(2) Preceptor Born of Prabhupad's Feet

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's appearance day, Hooghly district
24 February 2019, morning, part 2
Translated from Bengali

You have all heard kirtans in glorification of Srila Prabhupad. Our Param Gurudev, the founder of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj composed this famous song:

সুজনার্ব্বুদরাধিতপাদযুগং
যুগধর্ম্মধুরন্ধর-পাত্রবরম্ ।
বরদাভয়দায়ক-পূজ্যপদং
প্রণমামি সদা প্রভুপাদপদম্ ॥

sujanarvuda-radhita-pada-yugam
yuga-dharma-dhurandhara-patra-varam
varadabhaya-dayaka-pujya-padam
pranamami sada prabhupada-padam

‘I am offering obeisance to Prabhupad (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur), whose holy lotus feet are worshipped by millions of pious souls, who is the establisher of the religion of the age (Krishna-sankirtan), who is the presiding divine successor (at the Visva-Vaishnava-Raja Sabha, the Universal Assembly of Vaishnavs), and who fulfils the desires of the dispellers of all fears – I offer obeisance at his holy lotus feet. I eternally offer obeisance to the radiance emanating from the toenails of my master.’

(‘Sri Sri Prabhupadapadma Stavakah’, Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)

He also composed an arati song glorifying Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, a song that we chant every evening, at each of our 130–140 temples:

জয়রে জয়রে জয় গৌর-সরস্বতী ।
ভকতিবিনোদান্বয় করুণা মুরতি ॥

jayare jayare jaya gaura-sarasvati
bhakativinodanvaya karuna murati

‘Glory, glory to Sri Gaura–Saraswati, the holy embodiment of mercy in the line of Sri Bhaktivinod Thakur.’

(Sri Saraswat Arati, Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur bestowed great mercy upon us – he brought for us his greatest son so that he could tell us about the Lord. He blessed this entire world with this great soul whom he brought here to preach about the Lord and about Mahaprabhu. He worshipped Bimala Devi to get a son, and having got Bimala Prasad by her mercy, he gave him to us all. It is owing to him that we have got our Gurudev and other great gurus and scholars. If Srila Prabhupad had not come, where would we have found Gaudiya Maths? Where would we have been? We would not have known anything.

As you all know, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj came to Srila Prabhupad's holy feet in 1924, when Srila Prabhupad was staying at Ultadanga in Kolkata. After that, he came to Mayapur and took shelter at his holy feet. Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj was born from his lotus feet. A few years later, crossing many other scholarly devotees, Srila Prabhupad gave him sannyas.

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj also composed 'Sri Bhaktivinod Viraha Dasakam', and when he presented it to Srila Prabhupad, Srila Prabhupad read it and said, 'Happy style. I think that it was not written by you – I think that Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur himself wrote it.' Everybody was astonished to hear this remark.

Srila Prabhupad sent Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to South India to discover the place where Mahaprabhu met Ramananda Ray on the bank of the Godavari and where Mahaprabhu showed him His 'Rasa-raj Maha-bhava' form. When Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj described the conversation that took place between them, Srila Prabhupad changed his name from Ramendra-sundar Brahmachari to Ramananda Das. All the other sannyasis who were present at that time (Srila Bon Maharaj and a few others) realised, 'He must not be obstructed, he must take sannyas!' It was 1930. When Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj returned to Mayapur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave him sannyas.

Lastly, when Srila Prabhupad was showing his pastime of leaving this world at Bagh Bazar Gaudia Math, he wanted to hear a kirtan. Another person had begun to sing it, but Srila Prabhupad was very unhappy. He said, 'I said that I wanted to hear this kirtan from Srila Sridhar Maharaj's mouth. I do not want to hear a tune. A mere tune brings me no joy. Where is Sridhar Maharaj? Call him and tell him to sing it.' Then Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj came and chanted that kirtan 'Sri Rupa Manjari pada'. Hearing it, Srila Prabhupad felt, 'There is only this one preacher in this world who will be able to preach about Rupa-Raghunath after me...'

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