MUNDO
VAISHNAVA
MAESTROS ESPIRITUALES
Creado por juancas del 10 de Abril del 2012
ALL GLORIES TO SRILA NAROTTAMA DASA THAKURA ON HIS GLORIOUS APPEARANCE DAY:
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| SRILA NAROTTAMA DASA THAKURA |
Narottama Dasa Thakura was a lifelong brahmacari. He visited all the holy places and the was the best of pure devotees. On the banks of the Padmavati river, in the town of Gopalpura lived King Krsnanda Datta. His older brother was Purusottama Datta. The wealth and fame of these two brothers was beyond compare. In the month of Magha Sri Narottama Dasa Thakura took his birth. The brahmanas, seeing all the auspicious signs surrounding the child's birth, prophesied that the boy was a highly perfected soul and great personality, by whose influence many people would be delivered.
As his schooling went on, everyone was astonished at his amazing intelligence. Simply by hearing a subject once from his gurus he would commit it to memory. In only a short time, he mastered the study of Sanskrit grammar, poetry, rhetoric, and became expert in many different scriptures. But gradually he saw as useless any knowledge which did not promote Hari-bhajan, and soon lost interest in everything but Krishna consciousness. He found that in previous times the learned, who understood what real knowledge is, left everything, renouncing the world of birth and death, and went off to the forest in order to worship the Supreme Lord, Hari. Day after day, Narottama began to think of how he could become free from family life and constantly engage himself in the Lord's service.
He was indifferent to all material enjoyment; where most children usually like to play, he was uninterested in playing games. At this time, hearing the glories of Shri Nityananda and Shri Gauranga, from the lotus lips of the devotees of the Lord, his heart was filled with spiritual joy. As if he had been given new life, he felt great ecstasy. Within a few days of hearing the wonderful qualities of Gaura and Nityananda, he began to chant their holy names in japa day and night. One night the merciful Shri Gaurasundara, surrounded by his eternal associates appeared to Narottama in a dream and gave him darshan.
After this, in order to understand how to become free from family life, Narottama das Thakura began to think day and night of how he could go to Vrindavan. Narottama has prayed, "Hari Hari! kabe haba Vrindavanavasi?" "O Hari, when will I become a resident of Vrindavana? When will I serve the beautiful divine couple in Vrindavana with tears in my eyes?"
In this way, Narottama would constantly sing. Seeing Narottama's indifference to all sense pleasure and his intense renunciation, King Krishnananda and Narayani Devi began to think about what to do with him. Seeing that he was not inclined towards family life, and that he might soon leave home unexpectedly to go to Vrindavan they became very worried. They employed a guard to watch over him, so that he couldn't leave. Narottama Das saw that the difficulties involved in escaping were becoming more impassable than the Himalayas, and thought that he might never be able to go to Vrindavana and absorb himself in the worship of the holy feet of Sri Gauranga. Thinking only of how to get the mercy of Shri Gaura-Nityananda, he began to pray very earnestly for guidance from them. And so it came to pass that some messengers came from the Ruler of Bengal, informing King Krishnananda that the ruler of Bengal wanted to meet with him. In order to meet with the Ruler of Bengal, Raja Krishnananda and his brother Purushottama Datta set out on a long journey to the court of the Ruler of Bengal.
Narottama took advantage of the moment, thinking it to be a good opportunity to leave home. At that time, he secretly left his mother and his protectors, turned towards Vrindavan and began his journey to that holy land. It was on the full moon day in the month of Kartika that Narottama Thakura left his family behind.
Passing through Bengal in a short time, he soon found himself on the road to Mathura. All the other pilgrims he would meet were very affectionate toward Narottama, as they could recognize him as the son of the king. He would sometimes live by drinking milk and sometimes would eat the roots and fruits as he went along. His constant hankering to see Vrindavan made his hunger and thirst go away. As he moved from place to place, he would hear the glories of Gaura and Nityananda from the mouths of many devotees. In this way he was always thinking about their lotus feet, constantly absorbed in meditation...
TODAY WAS THE APPEARANCE DAY OF SRILA NAROTTAMA DASA THAKURA:
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| SRILA NAROTTAMA DASA THAKURA |
One day while Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was dancing with his associates during sankirtana, He suddenly looked in the direction of Sri Kheturi village. A peculiar look appeared on His face, tears whelmed up in His eyes, and He cried out the name "Narottama! Narottama!" again and again. The ocean of mercy Nityānana Raya shouted in joy, and Haridasa, Vakreshvara, and others were inexplicably filled with happiness.
The wheel of time turned, until finally, on the sixth hour of the full moon day in the month of Magha, when all auspicious signs were visible, Narottama dasa took birth to fulfill the mission of the Lord.
His mother, radiant with beauty, wept joyfully as she lovingly gazed at the charming face of her son. An unearthly effulgence suddenly illuminated the entire delivery room, and happiness swelled in the hearts of everyone present.
From that moment the village of Sri Kheturi became an auspicious place. The residents suddenly felt purified, as if cleansed of all misgivings. They trembled with ecstatic emotions, tears filled their eyes, and they spontaneously chanted the holy name with devotion. They rushed to the house of Krishnananda, carrying all kinds of gifts for the newborn child.
The delighted Datta Mahasaya warmly welcomed them all without taking his eyes off the face of his son for a second, while Krishnananda's exalted father distributed charity profusely to the singers, musicians and others present, for the protection of his grandson. There was no woman in the world as fortunate as Narottama's mother, Narayani. By the Lord's grace she was granted the eyes to see Gauranga, Nityānana, and Advaita dancing ecstatically within her own home.
Narayani watched jubilantly as her son began to grow like the moon. Similarly, Krishnananda's pleasure knew no bounds as he constantly stared at the jewel-like face of his son. Grateful for his good fortune, he fed the brahmanas daily.
At the appropriate time on an auspicious day, Krishnananda arranged for the ceremony of offering rice to his son. The astrologer present on that joyful occasion noted all the auspicious signs on the child's body and predicted that the boy would be an illustrious person: "This baby will be the greatest of men; therefore he should be called Narottama."
The festivities went on happily until Krishnananda tried to feed his son the rice. To everyone's dismay the child refused to eat. Although they coaxed him again and again, the boy repeatedly turned his head away, refusing to eat. The festive atmosphere was replaced with anxiety, and everyone looked at each other nervously, not knowing what to do. The thoughtful astrologer, however, reassured everyone: "Don't worry, this baby will not accept food unless it has first been offered to Lord Vishnu."
Thus the rice was offered to Lord Vishnu, then again offered to the child. To everyone's relief, the child happily devoured it. From that day on, realizing the value of prasada, the king ordered: "Only food which has been offered to Krishna should be given to my son." Although the worship of Krishna was customary in their family, from the time of Narottama's birth everyone became much more attentive to the service of the Lord.
-- by Srila Narahari Chakravarti, excerpted from the Sri Narottama Vilasa--
— con Yudhisthira Dasa.
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