Speaker: HG Jananivasa dasa
Venue: Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir
Date: 28 Feb 2016
So today is the appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada and the disappearance day of Purusottama Krishna and also the disappearance day of Srila Gaur Govinda Maharaja.
So we were asked to speak on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. So maybe we can chant these pranams first after Srila Prabhupada’s.
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta-svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesha-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine
nama om vishnu-padaya krishna-preshthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktisiddhanta-sarasvat iti namine
sri-varshabhanavi-devi-dayitaya kripabdhaye
krishna-sambandha-vijnana-dayine prabhave namah
madhuryojjvala-premadhya-sri-rupanuga-bhaktida
sri-gaura-karuna-sakti-vigrahaya namo ’stu te
namas te gaura-vani-sri-murtaye dina-tarine
rupanuga-viruddhapasiddhanta-dhvanta-harine
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura avirbhava mahotsava tithi ki jaya!
Hare Krishna!
So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati our parama guru or the guru of His Divine Grace Abhay Caranaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He was born in Jagannath Puri, in the dhama, to respond to the prayers of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura who was praying for a ‘ray of Visnu’ to come and save the conditioned souls of this age. So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was the answer to that prayer and he became a very very powerful, empowered preacher of Gaura bhakti. The prayer apasiddhanta-dhvanta-harine, that he didn’t tolerate anything against proper siddhanta. So that time when he was in Puri, there was one Radha Ramana Carana dasa Babaji who formed some bogus mantra,
Nitai Gaura Radhe Shyama
japa Hare Krishna Hare Rama
Unbona fide mantra but he was very very popular. The tune was very good also, nice, sweet tune. But anyway, it was very popular at that time. And Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati also confronted him about using this improper mantra which had different faults in it. But when they met him and preached to him, he said, ‘What can I do? Now they are already chanting! What can I do?’ So he was so forceful in his preaching that the whole of Puri was like on fire with his preaching because this Radha Ramana Carana was very very popular. But Bhaktisiddhanta was so strict and strong in his preaching that he was disturbing the whole of Puri dhama, so his father Bhaktivinoda Thakura said, ‘You better leave! (laughs) You better leave! Go and stay in Mayapur and develop Mayapur!’
So then he came here and he started to develop Mayapur. He was living at the Sri Caitanya Math, just past the Yogapitha, the birth place of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, then past that Srivasa angam, then the next temple that is Caitanya Math. And he took a very severe vow to chant 1 billion names, I think. It means like you chant 3 lakhs of rounds everyday for nine years. He had to complete that vow and he did! And he was living like an avadhuta here. He would perform the Caturmasya ceremony very strictly – put some khichari on the ground and he would go down one time, put your hands behind your back and lick! lick! lick! and when you come up you don’t come down again, thats it for the day! He had grown long hair, kind of like an avadhuta. We see him very strict in his photographs like this but at that time he was like an avadhuta.
And so he stayed there developing. The first disciple he made, he was a son of a lawyer or something like that. Anyway he came to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura here and he was very much impressed with his preaching. But he said to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura that actually I have got a guru, a guru father and a guru mother. But they were Bauls, another apasampradaya. So anyway he went back to his village where they were staying and at night he had this dream, this young man had a dream and he saw his guru and his wife’s guru and the guru became a lion and she became a tiger. (laughs) And they were approaching their disciple to eat him. So he woke up suddenly, what an astonishing dream! Immediately the next day he went to Mayapur, he begged, ‘You please give me initiation! Please save me from the jaws of the tigers and the lions!’
So Srila Prabhupada said that he was there one time, you know the house of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati is there. Just before the samadhi is the house, like that, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s house. And there is a little verandah there and Prabhupada said he used to see his Guru Maharaja walking up and down, chanting on the verandah there. And one day the disciple said, ‘Guru Maharaja! Guru Maharaja! A very poisonous snake, big snake here, poison! What shall we do?’ And Bhaktisiddhanta was on the verandah. He said, ‘Kill it!’ And Prabhupada said, ‘I was thinking such a saint, I thought saintly persons they would not harm even an ant, any creature! Why is he ordering to kill!’ Prabhupada said, ‘I was thinking like that, at that time!’ So that snake was killed. Later on when Prabhupada was translating the, anyway in the Ninth Canto Prahlada Maharaja, I think its a prayer of Prahlada Maharaja, in the Seventh Canto, he said, the verse says, ‘Even a saintly person is pleased when the snake or a scorpion is killed!’ Because they are envious, they bite for no reason at all.’ So Prabhupada said, ‘I was very happy when I read that. It was confirmed. I was always thinking why he said that.’
