SRI NABADWIP DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

Antardwip (Atmanivedanam: self-submission)

Srivas Angan

About three hundred meters south-east of Sri Yogapith, there is a house, or ‘angan’, of Sri Srivas Pandit. It is said in the scriptures that Mahaprabhu always stays in four places: at the kitchen of Sri Sachi Mata, wherever Sriman Nityananda Prabhu is dancing, at the house of Srivas Pandit and at the house of Sri Raghav Pandit.

There were four brothers living at Srivas Pandit’s angan: Srivas, Sriram, Sripati and Srinidhi. Among all of them, Srivas Pandit has particularly strong devotion, attraction and affection for Mahaprabhu. Srivas Pandit has had a very intimate and profound relationship with Sriman Mahaprabhu since the day Sriman Mahaprabhu appeared in Sri Nabadwip Dham.

Chapal Gopal’s Fate

Once, Mahaprabhu spent a whole year chanting daily nocturnal sankirtan here, at the house of Srivas Pandit at Sri Mayapur Dham, Sri Nabadwip. Not everybody was allowed to enter these esoteric kirtans, and on the order of Mahaprabhu, Srivas Pandit would close the door at night and only then start the kirtan.

Some naughty outside people often got drunk and harassed devotees. When Srivas Pandit was inside his house chanting kirtan, some bad people would eat meat, drink alcohol, etc. and then come to Srivas Pandit’s house, throw bones and empty bottles in front of his door and go away. They thought, ‘Everybody will see that this man chants kirtan and speaks Hari-katha the whole day, but at night he drinks alcohol! His reputation will be ruined!’ Srivas Pandit would say nothing; he tolerated everything silently and did not do anything against them in return.

However, one night a brahman called Chapal Gopal came to Srivas Pandit’s house and did a very naughty thing: he left some items for Durga worship (sindoor, red sandalwood, turmeric, rice powder, etc.) and a bottle of wine in front of Srivas Pandit’s door. In the morning, Srivas Pandit woke up and saw the things in front of his door. He called all the senior neighbours and said, ‘Look! Look! Just see how senile I have become! What a scrape I have got myself into! I have been chanting kirtan and drinking wine today!’ All the senior neighbours said, ‘No, no! You are such a noble Vaishnav. Who could have thought of such a mischief? Who did this? They have made such a big offence, what will become of them as the result?’

Three days later, this Chapal Gopal came down with leprosy. He had to leave Mayapur and live alone on the bank of the Ganges.

One day, when Mahaprabhu was going to bath in the Ganges, Chapal Gopal stopped Him on the way and said, ‘Sir, You rescue everyone, You bestow Your mercy upon everyone, You are everyone’s near and dear – can You please rescue me, too?’

Hearing his words, Mahaprabhu became very angry. ‘You have made an offence at the lotus feet of Srivas Pandit! I will continue feeding you to insects birth after birth! Stay in the most terrible realms of hell for ten million births!’ Saying this, Mahaprabhu went away. He did not give His mercy to this sinful heretic.

Several years later, when Mahaprabhu returned to Kuliya after taking sannyas, Chapal Gopal surrendered at the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu, and Mahaprabhu told him, ‘I cannot forgive you. If you ask forgiveness for your offence at the lotus feet of Srivas Pandit, then your offence will be removed and your disease will come right, too.’

hari-sthane aparadhe tare harinama
toma-sthane aparadhe nahika edana

‘If you commit an offence against the Lord, the Holy Name can save you; but if you commit an offence against a devotee of the Lord, nothing can save you then.’

If you commit an offence at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, you can get a relief from it, but if you make an offence at the lotus feet of a Vaishnav, you will never get any relief. Therefore, we must always think and be careful not to make any offence at the holy feet of Sri Guru and Vaishnavs. We must always pay obeisance at the holy feet of Sri Guru and Vaishnavs and never look for faults in them.

