The passing of Srivas Pandit’s son.

By Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

One day when Mahaprabhu Himself was chanting with His associates in Srivas Pandit’s house, Srivas Pandit’s son disappeared. It is an unthinkable matter. Mahaprabhu was dancing and chanting, and Srivas Pandit was also present there, but his son died. Srivas Pandit did not tell Mahaprabhu, and his wife Malini Devi was crying, but very hiddenly. They did not want to disturb Mahaprabhu’s dancing and chanting of Krishna-nam. They did not want to disturb that, but Mahaprabhu understood  everything and said, “I am not feeling good today; what happened in this house?”

Srivas Pandit replied, “Oh nothing, Prabhu! You chant and dance. There is nothing.”

“Oh no, no, I am not feeling good. What happened? Tell me.”

Then Srivas Pandit told Mahaprabhu, “A jiva-soul who mercifully came to my house has disappeared today.”

Mahaprabhu quickly went to give some pacification to the ladies and others. He also called the boy, “You are leaving us today? Why are you leaving? We are here chanting and dancing, and you are leaving. It does not look good. Why are you doing this?”

Mahaprabhu asked this to the dead body. Then, the dead body began talking. Everything is as it is meant to be, but we cannot see that, and what that dead body said is the truth: “I have very good fortune: I was born in Srivas Pandit’s house, and now I am going to serve Your Divine Grace. I am very fortunate.” He spoke like this. “If anybody is born one day, then he must die another day. That is not a significant matter. It is happening every day.”

ahany ahani bhutani gachchhanti yama-mandiram
sesah sthavaram ichchhanti kim ascharyam atah param
(Mahabharata: Vana-parva, 313.116)

Every day jiva-souls are dying and changing their bodies. It is not a very surprising matter. What is surprising is that everybody thinks, “I shall live a long time.” That is a surprising matter. Everybody is dying every day. That is not surprising. But everybody is thinking, “I shall not die; maybe I will die another day.” Such thinking is very surprising.

This world is going on in this way, and with full consciousness and mercy we can see everything. It is very true, whether we know it or not: what will happen must happen.

Source

Spoken on 10 October 1989.