(3/4) Chhota Haridas's Story (1)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Bengali evening class in Sri Puri Dham
9 July 2018, part 3

[To a devotee] Hey, are you sleeping? You are sleeping during the class? Did you have no time to sleep during the whole day? You must learn to preach and speak Hari-katha. You took initiation a long time ago, but if you are told to give a class, you cannot say anything. It will not do. If you do not listen carefully, what will you tell others then? Try to learn from me. I want all boys to learn to give a class. What am I to say? You all do not want to learn. People say, 'Oh, I cannot chant the Holy Name.' You do not want to chant or you cannot chant – which is it? You do not want to chant. It is not that you cannot chant. You can see I speak for one–two hours, I chant kirtan for one–two hours. If you chant for one and a half hours, you chant twenty-five thousand Holy Names. And we have chanted kirtan today for over two hours; that means we have chanted more than. So, it is not that we cannot chant.

Anyway, do you remember who else Mahaprabhu chastised?

Devotees: Chhota Haridas.

Yes, thank you! What did he do? He only brought some good-quality rice from Madhavi Devi, who was an old lady, not a young girl. Chhota Haridas took some rice from her and brought it for Mahaprabhu.

প্রভু কহে,—"বৈরাগী করে প্রকৃতি সম্ভাষণ ।
দেখিতে না পারোঁ আমি তাহার বদন ॥

prabhu kahe,—"vairagi kare prakrti sambhasana
dekhite na paron ami tahara vadana"

The Lord said, "If someone mixes with women, I do not want to see their face!"

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.2.117)

If you see a woman's picture, that is also considered mixing with women. Mahaprabhu Himself said this. When Pradyumna Misra went to hear Hari-katha from Ramananda Ray. Mahaprabhu said, 'I do not know Krishna-katha, but Ram Ray knows it.' What did Sivji Maharaj say about Bhagavatam? 'Aham vedmi, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va. I know it, Sukadev Goswami knows it, but Vyasadev may or may not know it.' Vyasadev composed Bhagavatam, but he may or may not know it. He who wrote Bhagavatam may not know it, but he whom Vyasadev has given his mercy know it. Gurudev may not know many things, but if he gives his mercy to somebody, that person can know more than Gurudev. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also said that in some fields, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj knew and could see much more than him. This is what anugatya, submission, is. 'Aham vedmi, Suka vetti, Vyasa vetti na vetti va. I know it, Sukadev Goswami knows it, but Vyasadev may or may not know it.' This is anugatya. You must always remember this.

So, when Pradyumna Misra went to Ramananda Ray to hear about Krishna, he did not like Ramananda Ray's behaviour because when he came, Ramananda Ray was training some young (fourteen–eighteen-year-old) girls, maidservants of Lord Jagannath – he personally dressed them, touching their private parts, put garlands on them. When Pradyumna Misra heard about it, he did not like it. So, he went back to Mahaprabhu. But Mahaprabhu told him, 'I am a sannyasi, but if I see a picture of a girl, even My mind can become disturbed, but Ramananda Ray personally dresses girls and does so many things, but his mind never wavers. Do you think that he is an ordinary man of flesh and blood? When he dresses those maidservants, he becomes a gopi!' So, even the Lord Himself says that only seeing a woman can cause disturbance. And Chhota Haridas brought some rice from an old lady.

Mahaprabhu told Chhota Haridas, 'You are staying with Me, why did you bring rice from a woman? This is not right. If people see it, it will teach them bad things.' Then, some time later, Mahaprabhu was taking prasad, and He asked Govinda (His servant), 'Where is this rice from?' Govinda said, 'Chhota Haridas brought it from Madhavi Devi.' If we get time, we can go to her house, it is a little father than Alarnath. If we can, we will stop the bus there. Madhavi Devi was a great devotee. She was among Mahaprabhu's closest devotees.

— : • : —

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Length: 33 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Let Maya Go
2) Mahaprabhu's Anger
3) Chhota Haridas's Story (1)
4) Chhota Haridas's Story (2)