THE Öhäkura's whole family came to live in Puré. He mentions in his autobiography that his mother, his wife, Annada, Radhika, Sadu, Kadu and other relations were all staying there and getting the regular darçana of Lord Jagannätha. The Commissioner, Mr. T. E. Ravenshaw, was much pleased to get a person of the caliber of the Öhäkura and asked him to watch over the affairs of the temple of Jagannätha on behalf of the Government. It was due to the exertion of the Öhäkura that many bad practices at the temple were curbed and the offerings to
the Lord were regulated to extreme punctuality. Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura was much enlivened by being in Puré, where Lord Caitanya had passed His last eighteen years, and he took every opportunity to visit the sites of Lord Caitanya's final pastimes and to experience the mood of ecstatic separation from Kåñëa, which was ever-present there.
In the first year of the Öhäkura's stay in Puré, his third son, Kamala Prasad, was born. At this time the Öhäkura was given the task of quelling the disturbance caused by a mystic yogé who claimed to be an incarnation of Mahä-Viñëu. A few details of this story are taken from the autobiography of Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura, and all other details are culled from the biographical notes of Lalita Prasad Thakur, the seventh son of the Öhäkura, and other biographers. The story is so gripping and dramatic that one may wonder about its veracity. Yet, we know that truth is both stranger and more profound than fiction, and confirmation of the events described below can be had from so many sources that they cannot be denied.
The background of the yogé Bisakisen was that he belonged to a sect called the Atibäré-sampradäya, which was started by a person called Jagannätha däsa. In the beginning Lord Caitanya had ordered Jagannätha däsa to be a follower of Haridäsa Öhäkura, but later Jagannätha däsa gave up pure devotion and took shelter of Mäyäväda philosophy. Mahäprabhu rejected him, and for this reason he was called Atibäré. The Atibäré group was secretive in its practices, and the Öhäkura states, "This group has many forged books wherein it is written that Caitanya will again appear. Among them, there are some evil-minded people who attempt to imitate Caitanya or Brahmä, and some who imitate Baladeva or Kåñëa. One person known as Bisakisen, a scoundrel who had developed a little yogic power, was thought to be Mahä-Viñëu Himself." The yogé established a temple in the jungle near the village of Sharadaipur, and as he exhibited many mystic potencies, numerous people came to serve him. It was 'predicted' in the concocted scriptures of the Atibärés that there would be a battle on the 14th of Caitra (March-April), and that Mahä-Viñëu would then reveal His four-armed form. This news was spread in the villages, and the yogé sent out a circular announcing that Bhagavän Mahä-Viñëu, who had descended as
Bisakisen, would deliver India from the hands of the Europeans by killing them all. He also began to exhibit various miracles to impress people. He would sit erect in front of a fire and lean into the flames for some time and then return to an erect position without injury. He could read people's minds, instantly cure diseased persons and manifest fire from his head. To those who lacked knowledge of the various yogéc practices, by which siddhis (powers) are acquired, these events seemed extraordinary, even Godly. However, to a serious student of the doctrines of yoga, like the Öhäkura, such powers were simply an insignificant display of material power acquired by austerity, with no real spirituality. Even to this day in India, unscrupulous persons who perform severe penances acquire these magical powers simply to get a large following and exploit their simple-minded followers for material advantages. Their naive followers often become convinced of the divinity of the rascals and worship them as God. Yet, such persons are really no better than 'confidence men' in one of the world's oldest 'con games': tiny conditioned souls masquerade as God and convince other foolish conditioned souls to accept them as such.
Two of the yogé's associates posed as the guëa-avatäras, Brahmä and Çiva. Living in the jungle, not far from Bhuvaneswar, he established a temple, using funds that certain of the intimidated kings of Orissa had sent at his request. Some of the kings and villagers even sent women for his pleasure when he announced that he would hold a räsa dance in which he would exhibit his sole supremacy and power over all women.
When he actually had sexual relations with the wives of leading citizens of an Orissan town called Bringarpur, it created an outcry among the husbands and other leaders there, and they took their case to the government officials.
Mr. Ravenshaw, the English District Commissioner, was at that time in charge of the Orissan division of the National British-Indian Government. After hearing from the leaders of Bringarpur, he decided to entrust the case to Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura for a thorough investigation. The case was very sensitive. Bisakisen had gathered a large following of sympathizers, and he was seen as a potential threat to the security of the region, possibly capable of fomenting a local
revolution.
The Öhäkura set out with the District Superintendent, the Chief of Police and a few constables. In the evening, just at sunset, the Öhäkura entered the jungle where the yogé was staying, near the village of Sharadaipur. He found many people sitting with the yogé. Many sick people had come to get cured by him and were glorifying him as an incarnation of God. Upon the arrival of the Öhäkura, the yogé rose from his throne and questioned him, "O babu, I know that you are a Bengali and a Magistrate. Why have you come here on this dark night?"
Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura replied, "I have come to see you."
