(1/6) Haridas Thakur's Bhajan Kutir

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham Parikrama, part 1
10 July 2018, translated from Bengali

By the mercy of Srila Gurudev, we first came today to the house and bhajan kutir of Srila Jagadananda Pandit. In the evening, when I am giving the class, I will speak about Srila Jagadananda Pandit and Mahaprabhu. You can find much described in Sri Sri Prema-vivarta, but many cannot buy this book. I have also written something in my books. There is also Srila Sridhar Maharaj's book called Harikathamrita. If you read this book and memorise it, you can give lectures. My devotees have also printed a book from my lectures. It is called Sri Upadesh. It came out just two days ago. So, we have printed two books recently, Sri Upadesh and Harikathamrita. Buy these two books.

Anyhow, we have come here to speak about Srila Haridas Thakur.

ঈশ্বরের কৃপা-লেশ হয় ত' যাহারে ।
সেই ত' ঈশ্বর-তত্ত্ব জানিবারে পারে ॥

isvarera krpa-lesa haya ta' yahare
sei ta' isvara-tattva janibare pare

'Only those who have received a mere drop of the Lord's mercy can understand the Lord.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.6.83)

Only by the mercy of Srila Haridas Thakur and if we receive the mercy of Gurudev, can we say anything about Srila Haridas Thakur. I will try to speak about him now briefly, and we can speak about his pastimes further in the evening.

The place where we have come is the bhajan kutir of Srila Haridas Thakur. When Mahaprabhu first came to Puri after taking sannyas, He spoke to Kashi Misra. Kashi Misra was a disciple of Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya (he was born in Nabadwip, and we go to his house when we go for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama and visit Vidyanagar; Sri Gopinath Acharya was Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's brother-in-law – I will tell you about a pastime that happened between them later), and he was taking care of the Jagannath Temple. Mahaprabhu asked Kashi Misra,

'Please keep a small room for Me.'

'I have already arranged for You to stay at my house,' Kashi Misra replied.

'No, that is another matter. I want you to keep another room for Me nearby.' Mahaprabhu did not say who that room was for, and nobody dared asked, 'Who do you need the room for?'

After that, Mahaprabhu travelled to South India and other places before finally settling in Puri. When He came back to settle in Puri, He asked Kashi Misra again, 'Where is My room?' Kashi Misra replied, 'It is here, it is ready,' and pointed at this place here, near the bakul tree. This bakul tree is known as a siddha-bakul because it sprung from a stick that was used as a toothbrush of Lord Jagannath. Lord Jagannath is offered a brush and some paste for brushing teeth – do you keep these things for your Deities? You should. Just as you need to brush your teeth, the Lord also brushes His teeth. But I know that nobody keeps these things for their Deities... One day, Mahaprabhu took that toothbrush stick of Lord Jagannath and put it into the soil. This is how this bakul tree appeared.

When the tree grew very big, the pandas who were staying nearby could not see the domes of the Jagannath Temple from their houses. So, they sent some people here to cut the tree. The people came here and spoke to Haridas Thakur who was staying in a room beneath the tree. Haridas Thakur felt pain that they were going to cut this holy tree that had sprung from Lord Jagannath's toothbrush, so he prayed to Mahaprabhu, 'Please protect this tree.' The next morning, when the people came with axes, they saw that instead of the tree, there was only hollow bark standing. They thought, 'It is not use cutting this tree, there is only bark!' So, they left without cutting the tree. After that, bakul again started growing in that tree.

You can see that people always come and tie some threads or stones to this tree. People always come with some material desires. We only come here to pay our obeisances to Srila Haridas Thakur and the siddha-bakul tree, but people have some trifle desires – somebody wants a son, somebody wants to become a member of parliament, somebody wants their son to find a job...

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Haridas Thakur's Bhajan Kutir
2) Haridas Thakur's Glory