“He Made a Home for Pure Devotion.” Srila B. R. Madhusudan Maharaj. 19 July 2012. Vrindavan Dham, India

“He Made a Home for Pure Devotion”

Sripad Mahananda Prabhu Bhakti Ranjan (at present Srila Bhakti Ranjan Madhusudan Maharaj) speaks on Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj’s disappearance day during the festival at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math’s Vrindavan temple.

19 July 2012.

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«Он построил дом чистой преданности»

Шрипад Махананда Прабху Бхакти Ранджан (ныне Шрила Бхакти Ранджан Мадхусудан Махарадж) выступает с речью в день ухода Шрилы Бхакти Ракшака Шридхара Дев-Госвами Махараджа во время фестиваля в храме Шри Чайтанья Сарасват Матха во Вриндаване.

19 июля 2012 года.

_English

Srila Bhakti Ranjan Madhusudan Maharaj

He Made a Home for Pure Devotion

_{(19 July 2012. Vrindavan Dham, India)}

We can also try to reflect a little extra on why Guru Maharaj established Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. And the intention behind that, the intention for this whole purpose of having Math and the mission is practicing life and how it has given the foundation for the whole world, [unclear] to the Rupa Goswami and to the Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

In history, most of us know that it has no harm that we act. The Guru Maharaj, he came to the lotus feet of Srila Saraswati Thakur and met him several times before coming to take initiation from him and to jump with both feet into the mission, to the Gaudiya Math, the mission of Srila Saraswati Thakur. And he met him coming from a small [unclear] where he had been visited from a little background.

And he knew shastra, he had been engaged in sankirtan ever since he started sankirtan in Hapaniya, in that place of Lord Shiva, in front of this small temple and will now [unclear] in Hapaniya Dham. He started there. He was attracted by the sankirtan, by the congregation of the [unclear]. And from there, step by step, he came to be drawn to the [unclear] of devotional service. He was very much [unclear] inspired by the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when he came across those books. And he said he read them avidly. And unlike today, where every day you can purchase Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Shrimad-Bhagavatam, these books. In those days, it’s not everybody’s shelf where you’re going to find them. There’s a bookshop where you go there to find these books.

And when Guru Maharaj came across the different books, one by one, he instantly [unclear]. Srila Guru Maharaj remembers, he himself is reflecting on this by history, and recorded by our former Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj. That he’s standing up [unclear] these books but he was so attracted to Mahaprabhu’s conception.

#00:02:31#

And so, step by step, then he came, joined Srila Saraswati Thakur’s mission full-time. And by that time, there were not a [unclear] devotee there. Also, [unclear] get the conception of Saraswati Thakur. And by their recommendation also, then Guru Maharaj, then he went on so many preaching programs through India. He was very active.

Here, nearby, in Kurukshetra, he established [unclear] of both established temples [unclear]. And Guru Maharaj was very happy in doing that when he went to [unclear] found that established temple [unclear]. And those days there was [unclear] a background, a big background, so they could just say, [unclear] you had to go against local support, you had to go against funding, you had to do everything in order to get the centre running.

And so, Guru Maharaj was very active in those earlier years when he was younger. Then, after the disappearance of Saraswati Thakur, then he tried as much as possible to keep the mission of Saraswati Thakur, [unclear] all different groups, so many disturbances [unclear].

#00:05:04#

“I have come to the lotus feet of Saraswati Thakur, given my life in this way. Why have I come? I have to reflect on that during these difficult times. And so, I’m compiling this book — “Life-Nectar of the Surrendered Souls” [Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam]. That I’m compiling this book for my own benefit.” As a step-by-step-by-step, this work on the logic book, which is known as the [unclear]. Step-by-step-by-step, progression of the devotional service in surrender. And he [unclear] said, “I did it for my own benefit, and the benefit of others who may find themselves in a similar situation to myself in the future.”