Bisakisen then rejoined, "That being the case, please sit down and hear my teachings. I am Mahä-Viñëu. Arising from the ocean of milk, I have come to this place, and very soon I will destroy all the Europeans, including the King of England. I have proclaimed this everywhere."
In his autobiography the Öhäkura says, "... I went at night to that jungle and spoke at length with Mahä-Viñëu, and he revealed his vow to destroy the English Raj."
After saying this, Bisakisen gave the Öhäkura a piece of palm leaf that had the very thing he had just said written on it in poetic form.
Exhibiting his mystic powers, the yogé began to describe everything about Öhäkura Bhaktivinoda in detail, mentioning his name, mission, etc. and warned him not to try to interfere with him. He also revealed that he knew full well about the men that the Öhäkura had brought with him, and were hiding among the trees. The Öhäkura was not impressed, and he asked the yogé, "If you are Mahä-Viñëu, then why are you staying in this jungle and not at Puré where Çré Jagannätha Deva resides?"
The yogé replied haughtily, "I am personally the Supreme Lord. There is no God at Puré. That so-called God, Jagannätha, is merely a big slab of wood. Çré Caitanya was my beloved devotee, and I will again make India the kingdom of the Hindus. For this reason I am living in the jungle. I know that you are an excellent court judge and a good devotee as well.
When the Hindu kingdom is again established, I will give you a very good position in the government. I will make you the Governor of the entire state of Orissa."
Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura then gravely replied, "The tiny living entity can never become God. Rävaëa, Hiraëyakaçipu, Çiçupäla, Dantavakra and many others who came under the influence of this arrogant mentality, were all destroyed."
The yogé, in order to impress the Öhäkura with his power, then called before him many people with incurable diseases, and in a moment made them well. One person was suffering with a spear wound. The yogé brought him under his control and produced some ashes which he smeared on the wound. Immediately the wounded man was well and free of pain. The Öhäkura was not moved, correctly seeing the yogé as an offender to the Lord, using God-given powers for his own self-aggrandisement. Leaving some spies to watch the yogé, the Öhäkura spent the night in a tent at Sharadaipur. The yogé had to be arrested, but first further investigation needed to be made. The next day the Öhäkura traveled to the villages in the region to gather reports from the people.
In some villages he heard praise, but others were angry about the yogi's affairs with married women and were anxious that this fever of attraction to the yogé might spread to the women of their own villages and result in scandal and humiliation.
Thereafter, the Öhäkura gave the order to arrest the yogé, and seeing his men fearful, he personally led them, bringing with him two police
inspectors, a police superintendent and over one-hundred armed policemen. They arrived in the early morning hours. A sacrificial fire was burning in front of Bisakisen and well over a thousand followers were present. Many were offering prayers to the yogé. The Öhäkura and the policemen appeared on the perimeter of the crowd. When the yogé's followers saw the red-turbaned policemen, armed with rifles and
bayonets, many of them began to flee. News was quickly spread to the villages that the Government had sent an army to arrest the avatära of God! Bisakisen sat observing all of this calmly. Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura approached him. There was a short silence. "Babu, what is the meaning of all this?" asked the yogé with apparent serenity.
"They have come to take you. It is the Governor's order that you should be brought to Puré," replied the Öhäkura.
The yogé replied harshly, "Who is this Governor? I am King, for I am
the Supreme Godhead and master of all the universes. I bow down before no one. Let us see who is able to take me away from this place!"
"If you do not go peacefully, we will be obliged to take you away by force," replied the Öhäkura sternly.
Becoming enraged, the yogé cried, "I order you to immediately leave this place! Let us see who has the power to take me!" Saying this, the yogé shook his head violently, whereupon hundreds and hundreds of fiery flames like burning snakes began to fly out of his matted locks. The yogé's eyes then became bright red and sparks of fire shot out of them.
Seeing this, the police force was terrified and fell back apace.
"Bisakisen!" declared the Öhäkura, "You may show us as much magic as you like, and we certainly will not forget it. However, you are an offender at the feet of the Supreme Lord. Although you are an insignificant living being, you are proclaiming yourself to be God, but actually you despise God. Furthermore, you are a rebel. You must go to Puré, where you will be judged."
The yogé shouted, "I will not go! My power remains, therefore-go away!"
Öhäkura Bhaktivinoda ordered four police constables to bring a bullock cart from the nearby village. As they waited for the cart the Öhäkura preached to the irate yogé: "You must give up your deluded mentality and admit your imperfection. Your mystic powers are very insignificant in comparison to the opulences of the Supreme Godhead and the greatness of the Lord's devotees. I request you to correctly understand this just once."
The yogé reacted like a trampled snake, "You obviously do not know who I am. If I, just once, ignite the fire of my anger, the three worlds will burn into ashes, but because I am very kind to the universe I am not doing it."
Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura began to laugh, "Accha," he said, "let us now go to Puri. When we get there you can display the fire of your anger." By this time, the bullock cart had arrived. Seeing no way out of his predicament, the yogé ascended the cart, but before doing so he announced to the Öhäkura, "It is the word of the devotee that the
Supreme Lord protects, therefore I am only going to Puré to protect your word that you would bring me there."
