19870314 Kholāvecā Śrīdhara Pastimes

The following is a talk given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami on March 14^th 1987 at Śrīdhara Āṅgana in Śrī Navadvīpa, India.

Jayapatākā Swami: The house of Kholāvecā Śrīdhara. Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, one of the famous devotees of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who got his special mercy. So Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, by profession he was, as his name implies, kolā means banana and vecā means peddler. Banana peddler, vegetable peddler. He had a big banana orchard, so big, so many banana orchards and he would grow bananas and sell the bananas, the leaves and various other banana products. So, the banana tree is such that it actually came from the heavenly planets. It was taken down from Indraloka, and the banana is something which the whole tree is useful. The leaf is used every day for prasādam, which we already know. The fruit, everyone knows. The peels of the fruit, even the cow eats. The trunk of the plant, the flower of the banana is called the mocā in Bengali, and that mocā is also made into a vegetable. It is considered some sort of a simple delicacy that takes a lot of time to prepare. But this mocā is also one of the products from the banana. The centre of the banana tree is known in Bengali as thor, and that also you can prepare a type of vegetable. Apart from the core of the banana tree, the outer shell can be used as plates, bowls and are also to fed elephants, cows and other similar animals. The root can be taken and replanted again, and then it grows into another banana tree. So, the whole banana tree is useful, there is nothing that is without a use. It is totally what you call recyclable. So Kholāvecā, he was in this state, he was growing bananas and selling the flowers, the centres, the fruits, the leaves, everything. But, 500 years ago in Navadvīpa, everybody has bananas in their house. I mean, you notice that if you go in a village, everyone grows bananas. It’s nothing, it’s like It is pretty easy to grow and so everyone is growing bananas. So, it’s like going to New Castle and selling coke. It is something like that. It is not something like what you can make a very big margin because everyone grows it in their backyard. Only if for some reason, someone does not have enough, only then they would buy a little extra on some festival day. So Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, because that is by his very profession, he was very poor. But nevertheless, he was so strict a gṛhastha devotee, that whatever he would earn from selling his bananas, from that 50% he would spend on the Ganges. He got order form his guru to worship the Ganges. So, he every day went. With whatever profit he made, 50% he used to buy incense or any other thing for worshipping the Ganges, he’d go and worship the Ganges, do Ganges pūjā. See, in those days they didn’t yet publish a book so they couldn’t purchase books and other things, but he was doing Ganges pūjā. That was his particular service.

Now Lord Caitanya as a small child, he would come out to Kholāvecā Śrīdhara in the market place and he’d say, “Please give me some of your bananas. How much are these?” He’d pick up a bunch, look at it. Kholāvecā Śrīdhara would tell exactly the correct price, whatever the market rate was. So many conchshells. In those days they used conchshells for money. But it was a very small cost for the item. You could buy like a whole bag of rice for a coin. So parts of a bag of rice would this be conchshells. So Lord Caitanya would say, “Oh! so much! You are trying to charge me so much! Why you are trying to cheat a poor brāhmaṇa like me?”

Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “No I am just asking you the correct price. You can go in the market and see, this is the proper price. I am not asking more.”

Then Lord Caitanya replied, “No, no! You should take less money; you are charging too much.” In this way they have argument every day and Lord Caitanya was just about 10 years old, 11 years old, He would go shopping for his mother. A nice beautiful brāhmaṇa boy, Nimāi Paṇḍita, Viśvambhara. Then, Lord Caitanya, He suddenly takes the bananas and starts walking away and Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “Hey, hey! What are you doing? Why you are taking the bananas. Where are you going?”

