Worshippable Sita Thakurani

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 23 August 2020, part 6

Sri and Sita are two sisters, two wives of Sri Advaita Prabhu. I have not read much about Sita Devi, but we know that when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born—when He came to the house of Sri Jagannath Misra and Sri Sachi Mata—Sri Advaita Prabhu knew who was coming (he knew the Lord was coming) because he and Haridas Thakur had been offering worship to the Lord with the Ganges water and Tulasi manjari (Haridas Thakur would call out loudly, and Advaita Prabhu would perform the worship), so when the Lord Himself eventually appeared at the house of Jagannath Misra, Advaita Prabhu sent Sita Devi with some gifts to Jagannath Misra's house. After Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He came to Advaita Prabhu's house in Shantipur and Sita Devi cooked for Him very nice preparations—on that day, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took full prasadam for first time in three days after taking sannyas. In the meantime, before sannyas, Nimai had been to Shantipur many times, and eventually Advaita Prabhu moved to Mayapur and made a house near Jagannath Misra's house. One time, when Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu came to their house and Sita Devi served Them some prasadam, Nityananda Prabhu was very angry with Advaita Prahbu and threw prasadam at him! Nityananda Prabhu was joking with Advaita Prabhu in this way—there was some squabble between them and Advaita Prabhu and Nityananda Prabhu had a fight.

When Advaita Prabhu sent Sri Sita Devi to Jagannath Misra's house after Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's appearance and Sita Devi saw the boy, she thought that He was non-different from Krishna. Gurudev always sang at Gaura Purnima the song, "Chaudda-sata sata-sake masa ye phalguna" and there we find,

durva, dhanya, dila sirse, kaila bahu asise,
chirajivi hao dui bhai
dakini-sankhini haite, sanka upajila chite,
dare nama thuila 'nimai'

She blessed the newly born child by placing fresh durva grass and paddy on His head and saying, "May You live long." To protect Him from ghosts and witches, she gave the child the name Nimai.

So, it was actually Sita Devi who gave the name to Nimai. She took some 'durva' (a kind of grass) and some crops paddy, placed it on the boy's head and blessed Him, "May You live a long life!" In Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita (1.13.111), Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami says,

advaita-acharya-bharya, jagat-pujita arya,
nama tanra 'sita thakurani'
acharyera ajna pana, gela upahara lana,
dekhite balaka-siromani

"One day shortly after Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was born, Advaita Acharya's wife, Sita Devi, who is worshipable by the whole world, took her husband's permission and went to see that topmost child with all kinds of gifts and presentations."

Advaita Acharya's wife, Sri Sita Thakurani, is worshipped by everyone all over the world. When she came to Jagannath Misra's house that day, she brought so many things with her—all kinds of ornaments, jewellery, silk clothes, etc.

You know also that one time, Sri Advaita Prabhu decided to preach mayavad (he started preaching in favour of jnana, claiming that knowledge was higher and mightier than devotion), and when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu heard about it, He came with Nityananda Prabhu to his house and started beating Advaita Prabhu! Seeing it, Sita Devi pleaded, "Prabhu, Advaita is very old! Besides, You are beating a brahman, it is not right! It is against the sastra! If You kill a brahman, You will make an offence that will never be removed!" When Nityananda Prabhu saw what was happening, He laughed. In the end, Advaita Acharya said to Mahaprabhu, "Prabhu, if You think that I am being fickle-minded, then please forgive me!" Then, both looked at each other and started laughing. Then, Mahaprabhu went to the Ganges along with Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita, and Haridas, and Sita Devi prepared nice prasadam and served it to them when they returned. Mahaprabhu always called Advaita Prabhu's wife Sita Devi 'Mother' and He was always eager to take prasadam at their house. Later, when Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He again came to their house in Shantipur, and after that, Advaita Acharya, Sita Thakurani and their son Achyutananda Prabhu would go to Nilachal (Puri) every year—Sri Sita Thakurani would make Mahaprabhu's favourite preparations and bring it for Him to Puri.

In Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita (3.10.134), it says,

madhye madhye acharyadi kare nimantrana
ghare bhata randhe ara vividha vyanjana

"From time to time, Advaita Acharya and others would invite Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for home-cooked rice and varieties of vegetables."

Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu always went to Advaita Prabhu's house.

In Sri Bhakti-ratnakar it is said that the name of Sita Thakurani's father is Nrisingha Bhaduri, and he had two daughters, Sri and Sita. In Gaura-ganodesa-dipika it is said,

yogamaya bhagavati grhini tasya sampratam
sitarupenavatirna 'sri' namni tat prakasatah

"Worshippable Yogamaya incarnated in this age as Sita Devi, the spouse of Sri Advaita Prabhu, and as Sri, an expansion of Sita Devi."

Question: What mood should we have towards Sri Sita Devi?

Mahaprabhu respected and treated her as His mother, so we should have the same mood towards Sri Sita Devi as we show towards Sachi Devi and Yasoda Mata. Mother Yasoda and Sachi Mata are very fortunate to have got the Lord as their son. We need Mother Yasoda, Mother Sachi Devi, and Mother Sita Devi's mercy—we must get their mercy, we must want to get their mercy. Also, Sri Sita Devi is actually Yogamaya. I have just told about it, it is written in the sloka above...

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