The Story of Ārjuna Miśra

Once there was a pure devotee named Ārjuna Miśra, who was a very poor brāhmaṇa. Every morning he would perform his bhajana, spend two hours writing a commentary on Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, and then go out to beg alms.

Ārjuna Miśra’s wife would prepare the food collected by her husband, offer it with love to their deity of Bhagavān, Śrī Gopīnātha, give the mahāprasāda to her husband with great attention, and later partake whatever prasād was left with great satisfaction. This was their constant mood, and they were fully satisfied in the consideration that their poverty was a gift from Śrī Bhagavān. So their time passed blissfully.

Nearly all their clothes were torn, and between them they posessed only one cloth -a dhotī -that was suitable to wear outside the house. When her husband was out begging alms, his wife wore a piece of ragged, torn cloth. When he was at home and she needed to go out, she wore the dhotī.

One day, after his morning bhajana, Ārjuna Miśra sat down to write a commentary on the Bhagavad-gītā verse 9.22:

अनन्याश् चिन्तयन्तो मां ये जनाह् पर्युपासते
तेषां नित्याभियुक्तानां योग-क्षेमं वहाम्य् आहम्

ananyāś cintayanto māṃ ye janāh paryupāsate
teṣāṃ nityābhiyuktānāṃ yoga-kṣemaṃ vahāmy āham

“However, for those who are always absorbed in thoughts of Me, and who worship Me with one-pointed devotion by every means, I Myself carry the necessities they lack and preserve what they have.”

Pondering this, Ārjuna Miśra’s mind became perplexed with a grave doubt that he was unable to resolve. He thought, “Will that Person, Svayaṃ-Bhagavān, who is the only master of the whole universe, Himself carry the necessities they lack of those who are engaged in His singlepointed bhajana, and preserve what they have? No, this can’t be true, because why is my situation as it is? I am completely dependent on Him, and with exclusive devotion, have offered everything to His lotus feet. So why do I have to undergo this misery of poverty? The words in this verse, ‘I Myself carry the necessities of those engaged in My bhajana’^[1], could not have been spoken by Bhagavān; someone must have changed it.”

Ārjuna Miśra tried to resolve this dilemma on the strength of his own intelligence but became increasingly doubtful and perplexed. Finally, he put three slash marks on this line with his red pen, and went out to beg alms.

Now, the most compassionate Bhagavān, who protects the surrendered souls, saw the doubt appear in the mind of His devotee. Taking the form of an extremely beautiful, tender, dark-complexioned boy, He filled two baskets with ample rice, dāl, vegetables, ghee and many other goods, and tying the baskets to the ends of a bamboo rod, He personally carried them on His shoulder to the house of Ārjuna Miśra.

Finding the door locked, He knocked several times, calling loudly, “Oh Mother, Oh Mother!’”

The brāhmaṇī heard the calling, but being home alone and wearing only her torn cloth, she felt she could not answer the door. The knocking and calling continued, and finally finding no alternative, with head lowered shyly, she opened the door. Carrying the weight of the full baskets on the bamboo, the boy entered the courtyard, placed His load on the floor and stood to one side. Śrī Bhagavān in the guise of a boy, said, “Mother, Paṇḍitjī (the brāhmaṇa, Ārjuna Miśra) has sent these supplies. Please take them inside.”

The brāhmaṇī’s face was lowered, but hearing the sweet words of the boy, she looked up and saw the two big baskets, filled with more vegetables and food grains than she had ever seen in her life, right there in the courtyard. Being repeatedly requested by the boy to take them, she finally carried them in a daze to the inner chamber of the house. Constantly gazing upon His beautiful face, she became completely happy.

Oh, how beautiful His face is! How can a person of such dark colour have such exquisite beauty? She had never even imagined such beauty. Awestruck, she stood transfixed. Then she noticed that on the boy’s chest were three bleeding slash marks. It looked as if someone had cut his chest with a sharp weapon. Her heart became deeply disturbed and she cried out, “Oh son! Which cruel person has made these cuts on Your chest? Alas! Alas! Even a stone heart would melt at the thought of hurting such a soft, tender body!”

Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in the guise of the boy, said, “Mother, while bringing you these foodstuffs, I was delayed, so your husband punished Me in this way.”

With her eyes filling with tears, the brāhmaṇī cried, “What! He made these cuts on your chest? When he comes home I’ll ask him how he could have done such a brutal thing! My son, don’t feel distressed. Stay here for some time, and I will prepare some of this food and You can accept the prasāda of Ṭhākurjī.”