Mukunda Datta’s Exclusive Faith

One day, Mahaprabhu was doing kirtan at the house of Srivas Pandit (here, at Srivas-angan). Overwhelmed with divine love for the Lord, He said to the devotees all of a sudden, ‘Look Me in the eye and tell Me what you want. Today I will fulfil all your desires.’ Devotees became very happy and asked for various boons. Mahaprabhu called out each of them by their name and blessed them, ‘You will get mercy’, ‘You will get mercy’, and so on. However, there was one person whose name Mahaprabhu did not call out. It was Sri Mukunda Datta Prabhu. Although he was a very good kirtan singer, Mahaprabhu did not mention his name. At this time, Mukunda Datta was sitting behind a curtain at the house of Srivas Pandit, waiting, ‘When will Prabhu tell my name?’ Feeling shy, he could not come out in front of Mahaprabhu. In the end, Srivas Pandit asked Mahaprabhu, ‘Prabhu, You have given Your mercy to everyone today, but why have You not mentioned Mukunda’s name? He is sitting over there, but he will not come forward himself unless You tell his name.’ Mahaprabhu replied, ‘I will not tell his name because he is a khadajathiya!”

What does ‘khadajathiya’ mean? Mukunda Datta is sometimes humility personified, holding straw (khada) between his teeth (showing himself to be as meek as a cow), and sometimes he also attacks Mahaprabhu. So, he is such that, on the one hand, he is seated at Mahaprabhu’s feet, but, on the other hand, he is also sitting on Mahaprabhu’s neck. Whenever he gets into a scrape, he is a vehement follower of Mahaprabhu, but at other times he can criticise Mahaprabhu. Mukunda would go to all sampradayas, and wherever he went, he would mix with everyone and start saying nonsense. That is why Mahaprabhu said, ‘When he goes to other sampradayas, he strikes My body with a stick (jathi). When someone says that there is something higher than devotion, they strike Me with a stick. I do not feel it is necessary to give him any boon! Because he has made an offence against Devotion (Bhakti Devi), he cannot see Me.’

Sitting behind the curtain, Mukunda heard what Mahaprabhu had said. He thought, ‘Gosh, I am so unfortunate. I will go and commit suicide today. If I am not able to get the darshan of the Lord, this life is useless. I always sing for Mahaprabhu, He is the Lord of my very being, my Prananath. How can I live without him? If He does not like me, if He does not bestow His mercy on me, then what will I live for?’ Then, Mukunda called Srivas Pandit and said with tears in his eyes, ‘Thakur, please go to the Lord and ask Him when I will be able to see Him.’

Seeing Mukunda’s state, all the devotees became very sad. Srivas Pandit came to Mahaprabhu and asked, ‘Prabhu, will Mukunda never get Your mercy then?’

‘He will. He will get mercy after ten million births. He will have to come back to this world ten million times, and after that he will get mercy.’

Srivas Pandit thought, ‘We are doomed! Mukunda sings kirtans so beautifully, Mahaprabhu becomes very happy when He hears him sing, and if it takes him ten millions births, then what is our situation?’

However, hearing Mahaprabhu’s harsh words, Mukunda suddenly threw off his clothes and started to dance naked! He kept saying, ‘I will come to the Lord! I will come to the Lord! Even if it takes me ten million births, but one day I will come to Him!’

Everyone was astonished to see him, thinking, ‘Prabhu said that he would get mercy after ten millions births, but he is dancing and rejoicing! What sort of sadhu is he?’

Seeing Mukunda’s behaviour, Mahaprabhu became very pleased and told Srivas Pandit, ‘All right, call him now, tell him to come here!’

Srivas Pandit went to call Mukunda, but Mukunda said, ‘No, no. Prabhu said that I would get His darshan in ten million births – if I come to Him now, I will not be able to get His darshan; what I see will be only illusion.’

When Srivas Pandit told Mahaprabhu what Mukunda had said, Mahaprabhu became even more pleased. He said, ‘Excellent! How strong his faith is! Tell him that his ten million births have already finished – he does not have to wait any longer. Bring him here at once!’

