(6) Loving Rebuke

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Puri Dham, 3 July 2019, part 6
Translated from Bengali

When Mahaprabhu lived in Puri, He would meet with all the Bengali devotees every year. He always invited them, 'Come to see Gundicha.' When the local Odian people saw all the Bengali devotees coming, they would say, 'As soon as these Bengalis arrive, they sit down to eat! They only come to eat and sleep!' Usually, they would be expected to come, bath in the ocean, shave their heads, come to Lord Jagannath's temple, but instead of doing all this, they would just go straight to Mahaprabhu. When Mahaprabhu heard what people were saying, He said, 'Yes, they are right – why do you all come to Me without first even taking Lord Jagannath's darshan?' In reply to that, all the devotees said, 'Prabhu, when we get Your darshan, we automatically get Lord Jagannath's darshan!' What is Mahaprabhu going to say to this?

When everybody arrived, Mahaprabhu always became excited – He would call Govinda and Nityananda Prabhu and ask them to arrange everything, 'You all have come walking from so far. O Govinda! O Nityananda! Where is prasad? Give everybody Lord Jagannath's prasad!'

I have written about all these things [in Sri Puri Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala]; read this book.

There is also a chapter about Sri Ramananda Ray, to whom Mahaprabhu revealed His Raja-raj Maha-bhava form. This is the highest conception. I will speak about it when we soon go to the Godavari.

পহিলে দেখিলুঁ তোমার সন্ন্যাসি-স্বরূপ ।
এবে তোমা দেখি মুঞি শ্যাম-গোপরূপ ॥

pahile dekhilun tomara sannyasi-svarupa
ebe toma dekhi muni syama-gopa-rupa

'At first I saw You appear like a sannyasi, but now I am seeing You as Shyamasundar, the cowherd boy.'

তোমার সম্মুখে দেখি কাঞ্চন-পঞ্চালিকা ।
তাঁর গৌরকান্ত্যে তোমার সর্ব্ব অঙ্গ ঢাকা ॥

tomara sammukhe dekhi kanchana-panchalika
tanra gaura-kantye tomara sarva anga dhaka

'I now see You appearing like a golden doll, and Your entire body appears covered by a golden luster.'

তাহাতে প্রকট দেখি স-বংশী বদন ।
নানা-ভাবে চঞ্চল তাহে কমল-নয়ন ॥

tahate prakata dekhi sa-vamsi vadana
nana-bhave chanchala tahe kamala-nayana

'I see that You are holding a flute to Your mouth, and Your lotus eyes are moving very restlessly due to various ecstasies.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.8.267-269)

When Ramananda Ray said this, Mahaprabhu brushed him off, 'You are just very devoted to Krishna, that is why you are saying all these things!' Mahaprabhu tried to cheat him.

Srila Sanatan Goswami also said (when Mahaprabhu was teaching him), 'Prabhu, what You are saying is based on the scriptures. The incarnation of the Lord in Kali-yuga is described there in this and this way, but I think that the incarnation of the Lord has already come.' Mahaprabhu asked him, 'Who is it then?' Then, He realised what Sanatan Goswami was saying and quickly added, 'Sanatan, do not act too smart!'

One time, when Sanatan Goswami came to Sri Puri Dham, he contracted such a severe skin disease that he thought that he would commit suicide throwing himself under the wheel of Lord Jagannath's chariot.

দীক্ষাকালে ভক্ত করে আত্মসমর্পণ ।
সেইকালে কৃষ্ণ তারে করে আত্মসম ॥

diksa-kale bhakta kare atma-samarpana
sei-kale krsna tare kare atma-sama

‘Devotees submit their entire being when they take initiation. At this time, Krishna accepts them as His very own.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.4.192)

When you take initiation – if you surrender genuinely – then you must understand what your gurudev says and follow his instruction to a T without ever crossing it or doing anything beyond that. This is what is called chastity. Chastity means never crossing your guru's word: you must do what your guru says. Remember this. It is always necessary to be a sincere seeker and to have chastity.

So, when Mahaprabhu found out about Sanatan Goswami's intention to take his life, He rebuked him, 'Your body is Mine!' Suppose you give me ten rupees. I have nowhere to keep it right now, so I give it to you, saying, 'Please keep it for me.' It is not your money – I only gave it to you for safekeeping – so you cannot just go and spend it. So, Mahaprabhu said, 'When you took initiation, you surrendered to Me and gave Me everything – your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, mind, intelligence, ego, rectum, genitals – then how can you now want to commit suicide and destroy this body?? Is it yours to destroy?? I will use this body to serve devotees in Vrindavan, to write scriptures, to rescue many holy places – and you dare try to destroy My property? How audacious!' This is what Mahaprabhu told Srila Sanatan Goswami...

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