During his pilgrimage, Duhkhi Krishna Dasa had been to the enchanting twelve forests and gardens of the holy land of Vraja Mandala[1], which had once been touched by the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha Krishna. He constantly remembered those wonderful places.
Due to this intense attraction, he got the permission of his parents again in 1566 AD to leave his village to go to Vraja.
First he spent some days in Ambika, where Hridaya Caitanya was astonished to see how he had advanced in exclusive devotion by following his directives. He asked him:
“Duhkhi Krishna, your service while here will be to regularly bring water to the flower garden of Sri Sri Gaura and Nityananda.”
He gladly did it. Following this order with mind and body, everyday he used to fill a pitcher with water from the Ganges, place it on his head, carry it to the garden, water the garden with it and then start over again. The mere thought that he was watering the garden of Sri Sri Nitai and Gauranga would make his eyes fill with tears of love. He was not even aware of how many pitchers of water he had brought. Gradually, due to the friction of the pitcher, wounds appeared on his head, which soon became infected and infested with worms. Yet he was so absorbed in his service that this did not make any difference to him.
One day, when he reached the garden with a pitcher full of water on his head, his Gurudeva was present there. As soon as he placed the pitcher on the ground, a worm fell from his head right before his Gurudeva. On seeing it, Hridaya Caitanya was disturbed, especially when he noticed that Duhkhi Krishna Dasa’s head was full of wounds infected by worms. He understood that this had happened only because he had been obeying his order, and doing so despite much hardship, without telling anyone of his difficulties[2].
Sri Gurudeva’s heart then melted with paternal affection for his disciple. He embraced him and made him sit by his side. He placed his hand endowed with mystic power on his disciple’s head and made both the wounds and the worms immediately disappear.
After this, Sri Hridaya Caitanya Thakura felt that Duhkhi Krishna Dasa was qualified to worship of Sri Sri Radha Krishna and therefore should be sent to the land of Their pastimes, Sri Vraja Mandala.
Arriving at this conclusion, he told Duhkhi Krishna Dasa:
“My dear child, go quickly to Vrindavan. There all your desires will be fulfilled by Jiva Gosvami. You should study Vaisnava literature under the tutelage of Srila Jiva Gosvami.”
At the time of his departure, his Guru gave him many instructions and also said:
“Tell the Gosvamis in Vrindavana that I offer to them my most humble obeisances.”
Duhkhi Krishna Dasa said:
“Yes, I’ll do it.”
On an auspicious day he set out for the holy dhama of Vrindavana.
[1] In the eighty-four kosas of Vraja-mandala, there are forty-eight different forests (vanas), which include upavanas (sub-forests), prativanas and adhivanas. According to the Padma Purana, there are twelve principal forests situated east and west of the Yamuna. They are (1) Mahavana, (2) Kamyavana, (3) Madhuvana, (4) Talavana, (5) Kumudavana, (6) Bhandiravana, (7) Vrindavana, (8) Khadiravana, (9) Lohavana, (10) Bhadravana, (11) Bahulavana and (12) Baelvana.
[2] This is a very important lesson for all of those who are serious about being a disciple.
This is a section of the book “Syamananda, the Joy of Radharani”.
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