So, this book is a very introspective, thoughtful, deep publication — Sri Sri Prapanna-jivanamritam. This came at the time when he was hidden in there at the site on the banks of the Ganges in Nabadwip. And then presently, with the help of Sakhi Charan [unclear], whose pushpa-samadhi [unclear]. And Sakhi Charan [unclear], he purchased the land where he had his house back then. Now it’s standard in Nabadwip.

And then Guru Maharaj came to that man, he came to that man on the Jagannath Ratha Yatra festival day exactly 70 years ago, this year, meaning this is the maximum jubilee. Guru Maharaj coming to Chaitanya Saraswat Math. He came with his Govardhan-shila which is still there on the altar in Navadwip. And then we have seen how the temple has grown and grown and grown.

#00:06:50#

Then we have seen in our own time, we have met Srila Guru Maharaj, if you like, physically because spiritually we pray to meet him one day in his spiritual form fully, but we have met and seen such a dignified personality as the man first was established 70 years ago with his arrival with Govardhan-shila and to what we see today which has been yet developed by His Divine Grace Srila Govinda Maharaj, who is present form. But the temple is a manifestation of Guru Maharaj’s desire to have a place in the world which will be the home of pure devotion. He did not want any politics, he did not want it to be a place of maximum vote or a different vote, me, you, this, that and the other. And when some brahmacharis who were in the temple tried to make that kind of formation around Guru Maharaj, then Guru Maharaj, he did not accept that at all.

#00:07:51#

“Why I have come to come to this land?” Not that you, as a group you would say, “Okay, you have five of you, then three of you can outvote me.” He said, “That is not why I have made Math.” Then in those days, even then, so many difficulties came, and Guru Maharaj in fact had to even pay off the brahmacharis and take a loan to send them out of the temple.

So, we have seen that this kind of things go on and will be going on for a long time, this kind of [unclear]. So, Guru Maharaj wanted, at the expense of even his library, which he treasured very much, he gave even his library of books, which is even more than money in many senses, especially for such a person as Guru Maharaj. In order that he will be able to be, if you like, autocrat, that the Chaitanya Saraswat Math will run the way that he sees, is the way the Saraswati Thakur wants at the temple, will run. It’s a home of pure devotion.

And Guru Maharaj, he heard that inspiration from Nityananda Prabhu when he first went to establish Chaitanya Saraswat Math. And in fulfilling that desire of Nityananda Prabhu, that he doesn’t just keep that treasure of Krishna consciousness that he’s got so gloriously in his heart to himself that he would distribute it and spread it. Then remembering that, and remembering Srila Saraswati Thakur’s will which that Guru Maharaj would preach to the worldwide devotees, would preach around the world. Then Guru Maharaj in all his humility, he expressed [unclear], “He would not let me leave that kind of service of preaching to the whole world. And he saw I am not going there. And now all the worldwide devotees have come here to me.”

#00:09:45#

And Guru Maharaj always has back-pushed me in great humility. He just wanted to keep the purity of the line of bhakti without any politics, without any mixing, without any compromise, but that there should be a place where people would be able to go, sincere aspirants can go to, in order to hear what is the line of Saraswati Thakur according to how he sees it. Now we know that how Guru Maharaj told the line of Saraswati Thakur is certified by Saraswati Thakur himself, given many different certificates if you like, but at the last time also he notes for the conclusion [unclear], just before the disappearance of Saraswati Thakur, Saraswati Thakur himself wanted to hear from Guru Maharaj. Not to hear the tune, but to hear it of that kind of devotee. And the others [unclear] also, they saw some mystic transmission from that temple to him.

#00:10:53#

So, Chaitanya Saraswat Math that ideal that Guru Maharaj founded, came to found the temple with that ideal. That we have to try to keep on our heads at all times. Guru Maharaj, he was the shelter for the shelterers and great devotees from the West, very active preaching of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad. They [unclear] Srila Prabhupada to lotus feet and then trying to maintain that devotional service, maintain the spreading Krishna consciousness after Srila Prabhupada left the world, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada left the world. Then in those rocky times, just as in those rocky times after Saraswati Thakur, [unclear] devotion to the stormy times after Saraswati Thakur left, after Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad left, is a very stormy time amongst the disciples, amongst the Guru section and the disciple section, etc.

