JOYOUS DAY IN SILIGURI

Deities' Pastimes (1):
"I Do Everything!"

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary
27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 1

Today is an auspicious day. On this day, the Deities of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundar were installed here in our Siliguri Math.

The Deity manifests through the medium of a devotee, through the desire of a devotee—the Lord Himself comes to this world in the form of a Deity to take the service of the devotees. You must not think that the Deity is made of wood, of stone or of brass—the Deity is the Lord Himself. The Deity talks, the Deity gives witness, the Deity steals. You have heard many pastimes, and I can give you one example.

অনন্যাশ্চিন্তয়ন্তো মাং যে জনাঃ পর্য্যুপাসতে ।
তেষাং নিত্যাভিযুক্তানাং যোগক্ষেমং বহাম্যহম্ ॥

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

"I bear the responsibility of acquiring and protecting the necessities of My fully dependent devotees who are always absorbed in thought of Me, and who worship Me in every way."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

In Gita, Krishna says to Arjuna, "For those who think of nothing except Me, who only think about Me and My words, I Myself deliver their food to their houses."

Devotees: Hari bol!

"I bring their food to their houses." This is what the Lord says. Who bears witness to these words? Arjun Mishra.

There lived once a husband and wife called Arjun Mishra and his wife. They did not have any children and every day they went begging—they would cook whatever they collected each day, offer it to the Lord and take that prasad. And every day, when Arjuna Mishra woke up and took bath, he read one chapter from Gita. One day, when he came to this ninth chapter of Gita and read the sloka "Ananyas chintayanto Mam...," he said, "How can this be true? The Lord carries the food? I have surrendered everything and took shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, but the Lord does not bring me my food!" He tore that place in the book and wrote, "I am doing it myself." After that, he left to collect bhog.

Every day he would go begging to some house and bring home whatever he got from that house, but that day he went to the first house and he was told, "We have a trouble at home, somebody died, we cannot give anything today." He went to a second house, "Somebody is sick, we cannot give anything today." He went to a third house, "My master is not at home, I cannot give anything now." In this way, he could not collect anything.

In the meantime, a boy came to the house of Arjun Mishra with bags full of rice, dal, sak, subji, etc. He called out to the wife of Arjun Mishra, "Come, come, I cannot hold this on My head anymore! My head is paining! Take this, take this!" The wife of Arjuna Mishra came out and asked, surprised,

"Why have You brought all these things? Who sent it?"

"Your husband sent Me... I told him I cannot carry so much, but look at My back there is a mark—he beat Me!"

"My husband is a brahman, a Vaishnav... he has never raised his hand against anyone. What happened today?"

"Please, empty the bags first, then we can talk..."

Arjun Mishra's wife went inside the house to empty the bags, and the Lord disappeared. When she came back, she looked for Him everywhere, "Where did the boy go?" but could not find Him anywhere.

Then, she cooked and offered the bhog—it was getting later and she began to worry, "Why has my husband not come back yet?" At about 3-4 o'clock, Arjun Mishra came back.

"Brahmani, there is no bhog for the Lord today, today is our unlucky day..." he said to his wife with tears in his eyes.

"What do you mean? You have just sent a boy with all these things, come and see! Not only you sent all this, but you also beat the boy!"

"I have not sent anyone, I have no beaten anyone!"

"But He said you had sent Him... and He showed a mark on His back saying you had beaten Him."

Then, Arjuna Mishra went to the temple of Radha-Madhav in his house and saw that Gita was down. He asked brahmani, "Have you been reading Gita today? When I finished reading Gita today, I put it up on the shelf..." His wife answered, "No, I have not read Gita today." Then he saw that Gita was open on that same page where the sloka was. It was written there now, "Do you see now, brahman? You do not do anything. I do everything, everything happens by My wish. Have you understood now? You were out today the whole day, begging for a handful of rice, but you could not get it anywhere. Whatever happens, happens by My will."

So, here too, the Lord has come assuming this human form...

— : • : —

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