Gaurasundara would turn back and say, “What do you want? What do you think?” He would throw back the bananas. Lord Caitanya said, “What are you doing? I want the bananas free? I don’t want to pay? You are accusing me that I am taking the bananas without paying?” He would grab them back. Throw half the price on the ground, in front of Kholāvecā Śrīdhara and walk off with the bananas. Things like this were going on every day. Big arguments. Big dramas over a couple of banana flowers or a bunch of bananas. But although Lord Caitanya did this way, He knew this is my pure devotee. He is coming and He is teasing him in this way, giving him transcendental pastime. And something happened every time when Kholāvecā Śrīdhara would see Lord Caitanya. His heart would become filled with some form of affection that he never experienced before. Actually, he was feeling kṛṣṇa-prema for the Lord, he was feeling bhāva and feeling various emotions for Lord Caitanya. But at that time he didn’t know that who was this personality. He just knew that something was very unusual about Nimāi Paṇḍita, something he couldn’t explain. How he felt attached to him every time he saw him. Even though he did all these things, he never got angry. Externally there was, but in his heart, he felt very satisfied and very fortunate that this brāhmaṇa boy always kept coming to him. This is going on for years. Now Kholāvecā, he would every day, he would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Yesterday in the evening program, I explained how Navadvīpa was filled with jñānīs, karmīs and various other kind of demigod worshippers who were very inimical towards the pure devotees. So, when Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, when he came home, then in the night, either alone or with his family or with few friends, he would chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. But all these other people, they got impatient. Why is he chanting so late in the night? Then someone would criticize, “Oh he is just so hungry, he probably can’t sleep. So he just shouts like that through the night, disturbing everybody else”. In this way, they would always criticize him. One time, some neighbours came said, “Listen, why you are spending half your money on the Ganges worship?”

He said, “This is by the order of my guru, I have been assigned to do this. By giving 50% of my income to Kṛṣṇa, then I am freed from the karma and I am able to advance quickly in pure devotional service.”

All the others said, “You want to offer more to Kṛṣṇa?

“Of course, I always like to offer more to Kṛṣṇa.”

“So, you stop giving 50% for just one year, build up your capital, get a good asset, get a good capital and invest in a big way, then you would earn a million. You will be a rich man. Then give it to Kṛṣṇa. Just stop for now, for a year.”

Kholāvecā Śrīdhara said, “I am giving my honest labour. I am working. Whatever income I am getting by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy that I am accepting. If He wants me to be rich, I will be rich. If He wants me to remain poor, I will remain poor. But if I stop giving my 50%, then again, I may get into the fruitive mentality and become a gṛhamedhī. So, I am afraid of getting into this fruitive mentality. But if I stop giving now, I may not begin to give in after an next year. What is the guarantee? So better not to stop.”

“But you got a hole in the roof of your house!”

He said, “Well, it allows one to see better. (laughter) Light has to come in somewhere. And it is very cool in the hot day, some ventilation.”

“But you have got ripped cloth! You have got holes in your cloth. It is torn. You could have a new cloth.”

“Well, at least I have something over my body. I am not naked by Kṛṣṇa’s mercy.” (laughter)

The people there speaking became so impatient with him. But he never stopped chanting, he kept on chanting every day, kept on doing his Ganges worship. These was the great quality of Kholāvecā Śrīdhar This temple here is built as a place where his house was, and this is his garden right here. So when we were at Suvarṇa Vihāra or some other place, Jagadīśa Maharaj started to give an example using Kholāvecā Śrīdhara. So, I said we would be going there. So, he said “Alright, I will hold up until then.” So, now that here we are at Kholāvecā Śrīdhar’s place, at this opportunity I would like to request Jagadīśa Mahārāja to give a little nectar.

*Devotees chant Haribol and clap*

Jagadīśa Mahārāja:

oṁ ajñāna-timirāndhasya jñānāñjana-śalākayā
cakṣur unmīlitaṁ yena tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ

I am sure what I am going to say is not going to be a nectar, but I will try to say something. This example of Kholāvecā Śrīdhara’s simplicity in devotional service is very instructive for us. I didn’t know this part of the story that Jayapatākā Mahārāja was just telling, that how people were encouraging him to spend his money on other things. But he insisted on living simply and giving 50%. So of course, this application of this principle, for each one of our lives would vary, from person to person. But it is a very good principle to follow. Understanding that whatever I get is coming from Kṛṣṇa. It belongs to Kṛṣṇa. He gave it to me to see how I was going to use it. We can take it that way. Because, 2 ways we can take it. He gave it to me for my enjoyment, or we could take it as He gave it to me to see if I was using it properly. Because Kṛṣṇa is testing us constantly, encouraging us, putting us into situations where we can further progress in His devotional service. On the other hand, we can remain entangled within the material existence. Both doors are open to us at every moment. That is our marginal position. Taṭastha-śakti. We can move towards Kṛṣṇa or we can remain entangled in calculating for my own sense gratification. The simplicity of the devotee which is one of the characteristics or qualifications of devotee. Simplicity means that for oneself, one just takes what is needed to keep the body and soul together, and everything else is done for Kṛṣṇa. The best examples are the six gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana who practically gave up eating and sleeping in order to increase their devotional service to the maximum. Our consciousness is mixed. Now it is trained on devotional service to Kṛṣṇa and selfish interest, maintaining my body, maintaining my family, maintaining my situation, comfortable situation within this world. Now Kṛṣṇa doesn’t demand that we give up all comforts and live a life of utter poverty and austerity. But austerity is necessary.

