Hare Krishna. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

All glories to Sri

Guru and Sri Gauranga. Thank you all so much for the opportunity to serve by this class today. I pray
for all your blessings.

om namo bhagavate vasudevaya x 3

BG 10.9

mac-cittā mad-gata-prāṇā
bodhayantaḥ parasparam
kathayantaś ca māṁ nityaṁ
tuṣyanti ca ramanti ca

The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they
derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.

Purport

Pure devotees, whose characteristics are mentioned here, engage themselves fully in the
transcendental loving service of the Lord. Their minds cannot be diverted from the lotus feet of
Kṛṣṇa. Their talks are solely on the transcendental subjects. The symptoms of the pure devotees are
described in this verse specifically. Devotees of the Supreme Lord are twenty-four hours daily
engaged in glorifying the qualities and pastimes of the Supreme Lord. Their hearts and souls are
constantly submerged in Kṛṣṇa, and they take pleasure in discussing Him with other devotees.

In the preliminary stage of devotional service they relish the transcendental pleasure from the
service itself, and in the mature stage they are actually situated in love of God. Once situated in that
transcendental position, they can relish the highest perfection which is exhibited by the Lord in His
abode. Lord Caitanya likens transcendental devotional service to the sowing of a seed in the heart of
the living entity. There are innumerable living entities traveling throughout the different planets of
the universe, and out of them there are a few who are fortunate enough to meet a pure devotee
and get the chance to understand devotional service. This devotional service is just like a seed, and if
it is sown in the heart of a living entity, and if he goes on hearing and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare
Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare, that seed fructifies,
just as the seed of a tree fructifies with regular watering. The spiritual plant of devotional service
gradually grows and grows until it penetrates the covering of the material universe and enters into
the brahma-jyotir effulgence in the spiritual sky. In the spiritual sky also that plant grows more and
more until it reaches the highest planet, which is called Goloka Vṛndāvana, the supreme planet of
Kṛṣṇa. Ultimately, the plant takes shelter under the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa and rests there. Gradually, as
a plant grows fruits and flowers, that plant of devotional service also produces fruits, and the
watering process in the form of chanting and hearing goes on. This plant of devotional service is fully
described in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-līlā, Chapter Nineteen). It is explained there that
when the complete plant takes shelter under the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, one becomes fully
absorbed in love of God; then he cannot live even for a moment without being in contact with the
Supreme Lord, just as a fish cannot live without water. In such a state, the devotee actually attains
the transcendental qualities in contact with the Supreme Lord.

So today is the appearance day of Srila Narottam das Thakur, who completely embodied these
transcendental qualities that SP speaks of and inspired generations of Vaisnavas with his example
and activities, especially of writing. As we have discussed his life story in brief in a previous class, we
will look closely today at some of his glorious pastimes and the powerful lessons he taught us. So to
recap, he appeared in the village of Kheturi in the Rajshahi district of present day Bangladesh on the
purnima of Magh month, which is today. Magh month corresponds to January-February and is one
of the most auspicious months of the year along with Kartik and Vaishaka. The day that he was born
was also significant because the full moon corresponds with culminations, or growth to an
auspicious conclusion since the period before purnima is when the moon is growing in size. So in the
same way he grew in devotion, knowledge, and all good qualities.

Although he was born as the son of a king, Krishnananda datta, he had no material attachments at
all. This is probably one of the most important lessons for us to learn. He was living amongst amazing
opulence and treated with the utmost respect as a prince, but his heart was absorbed in being a
humble servitor of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda. The formula is given to us in CC ML 13.80
where Lord Caitanya says,

“nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro

nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrnāmṛtābdher
gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ

‘I am not a brāhmaṇa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Nor am I a brahmacārī, a

householder, a vānaprastha or a sannyāsī. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the
servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the maintainer of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar,
and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.’”

