(2/5) Baladev's Care

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 16 December 2020, morning, part 2
Translated from Bengali

It is written in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 'Who can break the danda, and who can be allowed to break it?' It was broken by He whose danda it is: everything in this world happens by His will.

Baladev is asraya-vigraha, the giver of power. His position is such that He is present within the temple and all service paraphernalia of the Lord. You know that Baladev's chariot goes first during the Ratha-yatra festival (after that, Subhadra's chariot goes, and, lastly, Jagannath's): He goes first to serve the Lord and make sure no disturbance, no obstacles appear on the way. In Vrindavan, Baladev is called Dauji, Elder Brother. In Treta-yuga, because Laksman is the younger brother, even if Ramachandra did something wrong Laksman could not say anything to Him. But in Dvapar-yuga or Kali-yuga, He becomes Balaram and Nitai. This time, when He becomes Balaram, He is the elder brother, and Krishna cannot cross Him (an elder brother must always serve the elder brother and always follow the elder brother's order).

When Ramachandra exiled Sita Devi to live in Valmiki's ashram or threw her into fire, Laksman could not disobey His elder brother's order. Initially, Kaikeyi did not say that Sita Devi or Laksman had to be exiled (she only wanted Ramachandra to be exiled), but Sita Devi went with Him herself, and Laksman also said, 'How can Ramachandra go alone, and I will stay here alone? It is not possible.' Laksman went with Ramachandra to serve Him. When Ravan was going to kidnap Sita Devi, Sita Devi and Laksman were alone (Ramachandra went hunting, and Laksman stayed to guard Sita Devi) heard Ramachandra shouting.

'Your brother is crying, go and help Him!' Sita Devi said.

'No, I will not leave you alone!' Laksman replied.

'So, You will sit here and look at my pretty face?'

'Mother, I have been serving you for so long, but I have never even seen your face.'

Then, Laksman drew a circle around Sita Devi to protect her and went to help Ramachandra. Anyway, this is a long story, we do not have time to talk about it in detail now. What I was saying is that in Dvapar-yuga and Kali-yuga, Laksman (Baladev's power) comes as Balaram and Nitai. Balaram, or Nityananda, serve Krishna with ten bodies: Krishna's chamara, peacock fan, temple, and so on. Here, there are stairs and people climb it to pay obeisances at the temple (the stairs were made because the land is very small, so the temple had to be elevated), but this is an offence – we must offer our obeisances below, on the ground. You can see that even the pujari does not offer his obeisances in the temple room – he does it outside the Deities' room. The temple is the Lord Himself, Lord Nityananda Prabhu Himself. All paraphernalia of the Lord (chamara, peacock fan, lamp, pillows, beds, and so on) is Lord Nityananda Prabhu Himself. Whatever is required for the Lord's service, Nityananda Prabhu assumes the required form and serves the Lord.

You can see also that when Krishna went to complain to Mother Yasoda, 'Brother has hit Me!' Mother Yasoda scolded Balaram, 'Have You hit Your small brother?' After that, Balaram caught Krishna and shook Him, 'What do You think? Who loves You more, Your mother or I?! Your mother is always at home, but when You go out and get into trouble with Aghasura, Bakasura and all other demons, who comes to save You?' Do you remember the pastime of Kaliya-daman? That time, Balaram was not there, and there was so much danger at that time. So, when Balaram shook Krishna and spoke to Him like that, Krishna cried, 'I have made a mistake, Brother. I should not have complained to Mother!' Balaram said, 'Your elder brother does so much service to You. Your mother is always at home, cooking, but when You go out to herd cows, she is not there – Your elder brother solves all problems for You. Your mother only puts You to sleep, wakes You up and feeds You. She does not see any problems You face every day.'

This is the nature of Nityananda Prabhu, or Balaram. So, when Nityananda Prabhu broke Mahaprabhu's danda, He thought, 'Why must My Lord carry Me?' He knew that it was actually pretend sannyas because Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Lord Himself who came to this world and only showed Himself as a sannyasi. 'I know who You are. You do not need to tell Me.'

When Mahaprabhu became angry and told the devotees that He would not come with them, everybody thought, 'If Prabhu goes first, we can follow Him behind.' Otherwise, if they went first and Mahaprabhu went after them, they would not know which way He went. But Mahaprabhu suddenly began to walk so fast (like a mad elephant!) that they could not keep up with Him even though they were running. Walking like this, Mahaprabhu finally entered the temple of Lord Jagannath through the Simha-dvara gate. There is a bamboo bar in front of the Deities in the temple, so when Mahaprabhu came to that bar and could not go past it, He fainted. He was overwhelmed with divine love, and His whole appearance changed. Foam came out of His mouth. He could not even pronounce Lord Jagannath's Name, He only said, 'Ja-ja-ga-ga, Ja-ja-ga-ga!'

The guards at the temple became disturbed and were going to beat Him, but when they saw Mahaprabhu's appearance, they did not dare touch Him. They went to fetch the head priest of the temple, Savabhauma Bhattacharya. When Savabhauma Bhattacharya heard what had happened, he said, 'Whoever He is, let it. Bring Him to my house.'

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Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Change of Mood
2) Baladev's Care
3) Mahaprabhu Settles in Puri
4) Spread Gurudev's Mercy
5) Old Service, Spoilt Service