(9) Nityananda Prabhu's Gift

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham, 3 July 2019, part 9
Translated from Bengali

So, I have told you about Lord Jagannath's appearance, about Lingaraj. Let me tell you about Atharnala now. We passed the place on our way. You may have heard many things from various scriptures, and our Guru Maharaj also spoke about it.

[His Divine Grace reads from Sri Puri Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala.]

When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He took the danda that He had received from His sannyas-guru and went to Puri together with Nityananda Prabhu, Mukunda and other devotees. As they were walking on the way, Nityananda Prabhu thought, ‘Why must Mahaprabhu carry Me?’

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is non-different from Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. One time, when Krishna was little, He did something wrong and Balaram gave Him a slap. Gopal started to cry and went to Mother Yasoda to complain. He said, ‘Mother, Balai has hit Me!’ Mother Yasoda scolded Balaram gently, ‘He is Your younger brother. You must explain things to Him, why do You raise Your hand to Him?’

Balaram stood with His head hung and said nothing, but when Mother Yasoda went away, He grabbed Krishna by the shoulders and shook Him. He told Him, ‘I have hit You, but I did it for Your benefit! And You went to complain to Mother! What do You think? Do You think that Mother loves You more? How much time do You even spend with Mother?! You are always roaming here and there, You enter the whirlwind, You kill Aghasur, Bakasur, Batsasur, and then You come here and cry like an innocent baby. How is Your crying going to help? Who loves You more, Your Mother or I?’ Then, Gopal cried again and said, ‘Brother, You love Me more.’

Such is His love. Balaram serves Krishna with ten bodies – not just one body, but ten, ‘Balai is the dearest idol of Chaitanya-chandra. Anyone who commit any offence to Him dies. Although He is a selfsame worshippable Deity Himself, He personally becomes a servant of the Lord. All these symptoms are manifest in His incarnation. As a friend, brother, fan, bed, carrier, house, umbrella, clothes, ornaments, seat – He Himself serves Himself in all these forms. Whomever He blesses can understand this’ (Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 1.1.42–45).

Therefore, Nityananda Prabhu, being selfsame Balaram, thought, ‘My Lord is walking and carrying this danda – why will He carry Me?’ What did He do then? He broke the danda into three parts and threw it into the Bhargi river (near the Atharnala bridge).

I told you about this pastime earlier, too. We do not have so much time now, so I will not read all of it. The main thing is that Nityananda Prabhu broke Mahaprabhu's danda into three pieces, and later, remembering this pastime, Jagad-Guru Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was inspired to establish tridanda-sannyas in his sampradaya.

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