Mahaprabhu Settles In Puri

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham, second evening class
21 June 2017, translated from Bengali, part 3

At Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya Prabhu's house, there lived also Gopinath Acharya, his brother-in-law. When Mahaprabhu was brought to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house, Gopinath Acharya recognised Him and asked Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, "Can you not recognise Him? You lived in Vidya-nagar, Nabadwip, and He also stayed in Nabadwip, in Mayapur. He is the grandson of Nilambar Chakravarti and son of Jagannath Misra. He is the father of the universe (Jagad-pita)—the Lord Himself appeared in the womb of Sachi Mata! Can you not understand this? He took sannyas from Keshav Bharati, and His name is now Sri Krishna Chaitanya."

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya replied, "Well, I do not think He is the Lord..."

"You do not have mercy, that is why you do not think so. I have some mercy, that is why I can recognise Him. Only those who have received at least a trace of the Lord's mercy can understand, speak or teach about the Lord."

If the Lord gives you His mercy, then you can know the Lord, and it is also not easy to know the Guru—when the Guru gives you his mercy, then only can you recognise him. If the Guru does not give his mercy, it is not possible to understand the Guru.

In the meantime, Nityananda Prabhu, Mukunda, Gadadhar and others ran to Puri and entered the temple of Lord Jagannath. They asked one of the priests if he had seen a person named Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

The priest said, "I do not know His name, but one man came to the temple today—He came and suddenly fainted, only foam was coming from His mouth and He kept saying, 'Ja-ja-ga-ga.'"

"Where did He go?"

"They took Him to the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya."

So, Nityananda Prabhu came with the devotees to the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Nityananda Prabhu knew what to do when Mahaprabhu was senseless, so when they came, He spoke "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare" into Mahaprabhu's ear and gradually Mahaprabhu opened His eyes. "Where have You brought Me?!"—Mahaprabhu slowly sat up...

Later, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya spoke to Mahaprabhu:

"You have taken sannyas at such an early age. What is the matter? What have You studied? Have You read Vedanta?"

"My Guru considered Me a fool and said I had no right to read Vedanta. He told Me only to chant the Holy Name, so I only chant the Holy Name."

The Lord keeps Himself hidden. The Lord never says, "I am the Lord," and those who are real Vaishnavs never say, "I have become a Vaishnav."

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, "You must at least read Vedanta!"

"Prabhu, please give Me your mercy. I became crazy and, leaving the service of My mother, have taken sannyas. Please bless Me so I may keep My sannyas."

"Yes, You must read Vedanta! All right, I will teach it to You."

So, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya started teaching Vedanta to Mahaprabhu and Mahaprabhu sat quietly like an obedient student. After seven days, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, "You have been listening to Vedanta, but I do not know if You have understood anything or not, You are not asking any questions. How will I know You have understood anything or not if You do not say anything?"

Mahaprabhu replied, "Prabhu, when you are reading Vedanta, I can understand it very well, but when you explain it, I cannot understand anything."

Then, Mahaprabhu spoke the "Atmaramas cha munayo" sloka and asked Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, "Prabhu, can you explain what fault is there in this sloka and what good qualities are there in it?"

Explaining this sloka, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya gave nine different types of explanation, and after that Mahaprabhu gave eighteen more explanations, not touching the nine mayavadi explanations of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was astonished—His eyes bulged and became red, "Who have I been teaching Vedanta for seven days?! Who is He?!" But even then he did not get real faith. Then, Mahaprabhu stood up and showed him His six-armed form. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya fell down in obeisance and did not get up.

Mahaprabhu said, "Sarvabhauma, get up! Get up! It is over!"

"What is this? I have just seen Your six-armed form! And what do I see now? An ordinary man..."

"You have dreamed it up. Love for Krishna has awakened in you, that is why you are saying all this."

Mahaprabhu was hiding, but since that time, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya became Mahaprabhu's devotee and they spent much time talking. One day, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya told Mahaprabhu, "You are going to South India—there is one devotee just like You (a rasik bhakta) on the bank of the Godavari. His name is Ramananda Ray. You should meet with Him. Also, You said You wanted to stay in Puri after that—I will arrange a place for You by the time."

We will go there tomorrow—Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya kept a room for Mahaprabhu at Kashi Misra's house. After Mahaprabhu had travelled all South India, He came back to Puri and settled in Kashi Misra's house.

When Mahaprabhu met with Ramananda Ray on the bank of the Godavari, they had many discourses and in the end Mahaprabhu told him, "You must also come to Puri." Ramananda Ray said he would leave his job and come. Then, he came to Raja Prataparudra and asked him, "Can I go and serve Mahaprabhu?" King Prataparudra replied, "What do you mean 'can you'? You must always serve Him! And no need for you to worry about the pension—as long as you are alive, you will get your full salary! Go and serve Mahaprabhu, you no longer have any duty here, go and take care of the Lord, it will be auspicious for you too."

In this way, Ramananda Ray, an incarnation of Visakha Devi, came to Puri. There was also Svarup Damodar, an incarnation of Lalita Devi. The two of them, Ramananda Ray and Svarup Damodar, always, all day stayed with Mahaprabhu. In the evening, Govinda would bring Jagannath prasad for Mahaprabhu, then Mahaprabhu would go to rest, and they would go to rest too. They always discussed Krishna-katha—who will one speak Krishna-katha with if not with one's dear and near ones? Who will you speak Krishna-katha with? Only those who are dear to you.

These are the pastimes of our Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

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