(6/6) Strongest Faith and Devotion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham Parikrama
10 July 2018, translated from Bengali, part 6

After Mahaprabhu showed His six-armed form and understanding that Mahaprabhu was the Lord Himself, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's faith became very strong. You know, if you want to understand whether one loves Gurudev and the Lord, you can find a way to prove it in Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's character. Many of us love our sons, daughters, sons-in-laws and other relatives, but we must love the Lord (Gurudev, Mahaprabhu) more than we love our material families.

Mahaprabhu often took prasad at the house of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's wife, generally known as 'Sathi's mother' (Sathi is Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's daughter), cooked for Him. One time, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's son-in-law came and secretly watched Mahaprabhu taking prasad. He was taken aback, 'My God! These sadhus eat so much!!' Sathi's mother cooked fifty-six items, placing them nicely in separate dishes, and Mahaprabhu would not eat everything – He would just taste the preparations. When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya heard his son-in-law comment about it like that, he took a stick and chastised him so much. And Sathi's mother said, 'May Sathi become a widow!' In other words, she said, 'May our son-in-law die! I do not mind it.'

You can understand from this how much they loved the Lord. They could not tolerate criticism of the Lord, so much so that they even wished for their son-in-law to die.

When Mahaprabhu heard what was going on, He simply said, 'Why are you beating him? What he says is right. Can a sadhu eat so much?'

There is also another pastime I want to tell you about. You can see there is a Deity here at this temple. This Deity was served by Ganga Mata Goswamini. Her previous name is Sachi Devi (she is not Mahaprabhu's mother, she is another Sachi Devi). Receiving Lord Jagannath's mercy, she eventually became a guru and spoke very nice Hari-katha.

One time, Ganga Mata Goswamini wanted to go to Nabadwip to bathe in the Ganges on Gaura Purnima. But when she told Lord Jagannath about it in a prayer, the Lord actually brought the Ganges here for her.

Ganga Mata Goswamini (Sachi) was a king's daughter. She was very beautiful, but she did not want to get married. She thought, 'I want to give my mind and heart to the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu, Krishna.' Her parents wanted to get her married, but she told them, 'I will not marry any mortal man who will enjoy me and use me. I do not want this kind of life. I would rather go to Vrindavan.' She went to Vrindavan and asked a guru for initiation. The guru told her, 'You are a very beautiful girl. Will you be able to follow all the rules and regulations?' She said, 'Yes, I will.' The guru still hesitated, 'I do not believe it. Spend one year eating only once every other day. You must transform your beautiful appearance into an unappealing one so that nobody will lust over you. If you can do this, I will give you initiation.' She practised this for one year and received initiation. After that, she came here, to Sri Puri, and began serving the Lord.

Lord Jagannath's temple has very big locks that weigh up to a hundred kilograms. One night, the temple servitors had put all the locks on the temple and stayed outside to guard the temple, as usual. Suddenly, the guards heard some noise coming from the temple, as if there was a very strong current beating inside it and many people were bathing in that water. The guards became alarmed, 'What is this? Where is all this noise coming from?!' They asked the head servitor of the temple to unlock the door, but when they came inside, they saw only a pretty woman standing inside, applying tilaks on her body (they could not see the Ganges). Thinking that she had come to steal the Deities' gold, they seized her and locked her up in prison. After that, everyone went to sleep. The next day, at night, the head of the temple saw a dream. The Lord came to him, saying, 'On your order, My devotee was arrested yesterday. Go and apologise to her! Take horses and elephants and return her with full honour. If you do not do this, do not cook anything for Me from tomorrow – I will not eat anything!' The head of the temple woke up bewildered, 'What is this? What have I just seen?' Scared, he arranged a procession to return Ganga Mata Goswamini – he took her back to her place on the back of an elephant, restoring her honour. After that, Lord Jagannath was offered bhog. This is how Sachi got her name, Ganga Mata Goswamini. The Lord personally brought the Ganges to her.

Do you understand what is the glory of the Lord's devotees?

We are very fortunate that by the mercy of Gurudev we have come here, to the house of Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya became a great devotee. Srila Sridhar Maharaj also said that although Mahaprabhu is very merciful and came to rescue all the fallen souls, He actually came to rescue mainly Sri Prakasananda Saraswati, Sri Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and who else?

Devotee: Ramananda Ray?

Ramananda Ray is Visakha! She is a close associate of the Lord. How can anyone come to rescue her?!

King Prataparudra. You will see on the screens on the day of Ratha-yatra that even to this day King Gajapati, a descendant of King Prataparudra, comes to sweep the chariots.

At first, Mahaprabhu promised, 'I do not want to see his face because he is the king,' but in the end, King Prataparudra had so much desire to get Mahaprabhu's mercy that he succeeded in obtaining it. If you have a very strong desire, you must get the mercy of the Lord. You must call the Lord – call Him genuinely. If you can genuinely call out to the Lord, the Lord must bestow His mercy on you.

I am finishing here. I will not take any more time.

Jay Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya.
Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Arriving at Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's House
2) Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's Conversion
3) Strongest Faith and Devotion