at Jagannatha Puri

On His return to Puri all the anxious devotees of the Lord got back their life and the Lord remained there with continued pastimes of His transcendental realisations. The most important incidence during that time was to grant audience to the king Prataprudra. King Prataprudra was a great devotee of the Lord and he considered himself as one of the servants of the Lord entrusted with service of sweeping the temple. This submissive attitude of the king was very much appreciated by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The king requested both Bhattacharya and Roy to arrange for his meeting with the Lord. When however He was so requested by the two stalwart devotees of the Lord, He flatly refused to keep the request even though the same was put forward through the good office of such personal associates like Ramananda Roy and Sarbabhouma Bhattacharya. The reason is that it is dangerous for a Sanyasi to be in intimate touch with worldly men of £. s. p. and that also with woman. The Lord was an ideal Sanyasi. No woman could approach the Lord even for offering respects. Women's seats were accomodated far away from the Lord. As an ideal teacher and Acharya He was very strict in the routine work of a Sanyasi. Apart from His part of Divine Incarnatoin, the Lord was an ideal character as a human being. His behaviour with respective persons were always above suspicion. In His dealing as Acharya He was harder than the thunderbolt and softer than the rose. One of His associate Junior Haridas committed a great mistake by lustful glancing over a young woman and the Lord as Supersoul, could detect this misgivings in the mind of Junior Haridas. He was at once chucked off from His association and was never accepted again even thoungh He was implored to excuse Haridas for the mistake. Junior Haridas afterwards committed suicide in frustration of being disassociated from the company of the Lord and the news of suicide was duly informed to the Lord. The Lord even up to that time was not forgetful of the offence and He said that Haridas had rightly met with the proper punishment. On the Principles of the order of life and discipline the Lord knew no compromise and therefore even though He knew that the king was a great devotee, He refused to see the king only for the reason of the king's becoming a £. s. man. By these examples the Lord wanted to emphasise on the point of behaviour by a transcendentalist. A transcendentalist has nothing to do with women and money and he (the transcendentalist) must always refrain from such intimate relations. The king was however favoured by the Lord by the expert arrangement of the devotees. This means that the beloved devotee of the Lord can favour a neophyte more liberally than the Lord. Pure devotees, therefore, never commit offence at the feet of another pure devotee. Offence at the lotus feet of the Lord is some times excused by the merciful Lord but offence at the feet of a devotee is very much dangerous for one who actually wants to make progress in the devotional service As long as the Lord remained at Puri thousands of His devotees used to come and see Him during the car-festival ceremony of Lord Jagannath. And during the car festival ceremony, the washing of the Gundicha temple under the direct supervision of the Lord, was an important function. The Lord's congregational Samkirtan movement at Puri was an unique exhibition for the mass of people and that is the way of turning the mass mind towards spiritual realisation. The Lord inaugurated this system of mass Samkirtan Movement and leaders of all countries may take advantage of this spiritual movement in order to keep the mass of people in pure state of peace and friendship with one another which is now the demand of the present human society all over the world.    (More...)