Appearance of Madhavendra Puri

Bhakta Don Foose (the cool one)

 What makes me qualified to write about Madhavendra Puri? I posed this question before a senior devotee who asked me to write this article. She said, "What qualifies you to write about Madhavendra Puri is that you don't feel as though you're qualified to do so." I was very inspired by this statement and took it as a challenge to glorify this pure Vaisnava nicely.

The Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu actually gives creedence to why he took shelter of Isvara Puri (a dedicated disciple of Madhavedra Puri). In the later stages of Madhavendra Puri's life, Isvara Puri considered it a great honor and service to wait on his gurudeva as he lay in an incapacitated state. Madhavendra Puri could not even answer Nature's call of passing stool in proper facilities. So as a pure, surrendered disciple, Isvara Puri tended to his spiritual masters needs, by helping him with hygeine and whatever service he could possibly render.

Now, one might ask, "If this article is meant for the glorification of Madhavendra Puri, why does it seem like Isvara Puri is being glorified?" Well, Lord Caitanya surrendered to Isvara Puri. If Isvara Puri was not empowered by the Lord Himself, Lord Caitanya would have never taken shelter of him. This, in my eyes, makes Isvara Puri an extraordinary individual. And, if Isvara Puri is an extraordinary individual, just try to imagine the capacity of Madhavendra Puri who actually gave him shelter and taught him how to be the great devotee that he turned out to be.

So, I guess my offering to His Divine Grace Madhavendra Puri Maharaja has to go through the pure devotee who served him so nicely. We can see the wonderful qualities of Madhavendra Puri through his disciple, Isvara Puri, who was empowered through disciplic succession to give initiation to the Lord Himself. Madhavendra Puri also gave practical examples of devotion as the Deity of Gopala came to him in a dream and requested some service from him. He was asked to find the Deity of Sri Gopala in the forest and to re-establish it in the temple nicely. Madhavendra Puri travelled a great distance to collect sandalwood paste for the Lord and was in bliss at every step. He offered the sandalwood, to cool the Lord, through Sri Gopinatha, and satisfied Sri Gopala nicely. Madhavendra Puri's appearance is pure and his devotion to the Lord Sri Krsna emanates from his pure servant, Isvara Puri.

In writing this article, I've learned a valuable lesson. At first, I didn't want to accept the responsibility, in fear of my lack of qualification and poor writing skills. But, above and beyond that, I wrote this because a very dear Godsister asked me to. I now realize that she just wanted to engage me in the Lord's service, just as Madhavendra Puri wanted to give the opportunity of service to Isvara Puri. Thanks Mata, Hare Krsna!