śrī śrī guru-gaurāṅgau jayataḥ |
28th Phālguna, Monday—1334 |
Nūtana Kathā – “New Topics”
Nowadays people have so much regard for worldly matters that they do not have even the slightest opportunity to think about anything else. People are doubtful of even the existence of a higher realm. Most of the educated youth especially have decided that discussing bhagavat-kathā [God] is a waste of time. Though there is some religious sentiment observed amongst the older generation, in most cases they are so full of their own preconceived notions that they think they know everything, that they have assimilated the confidential purport of the scriptures, and that there is no one more intelligent than them. Thus, what is a ‘śrauta-panthā’ to them? Āroha-panthā [“ascending path”] is their only acceptable option; that is, they are determined they will come to comprehend by the strength of their own acumen and there is no need to depend on anything else.
Others generally say, “Save yourself first. First feed yourself, save yourself, take care of your health, then do harināma, baba. What practical thing does nāma have the power to do? Harināma is not going to give you clothes to wear and food to eat. When you have worked all day to maintain your livelihood and you are kind of tired, then when you are resting, if someone plays some khola, karatāla and sings some harināma-kīrtana, then you can listen to that for a bit, but we won’t like it if there is kīrtana going on here and there all the time. That is going to disturb our rest. If there is some rasa-kīrtana, you can listen to that and relax a bit.”
Others say, “Sitting and chanting harināma all day is for the weak, sick, old, and incapacitated. Now we need āsurika (demonic) strength. The Upaniṣads say, ‘Nāyamātma bala-hīnena labhyaḥ – The soul cannot be realized without strength.’ In other words, without developing this āsurika power, we won’t even get our independence.”
Though many do accept the necessity of paramārtha (spirituality), they bring in so many varieties of sectarianism and ruin everything. As if Bhagavān is confined to one tiny group of people. “Vaiṣṇavas are just another sampradāya!” they say. “Kṛṣṇa is the God of that sampradāya. If we are not Vaiṣṇavas, then Kṛṣṇa is no one to us!” Just hearing the names ‘Navadvīpa’ or ‘Vṛndāvana’, people scrunch up their noses and mouths and say, “Those places are for Vaiṣṇavas. We don’t have any connection to that.” It is practically impossible to even get a proper measure of just how many different opinions there are like this swirling around in the world, rife with acceptance and rejection of things on the basis of sheer mental speculation. The simple, universal message of pure devotion and kīrtana preached by Śrī Śrīman Mahāprabhu has checked the momentum of all these speculative currents of thoughts heading in all different directions and brought before them a completely different perspective.
That is precisely why the general public are saying, “What you are talking about sounds like it has no actual origin. We don’t want to hear that monotonous Purāṇic humdrum about what happened in the age of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa. Now is a new age. Say something new. We will hear nūtana kathā (new topics).”
We say, “Dear brothers, we are telling you something new, but old is new, and new is old. Purāṇa (old), purātana (ancient), sadātana or sanātana (everlasting) topics are always new and fresh. They are never confined by the three divisions of time—past, present or future. They exist for all eternity. You are not hearing properly. Your ear holes are so full of information about the fleeting, perishable world that the ever-fresh message of the transcendental realm cannot even find a way in. You may think you are hearing about the transcendental world, but it is not so. If you want to hear about the transcendental realm, you need to first present your ears. One of my friends one day suddenly went to my gurudeva and asked, “Master! Speak some hari-kathā to me.” Master heard him and chuckled, and then said, “You will have to hear a few other things before you hear hari-kathā. Look, in the general world, a boy goes to his grandmother and says, ‘Grandma, tell me a story.’ Grandmother starts telling him a story and the boy is delighted. But this hari-kathā is not a grandmother’s tale. To hear this, you have to prepare your ears, and you need to have all the necessary qualifications to realize it. Then there is the possibility of obtain bliss from this. Otherwise, you can spend 200 gallons of blood, but that will not help you much. Śrī kṛṣṇa-kathā is never something that can grasped by the material senses. Only when the senses are in a state of being inclined toward service does one earn the fortune of hearing Kṛṣṇa’s name, etc. via those senses.
