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MOTHER SACI'S OFFENCE TO ADVAITA PRABHU
One day Mahaprabhu Gauranga Sundara sat on Lord Visnu's throne,
keeping His own Salagrama form on His lap and saying: "I am Narayana and
Krsna in the age of Kali. As Rama I crossed the ocean to Lanka. I was reclining
in the Milk Ocean when Nadha woke Me up with His roaring. I have come to bestow
loving devotion, so ask for benedictions, O SrTvasa! Ask for benedictions,
Nadha!" SrTvasa said: "We all greatly wish that You will bestow prema
upon Your mother!" Mahaprabhu replied: "Don't speak like that,
SrTvasa! I will not give her prema bhaktil She has committed an offence to a
Vaisnava, and this stops her from attaining prema bhakti.SrTvasa said:
"Prabhu, this makes us want to give up our lives! You are Her son, who
descended into her womb! Is she not qualified to receive prema? She is the
mother of the universe and the very life of the devotees! Give up Your tricks,
Prabhu, and give her bhakti\ Since You are her son she is the mother of
everyone. How can the son count any offence of his mother? And even if she
offended a Vaisnava, then please release her from that offence with Your saving
grace!Mahaprabhu replied: "I can instruct her, but I will not release
anyone from offending a Vaisnava. She must be for¬given by He whom she
offended—just see how Durvasa Muni was ultimately saved from offending King
Ambarisa. She has committed an offence to Nadha, and if Nadha forgives her she
will get the mercy of prema. If, on My order, she takes the dust of Advaita's
feet on her head I will grant her prema bhakti.Thus everyone proceeded to
Advaita's house and told Him all that had happened. When Advaita heard it He
remem¬bered Lord Visnu and said: "You wish to take My life. She who has
carried Mahaprabhu in her womb is also My mother and I am her son. I should be
the recipient of her footdust— you have no idea about her great power! This
chaste mother is the very form of devotion to Visnu— why are you saying such
things to Me? The mere utterance of her name destroys all miseries, she is
non-different from mothers Gariga, DevakI and Yasoda!"As Acarya Gosai thus
extolled the glories of mother SacI, He lost all external consciousness.
Understanding this was the right time, mother Sac! came forward and took
Advaita Acarya's foot-dust on her head. Mother Sad is the greatest Vaisnavl and
the personification of devotion, who had the power to carry Visvambhara in her
womb. As soon as she had taken Acarya Gosai's footdust she became overwhelmed
by ecstasy and lost all external consciousness. All the Vaisnavas then chanted
jay a jayal Thus both Advaita and Mother SacI fainted of each other's power and
all the Vaisnavas exclaimed the holy names "hari! hari!Sitting on His
throne, Visvambhara laughed and, being satisfied, He told His mother: "Now
you have attained Visnu-bhakti and there is no more offence to Advaita."
Thus aiming at His mother, the Lord, who is the instructing Guru, warned
everyone against offending Vaisnavas. The scriptures say that if even a
powerful soul like Sulapani (Siva) blasphemes a Vaisnava he will perish. If a
person ignores such a warning and continues to criticise the saints he will die
miserably, birth after birth. Offending the Vaisnavas is so evil that Gaura
Sirhha even blamed His mother when she committed it. Now hear of the events
that led to the above pastime.
Mother Sacl's eldest son Visvarupa was becoming more and more
attracted to Advaita Prabhu's spiritual associa¬tion as he attended classes at
His school. He heard Advaita Prabhu's devotional explanations of "Yoga
Vas"istha" like no one else and attained the bliss of prema by
Advaita Prabhu's grace. Due to the power of Advaita's sacred association
Visvarupa gradually lost all taste for mundane life and left home, taking
sannyasa and assuming the title of Sahkararanya.This naturally broke Mother
Sacl's heart and she thought to herself: "It is Advaita who ousted my son
from fam¬ily life." Still she was afraid of offending a Vaisnava, so she
remained silent and simply suffered great sorrow. After all, her Nimai was
still making her very happy. Then, by the will of Providence, Nimai also
constantly began to revel in Advaita's company. Giving up His household
happiness and the compa¬ny of His beautiful wife, He began to frequent
Advaita's house. Seeing that her son was never at home anymore, Mother SacI
thought to herself: "Now Acarya Gosai has taken my other son away as well.
He has driven my one moon-like son out of the house, and He will not leave my
other son in peace either. No one is merciful to me, an abandoned one. To the
world He may be known as a-dvaita or beyond duality, but for me He is
dvaita-maya, full of deception." This was her only offence, nothing else,
and for this Mahaprabhu refused to give her bhakti.Once Advaita Prabhu held a
great feast at His home in Santipura. Everyone was there — Gaura, Nitai,
Sltanatha. Syama dasa and Isana dasa (the author of Advaita Prakasa) helped
serving. Everyone had a different preference. Nityananda liked sweet rice,
Gaura liked sukta (a dish of bit¬ter vegetables), and Sltanatha like moca
ghanta (banana cones). There was an inexhaustable amount of prasada in the
storehouse, and finally Slta-devI expanded herself into as many forms as there
were guests in order to serve everybody according to their liking, just as
Krsna expanded Himself in the Rasa-(circle) dance to satisfy each gopi (cowherd
girl). Srlman Mahaprabhu, who had arranged for this pastime to reveal
Slta-devl's prowess, reminded the assembled devotees of the same.