A Line Not to Be Crossed

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata, speaking online to
devotees in Kharkiv (Ukraine),
2 June 2019, part 2

We can see another lesson also in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita.

There was once Sri Vallabha Acharya who knew Srimad Bhagavatam and all Vaishnavism and was very proud of that. Despite that, Mahaprabhu would still give him respect.

One time, Vallabha Acharya came to Mahaprabhu. As usual, Mahaprabhu showed him proper respect and welcomed him properly, but suddenly Vallabha Acharya told Mahaprabhu, "You must explain Srimad Bhagavatam to me!" Mahaprabhu knew Vallabha Acharya was proud and thought he knew everything, so Mahaprabhu decided to expose him. When Vallabha Acharya asked Mahaprabhu to explain Bhavagatam, Mahaprabhu replied, "I do not know anything about Bhagavatam." Then, Vallabha Acharya said, "If You do not know about Bhagavatam, I will explain its meaning to You!" Mahaprabhu said, "I do not know anything about Bhagavatam, neither do I want to hear about Bhagavatam."

Then, another day, Vallabha Acharya again came to Mahaprabhu and said, "OK, can You explain the meaning of the Holy Name?" Mahaprabhu said, "I do not want to explain about the Holy Name, neither do I want to listen to the meaning of the Holy Name. I only know Krishna and His Name are non-different, they are the same, and Krishna is Yasoda-nandan and Nanda-nandan—I know only that, and I do not want to hear anything more than that."

After that, Vallabha Acharya came again another day. Showing he knew everything, Vallabha Acharya said to Mahaprabhu, "You know, I know more than Sridhar Swami's tika [commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam]! I can make a better commentary than him!" Heading this, Mahaprabhu replied, "You do not have respect for Sridhar Swami? You do not follow swami? [Swami means Sridhar Swami, and swami also means 'a husband'.] If you do not follow your swami, then you are a prostitute!"

This is how Mahaprabhu removed Vallabha Acharya's ego. After that, Vallabha Acharya came to Mahaprabhu, surrendered to Him, apologising for his arrogance, and asked Mahaprabhu for initiation. Mahaprabhu said, "I do not give initiation. Go to Gadadhar Pandit, you can take initiation from him." Then, Vallabha Acharya came to Gadadhar Pandit, and Gadadhar Pandit gave him initiation. Before that, Vallabha Acharya used to worship Bala-Gopal, but after taking initiation from Gadadhar Pandit, he started worshipping Radha-Krishna...

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