ataḥ śrī kṛṣṇa-nāmādi na bhaved grāhyam indriyaiḥ | sevonmukhe hi jihvādau svayam eva sphuraty adaḥ ||
How does one attain this inclination toward service? Śrī Bhagavān’s dear friend Arjuna has personally acted out that teaching for all of us conditioned souls. Arjuna is saying to Śrī Bhagavān, “O Lord, I have relinquished all my independence today. I am Your disciple in every respect, ready to be disciplined. I am exclusively surrendered to You. Instruct me in tattva-jñāna (knowledge of the truth)—‘śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam.’ Elsewhere in Śrī Gītā, Śrī Bhagavān says, “tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā | upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ jñāninas tattva darśinaḥ ||” A gurudeva who is a seer of tattva and knows kṛṣṇa-tattva imparts tattva-jñāna, because an ācārya’s function is to discuss or teach bhakti—“ācāryaṁ bhakti-śaṁśanāt.” But the disciple’s responsibility is to fully surrender his soul at the lotus feet of that ācārya, give up all manner of independence, and inquire—not bring up futile arguments, but genuinely, truly inquire about his own spiritual well-being. This kind of inquiry is called brahma-jijñāsā. What is that inquiry like? Ācārya Sanātana Gosvāmī has once shown us this teaching:
“ke āmi, keno more jāre tāpa-traya |
ihā nāhi jāni, kemane ‘hita’ haya ||
sādhya, sādhana-tattva puchite nā jāni |
kṛpā kari saba tattva kaha to āpani ||”
Once again, the answer given to this sort of paripraśna (earnest inquiry) will manifest in the inquirer’s heart to the extent that his inclination to serve has blossomed. Ātma-nikṣepa (surrender of the self) is not just something you say. Sevā-buddhi (the inclination to serve) is the main symptom of someone who is giving themselves fully. Therefore, the simultaneous combination of praṇipāta (surrender), paripraśna (sincere inquiry), and sevā is what gives every jīva the qualification to hear kṛṣṇa-kathā. When Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī Prabhu, to instruct the jīvas, relinquished all manner of independence and came before Śrīman Mahāprabhu with total surrender and inclination to serve and asked, “Who am I?” etc., then Mahāprabhu used him as a prop of sorts to impart to the jīvas everlasting or eternally fresh teachings and instructions for their deliverance. Sanātana is an eternally perfected associate of Bhagavān; we must understand his enactment of pastimes as a jīva who attains perfection via sādhana to be expressly for the sake of ignorant persons such as myself. To impose on him the idea that he is or was a conditioned soul is but the sign of a terrible offense at his feet.
Surely jīvas who are possessed of little fortune cannot develop this sort of surrender for the lotus feet of a bona fide guru. Only after accumulating sukṛti for many, many births can this sort of service to God arise for them.
alpa-bhāgye jīvera nahe kṛṣṇa-premodaya | saṁsāra bhramite kona-bhāgye keho tare | nadīra pravāhe yena kāṣṭha lāge tīre || kona bhāgye kāro saṁsāra kṣayonmukha haya | sādhu-saṅge tare, kṛṣṇe rati upajaya ||
This fortune, or sukṛti, is of three types: (1) Bhaktyunmukhī, (2) bhogonmukhī, and (3) mokṣonmukhī sukṛti. All activities that are assured to generate pure devotion within this saṁsāra produce bhaktyunmukhī-sukṛti, all activities that produce sense enjoyment give bhogonmukhī-sukṛti, and actions that lead to mokṣa give mokṣonmukhī sukṛti. Bhoga and mokṣa, or indulgence and liberation, both cause the jīva to become embroiled in saṁsāra and are obstalces to kṛṣṇa-bhakti. Only kṛṣṇa-bhaktyunmukhī-sukṛtī destroys saṁsāra. When this sukṛti is well-nourished and fructifies, then the jīva’s attachment to sādhu-saṅga arises and the desire to hear sat-kathā (spiritual topics) arises. Once the jīva acquires this sort of sukṛti, (1) he will not regard discussion of bhagavat-kathā to be a waste of time; (2) he will only have regard for śrauta-kathā, for what he has heard from the mouth of guru, not for any aśrauta-kathā or the ascending path; (3) he will realize that the soul’s healthy or natural state is service to Kṛṣṇa and that that alone constitutes his only measure of health or well-being, whereas what is an unnatural state of being is aversion to Kṛṣṇa and that constitutes his sickness and poor health; (4) instead of the twisted idea that ‘I should first take care of my needs and then do harināma’, he develops the attitude that he is carrying out his life in order to perform harināma, or else it would be preferable if his life were finished. As a result of bhaktyunmukhī-sukṛti, the jīva can also understand that (5) śravaṇa and kīrtana of hari-kathā are not to satisfy his senses; rather, all the singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments is to please Kṛṣṇa’s senses. He also realizes that listening to rasa-kathā or performing kīrtana of it falls into the category of anadhikāra-carccā (dealing with subjects beyond one’s qualification). Gurudeva alone will determine our qualification and give us the right to cultivate such esoteric matters. If one listens to rasa-kīrtana when one is not qualified, it is inevitable that one will end up in hell. People of the world are pursuing their own ruin as a result of this immature posturing. They impose material conceptions onto Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and charge down the path to hell. (7) Those without strength