Greatness Is Not Measured by Cloth

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa Puja Adhivas, Bengali class
10 October 2015, part 3

What does jive daya mean? Mahaprabhu told Sanatan Goswami,

জীবে দয়া, নামে রুচি, বৈষ্ণব সেবা ।
ইহা বহি সনাতন নাহি আর ধর্ম্ম ॥

jive daya name ruchi vaisnava seva
iha bahi sanatana nahi ara dharma

"Be merciful to the souls, chant the Holy Name, and serve the Vaishnavs. Sanatan, there is no other religion besides this."

Religion (dharma) means we must bring the jiva souls to Krishna consciousness. Gurudev gave this duty to me, and this is not only my responsibility, it is your responsibility too. One time, somebody asked Gurudev, "Maharaj, what is the meaning of sannyas?" Gurudev replied, "Sannyas does not mean wearing the cloth—one does not become a sannyasi just by wearing a sannyasi's clothes."

When our temple did not exist, when all the Gaudiya Maths did not exist, there was only one Chaitanya Math. There was Kunja Babu at that Math—when big sannyasi came there, they would pay obeisance to him—Prabhupad would give his pranam to him and all the sannyasis would offer him their full prostrate obeisance even though he was a grihastha and worked at the post office. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, whose his appearance day was recently, was also like that—although he was a grihastha, when big pandits, scholars, sannyasis, babajis saw him, they would offer their full prostrate obeisance to him.

Mahaprabhu left six goswamis—

জয় রূপ সনাতন ভট্ট রঘুনাথ ।
শ্রীজীব গোপালভট্ট দাস রঘুনাথ ॥
এই ছয় গোসাঞি করি চরণ বন্দ ।

jaya rupa sanatana bhatta raghunatha
sri-jiva gopala-bhatta dasa raghunatha
ei chaya gosani kari charana vandana

"All glory to Sri Rupa, Sanatan, Raghunath Bhatta, Sri Jiva, Gopal Bhatta, and Raghunath Das! I offer my obeisance to these six goswamis."

They preached Mahaprabhu's teaching in Vrindavan, but after Mahaprabhu, some opposition sampradayas appeared (aul, baul, karttabhaja, neda, daravesa, sani, sakhibheki, jata-goswami) and Bhaktivinod Thakur resumed the preaching calling himself "a sweeper of the Nama-hatta."

নদীয়া-গোদ্রুমে নিত্যানন্দ মহাজন ।
পতিয়াছে নামহট্ট জীবের কারণ ॥

nadiya godrume nityananda mahajana
patiyache nama-hatta jivera karana

"In the land of Nadiya, on the island of Godruma, Nityananda opened a marketplace of the Holy Name for the deliverance of all fallen souls."

(Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

Bhaktivinod Thakur manifested himself as a sweeper at the 'market' of the Holy Name. Taking up a broom, he cleaned the place of all dirt—whatever misconception (aul, baul, karttabhaja, neda, daravesa, sani, sakhibheki, jata-goswami) there was, he cleaned the place from it. Param Guru Maharaj wrote about him,

গুরুদং গ্রন্থদং গৈরধামদং নামদং মুদা
ভক্তিদং ভূরিদং বন্দে ভক্তিবিনোদকং সদা

guru-dam grantha-dam gaura-dhama-dam nama-dam muda
bhakti-dam bhuri-dam vande bhakti-vinodakam sada

"I perpetually offer my obeisance unto Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Guru-dam: he is the bestower of Sri Guru (Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur). Grantha-dam: he is the author of numerous commentaries, treatises, articles, novels and songbooks. Gaura-dhama-dam: he is the revealer of the abode of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Nama-dam: he is the giver of the Name. Bhakti-dam: he is the granter of pure devotion. Bhuri-dam: he is the bestower of an abundance of divine fortune."

(Sri Laghu-chandrika-bhasya, 1.8)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave us our Guru. If he had not come, where would we have got Prabhupad? One day, Bhaktivinod Thakur went to the Jagannath Temple and before taking prasad he came to Bimala Devi (Laksmi Devi) and prayed together with Bhavagati Devi (Srila Prabhupad's mother), "O Bimala Devi, I pray to you for Jagannath's mercy. Please send us such a person who could carry and protect Mahaprabhu's teaching." Bhaktivinod Thakur gave us our Guru.

He gave us Gaura. Many say many things about Gauranga Mahaprabhu, but there are many evidential verses in Srimad Bhagavatam,

krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam
sangopangastra-parsadam
yajnaih sankirtana-prayair
yajanti hi su-medhasah

"Those of sharp intellect will worship Krishna who appears with a non-black bodily hue, who is armed and surrounded by His associates and servants, and who always chants the Holy Names."

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 11.5.32)

There are many similar slokas, from which we can understand that the Lord appears in Kali-yuga as Gauranga Mahaprabhu, but as it is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita also, foolish people do not understand it—they think the Lord appears from the womb of some person, so He is an ordinary human like them...

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