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WHO WAS SUKADEVA GOSVAMI?
Why did he stay in his mother’s
womb for 16 years?
by Bhaktabandhav | Jan 9, 2020 | Rasa Pancadhyayi | 4 comments
Sukadeva Goswami is describing this Rasa Pancadhyayi to Pariksit Maharaja, but
he did not describe this only for Pariksit Maharaja. Then who was He speaking it
for? Was it to please Krsna or Srimati Radhika? Was it to please Pariksit
Maharaja, or others in the audience? Why are we hearing it, and who is it really
for?
SUKADEVA GOSWAMI’S WORLDLY DETACHMENT AND RENUNCIATION
Sukadeva Goswami is not trying to please anyone in this world, nor is he trying
to please anyone in his audience, wondering if they will be happy and pleased
with him or not. It has been explained that, Badrinarayan or Vyasadeva stays in
the Badrinath asrama, in the Himalayan region and that Sukadeva Goswami had
appeared there. Sukadeva Goswami however, didn’t stay there after his birth,
trying to please his father and mother, he immediately left.
Sukadeva Goswami is completely detached from this world and he didn’t come
to this world to please anyone. We are not like that however. We take birth and
immediately we try to please our family and relatives, and if we don’t make
them happy then we think, “Oh! I am an ungrateful and horrible person.” We
have been conditioned to believe that we will be successful in this world only by
pleasing others i.e. our relatives, friends, families, and society. Sukadeva
Goswami however, was not like this.
From birth he was completely detached from the world. What is the meaning of
this detachment? It means attachment to God. If we are attached to God, then
naturally we will be detached from the people of this world. If we want to do
bhagavad-bhajan, then we can not share even one particle of our love in this
world with others. If we give even a drop of our love to anyone in this world, and
do not oUer it completely to God, then we are not pure. How can we be
protected? What is real purity?
We should pray everyday:
apavitrah pavitro vā
sarvāvasthāṁ gato api vā
By always remembering God and having love for Him, that makes us pure. Our
purity is lost when we distribute ourselves to the many people of this world.
Even if it is just for a moment, a few minutes, or an hour, we waste our time
trying to please materialistic people. For that time period we become impure
and contaminated and bhagavad-rasa cannot come into our hearts and minds.
Then we are just waiting for the blessings and mercy of those to whom we are
doing everything for, and trying to please and satisfy. We end up begging from
them, and then their moods, and their rasa, come into our hearts. If that person
is tamasik, by following them we become tamasik. If they are rajasik, or people in
the mode of passion, then we will also become inXuenced by rajo guna –
passion. Thereby, we become impure and contaminated.
SUKADEVA GOSWAMI STAYS IN THE WOMB FOR 16 YEARS
Srila Sukadeva Goswami did not have impurities like this, even from his birth.
Immediately he renounced this world because of his complete attachment and
absorption in God. He stayed in his mother’s womb for 16 years and would not
come out. At the time, Vyasadeva, with great intensity, began praying, “Please
come out! Please come out! You should not give any further pain and suUering
to your mother!” However, Sukadeva Goswami would not listen. Finally,
Vyasadeva prayed to Bhagavan Sri Krsna, and by the request of Bhagavan,
Sukadeva Goswami came out.
When Krsna asked Sukadeva Goswami to come out he replied, “If I come out,
maya will be on all sides surrounding me, therefore I do not want to come out.
What is that maya? The father will say, ‘You are mine. You are my son.’ The
mother will say, ‘You are my dear son.’ This is mohini-maya. It will come on all
four sides and capture you, then you will have aunts, uncles, cousins, and in-
laws, all of them wanting you to follow their desires and satisfy them. In this
way, they are binding us with their moha, illusory attachment. They take us in
their laps, give us aUection, and want us to think that we are their property. In
this way they bind us with moha, illusion.
Sukadeva Goswami said, “I will not come out into the world. I will not become
trapped in this net and web of ‘moha’ illusion. If you take aside this maya, then I
will come, otherwise not.”
Children suUer so much in their mothers’ wombs. They cannot move their arms
or legs and are always in a fetal position, being bitten by bacteria and worms.
