SRI PURI DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

(34) Srila Haridas Thakur: Crest-Jewel Nama-Acharya

Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj:
‘If you remember the glories of Srila Haridas Thakur,
all your impurities will go out.’

Siddha-bakul is Srila Haridas Thakur’s bhajan-kutir.

When Mahaprabhu came to Puri, He asked Kashi Misra, ‘Prabhu, can you please keep one more small place for Me?’ He did not say who He wanted the room for – He made a request for Himself. Nobody had the courage to ask who it was for. Kashi Misra replied, ‘Yes, of course. There is a small house next to my house. I will give it to You.’

Then, Mahaprabhu went to South India, and when He returned, He asked Kashi Misra again, ‘Where is My room?’ Kashi Misra showed him the place.

I have told you before that the Supreme Lord comes to this world for three reasons: (1) to distribute the Holy Name; and to understand, (2) ‘Why does Radharani cry so much chanting My Name?’; (3) ‘What sort of happiness does She feel when She serves Me?’ To understand and relish these divine sentiments, Sri Krishna descends in Kali-yuga as Gaura-hari. When He came, He went door to door, calling out to everybody, ‘O soul! Wake up! Wake up! How long are you going to sleep in the lap of this Witch Maya? Stop sleeping! Awake! Arise!’ All this time, there were two generals next to Him – Srila Haridas Thakur and Sri Nityananda Prabhu.

suna suna nityananda, suna haridasa
sarvatra amara ajna karaha prakasa
prati ghare ghare giya kara ei bhiksa
‘bala krsna, bhaja krsna, kara krsna-siksa’

‘Listen, listen, Nityananda! Listen, Haridas! Make My order known everywhere! Go house to house and beg everyone, “Please chant Krishna’s Name, worship Krishna and practise Krishna’s teachings.”’

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.13.8–9)

When Mahaprabhu came to Sri Puri Dham, He kept Nityananda Prabhu in Nadia and Srila Haridas Thakur came together with Him to Sri Puri Dham. Here, Mahaprabhu gave him a room next to His. This is the room that is now known as Siddha-bakul.

One day, Mahaprabhu came there and saw Srila Haridas Thakur sitting outside his room in the scorching heat of the sun, chanting the Holy Name. Feeling disturbed by it, He brought a small stick that had been offered to Lord Jagannath as a toothbrush and thrust it into the ground. Very soon there appeared this bakul tree that you can see to this day. To provide shade for His devotee, Mahaprabhu manifested this great tree.

The tree soon grew so big that the pandas (Lord Jagannath’s servitors) could not see the dome of Lord Jagannath’s temple because of it. The department management of the temple were quite dictatorial, so they ordered to have the tree cut down. Srila Haridas Thakur prayed to Mahaprabhu, ‘Prabhu, please save this tree.’

The next day, when the woodcutters came to cut down the tree, they saw that there was no tree there – there was only hollow bark left standing and all the insides were gone! What will they do with a tree’s bark? Realising that it was no using cutting down the bark, they went away having achieved nothing.

You can see even today that actually there is no tree – there is only bark. That is how this place got its name Siddha-bakul. Srila Haridas Thakur worshipped and served the Lord under this tree.

Srila Haridas Thakur’s withdrawal pastime

Next to the Siddha-bakul tree is the place where took place the pastime of Srila Haridas Thakur’s withdrawal from this world.

When many devotees came to Puri from Nabadwip to see Mahaprabhu at the Ratha-yatra time, Odiyan people would say, ‘Oh, these Bengalis who come here eat so much. They only come to eat! They do not know anything – without bathing in the ocean, without shaving their heads, they go straight to Mahaprabhu and sit down to eat! They do not even go to see Lord Jagannath – they just go straight to Mahaprabhu!’ When Mahaprabhu heard about it, He said, ‘Yes, they are right. Why do you all come to Me without first going to see Lord Jagannath?’ But all the devotees replied, ‘Prabhu, once we see You, we already have Lord Jagannath’s darshan!’

And what did Srila Haridas Thakur say? He would say, ‘I have no right, no qualification to go to see Lord Jagannath. I am a very sinful soul coming from the lowest family, I have no good qualities, I am a yavan, then how will I go to Lord Jagannath’s temple? I am not fit to go there.’ So, Mahaprabhu would personally come to him every day after attending mangal-arati at Lord Jagannath’s temple.

