“About Sripad Bhakti Premik Siddhanti Maharaj.” Srila B. S. Goswami Maharaj, Srila B. B. Avadhut Maharaj. February 11, 2012. Gupta Govardhan
English
Srila Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaj
About Sripad Bhakti Premik Siddhanti Maharaj
(February 11, 2012. Gupta Govardhan)
https://mahamandala.com/en/audios/365
[Amiya Sindhu Prabhu: non-transcribed replica.]
#00:00:37#
Goswami Maharaj: That’s quite a leap. Jaya Vijay Raman Prabhu ki jaya! And it looks like, am I seeing the dance of the Avadhut? Or is he?
Avadhut Maharaj: I’m here.
Goswami Maharaj: Aha. The disembodied voice. Jaya Srila Bhakti Bimal Avadhut Maharaj ki jaya! Your chair is waiting.
Avadhut Maharaj: I’m here, Maharaj.
#00:01:09#
Goswami Maharaj: Okay, alright. I know you’ll maybe on sheshayi. I think certainly we’re going to deal with that question, or both of them, I don’t know if I’m going to deal with it at this moment. But because I’m a little more thinking about Bhakti Premik Siddhanti Maharaj at the moment. And yesterday was his disappearance and I didn’t get to speak, and I feel more inclined to deal with that right now. But really I’m going to note that, and deal with it maybe the next time.
#00:02:00#
But sometimes heard Srila Prabhupad Swami Maharaj say, this many phrases he said, they’ve just, remember his divine transcendental reighn about them, and one of the things he would say, when he met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He say, he would describe his life up to the point and then say, “Later on we met by the divine order, or later on we net by divine arrangement.” He didn’t, everything about Krishna Consciousness is auspisious, and when you wiew your life through the eyes of Krishna Consciousness, shastra-chakshush, and from the vision of the Vaishnavas, sadhu, shastra, Guru, Vaishnav, everything is seen in a new light, even the past. And I don’t mean this in the sense of the wishful thinking or nostalgia, but you’ll gain increased insight about own life, what you’ve experienced previously will be seen in a new way.
#00:03:39#
And what I mean about that is in front example, that. I should preface that by saying, let you think I am on some kind of a tangent, that Srila Guru Maharaj likes to quote this poet named Magha, who wrote, has a famous, epic poem, called the Shishupal-vad, and as Lalita Madhava Prabhu, we said, it’s not, I thought it’s like, “Oh, what Shishupal said, it’s the death of Shishupal.” Cause this word can mean different things. Like Gurudev faumous talking about bak, bake va (?), one pandit, if you look in a Sanskrit dictionary, he said, “Bak va, that means smelling.” And it’s true, if you look in the dictionary, it’s smelling. But if you go deeper, talks about tigers. So, the pandit, who comes in connection with a tiger, he said, “Not to worry, that means, they’re only smelling.” Then after he’s in trouble being eaten by a tiger, he realized, “Oh, yeah, that’s right, there is a deeper level definition, there is also devouring.”
#00:04:56#
So, this poet Magha in his Shishupal-vad, Guru Maharaj quotes this, because therein he says, “Just as present auspiciousness is indicative of an auspicious future, we like to say that Guru Maharaj seince we, “If you knew how auspicious your future was,” meaning they can see, Srila Gurudev, Srila Guru Maharaj, they could see the servitor identity and it’s future prospect. So, they can say with great confidence, “If you could see how bright your future is, how auspicious your future is, you’d be astonished, maybe you would even faint.” This is on the soul, āscārja bad kaścati paścādenam (?), the wonderful thing, ascharja, means wonderful, astonishing, amazing, Krishna’s saying in this (?), “If you could have a glimpse of your own self, you’d be astonished, you’d faint, if you saw it to the extreme, you would faint, but even your general spiritual nature, if you understand what it is, Guru Maharaj sometimes said, “It’s the wonderful thing, our starting point should be the wonderful thing.” The wonderful thing is in the background of everything. That is atma, the ants in my bathroom. Has anyone noticed big ants here? I am not the only one. And they come out at night, they’re my friends also, so, wherever I was cleaning my room, just leave them be. They only live for a short time, we get to know each other. They’re about big, I think they are reddish black, black cherries, but the atma’s making that ant move and do all kinds of things, if you watch them, I’ve spend some time, cause I tried to figure, I don’t want to hurt them, then I tried to like help them do things, and they don’t understand, that I’m trying to help. We have this whole relationship. And then they die. And then a new group come, I don’t think they live very long. Looks like a week or two. But it’s the atma making the ants move, but inhabiting the elephant.
