sri chaitanya mano 'bhistam stapitam yena bhutale
swayam rupa kada mahyam dadati sva-padantikam
vande 'ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams ca
sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunathanvitam tam sa-jivam
sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-caitanya-devam
sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams ca
namo om vishnu-padaya krsna-presthaya bhu-tale
srimate bhaktivedanta svamin iti namine
namas te sarasvate deve gaura-vani-pracarine
nirvisesa-sunyavadi-pascatya-desa-tarine
Om Vishnu-Pada Paramahamsa-Parivrajakacarya-Astotattara Sri-Srimad
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Ki Jaya. Gaura Premanandi Hari Haribol.
There was a disciple of our Guru Maharaja in 1976, I believe his name was Ananta Dasa Sastri. He used to travel with Srila Prabhupada in India and he was in the Sanskrit department assisting Srila Prabhupada in translation work. That year he compiled five slokas which describe much of Srila Prabhupada's divine character and his divine mission also. Prabhupada very much liked these five slokas. We used to sing them every morning before Guru Puja by his vyasasana, so some of you may remember them.
krsnaika-ceta mada-moha-vinasa-karin
mad-drsti-gocara prabho prabhupada-svamin
dosabhivrtti-paridusita-manda-buddhe
sancintayami caranau tava bhakti-heto
"O Lord, O Prabhupada, may you always be the object of my vision. Only the name of Krsna can destroy my pride and illusion. Although my mind and intelligence are contaminated by wicked inclinations, I nevertheless take shelter of Your Divine Grace by constant meditation upon your lotus feet in causeless devotion."
vrndavane ramana-reti-prasiddha-bhumau
tatrapi krsna-balarama-supada-mule
jnanam param parama-krsna-sudharmity uktam
dantas tu deva prabhupada namo namaste
"In the most holy land of Sri Vrndavana Dhama, in Ramana Reti, at the lotus feet of Sri Krsna-Balarama, you are preaching the topmost knowledge of Krsna the Supreme Personality of Godhead who is the fountainhead of religion. O master of the senses, O my Lord, Srila Prabhupada, let me offer my obeisances unto you."
namaste namaste krpa-purna-drsti
namaste namaste mahananda-dhatri
namamo namama punar raksa raksa
prasiddha-prabho pahi mam daksa daksa
"I offer my obeisances unto the spiritual master of the entire world, His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whose glances are full of mercy and who is the bestower of transcendental bliss. O renowned lord, please protect me and kindly shower your compassion on me again and again."
bhaktisiddhanta-sisyaya
bhaktivedanta-swami-namine
prasannaya prasantaya
tasmai sri-gurave nama
"Let me offer my obeisances unto the lotus feet of my spiritual master, who is a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada, who is always calm and joyful, and who in known by the name of Bhaktivedanta Swami."
sri-vanga-bhumi-jana-bhusana gaura-lila
gauranga-bhava parisarana-matra-sila
radha-madhava-pada-padma-mano-vilasin
ananda-rasi prabhupada namo namas te
"The land of Bengal is worshipable by the whole world because Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu performed His pastimes there. I offer my obeisances unto Srila Prabhupada, who is full of bliss. He is always in the ecstasy of Lord Gauranga and is therefore immersed in the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Madhava."
His Divine Grace Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, ki jaya.
So a few words to all the Vaishnavas. I would like to say something about Srila Prabhupada, His Divine Grace. I had a thought in this way of Srila Prabhupada. I thought of three particular things regarding His Divine Grace. I thought about his mission, I thought about his highest ideal and I thought about his achievements. My thought was in this way. His mission is the mission of all Gaudiya Vaishnavas, particularly those who are the followers of Bhaktivinode Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada in these modern times. We mentioned on Srila Sridhara Maharaja's Vyasa Puja day this name, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat. From Sri Chaitanya to Saraswat. Sri Chaitanya meaning Sri Krsna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Saraswat meaning Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. This is the line of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. So I thought that our Guru Maharaja's mission is a mission of all those Vaishnavas from the time of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to the time of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and those who have followed in the footsteps of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. Each one of these topics is indeed a book and more. What is that mission of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?
