Nitai-dasa, may you as one of his devotees, tell us a pastime of Sri Nityananda? His love of Lord Balaram warms my heart
He Nitai! You don't realize how happy your question has made me. What can I say about Lord Nitai? I am so insignificant, so I can't even touch His glories. Still, I will try to tell you one of my favorite pastimes.
So, in the land of
Navadwipa,(where Lord Chaitanya was born) there were two brothers called
Jagai and
Madhai. Now these brothers were extremely sinful. They were womanizers and despite being Brahmins, ate Beef. They are always inebriated and in their drunken state they stole other's wealth and murdered and raped as they pleased. Even Lord Gauranga would not even look at them, and the Vaishnavs stayed far away from them out of fear. Now, one day, on Lord Chaitanya's order, Nitai was out and about. And by chance, His glance fell on these two brothers. See, that is the thing about Nitai; as soon as His glance falls on you, He immediately begins thinking of your deliverance. So seeing their pitiful state, Lord Nityananda felt very sorry for them. He though to Himself in His mind:
"My brother Gauranga has descended to deliver the fallen people of this age. Where will He find anyone more fallen than these two? The Lord has not yet revealed Himself to the ordinary people. Not seeing His uncommon influence, they are ridiculing Him. If the Lord bestows mercy on these two sinful drunkards, then the people of the entire world will see His transcendental glories.Being known as Nityananda the servant of Lord Gauranga will only have meaning if I can purify their hearts and deliver them. How wonderful it will be, if they become intoxicated chanting Krishna’s names the same way they are intoxicated at present. If I can make these two take the Lord’s name and cry, I will then consider all My travels to holy places a success. At present, whoever even touches the shadow of these two drunkards at once bathes in the Ganges with his clothes on. I will be extremely fortunate if I am able to get people to accept that simply seeing these drunkards is the same as bathing in the Ganges.”
So Lord Nityananda Prabhu's resolve was made! He and His friend, Haridas Thakur both approached the two drunken brothers and sang in their sweetest voice (Nitai's voice is described in scripture as
gambhira, very deep):
"bala krishna bhaja krishna laha krishna nama
krishna mata krishna pita krishna dhana prana
“
Chant Krishna, worship Krishna, and sing the glories of Krishna. Krishna is your mother, father, wealth, and life.”
Hearing the name of Krsna, the two brothers became enraged, they immediately started to chase Nitai and Haridas Thakur. However the two simply smiled at each other jokingly and ran away. . While running, Nityananda said to Haridasa, “O Vaishnava Haridasa, what do you think? If We survive today, it will be our good fortune.” Haridasa replied, “O Lord, what can I say? It’s all my fault that we’ll soon untimely lose our lives. This is the result of teaching drunkards about Krishna. We’ll soon get our just reward in the form of death.” Speaking like this, both Nityananda and Haridasa ran while smiling. Finally they arrived at the house of Lord Chaitanya. The Lord asked, “Who were those two strangers? What are their names? Being brahmanas, why are they acting like that?” By the way, Gangadasa and Shrivasa Pandita (both friends of the Lord ) were also sitting there. Both of them revealed all the sinful activities committed by these drunkards. They said, “O Lord, their names are Jagai and Madhai?". They’re the sons of a pious brahmana By bad association these two have become so degraded. They cannot live without wine for even a single day. The people of Nadia are most afraid of them. There is no house in Nadia where these two have not committed theft. There is no end to their sins. O Gosai, You must have seen them and known everything.”
Lord Gauranga said, “Yes, yes, I know them very well. If they come here, I’ll cut them both to pieces.”
Lord Nityananda said however, “You can do whatever You want, but as long as these two drunkards are around, I’m not going to preach. Why do You needlessly brag about Yourself? First, You make them chant the names of Govinda. By nature a pious person chants the holy names of Krishna. But these two drunkards don’t know anything except committing sin. If You can deliver these two persons by awarding them devotional service, then Your name as The deliverer of the fallen souls will have meaning. The way Your glories increased by delivering Me will be much more if You deliver these two fallen so"
So a few days later, Nityananda Prabhu was returning home in the evening. Suddenly the two brothers caught Him. Jagai and Madhai screamed, “Who is this? Who are You?” Nityananda Prabhu replied, “I’m going to Lord Gauranga’s house.” Drunk as usual, they asked Lord Nityananda, “What’s Your name?” Nityananda replied, “My name is Avadhuta.” Absorbed in childhood mood, Lord Nityananda thus started to talk with the two drunkards out of His sweet pastimes. He had already decided to deliver these two fallen souls. He thus purposely came to their place that night. Hearing the name Avadhuta, Madhai became extremely angry. He picked up his pitcher and hit Lord Nityananda on the head. As the pitcher hit Lord Nityananda’s head it cut Him and He started bleeding. However Nityananda Prabhu simply remembered Govinda. Seeing Lord Nityananda’s bleeding head, Jagai became compassionate. He forbade Madhai from hitting the Lord again. Jagai said, “Why did you do such a cruel thing? What will you gain by killing a beggar? Leave Him, leave Him. It’s no good to kill a sannyasi.”