When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta was living with Bhaktivinoda Thakura Svananda-sukhada-kunja across in Godruma dvipa and then Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja came to Mayapur. He spent about 35 years in Vrindavana. He was very famous as a true renounced person and when he heard that the birthplace of Caitanya Mahaprabhu has been revealed again by the mercy of Jagannath dasa Babaji and Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Mayapur you know as the prophecy’s are, its expanding like a lotus flower. The other dhamas in Kaliyuga they close because of the sinful age but Navadvipa has advented especially for Kaliyuga, so its opening, its flourishing, specially from the time of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, it started to revive again. So Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja came to stay in Navadvipa and he spent the rest of his life here practically. He would go here and there sometimes. Mostly he would stay here.
So Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he would go and see Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he pointed out my Guru, Bhaktisiddhanta said. He said he is your guru, Gaura Kisora, he said. Take initiation from him. You don’t come home until you’ve got initiation. You don’t come back till you get initiation from him. So he said, I was studying this person who had a little loin cloth, little babaji cloth, tiger skin cap, that was it. He had a few stamps, tilaka stamps, the holy name stamp. That was his possessions, some japa mala, some bit of cloth with knots in it, he used as japa mala. And he gave these possessions, that was his possessions, tiger skin hat, he gave to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. I think in their first meeting.
Anyway Bhaktivinoda Thakura, he is your guru. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, ‘I was trying to understand him. But I couldn’t.’ He told me, ‘you give up your learning’ because he was a maha pandita. Nobody could defeat Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati at that time. People would flee if he came for a debate, which he liked to do. He said, ‘ When I was young I loveed to debate and defeat others.’ Gaura Kisora says, ‘Give up your learning and give up your attachment to morality.’ He was a naistika brahmacari also from birth. He maintained celibacy whole life. He said these are the two things, these are my identity, Bhaktisiddhanta was saying. I was such a strict moralist and also with my learning and everything I could defeat everyone. This was me, my identity. And Gaura Kisora said, ‘You should give up these qualities.’
So he said, ‘Either this person, he is genuinely renounced. Otherwise he has a huge huge false ego, that I cannot comprehend.’ And after some time he understood, no he is actually a genuine person. ‘I dont know any other person who is more renounced, I dont know of ever there will be one, than Gaura Kisora dasa Maharaja, from the time of Raghunatha dasa.’ I think he mentioned.
So anyway he approached Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, ‘You please give me initiation.’ And Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja said, ‘I am illiterate.’ Practically he was illiterate. ‘And you are great pandita, you are a great scholar. It won’t be a good match!’ So anyway he approached him some time. And Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja said, ‘Ok, I will ask my Prabhu!’ means Mahaprabhu. ‘I will ask my Prabhu! If He gives the order then I can give you the initiation.’ Bhaktisiddhanta very happy. The next day very enthusiastically he went to see, ‘What did He say? What did He say?’ ‘Oh! I forgot to ask Him!’ (laughs) ‘I’ll ask next time!’ So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, ‘Just as Madhvacarya’, (Madhvacarya I believe or Ramanuja, Madhvacarya, anyway one of those,) he said, ‘he approached his guru about 18 or 19 times. So you are not going to deceive me. I am going to get initiation from you.’