cannot perform harināma, but that strength is not demonic strength; that strength is spiritual strength, that of śrī gurudeva, who is nondifferent from Baladeva, or Nityānanda. One must develop that strength to do harināma. Body and mind are perishable, material objects. Identifying with them and striving to keep them flourishing is the project of a crazy person, not an intelligent, discerning one. The strength of body and mind exists in phases of childhood, youth, and old age, but the strength of the soul has no such disparities. The soul is devoid of material growth or decay. It is only because of a lack of realization of that strength that we are thinking of ourselves as weak. However, by Baladeva’s mercy, that misconception will quickly disappear. As we become invigorated with that strength of the soul, we will subdue the six urges of speech, thought, anger, tongue, belly, and genitals. Conquering the whole universe’s aversion to Kṛṣṇa, we will earn our own domain or, in other words, the everlasting service of Kṛṣṇa. (8) Vaiṣṇavas are not confined to any sectarian parochialism. All living entities are Vaiṣṇavas. “Keho māne keho nā māne saba tā̃ra dāsa | ye nā māne sei pāpī tāra haya nāśa ||” Those whom it angers to accept a connection with Viṣṇu, the God of Gods, are antagonists of Viṣṇu—atheistic. It was to cut this sort of atheism from the world that Śrī Bhagavān Gaurasundara incarnated in Śrī Śrī Māyāpura Navadvīpa along with His expansions, weapons, and associates.
O jīva, why do you choose your own ruin and then perish in lamentation? Leave aside all your ego related to birth, affluence, erudition, and physical beauty and—
“gaura-jana saṅga koro gaurāṅga boliyā | hare kṛṣṇa nāma bolo nāciyā nāciyā ||”
Let go of sectarian enmity. Don’t waste anymore of your time in useless pursuits. If you become established in your constitutional position, you will have no more lacking. You are all Kṛṣṇa’s entities. None of you are separate from Kṛṣṇa. Your only duty is to serve Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the father of the world. If you do not serve that father, you will end up a betrayer of the father and must suffer the threefold miseries birth after birth. Do not disregard the words of Śrī Bhagavān’s associates. This whole universe is temporary, all of its information is temporary. As you go about revering temporary information, do not forget to acquire something of the eternal. The subjects discussed in the Purāṇas, the ancient topics, are the only new and everlasting topics. Honor that kathā.
Real Accumulation
The whole world is preoccupied with accumulation. It is not as if these sorts of pursuits are only being seen during present times. This has been going on since time immemorial. The kings are always busy fighting battles to acquire kingdoms. Citizens are always performing yajñas and other functions to expand their families or communities. Religious types are busy worshipping various gods and goddesses to acquire religiosity. The jñānīs (erudites) are always busy consulting various scriptures in order to collect knowledge. There is another class of people besides these who are so eager to fill their coffers that they do not hesitate to abandon their morality and prescribed, lawful actions. Ultimately, in order to condone their own sinful activities, they resort to atheism. They are all accumulators, and it is not as if those whom we see as renunciates have abstained from these tendencies of accumulation. If we examine their lives, we will see that they were even greater accumulators than the aforementioned ones. The only difference between them and us is that they are not interested in the petty accumulations we want; they want something much greater. This sort of drive for accumulation has come to be our nature at present. But really reflect and try to see what the result of these accumulation efforts will be. The result of these pursuits is rather terrifying, which is why this tendency has been criticized in scriptures dealing with morality. There is an old story in this context: Once upon a time, a hunter was intent on acquiring some meat, so he grabbed his bow and went off into the forest and killed a deer. The hunter was bringing the dead deer home when a monstrous boar came into view, so he set down the deer and shot the boar with an arrow, but the boar also injured the hunter, and the hunter was killed; at the same time, a snake was also trampled to death in the struggle between the hunter and the boar. Meanwhile, a jackal was roaming in search of food when he came upon the dead snake, hunter, and boar and thought to himself, “Wow! I’m so lucky to have found so much food. I can happily survive three months on this. One month I can eat the man, the deer and the boar will last two months, and the snake one day. For today, I’ll just eat the sinew bowstring.” Thinking this, he bit into the bowstring, but it snapped with such force that he got impaled by the bow. This is the sort of fate that awaits every accumulator. Though there are hundreds of stories like this, it is not as if we let any of them help us. Why? Because we discuss things like this only when we are in school perhaps. When it comes to applying what we have learned, we forget all those things. Therefore, scripture has said, “Those who only read scripture, but do not act accordingly can never be worthy of the title paṇḍita or jñānī.”