People quickly went and told Lord Gauranga about this incident. The Lord instantly rushed to the spot along with His associates. Blood flew from Lord Nityananda’s head. He still simply smiled standing between the two sinners.Seeing blood on Nityananda Prabhu’s head, Lord Gauranga went into a trance and began to invoke His Sudarsana cakra. The Sudarsana cakra instantly appeared there and Jagai and Madhai personally saw it. All the devotees became totally perplexed. In the meantime, Lord Nityananda quickly began to persuade the Lord. He said, “O Lord, when Madhai tried to hit Me again, this Jagai actually saved Me. Just by chance blood came out. I’m not at all disturbed. O Lord, I beg You. Please give Me these two bodies in alms. Please be calm for I have no distress.”
As soon as Lord Gauranga heard that Jagai actually saved Nityananda Prabhu, He became pleased and embraced Jagai. The Lord said to Jagai, “May Krishna be merciful to you. You have purchased Me by saving Nityananda. Ask for any boon you so desire. From today you will achieve loving devotional service.” When the Vaishnavas heard the Lord’s benediction to Jagai, they jubilantly chanted, “All glories to Lord Hari!”
As soon as the Lord gave pure devotional service to Jagai, he at once fell senseless to the ground. The Lord said, “Jagai, please get up and look at Me. I have indeed awarded you love and devotion.” Then, Jagai saw the beautiful four-handed form of Lord Visvambhara, holding a conch, a disc, a club, and a lotus in His hands. Seeing this form of Lord Gauranga, Jagai again fell senseless to the ground. Shri Gauranga then placed His lotus feet on his chest. He obtained the wealth of the Lord’s lotus feet, which are the life and soul of Lakshmi. Jagai caught hold of those invaluable jewels on his chest. Holding the Lord’s lotus feet, Jagai began to cry. Such is the wonderful pastime of Shri Gauranga. Jagai and Madhai were one, but they had appeared in two different bodies. Their piety and sins were also one. As the Lord bestowed mercy on Jagai, Madhai’s heart became purified and changed. In a moment, he took hold of the Lord’s cloth and with folded hands he fell at Lord Gauranga’s lotus feet.
He appealed to the Lord, “O Lord, both Jagai and I committed sins together. Why then do You discriminate in giving Your mercy? Please be merciful to me and I’ll surely chant Your holy names. There’s no one else in the world who can save me.”
The Lord said, “I see no hope for your salvation. You dared to cut Nityananda’s body and make it bleed.”
Madhai replied, “O Lord, don’t say that. Why do You give up Your own merciful nature? When the demons shot arrows at You, why did You still give them Your lotus feet?”
The Lord said, “Your offense is much more grave, since you made Nityananda bleed. Actually, Nityananda is far greater than I am. I make this firm truth known to you.”
Madhai asked, “O Lord, if You’ve indeed told me the truth, then please tell me how I’ll be saved? You’re the crest jewel among doctors expert in curing all diseases. Therefore only if You cure me will my disease be cured. O Lord of the universe, please don’t cheat me. Now I know who You are. How can You hide Yourself now?” The Lord said, “You committed a grave offense at the feet of Nityananda. Now fall at His lotus feet and beg for pardon.”
Ordered by the Lord, Madhai at once caught hold of the invaluable wealth of Lord Nityananda’s lotus feet, which are well known to Revati. Visvambhara said to Nityananda Prabhu, “Listen, Nityananda. It is proper that, if someone falls at Your lotus feet, You should be merciful to him. Since he made You bleed, only You can forgive him. Now he has surrendered unto You.”
Nityananda replied, “O Lord, what can I say? You can bestow mercy to anyone, even to a tree. If I have any piety amassed from previous births, I am giving it all to Madhai. I’m telling You the truth. I don’t care for the offenses he’s done to Me. O Lord, please remove Your illusory energy and be merciful. This Madhai belongs to You.”
Visvambhara (Lord Chaitanya) said, “If You’ve indeed forgiven all his offenses, then please embrace him so his life will be successful.” Instructed by the Lord, Nityananda Prabhu tightly embraced Madhai. All his material bondage and mass of sins were destroyed. Nityananda Prabhu entered the body of Madhai and thus Madhai became fully equipped with the all the energies of the Lord. Thus, both Jagai and Madhai were delivered. They then offered prayers at the lotus feet of Shri Gauranga and Nityananda Prabhu.
This pastime is so beautiful to me. It shows us that if Lord Hari (Gauranga) is angry at us, then His devotee (Nitai) can protect us. That is the nature of the Vaishnavs, they simply want to deliver us. Lord Nityananda Prabhu, who is Ananta Sesha, was ready to take a beating simply to deliver Jagai Madhai. There is a saying in bengali
emona doyala ara nahi he, mar kheye prema de, (there is no-one is merciful as Nityananda, even after being beaten up, He is ready to give us Love). But Nitai does not care about that. No matter what our offenses are, He embraces us. There is really no qualification needed for His mercy. That is why Lord Nitai is my Lord, life after Life. I don't have the qualification to call anyone else my Lord, because I am so fallen.
And this is only one of His pastimes. In another pastime Lord Nityananda Prabhu breaks the Sannayasa stick of Lord Chaitanya into three pieces. (the meaning behind of this is very very confidential ahah). He likes to break all the rules, because He is
avadhuta (madman).
prabhu mora nityananda kevala ananda khanda, guna gaya Vrndavandasa!