Lord Caitanya is making it clear to us that that whatever situation we are born in or come into, we
are always simply the servant of all the servants of Krishna, and as everyone is actually a servant of
Krishna- just that they don’t know it yet- as SP taught us, we are indeed the servants of everyone,
and that means everyone. We have to practise that humility constantly: when we’re in a conflicting
situation, when we’re getting upset about something that didn’t go our way, when we’re trying to
decide whether to greet that devotee at temple or when there’s praise or blame applied to us. It
takes a few seconds to pause, consider what Lord Caitanya would do in such a situation and act
accordingly.

So such a perfectly humble Vaisnava was SNDT despite how learned and talented he grew. He was
the absolute delight of his kingdom and everyone loved him and expected him to rule after his
father. This is a common trait to all great Vaisnavas: they are loved by everyone. As Srila Srinivasa
Acarya wrote of the 6 Goswamis in his Sadgoswamyashtaka:

krishnotkirtana-gana-nartana-parau premamritambho-nidhi
dhiradhira-jana-priyau priya-karau nirmatsarau pujitau
sri-caitanya-kripa-bharau bhuvi bhuvo bharavahantarakau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

They were popular with dhira and adhira: the gentle and ruffians, because they were not envious of
anyone. So this is a very important quality that SP highlights in many of his classes. Especially
because we are setting the example for society as being the servants of Krishna: a leader is known by
the nature of his subordinates. We know that being the best version of ourselves will make people
appreciate Krishna more: we don’t want to tarnish the Lord’s reputation by our behaviour. So
although we know that maybe not everyone will like us because they may be envious of us, if we
take special care to cultivate this quality of non-enviousness, we will be at least respected and
admired by those who don’t like us, and we can win them over in time, by the mercy of Krishna. This
is especially important with regards to preaching, since we come in contact with so many different
classes of people.
So NDT had a more important destiny than becoming a great king, though. There is a special pastime
that we touched on previously: when Mahaprabhu was in Kanai Natashala, as He danced ecstatically
in kirtan, He called out the name of Narottama repeatedly. When Lord Nityananda asked Him why
He was calling out this name, Lord Caitanya said, “My Lord. You do not know your own glories. When
we went to Jagannath Puri, you shed tears out of divine love, day after day. I managed to capture
your divine love and save it. Now I wish to keep it here by the Padmavati River for Narottama Das.”
So Lord Caitanya went to the river and gave her this pure love of Krishna to keep for when NDT
would come to take it. So she asked the Lord how would she recognise NDT, and the Lord said that
when he entered her waters, her water would overflow. NDT then had a dream when he was 12
years old that LN told him to go to the River Padmavati and receive this prema that was kept for him.

When NDT received the pure love for LK, not only his personality became completely transformed
with divine ecstasy, but his appearance changed also. He already had the features of a mahapurusa
(great personality) but now he became golden in complexion. So the power of love of God is so great
that it can even change the physical body. We have read previously that the material body is made
up of earth, water, fire, air and ether, and these are the energies of LK. Thus the pure love for Him
that exists within the bodies of his devotees can alter these energies and thus their physical
characteristics. In Caitanya caritamrta, there are pastimes where LC’s body would elongate, ooze
blood, or where He would leap in the air and crash to the ground such that the earth would feel like
it was moving but His soft body wouldn’t have any signs of injury: these seem impossible to an
ordinary body but are very possible in divine ecstasy. Similarly, when SP was present on the planet, a
very fortunate policeman on the street noticed in amazement that SP was glowing and pointed it out
to a disciple.

So when NDT received love of Godhead and transformed, his parents were concerned enough to
keep a close watch on him for fear of him leaving home for spiritual life. Despite having guards to
watch him, NDT managed to escape. Another notable detail was that he left home at the Kartik
purnima… He immediately went to Vrndavan barefoot, crying in ecstasy and forgetting to even eat
or drink along the way. At one point a golden-skinned brahman appeared and gave him a cup of milk
and told him that it would heal his cuts and bruises from travelling. We can imagine who that
brahman was: LC Himself. The Lord has indeed promised:

ananyāś cintayanto māṁ

ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ
yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham

But those who always worship Me with exclusive devotion, meditating on My transcendental form –
to them I carry what they lack, and I preserve what they have.

