This is the continuing serialization of 252 Vaishnavan ki varta, the lives of the saints following Vitthalnath, son of Vallabhacharya. It has been translated from the original Braj Bhasha by Krishnaa Kinkari Devi.
Once Sri Gusainji sent Chachaji to Gujarat. He was on his way to Gujarat to fulfill his Guru’s wishes when he lost his way. He found himself in a huge forest and spent three days lost in the jungle. As he was wandering about on the fourth day, he saw a duck flying upwards. Chachaji realized that there must be a body of water somewhere nearby. With this in mind he carried on and came to a tiny village where he found a well. He stood at the well where a woman was drawing water.
There were three other Vaishnavas with Chachaji. When the lady saw the four of them standing there she left the rope with which she was pulling up the water on the side of the well and went to stand at a distance.
The Vaishnavas took out their pots and a rope and drew water from the well. They performed their ablutions [toilet, teeth cleaning, bath and tilak] and sat down to do their daily mantra recitations. When they had done all this they got up to leave. When she saw that they had completed their daily routine the lady went back to the well. It was the custom that whenever a man from the village came to the well the women would move away and then return after he had gone.
Chachaji started to go on his way. The lady then fell at his feet at a little distance and humbly beseeched him in sign language to come with his fellow travelers to her home. They could not understand the language she spoke, but she used her hands to guide them to the cowshed near her home. There she invited them to sit down while she went into the village. From the village she fetched another lady who was able to speak the Vaishnavas’ language.
The two women went into the forest and picked some very nice fruit which they put into a basket and brought to Chachaji. Chachaji told the lady that he would be able to use the fruits if they let him pay for them. The second lady translated. Hearing Chachaji’s offer to pay the first lady said to the second, “But I don’t need to be paid for these. Please ask them why they cannot otherwise use the fruits. Ask them and then explain to me what they say.”
The second lady spoke to Chacha Harivamsaji, “She does not want to be paid for them. She would like to know why you will not accept them. Please tell me what you would like me to explain to her.”
Harivamsaji explained, “If she takes payment then we can accept the basket of fruit. We do not accept anything that is given to us by a non-Vaishnava.”
This was explained to the first lady. She asked the other lady to reply to Chachaji, “If this is the case, could they make me into a Vaishnava? Then they might accept the fruits?”
The second lady translated this to Chachaji. Seeing her insistence Chacha Harivamsaji asked her to convey his message, “A Vaishnava cannot eat inappropriate foodstuffs.”
Again the first lady asked the question to be conveyed, “When one becomes a Vaishnava what can and can’t one eat?”
After hearing this question Chachaji replied, “Vaishnavas eat grains as well as fruits and vegetables. They do not eat masoor dal, carrots, radishes, gular [the cluster fig] or watermelon. If she will adopt these rules then I can initiate her as a Vaishnava, and accept her gift. Otherwise we will not accept them.”
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Gular, udumbara. “Cluster fig” or Ficus racemosa
Bhavaprakasha: Vaishnavas must pay much attention to what they may and may not eat. And they never accept anything from non-Vaishnavas; they should pay for what they need. The reason for this is that such goods are tainted through the influence of their worldliness and this constitutes a connection other than to the Path. Therefore they cannot be accepted by the Lord according to the rules of Pushti Marg. Eating such things damages the mind and the heart may turn away from the Beloved [bahirmukhata].
A doubt may arise here: that lady had very devotedly offered the fruits that she had brought freshly picked from the forest. There was no sway of any other embodied soul upon them. Why then did Chachaji not accept them?
The answer given here is that the lady had taken the second lady with her to fetch the fruits from the forest. So it was she who had cast her sway upon them. Even though she had offered them devotedly still, from the point of view of the Path, they were outside the realm of being related to the Beloved Lord. For this reason Chachaji did not accept them. It would have constituted relationship to another. He could not accept anything from a person who has not established their relationship with the Lord by adhering to the rules of the Path of Grace as instructed by Sri Vallabhacharya.
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Masoor Dal.
Furthermore a Vaishnava does not eat masoor dal, carrot or radishes and other smelly root vegetables because they all come under the category of tamasic foods. Eating them defiles the intelligence and becomes an obstacle to entrance into the Lord’s Eternal Pastimes. The simple reason for this is that the Lord does not accept such tamasi offerings. Eating such unaccepted things creates an obstacle to devotional service. This is the underlying principle.
The second lady clearly explained everything Chachaji had said. Hearing his words the first lady became very pleased. She told the second, “They have released me from this world of struggle which is so hard to cross over! Please tell them that I find their words full of the highest teachings, and therefore I would request them to most kindly grace me by initiating me as a Vaishnava.”