So again he went to see him, he said, ‘Did you ask Mahaprabhu?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ ‘What did He say?’ ‘He said, He didn’t give me the order!’ Therefore I cannot initiate you.’ And Bhaktisiddhanta feeling very emotional, he stood up and said, ‘karuna na hoile, kandiya kandiya, prana na rakhibo ara’ (Saranagati) – if you are not merciful to me, I cannot maintain my life. And he fell down weeping at the lotus feet of his guru. Gaura Kisora was very moved. ‘Take your bath in the Jalangi. Come back and I’ll initiate you right now!’ So he was initiated into the name of Sri Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita dasa, one of the names of Srimati Radharani, servant of Srimati Radharani. Gaura Kisora sometimes he would see Bhaktisiddhanta approaching – Oh! Here comes a Manjari! That means Radharani must be around somewhere! Where is She? (laughs)
When he got news of disappearance of Srila Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji who was living in Navadvipa at that time. So Bhaktisiddhanta immediately went to the, he was in Mayapur side, so he immediately crossed the Ganga to Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja’s bhajan kutir. And he said he wore green chadar. According to the alankrta sastra, or the sastra that deals with decoration and clothing, green invokes a mood of separation. So he put a green chadar on and quickly went to Navadvipa. When he got there there was some kind of a argument going on, who would give the Gaur Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja samadhi rites. Who would do that, who can claim that! And different babaji’s were saying, I’ll do it, we’ll do it, we’ll do it, everyone was trying to claim. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was saying it would be quite a lucrative business if they establish his, some were thinking like that, people would come and give money at the samadhi if I maintain. So Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, ‘No’ll I’ll take the body! I’ll put the body in samadhi!’ They said, ‘But you are not a renunciant!’ This was before he took sannyasa. They said, ‘You are not a sannyasi! You are not a babaji!’ And Gaur Kisora dasa was a babaji. So therefore only a person in the renounced order of life can touch the body and make the samadhi. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura with a voice like thunder, he said, ‘I may not be a sannyasi or a babaji but I can say that I’ve never done none of this monkey business. So I am telling you that if anybody here has no relationship with a woman in the last six months you can come and take the body and do the samadhi rites. Three months. The last one month. Last week.’ All the babaji’s turning their backs. And the chief of police was there also because there was lot of disturbance. And he asked Bhaktisiddhanta, ‘How will you know:’ He said, ‘If they come and claim I will give. But I am saying with all my power, if you are truly renounced, take the body. Otherwise there will be dire consequence.’
So then he said to his disciples, ‘Take the body!’ So they took the body and samadhi. Now there were others there who said, ‘Babaji Maharaja when he was here he was saying that when I die you drag my body through the streets, cover it with the dust of the dhama, then throw it to the dhama dogs.’ So they said, that was his order, one of his last orders, so we should execute the order of Gaura Kisora. Bhaktisiddhanta said, ‘No they could never understand his humility. This is his humility he is saying that. We will carry, just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu He carried Haridasa on His shoulders, we will carry our spiritual master on our shoulders.’ So they carried him away, made a samadhi for him.
We had one, two men who were friends and they helped us to get this land. When we first came here we got 9 bhigas of land, like from the Lotus building down to the main road. That was our ISKCON land and that was helped to get that by two muslim farmers who owned the land, Caku Sheikh and (?) Fakir. Anyway they sold the land to Prabhupada so we could start our project here. But they were telling us because they are from Mayapur village, they said when we were young, we remember Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. When we were little kids because they were in the village. And they said you know we were kids, we were down playing as kids do rolling in the dirt and you know the ladies are down there washing their clothes in the water hole, the kids are looking after goats and things like that. And we were kind of happily playing and then we noticed that all the elderly people they kind of stopped, all activities stopped. The whole village comes kind of still and the kids realised something has happened and they look and they see in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s house, he comes in the doorway, just on the porch. He is just standing there, looking over. And he said, he had such a presence that the whole present become complete tranquillised, calm, the whole village stopped, all the activities stopped. And all their gazes turned to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. He said he was that kind of person.
So he has very beautiful deities there, Radha Gandharva Giridhari in the Caitanya Math. Radharani very beautiful, very shy looking, very modest, chaste, looking down. But anyway the history of those deities. When he made the math, Caitanya Math, he went to Jaipur where they make all the deities in marble. So they went to one shop and the owner of the shop, he said, here is your deity!’ In the shop there were many deities. ‘ Here is your deity!’ Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, how do you know thats my deity? No, first of all, how do you know I want a deity? But how do you know that is my deity? He said, because last night these deities appeared in my dream and he said, ‘Tomorrow one mahapurusa will come, one great soul will come here. And I want to accept his service.’ So he said, ‘This is your deity. Please accept your deities as donation.’ So he actually donated those deities to Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. And they are considered his favourite, they were his favourite deities. Radha Gandharva Giridhari ki jaya!
