Strongest Faith (3):
Raghunandan Thakur

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
10 May 2015, Sri Nabadwip Dham, part 8

Mukunda's son Raghunandan also has full faith. One day, when he was ten years old, his mother said to him, "Raghunandan, I am very busy today. I have cooked the offering, but I have no time to offer it to the Deities. You can offer today." Coming to the temple to offer the bhog, Raghunandan spoke to the Deity, "Hey Krishna! Eat! Eat now, I say!" Nothing happened. Then, he said, "Oh, so my mother gives You food every day and You eat it, and because I am a little boy You are not eating? You are ignoring me!" Again nothing happened. Then, he took a stick and threatened the Deity, "If You do not take it now, I will beat You with this stick here!" Then, the Deity began to eat. "You must eat everything!" said Raghunandan. "Take everything!" The Deity ate everything.

Then, Raghunandan's mother came back and said,

"Raghu, where is our prasad?"

"Prasad? You cooked little today—Krishna has taken everything," replied Raghunandan.

"I do not believe it! I give offering to the Deity every day and He does not eat anything. I do not believe you. You must have eaten it yourself or have given it to your friend!"

No matter what Raghunandan said, his mother could not believe him. In the end, she said, "I will give you some fruit and sweets in the afternoon time. Go and do the offering again. I want to see how your Deity is eating!"

In the afternoon, Raghunandan went to the Deity's room again and spoke to the Deity,

"Take now!"

"I eat too much at the noon time, how will I eat now again?" answered the Deity.

"No, You must eat. My mother does not believe me—if You do not eat, she will think that I ate everything at noon. Please eat! Please eat!"

"Oh, I cannot eat, My stomach is very full..."

Raghunandan kept insisting, and in the end the Deity said, "OK, I will eat only one sweet."

In the meantime, Raghunandan's mother heard some noise in the temple room and went to see who her son was talking to. When she peeped through a hole in the door she saw the Deity had eaten half of a sweet and the other half was in His hand.

On the way to Ekachakra, it is a little far from here, there is a place called Srikhanda, Narahari Thakur's sripat (house). There, they still cut a sweet into two halves and offer the Deity a half of a sweet in memory of this pastime...

There are so many pastimes of Vaishnavs, so many pastimes of the Lord, so many pastimes of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu....

On the left: Gopinath's Deity of Raghunandan Thakur's parents.
On the right: Mahaprabhu's Deity installed by Sri Narahari Thakur.

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