*: * > * > *** * > * * > * * > > > > The Lord will not be Silent when the Bhakta is Insulted > > There was a bhakta in Bengal named Madhavadasa, who realised when his wife > died that he had lost his 'home', for his grihalakshmî had passed away. So > he gave all his riches to the poor, donned a robe and wandered alone as a > pilgrim to the > Jagganâtha<http://bababooks.org/chinnakatha1/ck5.html#jagganatha>shrine. > There he did such deep penance that the concrete image soon became > the abstract reality and the abstract reality became a perpetual vision. He > lost all sense of time and space, of cit and a-cit. Then the Lord, with > Subhadrâ, His sakthi aspect, moved towards him and placed before him the > gold plate used by the priests to keep food in front of Jagganâtha in the > sanctum sanctorum. When Madhavadasa awoke to his gross surroundings, he saw > the gold plate with the pile of delicious food upon it; he ate his fill and > returned to his inner paradise which he had left for a while. > > Jagganâtha, Subhadrâ, Balarâma > Sing along with: Jagganâtha Svâmi<http://vahini.org/audio-samen/jagannath.ram> > > Meanwhile, the plate was reported lost, assumed to be stolen, and > discovered by the seashore near Madhavadasa, who was promptly arrested and > led to the lockup by some very efficient policemen. He was beaten > mersilessly but did not seem to mind it a bit. The chief priest that night > had a dream in which Jagganâtha asked him not to bring food for the Lord > again into the shrine, for "You bring food for Me, and when I eat it, you > start beating Me!" Then the priest realised that it was the Lord's lîlâ to > demonstrate the devotion of Madhavadasa and teach others the real nature of > bhakti. > > Some scholars and pundits of Puri did not feel happy at this sudden rise to > fame of a stranger from Bengal; so they called Madhavadasa into their midst > and challenged him to an intellectual duel. Madhavadasa was not a pundit of > that type, he had learnt to S'âstras only as a staff to help him walk, as > a guide to action; not a stick to beat others with. So he accepted defeat > even before the bout began and signed a statement to that effect, which the > leading pundit was only too glad to accept because Madhavadasa had a > reputation for scholarship which was really frightening. The pundit hurried > to Kas'i with that token of victory; he waved it before a gathering of > scholars and demanded that they should all pay him homage as superior even > to Madhavadasa. > > But the Lord will not allow His Bhakta to be humiliated. When the signed > statement was opened and read, they were all amazed to find that it was a > statement declaring that it was Madhavadasa who had achieved victory and it > was the pundit who had signed underneath acknowledging his own defeat! The > Lord will not be silent when the bhakta is insulted or harmed. > * * > * * > * * > *** > * > * > *
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