The second lady conveyed her words to Harivamsaji. Seeing the first ladies deep longing Harivamsaji gave instructions to bathe, wear new clothes and come there without touching anything on the way so that he might initiate her. Hearing these words through her friend, the lady bathed and came to Harivamsaji in a state of purity. He then gave her the Name initiation and led her to understand that she should always bathe and wear pure clothing before taking the Name of the Lord.
She then begged him to accept the basket of fruits. Harivamsaji sent for some water and washed all the fruit. It was thus the fourth day before Chachaji and the three Vaishnavas partook of the fruits after they had been offered to the Beloved Lord, along with the lady.
She asked to be told all the ways of the Path and what her duties now were. He told her that she must get rid of all the cooking pots and other vessels that she had in her house and replace them with new ones and keep the new vessels separately. After getting rid of all the old pots she should use a new pot to collect water for cleaning the house and then renew the whitewash. Then only she should fill the new waterpots for cooking and drinking.
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The lady then cleaned out her whole house and gave the old things to her elder co-wife. She bought and stored fresh rice and other grains along with powdered sugar and toor dal [“pigeon peas”] etc. When all these changes had been made, she showed Harivamsaji who told her exactly what was right and what she should give to her co-wife. She asked Harivamsaji if she could offer him anything and he replied that from now on he would be willing to accept from her.
Bhavaprakasha: She was now related to the Lord and so too was everything she had.
The woman took out rice and toor dal from her stock and had some fresh millet ground into flour. She carefully picked some leafy green vegetables from the forest garden and gave it all to Chacha Harivamsaji with the request that he prepare it. He did the cooking and made an offering to Sri Nathaji. After the appropriate amount of time for the offering had elapsed he accepted the prasad and prepared plates for all the Vaishnavas. All five of them took prasad together. Afterwards Harivamsaji showed that lady all the correct manners whilst cooking and then got ready to set off from there.
The lady said, “I will not let you go right now. This is a Bhil [a tribe of forest dwellers] village. They have gone hunting. When they come back, I will send you with them. They will take you to the next town. I am the head of all these Bhils. All around here is thick jungle full of dangerous animals. Wait for a while before you go because you do not know the way. If you go by yourself you will get lost or fall into difficulties. Let the Bhils come here first. They will guide you on the correct path.”
Chachaji realized that she was speaking the truth and that her heart was very pure so he stayed with her and cooked at her home for three days. During those three days he taught her a lot about the ways of the Path of Grace. For her part she became very interested in the Path and eagerly learnt everything that he taught her, regarding it as the absolute truth. On the third day the Bhils arrived in the village.
That lady’s husband was among them. Hearing that he was also coming she sat at the door to her house and blocked the entrance. Her husband came to her house and stood at the door. She said to him, “Now you please go and stay with your other wife. I have become a Vaishnava. I no longer wish to have any relationship with you.”
After speaking these harsh words she would not even let him enter inside. He spent the whole day lying on a cot outside her house. Other relatives of hers told him to go to his other wife’s house if he wanted to eat. He went there and ate but then came back and lay down on the cot in front of her door and went to sleep.
That night Harivamsaji and the other Vaishnavas got together and were singing the Lord’s praises. The lady’s husband was lying outside the door and listened to the singing and felt very happy. He asked his wife to request that he might also become a Vaishnava. “They seem to be great souls,” he said, “so please request them on my behalf.”
Hearing her husband’s words the lady asked him, “Will you do as they tell you?” He agreed that he would and insisted on her requesting them. Seeing how enthusiastic her husband was she went to Harivamsaji feeling very happy in her heart and said, “My husband has asked me to ask you to make him a Vaishnava, and that he will do whatever you instruct him to.”
Hearing this Harivamsaji passed on these instructions, “Farm your land, do not hunt game. If anyone comes to fight with you then fight back to defend yourself, but never go to attack another village and fight there.”
The wife relayed these words to her husband. He spent the whole night blissfully contemplating their meaning. Morning came. Chacha Harivamsaji took his tooth cleaning stick and set off together with the other Vaishnavas. The husband , carrying a large stick, walked in front of Harivamsaji. When the latter began to clean his teeth the husband implored Harivamsaji, “Please now bless me and let me take the Name initiation. You may leave after that.”
Chachaji took his and then addressed the Bhil, “Clean your teeth, bathe and put on pure new clothes. Come to me without touching anything on the way. Then I will initiate you as a Vaishnava.”
The Bhil respected his words, went home and performed all the necessary ablutions before coming back and bowing low to Harivamsaji. Seeing his enthusiasm, Harivamsaji granted him the Name initiation. Seeing that he had become a disciple of Harivamsaji all the Bhils together with their wives and children became Vaishnavas. Then they got together and implored Harivamsaji to stay for three more days which he did. They were all anxious to learn the ways of the Path from him. He told them all exactly what he had told the first lady.
