The Beating

Strong deputies seized Haridasa and carried him into the streets. The beating began, and all saintly people were shocked. They begged for the release of Haridasa, who was still chanting sweetly the names of Krsna. From one marketplace to another they beat him, but the name of Krsna never left Haridasa's lips. One deputy would do the whipping until he was exhausted, and then another would take over until he also was exhausted. In this way the punishment continued until the twenty-second marketplace was reached. The deputies, in dismay, said, "Haridasa, you will be the death of us. We beat you until our arms are exhausted, and still you do not die. But what's worse, from time to time you even smile."

On hearing these frustrated statements, Haridasa simply replied, "If my presence on this earth is all that's troubling you, then I'll leave at once." Haridasa then fell into an ecstatic trance, immersed in love of Krsna. The deputies thought that he was dead, and they approached to dispose of his body. They thought that Haridasa should not be awarded a burial, so they decided to throw him in the river. Haridasa's body was thereupon thrown in the sacred Ganges, and soon he regained consciousness and found himself on shore. A crowd of saintly people surrounded him with chanting of the holy name, and Haridasa began to dance as everyone sang the holy name of Krsna.

It is worthwhile to note that all through the terrible beatings, Haridasa never showed signs of suffering pain. Only signs ecstatic love for Krsna manifested themselves on his face. Verse nine of Chapter Six of Bhagavad-gita says, "A person is still further advanced when he regards all-the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner, and those who are indifferent and impartial-with an equal mind." Haridasa never for a moment felt at all hostile toward those who had brought this seeming calamity upon him because he understood that everything happens by the will of God. The only feeling Haridasa had toward his punishers was compassion for them. He considered them to be deluded men with no knowledge of the real self.

The question may be raised that if Haridasa was such a great devotee of Krsna, why then did Krsna permit such a mishap? First of all, it may be replied, the pastimes of Haridasa are not to be considered part of this mortal world. It is stated in the Narada Pancaratra that by concentrating one's attention on the transcendental form of Krsna, who is all-pervading and beyond time and space, one becomes absorbed in thinking of Krsna and then attains the happy state of transcendental association with Him. Because of his constant remembrance of Krsna, Haridasa never had to go through the tribulations of this mundane existence. He was always completely absorbed in the transcendental atmosphere where material sufferings have no jurisdiction. In this material world, if a king sends his representative to an unfriendly state and that representative is insulted, the king receives the insult as malice against his own self. Likewise, when Krsna's pure devotee is affronted, this is blasphemy against the Supreme Lord Himself. It is understood that those wicked deputies who beat the body of Haridasa were beating the Supreme Lord Himself. Some days elapsed after the beating of Haridasa, and he met with the fortunate opportunity to gain association with the Supreme Lord Sri Krsna Caitanya. The Lord appeared before Haridasa and displayed on His beautiful person countless cuts and bruises. Haridasa became confused, so Lord Caitanya explained to him, "Because you are My pure devotee, I have accepted all of the pain of your whipping." Haridasa immediately fell on the ground mortified, but Lord Caitanya smiled very pleasingly.