SRI PURI DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

(10) Meeting With Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya

Previously, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was Brihaspati, the guru of demigods. When it came to Kali-yuga, Brihaspati found out that the Lord would appear in Nabadwip as Lord Gauranga-sundar and enjoy His knowledge-related pastimes, so he left King Indra’s assembly and appeared as Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya in Vidyanagar, Nabadwip. There, he established a school and started teaching boys. After a while, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya thought, ‘If I stay here, I will become immersed in knowledge and forget the Lord. It will be better if I go away from here. If I can really be fortunate enough to become a servant of Gaura, then my Lord will bestow His mercy and bring me to Him.’ So, before Mahaprabhu appeared, he left Nabadwip and came to Sri Purusottam Dham where he started preaching mayavad scriptures supporting impersonalism.

In Sri Puri Dham, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya was the manager of Lord Jagannath’s temple. He took care of the temple in every way, but he was a devotee of the mayavad school (it means that he worshipped Brahma-jnana, the knowledge of the impersonal aspect of the Lord). At first, he did not even believe that Mahaprabhu was the Lord Himself.

He lived with his wife and brother-in-law, Gopinath Acharya. When Gopinath Acharya saw Mahaprabhu, he immediately recognised Him.

‘Do you not recognise Him?’ he asked Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya.

‘What do you mean?’

‘You used to live in Vidyanagar, Nabadwip, too, did you not? How can you not recognise Him? He is Nilambar Chakravarti’s grandson, the son of Jagannath Misra. He appeared from Sachi Mata’s womb – He is the Father of the Universe, the Supreme Lord Himself! He has now taken sannyas from Keshav Bharati, and His name became Sri Krishna Chaitanya.’

‘No, I do not think that he is God,’ Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said.

‘You have no mercy, that is why you do not think so. I have mercy, so I am telling you He is the Lord Himself!’

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

‘Only those who have received at least a drop of the Lord’s mercy can understand the Lord.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, 2.6.83)

If the Lord bestows His mercy on you, then you can know the Lord. It is also not so easy to know the guru – if the guru bestows his mercy on you, then you can know who the guru is. Without the guru’s mercy, you can never recognise him. That is why Gopinath Acharya said, ‘Because I have mercy, I can recognise who He is.’

Annoyed, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, ‘Whatever. Go now, take prasad. We will talk later.’

In the meantime, Nityananda Prabhu, Mukunda and Gadadhar (in some scriptures it is written that there were these three persons, and in other scriptures it is written that there were five of them) came running to Puri. When they came to the temple of Lord Jagannath, they asked somebody, ‘Has a man called Chaitanya Mahaprabhu come here?’

The man told them, ‘I do not know His Name, but just now one man entered the temple – He suddenly fainted, and foam started coming out of His mouth. He kept saying, “Ja-ja-ga-ga”.’

‘Where is He?’

‘We took Him to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya’s house.’

Then, they came to Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya’s house and saw that Mahaprabhu was lying in a room. Nityananda Prabhu knew what to do when Mahaprabhu fainted, so He came up to the Lord and spoke into His ear, ‘Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.’ Slowly, Mahaprabhu opened His lotus eyes.

‘Where have you brought Me?’ He sat up slowly. ‘I was seeing Radha-Krishna’s pastimes in Vrindavan, but where have you brought Me now?!’

Then, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya gave Him Lord Jagannath’s prasad and told Gopinath Acharya, ‘Nobody lives in the house of my uncle’s wife, so take Him there. Arrange for Him to stay there.’

The next day, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya spoke to Gopinath Acharya again. ‘I like this sannyasi boy’s humble demeanour,’ he said. ‘I am thinking that He has taken sannyas at such a young age, but will He be able to keep up the life of a sannyasi? I want to teach Him Vedanta and the religion of renunciation, then He will be able to become the most exalted sannyasi!’

Gopinath Acharya was quite upset to hear this. He replied, ‘Do you not know who He is? He is the Supreme Lord Himself. I have told you about it before. How can you try to teach Him?’

‘What are you trying to say? I see you know everything, but it is said in the scriptures that there is no incarnation of the Lord in Kali-yuga – that is why the Lord is called “Triyuga” (He who appears in three ages).’

‘You have read all scriptures, but have you not read Bhagavatam or Mahabharata? It is written there that there is an incarnation in Kali-yuga – there is no lila-avatar, but the Lord Himself comes as a yuga-avatar. You are such a great scholar, but because you do not have a trace of mercy, you cannot recognise the Lord even though He is right here in your house. I understand that it is actually not your fault – it is written in the scriptures that nobody can know the Lord through knowledge.’

‘Oh, so it means that I have no mercy and you have it? How can you prove it?’

‘I can recognise Him, and you cannot – this is the proof that I have mercy and you do not. I can give you a lot of proof from the scriptures, but because your heart is full of mayavadi conception, it is the same as trying to plant a seed in barren soil. When the Lord bestows His mercy on you, then you will be able to understand it.’

Getting angry, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya said, ‘Oh really? Go, take prasad and bring Him to me. I will see myself what to do! You can teach me later!’

At the house of Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya.

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