Off Mark

A week ago I was busy in the kitchen. It had been raining heavily outside and the the rain was just tapering off when I heard a soft thud. On walking to the window I saw a mass of gray plastered onto the outside of the window glass, a little above the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda. The feet that I had made of sculpey clay and painted had fallen off from the wall and so I had temporarily rested it against the window. The gray mass looked like fur and I felt my stomach doing a somersault, wondering what it was. The gleeful screams of some school children attracted my attention and in an instant I knew what the grey thing was. The children, two boys aged around 10, with unkempt unruly hair, were carefully wetting newspapers in the water, making a ball from it and were looking for the next window, the next target on which to fling their creation on. Jagai and Madhai I said and sighed to myself. That they had become attracted to Nitai's feet even if they were hurling paper at it signified some ajnata sukriti. They were off mark though, as you can see in the pictures. It set me thinking that Nitai's lotus feet are not so easy to attain. Cooling like millions of moons, Nitai's lotus feet provide the key to attaining love of Gauranga or Radha Krishna. My mind and senses are like this little Jagai and Madhai hurling self concoted nonsense at the lotus feet of Nitai continuously especially while chanting the holy names. Nitai, however is so patient and merciful that he gives me so many chances to get to the mark. As Sri Locana Dasa Thakura says.

akrodha paramananda nityananda raya
abhimana shunya nitai nagare bedaya

Lord Nityananda Raya never gets angry. He is always in ecstasy, supreme bliss. He has no false ego. He wanders to every town and village in Nadia chanting Hare Krishna, dancing, and offering krsna-prema (love of Krishna) to everyone indiscriminately.