CC daily 16 – M 54-56 – Devotion makes a stone a simhasana

Thank you so here how Madhavendra Puri arranged for the installation of the deity is now going to be described so till now how Madhavendra Puri asked the people to go with him to the forest after hearing the message of Gopal in a dream after seeing him point the ticket in the forest that has been described, after reclaiming the deity from the forest it has been taken to the top of the hill at appropriate place to be installed, what is happening thereafter is mentioned over here patharera simhasane patharera so pathara is stone, so pathare patharera is made of stone simhasane so there was a stone which was shaped into an improvised royal throne now the lord had appeared suddenly and Madhavendra Puri knowing this was an emergency he had to arrange for the installation of the lord immediately, the lord cannot be kept in the forest so he was a travelling mendicant, he did not have any money nor did he have any means to get money immediately but just because money is not there, that doesn't mean the service of the lord has to be stopped so he got a stone throne now somebody may say stone is just a stone in the forest why call it a throne, why call it a simhasana so simhasana is literally translated, is simply translated often as throne, but there is such a poetic depth to the word to the Sanskrit original simhasana so asana can either mean the posture in which we sit as in yoga asana or it can refer to the object on which someone sits so Vyasa asana is the asana on which the Vyasadeva sits or his representative or spiritual teacher sits simhasana refers to the place where a simha sits now quite often the kshatriyas who are kings they are valorous so there have to be appropriate metaphors for different classes of people so for learned people, for those who are brahmanas for them comparing them with a simha is not appropriate so the seat for them is called a Vyasa asana whereas the seat for a king the king is also expected to have scriptural knowledge but certainly the king is not expected to be a scholar to the level of proficiency as are scholars as are brahmanas who have dedicated their whole life to scholarship kings have to do many other things apart from studying and hearing scriptures which they can do only occasionally in between their royal responsibilities so for them the appropriate comparison is simha so the king's throne is often called as a simhasana king has to be valorous just like the mruganam mrugendroham krishna says in the bhagavad gita that in the forest among the forest animals mrugendra, the king of the forest animals that is the lion, I am that so here simhasana so just as the just as the lion rules the forest, similarly the king is meant to rule the kingdom and that person who rules the kingdom with leonine's power that person is this throne on which that person sits is called as a simhasana now the lord is the supreme simha not just in his form when he appears in narasimha but always he is the greatest hero and he performs heroic deeds now krishna combines often both the intellectual brilliance of a brahmana as when he speaks the pureless wisdom of the bhagavad gita and the martial brilliance of a kshatriya as when he is able to defeat the best of warriors in various battles in his career as a yadu prince so pathare simhasane so therefore when the lord gopal has appeared the throne for him is called as simhasana so a stone was improvised into simhasana and thakur thakur sorry thakur thakur is krishna himself his name thakurji the duty was brought and seated over there respectfully bada ek pathare prishthe avalam badila and now a big stone was there another big stone was there and it was placed behind that particular stone so that it could become like a backrest so normally when a person is going to sit in a particular place for a long time then a backrest is required so the devotee treats the lord very personally and although krishna may seem to have been in a destitute position lost in a forest he is god still and a devotee wants to give him as much respect as possible as is due to his position as god so madhavendra puri had no resources but he very lovingly and promptly and with his resources dexterously expertly arranged for a stone simhasana to be made and the choice of the word simhasana by krishna das krishna das goswami here indicates the devotional nature of the vision of both the author of krishna das goswami and of madhavendra puri and his associates so although it was just a throne and they had no time to make an elaborate carvings or anything to mark it as a simhasana but because it was being used for the lord it was implicitly understood that this is a simhasana and then he was given a backrest as is the normal respectful way to deal with anybody who is in a respectable position gramera brahmana sabha nava ghatalaya govinda kundera jala ani lachhaniya so gramera brahmana sabha now the lord was covered with dust and that dust had been removed once but there in the forest itself they did not have much water so now water was profusely available in govinda kunda now we remember that madhavendra puri had been sitting near govinda kunda after bathing there and krishna had come over there so this whole pastime is happening near govinda kunda now madhavendra puri is not claiming exclusive privilege oh i alone will do everything no he is in a village and he respects the local graminical culture over there and the brahmana also coming and assisting and naturally gives them allows them to render service so gramera brahmana sabha nava ghatalaya so they got 9 pots of water govinda kundera jala ani lachhaniya they brought water from there and naturally they wanted to offer the water to the lord for bathing for drinking whatever but they wanted to clear the water so lachhaniya so they cleansed the water whatever dust might have been there dirt particles might have been there they ensured that settled down and then they started rendering intimate service to the lord so now one of the central elements in installation of the deity is abhishek bathing so after the water was purified now that was going to be offered to the lord for his bathing for his sacred abhishek so first they brought 9 pots of water but then 9 is hardly enough so 900 pots were brought and that much water was brought and that was offered so and now the villagers they had a spontaneous devotional mood and they immediately said oh the lord is being installed what a wonderful occasion this is so they also wanted an opportunity to glorify the lord to use their musical abilities so whatever abilities they had so it became like again a impromptu improvised orchestra for the pleasure of the lord so every village community has its own everywhere in the world there are people of different talents some are musicians some are singers so they all started people started playing instruments and interestingly we see here that it is said the women were singing songs so it is not that only men are meant to sing and women are meant to follow alone so of course here Madhavendra Puri was an exalted saint and apart from that as far as we understand Brajwasis are generally what is described over here there is no mention of any other sanyasis so Madhavendra Puri was a very exalted soul and apart from that it was all a community of grahasthas and they were all now celebrating so the women were jubilantly singing and glorifying the lord through sweet devotional songs so and as the celebration was going on some people were dancing some people were singing so and this is a big festival there was a spontaneous order that was there because all of them were united in their desire to glorify the lord according to whatever talent they had those who had talent to sing they sang and those who had talent to dance they danced and then those who had talent to cook they were arranging for that also that is being described and that was brought and how much it was brought as much as it was there it was all brought together and the idea was oh the lord has appeared over here let us offer whatever we can to him whatever we have as much as we have it is an occasion of profound celebration that the lord who is our master has chosen to reappear over here so let us welcome him by offering him the best that we can and such is the mood of devotion where everybody wants to serve jubilantly and celebrate in the lord's.