During Gaurang Mahaprabhu’s time, one day Gaurang Mahaprabhu said to His intimate devotees, “Oh, Pundarik has come! Do you know Pundarik has come to Nadiya, Navadvip? I am going to go see him.”
The devotees did not know who Pundarik was, but they surmised that he must be a great devotee because our Gurudev (spiritual master), who is none other than Shree Krishna Himself, wishes to see Pundarik. He wants to have Pundarik’s darshan (Divine vision).
“Oh, how great Pundarik must be! He must be such a great devotee!”
They asked, “May we come along?”
“Yes, yes!”
So they all went with Mahaprabhuji, and Pundarik Vidyanidhi was living in the lap of luxury. He was wearing clothes made of satin and silk. There were so many maids and servants serving him, catering to every demand of his. He was wearing so much gold, so much jewelry, and it didn’t look like he was devoted.
One of the devotees, by the name Gadadhar, became extremely confused. He started thinking, “This is all wrong. What is this? My Gurudev, Mahaprabhuji, He is so anxious to see this man, this worldly man?”
And Mahaprabhuji went very anxiously, ran towards Pundarik, and embraced him for a long, long time. And both of them cried. Gadadhar went out of his mind.
“This is all wrong! What is wrong with Mahaprabhuji? What is wrong with my Gurudev? He has never made this mistake before!”
In due course of time, they all went back to the ashram and Gaurang Mahaprabhu summoned Gadadhar and said, “Gadadhar, you go away from Me and never come back!”
This was most unexpected. Gadadhar asked, “Maharajji, what have I done? What is my mistake?”
“Your mistake? You don’t know? What did you think when you went to Pundarik? Tell Me what you were thinking. I know what you were thinking! You have insulted him. He is a great devotee of God, and you have insulted him! What you thought was that he is a worldly man because he is surrounded by luxury. But what have I taught you? What have you learned from Me, Gadadhar? Where does detachment live? Where does it live? Haven’t you learned? Don’t you know that it lives in the mind and not in the body? Detachment is in the mind, not in the body, Gadadhar.”
Gadadhar cried and said, “Maharajji, I cannot live without You! I cannot leave You!”
“Leave Me? Gadadhar, you have already left Me! The moment you thought that I was wrong, that is the moment you left Me. I do not wish to see you again! Out of here! Get out!”
The very gentle Mahaprabhuji became so strict because He cannot tolerate His devotee being insulted.
