(2) Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj's Pastimes

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, day four
20 March 2019, part 8
Translated from Bengali

So, concluding our parikrama, we have come, by the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma, to Vaishnav Thakur Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj. Today is the last day, and this is the last stop of our Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama this year.

There are many things that can be said about Srila Babaji Maharaj. He worshipped the Lord in a very determined way (with very much nistha). I have told you in many lectures about his Vaishnav qualities. One time, somebody brought a batabi lebu (বাতাবি লেবু; grapefruit, or pomelo), saying, 'Please take it for the Lord's service.' But Srila Babaji Maharaj understood why the man was giving it – he replied, 'I know you have another desire inside. You are giving it to me thinking that if you give this fruit to me, you will have more fruit on your tree.' Another time, Srila Babaji Maharaj said, 'Instead of doing nama-aparadh, it would be much better if you simply watered some Vaishnav's eggplant.' I have seen many times how people chant on their beads: they are counting the beads, but their mouths are shut – they do not say, 'Hare Krishna', but they say all kinds of other things. Our Guru Maharaj called this 'finger exercise'. Most people do not understand what kirtan is. If you chant kirtan all the time, then you will automatically chant all the prescribed number of Holy Names...

Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj came here when he was 137 years old... I will tell you one of his pastimes.

Once, one elderly lady devotee from Dhatrigram, a village near Kalna, invited Srila Babaji Maharaj to her house. He would not usually go out so much, so he said, 'I do not know these things. You can talk to Bihari Das.' The lady spoke to Bihari Das then. She said, 'I want to invite Srila Babaji Maharaj to my house – I can cook something and offer him some prasad.' Bihari Das asked Srila Babaji Maharaj, 'Maharaj, will you go there?' Srila Babaji Maharaj replied, 'All right. Arrange the date, and I will go.'

When the day came and they set off from here to Kalna (they went on foot – Bihari Das carried Babaji Maharaj in a basket), they met a rich man on the way. Seeing that Babaji Maharaj's clothes were old and torn (he did not wear clothes as such, but he would cover himself with some plain cloth – he also did not wear any shoes), the man thought, 'This sadhu travels everywhere so much, but he cannot even buy some clothes for himself. Let me give him some money.' So, he gave Babaji Maharaj one rupee (one coin). Babaji Maharaj did not wear a shirt or have any pockets, so took the coin and hid it somewhere in his cloth. Then, Babaji Maharaj and Bihari Das continued their way, walking in the sun... Having walked for quite a while, Srila Babaji Maharaj suddenly said to his servant, 'Please turn round. I need to go somewhere else.'

'Where, Maharaj?' Bihari Das asked.

'To the house of that rich man.'

'But why?'

'Let us go there, I will tell you later.'

They turned around and went back to the house of that man. When they came, the man was inside the house. Srila Babaji Maharaj spoke very softly, he could not shout, so he told Bihari Das, 'Call the man who has given me this coin.' Bihari Das did so. When the man saw who was calling him, he thought, 'I have given money to that sadhu one time, so he must have come to ask me for more money!' When he came out, he asked Babaji Maharaj, 'Did you call me?'

'Yes, I did.' Then, Babaji Maharaj took out that coin and gave it back to the man. 'Please take this money back.'

'But why? You took it earlier, and you did not say anything...'

'Sir, you have given me so much money – I cannot tolerate its burden! I kept think what I will buy with it, what I will do with that money, and so on. I kept think about that coin and could not chant the Holy Name!'

Srila Babaji Maharaj gave the coin back to the man and continued his way to Kalna again. After some time, they arrived at the house of that elderly lady devotee. It was already afternoon by the time they had come (they were late), so she said, 'Everything is cooked already, but I have not offered the bhog yet, I was waiting for you.' Srila Babaji Maharaj told Bihari Das to go and offer the bhog. Bihari Das offer the bhog to the Lord, and the lady made two asans for them to take prasad. 'You have come walking from so far. Please sit down, I will serve prasadam to both of you.'

The lady served prasad to Srila Babaji Maharaj and Bihari Das. When Srila Babaji Maharaj finished taking prasad, she saw, 'He has eaten everything that I have given him! It was so hard to invite him, and I tried my best to cook for him, but I will not be able to get any of his prasad!' She wanted to get Babaji Maharaj's prasad, so she started pushing Babaji Maharaj to take more. Srila Babaji Maharaj refused, 'No, no, no! I will not take more!' but she kept pushing, 'No, no, take more, take more!' She forcefully put some rice, dal and vegetables on his plate again. Srila Babaji Maharaj became very serious. He thought, 'Oh, so you want to take my prasad, that is why you are forcing me to eat more. All right, we shall see.' He did not consider himself a Vaishnav, so he again ate whatever was there on his plate, and this time, along with all the food, he ate the banana-leaf plate as well! Bihari Das and the lady were taken aback. Bihari Das thought, 'Gosh, I have made an offence! I will never again accept such invitations from anybody!' The lady, too, understood that she had made an offence and promised to herself not to do it again. This is the kind of a Vaishnav that Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj was.

I will tell you now about these pastimes in English.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Coming to Merciful Vaishnav Thakur
2) Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj's Pastimes
3) Service Is Not for Your Pleasure