#00:11:56#

And that time, then Guru Maharaj became very much the embodiment of relief work for the sincere seekers. And during those days, some of the brahmacharis and indeed [unclear] one sannyasi from ISKCON, they were so enthusiastic to find that there is such, this great personality is Sridhar Maharaj that even Srila Prabhupad considered as his shiksha-guru. What to speak of the benefit that everybody else can get. That they were so enthusiastic to have found this personality that some of them were quite [unclear] reaching within the society that Srila Prabhupad had found it to, saying, “Well, look, we’ve got this great personality coming here to him.” But Guru Maharaj did not appreciate that they were both preaching within those who were happy enough in a position where they were, but rather for those who needed relief, who felt the desire to have a shelter, the sincere inquirers in this way. Then Guru Maharaj has opened doors for those who, those who are in need of shelter, those who are inquiring, those who have that great necessity, Guru Maharaj was there for them.

#00:13:19#

He did not want any disturbance of any mission. [Unclear — it’s something about Srila Govinda Maharaj.] I think, one expression — “Fishing in other people’s ponds.” He was not interested in numbers. He was not interested in people coming and him making a society at this stage of his life with many, many people coming and people being the head. Srila Prabhupada had already invited him to be the head of ISKCON. Srila Prabhupada wanted him to be the head of the ISKCON. But Guru Maharaj, he did not like this and said, “Oh no, they can come to see me. You can bring them to see me. But I am too old at this stage in my life to come over and to start a grand mission in this way.” And also, Srila Guru Maharaj said, “I never thought I would live longer than Srila Prabhupad.” Srila Prabhupad was younger than him also. And but Guru Maharaj, he lived and stayed manifest in this world longer, as it turned out. And as his godbrothers left, one by one by one, because in the [unclear] after Jajjavar Maharaj, Sripad Jajjavar Maharaj. Then Guru Maharaj, sweetly, with a very serious be said, “Now I feel all alone in this world. Those great souls who were my association, one by one by one, they have left this world. And now I am feeling all alone.” This was Guru Maharaj’s mood at [unclear].

#00:14:50#

And then we saw Guru Maharaj would get sick, showing poor physical health, and then he would get better, get sick, get better. We were just [unclear] Srila Govinda Maharaj. Guru Maharaj gets sick, we hear the news, “Oh, he is not feeling so well.” But always we feel, “Yes, but he is going to be there. He is not going to [unclear].” Then it was only a few days before, I don’t recall exactly the number of days, but within a week before, there was an earthquake in Nabadwip. And many of you have spent quite a bit of time in Nabadwip. You see, it is not an earthquake zone. It’s not a place which is susceptible to earthquakes like that. But there was an earthquake a few days before Guru Maharaj passed away. And Srila Govinda Maharaj, at that time, though I didn’t know it in particular. Then Srila Govinda Maharaj, he understood at that time and he said this several times later, “Now I understand that Guru Maharaj will leave because when a great personality will leave there will be some reaction. And this earthquake came in Nabadwip and everything is shaking.” And then Gurudev himself is preparing for Guru Maharaj to go.

