(2/4) Midnight Flutter

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vrindavan Dham parikrama,
1 November 2019, part 2
Translated from Bengali

There is one more beautiful pastime related to Sri Vamsivat.

You know, there is a customs here at this place. If you give some money, you can take a flute and then present it here at Vamsivat. You can make this kind of gift here, but do not just take a flute and go away with it! [His Divine Grace chuckles]

So, one day Krishna started to play His flute at midnight, but gopis could not come because they had children sleeping in their laps and their husbands were sleeping next to them. How will they come to Krishna?

বাঁশি বারণ মানে না, কথা যে শোনে না,
ও মরা কেন মরে না?
বাঁশির কোনো লাজ নাই, দিবানিশি ডাকে তাই
আমি যত দূরে যাই, বাঁশি বলে, "এসো রাই",
কেন যে সময় বোঝে না?

vamsi varana mane na, katha ye sone na,
o mara kena mare na?
vamsira kono laja nai, divanisi dake tai,
ami yata dure yai, vamsi bale, "eso rai",
keno ye samaya bojhe na

'The Flute heeds no prohibition, it listens to no words. It is dead [a piece of wood], but why does it not die then? This Flute has no shame! It only keeps calling Me day and night. No matter how far I go, the Flute keeps calling, "Come, Rai." Why does it not understand it is not a good time now?'

বারণ মানে না, কথা যে শোনে না,
ও মরা কেন মরে না?
দুষ্টু বাঁশির দুষ্টামি, পিরিতের পাগলামি,
যাব আজ আমি, প্রাণেতে আর সহে না

varana mane na, katha ye sune na
o mara kena mare na?
dusta vamsira dustami, pritera pagalami,
yaba aja ami, pranete ara sahe na
o mara kena more na?

'It heeds no prohibition, it listens to no words. It is dead [a piece of wood], but why does it not die then? This naughty Flute is full of mischief, it drives Me crazy with love. Ah, I shall go today! My heart is bursting, I cannot take it anymore.'

Hearing the call of Krishna's Flute at midnight and not being able to tolerate it, gopis left everything and ran to Krishna. When they came, Krishna asked them,

'What is this? Do you have nothing to do? Why have you come to Me at midnight?'

'You are the one who played the Flute at midnight! Our hearts were bursting, we could not take it. So, what service can we do for You, tell us?'

'What service can you possibly do at midnight? All right. Here is what you should do. Cross the Yamuna and go to the ashram of my guru, Durvasa Muni. He is sitting there and meditating without eating anything. Take some yoghurt, curd and butter to him.'

The gopis got excited and ran to do it, 'Oh, we can make Krishna happy! We must go and feed Durvasa!' They all rushed and ran as fast as they could. But when they came to the bank of the Yamuna, they saw that the river was full and overflowing with water – there was so much water in the river that it was impossible to cross it! 'How are we going to cross it?' the gopis thought, puzzled. Frustrated, they came back to Krishna and told Him, 'Dear Lord, we could not go. We will not be able to find a boat this late at night. How will we cross the river?'

'Oh, it is not a problem,' Krishna replied. 'I will teach you one mantra. If you recite it, you can easily cross it.'

'What mantra is it?'

'You should say: "O Daughter of the Sun, Yamuna Devi, if Krishna is a brahmachari, then please dry up."'

'What? A brahmachari?! You? A brahmachari? So, You never look at a woman's face? But we have so many marks from Your kisses on our necks! You have played and caressed us so much, and now You are saying that You are a brahmachari?!'

'Hey, just go and use this mantra.'

'All right, all right. We are going.'

They left and went to the Yamuna again. Coming to the great river, they chanted, 'O Daughter of the Sun, Yamuna Devi, if Krishna is a brahmachari, please dry up.' Suddenly, the river really dried up! They quickly put on their heads the pots with the dairy and ran forward. Gopis always wear anklebells, so as they ran in the dead silence of the night, they made a lot of noise. Durvasa Muni's meditation broke.

'What are you doing here?' he asked the gopis when they came to him.

'Krishna has sent us to you,' they replied.

'What for?' Durvasa Muni asked, surprised.

'To feed you!'

Then, all the gopis stood in line and fed Durvasa Muni one by one. Durvasa Muni finished everything!

'It is very late now, so we will be going then. We have to get back to our families,' the gopis said, picking up their pots and getting ready to leave.

'Sure, you can go now,' the great sage answered.

When the gopis came to the Yamuna, they saw that the river was again full of water. 'What is going on? How are we going to go back now? We cannot swim across it in the dead of the night – we will drown!' They tried to use the same mantra that Krishna had given them, but it did not work. So, they went back to Durvasa Muni and told him, 'O Durvasa Muni, how will we go back? The Yamuna is full of water!'

'How did you come here?' Durvasa Muni asked.

'Krishna had taught us a mantra and we used that mantra to cross the river.'

'Then use the mantra again.'

'It does not work anymore...'

'All right, I will tell you another mantra.'

'Yes, please. What mantra is it?'

'Durvasa Muni is fasting, he has not eaten anything.'

They had just seeing him eating so much and now he was saying that he had never eaten anything! 'What is this? We have just seen you eat a whole mountain of food, and you are saying that you have never eaten anything?! How can that be? Everything is upside down!'

Anyway, they went back to the Yamuna and said, 'O Daughter of the Sun, Yamuna Devi, Durvasa Muni is fasting, he has not eaten anything.' The river let them pass again. All the gopis came back to Krishna.

'So, have you fed My guru?' Krishna asked them upon their return.

'Yes, we have, but if You told us a lie, your guru told us an even bigger lie... You told us that You were a brahmachari...'

'Yes, it is the truth.

'And Durvasa Muni said he had not eaten anything.'

'Yes, that is is the truth, too.'

How can that be? Krishna is a brahmachari because there is only one male in the whole world, and that male is Krishna. He creates all the males and females to extend His pastimes. 'Parakiya bhave yaha vrajete prachara. Lord Krishna's sweetest pastimes are manifested in Vraja as pastimes of paramour love.' So, Krishna is the only male, and everybody else is female. As for Durvasa Muni, we cannot enjoy anything in this world – Krishna is the only enjoyer. Therefore, Durvasa Muni did not eat anything. He took prasad. The Lord is the only enjoyer and the only master of everything. None of you is a master of anything (nothing belongs to you).

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

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Length: 12 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Exclusive Aspiration
2) Midnight Flutter
3) Hurry Up, Lala Babu!
4) Concluding Parikrama Day