Then I thought, his ideals. Our Guru Maharaja's ideals. That is also the ideal of all Gaudiya Vaishnavas, highest ideal. We begin in this life, we have some sukriti from the past life. Those who are born in India, they are accredited with some great sukriti, those who have been born in India. Once Prabhupada told, a ant in India, his birth is more fortunate than that of a human being in other countries. And that same week he told that the riksaw walla in Vrndavana is superior to the president of the United States. And that is not hard to figure out. If you meet a few riksaw wallas here, at least some of the old ones from the old days, if you have a chance to meet the president of the United States, you will see. So who is born in India has some sukriti and they will begin from that place. Who are born in foreign countries, we have no sukriti and we will begin from that. But regardless of where we begin from, very few, if any of us are born with a high ideal in mind. There is within Gaudiya Vaishnavism an exteme high ideal and this is exemplified in the lives of great acaryas since the time of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So our Guru Maharaja's mission is also, his high ideal is the same high ideal as all the bonafide Vaishnavas.
Then I thought, and his achievements. First the mission is the same mission. High ideal the same but them I thought his achievement, without offense to any other Vaishnava, I want to say that it is possible in dreams only. What his achievement was is seen in a dream only. So Srila Sridhara Maharaja told, "Swami Maharaja has done a miracle." What is a miracle? A miracle is something beyond our capabilities, something which cannot be done except with strength beyond the human strength. He told, "Only divine power. The divine came down thru him and worked thru him." He told, "Sri Nityananda Prabhu personally danced within him -- lived within him." He said, "I think so. Sri Nityananda Prabhu lived within the body of Swami Maharaja and danced a miracle for twelve years all over the world." And I have heard at different times friends and well-wishers in the Gaudiya Matha have mentioned, prthivite ache yata nagaradi-grama sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama, but how it will happen, we cannot think it. How it will happen, we cannot think it. In every town and village of the world, the holy name of Krsna will be sung. Have you ever been to Kartum or Adasa-baba in Ethiopia and have you ever been to Uganda. Have you ever been to, what is the remote place in Chile? You name any place on the globe and nowadays the name of Krsna will be there to greet you if you go there. I went once in North Africa, I went to the country of Sudan to the city of Oman. It is an ancient ancient city. I got off the airplace and the baggage claim man said, "Hare Krsna." We thought we were taking the Name there but that fellow had been to London and he saw the devotees there, so when he saw us there he remembered, "Oh Hare Krsna people." From the remote aborigine villages of Africa to Tafalgar Square in London to Times Square in New York, all around the world the name of Krsna is there. It has become some people say, a household word. Actually the name of Krsna is not household word, it is such a divine sound.
So I thought his mission is the mission of all Gaudiya Vaishnavas, his high ideal, his ideal is also the same ideal as is sought after by all the great Vaishnavas. And his achievements they will see in dream only. That is his credit. And Srila Sridhara Maharaja used to say, "We are proud." He said, "We, all Gaudiya Vaishnavas, we are so proud of Swami Maharaja, what he has done. We are so proud. We could not think how it will happen. He has done a miracle." So, I think around every acarya since time immemorial it seems that there is an intrinsic characteristic in Gaudiya Vaishnavism and that is whenever there is an acarya, past or present, there is a controversy surrounding that acarya. It just seems like something that is inherent from the spiritual world. There is controversy in Vrindavana in the eternal lila of Krsna. It is coming out here and there in the vatsalya rasa -- they have some complaint about the madhurya section. "What are they doing over there?" Some rumoring is there. Maybe it comes from there or maybe it just comes from the nature of this world, which is always filled with controversy, but a very unpleasant type. Nonetheless, we see in the lives of so many great personalities, and I don't know so much about many of them, but some controversy surrounds them. And one of the reasons that I think so is because the contribution of an acarya breaks the norm. We have this expression in English, "a wake up call." In modern speaking, "a wake up call." Like your alarm going off. The plane of this world is sedimentary. It always wants to slow us down, as maharaja used to say, or said, "A sannyasi has not simply come for eating and sleeping." Prabhupada used to say, If a sannyasi comes to stay in one place he will become expert in eating and sleeping. So that is the nature of this world, just settle down and become very sedimentary, fixed in your ways. The nature of this world is always going down, not up. So, acaryas, who we mark as acaryas, they make major contributions. They are doing something to wake up not just the masses of ignorant people, they are surely calling them also to Mahaprabhu, but they are often times shaking their own kind, the devotees themselves. So, whenever a great personality appears in our midst it seems like there is always some controversy surrounding him and I must say that our Guru Maharaja was no exception to that idea. There are many controversies. So controversy means, some complaint. But like I say, this is not a new thing and our Sripad Tripurari Maharaja will most certainly touch upon some of these things which have surrounded our acaryas in the past. In this very day, there are people in this very town who are today and yesterday speaking practically that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta, "He is not initiated." He is not initiated. Therefore everything after him, ""Hogya, katham." Certain sections. And just like we are all relatively young men, we are not eighties, nineties, we are relatively young men and very young men. That propaganda was made sixty years ago and it was passed on in their little group. And people our age speak that same thing today. They must fight and we will defeat them. It is easy to defeat them, we will defeat them.
What Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura did over sixty years, right here in this room is just a small pinhead of the result of that. To this very day, all over the world devotees are gathered together and even they are not celebrating our Guru Maharaja's tirubhava, still their devotees are all over the world in various missions. And all of that is coming from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada. I don't want to make my talk long but maybe Sripad Tripurari Maharaja will say something about the dignity of our parampara in this way. And our Guru Maharaja carried the dignity of Gaudiya Matha, the Gaudiya sampradaya all over the world. And so that it would be known and so that there would be no mistake about it, also he ordered in Mayapura at his headquarters, at Candrodaya Mandira, in the big gate, he ordered, our Guru Maharaja A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, he ordered that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada's logo of Gaudiya Matha, it should be painted on both sides of the gate. Let there be no mistake about it, we are Gaudiya Matha. And anyone who thinks otherwise is both blind and fool. Although our Guru Maharaja carried the message all over the world, he did not begin from here, he carried what he had been given by order of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta. In this contemporary world it begins with Bhaktivinode Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada. This cloth is made by him, this danda is made by him, everything we do in this preaching mission, so many things, is done by him. And his disciples, they are carrying this far and wide -- in India, outside India. And if anyone thinks that it is easy to preach in India without the almighty American dollar, then you just try it. Just you try to build one temple here in India with no foreign dollar and you will understand the hard work. In our country we simply put our hand in the sky and within an hour some money will be in there. In India your hand will fall off before a pisa will come. So, we do not think our Guru Maharaja is the only preacher, but we must say that his contribution in this modern time was only in dreams of others. It was not thinkable how it will happen. Even in his own dreams, he could not conceive actually how it will happen. Although he was very positive always, when he had nothing, absolutely nothing but the dhoti that he wore and a few books, one man in New York asked him, "Do you have any mission?" Swami Maharaja Prabhupada told, "Yes, I have temples all over the world in many countries, they are just not manifest." So that is very positive. But that is not simply a statement, no, he knows. Why? He has guru nistha. He has prema also, but he has faith in the order of his guru and he knows, "I am here on the order of Saraswati Thakura, therefore all success will come to me." He has this conviction. And I have seen it. Now he used to say, "My Guru Maharaja is always by my side."
Once I asked Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Maharaja. "Maharja, is there any tape recording of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta." He looked at me like a newborn fool. He said, "Baba, Saraswati Thakura is always present with us." But we are thinking we must have the tape machine to find him. But those who have faith, his disciples, they have faith that he is with them always. Similarly, if we have faith in our Guru Maharaja, his blessing, his presence is with us always and the potency to succeed in his order is there -- given in the order itself. Whenever he told his disciples, "You go somewhere." He didn't get their train ticket and call ahead and make a hotel booking or anything. He simply told, "You go to Africa, you go to England." How they went there was their business, but he told, "My blessing is there." And the potency is in the order. With sincerity we will try to do it and we may be successful by his grace. So just that much I wanted to say about His Divine Grace and also humbly pray that he blesses us all, both today and every other day so that we may always remain in the fixed assembly of Vaishnavas who are sincerely serving the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu. Gaura Premanandi Hari Haribol!!
