The young girls who had just complained to mother Sachi, came running to the Ganga and told Nimai, “Oh Nimai, your father is very angry. He is coming here with a stick in his hand; he’ll give you a big beating. You better run away.”
Nimai told his friends, “When my father comes, you tell him that you are waiting for me here at the Ganges, and I haven’t yet come today to take bath. I am still in school.”
Then very intelligently, Nimai took another route and reached home. Sachi mata saw her darling son’s clothes with spots of ink and books in hand. There was not a slight hint that he had been to Ganga. It appeared he had just returned from school. His beautiful curly hair was completely dry; it seemed obvious that he hadn’t taken bath at Ganges. Still she probed, “Nimai, have you been to the Ganga?” Nimai replied, “no mother; I have just returned from school and I am now on my way to the river.” Sachi mata embraced her son and wondered how this is possible.
Meanwhile Jagannath Mishra, fuming with anger arrived at Ganges and looked all around and asked furiously, “Where is my son Vishwambhar? Where is he?”
The children immediately said, “Oh, we are waiting for him; he hasn’t come from school today.”
As Jagannath Mishra stood wondering what was happening, the brahmanas came up to him and said, “Actually your son was here. And he did do all the mischief. But we request you, please don’t be angry with him. We actually love it when he does all these mischief. It is our greatest joy to see his beautiful pastimes. We weren’t really complaining about him to you; we were simply joking.” They had earlier come to complain because they felt great ecstasy in glorifying the supreme lord’s pastimes. “Oh Jagannath Mishra, you are most blessed,” said the brahmanas, “Who can be more fortunate than you; you have beautiful Nimai as your son.”
Jagannath Mishra embraced the brahmanas with great happiness and peace in his heart, and said, “please give your blessings to my son. And if he misbehaves, please come and tell me.” The residents of nawadwip thus unanimously declared that Jagannath Mishra and Sachi mata were the most fortunate parents in this entire creation.
To be continued…
