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. It is situated in Sri Nandan-acharya Bhavan, which is now Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj's temple. 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 Him, but nobody could find Him—Sriman Nityananda Prabhu is very mystic, esoteric, nobody can find Him so easily. Then, Mahaprabhu went to search Him out Himself, and He went straight to Sri Nandan-acharya Bhavan because He knew everything. Eki dehe dui rupa: Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu are One—They are nondifferent from each other, only one is ashraya-vigraha (the embodiment of shelter), and the other one is visaya-vigraha (the embodiment of worshippable Deity)—and to satisfy and nourish Their pastimes, They become two, one is Gauranga, and one is Nityananda.

There are many pastimes that happened in Mayapur after Their meeting. When Nityananda Prabhu came to Mayapur, He lived in the house of Srivas Pandit, 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 come from her breast. She felt extremely strong parental affection to Nityananda Prabhu. One time, Srivas Pandit's wife Malini Devi was cleaning some paraphernalia of the Deities when a crow came and took away a pot. Malini Devi began to cry, and 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 the house of Sri Advaita Prabhu, Nityananda Prabhu fought with Sri Advaita Prabhu! Nityananda Prabhu was hungry that day, and when Sri Advaita Prabhu gave Him some prasadam, Nityananda Prabhu ate everything and then demanded more. Sri Advaita Prabhu said, "I am a very poor brahman, and You are eating too much! How can I give You more?" Then Nityananda Prabhu threw prasadam into Advaita Prabhu's face saying, "You have invited Me, but you are not feeding Me! You are giving only half stomach prasadam to Me!" Such was their sweet pastime of playful fighting.

Actually, Nityananda Prabhu is knowns 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 ॥

samsare para hai' bhaktira sagare
ye dubibe, se bhajuka nitaichandere

May those who desire to cross over samsara and dive in the ocean of devotion serve Sri Nitaichand.

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavat, Adi-khanda, 1.77)

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

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

Nityananda Prabhu does not consider who is good and who is bad, He saves anyone who falls before Him.

Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 5.208-209

When somebody comes to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu judges whether they follow all the rules and regulations properly or not, He sees what they do, etc. His judgement is quite strict, but Nityananda Prabhu does not judge anyone—whoever comes to Him and pays obeisance to Him, He embraces them. 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 him, then what can I do? I cannot shun away from them now." So, when Nityananda Prabhu accepts somebody, Mahaprabhu cannot reject them after that—He cannot give any objection.

You know that Nityananda Prabhu came as Laksman in Treta-yuga, and He was 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 contradict or cross His elder brother. So, when Lord Ramachandra, Laksman's elder brother, wanted to go to the forest along with Sita Devi, Laksman had to go too. Actually, Rama did not ask Sita Devi to go with Him—Sita Devi said she wanted to go with Him to serve Him. Laksman also went with them to serve Rama. 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 Lord who strictly follows all moral rules). To please His kingdom's subjects He put Sita Devi into fire, He 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 age of Dvapar and Kali, He comes as elder to the Lord. Laksman said, "I do not want to be Your younger brother again! I want to be elder!" So, when in Dvapar-yuga Lord Krishna sometimes did something naughty, Baladev could chastise Him, Baladev could give Him a slap also—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 like that, they quickly hid going to another room, and Mahaprabhu put His own cloth on Nityananda Prabhu to cover Him. Nityananda Prabhu came like a child, a baby without any clothes. Such things happened sometimes in His pastimes.

You know the pastimes of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, you know about Sri Sivananda Sen. When 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 and when she heard it, she began to cry. But when Sivananda Sen came, he paid a full obeisance and apologised for coming late, and 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 Srikantha got angry and rushed to Mahaprabhu to complain about Nityananda Prabhu, but when Srikantha came to Mahaprabhu he could not do that.

Another time, Mahaprabhu decided to test Srivas Pandit. He told him once, "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 some problem comes, what will you do?" Srivas Pandit replied, "Oh, so You are testing me! I know why You are asking—You want to see how much I love Nityananda Prabhu, 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 patita-pavan, saviour of the fallen. If You do not rescue him, who will do that?" Nityananda Prabhu accepted Madhai and He begged Mahaprabhu on behalf of Madhai. Such is the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, and He is guru-tattva, ashraya-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 made the chira-dahi mahotsav in Panihati, it became possible for him to overcome Maya. He made 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 in Sri Ekachakra Dham. One time, some dacoits came to Ekachakra and wanted to rob Nityananda Prabhu's house. The first night, when they were about to do so, many insects, dust, etc. attacked them—they could not see anything, so they did not go. 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 again. On the third day, they saw many guards at the house, so they could not break into the house again. Finally, on the fourth day those dacoits became blind. Then they understood their mistake, and 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 serve here?" The dacoits said, "Yes, we do!" What service did Nityananda Prabhu then give them? He said, "There are many dacoits in this area, you must covert and purify them! Take 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 the way, Nityananda Prabhu suddenly felt very hungry and He ate all that rice (He alone ate twelve people's rice!). Later that day, the workers came to Sri Padmavati Devi and Sri Hadai Pandit and complained, "You have not sent any food for us today! We cannot work!" Sri Padmavati Devi was surprised, "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 that happened 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. When a sannyasi comes, he cannot leave without taking anything, and that sannyasi begged Sri Hadai Pandit and Sri Padmavati Devi for their son...

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