You can see how Mahaprabhu revealed devotees’ glories. Who was Srila Haridas Thakur? He is an incarnation of Lord Brahma, the creator of this world, and the Supreme Lord would personally come to him to speak Hari-katha.

You all know that Srila Haridas Thakur’s special trait was that he would sit under a tree and loudly chant 300,000 Names every day. Why did he chant loudly? There are three ways in which one can chant the Holy Name: (1) in one’s mind – that is japa (chanting on beads); (2) loudly – that is sankirtan; and (3) dancing and chanting with upraised arms – that is maha-sankirtan. There are three kinds of kirtan, and three kinds of results. Srila Haridas Thakur chanted loudly because if you chant loudly, then all the animals, birds, trees, plants, insects – all the species that cannot chant the Holy Name themselves – can at least hear the Holy Name. So, for each and every soul’s eternal benefit, Srila Haridas Thakur chanted the Holy Name of the Lord loudly.

Another thing is that Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj said that if you chant silently, in your mind, it can easily be ‘finger exercise’ because when we chant in our minds, our minds can go to this side or that side (‘How is my gourd growing? Has it gone big?’, ‘Now, where is this goat going? Is it going to eat my gourd?’). I have also seen many people chanting on their beads and talking to others, ‘How are you?’, ‘Where are you from?’, ‘Where do you live?’ and so on. How can all this be the Holy Name? But if you chant loudly, with your tongues, your mind will not wander everywhere.

One day, Mahaprabhu came to Haridas Thakur and asked him,

‘Haridas, can I ask you something? How can yavans get relief? Not seeing any way out for them, I feel profound distress [Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.3.51]. How can yavans get delivered?’

‘Prabhu’, Srila Haridas Thakur replied, ‘all sins can be destroyed by the mere shadow chanting of the Holy Name. If they chant the Holy Name, it may not be the Name proper, but if it can at least be the shadow of the Name, they will get liberated even through that.’

So, if we can chant at least the shadow of the Holy Name, that is good, but the main thing is that we must be careful that we do not chant with offences – our chanting may not be perfect, but we must make sure that our chanting is not offensive.

This is the kind of strongest faith in the Holy Name with which Srila Haridas Thakur chanted 300,000 Names daily. And every day, when Lord Jagannath’s prasad was taken to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu would take it and whatever was leftover, He would send it with Govinda, His servant, to Srila Haridas Thakur. In this way, Srila Haridas Thakur took Mahaprabhu’s prasad every day.

One day, Govinda came to Srila Haridas Thakur and saw that he was chanting the Holy Name silently and very slowly.

‘Prabhu, I have brought you some prasad,’ he said.

‘Oh, today I will have to break the rule…’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Every day I finish chanting 300,000 Names and then only take prasad, but today I have not finished chanting, so how can I take prasad? But you have brought it at the regular time, so how can I refuse from it? That is why today I have to take prasad today without finishing my rounds…’

Then, he took a pinch of prasad, placed it in his mouth and told Govinda, ‘Prabhu, go now.’

Govinda came back to Mahaprabhu and informed Him, ‘Prabhu, Haridas’s news is very bad. He does not seem to be well.’

The next day, Mahaprabhu came to Srila Haridas Thakur in the morning and asked him,

‘Haridas, what has happened to you? Are you sick?’

‘Prabhu,’ Srila Haridas Thakur replied, ‘my body is not sick – it is my mind that is sick.’

‘What has happened? What ails you?’

If it were us, what would we say? ‘Oh, I am not feeling well’, ‘Oh, I am sick’, ‘Oh, I have a fever’, ‘Oh, I have a cough’, ‘I am nauseous’ – is it not so? But Srila Haridas Thakur said, ‘Prabhu, I have not been able to finish chanting my rounds today, that is why my mind is sick.’

‘You are the crest-jewel of the Holy Name, you are Namacharya, so how can you say this? You have not finished chanting your rounds, but you are old – you can chant a little less now. Why do you need to chant so many rounds now?’

‘All right… Prabhu, can I say something?’

‘Yes, what is it?’

