Irresistible Devotion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri, Deity installation anniversary
27 May 2017, translated from Bengali, part 7

When Mahaprabhu was in Puri and somebody would come to pay their obeisance to Him, everybody would say, "Do not touch the Lord's feet when you pay obeisance! Do not touch His feet!" One day, when Kalidas grasped the Lord's feet, the devotees quickly said, "What you are doing? No, no, do not touch the Lord's feet!" but Mahaprabhu said, "Do not stop him. Nobody has the power to stop him." Did Kalidas have good looks? He did not—he wore soiled old clothes and did not look so good... But what was his merit? Why did Mahaprabhu say it? When Vaishnavs took prasadam, he did not take it with them, he would stay outside, and when the Vaishnavs finished prasadam and threw away their plates, he would eat the remnants on those plates. That is why Mahaprabhu said, "He took remnants of all Gaudiya Vaishnavs, and when he touches My feet, I do not mind it." This is what devotion should be like.

One time, Kalidas took some mangoes to the house of Jhadu Thakur. Jhadu Thakur took the mangoes and after his wife ate it, she threw the peel and the chewed remnants in the forest. Kalidas hid in the forest and ate those remnants... This Jhadu Thakur was a bhunimali but later became a devotee. Do you understand what bhunimali means? It means a cobbler who made shoes from cow's skin. So after this bhunimali had taken the mangoes, his wife took some mangoes too and having sucked the peel, she threw it away in the forest. Kalidas picked those remnants and ate them.

তব নিজ-জন, প্রসাদ সেবিয়া
উচ্ছিষ্ট রাখিবে যাহা ।
আমার ভোজন পরম-আনন্দে
প্রতিদিন হবে তাহা ॥

tava nija-jana, prasada seviya,
uchchhista rakhibe yaha
amara bhojana, parama-anande,
prati-dina habe taha

"Whatever remnants Your devotees leave behind after honouring Your prasad I will eat every day with great joy."

(Saranagati, 19.3)

সর্ব্বস্ব তোমার চরণে সঁপিয়া
পড়েছি তোমার ঘরে ।
তুমি ত' ঠাকুর, তোমার কুকুর
বলিয়া জানহ মোরে ॥

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,
padechhi tomara ghare
tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukura,
baliya janaha more

I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog.

(Saranagati, 19.1)

What should we ourselves say? "You are my Lord, please consider me your dog." Consider me your dog! This is what the scriptures say and it is necessary to listen to these things.

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