In the village of Tijare, an impostor arrived disguised as a Vaishnava. He would perform puja of Shri Shalagrama, but his trick was this: on the simhasana, Shri Shalagrama would sway and move by themselves. Crowds gathered, awestruck.
The shishyas of Swami Mathuradas saw it too and were greatly impressed. They entreated him to come and witness the spectacle. He, being all-knowing, said: 'My going there would cause that man distress. I will not go.'
But the shishyas fell at his feet and took him along. He went mentally chanting Bhagavan-nama and stood nearby. The impostor tried to make the Shalagrama sway, but they did not stir. Panic set in. The chetaki realized it was because of this man's presence. He resolved to slay Mathuradas by hurling a muth, a destructive spell.
Before the bhakti-teja of Shri Mathuradas, the spell could not reach him. It rebounded upon the chetaki himself, and he fell as though struck by a thunderbolt.
Then Mathuradas did something no one expected. He went to the fallen man, revived him, counselled him with upadesa, and showed him the path of priti in Bhagavad-bhakti. The man abandoned his sorcery, became a shishya, took up sadhuta, and began worshipping Shri Shalagrama with true and sincere puja.
This was Mathuradas. Even in dreams, he never allowed the hand of pretense to intrude upon his kirtana. Whatever deception had been established before ceased with his arrival. The sadachara of the Acharyas, their santosha, vigilance, and exceeding gentleness, all shone in him. His jnana of bhagavat-tattva was like holding a lamp in hand: every object in the house became illuminated.
His vishvasa in Shri Hari Nandanandan was immensely strong. Every day, as his niyama, he would carry the kalasha of Shri Krishna's puja-jala on his mastaka. The whole jagat knew this. He had immense priti for the vachana of his guru Shri Vardhaman, and he never abandoned that adherence throughout his life.
In the same tradition lived Nartaka Shri Narayanadas, whose prema kept advancing ever further, all the way to Prabhu. One day, he stood up to perform nritya with deep prema and began singing: 'Saancho ek priti ko naato.' He became completely absorbed in the syllables 'Madanamohana Rangarato,' becoming one with the anuraga of Madanamohana. His mana and chitta traveled to that nitya nikunja-desha where Tribhangilal sports with Shri Radhika, and there he had direct darshana.
At Handiya Sarai, before everyone's eyes, in that very state, he shed his body and ascended to Hari-pura.
His niyama was that he would dance only before the murti of Shri Hari and nowhere else. Once, the ruler of Handiya Sarai, a mlechha chief, sent him a message demanding he come and perform. Great anguish arose in his heart. He said: 'I cannot go there.'
People came again, saying the ruler was growing impatient. He replied: 'My niyama is that I perform nritya only before Prabhu. How can I bring Prabhu's seva-svarupa before that yavana?'
Seeing everyone's insistence, he devised a plan. On a high simhasana he placed a mala of Shri Tulasi, and seeing with bhava the abheda between Shri Bhagavat and Tulasi, he performed supremely fine nritya-gana. Even by mistake, he did not look in the ruler's direction.
By the power of bhava, he became so absorbed in the Yugala-Kishora-rupa that not the slightest awareness of his body remained. In his manasi, he wished to offer naivedya to Prabhu. Suddenly, his own prana came to hand. With honour and reverence, he offered those very prana as naivedya to the Yugala-rupa, and casting them off, attained Prabhu. He merged into the nitya-vihara.
'My prana are Yours, my buddhi is Yours, my mana, chitta, yasha: all are Yours. You alone are mine. What then can I offer You, O Beloved?'
Bhakti That Does Not Perform
There is a kind of devotion that does not announce itself. It does not seek witnesses, does not arrange a stage, does not perform for the congregation gathered in the courtyard. It simply lives, quietly and without pretense, like a lamp that burns whether anyone is watching or not. Nabhadas praises Mathuradas by saying that even in his dreams, his hand never moved in the direction of kautuka, of showmanship or deceit. True bhakti is not a role one plays in public. It is what one is when no one is looking. The seeker who cultivates this quality does not worry about being seen as devoted. The devotion itself becomes the whole life, steady and unbroken, without needing an audience.
Bhaktamal, Nabhadas Ji: verse on Shri Mathuradas Ji
Compassion Toward Those Who Have Gone Astray
At Tijare, a man had taken Shalagrama Ji, the self-manifest living form of Bhagavan Vishnu, and turned sacred worship into a spectacle through hidden tricks. When Mathuradas arrived and the tricks stopped working in the presence of genuine bhakti, the man grew desperate and hurled a destructive spell. That spell reversed and struck the one who sent it. What Mathuradas did next is the real teaching: he walked to where the man lay fallen, revived him with care, and then offered spiritual counsel. He did not expose the man before the crowd. He did not make an example of his disgrace. He showed him the path of genuine love. The man abandoned sorcery, became a shishya, and began worshipping with sincere puja. Bhakti-teja does not destroy those who are lost. It rescues them.
Bhaktamal, Bhakti-Sudhaasvad Tika on Shri Mathuradas Ji (Tijare episode)
Holding the Guru's Words Across a Lifetime
The spoken teaching of a guru is easy to honor in the early years when the guru is present and the instructions are still fresh and warm. It is something else entirely to hold those words for a lifetime without erosion, without the slow drift of interpretation that gradually substitutes one's own comfort for the actual directive. Mathuradas Ji held his guru Shri Vardhaman's words with the same steadiness that he held his daily niyama. The priti did not weaken with the passing years. The adherence did not bend under circumstance. Nabhadas says he never let go of his guru's vachana throughout his entire life. This constancy is itself a form of worship, a daily renewal of the original surrender, quietly lived out in every ordinary moment.
Bhaktamal, Tilak verse on Shri Mathuradas Ji
The Kalasha on the Head: Making Service Into a Way of Life
Each morning without fail, Mathuradas Ji carried the kalasha of puja-jala, water sanctified for the worship of Shri Krishna Nandanandan, on his own head. The whole world knew this, says the text. Not because he performed it publicly as a display, but because it was so consistent, so much a part of who he was, that his presence in the world carried this fact the way a river carries its source. There is a teaching here about niyama, about the vows and disciplines that make devotion into a rhythm rather than an occasional event. When service becomes daily and unbroken, it stops being a separate practice and starts being the texture of one's life. The kalasha resting on the head each morning was Mathuradas Ji's whole relationship with Bhagavan, made visible and carried with him wherever he went.
Bhaktamal, Tilak verse on Shri Mathuradas Ji
The Presence of a True Devotee Is Already a Teaching
Nabhadas says that Mathuradas Ji's knowledge of bhagavat-tattva was like lighting a lamp inside a room. No particular object had to be pointed out. Everything simply became visible. He did not lecture constantly or correct everyone he met. His presence itself was clarifying. Whatever was false became apparent in his company, not because he named it, but because the light was there. This is a precise image for a quality that is rarely spoken of directly: the way that a genuinely surrendered life exerts a kind of quiet force on the people nearby. The chetaki at Tijare was not overcome by argument or rebuke. His tricks simply stopped working when Mathuradas stood near. The seeker who is drawn to this teaching can ask: what would it mean to live so clearly that the pretense around you loses its grip, not through force, but through the simple fact of your sincerity?
Bhaktamal, Tilak on Shri Mathuradas Ji
Hindi text from OCR scan (Khemraj Shrikrishnadas Prakashan, CC0). May contain errors.