So I was asking one of Prabhupada’s Godbrothers, Sridhara Damodara Maharaja. He used to live here, he was a neighbour, where the BBT building is, his house was there actually. And he would come and see Prabhupada all the time. Anyway I asked him this question. There Caitanya Math, you have the Radha kunda. You’ve all been to Caitanya Math yeah. So you’ve seen Radha kunda, Shyama kunda, Govardhana is there also. So I said, how come you’ve got Radha kunda there because according to Navadvipa dhama mahatmaya Radha kunda is in Ritudvipa, the other side of the Ganga, where Ritudvipa. So how come you’ve got Radha kunda here? And Govardhana is in Koladvipa, present Navadvipa dhama. How you’ve got them here? According to Navadvipa dhama mahatmaya they are on the other side of the Ganga. And he said, because my Guru Maharaja, he was doing such a, his vrata, such a vrata, his bhajana was so intense that his bhajana sthana, it manifested here. He said, my Guru Maharaja has an eternal place of bhajana on the bank of Radha kunda and because of the power of his bhajana here, Radha kunda or his bhajana sthana manifested here. He said now I am chanting at the bank of Radha kunda. And he said Govardhana is here also. Can you see? He said, ‘no we cannot see Guru Maharaja.’ But they said, ‘Can we excavate them?’ He said ‘yes’. So then they excavated those ponds, Shyama kunda, Radha kunda. And they built a Govardhana. But Bhaktisiddhanta he could see them, it was all manifested before him.
Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja also, his samadhi was in Navadvipa. But then the Ganga was changing course all the time, by the will of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. And she was always washing away banks and villages and things like that. So she was washing the samadhi. So he got news that Gaura Kisora’s samadhi is about to go into the Ganga. So he went. Some men they rescued the remnants and then they brought them back. And then they put them on the in the temple there, you have seen Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja’s samadhi temple, thats also on the bank of Radha kunda. And Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that, there were many offences being made against Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji in his samadhi site. He said, ‘He did not wish to stay there anymore! And therefore Krishna made this arrangement. So now he is here. This is where he is, his eternal place on the bank of Radha kunda. So Krishna made the arrangement. So now here he is doing his bhajana also at Radha kunda.’
So Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, he invited the British Raj here. This was during the British rule, British Raj. Sir John Anderson, British old chap. But he was the Governor of West Bengal, the Governor, I believe the Governor of West Bengal, big position. And Bhaktisiddhanta preached him to come here, he got him to come here, thats not an easy task. You are in a village, there’s nothing happening here, the roads don’t go anywhere, because of the rivers nobody comes here, its a jungle. But he got the British Raj to come here and simultaneously he used this for preaching also. Of course he will get fame but he got him to establish the post office there, Mayapur post office, opposite the Yogapitha, government stamp. Because the other side in Navadvipa there was always the controversy, this is the birth place of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Mayapur, going on for years and years. So he got the British Raj to establish the post office, Government recognised Mayapur. But he said we have to have a road, there are no roads, theres nothing, he will be coming from Krishna Nagar side. So he got everybody fired up, the chief of the village. We have to make a road, he is coming. So within a day they made this road. The raised road outside, Bhaktisiddhanta road, they got all the, local, everybody started digging. And I think they put banana leaves or something on top. There’s a story in the Bible about Jesus, they put palm leaf or something, when he came. (laughs) Well anyway he is not that saintly, Sir John Anderson but Bhaktisiddhanta was. Anyway he got the road constructed at that time. Now we have a road.
When we were here in 1971 when we first got the land, they build the bhajan kutir. And there were couple of devotees staying here. And there was a flood, it flooded that year, so flood was coming up and Acyutananda Maharaja was here. But the raised road acted like a barrage because the Ganga didn’t flood, it wasn’t coming. And so Acyutananda Maharaja he wrote to Prabhupada and he said that, ‘The road of Bhaktisiddhanta that barrage it saved our property, otherwise it would have come and flooded everything.’ And Prabhupada wrote back, he said, ‘Yes the path of Bhaktisiddhanta is saving millions and millions of people!’ (laughs)
So he got Sir John Anderson to come and so he said to his disciples, ‘Now these people are meat eaters. You have to give them food. They are not going to come all the way here and eat rice. You have to give them food that they like to eat.’ So Sir John Anderson means ministers and the assembly. So they said, ‘What should we do?’ He said, ‘You go to Navadvipa. The Kali pujaris they cut the goats, kill the goats. And you can get them the Kali brahmanas. They can come and cook.’
So they did that.
And Sir John Anderson came and so after the function had finished, the disciples they went to their Guru Maharaja and they said, ‘Please Guru Maharaja explain just what had happened! We are completely bewildered! We cannot understand what just took place! They cooked meat right onChandrasekara Bhavan, the site of Mahaprabhu’s uncle’s house! They cooked meat there. And we are completely bewildered. And there is some left, we don’t know what to do! Throw in the Ganga? How we can throw in the Ganga, how we can give it to Gangadevi, she is a pure devotee! We bury in the dhama? But the dust is pure dhama! We are bewildered Guru Maharaja! Please explain just what happened!’