Then, Mukunda came and, feeling overwhelmed with divine love for Lord Krishna, fell at the holy lotus feet of Mahaprabhu. Mahaprabhu said to him, ‘Get up, my Mukunda, get up! You have committed no offence. You heard what I said and you believed it – I will forever remain bound to you within your heart. You are My dear singer, and you must always stay with Me. I was only joking with you.’ Hearing this, Mukunda felt extremely contrite and condemnable and began to cry.

We must have this kind of faith, too. We must have the strongest faith in what Mahaprabhu says, in what Krishna says in Srimad Bhagavad-gita. We do not actually know Mahaprabhu, we do not know Krishna, but we know our gurudev, therefore if we serve our gurudev (not for our own interests but only for the interest of gurudev), if we become surrendered to gurudev, then we can get mercy. You must not think or worry about yourselves – if you think about Krishna, Krishna will look after you. It is necessary to believe in this.

Fortunate Duhkhi

One day, Mahaprabhu came to the house of Srivas Pandit together with Sri Nityananda Prabhu. Mahaprabhu always came there and danced during kirtan in the mood of a devotee. However, that day His mood was different – that day He did not hide His transcendental identity of the Supreme Lord. He sat upon the worshippable seat prepared for the worship of Lord Vishnu, and to bestow His special mercy upon the devotees, declared, ‘Today will be My abhisek (holy auspicious bathing).’ Srivas Pandit then quickly called a maidservant Duhkhi who served at his house and told her to go to the Ganges and bring water. In those days, there were no tube-wells, so everyone went to a pond or the Ganges to bring water. Ordered to fetch water, Duhkhi started bringing water from the Ganges. While Mahaprabhu danced and chanted kirtan in great joy, Duhkhi did nothing else: she only kept going to the Ganges, tears flowing from her eyes. She scooped water into a clay pot and carried it back to the house of Srivas Pandit for Mahaprabhu’s abhisek. When she came home with the water, she tearfully looked at Mahaprabhu dancing and after a short while again went to the Ganges to bring more water. She was not tired, she felt no distress; rather, her heart was constantly overflowing with jubilation. She kept going back to the Ganges again and again, bringing water and keeping all the clay pots in the house in a row.

As she fetched more and more water, she thought, ‘I bring water every day, but today this water is for the bathing of the Lord Himself! How fortunate I am!’

Noticing this exclusive, one-pointed intense desire and tireless service of Duhkhi, Mahaprabhu was extremely satisfied. One day He asked Srivas Pandit, ‘Srivas, who brings Ganges water here every day?’

Srivas Pandit said, ‘A maidservant, Duhkhi, brings all water.’

‘Call her, tell her to come here.’

Srivas Pandit called Duhkhi. When she came in, she began to cry again. Mahaprabhu asked her, ‘Why are you crying? Why are you so sad [duhkhi]?’

Srivas Pandit said, ‘She is crying out of joy! Every time she sees You, she starts crying out of joy.’

Mahaprabhu asked her, ‘Really? What is your name?’

‘Duhkhi,’ the girl replied.

‘Who said that your name is Duhkhi [sad]? From today your name will be Sukhi [happy]!’

This is how she attained Mahaprabhu’s mercy. She got it through service: she had no education, she had no wealth, she did not even go to school, she did not know anything, but she came to the Supreme Lord through her simple-hearted service.

Another time, a tailor who made clothes for Srivas Pandit attained Mahaprabhu’s mercy, although he was Muslim by birth. One day, coming to Srivas Pandit’s house, Mahaprabhu started calling everybody, ‘Come everybody, come! Please come whoever is there!’ At that time the tailor came to Srivas Pandit’s house and saw Mahaprabhu. He became so blissfully happy that he started to cry, thinking, ‘Oh, why was I born in a Muslim family?! Why was I not born in a Hindu family? Had I been born in a Hindu family, I could serve Mahaprabhu!’ Just by seeing Mahaprabhu that tailor received His mercy. Such is the result of having a simple heart and strong faith.

