(7) Mahaprabhu's First Lesson

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, Lord Siva's Temple inauguration,
5 March 2019, evening, part 7
Translated from Bengali

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu personally went door to door distributing the Holy Name in this world. When He had just appeared in this world at the house of Sri Sachi Mata, He was crying very much. You also know it that when children are born of their mothers, they cry a lot. Do you know why they cry? Because when they were in their mothers' wombs, they saw the Lord, but once they got born, they cannot see Him anymore. But when Mahaprabhu appeared and cried, it is not the same. He cried because He saw, 'The people in this world do not chant the Holy Names of the Lord!' Everybody started taking Him in their arms, rocking Him, trying to pacify Him, but He would not stop crying. One fortunate lady (she must have been a goddess, not an ordinary lady) took Mahaprabhu in her arms and chanted the Holy Name, 'Hare Krishna! Hari bol! Hare Krishna! Hari bol!', and Mahaprabhu stopped crying. When the lady stopped chanting, He started crying again, and the other ladies started taking Mahaprabhu in their arms one by one, chanting, 'Hare Krishna! Hari bol!' and He stopped crying again each time. In this way, He taught everybody to chant the Holy Name from His very birth.

চৌদ্দশত সাত শকে মাস যে ফাল্গুন ।
পৌর্ণমাসীর সন্ধ্যাকালে হৈলে শুভক্ষণ ॥

chaudda-sata sata sake masa ye phalguna
paurnamasira sandhya-kale haile subha-ksana

'In the year 1407 of the Saka Era (1486 AD), in the month of Phalgun [March–April], on the evening of the full moon, the desired auspicious moment came.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, 1.13.89)

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in this world on a full-moon day in the month of Phalgun, in the year 1407 of the Saka Era. It was a lunar eclipse on that day. This day is coming soon – everybody calls it Gaura Purnima now.

When Krishna appeared in Kamsa's prison, He appeared in His four-armed form of Lord Narayan, holding a conch, disc, club and lotus. Seeing Him, His mother and father paid their obeisance to Him. Then, He immediately assumed a two-arm form of an ordinary baby, and His parents came to their senses. They realised, 'Kamsa is going to come and kill Him!' Anantadev came and helped Vasudev carry Krishna to Nanda Maharaj's house. It is a long story; we always tell it in detail at Janmastami – on this day, we speak about Lord Krishna's pastimes the whole day and night. You can also find Krishna's appearance and pastimes described in the third volume of Upadesh.

We also have kirtan books with us. If you do not have money to buy the big books, we have made small, cheaper books specially for you – you can get them, see which kirtans are sung in the morning and in the evening, and you can chant them yourselves at home (you can play the kartals or just clap your hands). You will find there all the kirtans that we sing. If you chant kirtan, it will make the Lord happy. The small kirtan books are only twenty rupees. You spend so much time on tea and other things, so surely you can spend twenty rupees on a book. When you go to the shop to buy your Pond's cream, you spend three hundred rupees, but our books are not very expensive – only twenty to fifty rupees. If you read them, it will bring you benefit; you can learn many things and you can become drawn and attached to the Lord by reading those books.

When Mahaprabhu was a very little boy, merely four years old, His mother would decorate His hands with bracelets and bangles, put a necklace on His neck and use various other ornaments. One day, decorated like that, Mahaprabhu was playing in the yard when two thieves were padding by. Seeing Him, they thought, 'Let us lure this boy with some chocolate and steal His gold ornaments!' Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Lord Himself, so He knew everything. When the thieves came to Him, one of them took Mahaprabhu on His shoulders and carried Him away. As they walked, they started arguing. One of them said, 'I will take the necklace!' The other one said, 'I will take the bracelets!' The thieves walked the whole day like that but could not find their own house! They walked, walked and walked and always kept coming back to Mahaprabhu's house! In the meantime, Mother Sachi got very worried, 'Where is my Visvambhar?! Where is my Nimai?!' She kept looking for Him everywhere but could not find Him. Hearing that Nimai was missing, many people came to her house, and a big crowd built up outside. Suddenly, the thieves found themselves amidst that crowd. Becoming completely confused, they quickly put Nimai down and fled from there! Those thieves got some fortune – they carried Mahaprabhu on their shoulders. Anybody who gets to touch the Lord is very fortunate. This is how Mahaprabhu bestowed His mercy on those two thieves.

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