‘Prabhu, I am a mlecha, but You gave me so much honour, even more than to brahmans. I have never asked You for anything so far, but today I have a humble request. You have shown me all Your pastimes: I have seen Your birth pastimes, Your childhood pastimes, Your youth and householder pastimes, Your sannyas pastimes, and even Your separation pastimes – but I am thinking that You will not stay in this world much longer… So, I have one wish, Prabhu – please do not make me see the pastime of You leaving before me. I do not want to see this pastime. Please bless me so that I can leave before You.’

‘What are you saying, Haridas?! The Lord will fulfil your desire, but—‘

Srila Haridas Thakur closed Mahaprabhu’s mouth with his hand and said, ‘Please, no buts, Prabhu!’

Falling at the Lord’s feet, he prayed, ‘Please do not give me any illusion. I know how much You love me, that is why I do not want to hear anything. Please let me leave.’

‘You will leave, all right, but how will My pastimes end then?’

Srila Haridas Thakur grasped Mahaprabhu’s feet and said,

‘Prabhu, if one ant like me dies, what loss is that? You have so many people coming to You. Please grant me my wish.’

hrdaye dharimu tomara kamala charana
nayane dekhimu tomara chanda vadana
jihvaya uchcharimu tomara ‘krsna-chaitanya’ nama
eimata mora ichchha,—chhadimu parana

‘I will hold Your lotus feet in my heart, look at Your moonlike face with my eyes and utter Your Name “Krishna Chaitanya” with my tongue – I wish to give up my life in this way.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.11.33–34)

‘I will behold Your holy face with my eyes, I will chant Your Name “Sri Krishna Chaitanya” with my mouth, and I will keep Your holy lotus feet on my chest. It is my wish to leave like this, Prabhu.’ If Vaishnavs want something, the Supreme Lord never ignores it – He always fulfils their wishes. Finally, not being able to say anything, Mahaprabhu replied, ‘All right. I am going now. I will come again tomorrow…’ Embracing Srila Haridas Thakur, Mahaprabhu went to bath in the ocean.

The next day, Mahaprabhu came together with all the devotees.

prabhu kahe,—“haridasa, kaha samachara”
haridasa kahe,—“prabhu, ye krpa tomara”

‘The Lord said, “Haridas, what is the news?” Haridas said, “Prabhu, as You wish.”’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.11.47)

‘Haridas, what is the news? How are you?’ Mahaprabhu asked.

‘Prabhu, as You wish,’ Srila Haridas Thakur replied.

Then, on Mahaprabhu’s order, all the devotees took Srila Haridas Thakur out and started chanting kirtan and circumambulating him. Srila Haridas Thakur caught hold of Mahaprabhu’s hand and pulled Him towards himself, to have Him seated next to him. Keeping His holy lotus feet on his chest, looking at His holy face, he said, ‘Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Sri Krishna Chaitanya’ and with the Lord’s Name on his tongue his soul left the body…

Mahaprabhu picked up Srila Haridas Thakur’s body and started dancing with it. After that, he took it to the ocean and, having bathed it, He declared, ‘Today, this ocean has become a great place of pilgrimage!’ Everybody took drops from the ocean and put them into their mouths. After that, they kept Srila Haridas Thakur’s body on the bank of the ocean and Mahaprabhu Himself, with His own hands, started digging the sand. Lastly, He placed his body there in a samadhi.

Next to Lord Jagannath’s temple there is a marketplace called ‘Ananda Bazar’ where Lord Jagannath’s prasad is sold. Mahaprabhu stretched His uttariya in front of Him and went shop to shop, begging, ‘My Haridas has left, so I am making a festival today. Please give Me whatever you can.’ Everybody gave so much prasad that in the end there was a grand festival arranged that day. Mahaprabhu personally distributed prasad that day.

This is how the pastime of Srila Haridas Thakur’s departure happened.

Jay Sri Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay.

A glimpse of the holy Siddha-bakul tree.

Srila Haridas Thakur's murti worshipped at his bhajan-kutir.

His Divine Grace speaking about Srila Haridas Thakur's glories at Siddha-bakul.

Srila Haridas Thakur's samadhi-mandir.

Depiction of Sriman Mahaprabhu carrying Srila Haridas Thakur's holy body.

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