At Srivas Angan (3)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day One
Antardwip, 23 March 2021, part 10
Translated from Bengali

Some bad people used to criticise Srivas Pandit and gossip that Srivas Pandit went begging and using the alms to run his family—he has no job, he does not trade, so he collects money from others to eat and live comfortably. This is actually not true. Srivas Pandit would beg, collect some bhoga, and after cooking and offering bhoga to the Lord, he would feed all the devotees in the evening when they came for kirtan. One day, Mahaprabhu spoke to Srivas Pandit.

"Srivas, people say all sorts of things... Can you promise Me something?" Mahaprabhu asked.

"What is it, Prabhu?"

"From tomorrow, you must not go begging again."

"How is it possible, Prabhu?" Srivas Pandit replied. "You told me to have kirtan at home every evening, so when devotees comes, how can I let them leave without having anything? I must give prasad to everyone."

"I do not know how you will do it, but you must not go begging from tomorrow," said Mahaprabhu.

"All right. One—clap, two—clap, three—clap," answered Srivas Pandit.

"What kind of language is this?" Mahaprabhu asked, puzzled.

"Do You not understand? I will stay one day without eating, the second day, and on the third day, I will jump into the Ganges!"

"Yes, very good. You can jump into the Ganges and die, but you will not go begging again," Mahaprabhu replied.

"As You wish," agreed Srivas Pandit.

The next day, by the wish of Mahaprabhu, some devotees brought rice, dal, oil, salt, vegetables, etc.—they brought so much bhoga that the house became filled with all kinds of ingredients. When Mahaprabhu came later that day, He asked, smiling, "So, what do you say, Srivas? Do you need to go begging now?" Srivas Pandit replied, "No, no. It is not necessary to ever go begging again!" Everything is taken care of by the wish of the Lord.

So, it is our great fortune that we have come to the house of this Srivas Pandit. We come and pay obeisance to Srivas Pandit. His name is included in the Pancha Tattva mantra:

শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্য প্রভু নিত্যানন্দ ।
শ্রীঅদ্বৈত গদাধর শ্রীবাসাদি গৌরভক্তবৃন্দ ॥

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda

Next, we will go to the places of Sri Advaita Acharya Prabhu and Srila Gadadhar Pandit, and then to Chaitanya Math. Advaita Prabhu first stayed in Shantipur, but later came here, and Sri Gadadhar Pandit is the potency of Srimati Radharani (during his later life, Gadadhar Pandit stayed in Puri and served Radha Gopinath). We will come to pay obeisance at their places. Now, let us offer our obeisance here, and we shall continue our way. We will sit again and speak more at Sri Chaitanya Math and later, after the noon prasad.

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