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, ‘Yes, I used to think like that also, one hundred births ago (?). But when I started this mission I promised to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, there is nothing I will stop, not stop at, to push on your mission, Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Whatever it takes to push on your movement, I will not hesitate to do it.’ So this was his great preaching.
Also when they were excavating that road, they found this Shivalingam, by the hospital, by the kolva, they found the Shivalingam there. So he said this is a confirmation this place is Shiva(?) And another time on that road, again Damodara Maharaja, HH Damodara Maharaja, he was with his guru, they were walking, taking a japa walk on the road. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura he suddenly stopped. He looked up and he said, “Tch! Tch! Tch! Tch! How degraded this age of Kaliyuga! How degraded! Even on Chandraloka they are becoming so degraded! Tch! Tch! Tch! Tch!’ Then he carried on walking. (Laughs) Damodara Maharaja said, then I understood the meaning of Jagadguru. Usually we say Jagadguru, it means your country or something like this. He was, understood what was going on in other planets. And many of his disciples, their conclusion was that from here he went to Chandraloka to preach.
Prabhupada was giving a lecture here one time on the disappearance of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and he was talking about nityalila, how the sun rises here at 6’o clock in the morning, sets at 6’o clock in the evening, mid day its over here. For someone in the world they are seeing the sun us over here, for someone else in the world they are seeing sun is at 6’o clock, someone else seeing its, its a material example but its nityalila. Similarly he said, ‘My Guru Maharaja, he said he came with a mission to spread Krishna consciousness. And when it was finished he went to another place to do exactly the same thing. He said, this is called nityalila.’
So another time Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, he was leaving Caitanya Math middle of the night. And one of his disciples who became Bhagavat Maharaja, saw his Guru Maharaja leaving middle of the night. Where is he going? Anyway he is walking down. He says, who is that behind me? Who is following me? Always your disciple Bhagavat bramhacari, Maharaja! Ok, come with me! So he walks past here,by the Sulabha kitchen, there is a big banyan tree over the road, just past Prabhupada kitchen, there is a big banyan tree about there. Then they saw a harinama party coming from the other side, from (?) ghat. This is at midnight! There are no boats or anything at midnight. Somehow or another this kirtana party, prema sankirtana, coming. Bhaktisiddhanta saw them and they met and embracing, rolling on the floor, symptoms of ecstasy were there. His disciple was astonished. He said who are they? He said, they are coming from Svetadvipa, from Svetadvipa. Come for a darshan of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. These Svetadvipa vasis they said to Bhaktisiddhanta, ‘We have heard about your glories. We are coming here to hear from you the glories of Gauranga! We want to hear from your mouth. We have heard of your activities here. So you please give us some Gaura katha!’ Bhaktisiddhanta was very humble of course, daso’smi he would say to everyone, you are all exalted personalities! ‘No, we want to hear.’ Actually they went back and he gave Gaura katha, chanting the glories of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu until the sun started to come Then they went off again back go Svetadvipa from where they had come.
So another time, this was right at the end of his vow. And he describes that he was at the Yogapitha and he said from the eastern direction he saw Panca Tattva coming, prema sankirtana, all the devotees were there, the Goswamis were there, Bhaktivinoda Thakura was there, Gaura Kisora was there, his own guru, they had all left the planet. But they were all coming in prema sankirtana. They approached him, and said, now you should give up your austerities. You should go out and preach. And they said, you don’t worry for anything. You need manpower, we will send. You need money, you don’t worry, we have unlimited resources behind! You just simply go out and preach fearlessly. Don’t worry for the, don’t worry for facility, we are all behind you. So then he took sannyasa after that and he went to preach in Calcutta, where Gaura Kisora das Babaji Maharaja said, don’t go to Calcutta, never go there! Realm of Kali, realm of Kali is there! But first place he went there. And people said,’ why did you do that if your Guru Maharaja told you not to go.’ He said, ‘if I have to preach I have to go where the people are. So they are all in the cities. I have to come to the city to preach. But actually I am not in Calcutta because I am simply preaching the glories of Mayapur and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. I don’t consider myself in Calcutta! I consider myself in Mayapur!’
So these are the extraordinary characteristics.
