PLATE FOUR

“Passing along the beach, the devotees saw a fisherman approaching
with his net over his shoulder. Laughing, crying, dancing and singing, he
kept repeating the holy name, ‘Hari, Hari.’ Seeing the activities of the
fisherman, everyone was astonished. Svaripa Damodara Gosvami,
therefore, asked him for information. ‘My dear fisherman,’ he said, ‘why
are you behaving like this? Have you seen someone hereabouts? What is
the cause of your behavior? Please tell us.’ The fisherman replied, ‘| have
not seen a single person here, but while casting my net in the water, |
captured a dead body. | lifted it with great care, thinking it a big fish, but
as soon as | saw that it was a corpse, great fear arose in my mind. As |
tried to release the net | touched the body, and as soon as | touched it, a
ghost entered my heart. | shivered in fear and shed tears. My voice
faltered, and all the hairs on my person stood up...’ SvarGpa Damodara
said to the fisherman, ‘My dear sir, the person whom you are thinking a
ghost is actually not a ghost but the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri
Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Because of ecstatic love, the Lord fell into
the sea, and you have caught Him in your net and rescued Him.’”
(pp.138-147)
