Parental Sacrifice

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Adhivas of Lord Nityananda Prabhu's Appearance, evening class
Sri Ekachakra Dham, 24 February 2021, part 2
Translated from Bengali

It is impossible to get Nityananda Prabhu without the mercy of Sri Hadai Pandit and Sri Padmavati Mayi. It is only by their mercy that we have got Nityananda Prabhu.

Nityananda Prabhu left this village with a sannyasi when He was 12 years old. The sannyasi had come to Hadai Pandit and Padmavati Devi begging them for alms. Nityananda Prabhu's parents could not let the sannyasi go empty-handed, so they agreed to give him whatever he would ask for. However, the sannyasi asked for their only son, Nityananda Prabhu. These days women are such that they would never give their son if they were asked to—even if you give them 100,000 rupees, they will not give their son up; but Nityananda Prabhu's parents gave their son away. They made such a great sacrifice in their life! He is the Lord Himself—eke dehe dui rupa (Nitai and Gaura are non-different from each other).

We sing in one of the kirtans,

হরি হরি ! বিফলে জনম গোঙাইনু ।
মনুষ্যজনম পাইয়া রাধাকৃষ্ণ না ভজিয়া
জানিয়া শুনিয়া বিষ খাইনু ॥

hari hari! viphale janama gonainu
manusya-janama paiya radha-krsna na bhajiya
janiya suniya visa khainu

O Lord! My life has passed uselessly. I attained a human birth, but I did not serve Radha and Krishna. Knowingly I drank poison.

('Hari Hari viphale' by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

In this kirtan, it is said, "Balarama haila Nitai. Balaram became Nitai."

This place here is where Nityananda Prabhu grew up. Laksman was a younger brother in Treta-yuga, but Ramachandra always followed moral rules and always made sure that no moral rules were broken. In English, there is a saying, "Mercy is above justice." You can see in India also, someone can be sentenced to execution, but if the Supreme Court pardons the criminal, then execution is called off and the criminal can be pardoned. By judgement, the person must be hanged, but if the court rules to show mercy, then the criminal can be released. Here also, you can get somewhere by justice, but mercy is above justice, and Nityananda Prabhu is that mercy.

You know that Ramachandra was sent to live in the forest. We sing the Dasavatara Stotram about the ten incarnations of the Lord, and Lord Ramachandra is one of them; however, He is not called the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Why? Because all devotional mellows (shanta, dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, madhura) do not exist within His pastimes. There is no proper vatsalya-rasa in Lord Ramachandra's pastimes. There is some parental love, but it is not fully manifest—Dasarath did not want to send his son to the forest, but he had given his word to Kaikeyi that Rama would be sent to the forest and Kaikeyi's son would be enthroned. Dasarath cried in his heart, but even if his son died, he let it be. What did Rama do? He made Sita Devi go through a test of fire; even then, not being satisfied when she had passed the test, He sent her to live in the forest. You all know that her two sons Lava and Kusha were born there. So, we see that Dasarath did not oppose it when his own son was exiled to the forest, but what did Vasudev and Devaki do? Taking Krishna, Vasudev carried Him across the Yamuna and kept Him in the house of Nanda Maharaj. This is what love is. This is what vatsalya-rasa (parental love) is....

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