The Real Mango Līlā of Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura

Many devotees have heard the story of how, as a child, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda once took a mango that had not been offered to the Deity and was admonished by his father, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. From that moment on, he made a resolute vow never to eat mangoes again for the rest of his life. This pastime has been told in many classes and has even been published in various biographies of Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, both in Bengali and English.

But did it really happen?

Recently, while going through the first and second issues of Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā (the monthly journal of Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Mahārāja) published in 1949, we came across an interesting letter written by Sarasvatī Ṭhākura himself in 1922, prior to his acceptance of sannyāsa. This letter was not included in Śrīla Prabhupāder Patrāvalī, the collection of Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s letters which was printed by the Gauḍīya Maṭha, but in the first issue of Gauḍīya Patrikā, Keśava Mahārāja included a picture of the actual letter in Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s handwriting. In the second issue, he further elaborated and gave a detailed explanation of Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s āmra-līlā (mango pastime).

The recipient of the letter is unknown, but its contents are as follows:

Śrī Māyāpura, Vrajapattan
2/8/15

Śubhāśīyāṁ rāśayaḥ santu viśeśāḥ (May there be special rays of auspicious benedictions upon you)

I have received your package sent on July 26, 1915 and have accepted its contents. Some of it I presented to Śrīman Mahāprabhu, and some I gave to the local devotees of the dhāma. By the mercy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, I have not partaken of any type of mango prasādam for the past twenty-two years, nor have I used anything made from mango. I am humbly informing you of this for the future.

I received a letter from Śrīman Madhusūdana. I also received a letter from Śrīyuktā Saroja-vasini. Currently, work is underway to publish a monthly newspaper called Sajjana Toṣaṇī. Apart from hari-kathā, there is no other useless discussion in it. It contains many articles for devotees to read. You can read it as usual. If you read it, you will no longer experience the torment of associating with other jñānīs or karmīs. I hope your bhajana is doing well.

Your eternal well-wisher –

Śrī Vimala Prasāda Siddhānta Sarasvatī

(Scan of original letter by Sarasvatī Ṭhākura)

Herein, Sarasvati Ṭhākura clearly states that he had not taken mangoes for twenty-two years. Having been born in 1874, he would have been forty-one when he wrote this letter in 1915. If we deduct twenty-two years from 1915, the year would be 1893 and Sarasvati Ṭhākura would be nineteen years old – so he was hardly a small child when he made his vow.

Śrīpāda Keśava Mahārāja shines more light on this incident in his commentary to this letter:

On the fifth page of the first issue of the current year of Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā, we presented to the readers a letter adorned by the divine lotus hands of Jagad-guru Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. Due to lack of time and space, we were unable to publish the essential teachings contained within that letter in the previous issue. As many of our kind-hearted readers have expressed a desire to know them, we are now presenting them briefly in this issue.

In response to a letter dated the 11th of Śrāvaṇa in the year 1322 (Bengali calendar), Jagad-guru Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote this letter on August 2nd, 1915, which was two or three years prior to his pastime of accepting tridaṇḍi-sannyāsa. Therefore, the letter bears the signature of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s name from his previous āśrama. The transcendental nature of his life was revealed from his very early childhood. We will gradually discuss that. Letters from mahājanas are far more soul-stirring than texts, lectures, or essays. Of course, the matter of direct instruction is a separate topic. Although this is written to a particular individual, it contains such conscious potency that it can effortlessly attract the collective consciousness and draw it to the path of auspiciousness. For this very reason, we have published Śrīla Prabhupāda’s letter. It often happens that a person who publishes a letter of a mahājana adds his own ideas to it and thus spoils the sanctity of the letter. For this reason, we have published the handwritten letter of a mahājana and will make sure to take great care in doing the same in the future without any negligence…

We wish to draw the readers’ attention to the portion of the aforementioned letter which is highlighted in bold. Although it is instructive everywhere, we will discuss one particular piece of advice from the aforementioned section in bold.