Now the question may arise that if we abstain entirely from accumulating things, then how will we maintian our sojourn in saṁsāra? There is a beautiful deliberation in this regard: We are conscious entities. Our eternal connection is with the fullest expression of consciousness. We actually do not have any connection to inert matter. We only have a brief encounter with matter during our conditioned state. As long as we have this interaction with matter, then surely we must engage in acquiring things, but only to maintain our bodies—whatever we can easily obtain to carry out our lives, and the rest of our time we must remain engaged in the service of Hari. That is why the scriptures prescribe “yāvan nirvāha pratigraha – acquire as much as one requires.” “Yāvan nirvāha pratigraha” means acquiring as much financial resources as are needed to carry out one’s journey through saṁsāra. On top of that, one must go about acquiring the essentials for one’s survival in the saṁsāra by honest means. One cannot make a pretext of religiosity or resort to sinful acts to fill one’s belly or acquire money by cheating people. Our eternal dharma is serving Bhagavān. This we must always keep in mind. The scriptures have said, “na vyākhyām-upayuñjīta nārambhān ārabhet kvacit.” In other words, one must not make a livelihood of explaining the scriptures. This is called yukta-vairāgya [to acquire by honest means as one requires]. The devotees are yukta-vairāgīs. Though they may be engaged in various efforts of acquisition in the world like everyone else, they are niṣkiñcana (not attached). The people of mundane world cannot understand their activities. Brothers! Always keep in mind the following:
saṅgamaḥ keśave bhakti gaṅgāmbhasi nimajjanam | asāre khalu saṁsāre trīṇi sārāṇi bhāvayet ||
Sañcaya means acquiring wealth for one’s own enjoyment. However, those who do not simply strive to accumulate wealth in a miserly fashion, like the aforementioned jackal, but rather use the wealth they have earned or acquired in the service of Bhagavān, cannot be called sañcayīs. The miserly bury their wealth underground, and eventually it is appropriated by theives or kings and becomes the indulgence of another. Those who use their accumulated or stored artha (wealth) to serve Bhagavān obtain paramārtha (the supreme wealth) in exchange. It is not new information that attachment to wealth is the root of all evils. Therefore, whatever one has, one should use to serve the devotees and Bhagavān. Only then will we achieve both artha and paramārtha simultaneously, and life will be full of joy. Otherwise, in our final hours, we will be tormented in the fires of guilt and regret.
Śrī Māyāpura Pūrṇa-candrodaya
(Continued from last issue)
One day, Śrī Mādhavendra Purī’s disciple, Śrī Īśvara Purī, came to Navadvīpa and arrived at the home of Advaita. On the way, he came face-to-face with Gaurasundara, who invited him to come for lunch at His home, to which he agreed, and the two of them discussed various topics related to Kṛṣṇa. One day Īśvara Purī asked Mahāprabhu to edit a book he had written entitled “Śrī Kṛṣṇa-līlāmṛta”, but Mahāprabhu, “There can be no error in the composition or śrauta-kathā of a śrauta-panthī guru; people who are utterly deluded by material perception may point out flaws in such works, but they are surely pāṣaṇḍas (miscreants).”
One day, Śrī Gaurasundara displayed symptoms of prema on the pretext of having a disturbance of the vital airs [a mental disturbance].