#00:07:44#
Srila Prabhupad Swami Maharaj sometimes, when he would playfully (?) with the again scientist, he would say, they can make a seven-forty-seven, but can they make a fly? I mean that was thirty-forty years ago, I’m sure there is some guy, “MIT last week they made a fly in the experimental…” But he was saying, the (?) how flies. You can make a 747 and 838, but can you make a fly? So, āscārja bad kaścati paścādenam (?), it’s this amazing quality the soul has to animate. So, that prospect, so, present auspiciousness is indicative of a bright future prospect. But the reason Srila Guru Maharaj quoted this also is to say, Maghara is saying here, “If you have auspicious connection in present, it’s also indicative of some past auspiciousness.” And in that plane Bhaktivinod Thakur verifies this in the Jaiva-dharma, saying, “Coming in connection with Krishna Consciousness, is not something accidental, and coming in connection with those who are pursuing Krishna Consciousness, is not accidental, and Srila Swami Maharaj used to say, you know, “By divine order, we met, by divine arrangement we met, by the divine will, divine, divine, divine.” So, in times if you’ve asked someone, they always like this story about, “How did you come to Krishna Consciousness?” And someone can honestly say, whichever devotee is responding to that, they can start saying some events, usually, right before they so called ‘joined’ or made their connection, they’ll see, well, this happened, then that happened, and you could start seeing some kind of say divine pattern. Just prior to their moment of offering themselves.
#00:09:59#
But what I’m suggesting is the extended range of preserving some divine arrangement, it gets bigger. More things will seem to be connected. And you could say, if you want to just take it to the extreme. As Srila Prabhupad Swami Maharaj would say sometimes, being asked certain things, under certain circumstances he would respond by saying, “I do not recall a time when I was ever not searching for Krishna.” And anyone who is sincerely pursuing Krishna Consciousness they’ll come to a point of realizing, that actually at every moment, at every step of the way, under every circumstance, they were always and only searching for Krishna. It seemed like something else, that’s all.
#00:11:03#
So, I remember when I first heard of Srila Bhakti Premik Siddhanti Maharaj, at the time, Chidananda Prabhu, I just so called joined San Francisco temple, in May of 1971, and as faith (?) we’re doing Harinam-sankirttan, and we’re arrested, all the devotees. And our temple was like twenty five brahmacharis, and three so called brahmacharinis. So, we’re all arrested and (?) into a jail. And then, we are thinking, “What are we going to do to practice Krishna Consciousness?” They took our japa-mala and everything. So, then someone said, “Mahaprabhu used to chant on knotted rope, probably not is shoe strings, but so out of shoe strings we’re making, cause we have to chant sixteen rounds every day. Then someone says, “We should have arati. We have to have mangal-arati. We have to have three arati, six arati. We have to have a lot of aratis.” And our temple Deities were Jagannath, Subhadra [and] Baladev. And someone was an artist, they do a Jagannath on the wall. And they said, “There is this devotee, Prabhupad said, he’s a pure devotee, his name is Chidananda Prabhu, and due to some sickness, some this that and the other things, Chidananda liked pastimes, somehow he was incarcerated. In a healthy jail, a jail for health. And there, and we’re told, and he had these little Deities, if you ever have met Maharaj, you know, he has a little Radha-Krishna Deities around this big. He kept them with him on an altar, different places. So, we told, I think, somehow the authorities offended him, and somehow anyway, he found himself in a circumstance of restricted movement. And had these little Deities, and we’ve heard, and he is going on every day with these aratis and offerings and practicing Krishna Consciousness. On that Prabhupad said, “He is a pure devotee.”
