Glories of Srila Haridas Thakur (2)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Disappearance day of Srila Haridas Thakur
Sri Nrisingha Palli, 1 September 2020, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Srila Haridas Thakur stayed in Benapole (Bangladesh). It is situated at the border between West Bengal and Bangladesh—there is Petrapol (also known as Haridaspur) at one side of the boarder and Benapole on the other. There is still a temple in Benapole, it is run by babajis. So, Haridas Thakur made a bhajan kutir in Benapole and stayed there. Many people used to come to him, and the local landlord Ramachandra Khan became envious thinking, "I have to pay people money (salary) so that they stay with me, but people come to him without any money! Why do they stay with him?!" Out of jealously, he decided, "I shall test him and see what kind of a sadhu he is!" Then, he arranged for Laksahira, a very beautiful young prostitute. He told her, "I will pay you. You have to seduce him by hook or by crook!"

Next day, Laksahira dressed up nicely and came to Haridas Thakur. When she came to his bhajan kutir, she saw Haridas Thakur was chanting the Holy Name. She came to him and said, "Haridas, you are such a fine young man. I like you so much," etc. Haridas Thakur continued chanting the Holy Name. By and by, evening came, then night passed. When the sun rose the next day, she saw that Haridas Thakur was still chanting the Holy Name, so she returned to Ramachandra Khan with the news. Ramachandra Khan asked her,

"So, what has happened?"

"Nothing, he is only chanting on his beads, he does not even look my side."

"Oh really? Go again today!"

She came to Haridas Thakur on the second day. She kept asking Haridas Thakur, "Prabhu, please fulfil my desire." Haridas Thakur said, "All right, I will fulfil your desire," and continued chanting the Holy Name. Soon, it was evening again, and another night passed in this way—when the sun rose the next day, Haridas Thakur was again still chanting the Holy Name. Laksahira left and went back to Ramachandra Khan.

Ramachandra Khan asked her,

"So, what has happened?"

"Nothing, but he said he would fulfil my desire..."

So, she came to Haridas Thakur again the next day. She said, "You said you would fulfil my desire. When will you do it?" Haridas Thakur replied, "I would have fulfilled your desire today, but it is the end of the month and I have not completed my koti-nama-yajna (a vow of chanting ten million Holy Names), so I am trying to chant more at the end of the month." So, three days passed in this way. When Laksahira came to Haridas Thakur on the fourth day, because she had been hearing the Holy Name, her mind, her heart had melted—when she came on the fourth day, she first did Tulasi parikrama. She paid obeisance to Tulasi and to Haridas Thakur. Then, Haridas Thakur asked her,

"Now tell me, why have you been behaving like this? I see that you have no malice... Tell me what has happened?"

Then she told the truth, "I did not come to you of my own accord, Ramachandra has sent me."

"Oh, Ramachandra Khan... He does not have a good intelligence. May Lord be merciful to him."

Then, Laksahira prayed to Haridas Thakur, "Prabhu, please, give me your mercy. Please rescue me from this material life, from material suffering. I am a fallen conditioned soul, I have committed offence at your holy feet, please forgive me."

Haridas Thakur replied, "I could have left this place three days ago, but I stayed here only for you. I am leaving now, and now that you have got a good habit, stay here in this kutir from now on and do Tulasi seva. You do not need to worry about food or anything else."

From that time on, Laksahira stayed in that bhajan kutir. The news spread all over the country that Laksahira, a prostitute, had become a Vaishnavi, and by the grace of the Lord many people would send food for her—so much food would come that she could not even eat it all. In this way, when you serve the Lord, you do not need to worry about anything. Such is the glory of Srila Haridas Thakur.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (2.2 Mb, 6 min)