Another day, Mahāprabhu went out wandering in Navadvīpa and went to the homes of weavers, cowherd men, fragrance merchants, florists, betel nut sellers, conch merchants, etc. and blessed them by accepting what they offered Him. After that, He went to the home of an astrologer and asked him to tell Him about His previous life, so the astrologer chanted gopāla-mantra and started doing his calculations when he started seeing four-armed and two-armed forms of Bhagavān. After that, Mahāprabhu went to Kholabecā Śrīdhara’s house and had a variety of affectionate quarrels with him and swore to take thoḍa (banana tree core), bananas, radishes, banana tree bark, and other vegetables from Śrīdhara’s garden every day without paying him.
Now Mahāprabhu began donning splendor as the crest-jewel of teachers in Navadvīpa. An acclaimed digvijayī scholar who had received a boon from Sarasvatī Devī and defeated scholars all throughout the land came to Navadvīpa to get his signed admissions of defeat from the scholars there too. One day, Mahāprabhu was sitting with His students on the bank of the Gaṅgā when the digvijayī arrived there in the assembly. Mahāprabhu asked him to compose a hymn in praise of Gaṅgā, so the digvijayī composed a hymn on the spot and began reciting it instantaneously without pause. Mahāprabhu, who is the husband of Sarasvatī, began quoting several words and poetic devices in the hymn and pointing out many flaws in them. The digvijayī was defeated. That night, the digvijayī saw Sarasvatī Devī come to him and say, “Nimāi Paṇḍita is my Lord. I am the material Sarasvatī, His external energy, the mere shadow of his internal Śuddhā Sarasvatī. I cannot even come before Nārāyaṇa. I remain out of view, under His shelter. Quickly take shelter of Gaura-Nārāyaṇa.” The next day, at dawn, the digvijayī related all this to Mahāprabhu and Mahāprabhu instructed him to worship Kṛṣṇa, and He explained to him that the fruit of knowledge is service to Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas.
After this, the greatest of teachers, Nimāi Paṇḍita, went to East Bengal to earn some money and began spreading nāma-saṅkīrtana everywhere there. Seeing how brilliant He was, hundreds and hundreds of students began coming to study from Him. At this time, there was a brāhmaṇa by the name of Tapana Miśra who, unable to determine the real tenets of spiritual practice and attainment (sādhya-sādhana-tattva) from the plethora of scriptures and conflicting views of various munis, was instructed in a dream to approach Mahāprabhu. The Lord instructed Tapana Miśra that “harināma-saṅkīrtana alone is the only goal and the only means to achieve that goal.” He also instructed Tapana Miśra to go to Kāśī. The Lord returned from East Bengal and heard that Lakṣmī Devī had been bitten by the snake of her separation from Him and gone to Vaikuṇṭha. Imitating an ordinary person, He displayed grief and also instructed His mother on the fleeting nature of this material world.
If Gaurasundara saw a student not wearing tilaka on his forehead, He would send him back home to do tilaka and other associated rituals first. Mahāprabhu would say, “A forehead without tilaka is like a cremation ground.”
On an auspicious day, at an auspicious time, the Lord’s wedding pastime to Śrī Viṣṇupriyā Devī, the daughter of Navadvīpa resident and royal scholar Śrī Sanātana Miśra, was performed; a fortunate personality named Buddhimanta Khān took it upon himself to bear the expense of this wedding pastime of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa.
After this, Śrī Gaurasundara wanted to demonstrate how surrendering at the feet of guru and Vaiṣṇavas is the one eternal dharma of the jīvas and the only true fruit of visiting holy places is to obtain the association of sādhus. He wanted to demonstrate that one can only perform kṛṣṇa-bhajana by offering oneself at the feet of the sādhu. Sādhus are the ultimate personifications of all holy places. Just seeing a sādhu is infinitely greater than performing millions and millions of funerary piṇḍa-dāna rites. As long as the jīva does not have the fortune of making a proper connection with a bona fide Vaiṣṇva guru, he maintains an inclination toward various reward-oriented actions (kāmya-karma). To teach this to those inclined toward service by providing a contrasting mentality for them, Śrī Gaurasundara manifested a pastime of having a fever and drinking the footbath water of a brāhmaṇa as a kāmya-karmī would. Thereafter, He continued on to Gayā and went through the motions of offering piṇḍa oblations for his father, then took darśana of the impression of Gadādhara Viṣṇu’s feet, met with Īśvara Purī and surrendered Himself to Īśvara Purī, received the ten-syllable mantra, and performed various other instructive pastimes.
