BY SRILA NARAHARI CAKRAVATI THAKURA

KUALA LUMPUR  - This is a pastime of Sri Advaita Acharya from the Bhakti Ratnakara (5.174-196), Sri Raghava Pandit narrated this to Srinivas Acharya:

“When Advaita Acarya was on pilgrimage He came here to admire the beauty of Mathura. A fallen brahmin who lived there was always criticizing Vaishnavas – it was his regular habit. He was very proud of his learning and wicked in all respects. The gentle people of Mathura trembled of fear of him. One day he criticized Vaishnavas in a way that was impossible to tolerate, in Advaita Prabhu’s presence.

When Sri Advaita heard it He was overcome with great divine anger. With trembling lips and reddened eyes He said time and again in a greatly challenging way: “O you atheist! There is no redemption for you! Look here at the disk in My hand – I will slice your head of with it! Saying this, Advaita Prabhu assumed a four-armed form, seeing which the brahmin began to tremble with fear. Folding his hands, he said time and again, ‘O Lord, punish me as You deem fit! My intelligence was destroyed through bad company – not knowing the facts about Vaishnavas I committed offences. There is no limit to the number of offences I committed – O Lord, please redeem a godless heretic like me! Saying this, the fallen brahmin wept and the Lord withdrew His four-armed form.

When He saw the condition of the brahmin, Advaita Prabhu became compassionate and mercifully spoke these sweet words: You committed offences so you should suffer a terrible hell, so listen carefully now to what I will say – you have been offensive all along, now give all this up and engage in Nama Sankirtan. Stake your life in the effort of pleasing the Vaishnavas and always deal with them carefully. Engage in the different limbs of devotional practise, and don’t tell anyone of this form of mine which you have just seen. Saying this much, Advaita Prabhu continued His pilgrimage, while the brahmin went mad in the ecstasy of Harinam Sankirtan. Weeping he went from door to door, seeing all the Vaishnavas of Mathura, showing great humility. When the resident Vaishnavas saw the brahmin’s behaviour they were very pleased and thought of his welfare. Someone said - “What an amazing sudden (change) I saw!” Another one said: “I tell you how this happened – one brahmin pilgrim came to Mathura. Although He tried to conceal Himself He shone like the sun. I now realize that He was God in a human form – it is by His mercy only that this brahmin changed like this.”