Namasthe- Qualities of Bhaagavatha

[Guest guest]

Dear all,

 

I attended a discourse by Poojya Poornimaji and she was talking about the qualities of Bhaagavathaas. I want to share with everybody one beautiful story she told about the tolerance or sahishnutha of a Bhaagavatha or a Bhagavad bhaktha.

 

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu defines the qualities of a Bhaagavatha by this sloka:

 

trinad api sunichena

tarorapi sahishnuna

amanina maanadena

kirtaniya: sada hari:

 

" One who continuously chants the holy name of the Lord will be very humble and will consider himself lower than a blade of grass; he will be more tolerant than a tree, he will be be ready to offer all respect to others instead of expecting respect from others. Or in other words a Bhaagavatha will have all the above qualities. "

 

While describing " tarorapi sahishnuna " , one should be more tolerant than a tree, Poornimaji told this story.

 

Ekanath Maharaj was a well known saint in Maharashtra. He belonged to the family of the great devotee Bhanudasji. Eknath Maharaj was very well respected for his knowledge and his exemplary qualities of a Bhaagavatha. He was the personification of tolerance and patience.

 

He had a disciple who got in to a bad company and started gambling with his friend. Even though he went for gambling, he was an ardent devotee of Ekanath Maharaj. Every evening where ever he was, or whatever he was doing, he would drop everything and would come for a darshan of Ekanath Maharaj.

 

One day, he and his friend were gambling and it was time for him to go to Ekanath Maharaj for darshan. (Just for the sake of telling the story let us name the disciple Ram and his friend Shyam). So Ram told Shyam that he would go, have darshan of His Guru, come back and continue the game. But Shyam was very upset about Ram leaving in the middle of the game. Then Ram explained that he would definitely come back after the darshan. But Shyam argued that it was not fair to do that and Ram was leaving becasue he was afraid whether his Guru would get angry. Then Ram told Shyam that His Guru was the personification of patience and tolerance and nobody ever can actually make him angry. So Shyam took it as a challenge and told Ram that he would make the saint angry and if he succeeded, Ram should stop going to Maharaj. Also if he failed to make him angry, then he would also become a disciple just like Ram. Both of them agreed. Ram went for the daily darshan and went home.

 

Next morning Shyam went to the river bank where Ekanath Maharaj was taking bath. He had filled his mouth with betel leaves and nuts chewed into a liquid and the moment Ekanath Maharaj finished his bath he spat that forcefully on his face and head. Maharaj did not even see who spat the chewed betel leaves and took a dip again to wash off the red liquid. He came out, dried himself and Shyam spat again another mouthful of chewed betel leaves on him more forcefully than before. Again saint took another dip and washed off the chewed liquid and this continued several, several times. Not even one time Maharaj looked at Shyam or asked him a word about why he was doing that, but each time he took another dip in the river to clean himself. Shyam was tired of chewing and spitting at Maharaj. His mouth became dry, tongue was burning and his jaws started paining by overuse. But Maharaj remained as calm as a mountain.

 

Then Shyam was convinced that he would never be able to make Ekanath Maharaj angry. So he fell at his feet and apologized for his inappropriate actions. Then he asked the saint why he did not get angry. Maharaj's answer was: " When you spat on me, only my body got dirty and it was so easy for me to take another dip and wash it off. But if I got angry at you, I would have dirtied my mind. Mind cannot be cleaned as easily as the body. I cannot wash with water. It takes a long time to wash off the dirt on the mind with naama samkeerthanam or any other good karma. "

 

Shyam immediately became a disciple of Ekanath Maharaj. It is well known that Ekanath Maharaj showed all the qualities Chaitanya Mahaprabhu specified and was a true Bhaagavatha.

 

Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

 

Regards and prayers

 

savitri