(2/10) Srivas Pandit's Ideal

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Hooghly District, evening programme,
22 February 2019, part 2
Translated from Bengali

What kind of householder devotee was Srivas Pandit?

Mahaprabhu told him, 'Srivas, I can leave this place one day, but you must continue chanting kirtan every day as you are doing now. You must assemble all together with the people from your neighbourhood at your home in the evening and chant kirtan with drums and karatals.'

So, Srivas Pandit hosted kirtan at his home (Srivas-anagan). He also had a habit that when all the devotees came to his house to chant kirtan (on Mahaprabhu's order), he had to feed everybody.

Mahaprabhu said that he stayed in four places: wherever Nityananda Prabhu dances, at Srivas Pandit's house, in Sachi Mata's kirtan and at the house of Raghav Pandit. At Raghav Pandit's house, remembering Mahaprabhu every day, Raghav Pandit's sister, Damayanti, made all kinds of pickles and kasandi sauces to take to Mahaprabhu in Puri Dham. Every year, when devotees returned from Ratha-yatra, they would start preparing all the pickles to take them next year. They thought about Mahaprabhu and every day cut some mangoes, added oil, etc. That is why Mahaprabhu said that He stayed at their house – because the devotees there always thought about Him.

'Ye dina grha bhajana dekhi grhete goloka bhaya (যে দিন গৃহে ভজন দেখি গৃহেতে গোলোক ভায়). On the days when I see devotional service taking place in my home, I feel that Goloka has manifested there.' Where is Goloka? Goloka is wherever the Lord is worshipped, served and glorified every day. Chanting the Holy Names of the Lord is the highest service. Even among all the other services related to Deity worship, chanting the Holy Name is the highest service.

So, Srivas Pandit would chant kirtan at his house every day. His wish was such that he thought, 'Everybody will come in the evening, and I cannot let them leave without taking anything. It would be nice to give them some prasad.' Srivas Pandit did not have any job or business – he lived by begging. Whatever he collected by begging, he offered that as bhoga to the Lord and distributed that prasad among all the devotees. The problem was that there were some naughty people. There are always such people in this world – is it possible for everybody in the world to be good? If you take one hundred people, you can see that there are more bad people than good people. So, when Srivas Pandit went begging, some naughty people disturbed him very much. They would say, 'Oh, he is a poor man – he does not have anything to eat, so he chants kirtans the whole night because he is so hungry that he cannot sleep.' Some people also drank alcohol and kept empty bottles by the door of Srivas Pandit's house. The next day, they would come and say, 'Oh, look! Look! He chants kirtan the whole day and drink liquor deep at night!' That is what bad people do – if somebody is bad, they must do something bad to others. They made offences and get punished for that. So, because Srivas Pandit went begging, people abused him, saying, 'This uncle begs and collects money to support his wife and son.' When Mahaprabhu heard what people said, He was upset to see such offences, 'People are committing offences and because of such sins, they will have to go to hell! I must think of something. I must help these people.'

So, one day, Mahaprabhu came to Srivas Pandit and said, 'Srivas! I want to have a word with you.'

'Yes, Prabhu, what is it?' Srivas Pandit asked.

'My order to you is that from tomorrow, you are not to go begging again.'

'What do You mean? You told me to arrange kirtan every evening – how can I let everyone leave with empty stomaches? I will not be able to give them prasad. I do not have a job, so I have to go begging.'

'I do not know anything. You are not to go begging anymore, and how you will eat, what you will eat, that is your matter. All I am saying is that from tomorrow you must not go out for begging.'

'All right. One clap, two clap, three clap,' Srivas Pandit laughed.

'One clap, two clap, three clap? What kind of language is that?'

'I will fast and see one day, two days and on the third day, I will jump into the Ganges and take my life.'

'Yes, all right. Do that.'

Do you see how the Lord is testing His devotee? Mahaprabhu said, 'Yes, do that. Jump into the Ganges, no problem.' After that, Mahaprabhu left. The next day, so much rice, dal and vegetables were brought to the house! The whole house was full of bhoga. So many devotees came and brought all kinds of bhoga. Srivas Pandit knew no want of anything.

It is necessary to have that kind of faith and to be that kind of devotee. 'O Lord, I am relying on You. However You keep me, that is fine by me.' This is how Srivas Pandit lived his householder life. We must learn from his example.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 27 Mb
Length: 56 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Service Greatness Is Not External
2) Srivas Pandit's Ideal
3) Sadhus' Dacoity
4) Short-Sighted Minds
5) Food for Thought
6) Quitting Maya's Play
7) Servants' Service
8) Lord's Arrangement
9) Bali Maharaj's Sacrifice
10) Sacrifice, Surrender and Succeed