#00:14:05#
So, that was a first time I’ve ever heard of him, so they said, “We gonna follow what he does.” That was the idea, that’s why they invoked his name said, “He is doing this, we’re in a similar circumstance and Prabhupad endorsed what he’s doing, we’re also going to do that.” So, and someone had a book of matches. So, the matches became a panch-pradip, the ghee-lamp. So, they’d light a match, and then the pujari would do the, and we’d have kirttan, and they are interesting. And then we heard, that he’s, because of health, this reason, that reason, he’s situated in Santa Cruz. So, originally, that place belongs to him. I mean, I’ve heard about him being in Santa Cruz in 1971. So, I think, we can understand, he had some special connection with that. And other places on the shore of the ocean, like nilāmbhodhi-taṭe-sadā, broad blue ocean in Puri. But so, I didn’t see him for many years, but during those times also he was the president of the San Francisco temple, like some devotees, they like to think back to those days, at the family dog (?), in different places, and Grateful Dead, and the other bands were playing, and they liked Swamiji Prabhupad. Chidananda Prabhu at the time, Siddhanti Maharaj, he was there in those days, and the president of the San Francisco temple, like in a heart of the hippie times, when it was like flooded, Haight-Ashbury, and like two people, that he can be credited with converting to Krishna Consciousness, or as they often say, ‘make devotees,’ were Tamal Krishna Goswami, the great devotee of Srila Prabhupad, Krishna Consciousness movement, and also Vishnu Janak Swami. So, he was the president, when they joined. They were like living down the street.
#00:16:43#
And he once told me he’s so, like Gurudev he use this expression, simple hearted Vaishnava, and he’s referencing Rupa Goswami, whereas described, what is it? Twenty six qualities pure devotee? Saro is one, saro means simple, pure hearted. So, he told me once, when he met Prabhupad, and I’ve mentioned that sometimes that everyone, if you ask anyone who joined they’ll generally tell you they were on some sort of spiritual search, something along those lines, there are variations and modifications of that story. But he told me quite in a natural, unassuming way, when he met Prabhupad, he said, “He looked like he needed some help.” He meets the shaktyavesha-avatar of Nityananda Prabhu, who is going to fulfill Mahaprabhu’s prediction, Bhaktivinod’s wishes, Saraswati Thakur, spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world, and his impression was, “He looked like he needed some help.” And naturally he offered himself in help.
#00:18:07#
Like Gopal was saying, that Gurudev said, that one of his great qualities, is always concerned about others, not about himself, he always wants to make sure everyone else gets a chance to connect to the lotus feet of Guru, to have that opportunity. But even when he saw Srila Prabhupad himself, he thought, “Maybe he needs some help. And I can offer myself in service.” That was the beginning of his relationship. And he had a car, he would drive Prabhupad around for the shopping or take him to this famous lake, I’ve always think it’s called Swan Lake, but it’s the name of the ballet. It’s something like that. Seems like it’s Swan, but he would take him to the Golden Gate park for his walk and help in a so many different way.
#00:19:00#
So many years went by and we’ve found ourselves in the aftermath the disappearance of Srila Prabhupad, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, that our ultimate necessity at the lotus feet of Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. So, we made Srila Guru Maharaja’s connection, and as I began recording him, I started distributing the recordings. And interestingly I was still in Los Angeles at the time as the president of the temple, ISKCON temple in Los Angeles, it was about 1980 or so, and I got a letter, from someone, who wanted to buy, like I had around twenty tapes at that time. And it was saying Chidananda Prabhu, it had a postal money order, he’d heard some maybe a few here and there, so, he was the first person, who made his approach that way. And later when we established the first temple for Srila Guru Maharaj in San Jose, he also, I mean, this is the first, we’ve got the phone installed, this is the old age, where these had a (?)-lines, you’ve probably seen them in a movie, on in the Internet, so, there was a (?)-line installed, and then a phone like, [rings], I pick up the phone, it’s Chidananda Prabhu in Santa Cruz. At that time there’ve been something like devastating, not a hurricane, but some kind of a storm, but all the power was out for a week. But he wanted to meet myself and Bhrama Prabhu, we drove down there, and we met in some place where they play sitar music, I think, ‘vatik’ (?) or something like that. And they had a candles light there, cause there is no power in the town. And met with him, and he wanted to know how to go to Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. So, we gave him a map, and told, “You go to Navadwip train station, get a riksha, and at the time, you say, “I want to go to Kolerganj Math.” Now they tell Jal-mandir, but at the time it was Kolerganj Math. Gopal can verify. That area is called Kolerganj, where the Math is. So for many years, it was just known as the Kolerganj Math. Told him how to go and he went there and the rest it was kind of like a history.
