Haridas Thakur receives Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu's Grace
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Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami explains how much the Lord loves His devotee, what the Lord is willing to do for His devotee; how the Lord is intoxicated in ecstasy by the love of His devotees.
When Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu, was living in Puri during the last eighteen years of His lila, His
bhava of separation from Krishna was growing more and more intense day by day.
During the day He
would perform nama-sankirtana with His devotees and during the night in the
company of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami and Ramananda Raya, His love in separation would
surpass the boundaries of human conception, throwing His associates in turmoil
of anxious concern and amazement.
One day, by Lord
Chaitanya’s arrangement, His personal servitor Govinda brought Sri Jagannatha’s
maha-prasada to the Siddha Bakula, the bhajan kutir of Srila Haridas Thakur.
When Govinda came in to Haridas Thakura’s garden, he found that Haridas was
lying on the ground, softly chanting the holy names. Govinda said, “Thakur, on
Lord Chaitanya’s command I have brought the maha-prasada of Lord Jagannatha.
Please come and accept it.”
Haridas Thakur looked
up and in a very feeble voice said, “I have not yet finished my prescribed
rounds of chanting the holy names of Krishna. Therefore I cannot eat. But at
the same time this is Jagannatha’s maha-prasada! I must honour and respect it.”
So Haridas Thakur bowed down with folded hands offering prayers to the prasada
and then took a very tiny portion and honoured that.
The next day
Mahaprabhu came to Siddha Bakula and saw Haridas Thakur slowly chanting his
rounds. The Lord asked, “Haridas, are you well?” Haridas Thakur replied, “My
body is all right, but my mind and intelligence are not well.” Lord Caitanya
asked, “What is the cause of your illness?” Haridas replied, “My Lord, kindly
hear my plea. I am not able to complete the prescribed number of rounds of
Krishna’s holy names, therefore I am in a diseased condition.”
Lord Caitanya said to
Haridas, “Thakur, you are very old now. Please reduce the number of rounds you
are chanting. You are already liberated. You have transcended the modes of
material nature. You have achieved the perfection of life. There is no need for
you to chant so much. You have fulfilled the purpose of your incarnation in
this world. Now please Haridas, reduce the number of rounds that you chant
every day.”
Thakur Haridas with
folded hands and a faltering voice replied, “Oh my Lord, please hear my plea. I
am born in a low family. My body is abominable. I am always engaged in inferior
works. Therefore I am the lowest and most condemned amongst men. I am
untouchable. But yet You have magnanimously given me the opportunity to serve
You. In giving me the opportunity to serve You, You have delivered me from the
most horrible hellish conditions and You have elevated me to the platform of Vaikuntha.”
Haridas Thakur
continued, he said, “My Lord, You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead and
your independent will is supreme. The whole world is dancing according to your
sweet will, and out of your causeless mercy you have made me dance in so many
ways. For example even though I am most sinful and most condemned, in the
assembly of qualified Brahmins, in the house of Advait Acarya you gave me the
honour of taking the first remnants of the sraadha although I have no
qualification for that. My dear Lord, you are always merciful to your devotee.
And although I am not a devotee – I am only an imitation of your devotee, I
have a very strong desire that I wish you to fulfill. I have had this desire,
this one single desire in my heart for a very long time.”
“I fear that soon you
will close your pastimes in this material world. My dear Lord, please do not
let me see this closing chapter of your pastimes. Before that day comes let my
body fall before you. This is my one cherished desire, my Lord. Allow me to
take your most cherished, worshipful lotus feet and embrace them to my heart.
Allow my eyes to gaze at your moon-like face, and let my tongue constantly
chant your holy names, Sri Krishna Caitanya. In this state take the life air
from my life and allow me to fall at your feet. Please my Lord if it is
possible by your mercy, fulfill this one wish of mine.”
Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu was deeply moved. He said, “Haridas, what are you saying? The only
happiness I find in the material world is in your association. Why do you want
to leave me behind?” Haridas replied, “ My Lord, why are you creating an
illusion? I am most condemned, I am most abominable, you have millions and
millions of devotees, and each and every one of them is fit to sit on top my
head. They are all helping you in a very useful way in your pastimes. But, I am
useless, I am condemned. My Lord, if an insignificant insect dies, what is the
loss to this world? My Lord, please fulfill my desire.”