‘Narayani, the Recipient of Gauranga’s Remnants’

There was one more person at the house of Srivas Pandit who received Mahaprabhu’s mercy in a very astonishing way. It was a small girl called Narayani, a niece of Srivas Pandit. She received Mahaprabhu’s blessing in her early childhood.

One day, Mahaprabhu was taking prasadam at the house of Srivas Pandit when Narayani suddenly came in front of Mahaprabhu with an outstretched hand. She was about three or four years old at that time. Mahaprabhu gave her some prasad and said, ‘Now cry and chant “Krishna”!‘ Affected by the order of Mahaprabhu, Narayani started to cry and chant, ‘Krishna! Krishna!’

Another time, some neighbours heard Srivas Pandit chant kirtan with devotees late at night. Becoming jealous and annoyed, they started complaining, ‘It is so late, we cannot sleep! All day and night they do their kirtan! They must stop it; otherwise, we will have to beat Nimai and we will break Srivas’s house and throw it into the Ganges!’

Hearing their angry words, Srivas Pandit stopped kirtan from the next day, but that day Sriman Mahaprabhu came to his house and asked, ‘Srivas, what has happened? Why did you stop kirtan?’

Srivas Pandit replied, ‘First come in, do not worry about it. Take a seat.’

‘Why must I sit? Why has the kirtan stopped? Speak up.’

‘Do not get excited, sit. Neighbours are saying that they will break the house and throw it into the Ganges. I do not care about it, but they also say that they will raise their hands on You. How can I let anyone touch You?’

Mahaprabhu replied, ‘Oh, is that so?’ Then, He showed His transcendental power: He put His hand on Narayani’s head and blessed her, ‘May you get devotion to Lord Sri Krishna!’ Narayani at once cried, ‘O Krishna! O Gaura!’ and started rolling on the ground. After that, Mahaprabhu said to the devotees, ‘So, do you believe it now, or do you still think that anyone can break your house?’

Everyone then believed Mahaprabhu and never stopped kirtan again.

On account of all this, Narayani became renowned as ‘Narayani, the Recipient of Gauranga’s Remnants.’ A few years later, they arranged her marriage into the paternal house of Malini Devi in Mamgachi. The name of her husband is not mentioned anywhere in the scriptures; however, soon after her marriage she begot a son, an exalted Vaishnav called Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur. Such was her fortune.

About Sri Malini Devi

As we mentioned Sri Malini Devi, we can remember some pastimes related to her that also took place here.

One time, Nimai’s elder brother, Vishvarup Prabhu, came to the house of Srivas Pandit. He was about thirteen or fourteen years old at that time. He came to Srivas Pandit to ask for his help, ‘Prabhu, I need one book, and I was hoping that you might have it.’ (At that time, Muslim people burnt Hindu scriptures, so it was not easy to find scriptures.) Srivas Pandit replied, ‘I have sent the book you need to Tripura [Hindu area].’ Then, Malini Devi came into the room. Seeing Vishvarup, she showed much affection to him. Srivas Pandit told her sadly, ‘Vishvarup came to ask me for help, but I could not help him.’ Malini Devi said suddenly, ‘How will you help him? You are always busy with kirtan! You only know to go to Advaita Acharya’s class. What to speak of helping others, you cannot even take care of your own family! So, how will you be able to help others? You are not a family man!’ Malini Devi scolded Srivas Pandit in this way in front of Vishvarup. Vishvarup felt shy to hear her hot-headed words, but Srivas Pandit said to him, ‘Have you heard it, Vishvarup? What did I say and what is she saying to me? Now you see what it is like to live a family life. This family life is a big headache! Never get married!’ Actually, at that time they had already heard the news about Vishvarup’s marriage – his parents had already found a girl for him; but Vishvarup always remembered Srivas Pandit’s words and in the end, a few days later, ran away from home and took sannyas. That kind of mood came to him.