tapo divyaṁ putrakā yena sattvaṁ
śuddhyed yasmād brahmā saukyam tvanantam
(ŚB. 5.5.1)

This austerity, this divine austerity of devotional service is essential if we want to rise above the entanglement of material existence, this is the price that we have to pay. So, for Śrīdhara, the eternally liberated soul, he set the example for us that how even though there is pressure from outside in all directions for him to give up his simplicity, give up the austerity that he wanted to perform, he still stuck to it very strictly. Because his goal was something else. As in the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa explains, what is night-time for the materialistic persons is day time for the self-realized person and vice versa. What is night-time for the self-realized is day time for the common people. In other words, we all have to decide in which direction we want to head, whatever we are interested in. Are we interested in the material world, the external world or the world of the senses, gratifying them and satisfying them and living a life of ease and comfort, or do we want to use everything that we have in Kṛṣṇa’s service, maintaining the body only for that purpose also. We should be confident that Kṛṣṇa does not want us to suffer unduly. Tapasyā sometimes means suffering. But the tapasyā in devotional service does not mean suffering. Kṛṣṇa does not like to see his devotees suffering. He provides everything very comfortably. Just as here in Māyāpur, we can live comfortably. Because we are, many of us at least, are Westerners, we are accustomed to certain amenities, certain conveniences. So Prabhupāda has arranged for those things here and in Vṛndāvana also, so that we can come to these places and take advantage of the transcendental atmosphere for our spiritual purification and advancement. So, we don’t have to worry about our comfort. Śrīdhara, was not worried about his comfort, I’m sure he was perfectly comfortable, much more comfortable than his neighbours who were encouraging him to take steps for material progress. He didn’t care for them. Similarly, when a devotee is headed for the internal, being awake tho the internal world of the self and his relationship with Kṛṣṇa, then it is easy to be comfortable in the material world. In fact, our lives are much more comfortable than most of the people in the world. If you take into consideration, there are 4 billion, in between 4 and 5 billion people in the world. Huge number of those people do not live anywhere near as comfortably as we do, as devotees. Even if live here in India, we live very comfortably. So, to increase that comfort is just moving in the wrong direction, it is the direction of the materialist. They think that to gratify the senses is the purpose of life, and they concentrate so much energy and attention on that. But for us, the energy and attention should be directed towards understanding how to please Kṛṣṇa and dedicating our energy for the purpose, limiting the amount of energy we spent on our own comforts to the bare minimum. And of course, we have Kholāvecā Śrīdhara who had his order to give 50% to the worship of Ganges. We have our order to spread the saṅkīrtana movement, and so many supplementary or subordinal orders to go along with that. If we dedicate ourselves to that, we will be perfectly satisfied even living very simply. Sometimes a devotee thinks that, after being a devotee for some time and undergoing some austerity, that he deserves some kinda comfortable situation as a reward. We have to be very careful about that. In other words, sometimes when we come to devotional service, we think that we want to perform some austerity. There is some motivation there for austerity. Either we are suffering in the material world and we want to get out of it. Some or other reason, we join Kṛṣṇa consciousness and, in the beginning, we do our service. But then after sometime we start thinking that, “Now I have been doing austerity so long, now let me become comfortable.” And we see this tendency amongst some of the older devotees that they think that now I have done my austerity, now I should become comfortable. Now this is allowed to an extent. Brahmacārī life is a life of austerity. And then if the brahmacārī gets married, the gṛhastha-āśrama allows for little comforts. One may have his own apartment and association with the opposite sex. There is a little comfort there. But one has to be very careful about taking that as, ‘Now I have done my austerity, now it’s time to enjoy.’ We have also seen that not only householders, but even how sometimes sannyāsīs have become a little bit affected by similar type of consciousness. ‘Now I have performed my austerity, now it is time for me to enjoy.’ So, this way, one has to be very careful. Our austerity should continue. For the six gosvāmīs, the austerities continued to get more. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He continued to perform austerities, much more than what we can do. But the example is there. Not to give up the austerity at a certain point. We see the devotees also in America, that they spend sometime in the movement performing austerities. Then when they are tired of austerity, it is time to move Southern California or Hawaii, and it is time then to then enjoy the fruits of the austerities that we perform. But that is not a very good idea because the real fruits of the austerity of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is described by Ṛsabhadeva - ‘brahmā-saukhyam tvanantam’. The eternal unlimited happiness which comes as a result of establishing our eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa again. So, if somehow or other if we slip into furtive consciousness, then that would mean a temporary interruption of our devotional service, our devotional progress. So, simplicity in the life of a devotee is extremely important. We should become attached. In fact, this is the purpose of brahmacārī life: to help the devotee be attached to austerity, simplicity, celibacy and those things… those practices, which are going to help one progress throughout the rest of his life. If one enters gṛhastha-āśrama without having become attached to these things as austerity, simplicity, celibacy and so on, then without having fully understood the Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy, then there is danger. Sometimes, gṛhastha-āśrama is described as a blind well. If one isn’t fully prepared before entering into it, then one can end up sinking the blind well and there is no one to come to help. So, let us remember the example of Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, now that we are here. We have the fortune of being at his place, remember his example, his attachment to simplicity and see that as a very important example to follow in our own life so we can continuously make further progress up until the end of our life and then go back to Godhead.