When the mother takes something harsh to eat, then the child suUers and feels
a burning sensation. They are very constricted, bound and connected by an
umbilical cord. But Sukadeva Goswami was happy to stay in the womb. He said,
“I will stay here my whole life, no problem.” He was in the womb for 16 years
and he said he was happy there. Why? He said, “Because if I come outside then
everyone will try to capture me and make me their property.”
:
Nowadays women have dibculty maintaining their babies in their wombs for
the full pregnancy. They do not like this, and feel so much pain and discomfort
from being pregnant. We see in previous times women would keep their
children in their wombs for up to 10 months before giving birth to them. The
children would then become very strong and healthy. But nowadays, we see
people want short pregnancies.
Krsna said to Srila Sukadeva Goswami, “I will remove My maya for the time a
seed can stay on the edge of a blade.” Then as soon as Sukadeva Goswami
came out of the womb he Xed.
We see sadhus have attachment to topics of hari-katha and Bhagavan, but other
people are absorbed day and night in gossip and criticizing each other. All day
and night they pour this poison into each other’s ears.
There is no need to go to the hospital or to take medicine if there is no poison
going into the ears. When that poison begins to pour into our ears by so called
‘guru-jana’ (elders), family, friends and relatives, then naturally we become sick.
Because of this we have to suUer and struggle so much. We become depressed
and many illnesses arise from this mental disturbance, and we end up having to
take so much medicine. Why is this? Because we have made those who are not
our real friends and well-wishers of our soul into relatives and friends. We
accept them as our own and then they rope us in. But this is not the nature of
sadhus. Narada Rsi was very happy to leave his mother, as soon as she passed
away he left.
PRAHLADA MAHARAJA HEARS HARI-KATHA IN HIS MOTHER’S WOMB
For 60,000 years Prahlada Maharaja was hearing hari-katha in the womb of his
mother, Kayadu. This whole time he had been absorbed in hari-katha, and when
he fnally came out, his father started teaching him what? Sanda and Amarka,
the so-called gurus and teachers were only teaching him how to enjoy and
exploit others. Prahlada had his mother and father on one side, and all his
teachers and demons on the other side, and all were trying to pull him into
material sense enjoyment and samsara (cycle of birth and death).
Prahlada said, “What I have learned for 60,000 years I cannot forget even for a
moment. Therefore, why will I follow your instructions?” Then what happened?
His father immediately became against him, and tried to kill him in so many
diUerent ways. Still no-one could harm Prahlada, and no-one could shake his
conviction. Because those who drink this bhagavat-rasa and katha, become
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mauni, peaceful, and completely happy. Those who are always taking the poison
of jada-rasa, and putting it into their ears and bodies day and night, will always
be suUering and restless. They will take so many medicines, and at night time
they won’t be able to sleep. In the day time they will always be disturbed,
running around like madmen. So Sukadeva Goswami said, “I will not come out
into this world of moha (illusion). I will never come out.”
SUKADEVA GOSWAMI TAKES BIRTH AND RUNS INTO THE JUNGLE
At this time Krsna was staying in Dwaraka, so Sukadeva Goswami’s father
Vyasadeva prayed to Krsna there. He said, “My Lord, I have one son who has
now come. Before I had some other sons, but they were not proper. Dhrtarastra
was blind, Pandu was weak and pale, then I had Vidura. But now one great
personality has come into the womb of my wife but he will not come out.
Therefore, please come and request him to come out of the womb.”
Sukadeva Goswami gave a condition, “Oh Bhagavan if you will remove your
maya then I will come out, otherwise I will not come out.” So, what did Krsna do?
Krsna said, “I will put a mustard seed on the tip of a cow’s horn. For the time it
takes for it to fall oU I will remove maya for that long, and then you can come
out.” Sukadeva Goswami replied to Krsna, “That is enough.”
Everyone in this world is bound by maya. From morning to evening everyone is
moving around in the jail of maya as her slaves. Otherwise why is everyone
working so hard? Why are they struggling so hard? Only because of this mohini-
maya.
How long does it take for a mustard seed to drop from the tip of a cow’s horn?
Only a couple of seconds. But in that fraction of time, Sukadeva Goswami
immediately came out of the womb, as a young 16 year-old youth, and
immediately ran away.
