Bhakti Tattva – Part Nine

Lord Sriman Mahaprabhu, on His way to Vrindavana was followed by throngs in very large numbers; all of them undoubtedly were devotees. People saw the Lord at various destinations and became delirious with divine love. They could not bear to separate themselves from the Lord and new sets of people joined the sea of humanity as the Lord proceeded towards Vrindavana. Wherever the Lord placed His lotus feet , crowds would gather to collect foot dust and roads were dug deep wherever the feet of the Lord fell , thus the crowd gathered cart-loads of foot dust.

The Supreme Lord then arrived at a village called Ramkeli which is the border area of Bengal. An unlimited number of people from the village came to see the Lord performing sankirtanpartySankirtana dance at Ramkeli. The Muslim king came to know of the Lord’s arrival and was astonished to hear the glories of the Lord who had appeared in the guise of a saint. The Muslim king was intelligent enough to decipher that if such a saint could draw herds of people simply by His presence He must surely be a prophet or a personal envoy of the Lord. The Muslim king ordered the judiciary at Ramkeli that this prophet should not be disturbed and should be allowed to perform His activities unhindered. The Muslim king called for His secretary Keshava Chattri who was a pious man and a devotee; enquired with him about Sriman Mahaprabhu’s personality. Keshava Chattri had special regards for Sriman Mahaprabhu and hence tried to deter the attention of the Muslim king knowing well that Muslims could not be depended upon and that the king could have a change of mind any time which could hamper the Lord’s activities. Hence Keshava Chattri did not give special attention to the question raised and said that the matter was not of much importance. He informed the Muslim king that Sriman Mahaprabhu was just an ordinary mendicant touring different places of pilgrimage and that only few people came to visit Him. After pacifying the Muslim king thus, Keshava Chattri sent his attendant to the Lord and requested Him to kindly leave the place without delay so that the Lord’s activities may well be saved from disruption by the Muslim King. Sri Rupa Goswami was Dabira Khasa then and served at the court of the Muslim King. Since the Muslim king’s queries were not quenched he enquired about Sriman Mahaprabhu to Srila Rupa Goswami. Then Dabira Khasa (Srila Rupa Goswami) spoke about the glories of Sriman Mahaprabhu.

Sri Rupa Goswami said that Sriman Mahaprabhu is the Supreme personality of Godhead and that He was the one who has granted this kingdom to the Muslim king; having accepted Sriman Mahaprabhu as a prophet, the Muslim king was fortunate to have taken birth at a time when the Lord performed His leelas at Nabadwipa. Sri Rupa Goswami further informed the Muslim King that the king will have a successful business by the mercy of Sriman Mahaprabhu who is the Supreme Lord Himself. To get a direct proof about Sriman Mahaprabhu’s eternal position, Srila Rupa Goswami asked the Muslim King to pose a question to his own mind and whatever answer thus triggered in the heart of the Muslim King can be sufficiently accepted as evidence confirming the transcendental position of Sriman Mahaprabhu. The King in his pensive mood revealed to Sri Rupa Goswami that this mendicant was surely the Supreme Lord in the guise of a mendicant; about this he harboured no doubt. Srila Rupa Goswami applied divine principles to convince the Muslim King about the transcendental position of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Every living entity encases within its heart, the Paramatma, who is an onlooker of the activities of the living entity. Since the Muslim king was pious and listened to his heart where the Paramatma is active, Srila Rupa Goswami applied transcendental knowledge to convince the Muslim king about the truth of Sriman Mahaprabhu’s absolute position.

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