The Lord always keeps His promises to His devotees, and He delivers what we need personally. He
has every power imaginable to make such deliveries for Him, so there’s no need for Him to do it
Himself. But He takes the greatest pleasure in serving His devotees in a transcendental competition
to see who’s the greater “servant”. Now it’s one thing when He delivers what we need, but even
when we don’t know what we need, He knows it and grants that to us. There’s a special note in that
regard: we could have an impersonal God who grants what we want when we ask but LK is involved
in our lives and actually thinking about what’s good for each one of us, and such individualised love
and care from the Supreme Lord is rarely obtained by other spiritual means or religious processes.
So NDT continued on his journey refreshed and arrived in Vrndavan. He went to Srila Jiva Goswami
who was then the leader of all the Vaisnavas to take spiritual instruction. So here we might ask: if
NDT had already received Krishna prema, why did he need a guru? And the answer is that a guru is
essential in all points of spiritual life, even when one has love of God, what will we do with it? If we
had to put into Goloka right now, would we know which way to turn and what to do? A guru’s role is
essential to us to teach us how to serve Krishna properly, from the beginning of our spiritual life right
up to when we have achieved love for Krishna. The gopis are completely perfected beings: eternally
perfect and the highest of all LK’s servants, but they need a guru: Srimati Lalita devi. Without being
the humble servant of an authorised servant of Krishna, we can’t attain Him. Thus He says: “He who
says he is My devotee is not My devotee. But he who is a devotee of My devotee is actually My
devotee.”

Now Jiva Goswami did not take NDT as his disciple but rather told him to take diksha from Lokanath
Goswami. Now LG was very old, and humble, isolated from everyone and suffering in separation
after the disappearance of LC. When NDT approached him to become his disciple, LG refused. He
said that he had vowed not to accept any disciple, after all, he felt that he couldn’t serve Gaura Nitai
adequately so how could he take service from anyone else? But as strong as LG’s will was to remain
without disciples, so was NDT’s will to become his disciple. Thus he continued to serve his guru in
secret for a year, by cleaning his ablution area at midnight, holding that broom to his chest in
happiness while saying “this is the power that will help me attain my Lord’s lotus feet”. Now let us
consider how a prince is giving up his sleep to humbly cleaning up where someone who has rejected
him is passing stool, after coming all the way from another province on foot alone for this: this is a
Vaisnava. Most, if not all of us today, would never do such a thing. But we now know what is means
to be:

tṛṇād api sunīcena

taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

Humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and
ready to offer all respects to others; and for a guru to impart TK, we know from BG that
paripraśnena sevayā (humble enquiries and rendering service) are necessary. So this is the perfect
disciple, and LG certainly accepted him in the end. Once again, the theme of the full moon and
auspicious culminations comes up, for NDT was initiated at the Shravan purnima full moon.

At this point, LG could have kept his only disciple with him to render service, but knowing that NDT
had a special destiny to fulfil, he was sent to Jiva Goswami’s school or tola. And there in the universal
court of the Vaisnavas- Vishva-vaishnava-raja-sabha- NDT became one of Jiva Goswami’s 3
outstanding pupils with Srinivasa acarya and Shyamananda pandit. Now we note again, the special
quality of non-enviousness among these 3 students: all of them were extraordinarily blessed in some
way by the Lord, but the others didn’t think, oh, he’s so lucky and get jealous and start acting nasty
towards each other. SA’s birth was predicted by LC Himself, he met Gadadhara pandit and went on
parikrama with LN; Shyamananda pandit got to meet Sri Radha Herself, was given a new name, a
new tilak and a deity of LK personally from Her beautiful heart, and NDT was given pure love of God
at the age of 12 from LC via the Padmavati River.