Now the time had come for the Lord to reveal Himself. When Mahāprabhu returned from Gayā, He began performing a pastime of changing His mood entirely. That restlessness from before, the impudence, the pride in His erudition, and bragging disappeared. As He related to a few devotees in private what had happened in Gayā, He began chanting, “Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa,” and bathing Himself in an incessant flow of tears. He was trembling, sometimes taking deep, deep breaths, not speaking anything besides kṛṣṇa-kathā. When He started explaining the grammar sūtras and commentaries, He explained everything from a perspective of kṛṣṇa-nāma, telling everyone: “There is nothing besides the name of Kṛṣṇa in all the scriptures.” Sometimes in the mood of Bhagavān Kapila, He would instruct His mother Śacī Devī about the suffering of the living entity in the womb and how one must incessantly chant the name of Kṛṣṇa in the association of sādhus. When His students asked Him about etymology, He explained the dhātus (verbal roots) as Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s energies. The Lord ordered them to abandon other discussions and simply hear and chant Kṛṣṇa’s name. And He taught them how to perform saṅkīrtana. Sometimes, to teach people how to serve Vaiṣṇavas, He would manifest pastimes of performing various menial services for the Vaiṣṇavas by His own hands. Sometimes He would manifest a pastime of taking the blessings and footdust of the Vaiṣṇavas, thereby preaching that worship of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is only attainable by the mercy of the Vaiṣṇavas.
In this way, after His pastime of accepting kṛṣṇa-mantra dīkṣā in Gayā from the sannyāsī Śrī Īśvara Purī, Mahāprabhu manifested His pastime of changing His mood and unveiling divine love, thereby conveying that only one who knows kṛṣṇa-tattva is worthy of being guru. Whether he is a sannyāsī or born in a low caste is not to be considered; and after receiving divine knowledge, or mercy, from the bona fide guru, all the disciple’s previous history changes and no duty remains for him other than to engage incessantly in hearing and reciting hari-kathā. The Lord returned to Navadvīpa from Gayā and began preaching divine love everywhere.
One day, Śrī Gaurasundara sat on the throne of Viṣṇu in Śrīvāsa’s house and said, “Śacī Devī has made an offense to Śrī Advaita Ācārya; therefore, until her offense to a Vaiṣṇava is forgiven, she will not attain prema-bhakti at all. Absorbed in vātsalya-rasa, Śacī Devī had said that Śrī Viśvarūpa had taken sannyāsa because of Advaita Ācārya. When the devotees brought Advaita Prabhu there, he began glorifying Śacī Devī profusely and became overwhelmed with prema. Śacī Devī took that opportunity to take Advaita Ācārya’s footdust and beg for forgiveness for her offense. By this pastime, Mahāprabhu demonstrated that if someone has committed offense to a Vaiṣṇava, they cannot attain prema-bhakti.
One day, in Śrīvāsa Aṅgana, Advaita Ācārya asked Mahāprabhu to show him the universal form He had shown during His pastimes as Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Mahāprabhu then showed this universal form to Advaita Ācārya. Another day, all the devotees got together at Śrīvāsa Aṅgana and performed abhiṣeka of Mahāprabhu. Mahāprabhu sat atop the throne of Viṣṇu and manifested His opulence as the king of kings. Mahāprabhu began granting whatever boons people wanted.
Śrī Gaurasundara’s second self, Śrī Nityānanda, who is nondifferent from the son of Rohiṇī, Balarāma, took birth in the village of Ekacakrā, in the Birbhum district, in the home of Hāḍāi Paṇḍita, from the womb of Padmāvatī. During Nityānanda’s childhood, a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī once visited his home and asked Hāḍāi Paṇḍita to give Nityānanda to him. From then onwards, Nityānanda roamed many places with that sannyāsī and lived in Mathurā-maṇḍala for a long time. Drawn by Mahāprabhu, Nityānanda came to Navadvīpa and hid himself at Nandana Ācārya’s home. Mahāprabhu came to know that, met with him, and brought him to His home.
