THE ALVARS

There were twelve Alvars who appeared in South India. Not all at the same
time, but over a period of several centuries. They established the
basis of the Krsna bhakti cult in the Kali-yuga. The appearance of such
great devotees in the Kali-yuga is predicted in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Srimad-Bhagavatam was spoken at the beginning of the Kali-yuga, and when
Krsna left this planet then he took with Him dharma. The Vedic dharma
at that point disappeared, or became invalid, and spiritual knowledge
was also obscured. But it says in the same verse that Lord Krsna left
the Srimad Bhagavatam for the people in Kali-yuga to get light out of.
Now still, the book Bhagavata was there but they also needed the person
Bhagavata, or one who lives the Srimad-Bhagavatam. In other words, they
needed the spiritual master. So in the initial stage of Kali-yuga, the
first few c enturies, these twelve Alvars appeared in South India, and
actually established the basis of what would later on become the four
Vaisnava sampradayas. The four sampradayas all had their origin in
South India, and the founders of these sampradayas each in their own way
drew, to a greater or lesser extent, from this tradition of the Alvars,
especially in the Laksmi sampradaya, but it is also there in our
sampradaya too, and in the others. The Radha Krsna cult is the further
development of the de votional tendency of loving God in close
fellowship and in the spirit and relation of a woman to her husband or
lover. This tendency is striking in the Prabandham of the Alvars.
Goda, the famous woman Alvar, is said to have been married to the Deity
Ranganath of the Sri Rangam temple. Tondaredipodi Alvar (Bhaktanghri
Renu in Sanskrit) expresses in his Tirup Palliyeducci (Paramatmar
Jagarana in Sanskrit) tat to serve and love God one's spiritual body is
the summom bonum of one's serv ice to God.
One of the Alvars was known as Bhaktisara. So he was living at Sri
Rangam, and he was living very very simply, like a babaji. So he would
sit at Sri Rangam. Around the temple are 7 walls, and between the
walls are some areas like streets where people would walk and live. So
Bhaktisara would sit in that street area, or in the courtyard of the
temple, and he would sit in the sun and sew his cloth. He wore old old
cloth, and he would sew it and maintain it until practically speaking
it was unwearable, and only then he would he go and find some new old
cloth. And because he was purposely kept himself impoverished, he used
to sew it with a broom-straw, this would be his needle. And on the end
of it he would tie a thread. Then he would take his old torn garment
and sew it. So he used to be seen often, sitting somewhere in the Sri
Rangam complex sewing his cloth. One day Lord Siva and Parvati were
flying over the sky just above the earth. By flying like this, their
shadow was cast upon the ground. So whe rever this shadow would fall,
naturally people became very enlivened in their material desires. But
when the shadow fell on Bhaktisara, they stopped and observed him.
Bhaktisara was sewing, and then he looked around and saw this shadow.

He could understand that this shadow is inspiring one to have material

desires. So thinking, "This is inauspicious," he moved out of the
shadow. Parvati turned to Lord Siva and said, "What is this? Everyone
else is so eager tha t we may give benediction, that they rejoi ce if
they catch sight of us or if our shadow falls on them. But this person
is moving out of the shadow. What does this mean?" Lord Siva replied,
"He is a great Visnu bhakta. We have no business with him. He doesn't
need anything from us." Parvati said, "No no no. Everyone wants
something from us. Everybody has material desires and wants them
fulfilled. Let us go down there." So they went down there, Parvati
and Siva, and they appea red before Bhaktisara, who was just sewing his
cloth. So then Pa rvati, who was standing behind Lord Siva said,
"Offer him heaven." Lord Siva said, "My dear devotee of the Lord, we
have come down before you to give you a benediction, so I am offering
you the svarga, the heavenly world. You may go there." Bhaktisara
didn't even look up, he just kept on sewing and ignored them. So then
Parvati said, "Offer him the post of Lord Brahma." Bhaktisara ignored
this also, and continued sewing his cloth. Parvati was becoming more
and more agitated, so she said, "Offer him a form just like yourself."
So Lord Siva said, "So will you take a form or a position just like
mine?" Then Bhaktisara looked up and said, "You've already got enough
trouble." He was referring to the fact that although he was the great
Lord Siva, he was still being pushed around by Parvati. So then
Parvati said, "He must ask something from us. So just tell him to ask
for a benediction." Lord Siva said, "All right, if you don't want any
of these things I am o ffering, then you pick something, because you
must take a benediction from us." So then Bhaktisara said, "Well, you
give me liberation from material existence." Lord Siva said, "That's
one thing I can't give." Lord Siva himself says mukti pradata sarvesam
visnu eva na samsaya. One who wants mukti has to approach Lord Visnu.
So he was caught in an embarrassing situation when Bhaktisara asked for
that, something he could not give. "I'm sorry, but this is something
that I cannot g ive." Bhaktisara said, "Then what is the use? What is
the use of you and your benedictions?" Lord Siva said, "You must take
something from us, because we have come to offer you a benediction."
"All right," Bhaktisara said. "While I sew, the thread is always
coming off the needle, because that is only a broomstraw. So you
please make some arrangement that this thread becomes attached to the
back of the straw so I can finish sewing my cloth." At this, Parvati
became enraged. "He's insulting you! You can give him the universe,
and he's asking for such a minuscule thing. This is an insult. You
must do something." So then Lord Siva opened his third eye, and a
tongue of flame came out towards Bhaktisara. Bhaktisara saw this
tongue of flame coming, so he pressed his foot to the ground, and from
where he pressed his foot an even greater flame came out, devoured that
flame from Lord Siva's eye, and started to pursue Lord Siva. Lord Siva
was running around Sri Rangam temple with this fire following him. SO
he went before the dei ty of Ranganath and prayed, "My dear Lord, I
have made a great mistake today by offending your devotee. Please help
me." So the Lord instantly conjured a Vaikuntha cloud, and this was

raining a kind of nectar. Because it was a Vaikuntha cloud, within a

very short time the whole area of Sri Rangam was totally flooded. In
this way the fire of Bhaktisara was extinguished, but the whole temple
was covered, like a big lake. Then suddenly Bhaktisara appeared on top
of the lake, like a cork. He was just sitting on top of the water
still sewing his clot h. Very quickly the water subsided. Lord Siva
appeared before Bhaktisara and blessed him. He gave him this name.
Bhakti means devotion, and sara means essence. So this name means,
"the essence of devotion." Lord Siva said, "Your attitude and devotion
to Lord Visnu is the essence of devotion, because even if Lord Siva
comes, you do not want anything from him, although all the materialists
are desiring." Another time there was a shuktihara, a magician flying
through the sky on hi s tiger. Bhaktisara wa s again sitting sewing
his cloth. And then when he flew over Bhaktisara, his tiger couldn't
stay in the sky, it fell to the ground. He came down to earth, and he
was wondering, "What is this? Why can't we fly here?" And then he saw
Bhaktisara, and he could understand, "Oh, it must be by the influence
of this saintly person that my magic is rendered is null and void."
The magician became pleased, because he could understand "He is very
very advanced. He is so pure that this kind of mystic jugglery I am
doing does not function in his presence." So being very pleased with
him, he wanted to reward him. He took from his shoulders a very very
expensive ornamental cloth that he was wearing. You can just imagine,
he's a wizard so he's got to be dressed really far out. It had gold
sewn into it and diamonds and rubies and emeralds all over it. So he
took it off, and he presented it to Bhaktisara, "You please accept
this." As soon as the c loth touched Bhaktisara's hand, it was
transformed into an old rag wit h holes, the type which Bhaktisara was
accustomed to wear. Something fit for Bhaktisara to wear. And then
Bhaktisara took his cloth that he had been wearing, and gave it to this
shuktihara, and as soon as the shuktihara took it, the cloth became
like molten diamonds, like a diamond jelly. It was very valuable, and
the shuktihara was very pleased to receive this.
The fourth Alvar was called Goda. She was an incarnation of Bhu-Laksmi.
One day when Visnucitta was doing his gardening, he heard the cry of a
baby from his tulasi garden. He went in there and under the tulasi
plant he found this baby. He took her and brought her to his home. Up
till now, Visnucitta was a naisthika brahmacari and a babaji. He had no
family life. And now there was this small baby, and it was a girl. So
he went around in the village and told the matajis, "Please come and
take care of this child." So they took care of the child. Since his
service was gardening and he was collecting many flowers, her service
was making flower garlands. She used to make a garland, give it to him,
and he would take it to the deity. One day when he came back to the
house, he arrived a little early. Usually the garland was ready and was
kept in a basket and take, but today he came ten minutes earlier. And
while coming, he just peeped in through the window to see what was
happening with the service, and he saw this young girl standing in front
of the mirror, and she was wearing the flower garland, and she was