Can you imagine the envy if they were students today?! We have to be circumspect in our lives and
realise that we are recipients of special mercy in some way and spend our energy focussing on and
using that in LK’s service rather than being envious of someone else’s good fortune. If we think that
whatever mercy they’ve gotten somehow diminishes what we can get from the Lord, then we don’t
understand the Lord’s infinite power. He can grant all of us, in this world, and in this creation,
anything and everything we wanted if we would know what to do with it to help us in spiritual life,
and so, if it were good for us. But since we don’t know what’s good for us because He has the
ultimate power of foresight that we don’t, we have to trust that what He does give us is what we
need and stopping look at what He gives others: there’s a reason fully known to Him as to why He’s
given them that and it’s not for us to covet.

So these 3 amazing disciples were given a great task: they were told to take the precious writings of
the Goswamis to Bengal and Orissa for the growing Vaisnava community; as we mentioned before, it
was the first great book distribution effort. When the books were stolen, SA stayed back to retrieve
it and sent NDT and Shyamananda pandit to continue preaching. This was the purpose that NDT had
appeared for: his diksha guru, LG, knew that he had a wonderful reputation of being a prince and
having a good character and now that he had received spiritual knowledge from authorised teachers
along with his pure love for LK, he would be a force like no other in his hometown. So LG wanted him
to go to Kheturi and preach, and that is why SA sent him there. Now NDT felt the separation from his
SM but the higher principle was the service that he needed to carry out. SP often said that a bug can
be close to someone and bite them, so physical closeness isn’t always a good thing: familiarity
breeds contempt is the old saying.

But from a distance, one can render wonderful service to the guru and really please him. We can
think about the inhabitants of Vraja lived most of their lives away from LK but were His dearest
servants and always on His mind. Similarly, LC sent many of His dear associates and disciples away
from Him: LN and AA were to stay and preach in Bengal, LG and BG were sent ahead to establish the
lost pastime sites of Radha and Krishna in Vrndavan and the 6 goswamis followed them after, TM
was told to stay in Varanasi and the brahman Kurma in South India. Indeed, when Kurma wanted to
go with LC, the Lord replied, “Don’t speak like that again. Better to remain at home and chant the
holy name of Kṛṣṇa always.” Then in SP’s lila, he would rather have had his best disciples out in the
world preaching, opening centres and managing them nicely than serving him in person. So we have
to realise that when we are sincerely fulfilling our guru’s instructions to us, even if we’re far from
him, he not only knows exactly what we’re doing by the SS in the heart, we will make certainly make
strong and steady advancement in DS even more so than if we are in his presence always.

First NDT went to Navadvip and visited the places of LC pastimes and His associates that were still
present on the planet, and the saktis of LN, Vasudha devi and Jahnava devi. He also went to Orissa
and Ekachakra, then to Kheturi where his family were delighted to see him and assist in his
preaching. His paternal cousin Santosh was crowned king after NDT left, and Santosh eagerly served
NDT and took initiation from him, then set about building a large and glorious temple.  The temple
compound included a large storehouse for food, kirtan hall, residence hall for devotees, a bathing
pond, a beautiful flower garden, and a guest house. This temple was opened- you guessed it- on a
full moon, this time in Phalguna month which is the appearance day of LC, Gaura purnima. 6 sets of
magnificent deities were installed and a great festival, which is described as comparable to the
Rajasuya-yajna of Yudhistira Maharaja in its opulence, beauty, devotion and joy was celebrated for
miles around.