#00:22:25#
But he’s always visiting the Math, going to Jagannath Puri, coming to our Math in San Jose with news, going back an forth and always a great preacher, connecting so many others. And then something, he’d always play some (?) role in things happening. So, I at the time with the devotees of the Guardian of Devotion Press, we just completed the Golden Volcano of Divine Love, this book, which Srila Guru Maharaj later told me was of the books we’ve published, this was his favorite, because it was about Mahaprabhu and many other things. So, at that time, went to (?) fly to India to present it to him, and when I got there, cause (?) overjoyed and happy to receive this, and he said, that he just got word from Chidananda Prabhu that the Gambhira, the room, where Mahaprabhu lived the last twelve years of His life, in the depths of separation of Radha-bhav, remember there is no windows in the room, behind closed doors with Swarup Damodar and Ramananda [Rai], this is repeatedly mentioned in Chaitanya-charitamrita. Cause after sannyas, up to twenty four, Navadwip pastimes, sannyasa twenty four, Mahaprabhu remains in the world for forty eight years. Twenty four takes sannyas, six years travelling around India, South India, other places, also visiting Puri, but then it leaves eighteen. Of the last eighteen for six years accessible devotees are coming every year, big Ratha-yatra pastime, but last twelve years in seclusion, with Swarup Damodar and Ramananda Rai, behind closed doors, plunging into the depths of Radha-bhav, the banhi-garbha, as mentioned in the Prema-dhama-deva-stotram, that Srila Gurudev translated as The Fire Bed of Separation. And this is what Golden Volcano meant. Originally it’s Golden Volcano Divine Lava as mentioned in the introduction.
#00:24:56#
And I observed this parallel that in one place Kaviraj Goswami saying in the Chaitanya-charitamrita, that sometimes Mahaprabhu, who is… Guru Maharaj says, svarṇa-koṭi-darpaṇābha-deha-varṇa-gauravaṁ, His body is like ten million brilliant mirrors made of gold, what kind of gold? Tapta-kāñchana, means molten gold, like if you’re melting gold, that type of heat, so following that Kaviraj Goswami would say, “Sometimes that looks like a golden mountain rolling in the dust.” But Guru Maharaj has taken this to its greatest intensity, saying, “What is in his heart is like a boilermaker, which means the thing, that they melt metal. So, the heart has become so intense, under pressure, if you put a maximum amount of pressure on an affection what will be the result? So, the heart is exploding with volcanic eruptions and he said, “And streams of lava are coming from Mahaprabhu. The Shikshashtaka is like the streams of lava coming from Him.” That’s what he means by describing the golden volcano of divine love. Very intense. As whenever we see a picture of volcano or some representation on video, it’s always is like an eruption. So, Guru Maharaj is comparing this to ecstatic eruptions from the heart of Mahaprabhu, that sort of intensity.
#00:26:46#
We’re always thinking, or we have stereotype that people who are spiritually advanced, they are always smiling, and everything is just so sweet, and mellow, and like that. And that’s there sometimes. But here there’s this unparalleled intensity of emotion. Ecstatic eruptions of emotion, which are graphically portrayed by Guru Maharaj as a golden volcano. How extraordinary. And again this points to the unique, original wealth of Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Sometimes people say, “What’s the difference between Chaitanya Saraswat Math and any other Math?” And that’s another subject, but one way to approach that is by referring to the original wealth of Srila Guru Maharaj as a Golden Volcano of Divine Lava, Reality the Beautiful, Dive Deep into Reality, the Prema-dhama-deva-stotram, many, many other things, but unique connections. So many things shared, but something again unique and original.