#00:16:09#

And then that day which we all thought would never come came when it was August the 12th of that year in 1988, when Srila Guru Maharja at 5:48 in the morning then he left this world. So, his leaving the world was a punctuation of a certain era. It was that era of those grand disciples of Srila Saraswati Thakura who had held the banner of Saraswati Thakura up until that time. But Guru Maharaja prepared the field before that. And he had prepared since long before Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj to take over and to keep on that banner of pure devotion. And that banner, that in a relay race you have a baton. So, I say ‘a baton,’ that baton he passed on to Gurudev, to Govinda Maharaj, before his departure and himself retired. So, that everybody can see most clearly — here is the person. And [Bhakti Sudhir] Goswami Maharaj, even Guru Maharaj is shaking him by the shoulders, asking him, telling him, “Do you understand what I’m saying? Now you will follow Govinda Maharaj. Everything I got I have given to him.” This way. So, this way we were able to have that continuation of Guru Maharaj’s presence.

#00:17:42#

Anyway, within the middle of everything I’m saying, there are so many lilas, so many stories, so many things, but what I also am feeling when we are having our gatherings year by year that the world is a passing place, the Gurus are appearing, giving instruction and disappearing. Even Krishna Himself came, appeared and even appeared as Guru in the sense of the re-established religious principles, He spoke the Bhagavad Gita. But Krishna Himself, He came and then He withdrew and disappeared.

And so gradually we are finding year after year that we are finding ourselves in the old generation who are disappearing and finding each gathering fewer and fewer devotees who actually met Guru Maharaj. What to speak of, have association and meet with and be with him, hear him, etc. etc.

So, we have to be aware that what we know today, what we can feel today from those days with the Guru Maharaj, we can try to share with others because a book is a book but a person is a person. And so, we can all read some of the teaching, we can read the Prapanna-jivanamritam, we can read some of his lectures, we can hear by the grace of recorders, then it was cassette players, now it is the electronic but we can hear the talks live as it were practically that Srila Guru Maharaj would give. But as a person, I think one overwhelming thing is that the devotees who came to him understood intrinsically that they are in the presence of a very huge personality but in a very humble form.

#00:19:36#

And that in one way was one of the glories of Guru Maharaj. He was so humble and so approachable and so human in all his relationship, but yet he was so deep and so grand and the personality who was able to actually give harmony to all of the Gaudiya missions. And here we are in Vrindavan where interestingly Saraswati Thakur didn’t establish a temple in Vrindavan itself, which I was always thinking where is the temple Srila Saraswati Thakur established? But he established a temple in Radha-kund and the humble small temple in Radha-kund. All of the temples here, they are all various branches of the disciples of Srila Saraswati Thakur.

And these grand leaders, we have got [Bhakti Aprakrita Saranga] Goswami Maharaj, Madhusudan Maharaj, Jajjavar Maharaj, many of these grand leaders who were Saraswati Thakur’s disciples who then kept that flow of the distribution of Mahaprabhu-Nityananda’s message flowing within India very much. Then that whole group of leaders, the leaders, then Guru Maharaj is the one who was able to keep some harmony between them because all of them knew that Guru Maharaj was not a political man, that he wanted this substance of Saraswati Thakur to flow through everybody, whether you are one camp and another camp and you clash with him and this, that and the other, this has been going on even in the Mahabharat, you’ve got all these things happening. Where in the world of colours, in the rainbow of all colours, all colours are in white, in the rainbow of all colors but you can see sometimes here, you can see people will wear clashing colours and you think, “Oh my goodness, those clashes.”

#00:21:41#

But also, there are clashing colours in the nature of even great personalities sometimes. So, it’s not only in the Mahabharata, but even in the modern time that has come. Guru Maharaj was the harmonizer to keep the whole Gaudiya mission on the track of Saraswati Thakur. Whether you have differences between you even as leaders and as the juniors, to all ranks Guru Maharaj is able to nourish, and all departments. And they would come to Guru Maharaj, not for any political purpose, but to make sure that they were keeping on the straight and narrow. And which one was it, was it? [Bhakti Aprakrita Saranga] Goswami Maharaj, he said that, “Like the lion when he is in the jungle, he is the king of the jungle, walking… and we are great acharyas by the grace of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. [Unclear.] We are great acharyas with much name and fame (within India at that time). Then we are going on but we are always taking a glance behind us every now and again just to check what is the approval of Srila Sridhar Maharaj.”