So establishing the deity form of the Lord is one of the many important duties that the guru carries
out: SP says the Lord enters into the deity by the call of the acarya. In the Gurvashtakam, Srila
Visvanath Cakravati Thakur, says:
śrī-vigrahārādhana-nitya-nānā-
śṛńgāra-tan-mandira-mārjanādau
yuktasya bhaktāḿś ca niyuñjato 'pi
vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam

The SM sets the example of deity worship for the devotee community: he is always engaged in the
temple worship of Sri Radha and Krsna, engages his disciples in such worship by dressing the Deities
in beautiful clothes and ornaments, cleaning Their temple, and performing other similar worship of
the Lord. Taking care of the deities with love is a form of preaching, because temples that are
beautifully maintained attract the hearts and minds of the conditioned souls away from material life.
So NDT set this example by establishing this magnificent temple with its beautiful forms of the Lord
during the Kheturi festival.

Messengers were sent out for miles around Kheturi Gram, far and away, to invite kings, landowners,
poets, orators, pandits, Vaishnavas, authors, as well as many other illustrious guests, topmost
singers and dancers. Vaisnava luminaries came from all around to attend and assist in the festival,
making that area a holy place by their foot dust. The entire city was decorated magnificently.
Transport, beautiful accomodations and delicious prasadam was arranged for all the Vaisnavas, and
the kirtan was tumultuous. The first day of the festival was Gaura purnima, and the installation of
the 6 sets of deities was carried out by SA. The deities were Shri Gauranga, Shri Vallabhikanta, Shri
Krishna, Shri Vrajendramohan, Shri Radha Ramana, and Shri Radha Kanta. After the installation, NDT
began his unique style of kirtan and the sweetness and melody filled the universe. LC Himself with
many of His personal associates descended to join that kirtan and the ecstasy was indescribable.
Thereafter, the devotees celebrated Holi and the appearance of LC.

The next day, Jahnava mata Herself cooked the feast which was pure nectar, and all the oceans of
guests were fed to their full satisfaction. Thus the festival concluded. But one more set of deities was
to be installed in the temple. One day, NDT went to the home of a brahman named Vipradas in
Gopalpur. The brahman was very happy to see NDT, but in the course of speaking, told of a terrifying
snake in his rice storehouse. NDT simply smiled and went to the place; when he opened the door,
there was no snake but beautiful deities of Srimati Visnupriya and Lord Gauranga.

NDT’s glory spread far and wide, and he writings became famous. The best known are Prarthana and
Prema bhakti candrika, which is said to contain love of God in those 2 books. But still many
brahmans looked down on him because he was not from the brahman class. Indeed, he had
appeared in a lower caste family just to draw attention to Gaura Nitai’s mission of giving the Holy
name to everyone. As Haridas Thakur had appeared in a Muslim family and was given the highest
respect in the Vaisnava community, so NDT also appeared in a lower class family to further
emphasise that a pure devotee can be born in any family and must be given the greatest respect
regardless. This is also SP’s mission in ISKCON: anyone from any race, culture, caste, religious
background, gender and so on must be given the opportunity to become a Vaisnava, and according
to all our acaryas, a Vaisnava is higher than a brahman.

So there many wonderful pastimes of his in this regard:

Once a learned smarta brahmana insulted NDT in front of his students again and again, calling him a
sudra.  After this offense, all the limbs of the brahmana began melting away from leprosy. 
Consumed by his incurable disease and seeing no hope for recovery the brahmana went to throw
himself in the Ganges and die.  That night Durga Devi came to the brahmana in a dream and said,
"You fool.  You have considered a great mahabhagavata, a pure devotee, to be a sudra. Even if you
die and take many many millions of births you cannot be delivered. But if you simply go to him and
beg forgiveness at his lotus feet, everything will be all right." The next day, the brahmana went with
a piece of cloth tied around his neck to indicate great humility, and in complete submission,
weeping, fell before the lotus feet of Narottama Thakur, begging his forgiveness.  Gradually, as a
result of his association with Narottama, his leprosy healed.  Narottama Thakura advised him to
engage himself in Krishna bhajan.  Gradually he became greatly devoted to Narottama Thakura.