#00:28:16#
So, Guru Maharaj was really inspired, I can’t convey to you how inspired he was receive this book and he said, “I just got this letter from Chidananda Prabhu, Siddhanti Maharaj, saying the Gambhira is available the seva.” These things sometimes are available in India, special holy places. So, and he revealed at that time that when he contemplated retiring, three places came to mind, Uddhav-khyari in Vrindavan, which is what? The place of the Brahmara-gita, which again is boilermaker, from the heart of Radharani, Her ecstatic eruptions are in Uddhav-khyari. Second place, then he thought, “Well, Vrindavan is for highest section or the liberated souls, humbly taking himself not to qualify. There he thought Gambhira, well, he settled in Navadwip, but he told that third place was the Gambhir. And that it was available, he was very eager to get the seva. So, he sent his secretary and myself there immediately. Like we’re on the train to Puri that evening. To see if that could be realized. But I was so surprised to see Guru Maharaj so, this is around three years before his disappearance, so animated, so full of life about this. And then he said something shocking, “If you can get it, I will come there for the inauguration.” And this time he was not leaving his veranda, which is in the roof top. Only he could come down for the Saraswati Thakur’s appearance day, his own, Gaura Purnima, three times a year maybe. And he saw the look of disbelieve on my face, like cause I thought, he read my mind, I was thinking to say, he won’t survive the journey. And Guru Maharaj knew that, he said, “If I die on the way, at least I will have died going in the right direction.” He was like that inspired.
#00:31:05#
So, we went there and then we met with Chidananda Prabhu, Siddhanti Maharaj, and we went to the Gambhir, and they are usually are not so inviting of the Western section, but somehow seeing that we’ve brought the Golden Volcano of Divine Love with us, and they took, they received the book very nicely (?) and put where Mahaprabhu’s asan is. So, it looked, because in the sense this is the book personification of Mahaprabhu. So, it appeared as though he’s taking sit there. That this was a very special event and Siddhanti Maharaj was there and the secretary and myself, we tried to our best. Somehow I didn’t happen, but at least these moments, we’ve at least the Golden Volcano of Divine Love entered the Gambhir and set on the asan and received worship there.
#00:32:25#
So, it seemed wherever intense devotional connection, Sripad Siddhanti Maharaj would always be there. And he, this wiliness to sacrifice himself in service to the lotus feet of Srila Gurudev, he personified that. Just one or two instances we can think of. We know in Govardhan, how difficult it is there, especially in the summer time, they have these hot wings, I forget the name, but there you have to wear cloth…
Nitya Gopal Prabhu: Lu.
Goswami Maharaj: Lu. You must ear cloth, it’s very dangerous, it’s so hot and he over Gurudev’s room, so that Gurudev would get some relief. Siddhanti Maharaj would be outside, taking buckets of the pooled water and pouring them on the roof, because the roof will get the sun’s heat and become hotter, he’s taking all that pain, suffering on his own, pouring that, just as a, maybe the temperature will go down a little bit, and Gurudev will get some relief. Those kind of things. Leading Srila Gurudev to say once, “If my disciples will take the dust from his feet upon their head, they will get Guru-bhakti,” that’s the ultimate compliment, that you can give to someone. “You’ll get devotion to Guru taking the dust from his feet on your head.”
