(8) 'Come and Eat'

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, Lord Siva's Temple inauguration,
5 March 2019, evening, part 8
Translated from Bengali

...Some years later, one sadhu came to Sachi Mata's house.

'Mother, can you give me some alms?' he asked.

'Of course, but it is after ten already and we have finished all the cooking. But please do not leave without having anything. Could you please cook something and make an offering? You must take prasad at our house today. You must not leave at this odd time.'

The sadhu stayed and went to cook at the kitchen. It came to noon, twelve o'clock, and he went to offer the bhoga to the Deity (there was a Deity of Lord Narayan at the house of Mother Sachi and Jagannath Misra). He placed the offering in front of the Deity and started reciting the mantras (it is necessary to recite the mantras to call the Lord to come and eat). Suddenly, he opened his eyes and saw Nimai sitting there and eating the offering! He cried, 'Hey!! What are You doing?! You are eating the Deity's bhoga!!' Nimai fled. Hearing the sadhu shout, Sachi Mata and Jagannath Misra came running. They asked him, 'Thakur Masay, what has happened?'

'Your son is very naughty. Look at it – I was going to offer bhoga to the Deities, but He came and ate it! There is no bhoga left.'

'Please do not take our offence,' Jagannath Misra replied. 'He may be very naughty, but we offer bhoga every day and He has never spoilt it before. Anyway, what happened happened, please make an offering again. I will sit outside the door and guard it, so He will not be able to come.'

The sadhu went to cook again. By the time he had finished, it was already afternoon. He went to the Deity's room and offered the bhoga again. He prayed, 'O Lord, Your lunch is late today. I have made an offence. Please accept this offering again.' Saying this, he closed his eyes and started reciting the mantras, but when he opened his eyes, he saw that Nimai was again there – eating!

'Hey! Where have You come from?!' he cried.

'What has happened?' Jagannath Misra quickly looked in. 'I was sitting outside, how could He have got inside?!' Then, he got so angry that he picked up a stick and decided to give Nimai a good beating! Nimai dashed away. He ran to a neighbour's house and asked the lady at the house to quickly bolt the door. He shivered in fear of His father! Jagannath Misra cried, 'Open up! I will beat You today!' He who the entire three worlds shiver in fear of shivered that day in fear of His father, manifesting the glory of the vatsalya-rasa (parental love and devotion).

Everybody became upset. Mother Sachi thought, 'This sadhu is our guest, but he has to stay hungry – he cannot even offer bhoga. There is no prasad for him.' Everybody was sitting sadly at the house. At that time, Vishvarup, Nimai's elder brother, came home.

'Why is everybody so upset at home? Mother, Father, why are you crying?'

'Who is this boy?' the sadhu asked.

'This is our elder son, his name is Vishvarup.'

'Vishvarup? Such a beautiful boy! His name is Vishvarup (the universal beauty), and he looks like a vishva-rupa (very beautiful)!' Then he told Vishvarup, 'Your small brother, Nimai, is being very naughty. I have offered bhoga two times today, but He came and spoilt it both times.'

'He is very naughty, but I am His elder brother and He is very scared of me. I will watch Him. Please do not take our offence. Can you please go and cook something again?'

It was already evening, so the sadhu sannyasi cooked an evening offering. By the time he had finished cooking, it was already seven or eight in the evening. He arranged the offering and went to present it to the Lord. He walked cautiously, looking around and thinking, 'What is He comes again? What if He spoils it again?' He passed Sachi Mata's room and saw Nimai sleeping sweetly in her lap. Then, he tiptoed to the altar room and quietly closed the door behind him not to wake Nimai up. Quietly, he started calling out to the Lord in his mind, 'O Lord, I have many so many offences, I have done so much wrong. That naughty boy has spoilt Your offering two times. Please come and eat now. Please come.' Then, he closed his eyes and started reciting the mantras very intently. He sat reciting them for a long time (perhaps, ten minutes), but when he opened his eyes again, he saw that Nimai had already cleared the plate!

'Again You?! Naughty boy, what have You done?! You have finished it again!'

'Listen, sadhu,' Nimai said, finally. 'You keep calling Me again and again, and I keep coming to your call. I was sleeping sweetly, but you called Me, so I had to wake up and come here. I have not eaten the whole day, so I came and ate everything.'

'What are You talking about? I have not called You!'

'Oh, have you not? Who did you call then?' Saying this, Nimai Vishvambhar showed His six-armed form, holding a conch, a disc, a club, a lotus and a kumandala to the sadhu. 'Behold it! You are a very fortunate soul because I let you see Me in Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga and Dvapar-yuga. And you are so fortunate that you get to see Me even now, in Kali-yuga. But you must not tell anyone about it.'

Seeing that form, the brahman ran away from the house. Jagannath Misra, Sachi Mata and Nimai's brother Vishvarup went to look for him everywhere, 'Where has the sadhu gone? Where is he?' The sadhu had seen the Lord's form and ran away! They even suspected that Nimai might have done something again, but when they checked on Him, they saw that He was sleeping sweetly in the room.

Such are the Lord's pastimes.

— : • : —

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