Where Your Desire Can Take You

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

Strong desire is necessary: if you have desire, mercy will come. You can read in Chaitanya-charitamrita (Madhya-lila, Chapters 12-14) and see how much desire to meet with Mahaprabhu, to get mercy of Mahaprabhu King Prataparudra had. He tried and tried and tried. He would say, "You think I am happy, but what kind of happiness is it? I have everything—property, a good wife, and so on—but I am not happy. I only want mercy from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. If I do not get His mercy, I might as well wear an earring, go to the jungle, and become a yogi."

Nityananda Prabhu, Sivananda Sen, Svarup Damodar and other devotees tried to persuade Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, King Prataparudra wants to meet with You... He is very rich and a king, but he is a very good person; his mind is very good. He always serves the devotees—when Nityananda Prabhu or Sivananda Sen bring so many people, he always provides accommodation for everyone. He is very good, he does so much for the devotees." Still, Mahaprabhu did not agree, "I know that, but he is a king, so I cannot meet with him." Devotees tried to tell Him again, but in the end Mahaprabhu showed anger, "If you say it again, I will not stay here any longer. I will go away from here and you will never see Me again." All the devotees put their fingers in their ears and promised, "We do not want to hear this, Prabhu. We will not say it again."

In the meantime, anxious, Prataparudra would ask every day, "What happened? What happened? When can I can get His mercy?" One of the devotees gave Prataparudra Mahaprabhu's cloth, and the king worshipped it. Another time, somebody asked Mahaprabhu if they could bring the king's son to meet with Him, and Mahaprabhu agreed. After the devotees took the king's son, dressed in a devotee's dress, to Mahaprabhu, the king embraced his son, "You are so fortunate! You have got mercy of Mahaprabhu! I am so unfortunate..."

Later, Nityananda Prabhu told the king, "You have so much desire, so, yes, this time you will get mercy of Mahaprabhu! When He comes in front of Jagannath's chariot on the Ratha-yatra day, He will dance and chant so much that ecstasy will overcome Him and He will fall down senseless—at that time you can massage His feet." When Prataparudra did it, he also recited this sloka:

তব কথামৃতং তপ্তজীবনং
কবিভিরীড়িতং কল্মষাপহম্ ।
শ্রবণমঙ্গলং শ্রীমদাততং
ভুবি গৃণন্তি তে ভূরিদা জনাঃ ॥

tava kathamrtam tapta-jivanam
kavibhir iditam kalmasapaham
sravana-mangalam srimad-atatam
bhuvi grnanti te bhurida janah

"My Dear, bestowing the greatest fortune that is attained after so many births, exalted souls come to this world and live here by singing and spreading Your nectarean glories that are life and soul for those suffering in this material world being devoid of Your divine love; that are the gist of all poets' songs; that are the destroyer of all sins; that benefit anyone who hears them; and that possess universal attraction."

Sri Chaitanya-charitamirta, Madhya-lila, 14.13

Hearing this, Mahaprabhu embraced Prataparudra, crying, "Bhuri-da! Bhuri-da!" 'Da' means 'data' (দাতা, giver, donor). Who are the greatest donors (bhuri-da) in this world? Those who give money and material things? No—those who distribute the Holy Name, who spread Krishna-katha are the real donors, real benefactors.

In this way Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught us. He also taught us by showing some wrong examples.

You may have heard that there was a widowed lady who had a small son. Almost every day the boy would come to Mahaprabhu, and Mahaprabhu would give him some prasadam. Damodar Pandit could not tolerate that—he would every day chastise the boy, "Why do you come to Mahaprabhu every day?" The boy complained to Mahaprabhu about it, and Mahaprabhu understood what was going on.

One day, Damodar Pandit a little angrily said to Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, if people start saying bad things about You, they will make a very big offence. What will happen then? How can I close their mouths? Your behaviour must be perfect. I know You have no fault, but the mother of this boy is very beautiful, and You always give him so much affection—people will say bad things about You..." Chaitanya Mahaprabhu thought, "What is he doing? I am a sannyasi, and he is a brahmachari—a brahmachari is chastising and teaching a sannyasi!" Finally, Mahaprabhu chose Damodar Pandit to go to Nabadwip, Mayapur, to stay with his mother. He gave some prasad and a sari for his mother, and sent Damodar Pandit away.

Mahaprabhu thought that He could only trust Damodar—only he could take proper care of Mother Sachi. Gurudev said even more. What is written in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita? Did Mother Sachi stay alone? There was also another lady there—Vishnu Priya—and it was for this reason that Mahaprabhu chose Damodar Pandit to go to Mayapur...

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