oḿ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaḿ
pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate
TRANSLATION
The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.
This is the invocation prayer from Sri Isopanishad, and further as we read about the pastimes of Sri Nityananda Rama we can understand this principle of the Lord being the complete whole. In the spiritual world, math is done differently where even though one subtracts some item, the complete whole stays the same..The sandesh story from Nityananda Caritamarita.
Shri Gauranga asked, “Nityananda, where are Your clothes?” Nityananda replied, “Yes yes.” Shri Gauranga said, “O Gosai, why are You doing this?” Nityananda replied, “I can’t eat today.” Shri Gauranga then said, “I’m asking something and why are You answering something else?” Nityananda replied, “I went there ten times.” Shri Gauranga being angry said, “It’s not My fault.” Nityananda replied, “Your mother is not here.” Shri Gauranga then said, “Please get dressed.” Nityananda replied, “Yes, now I’ll eat.” Nityananda Prabhu was fully maddened in the love of Shri Gauranga. He heard something and answered something else. He kept on laughing. Shri Gauranga then got up and personally put clothes on Lord Nityananda. Nityananda, the son of Padmavati, kept on laughing completely lost in trance.
Seeing the wonderful nature of Nityananda, mother Saci simply smiled. She considered Nityananda as her own son, Visvarupa. She heard from everyone that Nityananda was non-different from Visvarupa. She alone often saw this with her own eyes. She, however, did not reveal these secrets to anyone. She showed spontaneous affection for Nityananda. She treated both Nityananda and Visvarupa equally.
After coming to his senses, Nityananda dressed Himself properly. Mother Saci then gave Him five pieces of sandesa. Nityananda, however, ate one of them and threw the other four pieces away. Mother Saci then said, “What will You eat now? Nityananda replied, “If you want more, you’ll surely receive more.” On entering her kitchen, Mother Saci found to her surprise that those same four pieces were there inside the kitchen. Mother Saci then murmured, “These sweets were thrown far away. So how is it they’re here inside the kitchen?” In jubilant wonder, Saci brought these sweets and offered them to Nityananda. To her astonishment, she saw that Nityananda was eating those very sweets. Mother Saci said, “My son, where did You get these sweets?” Nityananda replied, “At first I threw them away. But seeing your distress, I brought them back.” Seeing this wonderful act, mother Saci thought, “Who is there who is unaware of the glories of Nityananda?” She then said to Nityananda, “Nityananda, why are You deceiving me? I know You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So please remove the influence of Your illusory energy from me.”
The qualities of Nityananda are unfathomable. They are a source of pleasure for the devotees and the cause of distress for miscreants. Even mother Ganges runs away from that sinful person who dares to blaspheme Lord Nityananda. Lord Nityananda, who as Lord Ananta Sesha who holds the universes on His hoods, is the king of the devotees. This is my heart’s desire and prayer to the feet of the Vaishnavas. May Lord Nityananda, who is Lord Balarama, become my life and soul.
Sandesh can be flavored in many ways. In order to make this popular sweet, only two ingredients are needed:milk and sugar. Okay maybe three, add yogurt or lemon juice to the list.
Make chenna or cheese by curdling milk with yogurt or lemon as mentioned in the recipe for rasagolla.
For 1 cup of chenna cheese, add 1/2 cup of fine sugar. knead the cheese and sugar on a clean surface till the chenna is smooth and not grainy. If one uses the blender to achieve the texture the mixture turns liquid, therefore its better to excercise the hand. Take the fine cheese and sugar mixture in a thick bottomed pan. Setting the flame at medium, constantly scrape and stir the cheese and sugar mixture, till it pulls away from the sides of the pan grease a plate or tray with ghee and pat the sandesh mixture on to it. Sprinkle with kewra or rose flavors, Cut into squares or pat it into sandesh molds. You can then use food color and paint the individual pieces for a more personalized offering. In case of the sandesh cake, I just used a cake pan and made a huge sandesh cake by patting the sandesh into it, overturning the tray and Gauranga! there appeared the sandesh cake. Then we topped it with thin slices of mango using a fondant cutter..