Malini Devi always treated all devotees, especially Sri Nityananda Prabhu, with motherly affection. One time, when Nityananda Prabhu came to Srivas Pandit’s house, Malini Devi was busy with puja and archan when suddenly a crow flew in through the window and took one of the Deities’ pots! Malini Devi started to cry out of fear, thinking, ‘If Srivas Pandit gets to know about it, he will scold me!’ Nityananda Prabhu asked her, ‘What has happened, Mother?’ Malini Devi explained what had happened, and Nityananda Prabhu reassured her, ‘Do not worry, I will return the pot.’ Then, Nityananda Prabhu smiled and called out to the crow, ‘Hey, listen here, crow! Give the pot back!’ Malini Devi saw that the crow came back, kept the pot in the room and flew away. She thought, ‘Nitai is not an ordinary man!’ Astonished, she started praising Lord Nityananda Prabhu, but hearing her words, Nityananda Prabhu only smiled and said, ‘Mother, I am hungry.’ Overwhelmed with divine parental affection, Malini Devi started to feed Him. Nityananda Prabhu did not take prasad with His own hand – Malini Devi always fed Him like a mother.

Nityananda Prabhu always saw Srivas Pandit and Malini Devi as His father and mother, and they always treated Him as their own son. Sometimes, when Malini Devi merely saw Nityananda Prabhu, milk would start flowing from her breasts. She had no breast milk, but by the influence of divine parental love, milk would start flowing from her breasts, and Nityananda Prabhu would drink it like a baby. Moreover, it is said in Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata that Malini Devi could always see Nityananda Prabhu’s childhood pastimes, but Mahaprabhu ordered her not to tell anyone about that.

One day, Mahaprabhu asked Srivas Pandit, ‘Srivas, why do you always keep this avadhut at your house? You do not know anything about Him. What is His caste? Where was He born? If you want to protect your own caste and lineage, you must steer clear of Him! Tell Him to leave!’ Hearing Nimai’s words, Srivas Pandit smiled, ‘You do not need to test me. Nityananda is Your own body, and those who worship You are my heart and soul. Even if Nityananda grabs a drunk Muslim girl and destroys my caste, my being or my wealth, I will not change my mind – I swear to You.’ When Mahaprabhu heard Srivas Pandit’s words, He arose and embraced him, roaring for joy! Then, He said, ‘I have entrusted Nityananda to you, please manage Him.’ So, Srivas Pandit and Malini Devi always loved, treated and took care of Nityananda Prabhu as their own son.

A lesson from Srivas Pandit’s son

Srivas Pandit and Malini Devi had only one son, but he got sick and left this world. When it happened, all the ladies at home started weeping, but Srivas Pandit told everyone to stop crying so as not to obstruct Mahaprabhu’s kirtan and dancing. A short while later, Mahaprabhu asked Srivas Pandit, ‘Srivas, tell Me, has anything happened at home? For some reason, I am not enjoying the kirtan so much today. I am not feeling happy.’ Srivas Pandit had no choice, so he had to tell the truth, ‘Yes, Prabhu. I did not want to disturb Your kirtan, but my only son has died today.’ Seeing Srivas Pandit’s devotion and faith, Mahaprabhu was pleased internally, ‘Somebody has died in his house, but he is not telling anything.’ Then, Mahaprabhu chided Srivas Pandit, ‘Why did you not tell Me anything before? Where is the boy? Let us go to him!’ They went into the room, and Mahaprabhu spoke to the dead boy: ‘My boy, why are you leaving Srivas and Me? What offence have we made to you that you are leaving us and going away?’ Then, the dead boy suddenly started speaking, ‘Prabhu, I stayed here for a few days and had some connection with you all, but now You have called me, so I am going to Your abode. I have been born many times and have died many times, but this time at the time of death I have got to behold Your holy lotus face, so I am going away happily.’

Srivas Pandit’s exemplary service

Those who can take part in service every day are very fortunate. Not everyone attains this kind of fortune. Not everyone can do service – Hari-katha does not enter everyone’s ears. If you come to the Lord and say, ‘I will serve You’ – if such determination comes to you – then the Lord will manifest Himself in front of you.

What kind of householder was Srivas Pandit?

