uprising of irreligion, I personally make My advent."

Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.7

"When religion goes down and irreligion, many nonsense things, come, at that time Krishna always appears in this world," that is why, as I was saying yesterday, Krishna Himself came as Gauranga Mahaprabhu.

As you know, Mahaprabhu was born in Phalgun month. That day was a full chandra-grahana (moon eclipse), and everybody was blowing conchshells, girls were making ulu-dhvani (auspicious cries)... But when Mahaprabhu appeared, He started crying so much. Why was He crying? Because nobody was chanting the Holy Name. Some ladies affectionately took Him in their hands and tried to calm Him down, but He did not stop crying; then some fortunate lady took Him in her hands and chanted, "Hari bol! Hare Krishna!" and the crying stopped. Everybody started chanting "Hare Krishna!" "Hari bol!"

This is how, from His very birth, Mahaprabhu started spreading the Holy Name in this world.

One time, when Nimai (Mahaprabhu's childhood name) was three and a half years old, a sannyasi came begging to their house. Jagannath Mishra and Sachi Mata (Nimai's father and mother) asked him, "You have come almost at noon... We have a Deity of Narayan at our house, please cook and offer some bhog to our Deity, and you can take prasadam here." The sannyasi accepted the invitation and started cooking.

When he finished cooking, he went to offer the bhog to the Deity, but suddenly he saw that Nimai, a small three-and-a-half-year-old boy, had come there and was about to eat that bhog. The sannyasi scolded him, "Go away! Why have You come here?! Get out!" and Nimai ran away. Hearing the noise, Jagannath Mishra came to the sannyasi.

"What has happened?" he asked the sannyasi.

"Your naughty son has come. I was offering the bhog, but He touched it."

"I do not know what offence I have committed for this to happen, but please cook again."

The sannyasi agreed and started cooking again. When he finished cooking, it was already afternoon time, he again went to offer the bhog to the Deities, and Jagannath Mishra stood at the gate with a stick. Suddenly, he did not know how he had got there, but he saw Nimai was already there, eating the offering! The sannyasi began to shout, "What?! You have come again!"

Jagannath Mishra became very angry, and, sensing the trouble, Nimai ran away. His father followed Him with a stick in his hands, but even though He was a small boy Jagannath Mishra could not catch Him. Nimai ran to the neighbour's house and closed the door. Jagannath Mishra shouted to the neighbour, "Please open the door! I am going to give this boy a hiding!" and Nimai was shaking. Do you see? The whole world is afraid of Him, but He who is Krishna Himself, is afraid of His father. This is called vatsalya-rasa.

The sannyasi did not understand what was going on, and Jagannath Mishra and Sachi Mata were very sad—they cried thinking a sannyasi had come to their house, but he could not get any prasadam, could not offer the bhog to the Deity. Hearing the noise and seeing everybody in the house was sad, Jagannath Mishra's elder son, Vishvarupa, came and asked what had happened. The sannyasi asked Jagannath Mishra who he was, and when Jagannath Mishra said it was his elder son, the sannyasi explained, "Your younger brother is very naughty. I have given the offering to the Deity two times today, but every time He came and ate it!" Vishvarup understood what had happened and said to the sannyasi, "Please, do not be sad. My younger brother is always afraid of me. Please cook now, and I will stand on guard and make sure He cannot come in."

The sannyasi again cooked the offering and before he went to give it to the Deity, he went to see where Nimai was, thinking, "What if He comes again?" Seeing that Nimai was sleeping next to His mother in one of the rooms, he closed the door to the room quietly not to wake Him up and went to offer the bhog.

The sannyasi closed his eyes and started reciting the mantras. He prayed to the Lord, "Prabhu, I am such a big offender today, I could not give You the bhog timely today, please forgive me..." but when he opened his eyes, he saw Nimai had already finished the bhog! The sannyasi was surprised, "You have come again?!"

Then Nimai spoke to Him, "Why are you shouting at Me? You always call Me, 'Please take this food,' but when I come you chastise Me. What is this? Perhaps you do not recognise Me..." and He showed the sannyasi His forms of Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga, and Dvapar-yuga, holding a sankha, chakra, gada, padma (a conch, a wheel, a club, and a lotus). Then Nimai said, "You are very fortunate because now I will show you My form in Kali-yuga. This is the form I have chosen, but do not tell anybody about it."

It is written in some books that this sannyasi was Madhavendra Puri...

When Nityananda Prabhu was twelve years old he ran away with Madhavendra Puri from His house. Mahaprabhu left His house when He was twenty-four years old, and Gurudev said that after Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He went from Katwa to Santipur through Bamunpara. At that time there were many cowherd boys in Bamunpara, and when Mahaprabhu asked them the way to Vrindavan, one of the cowherd boys showed Him a wrong direction (they told Mahaprabhu, "Vrindavan is this way, not that way") because Nityananda Prabhu had told them to do so before that. This is how Mahaprabhu came to Shantipur, Advaita Acharya's house. He spent there ten days, and His mother cooked for Him. Sachi Mata asked Advaita Prabhu or some other devotee, "Can you get a permission from Him? He is a sannyasi now, I do not know if He will take food from me or not... but He is going so far and I will not be able to cook for Him any more..." Hearing this, Gauranga Mahaprabhu said, "No matter where I stay, when My mother cooks for Me, I will take that food from her."

This is the main news....

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