Vyasadeva chased after him calling out, “Oh my son, oh my son, oh son!” But
Sukadeva Goswami did not listen to anything. He immediately ran into the
forest, and hid in the jungle. Only an echo was coming back from the trees, “Oh,
who is the son, who is the father?” Sukadeva Goswami didn’t look back and,
running very fast, disappeared among the trees. Vyasadeva was left running
behind calling out, “Where is my son? Where is my son?”
The only response was, “Who is son? Who is father?” Bhagavan, is the father,
mother, and creator of everyone. The jivas are the vibhinamsa-tattva of
Bhagavan. So how can you say this person is your son? That is only arrogance
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and moha, bewilderment. Even though you wrote all Veda, Vedanta, and Sastra,
still you have this moha.” In this way the echo gave an answer to Vyasadeva.
“Even though writing all scriptures you still have this moha, thinking he is your
son.”
Vyasadeva returned to his ashram, but even after all this, Vyasadeva still had
some idea in his mind of how to bring him back. Vyasadeva made some plan
after meditating. Everyone cannot be captured by the same method, but if you
give someone bhagavat-rasa, then you can bind them. He knew that when
hunters go into the forest, they play a Xute to capture the deer. By the beautiful
sound of the Xute the deer would come, lean on a stick which would fall over,
and cause them to be caught. All because of this beautiful Xute sound.
Vyasadeva then called two hunters and told them he wanted to teach them
some very beautiful slokas, and that they should go and sing them in the forest.
In this way Sukadeva Goswami would be attracted and become captured by
this, just as deer are captured by beautiful sounds.
“Go and play a beautiful Xute and sing these mantras, and when he comes to
you, bring him to me.”
To catch animals, you have to struggle so much, setting nets, traps and herding
them in the direction you want, but if you know a proper mantra then the
method becomes very easy. Vyasadeva said, “Go and sing these mantras, sing
these slokas.” When they began to do this so many animals came close to hear
the beautiful sounds, of music and singing. Just see the power of this Srimad
Bhagavatam accompanied by beautiful singing.
Then a beautiful youth appeared, Srila Sukadeva Goswami. He had a bluish
form like Syamasundara. When he came the hunters forgot about all the other
animals. Vyasadeva had said, if you do this singing then you will also attract so
many animals and you will be able to capture them. They had sung this, and so
many animals had come, but seeing Sukadeva Goswami, they forgot their bad
nature as hunters, and became completely enamored by the beauty of Srila
Sukadeva Goswami and his transcendental eUulgence.
SUKADEVA GOSWAMI ENAMORED BY CHANTING OF SLOKAS
Sukadeva Goswami said, “What are these slokas? How beautiful they are! Who
has taught you these? Who is that person, who in this world sings the qualities,
pastimes and beauty of the transcendental forms of Bhagavan? Who glorifes
His pastimes? Who is that person, that although he is in this world is always
:
speaking the glories of God? People in this world only speak of maya and their
own glories, giving announcements and sending out agents to attract people
towards themselves. I have not found such a person that only wants to speak
the real glories of God.”
The hunter replied, “Oh, there is one old Baba who is very wise, and he told us
that when we are in the jungle hunting, we should sing these verses, and by
doing it, we’ll easily be able to capture so many animals. He explained, that all
the animals would come to us if we sing these prayers, and however many
animals we wanted, we could take.” The hunters said, “Oh he has so many
students. Many people come to him and he has a very nice ashram. You should
come and see.” Sukadeva Goswami asked, “Can I come with you?” The hunters
said, “Yes we will show you.”
Sukadeva Goswami then followed behind the two hunters. Simply by seeing him
the hunters forgot their material thirst, hunger, and violent nature. Pure
personalities like Srila Sukadeva Goswami, are quite rare in this world, and by
their darshan one can become ‘nirguna’ (transcendental).
VYASADEVA MEETS SUKADEVA GOSWAMI
Vyasadeva was in his ashram with his disciples like Jaimini, Vaisampayan, and
Sumanta, when Sukadeva Goswami arrived. They all came forward to welcome
Sukadeva Goswami, but they couldn’t understand what they were seeing. They
thought, “Is this the sun rising? Is the moon rising, or is the full moon and sun
rising at once?”
