Skip to content Skip to footer

Lord Chaitanya’s pastimes- The nourishment for the soul- Part 12

The mysterious pastimes of Nimai

Meanwhile, the family of Sachi Devi and Jagannath Mishra were beside
themselves in grief. They cried and feeling intense separation,
searched for the baby everywhere.

When the thieves began to remove the jewels, they realized they made a
major blunder; inadvertently they had arrived at Nimai’s house- the
very place from where they had picked up the child. They were fooled
by the Lord’s illusory energy. Realizing they would be caught, they
panicked and fled in fear. Just then, the family saw the child, and in
great joy, embraced Nimai and celebrated the reunion. They asked him
where he had been, and Nimai replied that he had got lost and the two
kind men had brought Him home. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Jagannath
Mishra and others brought expensive shawl and other gifts to offer to
the two gentlemen, but the thieves ran faster, and soon out of sight.
They thought they had a close shave and goddess Durga had saved their
lives. Nimai totally enjoyed this pastime. Unknowingly, the thieves
had rendered precious service to the Lord and brought Him immense
happiness.

Mystery and suspense also took place at the Jagannath Mishra
household. Once Nimai was asked to get a book by his father and he ran
in transcendental clumsiness to get the book. But to the surprise of
Sachi Devi and Jagannath Mishra, they heard the tinkling of ankle
bells. They looked at each other in wonder and Jagannath Mishra asked
his wife, “Where is this sound coming from? We never put ankle bells
on our Nimai.” Soon after, on another occasion, the parents of the
Supreme Lord were wonderstruck to see Krishna’s lotus footprints in
their house- elephant goad, lotus flower, thunderbolt- all thirty two
signs were visible. They again wondered aloud and after some prayerful
deliberation, Jagannath Mishra smiled. It was as if he had solved the
mystery. Turning to his chaste wife, he said, “I know what’s happening
in our house. Our family deity, Janardana is performing wonderful
pastimes daily. It’s His causeless mercy that we could see His lotus
footprints and hear His ankle bells.” Then Jagannath Mishra loudly
proclaimed, “Oh Sachi, go and prepare a big feast; let’s celebrate our
deity’s causeless mercy upon us.” Nimai smiled to see His parents’
devotion and analysis of the situation.

Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had invoked his ‘Yoga Maya’ potency- the
energy that keeps Lord and pure devotees in transcendental illusion,
so that the pastimes of the Lord remain sweet. It’s this Yoga Maya
that confuses devotees and allows the Lord to create mystery around
His pastimes.

To be continued…

Leave a comment

0.0/5