(8/8) Deity Gives Witness

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kadigachha, festive morning programme,
6 March 2019, part 8
Translated from Bengali

Ksir-chor Gopinath stole ksir (condensed milk) for Madhavendra Puri. Saksi Gopal went to Vidyanagar and gave witness (saksi), after which an Odian king fought a battle and brought the Deity to His current temple. One time, Saksi Gopal wanted to have a nose ring...

In our society, when a girl gets married, she starts wearing sindoor in her parting and conch bangles on her hands. Modern girls do not do it. They do not know these things – they always want to stay unmarried because they think, 'If I get married, other men will not like me.' You may not like to hear these things, but then why do you not wear sindoor? What is the problem if you wear sindoor and bangles? When you get married, sindoor and bangles are the signs that you are married to a man, that you have a husband, and if you do not wear all this, it means that you do not want others to know it – you want others to look at you and like you. Is it right to be like this? I have seen it many times... One time, I saw a girl wearing a shirt and denim pants. I asked devotees who she was, and they told me that she had recently got married into one of their households. Where is her sindoor? Where are her bangles? She has nothing. Anyhow, in Odisha, when a girl gets married, there is a custom for the girl to wear a nose ring. Those who have no nose ring are either unmarried or widows.

So, one day, when there was a festival arranged for Saksi Gopal, the king's wife thought, 'The Lord is my heart and soul, He is my master (my husband).' (The husbands you have in this world are all temporary husbands, but Krishna is the eternal master of the whole world. He is the real husband.) So, the queen thought, 'If only the Lord had a hole in His nose, I would open my nose ring and give it to Him.' The festival finished that day, and when she went to bed in the evening, Gopal came to her in a dream and said, 'Queen Mother, when I was little, Mother pierced My nose. You did not notice it – I have a hole in My nose, but I have lost My nose ring.' The next morning, when the queen awakened, she was perplexed, 'What was that? Gopal came to me in a dream!' She went to the temple and saw that there was a big hole in the Lord's nose. She had a nose ring made specially for the Deity out of a maund (37.3 kg) of gold.

There are so many stories about Deities...

There was also a brahman called Arjun Misra. He lived by begging, and every day he would read Srimad Bhagavad-gita. He did not go begging to many houses – he would usually go to one house, and the people gave him rice, dal, vegetables, oil, etc. He cooked whatever he got, offered it to the Deity at his house and both he and his wife took that prasad. One time, as he was reading Gita, he came across this verse:

অনন্যাশ্চিন্তয়ন্তো মাং যে জনাঃ পর্য্যুপাসতে ।
তেষাং নিত্যাভিযুক্তানাং যোগক্ষেমং বহাম্যহম্ ॥

ananyas chintayanto mam, ye janah paryupasate
tesam nityabhiyuktanam, yoga-ksemam vahamy aham

‘I bear the responsibility of acquiring and protecting the necessities of My fully dependent devotees who are always absorbed in thoughts of Me and worship Me in every way.’

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.22)

Krishna says, 'If somebody stops thinking about everything else and only thinks about Me, I personally carry their food to their house.' Reading this, Arjun Misra said, 'Where does He carry it? I go out to beg every day! I carry my food home myself. The Deity does not bring anything.' He tore out that verse from the book and wrote instead, 'Karamy aham. I do it myself.' When he did this, Lord Narayan told Laksmi Devi, 'Laksmi, My devotee is in trouble. I have to go to the earth right now.' He came down to the earth disguised as a small boy. At that time, the brahman had gone out for begging. The Lord came to the brahman's house loaded with rice, dal and all kinds of vegetables and cried, 'O brahmani! Please help! I cannot carry it anymore! Help!' The brahman's wife came out and asked the boy, 'Who gave you all these bags?' The boy replied, 'The brahman! I told him that I would not be able to carry so much, but he kept loading the bags on me and even beat Me! Look, there is a mark on My back!' (The brahman had torn Gita, so it hit the Lord's holy body hard.)

The brahman's wife took the bags and went to cook. She finished cooking, made the offering and waited for his husband to return. Everything was done, but the brahman was not coming home. That day, he went to one house, and they told him that somebody had died at home, so they would not give him any alms. He went to another house, and they told him, 'Sorry, it is Thursday. No alms today.' He went to the next house, and they told him, 'Everybody is sick, nobody will be able to give you alms.' He could not get anything from any house. Very sad, he went slowly back home.

'What has happened to you?' his wife asked seeing him in this state.

'Our Lord will have to fast today, and we will have to fast, too...'

'Why?! You have sent that small boy with so many bags in the morning. You will not have to go begging for another seven days! Why did you beat the poor boy?'

'I did not beat anybody!' the brahman said, surprised.

Then, he went to the Deity's room. When he offered his obeisance, he suddenly saw that Gita had fallen down. He opened the book and saw that the Lord Himself had written there, 'O brahman, you do not do anything. I do everything.'

So, the Lord is the doer. He does everything.

I will not take more of your time now. Everybody is restless, waiting to take prasad now. Actually, everybody is waiting to eat, not to take prasad. They come to eat kichudi, not to take prasad... There is no kichudi today – there is rice, dal and vegetables. There is no lack of food in this world; the only famine in this world is famine of Hari-katha. The only death is the death of Hari-katha. Even pigs get food, even street dogs do not starve – even if they do not find food, somebody gives them food in one way or another...

Let us chant the bhoga-arati now. Let us start now.

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 19 Mb
Length: 40 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Give Up Selfish Greed
2) Deities' Divine Demeanour
3) Worship of Great Vaishnav
4) Throw Away Your Dreams
5) Floundering Existence
6) Halo of Service Life
7) Deity Eats
8) Deity Gives Witness