*applauds and claps*

Jayapatākā Swami: Nitāi-Gaura Premanānde…

Devotees: Haribol!!!

Kholāvecā Śrīdhara kī...!

Devotees: Jaya!!

Harināma-saṅkīrtana mahā-yajña kī…

Devotees: Jaya!!

So later, when Lord Caitanya started His saṅkīrtana movement, that time of course he didn’t go and rob him or go to Kholāvecā Śrīdhara for buying the bananas. Kholāvecā Śrīdhara never forgot Lord Caitanya. He was always very eager; he would sometimes send him bananas or otherwise provide. One day, when Advaita Gosāñī saw that Lord Caitanya had, in meditation, gone to His mood as Kṛṣṇa, he put tulasī on His lotus and feet and he started offering Him ārati. The mahā-prakāśa! At that time, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, the Supreme Personality of Godhead as a devotee, He started to reveal to different devotees who He was and to give different devotees His blessings. He decided to reveal to Murāri Gupta that he was Hanumān. Murāri Gupta, all of a sudden looked at himself and saw that he was Hanumān. He looked at Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Murāri Gupta was a devotee of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya told, “You know who you are?” He was also a very determined Rāma-bhakta. He was a devotee, who when Lord Caitanya said simply chant Kṛṣṇa’s names, next morning he was preparing to commit suicide. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu said “Why?”

He said the whole of last night I was trying to follow your orders to think of Kṛṣṇa. But with every thought, Lord Rāma’s face comes out. Only Rāma’s name comes in my mouth. Couldn’t dare to give up the lotus feet of his Lord Rāma. At the same time, he could not disobey the order of Lord Caitanya. “So, its better I go to the Ganges and take one long dip. (laughter) The permanent kind.” So Lord Caitanya embraced him and said, “You are true devotee of Lord Rāma!” So in that mahā-prakāśa He told, “You know who you are?” By His blessings, he looked and saw he was Hanumān! He looked at Lord Caitanya and he saw Lord Caitanya had become Rāma. Then he fainted. When he came conscious, he was back to Murāri Gupta and then there was Lord Caitanya. So, like this, different devotees were getting the mercy in different ways. All of a sudden, Lord Caitanya told his associates, you bring Kholāvecā Śrīdhara. So, they came over, near to his place and told Kholāvecā Śrīdhara, “You must come. Lord Caitanya is calling for you!” 

“Lord Caitanya calling for me!?” he fainted. Such a humble devotee that Lord Caitanya calling for him was too much.  He fainted! So what were the devotees going to do? They just picked him up and carried him over. They got over to Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura’s house.

[end of audio]

Verified by Your humble ever Servant 
Vinoda Gopīkeśa Dāsa
26-12-2024
Māyāpur India