Realizing that the Lord has left home, the devotees were shocked and feel swooning to the ground. Overcome with grief, they wailed loudly in despair and pain. They held each other for comfort and babbled as if in delirium, “O Gopinatha, why did this terrible night have to end?” “How will I live without seeing His moonlike face?” “What meaning is there to this sinful life?” “Why has the sky not come crashing down without prior warning?” They rolled on the ground weeping and lamenting, unable to bear the searing pain of separation. As the other devotees began to arrive, upon hearing the Lord’s departure, they all drowned in an ocean of sorrow. The loud wailing of the Vaisnavas enveloped the Lord’s house. They cried, “We are destitute orphans and our Lord and master has left us to take up *sannyasa*, leaving us drowning in an ocean of sorrow.”The devotees wept uncontrollably becoming almost unconscious with grief. They cried and loudly chanted, “Hari! Hari!” They felt that their life, possessions, family, etc, was worth nothing without the Lord’s presence. They beat their breasts and struck their foreheads in utter despondency. Their beloved Lord had left without informing them, thinking of this, they rolled on the ground oblivious of the dust that covered them. The Lord’s courtyard witnessed this heart rending scenes of the Vaisnavas writhing, both within and without, in the excruciating pain of separation. Srila Mukunda, Sri Murari, Srila Sridhara, Srila Gadadhara, Sri Gangadasa, Srila Srivasa and his family members, Sri Acarya, Srila Haridasa, and many others were there sharing the grief that, unannounced, had suddenly struck them. The sound of their loud wailing echoed throughout Navadvipa and all the resident came running to see what had happened. Young and old, men andwomen, rushed to Nimai Pandita’s house and loudly lamented that their beloved Lord had had gone. Gradually, the devotees stopped crying, calmed themselves and sat down encircling Sacimata.As the news spread of the Lord’s departure from home to take up *sannyasa*, people came from near and far. They were astonished to hear that Nimai Pandita had decided to enter the renounced order. In Nimai’s house, they found everyone red-eyed, weeping with Nimai’s absent. The entire weight and impact of the news of Nimai’s leaving finally struck them and even the heavy critics and atheists felt sad and full of genuine remorse. They said, “We are so sinful that we failed to recognize such an elevated personality.” “No longer shall we see His moonlike beautiful face.” “Let us put fire to our homes and leave town to become *yogis*.” “Why should we remain at home when the Lord Himself had left Navadvipa and gone away?” “What is our life worth to us?” “How are we still breathing?” The town’s people cried, lamented, and fell swooning to the ground. Men, women, old and young were as if thrown into a well of acute grief.The Supreme Independent Lord, Sri Gaurasundara, knows which method to apply for liberating every particular person. He embraced the renounced order, intending to alleviate the suffering of all living entities and save them. Now we see that even those who were envious and antagonistic towards the Lord were bitten by the poisonous snake of separation from the Lord. All glory and victory to the Supreme Lord of all living beings, Sri Gaurasundara, for He has made a wonderful plan to liberate all *jiva* souls.My dear readers, please listen attentively to the details of the Lord receiving *sannyasa*. By hearing this, one is freed from the bondage of infinite *karmic* reactions.
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