One day, Narottama Thakura and Shri Ramachandra Kaviraja went to the river Padmavati to bath
and met two young brahmans herding many goats and sheep.  Narottama Thakura spoke to the
brahmanas, who explained in a humble that they were coming from the village of Goyasa Gram, and
were the sons of a Zamindar named Sivananda Acharya. “Our names are Harinam and Ram-Krishna. 
At our house, at present Durga Puja is being conducted, and on the order of our father we are
bringing all these goats and sheep to be slaughtered.  Please give us some advice as to what we
should do."

NDT preached to them, and blessed them saying, "May you attain Krishna-bhakti." At this, the young
brahmana boys set the goats and sheep free, became Vaisnavas and went with Shri Ramachandra
Kaviraja and Narottama Thakura to the temple of Shriman Mahaprabhu.  That day, after taking
prasada, Harinam accepted the mantra from Ramchandra Kaviraja and Ram-Krishna from Narottama
Thakura. After some time, Shivananda Acharya began searching and searching for his sons until he
found that they had been seen in Kheturi Gram where they were living as disciples in the ashrama of
Narottam Thakura.  Shivananda Acharya could not contain his anger. When the two brothers
returned home, he insulted them saying: "O fools! Where does it say in the shastra that the position
of a Vaishnavas is greater than the position of a brahmana or that by becoming a Vaishnava one is
better than a brahmana?  You have neglected Durga for so long, but your life is useless without
Durga.  Moreover, if the Vaishnavas make disciples out of brahmanas it will lead to chaos in society;
the brahmanas will lose their position, and if the pandits are defeated, religion will be destroyed and
everything will be lost."

The boys were able to counter their father and the local brahmans which made their father think
that if he brought the greatest pandit to defeat the boys, he could convince them. So he brought a
mahapandit from Mithila named Murari.  At that time, for the purpose of having a debate, he called
for his sons and told them that he wanted them to explain before a public assemply their
conclusions that a Vaishnava is better than a brahmana. Shri Harinam and Shri Rama Krishna
remembering the lotus feet of their guru maharaja explained the siddhanta or conclusions of the
Bhagavatam, and the arguments of the smartas were so utterly cut to pieces that when it was his
turn to speak the great smarta Mahapandit Murari was unable to put forward any arguments in
response. When it was all over, the mahapandit fled the assembly in great embarrassment with his
head held low and accepted the occupation of a beggar.

That night, Shivananda Acharya began to meditate on Durga Devi. She appeared to him in a dream,
saying "O Shivananda! Shri Hari is the master of everyone.  He is the way, the truth and the light.
Those whom he covers with ignorance turn to my worship.  And I assure the destruction of those
who worship me. Those who aren't Krishna-minded are demons.   On the other hand, those who are
dear devotees of Krishna are really dear to me.  For your own sake, if you want to become free from
the offenses you have committed and attain auspiciousness, you had better go to Narottama
Thakura and beg forgiveness from his lotus feet.  Otherwise I will destroy you, you offender of
Vaishnavas!"  After speaking these words of chastisement to Shivananda Acharya, Durga Devi
disappeared.
There was another brahmana named Jagannatha Acharya who was a worshipper of Durga.   One day
in a dream Durga appeared to him and said, "O you simple brahmana. Go to Narottama Thakur. Take
shelter of his lotus feet.  Practice Krishna bhajan and you will achieve the highest good fortune.  
Krishna is my master and my guru.  Not a blade of grass moves without His wish." He thus
approached the lotus feet of Narottama Thakura, explaining all that Durga had told him in the
dream. Hearing this, the Thakura smiled slightly and said, "You are very fortunate to have attained
Krishna's mercy." On an auspicious day the Thakura initiated him in the Radha-Krishna mantra. Shri
Jagannatha Acharya became a very dear and confidential disciple of Narottam Thakura.

