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.