(4) Mahaprabhu's Special Mercy

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham, 3 July 2019, part 4
Translated from Bengali

There are many pastimes that took place in Gambhira... When Mahaprabhu had just come to Sri Puri Dham, He rescued Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. At that time, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was the head panda at Lord Jagannath's temple. He was a mayavadi, but Mahaprabhu delivered Him.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya locked Lord Jagannath's temple late at night, and he was not used to waking up early. He would wake up at leisure when he felt rested. But Mahaprabhu would come take the darshan of Lord Jagannath's mangal-arati every day. After the arati, the priest would give Him some prasad.

In general, the pandas at Lord Jagannath's temple offer much bhoga to the Deities, but they mostly do not take that prasad – they cook for themselves at their homes. It is like that even now, too. If they hear it, they will be angry, I know it. They cook their own stuff and eat what they like. So, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was also like that – he had never even tried Lord Jagannath's prasad. He is the head pujari, but he did not even know what the Lord's prasad tasted like.

So, one day Mahaprabhu took some prasad after the mangal-arati and showed up at Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house.

'Sarvabhauma!' He called him from far. 'Have you woken up? Are you awake? I have brought prasad for you!'

Hearing Mahaprabhu's voice, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya jumped up on his bed and sat under the mosquito net, trying to understand what was going on. Then, Mahaprabhu entered his room and said, 'Here, take this prasad!' Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, 'Prabhu, I have not even washed my mouth and hands! I have not brushed my teeth. How can I take it?' Mahaprabhu scolded him, 'Hey, to take Lord Jagannath's prasad, you do not have to brush your teeth or even wash your mouth or hands! You must take it immediately. Here, take it!' When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya tried that prasad, he said, 'Oh! Lord Jagannath's prasad is so nice?!' After that day, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya got taste for Lord Jagannath's prasad.

This is the pastime that happened here, in Sri Puri Dham.

Another time, when it was the day of Gundicha-marjan, one Gaudiya devotee came to the temple and, pouring some water on Mahaprabhu's feet, started drinking it! Mahaprabhu was very angry, 'Hey, Svarup Damodar! Come and see what your Gaudiya is doing! I was washing the temple, and he comes, pours water on My feet and drinks it!' Svarup Damodar took that devotee by the hand and took him out of the temple. In this way, Mahaprabhu taught everybody not to do this. The other day, somebody tried to do this to me, too, and I scolded them – do not show off your devotion to impress others. Although Mahaprabhu scolded that devotee and showed that He was very angry, internally He was pleased, thinking, 'Just think how clever that Gaudiya is! What to speak of washing My feet, I do not let anybody to even touch them, but he comes and on pretext of washing the temple, pours water on My feet! How clever!'

There was also another devotee, Kalidas. When he came to Jhadu Thakur's house, he refused to take prasad, but when he left his house, he hid nearby and saw them throw away a mango stone – he picked that stone and sucked it after them. He also took all Vaishnavs' food remnants. On account of all this, Mahaprabhu made an exception and gave him the right to touch His feet.

This is how Mahaprabhu bestowed His mercy on devotees.

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