There was one devotee of sorts. He came here to see Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Then afterwards he went to Navadvipa to see Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji. He said, ‘Babaji Maharaja, I just went to Sri Mayapur. I saw, met your disciple there. But he is a little bit too much of Vaikuntha for my liking. He is like a bit too much, I am more attracted to raganuga bhakti and you are such a personification of raganuga bhakti.’ He said, ‘ I want to stay in Navadvipa with you and do my bhajana with you because I think Bhaktisiddhanta is too much Vaikuntha.’ And Gaura Kisora Maharaja said, ‘Yes the fact, he is a Vaikuntha man. But simultaneously he has a place in Mayapur.’ He said, ‘You are talking to me, I am in Navadvipa, I’ve got a place also there in Mayapur. But people with your envious mentality will never never be able to understand. Bhaktivinoda Thakura and his son Bhaktisiddhanta are executing pure devotional service to Sridhama Mayapur. And you are criticising.’ He fell down later on that so-called babaji.
So a very very powerful preacher, speciality was attacking mayavada also. ‘The evil fruit of India’, he called it, the mayavada philosophy. (laughs)
One time, they were going to Jagannath Puri with his disciples. Someone came up and gave him a box of mangoes, ripe mangoes. Of course Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati never ate ripe mangoes because when he was a small little boy he took a mango. Bhaktivinoda Thakura said, ‘Did you offer it? Was it offered? Why you are taking unoffered fruit?’ Bhaktisiddhanta was so sincere, he said, ‘Ok from now on I will never eat mango again!’ And Prabhupada said the whole life he never ate ripe mango. And if anybody ever offered to him he said, no I am sinful, I cannot eat mango. But he used to eat kuccha aam, green mango chutney, very nice. But he didn’t eat the ripe mango.
Anyway they gave a box of ripe mangoes. The trains were new in India, they weren’t so fast, so it was long time, long train journey to Puri. And these mangoes started to get a bit bad, a bit rotten. And on the journey there was a mayavadi. He was on the carriage and he was talking mayavada philosophy all the time and he was kind of having a joke that the devotees they are like sentimentalists and he was talking ice cold jnana of mayavada philosophy. So Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said, ‘Bring the mangoes down!’ By that time some had become really bad. He said, ‘Pick out the worst ones!’ So they picked out really bad stinky ones. He said, ‘Go and offer to that mayavadi. Tell him, my guru is offering you a mango!’
So he took these mangoes and they were stinking, bad smell was coming. They gave it to the mayavadi, ‘Here please accept this from my Guru Maharaja.’ He said, ‘Bad smell is coming, they are all bad!’ No but you’ve been preaching for the last half an hour everything is one. kuccha mango, ripe mango, its all one, take it! So he couldn’t take it! So all the carriage, everyone was laughing at the mayavadi philosophy. He lost all of his credit. Everybody laughed, saw the futility of his philosophy.
He was known as simha guru, very very courageous.
It was seen in Calcutta one time, he was walking with his disciples. They said, ‘Guru Maharaja, look! Here comes that mayavadi sannyasi, big mayavadi with his disciples, coming this way!’ Bhaktisiddhanta he crossed over the road, directly walked straight up to him and slapped him on his face! Why you are teaching this philosophy which denies the living entities eternal love for Krishna? He could not reply. (laughs) Simhaguru! Jagadguru!
So yeah this was one lesson that he often used to tell to his disciples, to his preaches, and sannyasis that you don’t worry for anything. This Trivikrama, like they told him at the Yogapitha, we are all behind you, the whole parampara is behind you. So he often refers to Trivikrama, Vamanadeva. He took three steps, He stuck His toe through the universe with His second step, thats who is behind you, he said! He is Krishna, we are in His line. He is only this big, a little boy, but He can stick His toes, what can He not do? So remember this! Always behind you have, Trivikrama is behind you, what can you not achieve? If your protector, who you are have shelter of, who you are surrendering to, if He can put His second step in the universe, what cannot be achieved. So always be confident of who is behind you. Just go out and fearlessly preach! Have that courage!
So he was a very courageous preacher, very bold and he gives us this lesson that its just not us and our spiritual life. Their is a whole parampara there, there is a whole family still very much living and very much alive. So we are not alone, we have so many friends in our spiritual life ready to help us.
Jaya! Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura avirbhava mahotsava tithi ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Samaveda Gaurabhakta vrnda ki jaya!
Nitai Gaurapremanande Hari Haribol!
By Dwaipayan De