The whole village began to behave as he instructed. The people offered him either gold or cloth according to their means. Put together, the goods made three huge bundles. On the fourth day Harivamsaji cooked and made the offerings and everyone partook of the prasad together. The Bhil, carrying Chachaji’s luggage bundle, then led Harivamsaji with him as far as the next village named Idalpur. When Harivamsaji arrived there, the Bhil took a receipt for the goods, asked permission and took his leave. After bowing low to Chachaji he returned home. Thereafter that Bhil gave up everything else and farmed his land keeping to the rules of Vaishnava behaviour. He only ate after offering everything to Sri Nathaji. Harivamsaji left a garment that Sri Nathaji had worn with the lady for her to serve. She would offer all foodstuffs to this cloth as her Seva.
Harivamsaji then proceeded from Idalpur to Rajnagar. He passed through Khambaich and collected many many donations for Sri Nathaji and Sri Gusainji.
Some time after this , one day Sri Gusainji was serving Sri Nathaji who told him, “Harivamsaji has made many Bhils into disciples. He has even established Seva in one of their homes. That Bhil lady always tastes the offerings before giving them to me.”
Bhavaprakasha: Here we learn that if someone offers anything to Sri Nathaji with great love and taking the name of Sri Gusainji then He readily accepts it.
Hearing these words of Sri Nathaji’s Sri Gusainji began to ponder upon them. After some days Harivamsaji arrived and very happily had the sight of Sri Nathaji and Sri Gusainji. On completing his Seva Sri Gusainji came down the mountain [Govardhan] and sat in his baithak in the sands at the foot of Sri Girirajji. Harivamsaji came and bowed to him and told him all the events of his travels.
When he began to tell him about the Bhils, Sri Gusainji recounted what Sri Nathaji had told him. Hearing from Sri Gusainji what Sri Nathaji had pronounced, Harivamsaji prostrated himself before Sri Gusainji and, taking one other Vaishnava with him, set off for the Bhil village. He reached the Bhil lady’s home after some days. All the Bhil people in the village were very happy to see him. Harivamsaji then asked them all about how they were making their food offerings. They told him how they were doing this. They said that when they offered salty items they tasted them first to make sure that the salt was neither extra nor lacking. Harivamsaji admonished them for this and forbade them to continue.
He told the lady, “If you first taste the offering it becomes jhutan [polluted by the touch of the saliva and the desire to enjoy it]. “How can you possibly offer jhutan to the Lord ? If you perform Seva like this it is wrong and offensive.”
The lady replied, “We did not know this rule. From now on we will do as you say.”
Seeing the Bhil ladies innocence of heart he stayed in her home for three months. He taught her all the details of Seva as well as making sure that she and all the other Bhils homes were recleaned and then kept to strict rules of purity. He also taught her all about cooking and preparing offerings, and how the offerings should be made. He told her what Sri Nathaji had said. She was very happy to hear these words. In this way, through the auspices of Sri Harivamsaji all those Bhils were accepted by the Lord. She became a highly accomplished Vaishnava.
Bhavaprakasha: At the time of Sri Ramaji’s appearance this Bhilani was Shabari. She was the one who had famously offered jhutan fruits to Sri Ramaji himself. She had tasted them first to make sure that he would never eat any poisonous bug that might be in them, holding in her heart the loving sentiment that Sri Ramji was a tender young man and she wanted to make sure he never suffered any sadness. Thus in her love she offered fruits that had already been tasted. Love is the true form of the Path of Grace. For this reason this Bhilani lady was accepted within this very lifetime. In this birth she offered jhutan frits to Sri Nathaji.
In the eternal lila she is in the group of sakhis known as the Pulindis and her name is Saṁjhya. In the same way as the spiritual intelligence blossoms, so was her mind always blossoming.
Thereafter that Bhilani kept the vessels for Sri Thakurji, the water used for Seva and those for herself quite separate, thus following Chachaji’s instructions. She gained a good understanding of the meaning of sakhadi and jhutan. All the other Bhils formed into one group with one mind-set together and did everything after they had asked her how. Harivamsaji then left her and returned to Sri Gusainji. The Bhils all sent as much as they could as donations for Sri Gusainji. All of them became worthy of great Grace through the association of Chacha Harivamsaji.
Bhavaprakasha: This story reveals that with the association of Vaishnavas one can achieve the desired goal. Although the granting of the fruits or rewards is solely in the hand of the Lord, still an embodied soul should always try to keep enlightened company. Then their mind can never be diverted for it will always remain in one [the correct] place.
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