84 Vaishnavas, Varta #9, Benidas and Madhavdas, two Kshatri brothers from Kaḍā

This is a literary journey into the heart of devotion. The easiest and fastest way to any goal is through spending time with someone who has reached that goal themselves. The saints of bhakti depicted in the "84 Vaishnavas" text are mentors and guides for spiritual seekers. Spending time with them by reading or hearing this text is satsang: good association. This translation project is dedicated to Shyamdas, one of the greatest bhakti translators and transmitters who has ever lived.

Transcript

Vārtā 9: Benidas and Madhavdas, two Kshatri brothers from Kaḍā

 Bhāvprakāśh: In the lila, Benidas was an ox who pulled the cart of Radha’s father, Vrishabhanuji. One time he gored Krishna’s friend, Rshabha Sakha, with his horns, which left Rshabha Sakha suffering from injuries for three days. From that incident Benidas was cursed to return to the earth. His brother Madhavdas is Ratanaprabha (Ratanaprabhā) in the lila, a sakhi of Lalitaji. By the Lord’s wish they were born as brothers here on earth, but they did not see eye to eye. Madhavdas kept a prostitute in his home. All the other Vaishnavas scorned him for that, but she was a divine soul and a Vaishnava. In the lila, she is Chandralata (Candralatā), a sakhi of Chandravali. Without lila connection, divine souls would not be bound together by firm love. 

Vārtā Prasang 1: One time Shri Acaryaji visited Kada, and all of the local bhaktas came to see him. Having heard the news, Madhavdas came and bowed to Shri Acaryaji. All the Vaishnavas complained to Shri Acaryaji, “Maharaj! Madhavdas keeps a prostitute!” Shri Acaryaji asked him, “Madhavdas! Is this true?” 

Madhavdas replied, “Maharaj, I am attached to her, that is why I keep her.” Shri Acaryaji asked him the same question three times. Each time Madhavdas gave the same reply, “Maharaj! My mind and heart are attached to her. So I keep her.” Shri Acaryaji remained silent. 

Bhāvprakāśh: The teaching here is that at first, the Vaishnavas criticized Madhavdas in order to free him from his association with the prostitute, because they thought he would become embarrassed and leave her. They saw him as a brother. They were not jealous or repulsed by him; if so, they all would have experienced obstructions. When they told Shri Acaryaji about Madhavdas’s situation, it was for his sake, because if Shri Acaryaji were to say something and Madhavdas left her, it would be good. 

If this were just a worldly situation, Madhavdas would have left her immediately when the Vaishnavas scorned him. But Shri Acaryaji understands the complexities of the entire lila. That is why Shri Acaryaji asked him, “Madhavdas, do you keep a prostitute?” If he had instead said, “This is an obstruction for you. Leave that prostitute,” or “Madhavdas! You kept a prostitute? That is a most despicable thing to do! This will remain in the account of your life. Have you no fear of the world?” Then Madhavdas would have left the prostitute, and everyone would have praised him. 

Madhavdas replied to Shri Acaryaji, “I got attracted to her. She has no proper place or support, so that is why I kept her, despite all the shame and the Vaishnavas’ advice to leave her. I wouldn’t have kept her, but you are the inspiration behind all my thoughts! You yourself made me attracted to her, so you kept her with me.” He gave this answer three times. When there is pure love, only one singular truth comes out. Madhavdas spoke the whole truth all three times. Then Shri Acaryaji was very pleased, for such a steadfast Vaishnava like Madhavdas is extremely rare. 

Then all the Vaishnavas said to Shri Acaryaji, “Maharaj! Everything up until now has happened through your intervention. If you say something about this, he will leave that prostitute. Won’t you say anything to him?”

Bhāvprakāśh: The Vaishnavas were extremely concerned; that is why they spoke directly to Shri Acaryaji in this way. They thought, “How will Madhavdas be liberated?” That is why they asked Shri Acaryaji again, “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

Shri Acaryaji then reassured his followers, “Don’t worry. Madhavdas is attached to her. If Shri Thakurji wishes, how little time would it take for him to turn this situation around? And remember, this is the same Madhavdas whom Gadadhardas blessed, ‘Your devotion to Hari will be firm.’”

Bhāvprakāśh: Shri Acaryaji was explaining to those Vaishnavas, “Don’t worry about him. Madhavdas will not fall into the mundane world. In fact, he is the one who will lift that prostitute and others out of the mundane world! I have given him the firm devotion that Gadadhardas blessed him with. If I were to force Madhavdas to abandon the prostitute immediately, then how would anyone witness the grace that the great bhakta Gadadhardas showered him with? The devotion Gadadhardas blessed him with will become firm, so stop worrying about him.” 

