Joy Maharshi Shukadeva

You may have heard many stories about me. Most of you must have seen me attired less in the iconic picture where I am preaching to Parikshit, the grandson of Arjun. All my life and beyond, I yearned for only one thing: detachment. To evade the bondage of the world, I stayed 12 long years in my mother's womb. At last, when my Lord, Sree Krishna, gave me darshan within the womb, I manifested in the material world. But my habit of eavesdropping put me in a fix again.

One day in Baikunth, in the abode of Vishnu, Goddess Narayani beseeched the Lord to narrate his divine pastime as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. As Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Lord chose the path of unconditional love and non-violence. Born in Nabadwip in Bengal, Sri Chaitanya fought against social injustices like the caste system and spread the message of love above everything. Mata Laxmi is also incarnated as Vishnupriya.

I had long desired to hear the Chaitanya lila from the lord himself. But to my dismay, Mata wanted to listen to the Lila in private.  I requested Mata, but she outright declined.

At that moment the eavesdropper within me roused, and I made an audacious move. I took the form of a rat and hid in Lord's private chamber. Lord's voice is sweeter than the sound of the flute. My Lord incarnated in Kaliyug as Nimai, later known as Chaitanya, and took sanyas at 24. Nimai defeated many scholars of his time in scholarly argument. The last two decades of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's life were spent at Puri Dham, Odisha. Most of the time, Chaitanya Dev used to be in a state of divine consciousness. Lord's narration of his Chaitanya incarnation created a spell on me. I lost all my senses. I started chanting the Sree Krishna Maha-mantra, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare." So, my presence was revealed to the Lord and Mata. Mata got extremely angry. Her eyes were blazing like fire. She cursed me to be born again as a human. I pleaded for mercy. At last her anger subsided, and she regained her sanity. The words she once pronounced could not be reversed. But she offered me the option to opt for the manner and place of my rebirth. I was not in a state to contemplate anything. At last, I requested my mother to let me self-incarnate, bypassing the gestation. I chose Banga, or Bengal, the land of Chaitanya, as the place of my reincarnation.

But I made a grave mistake by not specifying the exact location of my birth, as more than five hundred years passed after Chaitanya Avatar. In the meantime, Bengal was divided. The eastern part became a new nation, "Bangladesh.". But all this was not in my knowledge.

I appeared in the streets of Dhaka. I was wearing a saffron dhoti and angavastram. I was walking joyfully chanting, “Krishna, Krishna.” In no time a crowd encircled me. They looked very hostile. Some of them started pelting stones at me. I ran to save me. But the mob chased me. I was brutally injured and saved by some people. But they put handcuffs on my hands and put me behind the bar. I had no idea what was going on. The prison cell was dark and haunting. I sat on the coarse floor of the cell. The other inmates were looking at me; they were passing skewed remarks on me. I closed my eyes, withdrew from the present, and I focused my mind on God. I saw the blue lord playing his flute. Lord spoke to me, “Oh Knowledgeable One, Oh Detached One, I chose you for a mission; I influenced your mind in eavesdropping. Shukadeva, do not let the hate win". I could not remember how long I was in that pensive state.

Suddenly a few people dragged me out. They put me in a chair and started screaming at me. They were probably quizzing me. I could not make out anything that they were saying. Probably someone shoved me. I fell from the chair. Blood oozed out of my baby. My years of penance gave me the strength to remain calm in the face of immense physical torture. Soon I lost consciousness. When I regained my sanity, I saw a figure within my cell. The man was looking at me with empathy. He was also wearing saffron clothing. Is wearing saffron clothing our fault?  My cellmate tried to make conversations but discouraged by my passiveness, he started making monologues. What I make out of it is that the British occupation of Bharat ended in the division of the holy land on the line of religion. Thousand years of togetherness ended in bloody conflict. Over time, the east of Bengal became a new country called Bangladesh. In recent times, a student movement led to the ouster of the incumbent government, then chaos broke out. The fundamentalists took control of the nation. The places of worship belonging to minorities were vandalised. Life and property of minorities became insecure. Many monks were put behind bars on sedition charges.

I did not have any idea that Sri Chaitanya's homeland emerged in such chaos. I had to endure a long stay in jail as there was no legal help for us. My cheerful father, Vasdev, appeared in the scene; he took the form of a lawyer. Who will be able to argue in front of my all-knowing father?  The judges were helpless against the arguments forwarded by my pride. He secured the release of many monks and others.

I, along with other monks, toured the entire country. We crisscrossed the length and breadth of the troubled land. We faced severe resistance. We were attacked by a mob. The one section of society that extended support to us is the women. Mothers and sisters wanted peace and prosperity. Without prejudices, we met every section of society; common folk, fakirs, traders, and academists joined us. A movement was built for peace and stability. We were able to douse the fire of hatred for the time being. Having completed my mission, I regained my place in the abode of the Supreme Lord.

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