Sukadeva Goswami was so eUulgent and beautiful it was like all the
transcendental personalities were appearing directly in front of their vision.
Why? Because Sukadeva Goswami is one hundred percent absorbed in relishing
the nectar of pure loving service to Krsna. He is also Radharani’s very beloved
parrot Suka. When Krsna and Srimati Radhika entered Their eternal pastimes,
They left Sukadeva behind. Suka was left wandering throughout the whole
world searching for anyone who was speaking hari-,katha, the glories of
Bhagavan. By the eUect of Kali Yuga what happens? It is said:
krsna svadamapagate kalau nasta dvaye, puranarko udanayo…
Srimad Bhagavatam is the only saving light in Kali yuga. When Kali yuga starts
then jnana, karma, dhyana, yoga, tapasya, and so many other good qualities,
leave this world with Krsna, and the world becomes flled with darkness. At that
time Bhagavan was thinking, “How can I help the jivas in Kali yuga? What can I
:
do to help them?” We should all think of how to help them and protect them
from the eUects of Kali yuga.
SUKA THE PARROT HEARS SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM
At that time Sukadeva Goswami was Suka, Radharani’s parrot, he was
wandering everywhere looking for anyone who was purely giving hari-katha.
Finally, he came across Siva Thakur in Kailash, who was speaking the glories of
Bhagavan. Siva Thakura was completely immersed in the katha, and many
diUerent animals were also there to hear. Suka then sat in a nearby mango tree
and was listening intently to Siva Thakur’s hari-katha. Parvati Devi was also
sitting by Siva Thakur and listening to the hari-katha of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Siva Thakur is a ‘param-vaisnava’, pure devotee, the greatest of all Vaisnavas,
and he is always thinking about everyone’s auspiciousness. Without Siva Thakur
no one can have auspiciousness. No one thinks about the auspiciousness of
everyone, only Siva is like this. Other people want to control and exploit others,
they want to be in a high position themselves and have everyone else as their
slave and servant. But Siva Thakur is renounced. Even though he puts ash from
crematoriums on his body and wanders naked, he is always thinking of the
beneft of the jivas and their welfare.
Siva was speaking the Srimad Bhagavatam that he had attained in samadhi and
Parvati was listening, but when the Srimad Bhagavatam begins people begin to
fall asleep. This is a great problem. This world is controlled by the three ‘gunas’
and when we get something of this world from the these gunas we take it very
happily. But if we are presented with something which is nirguna
(transcendental), what to speak of having a taste for it, it is like we enter ‘maha-
pralaya’, deep sleep. We have no taste for Bhagavan’s nama and kirtan. It is not
such an easy thing to enter.
Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja once said, “There are people who haven’t
been able to sleep properly for years, even after taking medicine to induce
sleep. Once a man came to me and asked for help. I said, ‘Sit in hari-katha,’ and
as soon as I began bhagavat-katha, within a few moments he fell asleep.
Afterwards he came to me and said, ‘Oh you are like my God, I have taken your
shelter.’ I said why? He replied, ‘Finally I have been able to sleep nicely. Please
accept me as your disciple.” It is not so easy for everyone to enter into this
bhagavat-katha rasa. When we start hearing hari-katha we start to enter maha-
pralaya, deep, deep sleep.
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Sati fell asleep and Suka the parrot, hearing this katha from Siva Thakur,
became completely absorbed in bliss. He copied the voice of Sati, and when Siva
Thakur asked, “Oh did you hear that? Do you understand that? Did you like
that?” Suka would reply, “Ha, Ha, Ha, yes, yes, yes.”
In this way Siva Thakur was happily giving hari-katha completely absorbed with
his eyes closed. He went through all of Vraja-lila. In a very beautiful way, he was
explaining all the pastimes of Krsna. At that time Suka became so happy, he felt,
“My life is now successful!” He thought, “When I was in Vraja, staying with
Srimati Radhika, I was receiving so much aUection from Her. She would give me
pomegranate seeds with milk and rice, and She would speak so much beautiful
katha.”