Mahāprabhu then engaged Ṭhākura Haridāsa and Nityānanda Prabhu in going from door to door throughout the town of Navadvīpa to preach the name of Kṛṣṇa. One day Nityānanda Prabhu had been preaching from door to door and was returning to Mahāprabhu’s home in the evening when he came across two so-called brāhmaṇas, Jagāi and Mādhāi, who were drunk. Though they had been born in a brāhmaṇa family, they drank alcohol, ate cow flesh, stole, committed adultery, and every other imaginable sin. Because they were always in the company of drunkards, the only sin they had not committed was the aparādha of criticizing Vaiṣṇavas. Nityānanda, who is the deliverer of the fallen and possessed of boundless sympathy for the sufferings of others, along with Ṭhākura Haridāsa, decided to show mercy to Jagāi and Mādhāi. In fact, Nityānanda Prabhu was roaming around late in the evening precisely because he wanted to show mercy to them. Jagāi and Mādhāi saw Nityānanda Prabhu; as soon as Mādhāi heard the avadhūta’s name, he became enraged and threw a clay vessel at Nityānanda Prabhu’s head. Seeing this, Jagāi tried to dissuade Mādhāi from being so aggressive. At that moment, Mahāprabhu arrived there with His associates and enraged, summoned His sudarśana-cakra, but Nityānanda Prabhu said to Mahāprabhu, “Jagāi protected me, so You have to forgive him.” Mahāprabhu was pleased with Jagāi and meanwhile, a change had come over Mādhāi. Nityānanda Prabhu forgave Mādhāi; both were very repentant and vowed to never engage in anything but the service of Kṛṣṇa for the rest of their lives, so Mahāprabhu and the devotees extended their mercy to them. By Mahāprabhu’s grace, the two rogues became mahā-bhāgavatas. Mahāprabhu instructed the devotees not to disrespect them on the basis of what they had done in the past. In the town of Navadvīpa, which was full of countless high-class brāhmaṇas, Mahāprabhu had Ṭhākura Haridāsa, who had been born into a Muslim family, preach the glories of the holy name, and through Nityānanda, He enacted the pastime of delivering Jagāi and Mādhāi. By this, Mahāprabhu conveyed that a Vaiṣṇava is the teacher of all brāhmaṇa lineages, and he cannot be judged by his race or family, because he is a transcendental entity—a teacher to the whole world. Mahāprabhu also conveyed that all manner of offenses can be forgiven, but Bhagavān does not have the capacity to forgive Vaiṣṇava aparādha. Nityānanda Prabhu and Mahāprabhu only show Their mercy to those who are free of vaiṣṇava-aparādha.
(to be continued)
Nānā Kathā
(Local)
Received Letter
To the revered editor of Nadīyā Prakāśa,
Mahāśaya,
Yesterday I went to Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva-pallī with various ingredients to offer bhoga to Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva. I was there till 1 p.m. and did not see Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva’s pūjārī, so I went to where these pūjārīs live in the village of Viṣṇupura. This village is about two miles away from Nṛsiṁhadeva-pallī. I am starting to doubt that Nṛsiṁhadeva has been worshipped properly for quite some time. I heard that even during Navadvīpa Parikramā, the thousands of pilgrims who came did not see the pūjārī. Even when I offered to bring the pūjārīs in my motorcar to offer the bhoga, they showed indifference to the matter. Then I mentioned the name of one of the Nadīyā Mahārāja’s employees and that caught their attention, so they came with me. Now they are having a dispute in their family about scheduling who serves on which day.
The good news in all this is that the pūjārīs want to use the money that they are to receive, which is now deposited at the king’s residence, to repair the dilapidated temple. I am asking everyone to draw Mahārāja Bāhādura’s gracious attention to this matter.
nivedaka,
Śrī Siddheśvara Majumdār
L.M.S.
Naihati
[The śrī vigraha at Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva-pallī has been there since before anyone can remember. For some time now it has been included among the deities that are looked after by the government of the Nadīyā Mahārāja, who is very keen on fulfilling his prescribed duties. Within Śrī Navadvīpa, this temple is located on the very edge of Godruma-dvīpa. Worship has not been going properly for quite some time. Many indigenous Hindus of Kṛṣṇa-nagara perform various rituals, like the anna-prāśana ceremonies for their children, here. We want the worship here to grow brighter day by day. We hope that those entrusted with this service will strive to execute the duties they have the burden of performing and increase our delight and that of others in general. —Na. Pra. Ed.)
