(4/7) Sriman Nityananda Prabhu: Ocean of Mercy

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 28 February 2021, part 4

So many things happened in Nityananda Prabhu’s pastimes…

Every time we go for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, we always come to see the place where Mahaprabhu first met with Nityananda Prabhu. That place is Sri Nandan Acharya Bhavan, where Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj’s temple is now. When Nityananda Prabhu came to that place, Mahaprabhu told everybody, ‘You must go and search Him out! Some big personality has come to Mayapur! Go and find Him!’ Devotees went to look for that great personality, but nobody could find Him – Sriman Nityananda Prabhu is very mystic, esoteric, so nobody can find Him so easily. Then, Mahaprabhu went to search Him out Himself. He knew everything, so He went straight to Sri Nandan Acharya Bhavan. Eka-i dehe dui rupa: Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu are One. They are non-different from each other, only One is asraya-vigraha (embodiment of shelter), and the other One is visaya-vigraha (embodiment of the worshippable Deity). To satisfy and nourish Their pastimes, They become two: one is Gauranga, and one is Nityananda.

Many pastimes happened in Mayapur after Their meeting. When Nityananda Prabhu came to Mayapur, He lived at Srivas Pandit’s house, and He would call Srivas Pandit’s wife Malini Devi ‘mother’. Not only that, although she was a very old lady at that time, when she heard Nityananda Prabhu calling her ‘ma’ (mother), milk would flow from her breasts. She felt extremely strong parental affection for Nityananda Prabhu. One time, Srivas Pandit’s wife Malini Devi was cleaning Deities’ paraphernalia when a crow came and took away a pot. She began to cry, but Nityananda Prabhu said, ‘Mother, do not cry – I will tell the crow, and it will give it back!’ And that happened.

Another time, when Nityananda Prabhu came to Sri Advaita Prabhu’s house, He had a fight with Sri Advaita Prabhu! Nityananda Prabhu was hungry that day. When Sri Advaita Prabhu gave Him some prasad, He ate everything and demanded more, but Sri Advaita Prabhu said, ‘I am a very poor brahman, and You are eating too much! Where must I get more food for You?’ Hearing this, Nityananda Prabhu took a handful of prasad and threw it into Advaita Prabhu’s face, saying, ‘You have invited Me, but you are not feeding Me! You are giving Me only half-stomach prasad!’ Such was their sweet pastime of playful fighting.

Actually, Nityananda Prabhu is known as avadhut. ‘Ava’ means ‘very fallen souls’ and ‘dhut’ means ‘cleaning’ – He who cleans fallen souls, who gives mercy to fallen souls is called avadhut.

সংসারের পার হই' ভক্তির সাগরে ।
যে ডুবিবে, সে ভজুক নিতাইচাঁদেরে ॥

samsarera para hai’ bhaktira sagare
ye dubibe, se bhajuka nitai-chandere

‘If you desire to cross the ocean of material existence and dive into the ocean of devotion, may you serve Sri Nitaichand!’

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 1.1.77)

উত্তম, অধম, কিছু না করে বিচার ।
যে আগে পড়য়ে, তারে করয়ে নিস্তার ॥

uttama, adhama, kichhu na kare vichara
ye age padaye, tare karaye nistara

‘Nityananda Prabhu does not judge who is good and who is bad: He saves anyone who falls before Him.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.5.208)

When somebody comes to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu judges whether they follow all the rules and regulations properly or not, He looks at how the person lives. Mahaprabhu’s judgement is quite strict, but Nityananda Prabhu does not judge anyone – He embraces whoever comes to Him and pays obeisance to Him. His personality is like that. Nityananda Prabhu accepts even those whom Mahaprabhu cannot accept – then even Mahaprabhu cannot avoid such persons. Mahaprabhu says, ‘If Nityananda Prabhu has accepted this person, then what can I do? I cannot shun away from them now.’ So, when Nityananda Prabhu accepts somebody, Mahaprabhu cannot reject them – He cannot give any objection.

As you know, in Treta-yuga, Nityananda Prabhu came as Laksman, Lord Ramachandra’s younger brother. At that time, Ramachandra followed many rules and regulations very strictly – so much so that He even went to live in the forest without giving any objection to His father’s decision. Laksman tolerated everything because He could not cross His elder brother. So, when Lord Ramachandra decided to go to the forest with Sita Devi, Laksman had to go too. Lord Rama did not ask Sita Devi to go with Him – she said herself that she wanted to go with Him to serve Him. Laksman went with them to serve His elder brother, Lord Rama, too. Kaikeyi also actually wanted only Ramachandra to go to the forest, but Laksman and Sita Devi went with Him of their own accord… So, Ramachandra is sometimes very strict, He is maryada-purusottama (the Supreme Personality of Godhead who strictly follows all moral rules). Later, to please His kingdom’s subjects, He put Sita Devi into fire and even sent her to live in the forest! Although it was unbearable for Laksman, He could not protest because He was younger. That is why in the Ages of Dvapar and Kali, He comes as elder to the Lord (as Balaram and Nityananda, respectively). Laksman said, ‘I do not want to be Your younger brother again! I want to be elder!’ So, in Dvapar-yuga, when Lord Krishna sometimes did something naughty, Baladev could chastise Him and even slap Him. He is elder, so He can control the Lord. In the same way, Nityananda Prabhu also sometimes crosses Mahaprabhu – Mahaprabhu can be strict, but Nityananda Prabhu is always merciful…

One time, Nityananda Prabhu came to Sachi Mata’s house stark naked. Sachi Mata and Vishnupriya Devi were there – seeing Nityananda Prabhu come in like that, they quickly hid in another room. Mahaprabhu put His own cloth on Nityananda Prabhu to cover Him. Nityananda Prabhu came like a baby without any clothes on. Such things happened sometimes in His pastimes.

