By Nimai Pandit dasa
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami
20th Anniversary of his departure
A brief life history
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami appeared in this world on the 2nd of September 1929 in the village of Jagannatha-puri, in the Indian state of Orissa (Odisha). Both the paternal and maternal sides of his family had been very strict Vaisnavas for many, many centuries.
His father, Isvara Manik, was from a long line of Gaudiya Vaisnavas and his mother, Pata Devi, was from the famous village of Orissa Gadai Giri. The Giri family from Gadai Giri are the most famous Vaisnava kirtaniyas in Orissa. In fact they have a special invitation from the King of Puri to sing in the Puri temple for Lord Jagannatha whenever they can and this invitation dates back to the 17th century. Where ever they go to do kirtana, people do arati to them, they are kirtana -gurus. That invitation still holds to this day and is written in the history book of the temple of Lord Jagannatha – the Madala-panji.
The main occupation of the Giri family is deity worship and hari-kirtana. Having performed auspicious ceremonies (samskaras) according to the Vedic tradition, his parents begot their first son, whom they named Brajabandhu [later to become known as Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Maharaja].
From his birth, Brajabandhu’s home life revolved around the service of the Supreme Lord, with both his parents and all of their relatives constantly engaged in service to the family deities. Brajabandhu’s family deity was the famous Gopal Jui.
Pata Devi was always quiet and absorbed in serving her husband and children and every Saturday she would fast as an offering for their wellbeing. Each morning, she would worship Lord Jagannatha and recite from the Puranas and Bhagavad-gita. Every evening she chanted hare krsna and performed tulasi-parikrama with her husband and her son Brajabandhu. After parikrama, she would recite from the Srimad Bhagavatam. She was so compassionate that any beggar or sadhu who came to her house never went away empty handed
Brajabandhu was trained to chant Hare Krsna from the early age of two years by his exalted Vaisnava grandfather – Bauri Bandhu Giri. Bauri Bandhu Giri was a great Vaisnava and a great kirtaniya, who also had a mystic siddhi: if anyone was sick, in the village, he would touch them and chant the name of the family deity Gopal and that person would be cured.
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami began study of the Srimad-Bhagavatam with his Vaisnava father at the age of 6 to the age of 11. He began the study of the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta from the age of 12 to 16 years with his uncles the great kirtaniyas from the village of Gadai-Giri.
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Maharaja said that he could remember from when he was very young that his grandfather, father and all his uncles had a sikha, would put on Vaisnava tilak after bathing and wore kanthi-mala. They were all Vaisnavas and they were always chanting Hare Krsna. The first memory he had as a child was his uncles singing the songs of Srila Narottama dasa Thakura.
In this way, from the very beginning of his life, he was absorbed in chanting Hare Krsna, studying Vaishnava literature and worshipping his beloved Gopal. His natural inclination to the Lord indicated his future devotional life, just as the morning shows the day.
When he finished High School he was already proficient in Sanskrit and he began studying the 4 Vedas, 108 Upanisads and the 18 Puranas. This was all done in his spare time after working as a schoolteacher.
When he finally left married life, at the age of 44, on Rama Navami 1974, he gave himself a new name: Gour Gopalananda dasa. He travelled the length and breadth of India, searching for that sadhu who could give him sannyasa so as he could begin preaching the mission of Mahaprabhu a dream that he had cherished since the age of nine.
Carrying only a Bhagavad-gita, begging bowl and a stick, he wandered around India for many months, visiting many sacred places along the river Ganges. After many philosophical debates with mayavadi sannyasis and yogis in the Himalayas, he proceeded on foot to Vrindavana, the sacred lila-bhumi of Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, thinking that in Krsna’s dear abode his desire would be fulfilled.
Gour Gopalananda finally entered Vrndavana in the last part of 1974; he would visit different asramas, spending a day here, a night there. He would just observe what was going on in the different asramas and then he would move on. Then one day as he was passing through the Raman Reti area, in front of a large compound he saw a large sign that said:
“International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Founder Acarya:
His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada”.
When Gour Gopalananda saw this he thought “What is this? An International society? Let me go and see what it is!”. The temple was not built yet, it was just at the beginning stages, only the foundation was laid, and there were a few thatched cottages in which some devotees lived, and among then were a few westerners. The only pukka house was the one where Srila Prabhupada lived.
Gour Gopalananda dasa and His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada met in the sacred land of Sri Vrndavana Dhama, at midday, 15 September 1974. Within six months Srila Prabhupada awarded first, second and sannyasa initiation to his new disciple, Gour Govinda Swami. Then he sent him off to spearhead the preaching in Orissa.
The Three Sevas
Srila Prabhupada entrusted Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami with three important sevas (services):
1. To stay in Orissa and build a temple like the famous Temple of Jagannatha in Puri, as Orissa is a very important place in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s lila.
2. To translate Srila Prabhupada’s books from English into Oriya.
3. To accept disciples and train them in Krsna consciousness.
Upon receiving these instructions from his spiritual master, Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami immediately returned to Orissa and started working earnestly on plans for what would become the famous Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama Temple in Bhubaneswar. Srila Prabhupada famously predicted, “This temple will be one of the best ISKCON temples in the world. This place will be the heart of the city.” Gour Govinda Swami also embraced the seva of translating Srila Prabhupada’s books into Oriya as a sacred duty, which he continued every day without fail for the rest of his life.
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami immediately began to execute the first two instructions given by his spiritual master. The third and final instruction he received from Srila Prabhupada was to prove more difficult to carry out. After many years, he very hesitantly took on the role of being a spiritual master himself, as he understood the position of guru was a very heavy responsibility.