Content with Shri Acaryaji’s words, the Vaishnavas remained silent. After some time, Madhavdas changed his mind and stopped living with the prostitute. He started following the lifestyle of a devotee and became a great Vaishnava. 

Bhāvprakāśh: When Madhavdas left the prostitute, he revealed to her, “You are the sakhi of Shri Gusainji. When he arrives here, your spiritual life will be accomplished. Now our relationship cannot continue.” By saying this he uplifted her. She lived on dry breads cooked on coals for fifteen years, until Shri Gusainji came to their town of Kada. She approached him and submitted, “Maharaj! Please accept me.” Shri Gusainji replied, “I cannot make a prostitute my follower.”

Then she returned home and collapsed. She stopped taking water and food. Shri Gusainji stayed in Kada for eight days. She would go and watch him from a distance. On the ninth day, as Shri Gusainji was leaving, two men escorted her by the hand to Shri Gusainji’s presence. She beseeched him, “Maharaj, this is the ninth day that I have not taken food or water. I am about to die unless you accept me.”

Shri Gusainji then understood that her shortcomings had been removed and she was pure. He gave her first initiation with the mantra “Shri Krishnah sharanam mama.” She then requested the second initiation, Brahma Sambandha mantra. “Maharaj! Madhavdas told me, ‘You are Shri Gusainji’s follower (dāsī).’ For the past fifteen years I have been waiting for you, subsisting on dry breads. Then I did not even drink water for nine days. Now I will follow your instructions. I am impure, but through Madhavdas’s association, I actually beheld Shri Acaryaji Mahaprabhu and you as well. Now I will only survive if you initiate me with Brahma Sambandha and bless me with a form of Krishna to serve.”

Seeing her pure bhav, Shri Gusainji initiated her and gave her a Child Krishna to worship. He told the other Vaishnavas, “Teach her the ways of the path of grace. She will worship Krishna according to your instructions.” And so the prostitute began making her Krishna’s seva. One time her monthly cycle began, and the Vaishnavas told her, “For four days, you cannot make the seva or touch the water and foods in seva.” However, her love for Krishna was so strong that she could not remain without him. She did not stop making seva during her cycle. On the fifth day, she bathed and washed everything and gave Shri Thakurji a five nectars bath. Because of this, all of the other Vaishnavas stopped associating with her. 

After some days Shri Gusainji returned to Kada, where the Vaishnavas approached him and said, “Maharaj! We told her many times not to make seva during her monthly cycle, but she wouldn’t listen to us. She continued to make seva all month long.” Shri Gusainji then called the prostitute to him and asked her, “Why are you offering Shri Thakurji water and serving him during your monthly cycle?” 

She explained, “Maharaj! I have been with as many worldly husbands as the number of hairs on my body. With your grace, I am now free from all of that. You have given me one divine husband, so how can I remain without him for four days? You are the inner controller and know that I cannot remain without my beloved Krishna for a moment. On the fifth day, I wash everything and give Shri Thakurji a special bath. I maintain that much of the maryada rules. You know the inner heart of all beings. So now whatever you command me to do, I will follow.”

Seeing that Shri Thakurji was delighted with her, Shri Gusainji told her, “Continue doing what you are doing.” Consoling her thus, he sent her home, saying, “Go quickly. Shri Thakurji is sitting there waiting for you.” She bowed low to the bhakti master and proceeded home. 

Later, Shri Gusainji addressed the Vaishnavas, “Let her do what she is doing. Don’t say anything to her. However, you should not copy her. Shri Thakurji is happy with her the way she is, but he will be pleased by all of you following the rules.” In this way, through Madhavdas’s association, that prostitute attained the divine state of love. 

Vārtā Prasang 2: Madhavdas and Benidas lived together. One day, a seller came to their town with a very expensive pearl necklace. When he saw it, Madhavdas said to his brother Benidas, “This pearl necklace is worthy of offering to our child Krishna, Shri Navanit Priyaji. We should buy it.” Benidas replied, “Why do we need that necklace? Everything that we have is already Shri Thakurji’s.” With those words, he ended the conversation.

Bhāvprakāśh: This illustrates that people who are still attached to the mundane proclaim to others for show, “Everything is Shri Thakurji’s,” yet they will not spend a penny on him.

Madhavdas questioned, “If everything is Shri Thakurji’s, then why don’t we buy this lovely necklace for him?” Benidas replied, “How can we afford it?” Madhavdas demanded, “Give me my share of our wealth. I am going to live separately from you.”

Bhāvprakāśh: Madhavdas was saying, “In the lila, you are an ox. You only know how to bear the burden of householder occupations. That is why I want to live separate from you and fulfill my heart’s desires for Shri Thakurji.”

