SRI NABADWIP DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

Koladwip (Pada-sevanam: serving the lotus feet of the Lord)

Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj’s Samadhi-Mandir

Concluding this day’s Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, by the mercy of our Sri Gurupadpadma, we have come to Vaishnav Sarvabhauma Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj.

This is where Srila Babaji Maharaj spent the last period of his life. You can see the photograph of Srila Babaji Maharaj in the guru-parampara photographs in all our temples (the last one on the right).

Srila Babaji Maharaj engaged in his spiritual practice in a very strict way. One time, somebody brought him a pomelo (batabi lebu), saying, ‘Prabhu, please take this, use it for service.’ However, Srila Babaji Maharaj said, ‘You are saying that you have brought it for service, but you have other desires inside you. I know it. You are thinking that if you give some fruit to me, then your tree will bear more fruit. You have this desire.’ He did not accept that fruit. At another time, he said, ‘Instead of making offences to the Holy Name, it is better if you just water a Vaishnav’s eggplant tree.’ (I have seen many times people sit and chant on their beads during the class or during the parikrama, but when the kirtans are chanted, their mouths are shut – they cannot even say ‘Hare Krishna’. Our Guru Maharaj said that this is finger exercise. Such people cannot understand what kirtan is; they are only committing offences to the Holy Name.)

Coming here, we must glorify Srila Babaji Maharaj, we must chant his kirtan. Srila Babaji Maharaj did not like any talks except Krishna-katha. He is a great exalted Vaishnav, a self-realised great soul (siddha-mahapurusa babaji).

Our Param Guru Maharaj, Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, composed Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj‘s pranam mantra encapsulating the gist of his glory:

gaura-vrajasrita-asesair vaisnavair vandya-vigraham
jagannatha-prabhum vande premabdhim vrddha-Vaishnavam

Gaura-vraja-asrita-asesair vaisnavair vandya-vigraha. All Vaishnavs who have taken shelter at the holy lotus feet of Sri Krishna in Vraja and Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu in Nabadwip offer their obeisances at the holy lotus feet of Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj. He is the supremely worshippable Deity, the embodiment of shelter. Jagannatha-prabhum vande premabdhim vrddha-vaisnavam. We eternally offer our obeisances at the holy lotus feet of this supremely worshippable senior Vaishnav Thakur, who is floating in the ocean of transcendental love.

You know that Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj was a siddha-mahapurusa. Receiving an inspiration from Srimati Radharani that all the Radha Kunda and Vrindavan pastimes of Krishna now exist in Sri Nabadwip Dham – driven by this pull – Srila Babaji Maharaj came here despite his old age and settled in a small cottage.

You have heard that when Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj was 137 years old, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur came here and requested him to come with him to Mayapur to confirm the discovery of Sriman Mahaprabhu’s birthplace. Coming to the supreme abode of Yogapith, Babaji Maharaj jumped out of his basket and began to dance, ‘Hari bol! I have found it! This is Prabhu’s birthplace! This is Yogapith!’

We have heard something about the incredible character of Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj from the holy mouths of Sri Guru and Vaishnavs, and we should learn from his pastimes.

Many cook for their gurudev and then come to gurudev and ask him, ‘Gurudev, please give me your prasad.’ This is what sahajiyas do (they distribute their prasad to others). But if this is a genuine guru, he will get irritated to hear this – he would never want to give his remnants to anyone. If you want to get prasad, you must do it secretly. When gurudev finishes taking prasad, and if he has left anything on his plate, you can quietly take a handful later, but there is no question of coming in front of your guru and asking him for it. Many think, ‘I want to get some prasad leftovers of my guru, so I will invite him to my house.’ They feed their guru forcefully just to get his prasad. This is not Vaishnav behaviour.

One time, a lady from Dhatrigram (a village near Kalna) invited Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj to her house. Babaji Maharaj had a servitor, Bihari Das. The lady told Bihari Das, ‘I am inviting you and your Master (your gurudev). I want to cook for you and give you prasad at my house.’ Bihari Das agreed, ‘All right, I will ask Babaji Maharaj, and if he agrees, I will tell you the date when he will come, then you can arrange it.’

Then, Bihari Das asked Babaji Maharaj, ‘Babaji Maharaj, one honourable lady, an elderly widow, came the other day. She was asking if you could come to her house. She wants to cook, offer some bhog and give you prasad. Will you go there?’

‘All right, I will go,’ Babaji Maharaj said.

‘Can you say which day you can go?’

‘You can arrange some date, and I will come.’

Then, Bihari Das chose the date and informed the lady about it. When the day came, Babaji Maharaj set off to her house on foot (there were no trains in those days). When they finally arrived at that house, the old lady said to Bihari Das, ‘I have already finished cooking. Please offer the bhog.’ Bihari Das offered the bhog, and the lady said, ‘Come, sit down, I will serve the prasadam to you both.’