#00:34:23#
So, I think of this chapter, I’ve mentioned before, that in the seventh canto Narada telling so many qualification that are necessary to achieve Krishna Consciousness. And as I read them my head just sinks lower in disappointment and despair like, kabe ha’be bolo se-dina āmār. Like this is not gonna happen. And you see, “And they will be like this, and they will be like that, and one who is Krishna Conscious,” we see there are many secions like that in different places. And you look at that and you can think, “Oh, so far away. Thousands of lifetimes away.” But then some hope comes, the conclusion, the summary shloka says, etat sarvaṁ gurau bhaktyā puruṣo hy añjasā jayet. Saying, “But if you get devotion, Guru-bhakti, if you get devotion to the lotus feet of Guru, you get everything.” So, when Srila Gurudev says, “He’s got Guru-bhakti, that’s the ultimate compliment, there is nothing higher than that.” That is the goal. Real Krishna-bhakti is directed towards the lotus feet of His devotees. That’s why our ultimate goal is indicated by Das Goswami is radha-dasyam, the service of the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani of whom the Guru-varga is considered Her delegated representatives.
#00:36:23#
So, Maharaj, would you like to say a few words. I think you should.
Avadhut Maharaj: I think, it’s time.
Goswami Maharaj: Okay. (?) a few words.
Avadhut Maharaj: I think, Bhakti Lalita is here she should say.
Goswami Maharaj: Did I leave, I mean, somehow, I took up all the time.
Bhakti Lalita Devi Dasi: We offered him some papaya yesterday, and then (?) sees around.
Nitya Gopal Prabhu: He liked papaya.
Bhakti Lalita Devi Dasi: He planed many trees in Navadwip just from eating papaya, and throwing seeds.
Goswami Maharaj: And also, he’s a little naughty sometimes. We were in London together, he knew how to play, like make it appear that he wasn’t sly and crafty. So, we’re, it’s British Airways and like around five hundred people ready to get on the airplane. I always get, whatever my section is, it’ll be the last one to board, it’s just the way it is. And he goes, “Well, I’ll see you, Maharaj.” I go, “What do you think?” It’s early boarding, he pulls out of his bag a black eye patch and puts it over his eye, like this, and he’s got his bag with cereal and muri, and he just like walks on and no one’s gonna say a word to him. [Laughs.] With utter confidence as if like, “I’ve done this a hundred times.” Yes, Maharaj.
#00:38:05#
Avadhut Maharaj: You know, one thing, I remember when he took sannyas, like Bharati took sannyas, and Siddhanti Maharaj took sannyas that time, if you remember.
Goswami Maharaj: I do.
Avadhut Maharaj: It was like a special time (?) in Vrindavan…
Goswami Maharaj: Vrindavan.
Avadhut Maharaj: We would go some special, if you were there.
Goswami Maharaj: She was there.
Avadhut Maharaj: It was like extraordinary time, we’re going to some very remote places, like Lalita-bari, Kadam-kandi, was like a special kind of environment. Siddhanti Maharaj was with us, after taking sannyas Gurudev sent us to preach. So, I went with Siddhanti Maharaj to preaching tour. And as we more approaching towards North it was like colder and colder, like minus thirty. And I was like very determined to go more north, like to the place where.
Goswami Maharaj: Like the North Pole.
Avadhut Maharaj: Like Murmansk.
Goswami Maharaj: Like the North Pole.
Avadhut Maharaj: And we were staying (?) like one day from Petersburg.
Goswami Maharaj: That’s where the big lake is.
Avadhut Maharaj: It’s like so cold, frost on the windows. So, I told him, “I’ve got tickets to Murmansk, so I’m going.” He said, “I can’t stay in this cold, I’m going back to Petersburg temple.” I said, “Okay, no problem, I just keep going, Maharaj.” So, he’s like, “Okay, I’m on, get me a ticket.” Then after half of an hour he said, “Well, I can’t tolerate,” so, we had to get the ticket five or six times, then I just said, “Maharaj, here is your train to Petersburg, my train to Murmansk.” And I thought like, “I got rid of him.” Then I’m like sitting in a really cold place alone and I thought I got rid of him,” and then the train start going and I hear, “Hare Krishna.” Siddhanti Maharaj, he run away from his train to Petersburg, and in the last moment he changed his mind, so, we went. That’s that picture, where we had a reindeers. And we wear a Santa Clause hats and doing Harinama on the street.
#00:41:07#
Everybody really loved him for his kirttan. I think just talk to him, it’s like hours.