You also know the pastimes of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami and Sri Sivananda Sen. One time, Sivananda Sen was going to Puri with all the devotees and Nityananda Prabhu. Nityananda Prabhu was going first, and at some point He felt very hungry. Sivananda Sen was walking far behind, and by the time He reached Nityananda Prabhu, Nityananda Prabhu had lost His patience and cursed Sivananda Sen’s two sons to die. Sivananda Sen’s wife was there – hearing the curse, she began to cry. When Sivananda Sen came, he paid a full obeisance to the Lord and apologised for coming late. In return, Nityananda Prabhu kicked him – Nityananda Prabhu put His leg on Sivananda Sen’s head! Such was His mercy. Sivananda Sen began to jump out of intense joy, but his nephew Srikantha got angry. He rushed to Mahaprabhu to complain about Nityananda Prabhu, but when he came to Mahaprabhu, he could not do that.

Another time, Mahaprabhu wanted to test Srivas Pandit. He told him, ‘Listen, Srivas, you are giving shelter to Nityananda Prabhu in your house, but you do not know where He is from, who He is. What if something happens, what will you do then?’ Srivas Pandit replied, ‘Oh, so You are testing me? I know why You are asking me this: You want to see how much I love Nityananda Prabhu, You want to see how much affection I have for Him!’ Mahaprabhu was very happy to hear that.

You also know the story of Jagai and Madhai. Mahaprabhu rejected Madhai, but Nityananda Prabhu accepted him. Mahaprabhu said, ‘I will not forgive him, I will not save him because he has beaten My friend!’ But Nityananda Prabhu earnestly appealed to Mahaprabhu, ‘Please, save him! You have come to this world as a patita-pavan, a saviour of the fallen. If You do not rescue him, who will do it?’ Nityananda Prabhu accepted Madhai, and He begged Mahaprabhu on behalf of Madhai. Such is the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. He is guru-tattva, asraya-vigraha (He embodies shelter and the guru). The Lord may not tolerate something, but Vaishnavs and the guru accept everybody.

There are so many pastimes of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu… You know what happened in Srila Raghunath Das Goswami’s life. He could not overcome Maya, but after he had arranged the chida-dahi mahotsav in Panihati, it became possible for him to overcome her. He did vaishnav-seva on the order of Nityananda Prabhu, and Nityananda Prabhu put His leg on his head. This is how Nityananda Prabhu bestowed His mercy on Srila Raghunath Das Goswami.

There are also many pastimes of Nityananda Prabhu that happened in Sri Ekachakra Dham. One time, dacoits came to Ekachakra. They wanted to rob Nityananda Prabhu’s house. The first night, when they were about to do so, many insects and a dust storm attacked them – they could not see anything around them, so they did not go there. When they wanted to break into the house on the second day, they saw all the roads had become flooded, and because there was water everywhere, they could not go there again. On the third day, they saw many guards at the house, and they could not break into the house again. Finally, on the fourth day, the dacoits became blind. Then they understood their mistake. They came to Nityananda Prabhu and prayed to Him, ‘Please forgive our offence. We wanted to burgle Your house. Please forgive us!’ Nityananda Prabhu said, ‘All right, I can forgive your offence. Do you want to do some service here?’ The dacoits said, ‘Yes, we do!’ What service did Nityananda Prabhu give them? He said, ‘There are many dacoits in this area. You must convert and purify them! Bring them to the proper line. This is your service.’

Another time, there happened one pastime at the land of Nityananda Prabhu’s father (it is near our temple). The land was used for cultivation, and many labour workers were employed to do the farming. One day, Nityananda Prabhu’s mother, Sri Padmavati Devi, sent her son (He was eleven–twelve years old at that time) to the field with a bucket of rice for the workers. On His way to the field, Nityananda Prabhu suddenly felt very hungry, so He ate all the rice. (He alone ate twelve people’s rice!) Later that day, the workers came to Sri Padmavati Devi and Sri Hadai Pandit to complain, ‘You have not sent any food for us today! We cannot work like this!’ Sri Padmavati Devi was surprised, ‘But I did send food for you with Nitai!’ Then she asked Nityananda Prabhu, ‘Nitai, what happened? I sent that rice with You…’ Nityananda Prabhu told the truth, ‘I was very hungry, so I ate it!’

There are so many pastimes in Sri Ekachakra Dham. Nityananda Prabhu performed so many pastimes in His childhood there. Eventually, one day, a sannyasi came to Sri Hadai Pandit and Sri Padmavati Devi. Generally, when a sannyasi comes, he does not leave the house without taking something. And that sannyasi begged Sri Hadai Pandit and Sri Padmavati Devi for their son…

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 22 Mb
Length: 46 min
Language: English

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Overflowing and Grand Festival
2) Mission in Sri Ekachakra Dham
3) Sriman Nityananda Prabhu's Line
4) Sriman Nityananda Prabhu: Ocean of Mercy
5) Sri Ekachakra Festival: Beyond Imagination
6) Real Family Life
7) "My Life Is for My Gurudev"