As the Lord had to
perform his noon duties, Lord Caitanya told Haridas Thakur that He would return
the next day and left. The next morning, the Lord with all of his devotees in
Puri, went to the house of Haridas Thakur. Lord Caitanya asked. “What is the
news Haridas?” Haridas replied, “The news is whatever mercy you bestow upon me”
Then the Lord
instructed his devotees to begin Nam Sankirtan. Vrkeshvara Pandit was the lead
dancer. Svarupa Damodara was the lead singer. Ramananda Raya, Sarvabhauma
Bhattacharya and all the devotees present were chanting and dancing in ecstasy.
Thakur Haridas went
and took the dust of the lotus feet every devotee and placed it on his head.
Then Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu began to explain to his devotees his love for
Haridas Thakur.
As he was describing
the glories of Srila Haridas Thakur with pure, unadulterated love He gradually
became so enthusiastic and joyous that it seemed as though He had five mouths.
The devotees were struck with wonder and ecstasy to hear the Lord praise his
devotee with such deep affection.
All the assembled
devotees were overjoyed to see Lord Caitanya glorify Haridas with such
enthusiasm. Then Thakur Haridas again went and again took the dust from the
lotus feet of every devotee and placed it on his head in utter humility.
Then he sat Lord
Caitanya down before him and took his lotus feet, those beautiful golden lotus
feet, that are the shelter of all existence and the shelter of all spiritual
and material worlds.
And he pressed those
feet with his two hands upon his heart, and gazed at Lord Gaurchandra’s lotus
face. His eyes were like two bumblebees drinking the nectar of the moon-like
face of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. And with tears streaming from Haridas
Thakur’s eyes, gazing at the Lord he repeatedly chanted with deep emotion. “Sri
Krishna Caitanya. Sri Krishna Caitanya.”
In the assembly of
devotees, by Lord Chaitanya’s grace, Haridas Thakur’s life air left his body at
that moment. As he lay there… lifeless, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s spiritual
rapture and ecstasy went seemingly beyond control. The entire Kirtan became
tumultuous. The mrdanga, kartals, the enthusiasm and the love in the devotees’
voices cried out Krishna’s holy names. Mahaprabhu maddened by His love, lifted
up Haridas and embracing him to His heart began to dance!
Sri Gauranga
Mahaprabhu ki Jaya!
All the devotees
seeing their beloved Haridas Thakur had left them, were weeping in the agony of
separation and at the same
time seeing the Lord’s love for His devotee they were lost in ecstatic
amazement.
They chanted and
danced and just couldn’t stop. Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu would not give up the
body of Haridas. Eventually Svarupa Damodara somehow gently stopped the
Lord from dancing. He said, “My Lord it is time for the last rites. We must
perform the funeral ceremony. Let us make the arrangements.”
During that time a
beautiful palanquin was made and Thakur Haridas’s body was laid on that. The
Nama Sankirtan procession went from Siddha Bakula to the ocean. Vrkesvara
Pandit was dancing, Svarupa Damodara and others were singing, and Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu out of love for his beloved devotee led the procession, dancing in
ecstasy until they arrived at the sea.
There Mahaprabhu
personally took the body of Haridas Thakur. The Supreme Personality of Godhead
lovingly held that body and personally bathed it with his own hands in the
waters of the sea. And then Sri Caitanya proclaimed loudly that for all time to
come this sea in Puri was now a holy place of pilgrimage because it has bathed
the body of Thakur Haridas. Lord Caitanya bathed in the sea every single day,
but in His opinion now it had become a holy place of pilgrimage because it
bathed His blessed devotee’s body. And as Sri Caitanya was bathing Thakur
Haridas’s feet the devotees were drinking that water and sprinkling it on their
heads in ecstatic love.
Then Mahaprabhu, with
his own hands began to dig in the sand. The devotees also helped Him dig until
there was a suitable grave in the ground. Then Sri Caitanya had Haridas
Thakur’s body lowered . They anointed his limbs with fresh, fragrant sandal
wood pulp which was the remnants of Jagannatha. Then they place upon his body
Lord Jagannatha’s remnants, some pieces of the silk rope that is used to pull
Lord Jagannatha, and they put garlands and some of Lord Jagannatha’s ornaments
and clothes and the Lord’s mahaprasad.