Firstly, the statement, “I have not partaken of any type of mango prasādam for the past twenty-two years” contains the essence of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s personal life of proper renunciation (yukta-vairāgya), selfless service (niṣkāma-sevā), and the supreme ideal of renouncing enjoyment for the sake of Kṛṣṇa (kṛṣṇārther bhoga-tyāga).

One evening, Śrīla Prabhupāda was walking inside the servant’s quarters of the Yogapīṭha, the birthplace of Gaura in Śrīdhāma Māyāpura, and thought to himself that if he could get a ripe mango at that moment, it could be offered in service. At that time, it was definitely not the season for mangoes. It can be assumed that it was around the month of Pauṣa (December/January) or Māgha (January/February). After a short while, the temple pūjārī appeared before Śrīla Prabhupāda holding a ripe mango in his hand. He was greatly astonished and asked the pūjārī, “Where did you get that mango?”
The pūjārī replied, “Just now, a boy gave me this mango and said, ‘Give this to Śrī Sarasvatī Ṭhākura right away.'”
As soon as Śrīla Prabhupāda heard this, he became so distressed that tears began to flow from his eyes, and with a choked voice, he returned the mango and said to the pūjārī, “Immediately offer this to Śrīman Mahāprabhu and then you take the prasāda.”
The pūjārī could not understand the meaning of this at all, but he thought to himself that there certainly be a deeper mystery behind it. Bhagavān is always eager to fulfil the desires of His devotee. This is because a devotee never prays for anything except to please Bhagavān. In such a situation, if anything becomes the object of a devotee’s desire, Bhagavān immediately fulfils it Himself. But Śrīla Prabhupāda thought to himself, “During the off-season, the desire to eat a mango arose in my heart, and thus I have caused trouble to Śrī Bhagavān, who was made to arrange an item for my personal enjoyment. I have used Him as my employee! This is very wrong! Therefore, I will never eat mangoes again in my life. The mango will thus be offered solely for the pleasure of Bhagavān.”

Since then, he never accepted mangoes again. That is what he has revealed in a hidden manner in that letter. This alone is renunciation of enjoyment for the sake of loving Kṛṣṇa. For the sake of educating the people, the eternally liberated Śrīla Prabhupāda, despite having no desire, accepted such a pastime in order to teach everyone. Such an ideal of a life devoid of mundane desires is not seen anywhere else. Apart from the Vaiṣṇava dharma propagated by Śrīman Mahāprabhu, such a supreme line of thought is not found in any other religion. For this reason, Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī has loudly sung :

kṛṣṇa-bhakta-niṣkāma ataeva śānta
bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāma sakali aśānta

A devotee of Krsna is devoid of desire and is therefore peaceful. Those who seek pleasure, liberation or mystical powers are all agitated. (Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 19.149).

How this story became distorted into the tale that most of us are familiar with is anyone’s guess. Yet even if this incident did not take place during Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s childhood, the letter and explanation above clearly reveals that his resolve and spirit of yukta-vairāgya remained unwavering.

• Gṛha Praveśa (Entering a House) by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura
• The Kaulīnya Tradition by Śrīla B.R. Śrīdhara Mahārāja
• Śrī Caitanyadeva and Communism by Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda
• Grow More Food! by Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda
• Sat-Nyāsa – The Ecstatic Life of Pure Devotion (The Authorised Tridaṇḍi-Sannyāsa) by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• The Colour for Sannyāsīs by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• The White Bead Bag by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• Daiva Varṇāśrama by Śrīla Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
• The Real Mango Līlā of Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura by Swami B.V. Giri

• A Vaiṣṇava Householder’s Hospitality to Guests by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• The Livelihood of Householder Vaiṣṇavas by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• The Brāhmaṇa and the Vaiṣṇava – Both are Completely Vedic by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• The Savings of a Vaiṣṇava by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• Begging Alms by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• Brāhmaṇism and Vaiṣṇavism by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura
• The Marriage System of Bengal by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura