(3) Arriving at Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's House

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham parikrama, 1 July 2019, part 3
Translated from Bengali

Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Jay saparikara Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda Sundarjiu ki jay.
Jay Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay.
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay.
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay.
Jay Sri Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya ki jay.
Jay Ganga Mata Goswamini ki jay.
Harinam sankirtan ki jay.
Purusottam Ksetra parikrama ki jay.
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

Devotee: Jay Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj ki jay. Harinam sankirtan ki jay. Gaura premanande Hari bol

Repeat after me:

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

Please listen carefully – do not get distracted by anything. Continuing our parikrama, we have come to Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house. Who was Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya? Do you know? When we do Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, we always visit his birthplace in Vidyanagar. He lived there with his brother, Vidya Vachaspati.

When he later left Nabadwip and moved to Puri, he became the head of the priests serving at Lord Jagannath's temple, so he was the manager of the temple (he supervised the worship and all services at the temple). He was a very big scholar, expect in all kinds of knowledge and religious teachings.

When Sriman Mahaprabhu took sannyas, He first expressed His desire to go to Vrindavan, but Sriman Nityananda Prabhu anyhow took Him to Sri Puri Dham. Actually, He did not do anything wrong – the crying and irresistible attraction of Nabadwip residents was so strong that it made Mahaprabhu change His mind and head towards Shantipur instead of Vrindavan. After that, Mahaprabhu went to Sri Puri Dham to circumambulate this holy abode.

When Mahaprabhu came close to Puri, there is a bridge called Atharnala where the danda-bhanga pastime took place – Nityananda Prabhu broke Mahaprabhu's danda (a mendicant's stuff) into three pieces and threw it into the Bhargi. When Mahaprabhu left Nabadwip, the only thing He took with Him was His danda (a single stick). In the meantime, who is Nityananda Prabhu? He serves Mahaprabhu with ten bodies: as yak-tail whisks, as peacock fans, bed, pillow, temple, etc. – all paraphernalia of the Lord are extensions of Lord Nityananda Prabhu. That is the reason why we never climb temples to offer our obeisances to the Lord. So, Nityananda Prabhu thought, 'Why must Mahaprabhu carry Me? Leave that, but Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Lord Himself, why did He even have to take sannyas? Why must He carry this danda?' So, He broke Mahaprabhu's danda into three pieces.

Remembering this pastime, Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur started the tradition of taking tridandi-sannyas (sannyasis take a danda that consists of three sticks). The meaning of this 'three-part' danda is surrender with your body (kaya), mind (mana) and speech (vakya). Remember this. This is the authoritative explanation of this.

Eventually, Mahaprabhu asked Nityananda Prabhu, 'Nitai, where is My danda?' And Nityananda Prabhu lied – you may wonder, 'What is this? A sadhu tells a lie?!' Such was His pastime. He said, 'Prabhu, You were so engrossed in the thoughts about the Lord that asta-sattvik vikar came over You – You fell on Your danda, and the danda broke. I thought, "What is He going to do with this broken stick?" so I threw it away into the river!' It is a lie, and Mahaprabhu could see through Him. He said, 'Nitai, You know why I have come to this world. You know who I am, I do not need to tell You anything or hide anything from You.' The Lord can hide from everybody, but He cannot keep Himself hidden when it comes to His devotees – He cannot but reveal Himself to them. Mahaprabhu was very angry, 'I took only one thing from Nabadwip, a simple stick, but You have broken even that! Go! I will not go with you all anymore! Either you all go first and I will go behind, or I will go first and you all can go behind.' Mukunda, Gadadhar and Nityananda spoke among each other, 'If the Lord goes behind us, we will not be able to see where He goes. Better if He goes first, then we will be able to see from far where He is going.' When they decided this, Mahaprabhu started to run. Chanting, "Jagannath, Jagannath," He ran so fast, like a mad elephant, that nobody could catch up with Him. Very soon they lost sight of Him and did not know where He went.

In the meantime, Mahaprabhu went straight to Lord Jagannath's temple. When you come inside the temple, there is a bar that prevents people from coming too close to the Deities and there are priests guarding it as well. When Mahaprabhu stormed into the temple, He stumbled onto that bar and fell down, unconscious from the asta-sattvik vikar (stupor, perspiring, horripilating, stammering, changing bodily color, crying and fainting). Foam started coming from His mouth, and all He could utter was, 'Ja-ja-ga-ga, Ja-ja-ga-ga.' He could not even pronounce Lord Jagannath's Name anymore. The guards rushed to beat Him, but seeing the Lord's astounding beauty and state, they could not strike Him. Instead, they ran to fetch Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, the head of the temple: 'Prabhu, please come with. Please come and see who has come!' Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya came, saw Mahaprabhu and told the guards, 'Whoever He is, bring Him to my house.' In this way, Mahaprabhu was taken to his house...

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