Srila Sridhar Pandit

By His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj

From Heart and Halo: The Real Judgment of Love, pages 44-45

Love is wonderfully above everything, surpassing all. Mahaprabhu asked us to accept the path of love, which means giving one's heart, one's self. It is so powerful, nothing else can attract Krishna. He is very greedy to eat this love, this prema. He lives on prema. He is the Lord of love. That love has its inner existence; it is the inner existence of all of us. He is Love personified, and there is a tinge within us also; and like 'birds of a feather', love likes love.

Once Mahaprabhu, at the time when He had conquered and captured the Kazi, was leading the sankirtan party and was feeling very tired. He came to Sridhar Pandit, the poor brahmana who used to sell plantains in the market to somehow meagerly earn his livelihood.

Sridhar Pandit had a well, and nearby an iron pot which he used for drawing water. Mahaprabhu began to drink water from the well with that pot, which had been left outside. All the devotees objected, "What are You doing? This pot is always kept outside and is very dirty. We are bringing a clean pot for Your drinking water!"

Mahaprabhu ignored them and continued drinking water from that iron pot. He commented, "This is the pot of My devotee Sridhar; it is purer than anything."

In Bhagavad-gita the Lord says:

    api chet suduracharo, bhajate mam ananya-bhak
    sadhur eva sa mantavyah, samyag vyavasito hi sah
    (Bhagavad-gita 9.30)

"If a person is an unalloyed devotee who worships Me exclusively, having abandoned all other pursuits based on exploitation and renunciation, even if he commits some abominable action, he is to be considered saintly. He is cent-per-cent pure, because his endeavours are completely on My behalf and his determination is fixed in that resolve."

This is because one who has really surrendered to Krishna is accepted by Him as His own, and such a surrendered soul should never be considered impure, a transgressor.

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