It is very rare and hard to fnd someone in this world who is giving this hari-
katha. Many people are there to give us pain, but who is there to give us
spiritual happiness? In this world maya katha is going on everywhere, and it is
very rare to fnd someone that will give us this spiritual happiness. Nowadays
there are so many diUerent people, so many movies, and TV channels, all
distributing only ‘maya katha’. People are so anxious to go and hear this. It has
now become their food. This poison is their food. Suka became so happy to hear
this hari-katha, because Bhagavat katha is so rare in this world.
When the hari-katha was fnished, Sati woke up and said, “What happened?
What happened?”
Siva Thakur asked, “Oh you didn’t hear the hari-katha?”
Sati replied, “Oh I fell asleep, what did you say?”
Siva Thakur then asked, “So who was listening? Who was answering in your
voice, saying yes, yes?”
Siva Thakur then began to search around for the person who was saying ‘yes,
yes’, but he could not fnd anyone.
Siva Thakur had meditated, and then this bhagavat-katha had entered his heart
after which he spoke it. He began wondering, “If Parvati didn’t hear it, then who
was replying in your voice? Who heard this ‘amrta’, nectar?”
There are many diUerent types of hari-katha that Siva Thakur would speak, but
this was one of the frst times he had spoken this bhagavat-katha. He said, “If
anyone will hear this hari-katha then they can distribute it and help everyone.
Everyone will accept them, worship them and they will become like the mother
:
of everyone in this world. But you didn’t hear this hari-katha?”
Sati replied, “No, I fell asleep.”
Siva Thakur said, “Ok, then you lost this chance.”
SIVA THAKUR CHASES SUKA WITH HIS TRIDENT
Then searching everywhere Siva Thakur fnally found a parrot sitting in a mango
tree. He was very happy from drinking this nectar which is the ornament of our
life. On fnding him Siva Thakur became angry and said, “Oh you stole
everything from me! You heard this hari-katha. Now look!”
Siva Thakur then took his trisula (trident) and began to run after the parrot as if
to kill him. Suka Xew away in fear, and Siva Thakur followed him. Wherever Suka
would Xy Siva Thakur would follow him with his trisula (trident) ready to kill him.
SUKA ENTERS VITIKA’S WOMB
Then fnally Sukadeva Goswami Xew towards the ashram of Vyasadeva and
entered. At that time, Vyasadeva was also speaking hari-katha from the
Puranas. Vitika, Vyasadeva’s wife, was also a little tired and she yawned, and
when she yawned Suka Xew directly into her mouth and went into her womb.
Siva Thakur arrived there shortly afterwards and asked, “I saw a parrot Xy in
here, did you see a parrot enter your ashram?”
Vyasadeva replied, “Oh Siva Thakur, why are you looking for him? Oh Lord, why
are you so angry? Normally you are very peaceful. What has happened?”
Siva Thakur replied, “The Srimad Bhagavatam had appeared in my heart by
samadhi, and I was speaking it to Parvati. There was a parrot sitting in a nearby
mango tree. Parvati fell asleep, and the parrot was cheating by using her voice
to respond to everything, and in this way, he heard the entire Bhagavatam
thereby stealing everything from me.”
Vyasadeva asked, “What will happen by hearing this Srimad Bhagavatam?
Siva Thakur replied, “He will become immortal.”
Vyasadeva said, “If he has become immortal by hearing it, then how can you kill
him? If anyone hears this bhagavat-katha, then death will not be able to touch
them. They will not again enter this cycle of birth and death, samsara. This
parrot has transcended the three gunas of maya.” When Vyasadeva said this,
:
Siva Thakur smiled, oUered his respects and departed.
The Srimad Bhagavatam frst came through Siva Thakur, and he is always
considering the auspiciousness and welfare of all beings. Who Bhagavan wants
to give something to, may be diUerent than who we want to give it to. So
Vyasadeva could now understand that by God’s desire, a great personality had
entered his wife’s womb.
Sukadeva Goswami came out only after he received the blessing from Sri Krsna
that maya would be removed for as long as it took him to come out of the
womb. He then ran into the forest, and was later attracted back by the hunters
singing sloka’s of bhagavat-katha.
