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Titiksha - forbearance / tolerance (exemplified by Srila Haridas Thakur)
Part 2 of notes from the Lecture series by H. H. Radhanath Maharaj during the Pune Yatra 2002 at the Mafatlal Bungalows.
Submitted by Gopinath das.
Bhagwad-Gita (2.14)
matra-sparsas tu kaunteya
sitosna-sukha-duhkha-dah
agamapayino 'nityas
tams titiksasva bharata
TRANSLATION
O son of Kunti, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.
e.g. in New Vrindavan (West Virginia, US) there is so much cold in winters that the only source of warmth was near the stove in kitchen. But even there was 70% smoke & 30% fire as the wood was covered with ice. But the same fire would be the worst enemy in the hot summer there.
A critical part of being tolerant is forgiving.
Tolerant means whatever comes your way doesn't interfere the discharge of your service. The best example is of Srila Prabhupada. E.g. he traveled to the west on a cargo ship at the age of 70. During that long trip he suffered 3 heart attacks & also sea-sickness. Now for those who don't know what is sea-sickness, it is very difficult to even imagine sitting here. In old New Vrindavan days we saw one film showing the preaching activities in Hawaii & the devotee with a beautiful cruise sailing in the ocean. We all thought this is the best (attractive & luxurious) way to serve Srila Prabhupada. Finally once came the opportunity to be there on the cruise &
I was so excited. But as the cruise left the shore & after few hours it was terrible due to sea-sickness, so much so that could not even stay on the boat anymore. That was so terrible experience that we preferred to jump in the ocean (midst of the sharks there) but were saved by a rope from the
cruise. That was just in the age of thirties.
Srila Prabhupada traveled at the age of 70 on that cargo ship (Jaladoota). He still wrote the beautiful poem on board requesting Lord Krishna to manifest His plans for him & make him a puppet in His hands. He tolerated all the bad manners & threats by those hippies in the
Ghetos where he stayed. He tolerated all offenses for delivering us. e.g. once in a lecture one hippie under the influence of LSD shouted 'I am GOD', & Srila Prabhupada patiently replied, "please accept my
obeisances". That is tolerance, nothing distracted His mission to please His Spiritual Master.
Srila Haridas Thakur (close associate of Lord Chaitanya & the Acharya of the Holy Names) was born in Muslim family. But he used to chant 3,00,000 Holy Names of Krishna everyday. So he was being prosecuted by the muslims & even condemned by the cast brahmins.
The governor invited Haridas Thakur to meet him. On the way he saw the prisoners eagerly waiting with folded hands to see him & seek his blessings. But to their surprise he blessed them to be in the same condition as they are & upon their reaction he clarified, "may you always remain with folded hands in front of the Lord begging for His mercy". Upon enquiry by the governor Haridas laughed, "just see the power of the energy of The Lord. He has instilled this devotion to Krishna in my heart & I am helpless now. So now if you want to punish me, then treat me as if a brahmin would be treated if he was converted to be muslim".
The governor was happy on this reply & asked Haridas to preach from his (muslim) scriptures only. But Haridas replied, "even if you cut my body into innumerable pieces, from all the pieces I'll always keep chanting the Holy Names - Hare Krishna". The Kazi got him beaten up in 22 market places by ruthless prosecutors, still Haridas was just smiling & praying to the Lord, "please forgive them, as they don't know what they are doing". After all that the guards were tired of beating him up & expressed their fear that if they can't kill him then they will be killed. So out of compassion Haridas acted as if he was dead & lied breathless. So the Kazi ordered to throw his body in the river, as if buried he may go to heaven. So Haridas's body became heavier & was thrown into the river. Later by Krishna's mercy his body became most lighter & he came back to the banks.
As he came back, seeing this all the citizens including the kazi surrendered to him. That was Haridas Thakur, who accepted all the punishments just as the result of hearing blasphemy of the Lord & His devotees.
Haridas Thakur was tolerant & he had embodied the verse from Srimad Bhagwatam stating that the devotee of the Lord doesn't complain for the adversities in life & always thanks God for whatever comes his way. Lord Chaitanya revealed his greatness during the pastimes at the house of Srila Advaita Acharya. Lord declared that He was waiting with his Sudarsan Chakra to severe the heads of those prosecutors, but He was helpless because of the prayers of Haridas to forgive them. Then Lord also revealed how He had taken all those beatings on His own body & shown the marks on His back to all there.
If we want to be Vaishnavas, then we have to be tolerant & forgiving. It is stated in Srimad Bhagwatam 9th canto that of all the qualities of a brahmin, forgiveness is the principle. Even Jesus Christ exemplified this & He always forgave all the offenses. Tolerate all the difficulties & forgive others, else Krishna won't forgive us.
About 500 years back there was a king Raghvendra Ray in Bengal. His son was Chand Ray who became a defamed murderer & robber. His entertainment was to torture & murder people. He had very big army of more than 5000 horses & men involved in attacks, violence, rapes & all abominable acts. People even avoided to hear about him & he even surpassed Jagai/Madhai in the sinful activities. He was a devotee of Goddess Durga & used to offer her thousands of animals in sacrifice.
But later on he was possessed by a brahmin ghost who tortured him from within & without. He used to just keep rolling on the ground suffering miserably & no one could help him. The father out of compassion for the son tried all the possible options to relieve him from that condition & finally an astrologer suggested that he can be relieved only with the help of a great devotee named Narottamdas Thakur. So this king sent message to Narottamdas Thakur, but it never reached him.
Finally when the son was on the verge of death he cried for Goddess Durga & she appeared "I have never accepted any offerings from you & I am consort of Lord Shiva (the topmost Vaishnava). So the only hope for u is to take shelter of Lord Krishna. Only thru His devotee Narottamdas Thakur can you approach Him".
Narottamdas Thakur received the message & began to pray to Lord Chaitanya for His mercy & guidance. Lord appeared, "there is no problem for me to deliver anyone thru you, so kindly initiate him with the name Krishnadas".
So Narottamdas Thakur traveled there & reached near the body of Chand Ray. Seeing Narottamdas Thakur the ghost began to speak, "please deliver me from this most abominable body & let me take a birth in the village of Kheturi". So he was delivered & Chand Ray surrendered himself at the lotus feet of Narottamdas Thakur.
Narottamdas Thakur instructed him in the science of Krishna consciousness & initiated him to chant the Holy Names. So Chand Ray went with Narottamdas Thakur along with all his associates. Later Chand Ray came back with saintly qualities back to his kingdom & seeing this opportunity an envious king attacked him & arrested him to collect taxes from him. He even beat him up & imprisoned him underground till death. Seeing this helpless condition of the son father offered rewards to anyone who can rescue him from the prison. One mystic accepted the offer & thru his mystical tricks he reached the prison cell underground to Chand Ray. He told Chand Ray to go out from the mystical way chanting one particular mantra of Kali, Chand Ray replied in anger, "get out of here. My spiritual master has rescued me from this miserable world & you want to entangle me again. I deserve much more that what I am suffering now. just go & tell my father that my only anxiety is the separation from my spiritual master - Narottamdas Thakur."
Then Chand Ray was to be trampled under an elephant, but somehow he just opened his hands & pulled out the trunk of the elephant making the elephant dead. Seeing this the surprised king asked from where did he get this power & Chand Ray replied, "my spiritual master has saved me & it is only his powers to protect me in all these days without any food or water". Hearing this even that envious king also surrendered himself to Narottamdas Thakur.
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