SRI PURI DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

(16) Govinda Prabhu’s Teachings

Govinda Prabhu was a disciple of Sri Ishwar Puri, so he was Mahaprabhu’s godbrother. Despite that, he respected Mahaprabhu as his guru.

One day, Govinda came to Ishwar Puri and asked him, crying, ‘Prabhu, whom shall I serve after you leave?’

‘Why are you crying?’ Ishwar Puri replied. ‘You must serve Mahaprabhu after me. There is no need to cry.’

Shortly after that, Sri Ishwar Puri left his body and went to his own holy abode. Following his guru’s order, Govinda came to Mahaprabhu and fell at His feet.

‘Prabhu,’ he said, ‘please accept me, use me for Your service.’

‘How can I do that, Prabhu?’ Mahaprabhu replied. ‘I have heard from the scriptures that ‘Gurura kinkara haya manya se amara’: a servitor of one’s guru must be always honoured, worshipped. How can I engage you in My own service? If people see that I engage My own godbrother in My service, everybody will say that what I am doing is wrong.’

Govinda Prabhu was a disciple of Sri Ishwar Puri, so he was very clever. He asked Mahaprabhu, ‘Prabhu, all these things are written in the scriptures, but Your gurudev told me to serve You, then which will You follow? Will You follow the scriptures or Your guru’s word?’

Mahaprabhu was defeated. He could not say anything. Both Svarup Damodar and Ramananda Ray were present at that time, too, and they both said, ‘Govinda is right, Prabhu!’ Then, Mahaprabhu had no other choice – He engaged Govinda in His service. From that time, Govinda Prabhu always stayed with the Lord and served Him in a very intimate way.

One time, a very important pastime happened in Gambhira. We must understand the lesson of that pastime. The gist of that lesson is that for the service of the Lord we should be even ready to commit an offence, but for our own enjoyment we must not commit even the slightest offence.

For example, you offer flowers to the Deities every day, but if some day there are no flowers in your garden, what will you do? If you go to a neighbour’s garden and steal some flowers from there, what is the problem? Vraja gopis thought, ‘If we give the Lord our foot dust, what loss is it for us?’ ‘We will fall down’, ‘We will die’, ‘We will be committing a sin’ – they never thought like that. Even if their legs rot, even if their legs wither, even if they contract leprosy – they did not care.

So, one time, when Mahaprabhu chanted kirtan and danced a lot, He became so exhausted that by the time He had slowly walked to Gambhira in the evening, He simply collapsed in the doorway of His room. The door in Gambhira is very small, and Mahaprabhu was 7’6” tall. So, when Govinda came there to massage His feet, he could not reach His feet. How was he to massage His feet now? With Mahaprabhu’s head here, His feet there, Govinda could not even enter the room.

‘Prabhu, can You move a little?’ he asked Mahaprabhu. ‘Can I massage Your feet?’

‘I am so tired today that I cannot move,’ Mahaprabhu replied.

‘I massage Your feet every day, then how am I to do it today?’

‘What you do or do not do is your matter.’

This is how gurudev tests his disciples. Genuine disciples have sincerity (nistha). Sincerity means that they think, ‘I do this service every day, so I must do it every day.’ They attend to their service every single day without fail. Just as you go to the bathroom every day, you go to the toilet every day, you eat every day – in the same way, you must do your service every day. It is necessary to have such sincere determination and do your service every day.

You may wonder, ‘At home, I offer bhoga to the Deities every day, I serve the Deities every day, but now is the time of Ratha-yatra, so how can I do it?’ You have photographs at home: a photograph of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govinda-sundar jiu, Sri Sri Gaura Nityananda or Gurudev. The Deities in the photographs are installed in one of the temples, and They are offered bhoga there – in Nabadwip, Ekachakra, Nrisingha Palli or any other place. Whichever Deities’ photographs you keep, those Deities are offered bhoga in Their temples. So, there is no offence for you – the Lord can eat there, too. But if you keep actual Deities at home, then you have to feed Them – you cannot just leave the Deities at home and go somewhere. Deities’ service must never be stopped or neglected.

So, such was Govinda’s sincerity, too. He thought, ‘I do this service every day, so how can I stop it today? But even if I try, I will not be able to move the Lord…’ What did he do then? He took off his uttariya, covered Mahaprabhu’s body with it and came inside crossing over the Lord’s body. Whatever dust fell on His body, he picked it up and put it in his head. Then, when he got inside the room, he massaged Mahaprabhu’s feet.

Mahaprabhu took a nice rest and Govinda slowly stopped massaging His feet. After that, he sat down in the corner of the room and dozed off.

In the middle of the night, Mahaprabhu woke up and saw Govinda sitting in His room. He called him, ‘Hey, Govinda! Why are you sitting here? Did you not to go to sleep? Did you not go to take prasad?’

‘Prabhu,’ Govinda replied, ‘You are lying in the doorway, so how can I go out crossing over You?’

‘What do you mean? Then how did you enter the room? You must have stepped over Me.’

‘Prabhu, at that time I came to serve You, but I cannot cross over You for the satisfaction of my own senses (to fill my belly or to go to sleep). I cannot make such a big offence.’

Mahaprabhu was pleased to hear this.

You must understand the meaning of this pastime. For the service to the Lord, Govinda came inside crossing over the Lord, but for his own enjoyment (to take prasad, etc.), he did not come out crossing over Mahaprabhu – he did not commit such an offence.

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