On the way to Puré, the Öhäkura began writing up his judgment of the case to date. As the Öhäkura wrote, the yogé began exhibiting his mystic powers from the back of the cart. The Öhäkura noted them but remained steadfast. Upon arriving in Puré the yogé was placed in solitary confinement until the trial. Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura put three-dozen Moslem constables and seventy-two Cuttack policemen in charge of guarding his cell day and night. He then departed to arrest the false Brahmä and Çiva, who later pleaded that they had been coerced into their respective roles by Bisakisen. They were prosecuted by Mr. Taylor, who was the Sub-division Officer at Kodar.
Bisakisen fasted from both food and water and did not sleep at all.
Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura repeatedly requested him to eat and gave him many valuable spiritual instructions, but Bisakisen would not hear him. During the pre-trial period many Orissan people took up a collection and hired a lawyer to defend Bisakisen in court.
The trial lasted eighteen days. It was held in the district court at Puré.
Almost one-thousand of the yogé's followers and sympathizers gathered outside the courthouse during the trial, shouting their demands for the yogé's release. On the fifth day of the trial, court was adjourned for the day. At the completion of the sixth day's hearings, Bisakisen ominously threatened the Öhäkura, "Babu, you must immediately desist from prosecuting me or everything you have will be destroyed. Go to your home now and see what disaster is taking place there."
When he arrived at his home, he found his second daughter, seven year old Kadambini, afflicted with some deadly disease and high fever, repeatedly losing consciousness. Loud sounds of lamentation filled the house, but the Öhäkura did not fail in his determination, for he knew that the Lord would protect him from the insignificant powers of a yogé.
Many doctors came to attend his daughter, and by eight o'clock in the morning she was well, and playing in the courtyard. The Öhäkura's wife, Çrématé Bhägavaté Devé, became very anxious for the safety of their children, and she pleaded with her husband to let Bisakisen go before he
"but this rascal must be punished!"
The Öhäkura recalls the period in his autobiography: All over Puré there were disturbances. At that time the Puré School had a fire, and all of the people suspected him. Also at this time Kadur [a nickname for Kadambini] came down with fever. Bisakisen, by his practice of yoga, had by some means attained yogéc powers, and I obtained a lot of evidence against him. For twenty-one days he did not eat or drink even a drop of water, but he did not show any weakness and gave unfailing cures to many people."
On the seventeenth day of the trial, when the court rose for recess, Bisakisen stood up and screamed violently at the Öhäkura, "Did you see what great calamity occurred at your house the other day? Still you are not coming to your senses! When will you be able to recognize me as the Supreme Lord? The final day of my judgment will be your death! What is the punishment for one who disrespects an avatära? How Death sits on the seat of judgment and gives out his commands, I will see!"
When Öhäkura Bhaktivinoda returned home in the late afternoon of that day, he took off his court clothes, and all of a sudden he felt a sharp pain on the right side of his chest. As the night went on, the pain increased. The Öhäkura was unshaken in his determination, but it was unclear how he would be able to enter the court in such a condition to give his final judgment. In the morning the severe pain persisted.
Finally, by about 10 A.M. he felt a slight subsiding of the pain, and he was ready to write the judgment. He was unable to walk and had to be carried to his palanquin. On that final day a thousand of the yogé's followers again gathered in front of the courthouse and created a terrific din. Inside, the trial ensued. The Öhäkura's decision was announced:
'Bisakisen is found guilty of political conspiracy against the National British-Indian Government, as well as the State Government of Orissa, and therefore is sentenced to eighteen months of strict imprisonment and hard labor.' When the huge crowd outside received the news of Bisakisen's sentence, they made a tremendous uproar and began to cry in unison, "Injustice! Injustice!"
Bisakisen was being led away from the court, when suddenly the District Medical Officer, Doctor Walters, jumped on the rascal from
behind and cut off his long hair with a large pair of scissors. The English officer had come to know from his studies of yoga that yogés often conserve their powers in their hair. As soon as the matted locks of Bisakisen were cut, he fell to the floor devoid of all power and unable to walk. The pain in the body of the Öhäkura vanished, and the yogé was removed from the courtroom on a stretcher. When his followers saw that 'God' had been overcome by having his hair removed, most of them deserted him. Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura recalls in his biography:
"When his hair was cut, his followers said that he was a cheater and left him."
The Öhäkura walked home peacefully. Bisakisen was held in the Puré jail for three months and then transferred to the central jail in Medinipur.
In 1873, while still in prison, he took poison and died. After the rise of Bisakisen, there were other so-called incarnations. In Yajpur a 'Brahmä' took over Bisakisen's former group and was similarly punished, and in Khandagiri, a 'Balaräma' made his attempt but was also swiftly thwarted.
Just as Durväsä Muni had attempted to punish the pure devotee
Just as Durväsä Muni had attempted to punish the pure devotee