Remembering Haridas Thakur

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Vaishnav Seva Programme, Kolkata,
29 January 2021, part 7

Today is a disappearance, so on this occasion I will tell something from Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita about the disappearance of Srila Haridas Thakur. I will tell it to you briefly. You all know that Haridas Thakur's disappearance is on the day of ananda-chaturdasi.

You know that Mahaprabhu was staying in Gambhira (a room, or a chamber, within a room) at the house of Kashi Misra. Do you know who Kashi Misra was before? Kubja. She wanted Krishna to stay at her house, and Krishna promised her to fulfil her desire in Kali-yuga. So, Mahaprabhu stayed there during many years and performed His intimate, internal pastimes (antaranga-lila) at Kashi Misra's house. At the same time, Mahaprabhu told Haridas Thakur, "When I come to stay in Nilachal (Sri Puri Dham), you must come with Me." So, when Mahaprabhu came to Puri, He told Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya to arrange for a room, and that room was in Siddha Bakul. So, Srila Haridas Thakur came there and stayed at Siddha Bakul and worshipped the Lord from there. He would always loudly chant the Holy Name. What prasad did he take? When Jagannath prasad came and Mahaprabhu took it, the remnants of that prasad was sent to Haridas Thakur (Govinda, Mahaprabhu's servant, would bring it to him every day). Haridas Thakur himself never entered Jagannath Temple.

Haridas Thakur chanted three lakhs Holy Names (300,000 Holy Names) every day, and when he rescued Laksmihira, he chanted even more than that—he vowed to chant ten million Holy Names that month. He told her, "I have not completed chanting the Holy Name."

Anyhow, one day, Haridas Thakur showed the pastime of illness. He was lying down, and when Govinda brought prasadam for him, he said, "Aji langhimu. Today I will break the rule..." We break the rules so often, but he said, "Today, I will break the rule..." Why did he say it? Because he had not finished chanting the Holy Names. He said, "How can I send prasadam back and how can I take it without completing my chanting of the Holy Names?" Thinking in this way, he finally said, "All right, Prabhu has sent prasad, I cannot ignore it. I have to take it." He took a little from that prasad and told Govinda to go.

Govinda came back to Mahaprabhu and told Him the news. He said, "Haridas is not well. He is chanting the Holy Name softly." Mahaprabhu immediately came to Haridas.

"Haridas, what has happened to you? What is wrong with your health? What is your disease?" asked Mahaprabhu.

"Prabhu, my body is not sick; my mind is sick," answered Haridas.

How beautiful these words are. Our minds are sick. If we think, "I will lie down today," then we lie down; if we think, "I will sit up," we sit up; if our mind tells us, "I will go to hear kirtan today," then we will go and listen to kirtan. We are always servants of our minds. Yet satisfying the whims of your mind is not Krishna consciousness. Many say, "Eat whatever pleases your soul." The soul's duty is to serve Paramatma. The soul lives on the internal plane, and the mind lives on the external plane. This is the difference between the mind and the soul. The tongue and other senses will want whatever the mind tells them, that is why we end up thinking, "I want to eat nice things, I want to wear nice things," etc. These are all desires of our naughty mind. Therefore, Haridas Thakur said, "My body is not sick; my mind is sick."

"You have become old now, Haridas," said Mahaprabhu. "You are Namacharya! You do not have to chant so many Holy Names now."

"Prabhu, please take a seat," said Haridas softly. "You have shown me many pastimes. You have shown me Your birth pastime; You have shown me Your childhood and adolescent pastimes; You have shown me Your householder pastimes; You have shown me Your sannyas pastime. I know that You will not stay in this world much longer now. It is my desire that You do not show this pastime to me. I will not be able to tolerate this pastime. I want to ask You for something, Prabhu..."

"What is it?"

"Let me leave this body before You."

In this world, people want to live as long as possible, but Gurudev said: even if you live only for ten years, it is good if you chant the Holy Name during this time, but if you live for one hundred years and not chant the Holy Name, there is no use carrying around this body for one hundred years. People are proud, "My father has lived 120 years!" But there is no use—it is better if you live just ten years but chant the Holy Name.

"What are you saying, Prabhu?" replied Mahaprabhu. "I have done everything together with you. What will I do without you?"

"Prabhu, please do not worry. I wish to see Your lotus face with these eyes, I will hold Your holy feet on my chest, and I will chant Your Name with this mouth..."

"All right... The Lord fulfils the desires of His devotees, so He will certainly fulfil your desire."

The next day, Mahaprabhu came to Haridas Thakur together with all the devotees.

"Haridas, what are the news?" asked Mahaprabhu as He came into Haridas Thakur's room.

"As you wish," replied Haridas Thakur.

Then, Mahaprabhu told the devotees to start chanting and circumambulating Haridas Thakur (start the parikrama). Haridas Thakur caught Mahaprabhu's hand and made Him sit beside him. He held Mahaprabhu's feet on his chest, and, looking at the holy lotus face of Mahaprabhu, he chanted, "Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Sri Krishna Chaitanya." As he chanted it, his soul left the body.

This is how Srila Haridas Thakur left his body. I have told you about this pastime briefly.

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