The brothers split their resources in half, leaving them each with just a little bit of money. Madhavdas could not afford to buy the pearl necklace, but the desire lingered in his heart, “It would have been nice to offer that necklace to Shri Navanit Priyaji.” Madhavdas took whatever funds he had and went south to earn more money, leaving Shri Navanit Prayaji behind. He continued to contemplate offering that necklace in a divine way to his child Krishna and worried that it might be sold to someone for worldly purposes. That pearl necklace was eventually sold in Prayag. A Vaishnava purchased it and gave it to Shri Acaryaji, who then offered it to his child Krishna, also named Shri Navanit Priyaji. 

Meanwhile, Madhavdas accumulated a great deal of wealth and bought a pearl necklace even nicer than the one he had seen with his brother. On the way home he came to a wide river and was crossing it in a boat with a crowd of people. Halfway across, Shri Navanit Prayaji appeared with a red cane in hand. Only Madhavdas could see him. Shri Navanit Prayaji asked Madhavdas, “Shall I sink this boat?” By way of reply, Madhavdas recited one of Shri Acaryaji’s teachings: “nijecchātaḥ kariṣyati—Krishna acts according to his own desires.”

Shri Navanit Priyaji then asked, “Where have you been all this time?” Madhavdas explained, “I went to buy a necklace for you.” The Lord continued, “What, you think I don’t have any necklaces? Look, Shri Acaryaji offered me that very same pearl necklace that you desired for me. I have so many more necklaces too.” Madhavdas explained, “Maharaj! You may have plenty of necklaces, but it is not the dharma of a follower to just sit idly by. One should be engaged in service.” Then Shri Navanit Prayaji refrained from capsizing the boat. 

Bhāvprakāśh: When Shri Thakurji appeared to Madhavdas on the boat, he was saying, “I had to chase after you all the way to the South. Why did you go? You think I don’t have any necklaces? If I sink this boat, then what will you do? Then all of your divine aspirations will remain unfulfilled.”

Madhavdas replied to Shri Thakurji, “nijecchātaḥ kariṣyati doesn’t mean ‘You act according to your own desires’ but rather, ‘the desires of your own followers (nijānām sevakānām).’ One of your sacred names is also, ‘bhakta manoratha-pūrakāya namaḥ—I bow to the Lord who fulfills the desires of his bhaktas.’ The mala I wanted to purchase for you was ultimately offered to you by Shri Acaryaji. So I don’t care if you sink this boat, which is really my bodily form. You may sink it at any point. Why did I even make the effort, if you already have so many necklaces? It’s because being able to fulfill a desire to please you is the fruit of any endeavor. Otherwise, living as a householder in this world is just one unrelenting waste of time. The dharma of a bhakta is to continually feel divine desires to offer you things.” 

It was because of this dialogue that Shri Thakurji decided not to sink the boat. When Shri Thakurji asked if he should sink the boat, if Madhavdas had answered “As you wish,” Shri Thakurji would have immediately capsized the boat, because that would have been the command of a bhakta. Instead Madhavdas said, “nijecchātaḥ kariṣyati,” using the word “nija” to mean not ‘your own’ but ‘your bhakta’s’ wishes, which in this case was the wish to offer him a necklace. 

 Madhavdas was not at all concerned about the boat sinking. However, the others who were sitting on the boat needed to be saved from such a calamity, because they were sitting with a bhakta. How could Madhavdas let them drown? Know that the words of an accomplished bhakta are esoteric. Only the Lord, or those whom the Lord graces, can understand Madhavdas’s deeper meaning. 

As the boat was rocking back and forth, everyone on board became terrified. The boatman exclaimed, “This out of my control!” At that moment, Madhavdas’s heart was overjoyed, and that kept the boat from sinking. Everyone on the boat praised Madhavdas, “This is a great soul sitting here with us, that alone saved us from sinking. Otherwise we would have all drowned.”

They reached the other shore, and after some days Madhavdas went to see Shri Acaryaji Mahaprabhu and stayed with him. Shri Acaryaji Mahaprabhu asked him, “How did you keep that boat from sinking?” Madhavdas then told Shri Acaryaji everything that had happened. Shri Acaryaji proclaimed to all the Vaishnavas, “Look! It’s that Madhavdas. What a solid Vaishnav he has become!” Since that day, that particular pearl necklace is named “Madhavdas.”

Bhāvprakāśh: What is revealed here is that Madhavdas’s name in the lila is Ratanaprabha (luminous jewel), and his life story is equally full of illumination. Madhavdas was such an intimate devotee. His story also shows the supreme power of a bhakta’s blessing. 

Madhavdas was a vessel of Shri Acaryaji’s grace and an accomplished bhakta. His story is fathomless, so how can it be fully recounted?