smiling. So Visnucitta burst in the door. "What have you done?" he

yelled. "Great offence! This flower is for the enjoyment of Visnu, and
you are a jiva, a living entity. You should not take anything which is
not enjoyed by him firsthand, and this has made a great offence. Now
you have become disqualified to do this service any more. I won't take
these garlands f rom you." So then he ran out on to the street, and he
was begging so many other people, "It's time for darsana, and I have to
offer a flower garland. Can you make something?" So then all of them
sat together and made a nice flower garland and he took it, and went
into the temple. At the end of the puja he offered it to the deity but
it broke and fell off. Then he had to arrange for another garland to be
made. That also broke. One more was made and that broke too. Then he
gave up. H e laid down and he was crying, "What is happening? " So
then the deity came in his dream and told him, "I will only accept that
garland which has already been worn by your daughter, and other garlands
I will not accept." So he went to his daughter and said, "You please
make a flower garland, wear it and then give it to me." Then she said,
"But it is bhoga! I am not supposed to wear it." Visnucitta said, "I
am so confused. I don't know. I have established Visnu as the Supreme
Person, and n ow I don't know what this philosophy is." So then she
said, "I was only wearing it to see in the mirror how it will look on
the deity, because I am of the same height as the deity. I am making
this garland, it is thick in here, it is going thinner and thinner, and
then there are two lotus flowers at the end. So I wanted to see how it
would look on the Lord's body. That was what I was checking, but you
said I have done offence. What can I do?" Then he said, "This is even
higher philosophy. You please do like this, give it to me and I will
offer." This w as going on. And one day he called his daughter and
said, "I was taking bath in the well, and I overheard a neighbour say,
'This babaji has got a daughter from somewhere. She is already of age
and he is not thinking of her marriage.' So I have to get you married
to someone." So she said, "Don't mention human beings! They're ugly,
they're not beautiful people. Who will suit my beauty?" So then he
said, "I will describe to you some beautiful people." Then he gave a
description of diffe rent deities. When he wa s describing the beauty
of Ranganatha in Sri Rangam she said, "I would marry this person." So
then he said, "Look my dear child, I was just joking. You cannot marry
Him, He is a deity." So she said, "If I can give Him a flower garland,
what is the difficulty for me in marrying Him?" He said, "That is
because He is so merciful that somehow He is accepting your service,
because you were only checking that it was all right. But don't have
this dream. This is against our philosophy, so don't think like th is."
Then she said, "Well if I can't marry Him I won't marry anyone." So the
problem continued. And then one day the priests of the temple came to
Visnucitta and said, "We had an instruction in our dream that from Sri
Rangam the deity is sending His priest to carry your daughter from here,
and we are supposed to go, and you should also come because there is a
marriage and the muhurta is at such and such hour, on this day, in this
city... " And then Visnucitta said, "What happened to all of you? Now
you are having a dream that she is marrying the deity in Sri Rangam, and

she has been saying this already. Don't tell this to my daughter, she
is already confused. And go away from here." Then they said, "Well we
came here to give you the instruction from the Lord." And somehow he
drove them away. Then he saw there was a big procession coming from Sri
Rangam. Palanquins, camaras, umbrellas, and they were all asking, "Who
is Visnucitta? Where is he?" He went up and said, "I am Visnucitta."
They aske d hi m, "Where is your daughter? She should sit in this
palanquin, and you should come. Marriage is coming close." "Marriage?
With whom?" asked Visnucitta. "With Ranganath deity," the priests
answered. "Deity getting married? Who ever heard of that? You're all
priests, have you ever heard of that?" They said, "We know that
Ranganath is the Supreme Lord, and He is saying this, so who are we to
argue with Him, "You are a deity so You cannot get married." We cannot
do that. You only just e stablished Him as the Absolute Truth, so how
can you make argument with Him?" "All right then," Visnucitta said. So
Goda was brought to Sri Rangam. On the way she dreamed the marriage,
and she was composing these poems which describe the marriage, and
when
she was singing these songs Visnucitta was getting more and more
confused. "She's seeing everything, how the marriage of the Lord will
happen." Finally when they arrived they went three times around the
compound wall of the temple, and as they entered she got down from the
palanquin, shook her cloth and cleaned herself. And they told her, "You
go pay obeisances to the Lord." So she walked to pay obeisances, and
she kept on walking. So then Visnucitta started screaming, "Wait! Stop
there! You have to pay obeisances there! No closer!" She kept on
walking, and again he said, "Stop!" but still she kept going.
Visnucitta was half-fainting. Then she went inside. There was the
coils of the snake on whic h the Lord was sleeping. She stepped on it,
and Visnucitta fa inted. Someone was trying to wake him up, and when he
woke up again he saw that she had climbed on the snake coil, and was
sitting on the snake. She had her hands on the feet of Visnu, and she
was giving massage. He fainted again. The next time he woke up there
was no Goda. She had gone back to Godhead.
Kalidvamsa, or Nila, was one of the Alvars. His story is particularly
relevant to us, because his background was very, very fallen before he
became a devotee of the Lord. How he became a devotee is also very
interesting. Kalidvamsa means "destroyer of the influence of Kali." He
was known by this name after he became a devotee. But previously he was
known as Nila which referred to his very dark complexion. He was fifth
class, mleccha. He was of the Dravidan race, a South Indian race which
can be extremely black-skinned and such persons who are very black are
considered to be low-class. But he was also of very strong body, very
tall and very muscular. He had learned in his youth all the arts of
fighting. Sword, spear, wrestling, boxing, he was extremely formidable.
And he gat hered around him a crew of particularly dangerous persons,
who became like his gang. In those days, at the beginning of the
Kali-yuga, mystical powers were a lot more prominent. One of his mates
had the ability to hide in his own shadow. Another one had the ability

to pick any kind of lock or defensive mechanism, and he could do this

very quickly. He had the ability to understand, just by looking, how
the mechanism worked, and by a few deft movements of the hand it would
come apart. And he c ould enter that place, steal whatever he wanted,
and upon leaving he could reassemble the lock so that no-one would know
that someone had been there. The third friend had the ability to
silently kill anyone. By secret means, very silently, he could take a
person's life. So these were Nila's friends. They formed a very
fearsome crew, and people were very afraid of them. The king of that
region decided that the best policy with Nila was to employ him. So
they engaged him as being t he tax-collector for that distric t, and he
was very effective. No-one dared hold back when Nila and his boys came
to collect taxes for the government. Now, just outside that village
where Nila was staying, there was one bathing tank, one pond and this
was a place that was very beautiful, very special. So special that from
time to time damsels from heaven would come down and also bathe there.
So one day one young girl, who had come down with some other ladies from
the heavenl y planets, she was left there. One doctor from the village
wh o was walking by saw this very beautiful young girl. He could
immediately understand, due to her exquisitely beautiful features, that
she wasn't from the region, and he asked, "Who are you?" And she
answered," I don't know." Apparently she had suffered some kind of
amnesia, and couldn't return to the heavenly planets. So the doctor
asked the little girl to come with him, and he took her home, and
introduced her to his wife, who was automatically very much taken by the
little girl. She said, "Let us rai se her as our daughter." So they
kept her at home, and since she was a young lady, she did not go out of
the house. If she wanted to go outside, she would just go up to the
roof. That was the system in those days, because unmarried girls should
not mix with society. So one day she was up on the roof, and Nila
happened to come down the street, in front of the house, on his way
somewhere. One point about Nila was that he was very much engaged in
sense gratification, a very rowdy fellow, a boozer and a wo man hunter.
He was carousing around on the street below, and when he happened to
look up he saw this very beautiful girl. Immediately he was smitten
with love for her, and he knocked on the door of the doctor's house.
The doctor appeared at the door of the house and saw Nila standing
there. "Oh," he said, "what can I do for you?" Nila replied, "I have
just seen your beautiful daughter, and I want to ask her to be my wife."
The doctor said, "W ell it's not really in my power to give her to you
as wife." Normally it's the father turning over the daughter to the
would-be husband, but the doctor said, "It's not really up to me,
because actually she's not my daughter. It appears to me that she's
come from heaven. But you could ask her yourself if she would like to
become your wife." So he brought the girl down. Her name was Kemuda,
which means, "lotus." Nila proposed to her, "Let me take you as wife."
He began to describe some of his qualifications to the girl. "You see
this fist? This fist can punch and kill 500 people at once." Like this
he was praising himself, and she was giggling shyly to herself, and she
said, "I'm not interested in such things. If you want to marry me, you

