Today is the disappearance day of Sri Murari Gupta. He is Hunuman in the pastimes of Lord Ramchandra. He is the associate of Sri Chiatanya Mahaprabhu. There is one spelling mistake in our book in the name of Murari Gupta. In our book such mistakes should not be there. We have to be careful about this. Nowadays we are not bothered about these things and write as we like. But wherever we have some doubt we should refer to dictionary. Sanskrit is the origin of all languages. To honor the dignity of Sanskrit language we should write things as they are there originally especially when we are engaged in the spreading the message of scriptures. We should be very careful in this regard. Wherever we have any doubt, we should cross check with standard reference.

Murari is one in whose heart Lord Ramchandra is residing—Hanuman. Hanuman once tore his chest and shown the presence of Lord Ramchandra in his heart. There are many pastimes of Murari Gupta with Mahaprabhu. We hear them during the Nabadwip Parikrama when we go to his place. Mahaprabhu gave an important teaching through him—one has to have staunch faith in one’s worshipable object (ista-deva). One cannot have one pointed love for many. It is possible to one object only. There are so many forms of Supreme Lord but a one pointed devotee has attachment or love for one particular form or Avatar only. Mahaprabhu once asked Murari to worship Krishna. He explained to Murari that Krishna is the Supreme Lord, the fountainhead of all the other Avatar. Because Vrajendranandan Sri Krishna is the ocean of all the devotional mellows, the joy to be had in worshiping Him cannot be had in the service of any other form of the Lord.

Murari promised Mahaprabhu that he would do as He advised and will worship Sri Krishna only, but when he returned to his home, he could not give up the lotus feet of Lord Ramachandra. Just the thought of it made him upset. He started crying. He could not even sleep the entire night. In the morning, he went to Mahaprabhu and fell at His feet with tears in his eyes and made the following humble submission:

“I have sold my head to Lord Ramachandra. I cannot remove it from His feet, for as soon as I try, it causes me great pain. I cannot give up the lotus feet of Raghunatha, even though this means disobeying You. What can I do? O merciful one, please allow me to give up my life here before You rather than suffer this fate.”
(Chaitanya Charitamrita Madhya 15.149-151)

Mahaprabhu was greatly satisfied to hear this exclusive devotional attitude to the worshipable object. He said, “You are Hanuman himself, the eternal servant of Lord Ramachandra. Indeed, why should you give up worshiping His feet?”

During the twenty-one hour great epiphany (mahā-prakāśa) at Srivas Angan, the Lord gave Murari a vision of Himself as Lord Rama.

Murari was somewhat older than Mahaprabhu. The Chaitanya Bhagavata includes his name in the list of associates who appeared prior to Mahaprabhu. He was also a student at Ganga Das Pandit’s Tol (school) along with Nimai (Mahaprabhu). When the Lord was engaged in His pastimes of learning and study, He would often debate and joke with Murari. Mahaprabhu would be pleased with Murari’s interpretations. Murari also was amazed at Mahaprabhu’s wonderful intelligence and learning. He also observed that just the touch of Nimai’s hand would immerse him in ecstasy. All these things convinced him early on that Nimai was not an ordinary human being.

On one occasion, Mahaprabhu displayed the Varah form (wild boar) in the house of Srivas Pandit, and began calling the name of Garuda. Murari heard the call, and giving a loud roar, took the form of the King of birds. Mahaprabhu then climbed on his shoulders. Is there any difference in Garuda and Hanuman? They are the same.

We have to remember the teaching regarding one pointed devotion from the life of Murari Gupta. Today on the disappearance day of Murari Gupta, we pay our innumerable prostrated obeisances to his lotus feet and pray for his causeless mercy. He is the dearest associate of Mahaprabhu, we pray to him to bestow fixation of our mind to our worshipable object.