(3/3) Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya Converted

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Three
19 March 2019, parikrama, part 7
Translated from Bengali

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya lived in the house together with his wife and brother-in-law, Gopinath Acharya. When Mahaprabhu was brought to their house, Gopinath Acharya spoke to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya.

'Do you not know who He is? He is the Lord Himself! His Name was Nimai Visvambar. He is the son of Jagannath Misra and grandson of Nilambar Chakravarti. Can you not recognise Him?'

'I do not think so. He is just an ordinary young sannyasi.'

'That is because you have no mercy. You have no mercy, that is why you cannot understand this. I know that He is the Supreme Lord. I have mercy, that is why I can understand it.' Only those whom gurudev gives his mercy can know gurudev (gurudev is nondifferent from Nityananda Prabhu), others cannot.

In the meantime, Nityananda Prabhu and the devotees ran into the temple of Lord Jagannath – they described Mahaprabhu to them and asked if they had seen Him. The priests said, 'Yes, we have seen some madman running into the temple, foam coming out of His mouth. He has been taken to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house.' The devotees then went to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house. There, they saw Mahaprabhu lying unconscious. Nityananda Prabhu knew what to do in this case: He loudly chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and Mahaprabhu came back to His senses.

After some time, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya came to speak to Mahaprabhu.

'Listen, sannyasi, You took sannyas at such a young age...'

'Yes,' Mahaprabhu replied humbly, 'I became crazy and left My mother's service. Please help me keep My sannyas.'

'You have taken sannyas, but what have You studied? Have You read the Vedas and Vedanta?' Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Him.

'No, I do not know all these things. I only studied a little bit of the primary Sanskrit grammar.'

'This will not do! You must study Vedanta.'

Then, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya read Vedanta to Mahaprabhu during seven days. Mahaprabhu sat and listened to him silently. In the end, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Him, 'O sannyasi, You are not saying anything? Can You understand anything I have been teaching you? Can You say anything?'

'Prabhu,' Mahaprabhu replied, 'when you are reading from Vedanta, I can understand it very well, but when you start explaining it, I cannot understand anything.'

'What?!'

Then, they discussed the 'atma-ramas cha munayo' sloka. When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya explained this sloka, he explained it in nine different ways from the standpoint of mayavadi conception. Avoiding his explanations, Mahaprabhu explained this sloka in eighteen more ways. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's eyes bulged and went red. He was astonished, 'Whom have I been teaching Vedanta all this time?! Who is He?' Even then he did not believe that Mahaprabhu was the Supreme Lord. Only when Mahaprabhu showed him His six-armed form did Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya fall on the ground in a prostrate obeisance. He remained lying on the ground, not able to get up. Mahaprabhu called him, 'Sarvabhauma, get up! Get up!' Coming to his senses, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Him, 'Prabhu, what have I just seen? Who are You?' Mahaprabhu joked, 'It is nothing, it is nothing. You must have been seeing things.'

This is how Mahaprabhu bestowed His mercy on Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya; so much so that Mahaprabhu would even come to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house to take prasad. You know that there was also one offender, Ramachandra Puri. Incidentally, he was also Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's son-in-law. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's daughter, Sathi, was married to him. Everybody knows that parents are always very affectionate to their son-in-laws. One day, Ramachandra Puri came to their house and saw Mahaprabhu taking prasad. Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's wife would lovingly prepare fifty-six items (chhappanna bhoga) to feed Mahaprabhu, but seeing that, Ramachandra Puri said, 'Oh my! A sannyasi is eating so much!' When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya heard it, he took a stick and wanted to kill him, and Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's wife said, 'May my Sathi become a widow!' You can understand how much they loved Mahaprabhu! They became very great devotees of Mahaprabhu.

So, we have come to the house of this Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya here in Vidyanagar, Nabadwip. This is a place of para-vidya (transcendental knowledge), and Mahaprabhu's kirtan (Hari-kirtan) is eternally going on here.

Jay Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya ki jay.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) How Knowledge Attained Mercy
2) Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's Plan
3) Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya Converted