Goswami Maharaj: And his favorite type of dance is what’s called ‘the uddanda.” Which means to jump straight up, that’s why danda-uddanda, means up in the air and down, and one of the last times I saw him in Petersburg, there is this kirttan going on around midnight, and I look out the window, and there is Siddhanti Maharaj doing jumping, was playing the karatals, his one beat, his favorite kirttan is Haribol. [Laughs and sings.] And he’s jumping up and down like this. It’s looks like a meter off the ground. And surrounding him are all young people. So, he is almost seventy, he’s lifting up into the air like that, and there is all these young people surrounding him in a circle.
#00:42:11#
Avadhut Maharaj: But yes, he was amazing person, and we were very good friends. I have like thousands of stories of our travel to Ukraine, to Zaporozhye. I mean, I just remember one of like, everybody, he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t properly quote shlokas, he couldn’t speak very systematicly. So, everybody were a little like funny about, had a little fun about him. But once I remember we had like the really big program for like three hundred people, and as a respect I said, “Maharaj, you should say something.” And I just was amazed how he manifested certain mystic things. So, one of the shloka on the introduction were about program was like, amṛtasya putrāṁ about the sons of…
Goswami Maharaj: Nectar.
Avadhut Maharaj: …nectar. So he’s just like said, you know, sons of nectar, the ocean of nectar, there are different type of people, some people living by the (?) of the ocean, they just enjoy the beautiful environment, some people are as a fisherman going to the ocean, they take fish, they live by that, some people as a scientist they go deep into the ocean, they search and study. But there are some people like artists, they just glorify the ocean, and then he said, “That is Krishna Consciousness!” It was so beautiful and I was really amazed, I felt like Saraswati herself is entering his mouth, and he is like ghostly taken by the wave of Krishna Consciousness and preaching divine flow is coming. And you can see that, this is what, mūkaṁ karoti vāchālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim, it’s just when you connect with that substance, it will play or use you for it’s own divine will. His introduction was so beautiful, that the whole three hundred people were totally mesmerized, and like shocked and everybody was so happy. So, he had some extraordinary qualities and that book of Gurudev.
#00:44:51#
[Missing piece of Goswami Maharaj’s speech about Srila Gurudev’s book Religion of the Heart that Siddhanti Maharaj compiled. Also Goswami Maharaj talks about Ramananda Rai and Mahaprabhu in Gambhira, and Vaishnava poetry of Chandidas and Vidyapati.]
#00:46:38#
Goswami Maharaj: So, I told Srila Gurudev as a means of prays, I said, “Someone could make a case, what is not found in Chaitanya-charitamrita is found in this book.” That’s how extraordinary it is. And many times Srila Gurudev would be reading it and looking and go, “How could Siddhanti Maharaj do this?” And just to say it’s the proof…
Avadhut Maharaj: …of his name.
Goswami Maharaj: …of mūkaṁ karoti vāchālaṁ, that by… śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam… by the grace, by Sri Guru and his grace impossible things become possible.
Avadhut Maharaj: His name was…
Goswami Maharaj: Like (?) Chidananda became Siddhanti Maharaj, cause we think, “Why Siddhanti?” Ultimately he gave the siddhanta, (?) siddhanta. So, and all based upon Guru-bhakti, as you say not known to be a scholar, or researcher pandit-type devotee. Not at all, the antithesis of that. Someone, when he spoke form the heart, everybody was fooded (?) and happy. He didn’t have to go that other round. If he just told what was from his heart, what his feeling were, everyone would appreciate that, because it was real and substantial. And he could say those things and for them to be meaningful.