have to become a Vaisnava." Because Nila was so much taken by the girl,
he said, "Yes yes, no problem. I will become a Vaisnava." He had no
idea of what a Vaisnava was, he had no idea what the word meant, but he
just knew vaguely that a Vaisnava had something to do with the temple.
He had never gone to the big temple tha t was in that area, he had never
had any interest in it, but he'd heard this word Vaisnava used in
connection with the temple. Declaring he would immediately become a
Vaisnava, he ran off in the direction of the temple. He came in, and
told the priest, the head Brahmin, "I want to become a Vaisnava." The
Brahmin said, "Ok, so you know that a Vaisnava is completely surrendered
to Lord Visnu." "Yes yes yes," Nila said. "You know that a Vaisnava is
only engaged in s ervice to Visnu and other Vaisnavas?" " Yeah yeah, no
problem," Nila replied. "Well all right," said the Brahmin. "You're
sure you want to be a Vaisnava?" "Of course," Nila said. So then the
priest took the garland from the deity and placed it around Nila's neck,
and Nila came back very proudly to the doctor's house, and showed Kemuda
that he wearing the garland from the deity. "Now I am a Vaisnava," he
said. But she said, "It is not enough just to officially be a Vaisnava.
You hav e to act like one. If you want to marry me, then for one y ear
you have to feed 1000 Vaisnavas every day, wash their feet, and drink
the water." "All right," he said. So then he went and got his mates.
"Got a job for you," he said. "Oh great! What is it?" they said,
rubbing their hands in anticipation. And then he explained, "Each day
for the next year I want you to go out and fetch 1000 Vaisnavas, bring
them here, and then we'll feed them. Then you should wash their feet
and bring the water to me so I can drink it." His mates looked at him
and said, "Are y ou feeling all right." Nila said, "Well look, if you
don't get into this right now then you're not going to be feeling all
right." So then, just as they were accustomed to do any other job, they
did this job in the same fashion. They went running out onto the street
armed with many weapons, and whenever they saw a Vaisnava they would
immediately grab him by the scruff of his neck, and herd him into Nila's
place, shouting, "Come on, let's go! Move it!" And these Vaisnavas
would be sayin g, "What's happen ing?" "Now sit down there in a line,"
Nila's boys would say. And then they would come with the pots and slap
the prasadam down in front of them. "Eat!" The Vaisnavas would
nervously take prasadam. "Eat more!" They would make sure all the
Vaisnavas were filled up. And then they would come with foot washing
paraphernalia. "Stick out your foot!" And then they would bring a big
barrel of caranamrta to Nila, and he would scull it like a tankard.
Pour it down his throat, wipe his mouth with the back of his hand and
throw the barrel. So gradually by performing this service he began to
transform. Actually, saintly qualities began to manifest in his person.
And furthermore, he became very attached to this service to the
Vaisnavas. In the end he did marry Kemuda, but that was no longer his
motivation for doing the service, he just liked to do it. He found it
very sweet and enlivening. He became so enthusiastic fo making
arrangements for feeding 10 00 Vaisnavas every day. You can just
imagine his service was naturally increasing. The feast was becoming
more and more opulent, the foot bathing ceremony became more and more

opulent. In this way he was liberally spending money, until eventually

he was out of cash, and he still hadn't completed his years service. In
any case, he had no intention to stop after a year now. He just wanted
to go on and on. So what to do, he had no more money with which to
arrange for the feasts. But he had recently gathered together tax
revenue to give to the king, and that w as still at his place, a huge
sum of money. So he just started to spend that and continued on with
his service. Now, meanwhile the king was expecting the tax money to be
brought to his treasury house and it wasn't coming. So he was asking
his ministers, "What's going on? Why hasn't Nila brought the money?"
And then one minister said, "Well we have heard that this Nila is daily
putting on huge feasts for the Vaisnavas, and it's becoming quite an
opulent affair. M aybe that's where the money's going." T he king was
flabbergasted. "What?" And he immediately called for his
commander-in-chief (senapati) the great general of his army, and with
some soldiers, the commander-in-chief went to Nila's village to
investigate and if necessary arrest Nila, and recover whatever tax money
had not yet been wasted. So the commander-in-chief came and challenged
Nila, announcing the purpose of his arrival. "I have come to
investigate your doings," and he started to become very official with
him. So one thing led to anot her, and there was a big fight, in which
Nila soundly trounced the commander-in-chief and his soldiers. Because
he was now, so to speak, a saintly person, he did not kill them but he
gave them a severe beating. And he told the commander-in-chief as he
was running off, "You can tell your king to come here personally if he
likes, and I'll pay him the same tax as I paid you.!" So the
commander-in-chief reported this to the king, and the king very angrily
amassed his whole army and marched on that village. Nila met them in
battle, and defeated the whole army. At the end of the battle Nila was
standing on the king's chest, and the king was laying out on the
battlefield. Nila was on his chest looking down at him saying, "That
tax money I took, that was a loan, right?" And the king said, "Right!"
But the king's ministers were there, his Brahmins, and they began to
address Nila. "Certainly you are very powerful. you can defeat the
king and his whole army. But that doesn't make what you are doing right.
Yo u have taken funds that were meant for the king's use, and the king's
property is sacred. It is not to be violated by anyone for any purpose.
So because you have done this you have broken the law and you must be
punished." So when the Brahmins were speaking to him in that way,
because he had become purified he surrendered to them. "OK, if I have
done wrong then I must be punished. What sort of punishment should I
receive?" The Brahmins said, "You should go in the jail." Nila
submitted. Although b y f orce of arms he could not be captured, simply
by logical argument and sastric evidence he surrendered. So he entered
the prison of the king, but there of course he could no longer perform
his service, so he became very, very unhappy and he prayed to Lord
Visnu, "I just want to serve you. I don't see how I can do it here in
jail." So Visnu appeared to him and told him, "You meet with the king
and get him to transport you to Kancipuram, and at the direction of
Varadaraja you will find treasure, and this tr easure will be so much

that you will be able to pay the king what you owe him, and use the rest
for your service." So then Nila spoke to the king, he got the king's
audience and explained the situation. The king sent him under guard to
Kancipuram, and somehow the deity guided him to a particular spot and
when he dug he found a great mass of treasure. So he brought that back
to the king and offered to give what he owed him, but the king was so
amazed that Lor d Visnu Himself had shown Nila where the treasu re was,
that he said, "Who am I to stand in your way? If Lord Visnu is talking
to you directly, then you must be a great soul." And then he let him
go. So then Nila embarked on a new scheme. "There are so many rich
vaisyas," he was saying to his mates, "They've got so much money. I see
them transporting their goods here and there in caravans. And actually
it's their duty to give donations to the service of the Vaisnavas, but
they are not doing this. And here we are, we're having to worry about
how to fund our project of serving the devotees, and these vaisyas are
just going here and there, using their wealth as the they like, so let
us get it fro m th em. We will stop these caravans on lonely stretches
of highway in the forest. We'll be nice, we'll ask them first of all if
they would like to give a donation, but if they don't then we'll simply
take everything." So they began this new scheme, and of course attached
vaisyas never give donations willingly, so they always ended up having
to tie them up and plunder the caravan, strip everything, and that they
were utilizing as their wealth for serving the vaisnavas. So one night
they we re going to plunder , and down the road came a very big caravan
f 30 bullock carts, and at the head of the caravan was a very wonderful
looking young merchant, and also his wife who was very beautiful, and
they were dressed in all kinds of opulent finery, jewellery and crowns.
The bullock carts were also being driven by servants who were equally
opulent and wonderful in their appearance. So Nila stepped out on the
road and stopped the whole procession, and he saw the opulence fo the
merchant and h is wife and their caravan, a nd he remarked, "Well my
dear sir, you look to be very very wealthy." And the merchant smiled
and said, "Yes, actually all wealth is mine." So Nila kind of laughed
and turned to his mates, "Ha ha ha. We've really got a live tonight.!
Well if all wealth is yours then you won't mind parting with some of
it." And the merchant smiled and said, "Yes, but my wealth is only
engaged in Vaisnava-seva." So then they said, "Well that's very nice
because I am a vaisnav a. So I'm sure you'll be happy to give me y our
wealth." The merchant smiled again and said` "Well, I won't give you."
"So you want to fight?" Nila asked. "No, you just take, said the
merchant. "You are free to take, but I am not going to give." "All
right," said Nila, "Let's go." So they tied them all up, as they
normally did, and they stripped the bullock carts, and not only that but
they also took all the finery from the merchant and his wife and their
servants, all the jewe ls, everything. And the wife's foot, on her toe,
there was on ring with a valuable gem in it. So Nila was trying to
personally pull this ring off her toe, but it wouldn't come off.
Finally he had to kneel down and bite the ring, to change it's shape a
little bit so it would slip off. And while he was doing that, his
consciousness was flooding with all sorts of wonderful ecstatic

