(3/5) Mahaprabhu Settles in Puri

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 16 December 2020, morning, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Mahaprabhu was taken to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house, and after a while, Nityananda Prabhu, Mukunda Prabhu and others reached Puri, too. They asked at the temple of Lord Jagannath if anybody had come to the temple (they described Mahaprabhu's appearance). The temple guards said that Mahaprabhu had been taken to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house, so Nityananda Prabhu and the devotees went there.

Seeing Mahaprabhu unconscious, Nityananda Prabhu chanted the Hare Krishna maha-mantra into His ear, 'Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.' Slowly, Mahaprabhu came round. By that time, Gopinath Acharya had come there, too. He suddenly recognised who Mahaprabhu was. He said to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, 'Do you now recognise Him? This is the son of Jagannath Misra and the grandson of Nilambar Chakravarti! He has taken sannyas from Keshav Bharati, and His Name became Sri Krishna Chaitanya. He is the Supreme Lord Himself!'

'The Supreme Lord?!' Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was surprised. 'I do not think so.'

'You have no mercy, that is why you do not think so. I have some mercy, that is why I can recognise that.'

ঈশ্বরের কৃপা-লেশ হয় ত' যাহারে ।
সেই ত' ঈশ্বর-তত্ত্ব জানিবারে পারে ॥

isvarera krpa-lesa haya ta' yahare
sei ta' isvara-tattva janibare pare

'The Lord can be known only by those who have got at least a drop of His mercy.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.6.83)

How can one know the Lord without His mercy? It is necessary to receive the mercy of the Lord. Anyhow, you know what happened after that, I will not speak about it in detail. When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya came to speak to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu said, 'I have become mad and left My mother's service. Please help Me keep My sannyas.' Mahaprabhu always spoke and behaved very humbly. 'I am a very tiny soul, I have no qualification. I have become crazy and taken sannyas, but you please help Me keep My sannyas.' After that, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya taught Him Vedanta during seven days, and in the end, He showed His six-armed form to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya.

Then, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya expressed his wish for Mahaprabhu to stay at Kashi Misra's house, and Kashi Misra arranged for a room (Gambhira) for Mahaprabhu. After a short while, Mahaprabhu wanted to travel to South India. Before He left, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya told Him about Ray Ramananda. When Mahaprabhu met Ray Ramananda on the bank of the Godavari, He showed him His rasa-raja maha-bhava Chaitanya-svarupa. After His tour of South India, Mahaprabhu finally returned to Puri Dham and stayed there after that.

Devotee: Did Mahaprabhu go to South India only one time? Some people say that He went there several times.

No, He went there only one time. When we went to South India, we went to Kurmaksetra – Mahaprabhu visited that place, too (He rescued Vasudev Vipra there). We went to Kovvur after that – Mahaprabhu visited it, too. In this way, Mahaprabhu visited various places, arranged everything with Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatan Goswami; having settled everything all over India, He lastly came to Puri and stayed there. He spent His last eighteen years in Puri, performing His internal pastimes during the last four years. Ramananda Ray had also come to Puri and took charge of Lord Jagannath's temple. There are many pastimes that happened during those years. You have heard about Pradyumna Misra, Gadadhar Pandit, Jagadananda Pandit. Madhavi Devi was also there – she served Mahaprabhu from afar (she did not come close to Mahaprabhu). That is why it is said that she was Mahaprabhu's half-servitor – she cooked for Mahaprabhu, but she could not serve Mahaprabhu directly. Besides that, Mahaprabhu took Lord Jagannath's prasad every day. Near Lord Jagannath's temple, there is a siddha-bakul tree – Mahaprabhu brought Haridas Thakur to Puri. He told Kashi Misra, 'I need one more room. One person dear to Me will come.' He did not tell Haridas Thakur's name at first, He only asked for a room for His associate...

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 12.3 Mb
Length: 30 min
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