So saying the Master embraced Govinda, who then bowed at the feet of all. The Master spoke, "Bhattáchárya, solve this problem: the very servant of my guru is honourable to me, and it is not seemly that he should serve me. And yet the guru has commanded it. What should I do?" The Bhatta answered, "A guru's command is most strong, and the Shastras direct us not to violate it. Witness the Raghuvamsa, xiv. 53, and Valmiki's Ramayan, Ayodhya-kanda, xxii. 9."
Then the Master consented and permitted Govinda to serve His body. All honoured him as the Master's favourite attendant, while Govinda made arrangements for all the Vaishnavs. He was accompanied by the two Haridases (who were surnamed the greater and lesser chanters), Rámái and Nandái, in tending the Master. Govinda's good fortune baffles description.
One day Mukunda Datta said to the Master, "Brahmánanda Bhárati has come to see you. Permit me to bring him hither." But He replied, "The Bhárati is my guru. It is I who should go to him." So saying, He went to Brahmánanda, with all His followers. At the sight of Brahmánanda clad in deer skin, the Master grieved at heart, pretended not to have observed him, and asked Mukunda where the Bhárati was. Mukunda replied, "Here, before you!" But the Master objected, "You do not know. It is not he, but somebody else whom you are ignorantly pointing out. Why should the Bhárati Goswámi wear a skin?" At this Brahmánanda inly reflected, "He likes not my robe of deer skin. He has spoken well. A skin is worn as a mark of pride (of asceticism). The wearing of it cannot give me salvation from the World. Henceforth I shall renounce this garment." The Master learnt of his thought, and had a cloth brought, which Brahmánanda put on after discarding the skin. Then the Master bowed at his feet, but the Bhárati objected saying, "These your acts are for instructing the people. Never bow down to me again, it frightens me. Here are now two gods, viz., Jagannáth the stationary, and you the moving god. You are the fair god, while Jagannáth is the dark deity. These two (between them) have redeemed the world." The Master demurred, "The truth is that your coming has revealed two Brahmas at Purushottam: your name is Brahmánanda, and (you are) the fair-coloured moving Brahma, while Jagannáth is the dark and motionless one." The Bhárati cried out, "Be thou the judge between us, Sárvabhauma, and attend to my logical dispute with Him. The Shastras tell us that creation is vyápya, while Brahma is vyápak.
He has reformed me by taking away my skin robe. This shows that one is vyápya and the other is vyápak. Vide Mahabharat, Dan-parva, ch. 149, stanza 1091. To the Master truly belong those (divine) epithets, sandal-pasted prasád, dor, two-armed Angad." Bhattáchárya replied, "O Bhárati, the victory is thine, as I see." The Master said, "Whatever you say must be true. In a logical disputation, the disciple must always yield to the guru." But the Bhárati objected, "No, no, the reason (of my victory) is otherwise. It is thy nature to admit defeat at the hands of thy bhaktas. Listen to another feat of thine. All my life I had worshipped the formless Deity, but when I saw thee, Krishna became manifest before my eyes. Krishna's name broke forth from my lips, Krishna's image was stamped on my heart and eye. My soul thirsts for thee as thou resemblest Krishna. My condition is truly like that of Billamangal, as described in the Bhakti-rasámrita-sindhu."
The Master rejoined, "Deep is your love of Krishna, so that whatever your eye glances on, you see a Krishna there." Bhattáchárya replied, "Yes, but only after Krishna had first revealed himself in the flesh. Love alone can enable us to see him. His favour is the (only) means of seeing him." The Master cried out, "Holy God! Holy God! what art thou saying, Sárvabhauma? Your praise in hyperbole is satire in disguise." So saying He led the Bhárati to His own house and lodged him there. Rám Bhattáchárya and Bhagabán Acharya waited on the Master, leaving all other works.
Another day Kashishwar Goswámi arrived and was honourably lodged by the Master with Himself. He used to escort the Master to the temple of Jagannáth, removing the crowd from before Him. As all rivers and brooks unite in the ocean, so did the Master's worshippers, wherever they might have been, all come together at His feet. He graciously kept them at His house. Thus have I described the Master's assembling of Vaishnavs. [Text, canto 10.]
CHAPTER IX
The Grand Chanting (Bera Kirtan)
One day Sárvabhauma said, "Master, may I make bold to submit a thing?" He replied, "Say thy say without hesitation. If it is a proper request, I shall keep it, if not, not." Sárvabhauma said, "Here is Pratap Rudra Ray, eager to meet you." The Master clapped His hands to His ears, murmured an appeal to God, and replied, "Why such an improper speech, Sárvabhauma? I am a hermit withdrawn from the world. For me to meet a king or a woman is fatal like a draught of poison."
Sárvabhauma entreated, "True are thy words. But this Raja is a votary of Jagannáth and the chief of devotees." "Still, a king is only the deadly snake in another form, just as the touch of even the wooden statue of a woman causes mental perturbation. Say not so again. If you do, you will miss me from this place." Alarmed, Sárvabhauma retired to his own house.