Lord Jagannatha Is in Bhubaneswar
Srila Prabhupada had accepted many Western disciples and taught them the glories of Purusottama-ksetra, Jagannatha Puri Dhama, where Mahaprabhu performed many pastimes in the eighteen years He resided there. However, when Srila Prabhupada’s disciples went to visit Jagannatha Puri they were refused entrance to the famous Temple of Lord Jagannatha because they were considered foreigners and not Hindus. Srila Prabhupada said “I will build a temple in Bhubaneswar like the Temple of Jagannatha in Puri, because my western disciples are not allowed there. Lord Jagannatha will come and stay in Bhubaneswar, so all my disciples can go there and have His darsana.” Srila Prabhupada, who had been donated land in Bhubaneswar, instructed Gour Govinda Swami to stay on the land and build that temple. He entrusted to Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami the mission of establishing ISKCON in Orissa, the most important place of Mahaprabhu’s pastimes, telling him, “Gour Govind, you will take me to Orissa.”
Under Extreme Conditions
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami went to Orissa and stayed on the ISKCON land (near the Nayapalli village) in Bhubaneswar under the most extreme and austere circumstances. There were no facilities at all on the land: no shelter, no building, no running water, no toilet, no electricity, no telephone, nothing! To take bath one would have to go to a far off paddock where there was a pump and take a bath from that pump. The only light available for reading and writing in the early hours of the morning and late in the evening came from a castor oil lamp. Wild bears, tigers and elephants would wander the area, which was also frequented by dacoits (thieves).
On Ekadasi, Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Maharaja would fast and chant the whole Bhagavad-gita and on other days he would recite one chapter of Bhagavad-gita. He would often walk up to twenty kilometres a day to collect donations to build the temple, print literature and to buy foodstuffs to prepare and offer to the Lord.
Seventeen Days
Srila Prabhupada visited Bhubaneswar in 1977 and stayed for seventeen days on the ISKCON property in the mud hut, which had been constructed for him by Gour Govinda Swami. On 2nd February 1977, the auspicious appearance day of Lord Nityananda, Srila Prabhupada laid the foundation stone of the Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama Mandir. This Temple in Bhubaneswar was to be Srila Prabhupada’s last founded project (108th).
Instruction Fulfilled
After sixteen years of determined endeavour, and with practically no outside help, (in one of the poorest regions of India), SríSrimad Gour Govinda Swami fulfilled the instruction of his most beloved spiritual master when the magnificent Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama Mandir was inaugurated in Bhubaneswar in 1991. Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadradevícame of their own accord, as Srila Prabhupada prophesied, and this Temple now attracts tens of thousands of people to Krsna consciousness.
Travelling the World
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami spent many years travelling the world preaching Krsna consciousness. His travels took him to Europe, U.S.A., South America, Canada, Africa, Mauritius, Australia, Asia – Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Bali; the Caribbean – Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and he preached vigorously throughout the Indian subcontinent, especially in the state of Orissa, where he most notably constructed the glorious Temples of Sri Sri Krsna-Balarama, Sri Sri Radha-Gopinatha and Sri Sri Radha-Gopal Jiu.
Spellbound
Wherever he went Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami would leave his audience spellbound by his dynamic presentation of the philosophy of Krsna consciousness. He would often speak for up to four hours at a time on topics about Krsna, leaving his audience enchanted and always eager to hear more. On occasions he would speak on a single verse of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, both morning and evening for seven days. There was no question put to him that he could not answer, and hearing from Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami on a regular basis would melt even the hardest heart, convincing one to seriously take to the path of bhakti-yoga.
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami was an expert in his understanding of the sastras and from the depth of his conviction, he was able to dispel the doubts [sarva-samsaya-samchetta] of those who came to him for spiritual guidance. He would place great importance on chanting: encouraging and inspiring everyone to chant the holy names of Krsna without offence, to chant the pure name and thereby achieve the goal of life; to get Krsna and develop krsna-prema in this very life.
SriKsetra
Jagannatha Puri – Bhubaneswar Dhama
One of the most important aspects of Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja’s preaching was to reveal the innermost secrets of Puri-Bhubaneswar Dhama, of Lord Jagannatha, and to explain the reason why SríCaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed in Jagannatha Puri. He gave the most subtle and clear understanding of the Lord’s pastimes in Jagannatha Puri and why Bhubaneswar is so important to the Gaudiya Vaisnava community.
In Mayapur, at the Gaura-Purnima 1996 Festival, devotees were coming for darsan of Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami in his guest house room every evening. Two devotees requested an appointment to meet with him to ask some questions. They wanted to know why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu stayed in Sri Jagannatha Puri. Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami explained the confidential significance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes in Puri. He described the viraha, the pain of separation Srimati Radharani feels when Krsna is away from Vrindavan, gradually unfolding the pastime to where finally Srimati Radharani and Krsna are united after Their long separation – eye to eye union.
Unable to continue, he folded his hands and in a barely audible voice said, “Please forgive me, I cannot speak more.” Then he gave his final instruction: “Nama koro! Nama Koro!” The devotees began to chant as he lay back on his bed. Upon request a servant placed a picture of Sri Gopaljiu in his hand. Gazing at Sri Gopal he called out, “Gopal!” Then he closed his eyes and departed from this world.
Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami was brought to the Sri Sri Krsna Balaram Mandir in Bhubaneswar where he was placed in samadhi in the small mud hut that had served as his bhajan-kutir for many years.
While astrologers predicted that he would live up to the age of ninety and deliver many conditioned souls, Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami left this world, twenty years ago, by his own volition, while speaking krsna-kathäon February 9th 1996, in SríMayapura Dhama, on the holy appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada.
Compiled by Nimai Pandit dasa.
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