Tabs Compassion, Making Mistakes, Forgiveness, Faith in God, Love, Kindness, Serving Others, Holy Name, Meditation, Saints, Guru, Biography, Devotional Service (Bhakti) Title Haridasa Thakura Tricks the Lady Written by Vandna Synghal Reference Online story, authorship unclear. http://krishna.org/haridasa-thakura-and- the-prostitute/ Once there was a very special devotee called Haridasa Thakura. He was amazing because he would chant the Hare Krishna Maha Mantra 300,000 times a day! His tongue couldn’t stop chanting – he simply loved it! One day a mean person called Ramachandra Khan was so jealous of Haridasa he decided to play a trick. “I will make Haridasa miss some of his daily chanting. This will make him really upset and everyone else will stop liking him, ha-ha-ha”. Ramachandra Khan called a beautiful lady and made a plan with her: “You go to Haridasa’s house and pretend to fall in love with him,” he whispered. “Then you insist on spending time with him and he will have to stop chanting!” The lady agreed and went to Haridasa in the evening. “Greetings Haridasa!” she called out when she reached the cottage. “You are so handsome. I want to marry you! We have to be together or I will die!” Haridasa came out of his cottage and looked at the lady kindly. “Okay. Could you wait until I finish chanting Hare Krishna?” he said. “I won’t be long. You can sit here and listen while you wait.” The lady sat under a tree. She could hear Haridasa chanting from inside the cottage. She liked his voice – it was sweet. But before she knew it, the sun rose and golden sunshine spread over the hills and fields. Tabs Compassion, Making Mistakes, Forgiveness, Faith in God, Love, Kindness, Serving Others, Holy Name, Meditation, Saints, Guru, Biography, Devotional Service (Bhakti) Title Haridasa Thakura Tricks the Lady Written by Vandna Synghal Reference Online story, authorship unclear. http://krishna.org/haridasa-thakura-and- the-prostitute/ “Oh my goodness, it’s morning!” she cried out, “and Haridasa is still chanting! I better go home now. I’ll come back in the evening.” When she was back, Haridasa gave her a huge cheerful smile and said: “I’m sorry I made you made last night. Sit down awhile and listen while I finish today’s chanting. Then we can be together.” The lady watched Haridasa bow to tulasi, a holy plant that was growing in a pot outside the cottage. He sat down, closed his eyes lightly and started chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. “His voice is so deep,” the lady thought, “it goes straight into my heart. It’s magical.” She closed her eyes and listened very carefully. After a while, she was also whispering the same words without realising. The whole night passed in a blink. At dawn, the lady looked up. She was nervous. She remembered Ramachandra Khan’s plan and thought: “That mean old Ramachandra Khan will be horrible and make trouble for me if I don’t do what he wanted. Haridasa is actually a nice person and his voice is stirs my heart… but I have to stop him chanting!” Haridasa Thakura suddenly paused and smiled. “I’m sorry I’ve made you wait for so long,” he said. “You see, I’ve made a promise to chant Krishna’s name ten million times this month. I tried my best to finish but I still have some chanting left. Come back tomorrow and we can finally be together.” The lady nodded and left. Haridasa thought: “I don’t mean to trick the poor lady but I can never be with her or any lady. I love to chant day and night and can’t possibly do anything else. But I won’t say anything because I have a plan for her!” The lady came back the next afternoon. She sat on the doorstep and watched Haridasa Thakura bow to the tulasi plant and begin his chanting. The echoes of Haridas’s voice filled the lady with joy. Strange wonderful feelings came in her heart and instantly she was murmuring the same words. She spent the whole night like this. At sunrise, the lady got up slowly. Tears were streaming down her face. She touched Haridasa’s feet and said: “You’re chanting has cleaned my heart completely! You are a saint and I tried to spoil your sacred chanting. Please forgive me!” Tabs Compassion, Making Mistakes, Forgiveness, Faith in God, Love, Kindness, Serving Others, Holy Name, Meditation, Saints, Guru, Biography, Devotional Service (Bhakti) Title Haridasa Thakura Tricks the Lady Written by Vandna Synghal Reference Online story, authorship unclear. http://krishna.org/haridasa-thakura-and- the-prostitute/ “Don’t worry, I forgive you. I already knew about Ramacandra Khan’s plan but I didn’t say anything because I wanted to help you,” said Haridasa. His heart overflowed with kindness and compassion. He really wanted for the lady to be happy. “Could you become my teacher?” said the lady. “I’m so miserable. I live in a disgusting place with cruel people and do bad things all day and night. I need help.” Haridasa became very serious and said: “You can live in this cottage for the rest of your life. Be simple, clean and honest. Worship the tulasi plant, water and take care of her and then chant Hare Krishna every day. If you do this, your life will become perfect and Krishna will take care of you. Blessings to you dear lady. Now I have to leave.” The lady did exactly what Haridasa instructed. She lived alone in the cottage and started chanting. She loved it so much she was soon chanting Krishna’s names thousands of times a day, just like Haridasa! She would even forget to eat so people would give her little gifts of food. In time, she became a famous great devotee of God and people would come to see her and take blessings. She would say: “No, no please don’t bow to me. It is my glorious teacher who is great and wonderful. He changed my heart and life and gave me a chance to love Krishna.” .