realizations. But he was so much absorbed and determined to get this

ring off that he really didn't take much note of it. And then he
finally pulled the ring off, and all the wealth was piled together, and
he and his men were going to carry it off, but they couldn't lift it.
It was so heavy. So then he turned to the merchant and said, "I think
you must have some mantra by which you move your wealth about, because
obviously it is somehow charmed that it cannot be moved." And then the
merchant said, "Yes, there is a secret mantra." ""You'd better tell
me," Nila demanded. "All right, just come close," the merchant said.
So then he whis pered in Nila's ear, "Om namo narayanayah." And when
Nila heard this mantra he realized that this merchant and His wife were
none other that Laksmi and Narayana, and he saw them in their original
forms. So then he fell down at Their lotus feet, but because he was so
furiously engaged in his devotional service, Nila quickly sprang up and
said, "All right, look, we've gotta go. We'll see you tomorrow, OK"
And then They said, "All right, you come here tomorrow. We can talk
further." So then Nila ran off with the wealth, and continued with his
service. Th e nex t day he came back to that place in the forest, and
Laksmi and Narayana were there, and he worshipped Them. They were very
pleased with him for his service to the Vaisnavas, but he declared to
Them, "I'm always having trouble getting money to do this service,
therefore I'm always having to plunder merchants, and I don't know where
all this is going to lead. So do you have any suggestion where I can
get wealth from?" And Lord Narayana said, "Well actually, there are so
many Buddha templ es around, and Budd ha is My avatar, but He only came
to preach to the atheists. However, these Buddha temples have become
quite opulent. So I don't mind if you plunder these Buddhist temples."
Nila was very happy. "Well actually I was thinking the same thing
myself. But if I get Your permission, then that's wonderful." "Yes,
you have my permission," the Lord said. So then, when his wealth again
ran out, then Nila and his monks went one night to a huge Buddhist
monastery where 10,00 monks were living. And in that templ e there was
a huge reclining Buddha made out of solid gold. His men were using
their various mystic powers to get them into the temple. Nila was
standing guard just outside the temple door, and his men were in there
at work, trying to dislodge the deity and bring it out. So, while
doing this they set off an alarm, and then the Buddhists came tumbling
out of their beds and rushing into the temple courtyard. They were all
armed, and all very exp ert at martial arts. So what ensued next was
like something from a kung-fu movie. All these Buddhist monks were
jumping at Nila, and he was kicking them back and fighting them off.
And he was calling into the temple, "Hey hurry up! Are you done in
there?" But meanwhile his men were having difficulty, because they
found that the murti was charmed, so as soon as they touched it to
remove it, it started to spin, faster and faster like a helicopter
propeller, from the middle point, and a huge heavy golden idol spinning
like that, they couldn't get cl ose to it. So then they were calling
out to Nila, "We can't take this because it's spinning. It's charmed."
So then Nila, while he was fighting off these men, he called out, "Well,
just pass urine!" So they passed urine in there, and this broke the

spell. The murti stopped, and they could shoulder it. They were
obviously very strong persons, and they ran out with it. Nila was
fighting with the Buddhists, and then they went running through the
night with the Buddhists pursuing them. Nila and his men went to Sri R
angam, a great Visnu temple. There is a great wall around it like a
fortress, and they closed the door so the Buddhists couldn't enter. The
Buddhists then went to the king and complained. The king was again in a
difficult situation having to deal with Nila, so he called Nila in and
said, "Nila, we have a little problem here. These Buddhists have
accused you of stealing their murti. I'm the king here, I have to keep
everyone happy. So I'd really appreciate it if you could return this
murti." Some of t he Buddhist leaders were also standing there, looking
at Nila rather intensely. So Nila said, "Don't worry, don't worry. In
two weeks I'll return this murti to you, not less than a finger."
Everyone was happy. "All right, we can wait two weeks." So then two
weeks came, and the Buddhists gathered at the meeting place where Nila
was to return the murti, but when they arrived they saw only Nila and
his men there, and no murti. They became a little nervous. "Well,
where's our Buddha?" Nila reached into his pocket and pulled out a
finger, a golden finger. "Here it is," he said, "not less than a
finger." The Buddhists became very angry, and there was a big fight.
Nila defeated them and forced them to become Vaisnavas, forcibly
converted them. And what he had done with that golden murti is that he
had melted it down and used it t o cover the dome above Lord Ranganatha.
Nowadays you can go to Sri Rangaksetra, and if you talk to the right
people you can go up to a look-out place on top of the temple and see
this very ornate solid gold dome, very huge. This was melted down from
the Buddha murti by Nila. In this way Nila became a very prominent
Vaisnava of his time, and by force of arms if necessary he drove out the
influence of Kali-yuga in his area. Everyone had to become a Vaisnava,
he converted everyone. As he used to collect taxes, so wherever he
would go everyone wo uld become a Vaisnav a immediately. And when there
was a festival at Sri Rangaksetra, they would take the deity in
procession, and Nila would march in front of the deity with his sword
out, he would be looking from left to right at everyone. And when he
was asked, "What are you doing? You look so fearsome with your sword
out, looking so scrutinizingly at everyone's face," and his answer would
be, "Yes. Any offender I see will be chopped." So it was a rather
intense mood in those fe stivals. He was the enforcer of Vaisnavadharma. In spite of the influence of Kali-yuga which is so powerful to
sweep away all proper religious principles, this devotee Nila, in South
India, by the force of his devotion as well as the force of his strong
arms and use of weapons, he instituted Vaisnavism. By pleasing the
Vaisnavas, he got the darsana of Laksmi-Narayana. Actually this pastime
when he was plundering their caravan, and in particular taking the ring
from the lotus t oe of Laksmi, this is actually where the Laksmi
sampradaya started. Ramanuja later established the Laksmi sampradaya
with siddhanta, Vedantic conclusions, but the devotional line actually
starts here with Nila taking the ring from Laksmi's toe.

There is one incident which happened in Benares about 300 years ago.
There was one Brahmin who used to go take bath in Manikarnika-ghat, a
very nice bathing place. So one day when he was taking bath he saw a
young boy sitting on the steps crying. He felt very compassionate and
he went and took the young boy on his lap and asked, "You look so
beautiful, a nice attractive young boy. Why are you crying like this?"
"You look at my back," the boy replied. So when the Brahmin lifted up
the young boy's shirt and looked at his back, he saw so many cuts and
blood was running. The man was very angry, and he asked, "Who did this
to you?" The boy said, "I will show you. Come with me." The man was
all wet, he was halfway through taking bath, but he caught hold of the
boy's hand, and the boy was pulling him. They went through the streets
and into the village of Benares, through small alleys and lanes, and
they came in front of one small house. The boy said, "The man who
lives in here, he' s the one who did it to me." And as the man looked,
he realized that it was his own house. When he looked back, the boy
had gone. So the Brahmin went inside his house, sat down and began to
cry. So his wife came and asked him, "What happened to you? Why are
you crying? You are all wet." And he said, "I saw this beautiful boy,
he was so attractive, but he had cuts all over his back. And he said
that someone from this house did it to him. I don't know who did this.
Why did he sa y it was someone from this house?" His wife said,
"Tomorrow you go to the same place and maybe he will come again. This
could be some god, some Devata." So the next day he went, and he saw
that the same boy was there, and he was still crying. He went to him
and said, "My dear child, you said that the person who did this came
from my house? What did you mean?" The boy replied, "You look in your
Bhagavad-gita and you will find out." And while saying that he
disappeared. So the man retu rned to his house, took out his
Bhagavad-gita and began to s tudy it. He had been learning
Bhagavad-gita a few months before, and he had thought some verses were
important, and he was thinking that this place was connected with
another place, so he was making markings on the Bhagavad-gita. And
while making the markings sometimes he would underline something. So
then he went to his guru. He told the whole story, and then asked his
teacher to explain what was happening. His guru told him, "My dear
student, how many times have I told y ou that this Bhagavad-gita is
Krsna Himself. It is His own energy. So why are you cutting and
drawing and doing all this on the Bhagavad-gita verses? In this way
you have offended the Lord, and that is why He is teaching you this
lesson." The Brahmin said, "Oh, I am feeling very bad. I will never
do this again." and he begged for forgiveness. The next day when he
came to take bath he saw that the boy was again sitting there, but he
was smiling. He came to the bo y and fell at His feet, saying, "Oh, I
am very sorry I have done this . Although You are a small boy, you
have taught me a great lesson." So then the boy got up and said, "Yes,
I am a very small boy, but you must know that I spoke Bhagavad-gita,
and that Gita is mine." And then the boy disappeared. Soon the man
left his study and everything, and according to the people's conception
he became a madman. He was always calling, "Krsna!" and running here