Nadīyā Ferry Ghat
Some days ago, the local residents conveyed to the district magistrate bāhādura and the divisional comissioner bāhādura the inconveniences they are facing with the disorderliness of the Navadvīpa ferry ghat and filed three applications with the district board. Though the lessee knows about all these complaints, we have not heard of any efforts they have made to clear up the inconveniences. All these government ghats have been built for the convenience of pilgrims crossing. The union’s president and others are responsible for the disorderliness at all these ghats. Those above them are the circle officer, subdivisional officer, and others. We have not heard anything of how much they have tried to clear up this problem. But the union board president is one of the appealers. Therefore, now it is up to the circle officer and local divisional magistrate to investigate the matter; then only will it be addressed and solved. Every person who has made an appeal is being tormented by the lessees. It seems that the reason the circle officer and divisional hākima (magistrate) mahāśaya are not demonstrating the refulgence of sympathy is because they are not victims. At present, the district board vice-chairman, Khān Bāhādura M. Ājikula Hak BLMLC. Mahāśaya has told petitioners on March 8 in letter no. 2021-G that the Navadvīpa ferry has not yet come under the board’s jurisdiction, and as long as the ferry ghat is not offered to their jurisdiction, they cannot do anything to clear up the inconveniences. Whatever the case, we will be most pleased if whoever does have control of the ferry ghat in their hands and is responsible for overseeing the convenience of the travellers deals with the situation. Carts transporting cargo and travelling to and fro get baked in this summer heat for no good reason. This is also troubling the hearts of the members of the Pāśu-kleśa Nivāriṇī Sabhā (“society for the alleviation of animal suffering”) like nothing else. But as long as the lessees are indifferent to the issue, there is no limit to the difficulties people have to face.
Kushtia Art Exhibit
Because the cholera epidemic in Kushtia has increased, a sudden decision has been made to postpone the art exhibition.
Baṅga-Lakṣmī Mill Case
Judge’s ruling:
After a prolonged seven-week trial at the Calcutta High Court, the judgment in the case of the Bengal Cotton Mill was pronounced before Judge Page and a jury of nine last Friday. The jury unanimously found Mr. Basant Kumar Lahiri and Mr. Bhupendranath Banerjee guilty of conspiracy and breach of trust, and seven members of the jury found Sukumar Lahiri at fault while two decided he was not.
Regarding the three charges related to the breach of trust, the jury unanimously found B. K. Lahiri guilty, while for the remaining issues, 5 found him guilty and 4 acquitted him. Regarding the manipulation of valuable documentary evidence, 7 jury members found Sukumar Lahiri guilty, while 2 acquitted him. In other allegations, all jury members acquitted him.
With the majority decision of the judge and the jury, Basant Kumar Lahiri was sentenced to 8 years for the conspiracy charge and was ordered to serve 7 years of rigorous imprisonment for each of the two charges of breach of trust. The sentences will run concurrently.
For the accused Bhupendranath Banerjee, the judge ordered 6 years for the conspiracy charge and, for each of the two charges of aiding in breaches of trust, 6 years hard labour. All sentences will run concurrently.
The third accused, Sukumar Lahiri, was sentenced to 5 years hard labour for the charge of conspiracy and 5 years each for several charges of forging valuable documents. All sentences will run concurrently.
After that, the judge, addressing the jury on behalf of the residents of Calcutta, expressed gratitude for their diligence and effort in handling this case. The judge has stated that although they would not have to be part of a jury for the next two years, he has requested that they not be called for at least five years.
City College Unrest
City College was closed due to unrest. From March 8 onwards, the college has reopened. However, the students collectively boycotted the college by staging a religious protest. On March 8, only one Brahmin student and two Muslim students attended classes. Despite seeing this, Principal Herambachandra Maitra ordered teachers that they must go to class, gives lectures, and mark student attendance, noting either “present” or “absent” in their ledger, etc. This directive will be in effect until April 22, even if the students do not go to college. He has no objection to the teachers speaking to empty classrooms.
It is not clear whether the faculty is pleased with this order or not. On the other hand, there seems to be deep unrest in the student community. It is reported that in the governing body meeting, several professors have showered various kinds of abuses on Hindu students. The students learned all this once they arrived at college on March 8. Since then, those who are dissatisfied have formed an assembly.
Reports state that the following proposals have been accepted in their meetings: students will not go to college for 7 days. Meanwhile, they will arrange for transfers to another college. It is already decided that many students will apply for a transfer soon. In the beginning of the meeting, the students collectively chanted the names of Bhagavān to the accompaniment of khola and karatāla.
Various advertisements were seen on the walls of City College.