Jayapataka Swami: You see, not only was he in Prema, he was an eternal associate of the Lord! So he was in different pastimes, in different lilas of the Lord. Krsna lila, Gaura lila So sometimes the Lord, He uses His dear devotees as examples. So like that Pundarik, he is known as Vidyanidhi, and so he had a lot of knowledge. It is not wrong that we shouldn’t offer the deities cloth which is not washed. But this is a special lila of Lord Jagannath, that on Odhana Shasthi day He wears starched cloth. So the fact is that Lord Jagannath came in his dream and slapped him that don’t criticize My devotees. And although it was a dream, his face was swollen from the slapping. So this is a very special thing. Lord Jagannath, appearing in the dream of Pundarik, slapping him on the face and his face swelling, this is not an ordinary thing! We don’t have that mercy that we see Lord Jagannath in a dream, what to speak of having Him slap us, what to speak of His slapping in the dream actually causes our face to swell! Ha! So, this pastime was to teach a lesson to the devotees that the Lord used Pundarik Vidyanidhi as an example. But this example where he used Pundarik Vidyanidhi, we can understand that Pundarik Vidyanidhi is very dear to the Lord. We cannot begin to analyze what level he is on! Ha! He is beyond all levels! Ha! Ha! The father of Radharani how can you think about what level he is at? Ha! Ha!
24-MAY-2020 SRI MAYAPUR DHAM, INDIA
