Shri Balkrishna Das ji Maharaj
Now Shri Maharaj ji became absolutely free from the confinement of place and lived a nomadic lifestyle. He begged for alms from kshetras [1], here and there. Above all, he would go and see the Rasa Lila[2] where it was being enacted. And he slept wherever he pleased. Maharajji became absolutely companionless after the departure of Kamal Nayan ji. He did not live with or increase his acquaintance with anyone for a few years. Neither did he live in any ashram nor did he have dealings with any sampradaya.
Tilaks/Sectarian Marks
So much so that Shri
Balkrishna Das ji Maharaj stopped applying tilak or wearing other sectarian signs. Even the convention of purification rituals was relaxed. He would beg for alms from some kshetra of Vrindavan or from the homes of Braj denizens. Steeped in the joyous abandon of worshipping God, the delight of meditating on God's lila along with an ardent longing for pratyaksha darshan, actual seeing the Divine, he began moving about freely at his own will.
The Narada Bhakti Sutra
yo vedan api sanyasyati kevalam avicchinnanuragam labhate |
(Sutra
49, Narada Bhakti Sutras)
It is a state in which the devotee forsakes religious observances ordained by the Vedas and remains steeped in the flow of incessant prema or loving devotion for Shri
Radha-Krishna:
Shri Udiya Baba
In those days the Rasa Lila used to be enacted in the ashram of Shri Udiya Baba, the Vanshi Vat and Brahmachari Mandir. Shri Maharaj ji would go to the sites to see these performances. At night he would rest at any of the following places:Davanal Kund, Govindji's Mandir, Cheer Ghat, Keshi Ghat or the old Mandir of Shri Harivanshji. In those days the ashram of Shri Udiya Baba ji Maharaj was a famous place. Shri Udiya and Shri Hari Babaji were fully siddh, self-realized saints, at that time. The immense joy on seeing the Rasa Lila which was enacted daily in the ashram, was indescribable.
Enactment of the Rasa Lila, Shri Rasa Bihari & Shri Radha
Shri Hari Baba ji Maharaj had great faith in the Rasa. When Rasa Bihari[3] got seated on the throne he would fully prostrate before Him and put a garland on him.
Shri Hari Baba
Standing behind him,
Hari Baba would keep waving the chanwar[4] as long as the Rasa went on. Shri Maharajji had great regard for him. Furthermore, Maharaj
ji went through a unique incident related to Shri Hari Baba, which shall be narrated later, contextually.
Davanal Kund
Generally after seeing Rasa in the ashram of Udiya Baba, Shri Balkrishna Das ji would take bhiksha of two rotis from Bombay Kothi Kshetra[5] and keep lying in a cave near the stairs of Davanal Kund. He would not even go to the basti[6] for several days at a stretch.
Radish & Carrots
Once it so happened
that the time of
the Rasa Lila’s enactment in Udiya Baba's Ashram and the time of giving bhiksha in the Bombay Kothi Kshetra coincided in the winter season. So he would go to a field after
the Rasa and asking for carrot or radish he
would survive on them. Four months passed by in this fashion.
[2] Rasa Lila:
enactment of the round
dance of Krishna with
the herdgirls of Braj, a
performance depicting Krishna and the
gopis dancing in communion,
a typle of popular
drama dealing with the
exploits of Krishna
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