And then Lord
Caitanya with his own hands very lovingly put sand over Haridas’s body. After
he was buried in his Samadhi the devotees right then and there put a sign to
commemorate. Mahaprabhu led all the devotees to take their bath in the sea and
then coming out of the sea they circumambulated the Samadhi Mandir of Haridas
Thakur about four times.
Then arriving at the
main gate entrance to Lord Jagannatha’s temple Sri Gaurhari declared: “Today we
are going to have a feast in the honour of the great Vaishnava Acarya Haridas
Thakur”!
And Lord Caitanya
taking the position of the most menial servant went to each shop to beg alms
for the feast. With tears of love in his eyes he begged each shopkeeper with
his cloth open. “Please in honour of Haridas Thakur I beg some alms for you.”
And each shopkeeper - and there were hundreds of them - brought entire baskets
full of mahaprasad. Svarupa Damodar Goswami said, “Lord Caitanya, why don’t you
go home for sometime we will do this begging.”
They brought so much
mahaprasad that Svarupa Damodara said to each shopkeeper, “just give four or
five handfulls of each preparation. That will be more than enough.” Here
Svarupa Damodara Gosvami – Lalita Sakhi, who is the most confidential assistant
of Radha-Damodar in the Spiritual World begging from ordinary people to glorify
a Vaishnava.
Soon there were huge
amounts of mahaprasad. Then Lord Caitanya began to serve each preparation.
However Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was so eager to satisfy his devotees that one
handful was more than five men could eat. Such was his enthusiasm to serve.
Svarupa Damodara Gosvami approached Mahaprabhu and said, “ My Lord please let
us serve, because no one is going to eat until you eat.”
So He sat down with
Brahmananda Bharati and Paramananda Puri. Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, the most
confidential associate, the siksa guru of Ragunatha das Gosvami, served
mahaprasad to all the devotees and everyone there. Jagadananda Puri, Damodara
Pandit, Sankara Pandit and Kasisvara Pandit alsojoyfully served the mahaprasad.
Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu wanted to serve, but he was not allowed. His devotees would not eat.
So for the satisfaction of his devotees and the Vaishnavas He sat to eat. But
the Lord eats, we honour, because for Him it is bhoga. In the role of a devotee
he was honouring prasada. And as he was eating Prasada with all of the
devotees, he still said “Give them more, Give them more!”
Then to honour Srila
Haridas Thakur Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu got up to wash his hand and all the
devotees also got up to wash their hands. Sri Caitanya personally gave
each devotee a garland with his own hands. And with his own hands he took
sandalwood pulp and ornamented their limbs with that - serving his devotees.
And then Lord
Caitanya Mahaprabhu spoke to everyone. He said, “Today we have honoured the
passing of Haridas Thakur. How fortunate is anyone who in anyway participated
in this most sacred event. Anyone who was in the kirtan in the passing of
Haridas, anyone who was there to bathe his body in the sea, anyone who has
honoured this prasada or heard the kirtan, all of you will become most dear to
Krishna. You will achieve the supreme mercy of Krishna. That is the power of
Haridas Thakur. By the Lord’s love and kindness he has given me the association
of Haridas Thakur, the Namacarya, But, now by the Lord’s inconceivable will he
has taken away that association. Haridas Thakur is the Acarya of the chanting
of the holy names. He has spread the holy name of Krishna in all directions.
But now the Lord has taken him away from us. He was the crown jewel of this
entire world, but now the world is bereft of that jewel. Everyone very loudly
with raised arms call out Jai Jai Haridas! Jai Jai Haridas! Jai Jai Haridas!
And chant the hold names of the Lord! Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna
Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.”
The devotees chanted
the holy names with great love and then the Lord returned to his abode at
Gambhira. As he was walking he was simultaneously feeling the deep anguish of
separation from his beloved devotee. And at the same time he was feeling
ecstasy.
This is something
that can only be understood by the mercy of the Lord. We can theoretically
comprehend certain things, but bhakti is about the experience of the heart. But
to actually experience it, to actually realize it, is only possible by the
mercy of the Lord.
Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu proclaimed Haridas Thakur to be the crest-jewel of all devotees. He
proclaimed him to be the Namacharya – the custodian and giver of the holy name
of God! Such a rare honour has never before been conferred on any other
devotee.
All Glories to Sri Haridas Thakur.
All Glories to Sri Krishna Chaitanya
All Glories to Sri Gurudeva!
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