#00:48:04#
Avadhut Maharaj: He proved his name actually, this his PhD. I’ve seen the way he doing this book, it was in front of me seeing some things, I said, “Maharaj, what are you doing?” He’s like, “Hearing lectures, transcribing.” We were in Siberia, in Murmansk, sitting in the corner, transcribing, he could go on with his eternal bhajan and. Just way before he disappeared, you remember, you never came to see him, I had the very intimate talk with him, and like he knew, he’s going, he wasn’t stupid. He was also amazing person, he prepared for Virachandra, money for the ticket, he prepared his own funeral, he didn’t want to disturb anybody, he had fun collected, he left as a perfect gentleman, he wouldn’t just drop his problem to anybody and his family is very noble family. His brother, his all relatives came, and maybe you were there. But to me he’s a perfect example of like Forrest Gump type of person, sincere seeker, he’s one of like best people of the nation I would say. Like if you at American nation, because he’s a general’s son of like a navy general’s sons are like wealthy people, who lived in educated environment, could have been spoiled by so many things. He willingly accept the fifth principle of Vaishnava is being like a beggar, always look like a beggar [laughs]. Never was actually a beggar, taking this very humble approach and humble dress of Vaishnava mendicant and going with collecting great realizations, sacrificing his life to Prabhupad, to great Acharyas. We can say in this regard his life has been totally fulfilled and total example. Because he could go to Bengal and just stay by the door of the Guru, or feed dogs of Srila Govinda Maharaj. Or just accompany him in a world tour, buy his own ticket and stay very humbly.
#00:50:52#
And I remember when Guru Maharaj came, I said, “Chidananda is coming on his own way.” I was thinking, “Who is this man?” You know, what is his?.. But it was very affectionate, very sweet, relationship with him were developed in a very nice way and when Bharati Maharaj were thinking to take sannyas, and Gurudev said he will approve, I said to Gurudev, “Then if you give, you could give it to him then, you should give sannyas to Chidananda.” And Gurudev said, “Yes.” I said, “Because he’s very…” I said, “Everybody loves him in Russia.” Gurudev said, “Yes.” “For Russia he is perfect. And he is very devoted.” Gurudev said, “Yes, yes, I will give. No problem.” And Siddhanti Maharaj, when he heard that, he was like fired up and was happy. It was some divine arrangement.
#00:51:58#
[Missing piece of Goswami Maharaj’s speech about the devotion of Siddhanti Maharaj to Srila Gurudev.]
#00:53:00#
Manasa Krishna Prabhu: Maharaj, do you remember, when you came back from America to India after seeing Siddhanti Maharaj, remember what Gurudev said to you? When you first came.
Goswami Maharaj: I’m trying, you help me.
Manasa Krishna Prabhu: When you were telling relating to Gurudev’s health and Siddhanti Maharaj was (?) and Gurudev said, “He is my best friend. He has full ticket.”
Goswami Maharaj: Oh, yes, full ticket.
Nitya Gopal Prabhu: He gone before Gurudev… [unclear].
Goswami Maharaj: That was Rishabhadev. We’re talking about Siddhanti Maharaj. He left in Soquel. But your well wishes are appreciated.
Nitya Gopal Prabhu: Siddhanti Maharaj before Gurudev he gone.
Goswami Maharaj: Oh, I see what you’re saying. Yes, right, of course, what you’re saying is true. He’s saying, Haridas Thakur could not, I thought you meant in his presence, Haridas Thakur could not tolerate the thought that Mahaprabhu will leave, he understands he’s going to wind up his pastimes, so he prayed he could go first, and we believe that Siddhanti Maharaj has so much love for Gurudev, that he wouldn’t have been able the disappearance, so, he left, if you look on the calendar, it’s like two months before. As Haridas Thakur left before Mahaprabhu, you’re correct.
Nitya Gopal Prabhu: So he called Gurudev for the permission...
#00:54:37#
Goswami Maharaj: …to leave.
Nitya Gopal Prabhu: Yes, permission.
Goswami Maharaj: And that nurse who was attending to him and seeing this is some extraordinary personality, and she is, he’s always telling her, cause his body is falling apart, that we have another form, the svarup, and she was saying, “Will I get to see your svarup?” And the day before his departure he said, “If you come tomorrow.” Hare Krishna. Jaya Srila Bhakti Premik Siddhanti Maharaj ki jaya!
Transcribed by: Nalina Sundari Devi Dasi
Edited by Tradish Das
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