(8) Sivananda Sen's Sagacity

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham, 3 July 2019, part 8
Translated from Bengali

I started telling you about Sri Sivananda Sen. When he was taking all the devotees to Sri Puri Dham, they would walk all the way from Bengal, and on the way there were some places where they had to pay a tax.

You know, the day before yesterday we went to Gambhira, I saw two dogs in front of it and it reminded me of Sivananda Sen's dog that ate coconut. When Sivananda Sen was taking devotees to Puri, a dog walked together with him. On the way, they had to cross a river and it took a long time to get everybody across because the boats did not take many people at a time. When the boatman saw the dog, he refused to take it across the river, 'I will not take it! It will contaminate my boat!' But Sivananda Sen was clever – no offence, but everybody knows that Odia people are very fond of money...

You must have seen many times that whenever there is a strife, you give them money and everything is resolved... There was also one Western devotee who climbed on top of Lord Jagannath's chariot – he took off his two-lakh watch and was allowed to hug(!) Lord Jagannath. Later, he came to Gurudev and told about it. When he first tried to climb on the chariot, a panda told him straight that no foreigner was allowed there, but then he noticed that the panda kept glancing at his expensive Rolex watch. Then, he took off his watch and stretched it to the panda, and then the panda quickly grabbed it and said, 'Come, come quickly!' He quickly entered the chariot and embraced Lord Jagannath. Gurudev was not happy with it though. He said, 'You embraced Lord Jagannath, so you think that you have become a great devotee now? You did wrong. You embraced Lord Jagannath, and what is the use? What did you gain by that?'

So, when the boatman refused to take the dog across, Sivananda Sen told him, 'I will pay four times more for the dog!' The man agreed and took the dog across. Sivananda Sen said then, 'So, now my dog has become pure by entering your pure boat?' [His Divine Grace laughs.] After that, he let the dog go ahead and waited for everybody else to cross the river. The dog went straight to Gambhira! Sivananda Sen later looked for the dog everywhere but could not find it. He sent devotees to look for it and declared, 'I will not eat today! I will fast until my dog is found!' In the end, they arrived in Puri and when he came to Mahaprabhu, he saw that the dog was with Mahaprabhu – Mahaprabhu had given it some coconut, and the dog was eating it! After that, the dog left its body and attained Vaikuntha. It had got prasad from Mahaprabhu's hand!

So, on the way, there were many places where they had to pay tax to pass. Sivananda Sen had sent Nityananda Prabhu to go ahead, and he himself stayed behind to pay the tax. Nityananda Prabhu came to some resting place and waited for Sivananda Sen there. Some time passed, and He had grown very hungry – He is from Bardhaman, and everybody knows that Bardhaman people like rice very much, they cannot stick hunger. Peeved, Nityananda Prabhu said, 'I am coming with all these householders – they are useless! I am dying of hunger, and they are not giving Me any food!' Then, He saw Sivananda Sen's wife come with the party, and He swore, 'May Sivananda's two sons die!' Hearing this, the wife began to cry, 'The sadhu has cursed us! What will become of us now?' Soon, Sivananda Sen himself came running to the place – he had got the news that Nityananda Prabhu was waiting for him and that He was very angry. Sivananda Sen came running to the Lord and fell before Him in a prostrate obeisance, saying, 'Prabhu, it is all my fault! Please do not blame anybody – it is all my fault!' But Nityananda Prabhu was so angry that He kicked Sivananda Sen on the head! Sivananda Sen got up and began to dance! His wife said, 'He has kicked you and cursed us all, our sons will die!' Sivananda Sen is a devotee of Mahaprabhu, so he said to her, 'You do not understand it! I have been serving Mahaprabhu for so long, and today I have got the mercy I have always wanted! The Lord has kept His feet on my head! I am so fortunate! Your sons will die? If they can die because of Nityananda's curse, they will reach Goloka Vrindavan!'

Also, Sivananda Sen had a nephew, Srikanta. Srikanta was a little proud, so he got insulted, 'My uncle is a very respectable man, everybody treats him with my respect and considers him a sadhu. He is taking so many devotees with him. And this sadhu has kicked him on the head! I will complain to Mahaprabhu!' So, he went straight to Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu knows everything. When He saw Srikanta coming, all puffed-up, He understood that he was going to complain about something. But when Srikanta came and offered his obeisance to Mahaprabhu, he suddenly could not say anything. Mahaprabhu's influence on him was such that he could not say anything.

So many things happened... We can speak the whole day about it.

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