and there, and in this way he ended his life. Nobody knew what
happened to him. The house is still there. You can still see that
house, and the book is still there, and you can see the markings too.
In South-west India in the state known as Kerala, there is a famous
Vaisnava temple situated near the sea-coast. This Guru-vayur temple is
very ancient. It was founded by Lord Parasurama. There was one Brahmin
living there, but he was not a Vaisnava. He was tantric, he had mystic
powers. But he was a good man, he used those powers for helping others.
He was also known as a great poet. So one day a relative came to him
with a very terrible disease, and although he had been practically
everywhere, no-o ne could give him help to cure this disease. The
Bhattahari tried to treat the disease in every way he knew, but nothing
worked. So finally out of compassion, because he was a good man, he
took the disease upon himself, he transferred it. This much he could
do. So in this way the relative was cured, but now he had the problem.
And he was thinking, "By having this disease in myself I'll definitely
be forced to deal with it and I'll arrive at some kind of cure." But
whatever he tried wo uld not work, so he was getting himself into
serious difficulty. He then went to one wise man, a great sage, and
implored him, "I have this disease. I have exhausted all means
available to my knowledge how to cure it. So what can I do?" This wise
man replied with a mysterious answer, which the Bhattahari did not
understand. He said, "Start to enjoy from fish." The Bhattahari went
away perplexed, and he was sitting at home thinking, "What does this
mean, start to enjoy from fish?" So one of his friends came to visit.
"Have you been to see this wise man?" He asked. "Yes, have seen him,"
the Bhattahari replied. "Well, what did he say?" "He said, 'start to
enjoy from fish.' I don't know what this means. If this means that I
should eat fish, that I will not do, because I am a Brahmin." His
friend thought about it and said, "No, I don't think he means that. I
think he means that you should start to enjoy Krsna's pastimes, starting
with Matsya, th e fish incarnation." So the Bhattahari was thinking,
"Yes, this must be the meaning, but I am not a Vaisnava. I have no
taste for this. How will I do this?" In that state of mind he took
rest, and the Lord of Guru-vayur, the deity who is four-handed, appeared
to him in a dream and told him, "I want you to write a nice poetic
composition of 100 verse, and in these 100 verses you describe and
glorify these 10 avatars." So he awoke from that dream feeling very
happy and ecstatic. The Lord was personally giving him direction on how
to 'start to enjoy from fi sh,' and his dou bts were cleared away. So
then he began his composition, but because he did not have training as a
devotee, he was still perplexed. He was referring to Srimad-Bhagavatam,
but still perplexity would sometimes arise in his mind. So he would go
before the deity in the temple and pray, "My dear Lord, I want to put in
my poem exactly how You were moving when You were fighting with the
demon Hiranyakasipu in Your Nrsimha form, and I cannot pick this up from
reading S rimad-Bhagavatam, so how can I describe this ?" The deity
then revealed that form to his eyes only, and the Lord was moving in
such a way. The Brahmin was describing as he was seeing. He also

wanted to know about Krsna's breaking the pot and stealing the butter
and yoghurt of the older gopis. "With what were You breaking the pots?"
the Bhattahari inquired. "Was it Your flute, or something else?" So
then the Lord showed Himself as Krsna holding a butter-churning rod.
"With this I was breakin g the pot." So he put that all in his poem,
all these specialized details. So the poem, which was called
"Narayaniyam", was very beautiful, and he recited this poem after he
finished it before the deity in the temple. The result of this
recitation was that his disease immediately disappeared. And not only
that, but the poem was so pleasing that the temple Brahmins immediately
requested, "You please recite this poem daily, at the first darsana."
So they gave him a place to sit, a special asana, and he would recite
there every morning. As a matter of fact, the poem was so much
appreciated that every morning before going to see the deity, the people
would gather in that place before his asana and listen to the
recitation. It became the custom that you could not go to see the deity
unless you heard this poem glorifying the pastimes of the Lord. Then
only could one appreciate seeing the form of the Lord. This was the
idea. And at that time in the area of Kerala, there were three kings.
Kerala was divided into three kingdoms, and the Guru-vayur Mandir was th
e beloved Mandir of all three kings. So they would come together to
have darsana in the morning and they would also be there to hear the
Narayaniyam from the Bhattahari. In this way he became very important,
very much respected as a Vaisnava, and an authority on Krsna-lila.
Unfortunately he also became a little bit proud by this attention that
everyone was paying. There was one farmer named Pundaram, a simple
farmer, but he was also a great devotee of the Lord. So he wrote one
book in glorification of the deity of the Guru-vayur Mandir, and this
book was called, in the Malayan language, "A Pot of Knowledge." He was
thinking after he wrote that book, "Let this glorification of the Lord
of Guru-vayur also become well-known. But since I am a simple farmer,
not recognized by anyone as a great scholar, if the Bhattahari himself
would write an int roduction to my book then it would be accepted." So
thinking like that, Pundaram came to the Bhattahari, and very humbly he
respectfully approached the Bhattahari. "I very much appreciate your
Narayaniyam, you have very rightly become respected by everyone for you
glorification of the Lord. Now I have also written one book, so will
you please read it? And could you please just write some small
introduction?" So the Bhattahari, thinking himself most important,
said, "What language hav e you written this book in?" because he noticed
that Pundaram was addressing him in Malayan, which is simply the local
dialect of Kerala. But in those days, any kind of learned, literary
work would only be written in Sanskrit. All over India that was the
standard. Sanskrit was the language of literature, and educated persons
would speak in Sanskrit, whereas farmers and simple people would speak
in local dialects. This farmer Pundaram was speaking to Bhattahari in
Malayan, so he wanted to know, "What language have you written this book
in?" A nd the farmer replied, "In Malayan." "I won't read any book
written in this language. You write it in Sanskrit if you want me to
read it. What are you asking?" Pundaram was crushed. He was thinking,

"I am lucky to know Malayan, let alone Sanskrit. This much I can
write," and he went away feeling very disheartened. "How will I ever
get this book rendered into Sanskrit? It won't be possible. No-one
will know it." So the next morning the Bhattahari was seated on his
asana, and the crowd was there, the kings were there. He was just ready
to let fly with his Narayaniyam, when one young brahmacari came in
through the entrance of the temple. The brahmacari just walked around
the crowd of exalted personalities, without even looking at the
Bhattahari. He walked right up to the deity at the front of the temple,
paid his obeisances and then stood there and took darsana. He then
turned around and again wa lked past the c rowd towards the entrance to
make his way out. The Bhattahari was watching the whole thing, and then
as he saw that the brahmacari was just going to walk right out, he said,
"Come here young man!" The people all insisted that the young man come,
so he came and stood before the Bhattahari. The Bhattahari was giving
him advice. "My dear young man," he said. "You are simply a young
brahmacari student. You should show respect for your elders, especially
those who have knowledge to give, and yet I see that you are just coming
in this temple, you are walking around such exalted personalities as
even the three Kerala kings, and you're going straight up to take
darsana of the deity, which none of these personalities will do without
hearing me recite my poem. So what kind of behaviour is this?" The
brahmacari then said, "If I want to know about the pastimes of the Lord,
I just go see Him, because He is displaying them eternally. Why should
I hear your mista ke-ridden poetry?" The Bhattahari was shocked! "How
can you say my poetry is mistake-ridden? Everyone here, there are
exalted Brahmins, there are learned court panditas, there are the kings
themselves here, and they're all praising my poetry as being the very
cream of all poems. And you're saying it's filled with mistakes! You,
little fellow? Not even come out of the Gurukula yet! So I imagine you
are also competent to correct these mistakes, isn't it?" And the
brahmacari said, "Y es." "At least in this way, you will give my poetry
a hearing. So I wi ll recite now. You listen, and if you find some
mistake, you can say. Hm!" So the brahmacari said, "Yes, all right."
The Bhattahari began. He recited the first verse, and everyone was
completely silent. He was just ready to go on to the second verse when
the brahmacari spoke up. He pointed out five faults in the first verse,
and actually they were valid criticisms. Somehow or other no-one had
noticed these five faults in the first verse, but he pointed them out
with such profound conclusive grammati cal analysis that no-one could
argue. "Well yes, actually he's right. Why didn't we see that?" So
the Bhattahari cleared his throat and then he began to recite the second
verse. He was just about to go on to the third, but the brahmacari
pointed out ten faults in the second verse. Everyone was starting to
look at each other doubtfully. The Bhattahari was becoming nervous,
but he gritted his teeth and recited the third verse in which the boy
pointed out fifteen f aults. The fourth verse he pointed out twenty,
the fifth verse twenty-five, and the Bhattahari did not try to recite
the sixth verse. He stopped there. The crowd was milling around and
talking to each other. "What is this? Every morning we're listening to