Seeing the glories of Shrila Narottama Thakura, the society of smarta brahmanas roasted with envy.  
A large faction of them went to the Raja Nrishinga and petitioned him for redress.  They told him:
"Maharaja! If you don't rescue the brahmanas, your reputation will be ruined and your death will be
assured.  The son of Raja Krishnananda Datta, Narottama Thakura, is a sudra—and yet he dares to
make disciples of the brahmanas.  If this goes on, we shall all be drowned like the members of the
Yadu dynasty." Raja Narasingha said, "I shall protect you. But please tell me, what is to be done?"

The brahmanas said we shall all go to Kheturi Gram along with the great and famous, the world-
conquering scholar Mahadigvijay Pandit Shri Rupa Narayana and defeat Narottama.  With that great
pandit as our leader, Narottama will not be able to say anything. You please assist us in all this." The
king, Raja Nrishingha said, "I myself shall accompany you every step of the way.  In this way, that
group of brahmanas along with the great and learned world-conquering pandit Rupa Narayana
began their journey to Kheturi Gram.  As they were traveling on the road someone heard the news
and went to Kheturi Gram where he informed Shrila Ramachandra Kaviraja and Narottama Thakura.

When Shri Ramachandra Kaviraja and Shri Ganganarayana Cakravarti- a disciple of NDT- heard all
this, they became very disturbed. The two of them came to know that the party of smarta pandits,
were about to arrive in the marketplace of a town called Kumara Pura, and that after resting there
for one day, they would reach Kheturi Gram the following day.  Ramchandara and Ganganarayana
quickly went to that marketplace in Kumarpura and the two of them set up two different shops. Shri
Ramchandra Kaviraja set up a stall for selling clay pots and Ganganarayana Chakravarti set himself
up in a stall selling pan and betel nut. In this way, along with Raja Narashinga, the smarta pandits
arrived in the marketplace of Kumarpura and set up their camp near the shops.   The disciples of the
pandits went to buy some clay pots for cooking with and went to the pottery shop.  The potter (who
was Ramchandra Kaviraja) began speaking to them in pure Sanskrit.  The disciples of the pandits
began speaking in Sanskrit also, and soon they began arguing back and forth in Sanskrit and were
defeated. In the same way, when the students went to purchase pan and betel nuts from the shop
of the pan-walla (Ganganarayana Chakravarti) he spoke to them in pure Sanskrit.   They also began to
argue.  Gradually their teachers arrived at the place where the argument was going on and found
themselves unable to reply to the arguments of the pan-walla and the clay pot walla.  Finally the
king, Raja Narasingha, arrived on the scene the great pandit Rupa Narayana.  At that time a great
uproar of argumentation filled the four directions.  In the presence of the king, the potter and the
pan-walla defeated all the smarta brahmanas, including Rupa Narayana.  Raja Nrishinga made some
inquiries and came to know that the pan-walla and potter were disciples of Narottama Das.   At that
time, he said to the pandits when you are unable to defeat a common, ordinary disciple of
Narottama in the matter of siddhanta, how will you defeat Narottam himself?"

The smarta pandits were silent.  Realizing their defeat, they made preparations to return to their
own villages. That evening, King Raja Narasingha and Shri Rupa Narayana saw Durgadevi in a dream. 
She told them, "If you don't accept the shelter of Narottama’s lotus feet, I will cut you all to pieces
with my sharpened sword." The following morning Raja Narasingha and Rupa Narayana arrived at
the place of Narottama Thakura.  Narottama Thakura received them with great affection and with all
due respect and cordiality. Raja Narashinga and Rupa Narayana, were overwhelmed at Narottama's
polite and gentle Vaishnva behavior and fell prostrate at his lotus feet begging forgiveness for their
offenses.  At length, upon being hearing of the pronouncement that Durga Devi had given them,
Narottama smiled very sweetly.  Thereafter, within a few days, he initiated them in the he initiated
them in the Radha Krishna mantra.

Pastime of his disappearance…