Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita

[April 2, 2024 is the appearance day of Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, in Vṛndāvana, India. The following is an excerpt of a bhāva anuvāda of the kathā given by Śrīla Bhakti Vijñāna Bhāratī Gosvāmī Mahārāja on September 5, 2009. Editors’ input: Additional text has been included in square brackets to facilitate the flow of content.]

RISING ABOVE DUALITY

Those who are not attached to the material world do not get disturbed. One night, while Mahāprabhu was dancing in kīrtana at Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita's house,

Śrīvāsa’s son died. But, he did not feel any sorrow. Instead, he just wanted to ensure that this would not disturb the dancing of the Lord. [So Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita warned his wife and other family members not to cause any commotion by crying aloud and requested the other devotees not to inform Mahāprabhu about the death of his son.]

Mahāprabhu perceived it in His heart, yet, to teach the people of this world from this incident, He said, “Today I am not feeling the same bliss in kīrtana. What has happened? Has any sad event taken place here?” [Śrīvāsa said, “What possible unhappiness could there be in that person's house where Your divinely blissful countenance is seen? My Lord, You are Yourself all auspicious. Where You are present, no sorrow can be found anywhere!”] Then the other devotees said, “Prabhu, Śrīvāsa's son has left his body.” Mahāprabhu asked, “Why did nobody inform Me?” They replied, “Since this news would have been an obstacle in your kīrtana, Paṇḍitajī forbade us from telling You.” Then Mahāprabhu became teary-eyed, [and said, “Śrīvāsa

has so much love for Me, he didn't even feel lamentation at the death of his son. How can I abandon his association?"] He thought, ‘I was planning to leave all My devotees and take sannyāsa. How can I do this now?’

Then Mahāprabhu went near Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita's son's body, touched it, and asked, “Why have you gone away and left Śrīvāsa’s house?” The boy then spoke, “Prabhu, this is an act of your providence. By great fortune, I was given birth in a devotee’s house, and I got a chance to hear kathā and kīrtana. But due to my destiny, I have to leave now; this is what has been sanctioned by You.” The boy was not at all sad, he was nonchalant; he just left.

When you travel in a train, you may have a great time [with co-passengers] in the train. But when their station comes, some of the co-passengers may get down. Do they cry? No. They know that they have to leave [even though they were enjoying your company]. So we also know that we have to leave [this world] sometime or the other; then what is the sorrow or fear in this? There should be no fear.