this poem, but it's so filled with mistakes. How can we be so foolish?"
Then they just went to see the deity, and the Bhattahari was just left
there. The brahmacari just walked off. As the Bhattahari was sitting
there, he wa s stunned. "What has happened?" And then he felt the
disease coming back. Then he was really disturbed. "What is happening
now?" And then he went before the deity, and he was praying very
earnestly, "My dear Lord, how is this possible? My poem was praised by
everyone, and now one young boy has found faults. And this disease has
come back. What does all this mean?" So then the deity spoke to him.
"Whose poem did you say that was?" The Bhattahari answered, "I guess I
said it was my poem." "This is your problem," said the Lord. "First of
all, I told you to w rite that poem, and secondly even when you could
not do that, I had to show you Myself what to put in that poem. So if I
also come personally in the form of a young brahmacari and criticize My
own poem, is there any harm in that?" The Bhattahari then realized who
the brahmacari was, and he felt very ashamed. "Yes, my Lord. If You
want to criticize Your own poem, Your own poem, You can do that. It's a
fact." "Only I can criticize My own composition," the Lord said.
"No-one else can do that." But the Bhattahari was still confused. "But
now this disease has come back. What is the cause of this?" The deity
replied, "Because you are an offender against Vaisnavas, My servants."
"Who is that?" the Bhattahari asked. "The farmer Pundaram. You have
dealt with him most arrogantly." The Bhattahari immediately felt very
sorry, and the deity told him, "You go, and bring him to the temple and
have him read h is composition before Me. Just as you are doing every
morning, you have him do this. You arrange this." So the Bhattahari
ran like a flash, found Pundaram and fell at his feet. Pundaram was
very surprised. "The Bhattahari is falling at my feet? What is this?"
"Please you come," said the Bhattahari. "Bring your book, and recite it
for the deity." So Pundaram was very happy. They came to the temple,
and Pundaram was going to recite when the other Brahmins, who were also
arrogant, th e pujaris who take care of the deity, they interfered.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. We can't have some farmer coming in here
and just spouting something off in the presence if the deity." The
Bhattahari said, "But the Lord Himself has told me that this must be."
"Well," said the Brahmins, "we won't argue with that, we know you. But
this person, what is his qualification? He must be trained. He cannot
just start spewing forth something. We must see that he is capable of
reciting nicely ." So then they decided to teach him the re citation of
Visnu-sahasra-nama. This they were reciting daily for the deity, this
was the standard glorification for the deity in that temple. So they
say him down and began the recitation, and they were having him recite
along. They reached the word "Padmanabhamaram". Padmanabha means
"lotus navel." And amaram means "deathless". So in other words the
eternal form of the Lord who has a lotus-like navel is being praised by
this particular nam e. But when Pundaram pronounced that name, he
muddled it tog ether. "Padmanamomaram." So by pronouncing it like
that, other meanings come out, but not the ones that are traditionally
accepted. The Brahmins immediately stopped the whole thing. "What are
you saying? Padmanamomaram! This is improper pronunciation. Do you

know what this means? You are saying that the Lord is the Lord of the
dead, that He's the Lord of the trees or of the mortal human beings.
This is offensive! He is the Lord of Vaikuntha, He has nothing to do
with the ignorant be ings of this wo rld. This is very degrading to
describe Krsna like this." In this way they were chastising him.
Suddenly the deity spoke aloud, and everyone stopped. "If I am not the
Lord of the dead, If I am not the Lord of the trees, If I am not the
Lord of the mortal human beings, then who is?" The Brahmins had nothing
to say. So to this day, when you visit the Guru-vayur Mandir, the
Brahmins are still reciting Visnu-sahasra-nama. But when they come to
that name, they pronounce it as Pundaram pronounced it, because that
pleased the deity. This is an irregular pronunciation, but they also
say "Padmanamomaram", and they all look at the deity just to see that He
is satisfied before they go on. So this Guru-vayur murti, and also Sri
Rangam, they came later on to those places, although they were
worshipped from the beginning of creation by Lord Brahma. Lord Rama
gave Bibishana the deity of Lord Ranganath, and he was taking it to Sri
Lanka to install it there. This was after Ravana had been killed. But
the deity, when it reached that place now known as Trishi where Sri
Rangam temple now is, it wouldn't go any further. They had to set the
deity down and they coul dn't lift Him, so they had to bu ild a temple
right there. And similarly, this land known as Kerala, the sea coast
land where Guru-vayur Mandir is situated was all land that was recovered
from the ocean by Parasurama, after He killed all the ksatriyas. He
wanted to go to a peaceful place, and He wanted to give some land where
the Brahmins could live and settle nicely without disturbance. So He
stood at the edge of the land, and He threw His axe Parasu across the
ocean, and as far as the axe went before it dropped into the ocean, this
wh ole region known as Kerala rose up. He established this deity, and
He brought Brahmins from other regions. Actually it is said that He
brought the Brahmins from Bengal. Kerala is also a very great Vaisnava
place. Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited these Visnu temples.
Once there was a devotee called Vipra Narayana. This incident happened
190 years after the beginning of Kali-yuga. He was a gardener at Sri
Rangam, and he was totally absorbed in gathering flowers and tulasi,
making garlands for the deity. He was so absorbed that his mind was
fixed on seeing flowers and tulasi plants; he wouldn't see anything
else. Scientists say there are some living entities who, while looking
for food, tune out everything else apart from the particular thing that
they feed. Similarl y Vipra Narayana had this quality. When he was out
in the garden looking for tulasi manjaris or flowers, that was all he
could see. If there was a snake between one flower bush and another
flower bush, he would simply go from one bush to the next, look at the
snake and say, "No flowers." He was only interested in flowers. He was
flowerive, not fruitive. In that garden one day, there came a very
beautiful prostitute named Devadevi, and her older sister. This
Devadevi was so expert in displaying feminine charms that even kings
were waiting in line to see her with their crowns in their hands. That
was the rule she made, that when kings came they should have no crowns

on their head. She was so much in demand, and of course she was very
proud of her beauty and feminine qualities. She was very expert in all
the arts of singing and dancing and entertaining men. She was most
highly developed in all these things. And of course, she was confident
that she was the most beautiful woman in creation, and very proud of her
ability to charm men. Devadevi and her older sister were coming to meet
the king. And on the way they came through this Sri Rangam island, and
they saw this beautiful island which was made by Vipra Narayana. They
wanted to take some rest in there. Vipra Narayana came by, picking
flowers and tulasi as usual. He was looking through the bushes
selecting, and as he was going through the bushes he came right up to
Devadevi. He looked at her for an instant, but it didn't register in
his consciousness. The y were standing there with full ornaments and
everything on, and when Vipra Narayana saw them he simply said, "No
flowers." And then he just walked one and began to pick flowers from
another bush. Devadevi was somewhat offended by this. "Who is this
man? What does he mean by saying 'no flowers?' He is blind. He has no
consciousness." Her sister, who was a little bit older and wiser, said,
"No no, he is Krsna Conscious. That is why he doesn't look at you.
This is Vipra Naraya na. He is a great devotee, and we have no bus
iness with him. Don't get involved with him." But Devadevi said, "No,
no. I don't care. He may be devotee, he may be whatever, but I tell
you I will make him my slave in nine days." Her sister was shocked that
Devadevi would even think of pursuing such a saintly person, and she
said, "Well, if you want to finish your existence, then you can do it.
But it will be a great offence." Devadevi said, "You wait and see. On
the ninth day fr om now, he will be at my feet. Instead of chanting the
name of Rang anath, he will chant my name. And instead of crying for
Ranganath, he will cry for me. And instead of plucking flowers he will
be plucking his sikha." The other girl left the place, not wanting to
hear these atrocities. So then Devadevi went up to Vipra Narayana, and
she began to manifest all different symptoms and postures of feminine
attraction. But this had no effect on Vipra Narayana at all. Again, it
was like he just didn't see her or perceive her. She was trying
everything in the b ook, all the glances, all the different smiles and
poses, but it just didn't register in his consciousness.. "This is a
real challenge," she thought, and just became more enthusiastic. So she
went away and dressed herself to look like a vairagini, a woman who has
renounced the world for spiritual life. She tied her hair, and put on
very simple cloth, kanthimala, tilaka and all the symptoms of a
vaisnava. And then she came back to the garden with a vina. She also
learned that Vipra N arayana had written some songs in praise of Lord
Ranganath, so she learned these songs as she was very expert in singing.
So she sat in the garden playing the vina, and she was singing Vipra
Narayana's songs to Lord Ranganath. And also because of being very
expert in all the feminine arts she was also crying. She could make
herself cry and her voice was quivering in emotion. It was a very
attractive presentation. So this Vipra Narayana couldn't help noticing,
because he was a dev otee. When he heard her singing his songs and when
he looked and saw her displaying symptoms of intense ecstasy and

