(4) Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's Conversion

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham parikrama, 1 July 2019, part 4
Translated from Bengali

...In the meantime, Srila Gadadhar Pandit, Mukunda Datta and Nityananda Prabhu were searching, 'In which direction did Mahaprabhu go?' They came to Lord Jagannath's temple and asked somebody, 'Have you seen anybody like that, like that?' They were told, 'Yes, one man came here – He fainted and we took Him to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house.' So, they came to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's house and saw Mahaprabhu lying unconscious. Nityananda Prabhu knew what to do when Mahaprabhu fainted, so He spoke the Hare Krishna maha-mantra into His ear. Slowly, Mahaprabhu came round. He had been busy with His internal pastimes, so when He woke up, He was dazed, 'Where have You brought Me? I was there... but why did You bring Me here?!'

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya lived together with his brother-in-law Gopinath Acharya, and Gopinath Acharya realised who Mahaprabhu was, so he told his brother-in-law,

'Do you not recognise who He is?? He is the son of Jagannath Misra and Sachi Mata! He is the grandson of Nilambar Chakravarti, your relative. He is the Father, the guru of the whole world. He is the Supreme Lord Himself, how can you not recognise Him, Sarvabhauma? He is the Supreme Lord!'

'No, I do not think so.'

'Of course, you do not. You have no mercy, that is why you do not think so.'

ঈশ্বরের কৃপা-লেশ হয় ত’ যাহারে ।
সেই ত’ ঈশ্বর-তত্ত্ব জানিবারে পারে ॥

isvarera krpa-lesa haya ta’ yahare
sei ta’ isvara-tattva janibare pare

‘The Lord can be known only by those who have got at least a drop of His mercy.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.6.83)

'You have no mercy, that is why you cannot understand who He is.'

It is impossible to know the guru without the guru's mercy; similarly, you cannot understand the Lord without the Lord's mercy. You cannot know the Lord, the guru or Vaishnavs without their mercy.

Later, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya spoke to Mahaprabhu,

'Why did You take sannyas at such a young age, leaving Your parents' service?'

Mahaprabhu decided to be clever. He is the Lord Himself, but He replied,

'Yes, I left My parents' service and gone crazy! I do not know anything, I do not understand anything. Please give Me your blessing so that My spiritual life can be protected and saved. Please bless Me – give Me your mercy so that I can keep My sannyas.'

'All right, what have You studied?' Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Him.

'Nothing much, just some primary grammar.'

'Primary grammar?! Do You not know anything else??'

'No, nothing...'

'You have taken sannyas, but You have not at least read Vedanta??'

'No, Prabhu.'

'All right. Let us do like this. Stay here and listen to Vedanta from me.'

Sitting right here, where we are seated at present, Mahaprabhu listened to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya explaining and teaching Vedanta during seven days. After seven days, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya asked Mahaprabhu,

'So, new sannyasi, You have been listening to Vedanta for seven days – do You even understand anything? You are not asking any questions, not saying anything. How will I know whether You understand anything or not?'

'Prabhu', Mahaprabhu said humbly, 'when you read Vedanta, I can understand everything very nicely, but when you start to explain the meaning, then I cannot understand anything at all.'

'What? You understand the verses, but You cannot understand the explanation of the verses?? How can that be?'

'Prabhu, if you do not mind it, I can explain one of the verses to you.'

Then, Mahaprabhu explained the famous 'Atma-ramas cha munayo' verse.

আত্মারামাশ্চ মুনয়ো নির্গ্রন্থা অপ্যুরুক্রমে ।
কুর্ব্বন্ত্যহৈতুকীং ভক্তিমিত্থম্ভূতগুণো হরিঃ ॥

atmaramas cha munayo
nirgrantha apy urukrame
kurvanty ahaitukam bhaktim
ittham-bhuta-guno harih

‘Although all atmaramas [those who take pleasure in atma, or the spirit self], especially those established on the path of self-realisation, are free from all kinds of material bondage, they desire to render unalloyed devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, which means that the Lord possesses such transcendental qualities that He attracts everyone, including liberated souls.’

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 1.7.10)

At first, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya explained this verse in nine different ways, and then Mahaprabhu explained it in eighteen more ways, not touching upon Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's interpretation.

Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's explanation was all mayavadi explanation. A lotus can appear from water, but water can never appear from a lotus. It is a topsy-turvy idea. Similarly, mayavadis say that when the soul merges into Brahman, its existence is annihilated – they consider Brahman to be supreme and above everything. But in our line, we understand that Brahma comes from Krishna: 'Krsna haite chatur-mukha, hana krsna-sevonmukha, Brahma haite Naradera mati (কৃষ্ণ হৈতে চতুর্ম্মুখ, হন কৃষ্ণসেবোন্মুখ, ব্রহ্মা হৈতে নারদের মতি). Through Lord Krishna, Lord Brahma became disposed towards Krishna’s service. Then, through Lord Brahma, Narad Goswami developed devotional mood.' Our lines comes from Krishna, but mayavadis (impersonalists) say that Brahman is the highest and everything merges into Him.

So, Mahaprabhu explained that verse in eighteen different ways – hearing His explanation, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya's eyes bulged and his whole face turned red.

'What is this? Who have I been teaching all these seven days?!' – he was astonished.

Mahaprabhu understood that Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya still did not believe Him, could not recognise Him, so He showed him His six-armed form. Seeing that form, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya immediately fell in a prostrate obeisance at Mahaprabhu's feet. He kept lying at His feet for a long time. Finally, Mahaprabhu told him, 'Sarvabhauma, wake up! Get up now!'

'Prabhu, what sort of form have You just shown me? What have I just seen?'

After that, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya could understand that Mahaprabhu was the Lord Himself. He became His staunch devotee.

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