Adapted from Śrīla Narahari Cakravartī’s Śrī Bhakti-ratnākara, Chapter 11, texts 30–89
The Offenders
When Śrī Jāhnavā Mātā, the wife of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, journeyed to Vṛndāvana, she bestowed her mercy upon everyone she encountered along the way.
One day, upon arriving at a large village, Śrī Jāhnavā saw the miserable condition of its residents and contemplated how she might make their lives glorious. Most of the villagers were pāṣaṇḍīs—atheists and offenders who habitually ridiculed the Vaiṣṇavas.
That evening, these envious villagers saw a group of mahā-bhāgavatas arrive to worship the lotus feet of Jāhnavā Ṭhākurāṇī. The pāṣaṇḍīs smiled derisively and said, “This Brahmin’s wife has captured everyone’s attention.”
One of them remarked, “These Vaiṣṇavas are ignorant. Therefore, instead of bowing before the demigods, they are bowing before an ordinary human being.”
Another said, “Perhaps if Caṇḍī, Goddess Durgā, bestows her mercy upon them, they will be able to understand.”
Yet another declared, “How will these fools ever understand? Neither this Brahmin’s wife nor the Brahmins accompanying her have offered worship to Goddess Caṇḍī. These Vaiṣṇavas have committed a grave offense against the goddess!”
Laughing among themselves, the pāṣaṇḍīs arrogantly proceeded to the temple of Caṇḍī Devī. After repeatedly offering obeisances, they addressed the goddess:
“This very night, we shall kill them. Only if they worship your lotus feet with their bodies, minds, and words will they be spared.”
Having spoken in this way, the pāṣaṇḍīs returned to their homes and fell asleep.
Goddess Caṇḍī’s Warning
Goddess Caṇḍī indeed became angry—but her anger was directed toward the foolish offenders, not toward the Vaiṣṇavas. Her eyes turned red, and her lips quivered with rage.
That night, the goddess appeared in the dreams of each of the villagers and angrily chastised them with many harsh words. Roaring with fury, Caṇḍī declared:
“O wicked offenders! I will not tolerate your abominable activities. I shall cut off your heads! Drowning in false pride, you have lost all intelligence by blaspheming the pure devotees of the Lord, who are worshipable by everyone.
“You do not understand the true identity of this Brahmin’s wife. Know from me that she is the wife of Nityānanda—Balarāma-candra—and is worshipable by all.
“Her name, Jāhnavā, is filled with sweetness. Simply by uttering her name, all material miseries are removed. She is the beloved wife of Prabhu Nityānanda, who is himself the embodiment of mercy and who freely distributes prema-bhakti to all living beings.
“There is no one who does not worship her lotus feet. Everyone glorifies her, and by doing so, they destroy the miseries of material existence.”
Goddess Caṇḍī then recited the following verse:
nityānanda-priyāṁ prema-bhakti-ratna-pradāyinīm
śrī-jāhnaveśvarīṁ vande tāpa-traya-nivāriṇīm
“I worship Śrī Jāhnavā Īśvarī, the beloved wife of Lord Nityānanda and the giver of the precious jewel of prema-bhakti. She eradicates the threefold miseries of material existence.”
—Śrī Bhakti-ratnākara 11.52
Caṇḍī continued:
“If she bestows her mercy upon you, your lives will become joyful. Otherwise, you will experience only suffering. If you surrender to her, you will be saved. If you do not, I shall kill you all!”
After speaking these words, the goddess disappeared.
The wicked offenders immediately awoke, trembling with fear.
The Villagers Beg Forgiveness
When morning came, the villagers’ hearts were filled with deep remorse. They immediately went to see the exalted Vaiṣṇava mahantas who were accompanying Jāhnavā Mātā.
With tears in their eyes, they repeatedly begged for forgiveness:
“We have committed a grave offense. Please forgive us. You have come here only to deliver great atheists like us. Kindly eradicate our offenses. We take shelter at your lotus feet.
“Śrī Īśvarī Jāhnavā Devī will be pleased with us if we can please you. You possess the power both to bestow bhakti and to accept our devotional service.”
The offenders sought the mercy of the mahantas because they understood that if the mahantas forgave them, Jāhnavā Mātā would surely forgive them as well.
They then began to pray directly to Jāhnavā Devī:
“Goddess Caṇḍī has told us that we are incapable of understanding your true spiritual identity. Please be merciful and reveal yourself to us. Otherwise, how will we ever be able to take shelter at your lotus feet?
“Everyone knows that we are extremely wicked offenders. If you deliver fallen people such as us, your fame will spread throughout the world.”
Having spoken these words, all the pāṣaṇḍīs prostrated themselves at the feet of Śrī Jāhnavā Īśvarī.
When Jāhnavā saw their miserable and repentant condition, her heart melted with compassion, and she bestowed her mercy upon them. Having received her unlimited mercy, all the pāṣaṇḍīs became joyful.
After blessing the former heretics, Jāhnavā Devī remained in that village for another two or four days before continuing her journey.
By the mercy of Jāhnavā Mātā, all those former offenders began to swim in an ocean of bhakti. Furthermore, everyone who later received their association also became a devotee.
The Robbers
Continuing her journey toward Vṛndāvana, Jāhnavā Devī eventually stopped at another village situated at a sacred place on the bank of a river.
A band of yavana dacoits—dangerous Muslim robbers—lived in that village. When the thieves saw Jāhnavā Devī and her associates, they assumed that the pilgrims must be carrying jewels and other valuable possessions.
Determined to rob Jāhnavā and her companions, the thieves gathered various weapons and sent one of their men to discover everything he could about her camp. The spy returned and reported that, after completing nāma-kīrtana, Jāhnavā Devī and all her followers had fallen asleep.
During the second half of the night, the leader of the bandits assembled his men and their weapons, and together they began running toward Jāhnavā’s camp.
Although they had only a short distance to travel, they found themselves unable to reach the camp. The closer they tried to come, the farther away it seemed to move. Because of their wicked intentions, they could not understand what was happening.
The distance separating them from the camp appeared to grow so vast that the bandits spent the entire night running toward it.
When dawn finally began to break, they became terrified. The leader of the gang could not understand how they had run throughout the night yet found themselves standing in the same place from which they had started.
He addressed the other thieves:
“What has happened is impossible! Because of our offensive desire to rob these Gauḍīya sādhus, we have spent the entire night running across a distance that should have taken us only a few minutes to cover.
“My heart is trembling with fear, and I foresee many inauspicious days awaiting us. We have committed innumerable sins, and terrible punishment in hell lies before us.
“In my opinion, we should beg for forgiveness. Let us approach that Vaiṣṇava woman and plead for her mercy.”
The Transformation of the Bandits
Together, the robbers abandoned their bandits’ garments and humbly approached Śrī Jāhnavā Īśvarī.
As soon as they came before the pure devotees, the dacoits received pure spiritual knowledge and became completely transformed.
Weeping bitterly, they rolled upon the ground at the feet of Jāhnavā Mātā and begged for her mercy:
“We are notorious thieves. Please be merciful to us. If you bestow your mercy upon fallen people such as us, your glories will be proclaimed throughout the world.”
After saying this, they became silent while tears streamed down their cheeks like rain.
Śrī Jāhnavā Īśvarī immediately forgave and blessed them. The news of the extraordinary mercy she had bestowed upon the dacoits soon spread far and wide.
Translated by Bhakti Nilācala Swami from the Gauḍīya Mission edition of Śrī Bhakti-ratnākara, Baghbazar, Calcutta, 1987.