Seating the boy in the courtyard, the brāhmaṇī went to the kitchen and started to prepare an offering. Kṛṣṇa then thought, the purpose for which I carried these food-stuffs has been completed. When the brāhmaṇa comes home, he will discover the authenticity of My words, and will never doubt them again. Thus having made arrangements to dispel the doubts of His devotee, Kṛṣṇa disappeared.

That day, despite great effort, the brāhmaṇa was unable to collect any alms. Losing all hope, he returned home, considering the situation to be the will of Ṭhākurjī, his deity. His wife opened the back door when he knocked, and since he knew there had been no supplies in the house, he was surprised to see her cooking, and inquired, “What are you cooking? How is it that you have some supplies?”

Now she was surprised, and said, “Well, you sent a six-month supply of food with that little boy. Why do you ask? And I never knew your heart was so hard like stone. How could you slash the tender body of that boy three times on His chest? Have you no mercy?” The brāhmaṇa was astonished.

“What are you talking about? I didn’t send anything home... nor did I hurt any boy. Please explain!”

The brāhmaṇī showed her husband the huge pile of supplies brought by the boy. Then she took him to the courtyard to show him the boy and His cuts... but the boy was not there. She searched the whole house for Him. Where had He gone? The courtyard gate was closed, as it had been before the boy came. The couple looked at each other in surprise. The whole situation began to dawn on Ārjuna Miśra, and tears began to flow continuously from his eyes.

After washing his hands and feet he entered the deity room and opened his Bhagavad-gītā. The three red pen slashes he had made that morning on the line: “I Myself carry the necessities of those engaged in^[2] My bhajana”, were now gone. His doubt was completely dispelled, and overwhelmed with happiness, he came out of the deity room crying.

“My dear, you are so fortunate! Today you directly saw Śrī Gopīnātha! And He personally brought all these foodstuffs! How could I have possibly sent so much stock, just by begging?”

Then he explained to his wife, “This morning, while writing my Bhagavad-gītā commentary, I doubted one statement of Śrī Bhagavān, and slashed some words with three lines of red ink. That’s why the tender chest of the sweet young boy you saw, our Ṭhākurjī, Gopīnātha, was marked with three cuts. He is supremely compassionate, and went to considerable trouble to prove the authenticity of His statements, and to remove the doubts of an atheist like me.”

His throat choked up and he was unable to speak further. Overwhelmed with love, he cried out, “Oh Gopīnātha! Oh Gopīnātha!” and then fainted. Standing in front of their deity Śrī Gopīnātha, the brāhmaṇī was struck dumb, and her eyes filled with tears. Returning to external consciousness a while later, Ārjuna Miśra took his bath, did his daily duties, offered to Śrī Gopīnātha the meal that his wife had prepared, and with great love they both accepted His remnants. He continued writing the commentary on Gītā every day, immersed in love of God.

Our previous Ācārya, Seventh Gosvāmī Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes in his commentary on the Bhagavad-gitā, quoting Śrī Kṛṣṇa as saying:

“You should not think that the three types of fruītive worshippers attain happiness, and that My devotees suffer. My bhaktas think of Me only, without deviation. For the maintenance of their bodies they accept anything that is favourable to My bhakti and reject all that is unfavourable. In this way, they are nitya-abhiyukta, or ever-united with Me by devotional love. Free from selfish desires, they offer everything exclusively to Me. I alone maintain them, providing all their wealth and other requirements. From an external viewpoint, there may appear to be a similarity between materially-motivated worshippers (pratīka upāsakas) and My bhaktas, who only accept that which is favourable to My service. However, there is a big difference between the two. I carry the yoga (progress) and kṣema (maintenance) of My bhaktas even if they have no mundane desires. The special benefit My bhaktas receive is that by My mercy they enjoy all sense objects in a dispassionate manner and finally they attain eternal bliss. The pratīka upāsakas, however, again return to the field of karma after enjoying sense pleasure. They do not attain eternal bliss. I am indifferent to all mundane occurences, but out of affection for My bhaktas, I am delighted to help them in every respect. In My doing this, there is no offence on the part of My bhaktas, because they do not pray to Me for anything except My favour. I Myself personally supply their requirements.”

“There is another true story of Śrī Bhagavān personally coming to serve His pure devotee, said Śrīpāda Narottamānanda, “The story of Padmavati and Jayadeva”.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

nityābhiyuktānāṃ yoga-kṣemaṃ vahāmy āham

[2]:

nityābhiyuktānāṃ yoga-kṣemaṃ vahāmy āham