Mahaprabhu said, ‘Srivas, I may go away from here one day, but kirtan must continue in your house just as it is going on every day now. Every evening, you must gather all together with the people from your neighbourhood and chant kirtans with mridangas and karatals.’

The Lord always stays wherever His devotees always think about Him. ‘Ye dina grhe bhajana dekhi, grhete goloka bhaya. Brother, whenever I see spiritual life practised in my house, my house turns into Goloka.’ Where is Goloka? Goloka is in the house where the Lord is talked about and where the Lord is served every day. When it comes to service or practising devotion, there are sixty-four limbs of devotion, and Nama-sankirtan is the best among them.

So, on the order of the Lord, there was daily kirtan held at the house of Srivas Pandit, and Srivas Pandit had a very good habit – he thought, ‘Devotees will come in the evening. How can they leave without having anything? No, no. If I can give them some prasad, it will be good.’ Srivas Pandit did not have a job, he did not have any business or income, so where would he get the money to arrange prasad? He went begging (collecting madhukari). He offered whatever he collected during the day to the Lordships at his house and in the evening distributed that prasad to everyone.

Can everyone in the world be good though? There are always some naughty people. Take a hundred people – there will always be more bad people than good. So, when Srivas Pandit went begging, some naughty people abused and harassed him very much. Because Srivas Pandit held kirtans at his house, people said, ‘This pauper is so hungry that he cannot sleep at night, that is why he sings kirtans all night long!’ Some drunkards would come stark drunk and keep empty bottles at the door of Srivas Pandit’s house; the next day people saw the bottles and said, ‘He chants kirtans the whole day and drinks wine in the dead of night!’

Because Srivas Pandit went begging, people criticised him, ‘This uncle goes begging and collects money to live comfortably with his wife and son!’

Hearing such talks, Mahaprabhu thought, ‘These people are making offences, and they will have to go to hell. I must fix this.’

Then, Mahaprabhu came to Srivas Pandit and said, ‘Srivas! Listen to Me.’

‘Yes, Prabhu, what is it? What is Your order?’

‘My Order is this: from tomorrow you will not go begging anymore.’

‘What are You saying? You told me to hold kirtans in the evenings, so how can I let devotees leave with empty stomaches? How can I not give them any prasad? I cannot find any job, that is why I have to go begging.’

‘I do not know all this! You must not go begging. I am telling you that from tomorrow you will not go begging!’

Then, Srivas Pandit laughed and said, ‘All right! One – clap, two – clap, three – clap!’

‘One – clap, two – clap, three – clap? What kind of language are you speaking?’

‘I am saying that I will see one day, I will see the second day (I will fast for one day, I will fast for two days), and on the third day, not being able to tolerate hunger anymore, I will jump into the Ganges!’

‘Yes, very good. Jump into the Ganges, no problem,’ Mahaprabhu said, testing Srivas Pandit. Saying this, Mahaprabhu went away, and the next day in the morning, so much rice, dal and vegetables were brought to Srivas Pandit’s house! He was nonplussed, ‘Who is bringing it? Where is it all coming from?’ His whole house became filled with bhoga, and Srivas Pandit never lacked anything.

It is necessary to have this kind of faith – it is necessary to be this kind of householder. ‘Dear Lord, I rely on You. Keep me any way You wish to. I will serve You – whether You take my service or not, what You give me or not give, it is Your matter. It does not matter whether I like something or do not like something – if You think bad about me and want to punish me, You can do so; and if You think good about me and want to give me happiness, You can do so. Be it happiness or unhappiness, I do not mind anything.’

So, it is our great fortune to have come here, to the house of Srivas Pandit. Taking the dust of this supremely worshippable place on our heads, we must always remember all these things that we have discussed and pray that in some future birth, somehow, we can become members of devotees’ family and take part in their service.

Jay Srivas Pandit’s Angan ki jay.
Sri Srivas Pandit, Sri Malini Devi ki jay.
Jay Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai ki jay. Jay Srila Guru Maharaj.

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CONTENTS