She placed two banana leaves on the ground and served them prasad. Babaji Maharaj ate whatever she had given him, wiping the plate and not leaving a trace of prasadam. The lady thought, ‘It was so hard to invite Babaji Maharaj… I wanted to take his prasadam, but I see that he has not left any remnants! Let me feed him something more then!’ With this in mind, she tried to give Babaji Maharaj more, but Babaji Maharaj refused, ‘No, no, it is enough, not necessary! I have finished, not necessary to give anything more. I have eaten, I cannot eat more.’ But the lady kept insisting, ‘No, no, take more!’ In the end, she forcefully gave him more prasad – subji, vegetables, rice, and so on.

Srila Babaji Maharaj understood what was happening and was displeased at heart, ‘You are forcing me to eat because you yourself want to take prasad! I have understood what is on your mind.’ Without saying a word, Srila Babaji Maharaj again ate whatever she gave him – along with the plate! Seeing that Babaji Maharaj had eaten the plate(!), the lady exclaimed, ‘Gosh!’ And Bihari Das was horrified, too, ‘Gosh, I have made such a big offence! Because of me, there is so much austerity for my Master! I will never accept such invitations again!’ As for Babaji Maharaj, he did not say anything.

Such was Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj. There is also another story. When Babaji Maharaj and Bihari Das were, perhaps, going to the house of that old lady, a rich man saw them on the road and thought, ‘Oh, this sadhu is so poor – he is walking barefoot, his clothes are all torn… Let me give him some money – at least he can buy himself some clothes.’ (Actually, the man gave Babaji Maharaj money because he was proud of his wealth and riches.) Babaji Maharaj took the money and continued his way. A while later, having walked some three–four kilometres, he suddenly ordered Bihari Das, ‘Turn back. Let’s go back.’

Bihari Das was surprised, ‘Why? Are you not going to that lady’s house?’

‘I am, but first take me to the house of the man who gave this money.’

‘But why?’

‘Go, go. Turn back.’

Bihari Das brought Babaji Maharaj to the house of that man – a big three-storey house. They saw the man sitting on the roof of the house. Babaji Maharaj told Bihari Das to ask him to come downstairs (Babaji Maharaj was old and spoke softly; he could not shout). Bihari Das shouted to the man, ‘Sir, are you home?’

‘I am. What is it?’ the man asked from the roof.

‘Could you please come down for a minute?’

‘Why? What has happened?’

‘Babaji Maharaj wants to talk to you,’ Bihari Das replied.

The man came downstairs, thinking, ‘He must have come to ask me for more money! That is how these sadhus are – you give them money once and they keep coming to you every month after that!’ But what did Babaji Maharaj do? He gave that man the money back.

The man was taken aback. ‘What is this? You have taken my donation, and now you are giving it back?!’

‘My friend,’ Babaji Maharaj explained, ‘you see, I cannot tolerate the burden of this money. When I was walking down the road, I kept thinking what I will buy with this money, what I will do, what should be done with this money – I kept thinking about the money and could not chant the Holy Name. My friend, please take it back – this is such a big headache for me.’

The man could not understand how it was possible. ‘What are you talking about? I have hundreds of thousands of rupees, but I do not think anything of it – it does not give me any headache.’

‘Well, you have a big head, but my head is small, so I cannot take it. Please relieve me of this money – take it and let me go,’ Babaji Maharaj asked. He handed the money back to the man and left.

Such is the quality of a Vaishnav. We must learn from this – this kind of Vaishnav mood must come to us, too. ‘Ami ta Vaishnava, e buddhi haile amani na haba ami. If I think that I have become a Vaishnav, then I will never stop expecting honour from others.’ Vaishnav Thakur is very merciful. We are often very proud of our material lives – some are proud of their money, some are proud of their houses, some think, ‘I have become a Vaishnav!’, ‘I have become an acharya!’ People have this kind of ego. But when will this ego leave us? We have to give it up. Coming to Vaishnav Thakur and giving him one rupee is not vaishnav-seva (service to a Vaishnav). You cannot serve a Vaishnav unless you become a Vaishnav yourself.

I have seen that many people go inside the temple of Sri Vishnupriya Devi and come right in front of the holy Deity of Mahaprabhu – in exchange for some donation, the pandas bring out Mahaprabhu’s shoes (paduka) and touch them to everyone’s heads, saying that those people have now got Mahaprabhu’s mercy! It is not so easy to get real mercy. Many also come to the temple and quickly elbow their way through the crowd to come right in front of the Deities – there are many senior Vaishnavs in the crowd, but people rush to pay obeisances to the Deities, pushing their way past them. Do you think that if you pay an obeisance from behind (from afar), the Lord will not see you? You do not need to pay obeisance coming right to the front over the heads of all the Vaishnavs. If you want to become a Vaishnav, you must be humble, you must be tolerant, and you must learn to give honour to others.

Therefore, coming to Sri Vaishnav Thakur, we must pray sincerely, with all our hearts, ‘O Vaishnav Thakur! Please bestow your mercy on me so that I may be able to serve you, so that I may be able to leave all ego and become qualified to serve you.’

Jay Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj ki jay.
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama ki jay.
Sri Koladwip ki jay.
Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.

(His Divine Grace is speaking Hari-katha in the courtyard of Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj's bhajan-kutir.)

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