At Gauri Das Pandit's House

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
18 August 2013

Gauri Das Pandit was a grihastha devotee who lived in Kalna. His brother was the father of Jahnava and Vasudha (the consorts of Nityananda Prabhu).

Once, Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu came to Kalna by boat (at that time there was no road in that area) and decided to visit Gauri Das Pandit's house. They stayed there for some time, but when They were about to leave, Gauri Das Pandit stopped Them:

"Prabhu, You cannot go. Your coming was up to You, but Your leaving is up to me. I will not let you go. Stay here and I will serve You both."

"How is it possible? We must go preaching door to door. We cannot only come and stay at your house, this is not Our duty." Then Mahaprabhu said, "Look behind!"

Gauri Das Pandit turned round and saw two Deities standing there. Those Deities stayed at the house of Gauri Das Pandit, and Gauri Das Pandit served Them (this service is still going on at his house).

Gauri Das Pandit also had a servitor whose name was Chaitanya Das. Chaitanya Das was the temple servitor, the pujari, and Gauri Das would go out to collect and preach. Once, some time before Gaura Purnima, Gauri Das Pandit went for collection and did not return for a few days. Only three days were left before the Gaura Purnima day, and Chaitanya Das, who was just a young boy at that time, decided not to wait any longer and invited everybody for the festival. When Gauri Das Pandit came back and heard that Chaitanya Das had invited everyone for Gaura Purnima, he became very angry,

"Who told you to invite everybody?!"

"Prabhu, you were coming late... There was no time left..."

"Go! Get out of here!"

His master ordered him, so he had to follow it. Chaitanya Das left, but he did not go back to his house—he stayed on the bank of the Ganges.

A few days later was Gaura Purnima. The devotees came to Gauri Das Pandit's house and brought rice, dal, incense and other paraphernalia for the festival. Angry, Gauri Das Pandit came out of the house,

"Go from here, there is no festival here! Who invited you here?"

"Where is that young boy, Chaitanya Das?"

"He is on the bank of the Ganges. Go there! Go, all of you."

The devotees took everything they had brought and went to the Ganges. In the meantime, Chaitanya Das was sitting alone, crying, "It is a festival, but the Lord is not here... What kind of festival is it without the Lord!"

Having sent everyone away, Gauri Das Pandit went to his mandir, opened the door and saw that, even thought the door had been locked, the Deities were not there. He became very angry, "Where is my Deity??" He could see that there was a large crowd of people on the bank of the Ganges, so he took a stick and went there. From far he could see thousands and thousands of people there, all dancing and chanting—he also saw that Gaura Nitai were dancing there too. He thought, "What?! Nitai Gaur, You went there?! So, You are not dancing at my house, but You went to the bank of the Ganges to dance?! I will punish You!" As he came closer, charging the Deities, he suddenly could no longer see Them—the Lords entered the heart of Chaitanya Das...

His name then became Hriday Chaitanya.

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