So, Guru Maharaj was the stabilizer for the whole mission during that time also. So, from many angles we can see the greatness of Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. And he has now sadly disappeared from the world, that his glorious samadhi-mandir in Nabadwip is a testament to him. And some of us know and some of us don’t know, but Srila Govinda Maharaj, when he is making it, he would come and sit there day by day by day. He would bring a chair, one of the plastic chairs, simple chair, he would put out the front and he would sit there with his cane. He would mark in, in the mud, in the sand, it wasn’t concrete there. He had marked there what he sees is going to be the next stage of the samadhi.

And Dina Bandhu [Prabhu] was the builder at that time and he would show him each day, “Okay, now this, now this, now this.” This way Govinda Maharaj said, “I did not know what was here. But Guru Maharaj’s leader is eternal. So, his samadhi-mandir is also eternal. And my savour is to manifest that samadhi-mandir.”

#00:24:18#

And then he said, “All I knew was I need to make strong foundations. Then if we build something small, if it is something small or if it is something big, either way it can come.” And then we saw how the samadhi-mandir developed and then you see the dome of samadhi-mandir of Srila Guru Maharaj, it is a mridanga. It’s a big mridanga, the dome of our temple. Take a look at the photograph next time you see. It’s not a dome, just a dome, it is a mridanga, standing on its angle. And on the top of the mridanga, there’s an umbrella to keep Guru Maharaj cool. But on top of that, there’s the male symbol, like the lingam, the Shiva-lingam, but this is the lingam, the potency of Krishna consciousness, of Mahaprabhu’s and Nithyananda’s teaching, is symbolized there. That the potency, this brihat-mridanga and that potency of Mahaprabhu’s and Nithyananda’s teaching is coming from Guru Maharaj.

So, this is how we are able to understand through the vision, through the grace of Srila Govinda Maharaj. Who was Srila Sridhar Maharaj? Many aspects to his life and I don’t know how much I am going to talk. But I can say that for everybody who came to him it was like coming to a source of nourishment in a world where you could not even discern what is nectar and what is poison. And by coming to Guru Maharaj we are able to know that every word, every expression, everything that we hear, we can hang on it, we can hear it and try to consider and think what is behind that.

#00:26:13#

And as when we are reading ninety, well, maybe ninety-nine percent of the devotees coming to Krishna consciousness are coming by reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, by hearing his lectures, etc. There you can hang on everything that is said, you know it is truth, it is coming, it is not some concoction. And when we came to Guru Maharaj, there we had that person who is delivering this quality of nectar, this quality of matter. And then as we progressed more and more in the association of Guru Maharaj and Gurudev, then we understand why Srila Prabhupad, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, how his presentation was so sweet, so direct, so pure, so unadulterated with any politics and mixture of alloy. Because he had got his conception of Saraswati Thakur through Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Maharaj.

They [unclear] Srila Govinda Maharaj and Srila Sridhar Maharaj stayed at Srila Prabhupada’s chemist laboratory in the upstairs part of that at Sita Kanta Banerjee Lane, not very far from [our] Dum Dum Park temple. If you take the tube of the metro, it’s just one stop going into town and you’ve got to walk for about ten minutes. And there, that’s where Gurudev said that was the first branch of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math was at Srila Prabhupada’s laboratory there.

#00:27:40#

And that’s where day after day, hour after hour, then they would be in debate and conversation etc. etc. etc.