VYASADEVA FEELING DISTURBED AT HEART AFTER COMPILING THE VEDAS
When Sukadeva Goswami returned, Vyasadeva began to speak the Srimad
Bhagavatam again. We know from the Srimad Bhagavatam that Srila Vyasadeva
had previously manifested all the Vedas, Upanisads and Puranas, but was not
happy, feeling unease and disturbance in his heart. At that time Sri Narada Rsi,
his Guru, appeared and asked, “Oh I see you are disturbed. What is the matter?”
Srila Vyasadeva replied, “You know everything.”
Narada Rsi said, “Please tell me anyway.”
Vyasadeva said, “I have manifested all the Vedas, Vedanta, Upanisads and
Sastra, but still I do not feel happy.”
Narada Rsi asked, “Have you done kirtan and hari-katha of Sri Krsna’s glories
and pastimes? How can you be happy without doing that? You have only misled
the jivas without giving the ultimate objective. You have not established pancam
purusata, Krsna prema? Divine love for Krsna in the transcendental world is the
highest goal.”
Vyasadeva had manifested the tamasik, rajasik and satvik Puranas. Sometimes
he had said that Ganesh is God, sometimes he said Durga is God, sometimes
Siva Thakura, or Surya or Visnu. On whatever subject he spoke on, he would
glorify that personality to the utmost extent, making them all like
Isvara (supreme God).
Narada Rsi said, “You have not described the ultimate goal, and the ultimate
reality of the Absolute Truth Sri Krsna. That Krsna is the Supreme Controller,
and everyone else is coming from Him. He is the ‘Avatari’, the root of all Avatars.
:
All the Devis and Devas, the demigods and demigoddesses are all the servants
of Him, you have not spoken in a nirapeksa way, in an unbiased manner. You
have glorifed everyone as if equal, when in fact they are not so. When you
glorify Krsna’s pastimes directly and glorify Krsna as the Supreme Personality
without any confusion, then you will feel happy and satisfed.”
Vyasadeva then meditated and chanted the omkara, the pranava mantra, and
did sadhana. Krsna then directly appeared in his heart along with all His
pastimes and associates, and the same catur sloki Bhagavatam given to Lord
Brahma, appeared in his heart.
What is the introductory sloka of catur-sloki Bhagavatam? Jnanam me parama-
guhyam. He said I am giving you knowledge or jnana, but how can you realize
this and make it vijnana? I will tell you. It is a very confdential secret, but you
must take a vow that you will do a certain kind of spiritual practice to
understand it and be able to enter within it. What are Krsna’s pastimes? What
are the secrets of Krsna and His activities? I will give all of this to you, but you
must perform the proper sadhana in order to receive it. And you will have to
have the greed to taste it. Our endeavor is our sadhana. We have to have the
proper eagerness, faith and then endeavor.
Svayam Bhagavan is Vrajendra-nandana Syamasundara, Nanda-Nandan who is
Vrajesa the Son of the King of Vraja. At that time, Vyasadeva meditated on all
these pastimes, and they all appeared in his heart. He thought, “How can I
distribute these beautiful pastimes and the glories of Sri Krsna?”
Srila Gurudeva ki Jaya! Guruvarga ki Jaya! (Excerpted from the up and coming
Bhaktabandav book publication, “Rasa Pancadhyayi”. For more info contact:
[email protected] )
4 Comments
Mineshi on July 1, 2020 at 7:19 pm
Very nice may krsna shower his utmost blessing to you ,jai srila
prabhupad.I have a question but not able to fnd the answers can you
help me my question is that why we feel sleepy listening to the bhagavat
katha ,the least i know that nidra devi has curse i cannot remember
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more please help me fnding this waiting for the answer haribol
Reply
Bhaktabandhav on July 1, 2020 at 8:08 pm
Hare Krsna!
Pranamas!
We’ve moved our blog primarily to bhakta.org where we update it.
This is a nice question. I haven’t heard of a specifc curse. The
covering of anarthas makes it so there is not taste in hearing hari-
katha. When genuine taste for hari-katha is there, sleep will come
less or disappear, during katha.
Reply
Mineshi on July 1, 2020 at 7:20 pm
Nice wanted more information
Reply
Easwaran on September 2, 2020 at 5:23 pm
Hare Krishna. I have been searching for the verses which the hunters
sung to attract Sukadev Goswami. I will be highly grateful if you can give
us these verses.
Hari Bol!
Reply
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