devotion to the Lord, he became inclined to speak with her. He went

over and said, "You are obviously a very nice devotee of the Lord. What
are you doing here?" And she said, "Oh, my position is very
unfortunate. You see, I am born in a family of prostitutes." In those
days even the prostitution was a family business, just like everything
else in varnasrama, handed down in the family. "I am born in a family
of prostitutes, and in nine da ys I will have reached the age where my
mother will engage me in prostitution. But I have no interest in this.
I want to become Lord Ranganatha's devotee. So I am heartbroken that in
nine days my mother is going to come and make me into a prostitute.
This is such a horrible fate. I have come here just to take shelter of
the devotees, maybe I will get the Lord's mercy somehow or other." So
Vipra Narayana said, "Yes, all right. I don't see that there's any
problem, you ca n stay here. You are a very nice singer, so go on
singing these songs in praise of Lord Ranganatha. When you're not
singing you can make some garlands. You can stay here as long as you
like." She was very happy, and in this way they were associating. Then
one day, by the arrangement of the Lord, there was an intense downpour,
and she was just sitting in the garden singing. She used to just sing
all day. This was her service, and once in a while she used to make
garlands. When it star ted to rain, she just stayed in the garden and
kep t singing. Vipra Narayana was sitting in his small kutir, out of
the rain, but he began to feel guilty because there was this young girl
sitting out in the rain still singing, and this moved his heart. "Such
a great devotee is she that even in the downpour she continues to sing.
She is a woman, she is outside in the rain. What am I doing in my
asrama?" So then, feeling guilty, he came out and invited her, "You
please go into my little hut and I will remain outside." She went
inside the hut and ke pt s inging, and he was listening. And then
suddenly she stopped singing. Vipra Narayana was wondering, "What is
happening now?" And next moment she was crying. He thought, "Maybe
there is a snake there! There may be some danger, so I will have to
go." So he went in the little hut. He found her and she was crying,
weeping, unhappy, putting on a good show. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"In just a couple of days," she said, "mother's going to come and take
me away. She's found out that I'm here. Oh, my lot is so unfortunate,
I don't know what's going to happen." And then she began to cry again.
This is the way a woman cracks a man's heart. Vipra Narayana was
feeling very sorry for her, and then she was starting to shiver and
sneeze to make out that she had caught a cold in the rain, and he was
feeling even more sorry for her. So then he gave her a change of
clothing, she was wearing his own clothes. And then, after that, she
started to turn it on. "Lo ok at our situation," she said. "Now we're
together in your house, and I'm even wearing your clothes. We're so
close, we've become so intimate in our last few days together, that you
might as well take me as your wife. And if you do that, then my mother
can't take me away." Vipra Narayana thought a while, and then said,
"Well, yes all right. As far as I'm concerned, you're a very nice
devotee and I like to be with you, and if this will stop you from crying
and feeling unhappy then we can get married." So then they got married,

and then in those few days she just completely roped him down, took over
his heart with all of her charms, and then on the ninth day she left and
returned to her mother's place to continue on being a prostitute. When
Vipra Narayana found out that Devadevi had left, he went mad. He had
become her slave. He was beside himself with all kinds of grief, and he
was running around trying to find out where she lived, as he wanted to
see her. Now in the meantime, Lord Ranganatha seeing the condition of
his devo tee and knowing that if Vip ra Narayana goes to Devadevi that
she's simply going to reject him, and then who knows what will happen.
There were five pots in front of Lord Ranganatha for the worship. He
took one pot from the middle, a gold pot, and he took the form of a
Brahmin and went t Devadevi's house. He said, "Vipra Narayana has sent
me. My name is Sundaraja." Sundaraja means, "King of beauty." "This
is his payment, so please accept him, and do him some service." So when
Devadevi's moth er saw this gold pot, her mouth opene d. And then some
time later Vipra Narayana arrived. "Is Devadevi here?" he asked. "Who
are you?" the mother asked. "She's my wife," Vipra Narayana said, and
then the mother invited him into the house. "Please come in and sit
down. Yes, we received your gold pot." Then she went to get Devadevi.
"There's a man, one of your customers here to see you, Vipra Narayana."
"That guy?" said Devadevi. "He's just a sadhu. I only stayed with him
to break h is renunciation, otherwise I have no interest in him." The
mother got on her case. "What do you mean? He sent over this golden
pot. The guy's loaded! Get out there and take care of him." So she
went out, and just because her mother wanted her to, she was putting on
a whole act. "Oh, you're here! Oh well I..." and he was happy. Now in
the meantime the priests found out that one of the pots was missing, and
a big alarm was raised at Sri Rangam temple. The king was brought into
the myster y, and the king sent out his men, and just like nowadays when
the police go out to investigate a crime, they always go to a certain
section of town where the criminal types dwell, and that's also the
place where the prostitutes are. They were doing a house to house
search there, and when they came to Devadevi's house, they saw the pot.
"How did you get this pot?" And then Devadevi, because she just wanted
to get rid of Vipra Narayana, said, "Oh, he stole it. This so-called
sadhu was enjoying with me, and to pay me off he stole this pot from the
deity and sent it o ver here. So you can see the character of this man
who you think is so saintly." So in this way she was really trying to
get him in trouble, but Vipra Narayana was so respected that when they
took him to see the king, the king didn't believe it. Although the
evidence was strong, they had found Vipra Narayana in the house (a very
embarrassing situation) and the pot of the deity was there, the king
didn't believe that Vipra Narayana stole it. So the king went before
Lord Ranganatha and prayed. And Ranganath confirmed, "No, it wasn't
Vipra Narayana. It was me. I sent the gold pot to the house of the
prostitute, because my devotee was indebted to her, so I thought I'd pay
off the debt and get him out of trouble. So if you want to punish
someone, you punish me. But you can't punish me, because it is my pot."
When all this was revealed to the king, he had a long talk with Vipra
Narayana and explained the real situation, what had been going on and

what this woman had been doing to him. And then he banished th is
prostitute Devadevi from his kingdom. However, somehow or other by this
whole situation she had become reformed in her consciousness. As soon
as the cat was out of the bag and everything was exposed, then she
suddenly had a complete change of heart. She thought, "Well if I'm
going to be banished, then I might as well really take up the life of a
renunciate devotee." So then she made her obeisances to Vipra Narayana,
he gave her some inst ructions and then she went and never returned. So
this is a sto ry that Srila Prabhupada mentions to illustrate that a
great devotee may have some accidental fall-down, but he should not be
criticized, because as Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita that such a sadhu
remains engaged in his devotional service, and he will very soon be
rectified. So we should know that things sometimes do happen, but not
jump on it and wag out tongues, trying to create a big scandal, because
that will be sadhu-ninda, and will be detrimental to our spiritual life.
There was one king who was so sinful that his body became black. He
didn't know what to do. So he asked his pandita, "What should I do? I
have become black. I don't llok good any more." "It is because you are
so sinful," the pandita said. "You have committed so many sins." The
king said, "Yes, but there must be some puja or something that will make
my problem go." The pandita said, "You worship Krsna, depend upon Krsna
and pray to Him, and you will become all right." The king said, "That I
am doing , but could you do somthing else so that I can quickly get rid
of this problem?" The pandita said, "Yes, we can do it no problem. You
make a golden form of male and female, and I will do a yajna for 18
days. And then I will transform the sinful reactions to those golden
forms. You should then invite a brahmana to take charity, and if you
cna find a brahamana who will take the charity, then he will suffer from
the sinful reactions and you will become pure. Because you are the
administrator of t he land, and you are ruler of the country, , so I can
do this especially for you." The king said, "Yes yes, please do it."
So they made these golden forms and yajna went on for 18 days. And when
he was doing his purnahoti then he took a teaspoon and touched the
king's body, and he touched the golden form with the teaspoon it became
black. All the sinful reactions went in there. So then the king got up
and said, "I will give half of my kingdom to any brahmana who will
accept the chari ty." And immediately all th e brahmanas got up and
left that place, because they saw in fromt of them that the gold had
become black, so who wants to take that? If golden colour becomes tar
black, then who will take that charity? This was not Kali-yuga so in
those days the brahmanas were still good. In Kali-yuga they will take
any charity. Then the king said, "Now what? The sinful reactions are
in the golden forms but nobody will take it." The pandita said, "We
will wait for one or t wo days. Somebody will take it." The news we nt
around the whole city. Then one brahmana came from another country.
"What will I do with your country? You are the king, and you are
supposed to protect your citizens. Because you are in a responsible
position, I will help you out and take it. I don't want anything from