So, our Krishna consciousness has come around the world from Saraswati Thakur no doubt, but through this potency of Srila Guru Maharaj. And Srila Guru Maharaj was given that title by Saraswati Thakur of Bhakti Rakshak (Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj), the Protector of devotion. So not only did he establish Chaitanya Saraswat Math as the home of pure devotion, but it was also the guardian place where devotion, conception and everything can be guarded. Because it is so easy to go off from what is the conception of Saraswati Thakur and Guru Maharaj. He was very clear as the guardian of devotion, guardian of pure devotion and manifesting at mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, of Srila Saraswati Thakur, of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, [and mercy of] the six Goswamis. Also, he was likened to Rupa Goswami in so many ways and to Jiva Goswami in so many ways, because Jiva Goswami is protecting what Rupa and Sanatana gave. He was very careful to do that and he is prolific in his writing, he was younger than them. And Jiva Goswami, he was an ocean of scriptural knowledge to back up what we can hear in discussion etc.

#00:29:18#

So, Guru Maharaj was able to give all that backing from the scripture as well as a very personal, affectionate guardianship to all of those who came to his lotus feet. And where we are just to add a little bit to where we are now, we are in the temple which came to Srila Govinda Maharaj completely mystically too because it came through the dead telephone talking, not even ringing. In Nabadwip it was just a landline, the phone is dead, nothing is happening. Then every day in the afternoon after taking a short rest after lunch, and Gurudev maybe up the phone just to see if the dialing tone come on. And one day he picks it up and not the dialing tone but it was Krishna Vallabha Prabhu who now also has passed away, one senior Vaishnava of Vrindavan. It was him on the phone saying about this property here of the Radha-Damodar temple, this land is up for sale and so many people want to take it and pay big money and have it because it’s a very prized place in the middle of Vrindavan. But he was a braja-basi, a very senior respected person in Vrindavan and he wanted that the temple would be spiritually maintained (sorry, not the temple), that this land would be used and spiritually maintained, not that it’s going to be a business place etc. And he knew, Govinda Maharaj and Guru Maharaj, that purity of their intention of spiritual matter. And this was, he was on the phone talking to Gurudev and saying about this land is here, “People are wanting to pay two, three, four times this price, but I am keeping it. Please, you make arrangement. We don’t want to see this land just go anywhere and everywhere.”

And Gurudev, of course, is always trying to see what is behind everything and when his dead phone is talking and then when he put it down and he picked it up again immediately afterwards just to see, okay there must be a dial tone, it must be working now, and it was dead. So anyway, mystically this land came, but this land is the very centre of Vrindavan, both physically. You see all the different temples, the Vrindavan physical, Vrindavan is all centred around Radha-Damodara temple, but it is also spiritually at the centre, and just over the wall, just ten yards, ten yards, I don’t know, just over the wall, here is Jiva Goswami’s samadhi-mandir. And just a little along there, the other side of the temple is Rupa Goswami’s samadhi-mandir. And actually, when we are not in Nabadwip, then it is more or less our solace that we are going to Jiva Goswami’s and Rupa Goswami’s samadhi-mandir and feeling that here we are able to feel Guru Maharaj’s presence by doing that. And Gurudev, he wanted that the temple would be maintained very spiritually and sweetly in remembrance of Guru Maharaj.

#00:32:22#

And so here somehow this has mystically come, again within that line of our Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Maharaj and Srila Govinda Maharaj. And it’s an opportunity for us to remember His Divine Grace Srila Guru Maharaj every day by giving our obeisances to Rupa Goswami, Jiva Goswami’s samadhi and the very place where Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, formulated his worldwide preaching when he was in America, he’s telling his senior devotees that, “Actually I’m going all over the world but I’m always, my heart is always in the Radha-Damodara temple.”

So here we are with that fortune of being able to glorify Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, the exalted line, intact line of acharyas coming down from Mahaprabhu’s Rupanuga-sampradaya. We have this great fortune to be able to do that today here at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math [unclear] in the very heart of Vrindavan.

And finally, on any auspicious day, it is a good day for us to try to chastise ourselves and renew our vows, whatever it may be, look and see our own faults and see what we can do which will be better in our lives. So today also let us try to reflect on Guru Maharaj, think what he wants of us and try to put that into practice more and more.

_{Captured by Ananta Krishna Das
Edited by Tradish Das}