you." So theh he received the charity, and thet king poured water on
his hand and gave it to him. As soon as he touched those, two figures
came out of the golden forms, one male and one female, and they looked
so ugly. They had cu ts all over their bodies, and they looked like
ghosts. Then they began to chase this brahmana. The brahmana was
running, and the king was following behind the whole scene on his horse
just to see what was happening. So as soon as the brahmana came to a
small lake, he just jumped in and stood waist-deep,. and he began to
chant something. The king was watching, and he saw that from the
syllables that were pronounced in his mouth, four-handed Visnu murtis
came out. Not one or two, bu t they just kept comin g with conch, club,
disc, and lotus and they filled up the whole area. They were guarding
the lake. And when the ghosts came, some of the Visnu-dutas looked at
them and they immediately got burnt. And then the Visnu-dutas
disappeared. So when the man came out, the king went and touched his
feet. He said, "I won't tell anyone. You please give me this secret
mantra that produces these four-handed forms." But the brahmana said,
"I don't know what that mantra is." "You don't know?" the king said.
"No," replied the brahmana, "because when I went to the gurukula, I was
so stupid that my gurukula principal kicked me out. He said, 'You are
not fit to be in the gurukula.' I didn't know what to do at all, so in
this way I was just wandering and wandering. One day I came to a tree,
and there was a scholar there. This scholar said, 'Why are you wasting
your life like this? Why don't you learn a verse?' So I said, 'I don't
have a brain. I have no masala, so how can I learn verses?' He said,
'At leas t lear n half a verse.' But I said, 'I can't, Swamiji. I have
no intelligence.' 'Don't worry,' he said, "I will teach you half a
verse. I will see that a fool will learn a verse from me so my
education is good. So you sit here and I will forcibly make you learn
this verse. Chant like this, like that, say like this..' He taught me
like this, and I memorised half a verse. He then told me, 'You go on
chanting this only. You don't need anything else.' So I kept on
chanting, chanting, chanting . And one day w hile I was chanting, I
found that there was a four-handed figure in front of me. I thought,
'This is Bhagavan,' so I said, 'Oh Visnu, you have come so quickly.'
And he said, 'Oh no, I am a Visnu-duta.' I asked him, 'Where did you
come from?' 'From the syllables of the verse you were chanting.' I
said, 'You came from the syllables?' He said, 'Yes. If you look now,
more are coming.' So I looked and I saw that these people are coming
out, and I was so excit ed. So then I looked at them and asked, 'What
should I do? Now that I have this siddhi, what should I do?' They
answered, 'Use it for the welfare of people. Don't commercialize it.'
'Yes yes, I shall use it for the welfare of people. And I will go and
teach everyone.' In this way I have been traveling around, and whenever
I saw anyone in difficulty I chanted this verse and then the Visnu-dutas
came and solved all the problems." The king then asked, "What is that
verse? Can you please teach it to me?" The brahmana replied, "Yes, I
can teach you. Sit here, and exactly as I have learnt I will teach you.
I was a fool and I learnt. You are intelligent, so why should there be
any difficulty for you to learn? So here is the verse: Man-mana bhava

mad-bhakto mad-yaji mam namaskuru." "You don't know the whole verse?"
the king asked. "No, that is the only part I know." So the king said,
"If half a verse of Gita is so good that it c an remove all my sinful
reactions, what will happen if I learn the whole Bhagavad-gita?" So he
came back to his country, and when he got back he called his son and
brought him to the throne. "Now sit in this chair," he told his son.
The boy sat on the throne, and the king took his crown and put it on the
boy's head. "Bye bye," he said. "I'm going to learn Bhagavad-gita."
So he went somewhere and found a Vaisnava and said, "Please teach me
Bhagavad-gita." "For what?" the guru asked. "Because half a v erse of
Gita can produce Visnu-dutas and solve people's problems. If I know the
whole Bhagavad-gita, I want to know what would happen." So then the
guru told him, "If you learn the whole Bhagavad-gita and it's purport,
then there will be no problem at all. You will go to Vaikuntha. You
will reach Krsna's place." So in this way the king learnt
Bhagavad-gita. MORAL: These Bhagavad-gita verses are very powerful.
If one knows the meaning, th at is more poweful. If one knows the
conclusion, it is even mo re powerful. And if one knows the goal of
that conclusion, which is devotional service, Bhakti, then how much more
powerful is that?
There is the history of a devotee, I think his name was Govinda dasa, a
disciple of a great acarya who was living at Tirupati, Tirumala.
Ramanujacarya went to see him and for one year he learbnt Ramayana froim
that acarya. One of his disciples was this very unusual disciple. He
would always do things that all the other devotees would criticize.
Whenever he made the bed of the guru, he would laydown on the bed first.
In the shatsra it is said that one should never lie on the bed of the
guru. So the oth ers would criticize him, "What kind of a disciple is
he, lying on his guru's bed?" Ramanuja heard about this and in a
huhmble way he went and asked, "Prabhu, people are saying you are lying
on the bed of the guru. I saw this myself. I just wondered. You know
that it says in sastra you could go to hell fior ly9ing on the bed of
the guru. Coul;d you explain to me why you are doig that?" And he
said, "I want to give a nice soft bed to my guru. It should be of
proper firmness. How can I know it is prope r unless I try it out? If
I go to hell, and my guiru is comfortable, I do not miund going to hell
but let my guru be comfortable. That is my concern." Ramanuja was
surprised. "Oh! This is another level! He was not lying on the bed
for his own enjoyment, but he was thinking how the guru would be
comfortable." Oncwe he found that the same devotee putting his finger
into a snake's mouth. The snake was turning and making so many
contortions and seemed to be suffering. So Ramanuja wondered why he
was
torturing the snake. Later he asked, "You were putting your finger in
the mouth of that cobra. Looked like you were causing suffering, what
was the purpose?" He always asked as a questiuon. He did not chastise,
he just asked. The devotee said, {"Oh, that poor snake swallowed some
fruit, that stuck i n the throat. It was choking, so I put my finger in
to take out the fruit and clear the throat of the snake. I could not

stand to see the poor animal's suffering." /Then Ramanuja said, "Why
did you risk yuou life? It could have bitten you!" He said, "I could
not stand to see it suffering."
There was a disciple of Ramamnujacaray who was blinded by a Shaivite
king. The king wanted to kill Ramanujacarya, so he sent his soldiers to
capture Ramanuja, but this disciple came and warned him, "You take my
grhasta white clothes and I will take your clothes and will go to
represent you. If there is any harm, it will come to me, not you. You
are more important for preaching the movement of Vaishnavism." So they
exchanged clothes, and Ramanuja, dressed in white, was smuggled out of
the country to the forest and mountains. Thje disciple was captured by
the king's men who thought that he was Ramanuja. They asked him top
accept that Siva was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate.
But he said that Siva gets his powers from Visnu. They said, "For your
inxolence of not accepting that the supreme destroyer Lord Siva as the
greatest, we will blind you." So they blinded that devotee and later
the king suffered from some disease and died. Within a short time,
Ramanuija came bacj k and found that devotee iun the temple o f Visnu
kanchi (Varadaraja in Kancipuram). /He would regularly be chanting
before Varadaraja Krsna deity. His bhajans were so sweet that the Deity
was pleased abnd asked himn, "Is there anything you want?" He said,
"Myu Lord, please forgive all those people who have tortured me." He
kept doing his devotional service. Again the Deity asked him, "You can
have anything you want." He was such a great devotee that the Deity
would speak to him. Then he agfain asked for forgiveness for some other
devotees w ho at one time had done somthing against him. Then he went
to see Ramanujacarya. Of course the word got around that the Deity kept
offering him to have whatever he wanted, but he always kept asking
things for other devotees, and he never wanted anything for himself.
Then Ramanuja said, "It is very nice you are begging for everyopne's
forgiveness, but ytou have already given your body to the guiru in his
service. Now your body is not complete, so it is not able to do the
maximum service it cou ld., So if the Lord ever offers to give you
anything you want again, you must say that some property that you have
given to your guru is not able to do all it's services to the guru
because it is incomplete. Therefore it could be completed again so that
it could do proper service. It will be useful in the service of the
guru." Like this Rmamnuja gave some instructions. After that, the
devotee sang his bhajan and the Deity again asked, "You can have
anything you like." Then he s tood up and offered his prayers and said,
"I have given some property to my guru. That propert is not complete.
That is, my body which I have given to my guru has lost it's eyesightt.
My guru's property may be restored to its full capability of doing
service for him.": After getting the advice from RAmanuja, he asked in
that mood. Otherwise he would never ask anything for himself. But now
he understood, "Okay, my body is alsoa my guru's property." MORAL: This
conscious ness is called nirmama, or "nothing is mine." (See
Bhagavad-gita 3 .30 purport mayi sarvani karmani)