(1) Guru: Repository of Divine Love

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Siliguri, evening, 6 September 2019, part 1
Translated from Bengali

মূকং করোতি বাচালং পঙ্গুং লঙ্ঘয়তে গিরিম্ ।
যৎকৃপা তমহং বন্দে শ্রীগুরুং দীনতারণম্ ॥

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

'The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill – all it takes is mercy from Gurudev.'

(Bhavartha Dipika)

First, I am offering my full obeisance at the reddish soles of my Divine Master Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj’s holy feet, begging him for his causeless mercy and aspiring to serve him; after that, I am offering my full obeisance to all guru-varga, all my godbrothers, all the listeners, all the motherly lady devotees and all the devotees. I am offering my obeisance at your holy feet and praying for your mercy to this lowly soul.

The holy appearance day of Srimati Radharani was observed in a very nice way yesterday. It is the first time that I have been able to be present here in Siliguru on Radhastami. Every year we observe this day in Hapaniya, but I promised the devotees that I would come here on Radhastami. Despite many obstacles and dangers, I have kept my word. It became possible by the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma.

We spoke much about the glories and mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma yesterday. Nothing happens without great mercy. What to speak of any great attainment such as pure loving devotion to the Lord, it is not even possible to come out of this illusory material world of births and deaths. We cannot escape the bondage of this material world until and unless we get the mercy of a great soul. This great personality is gurudev. He is a very dear associate of the Lord.

সাক্ষাদ্ধরিত্বেন সমস্ত-শাস্ত্রৈ-
রুক্তস্তথা ভাব্যত এব সদ্ভিঃ ।
কিন্তু প্রভোর্যঃ প্রিয় এব তস্য
বন্দে গুরোঃ শ্রীচরণারবিন্দম্ ॥

saksadd-haritvena samasta-sastrair
uktas tatha bhavyata eva sadbhih
kintu prabhor yah priya eva tasya
vande guroh sri-charanaravindam

'I offer my obeisance unto the lotus feet of Sri Guru, who is said by all scriptures to be no doubt the Supreme Lord Himself and considered to be so by pious souls but who is also no doubt the Lord's dear associate.'

(Sri Sri Gurvastakam, Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur)

The dearest person to the Lord is Srimati Radhika. She is called Radhika because Her worship (aradhana) of the Lord is the greatest. We spoke about Her divine glory yesterday. You can understand yourselves very well that gurudev is actually Srimati Radharani. He is asraya-vigraha (embodiment of shelter), and sometimes he also manifests himself as visaya-vigraha (embodiment of the object of worship).

We are very fortunate to have been able to hear this Hari-katha for these past few days. Gurudev is an embodiment of the mercy of the Lord, or the divine love for the Lord. Srimati Radharani is the judge in the matters of divine love, She is the teacher (guru) of divine love (prema). I told you about it yesterday. Just like Lord Balaram, gurudev utilises all his senses to bring happiness to Lord Krishna. Sriman Nityananda Prabhu always wanted to serve Sriman Mahaprabhu and always distributed Sriman Mahaprabhu's mercy to all and every jiva soul, and we, too, must follow in His footsteps: having taken shelter in our gurudev and heard what our gurudev says, we must preach about the glory of our gurudev's mercy, love and affection in this world. This is the duty of every one of us. We must tell others about our gurudev. When you go to preach, you must preach about your guru – you must engage yourself in gurudev's mahima-kirtan (chant his glories).

As I have just mentioned, gurudev also manifests himself as visaya-vigraha (worshippable embodiment of the object of worship), which means that he is non-different from Srimati Radharani. We sing in one of the kirtans:

যদি গৌর না হ'ত তবে কি হইত
কেমনে ধরিতাম দে ।
রাধার মহিমা প্রেমরস-সীমা
জগতে জানাত কে ? ॥

yadi gaura na ha'ta tabe ki ha-ita
kemane dharitam de
radhara mahima, prema-rasa-sima
jagate janata ke?

'If Gaura had not come, what would have happened? How would we have lived? Who would have revealed to the world Radha’s glory and the extremes of Her ecstatic divine love?'

(Srila Vasudev Ghosh Thakur)

Sri Vasu Ghosh says, 'Who in this world would have known about Srimati Radhrani's glory if Gaura had not come?' When Mahaprabhu came, He showed in this world how much attraction to Krishna Srimati Radharani has and how intense Her pain of separation from Krishna is. This His highest pastimes that He performed in the company of Ray Ramananda and Svarup Damodar. It is called vipralamba-lila. When we chant Param Guru Maharaj's 'Sri Prema-Dhama Deva Stotram' every day, we sing:

শ্রীস্বরূপ-রায়-সঙ্গ-গাম্ভিরান্ত্য-লীলনং
দ্বাদশাব্দ-বহ্নিগর্ভ-বিপ্রলম্ভ-শীলনম্ ।
রাধিকাধিরূঢ়-ভাব-কান্তি-কৃষ্ণ-কুঞ্জরং
প্রম-ধাম-দেবমেব নৌমি গৌর-সুন্দরম্ ॥

sri-svarupa-raya-sanga-gambhirantya-lilanam
dvadasabda-vahni-garbha-vipralambha-silanam
radhikadhirudha-bhava-kanti-krsna-kunjaram
prema-dhama-devam eva naumi gaura-sundaram

'In the company of His two intimate associates, Sri Svarup Damodar and Sri Ray Ramananda, He manifests the acme of His deepest, heart-rending pastimes; during those very long twelve years, He speaks in divine madness, vomiting the fire of unbearable separation from Lord Sri Krishna (externally, it produces an agony of swallowed poison; but, internally, it brings much joy); He is none other than Govinda, who, coming under complete influence of Sri Radha’s deep devotional mood and adorned with Sri Radhika’s beautiful holy complexion, resembles a magnificent intoxicated elephant – I am singing in praise of this beautiful Lord Sri Gauranga-sundar, a worshippable Deity of divine love.'

(Sri Sri Prema-Dhama Deva Stotram, 54)

He spent twelve years suffering the maddening blazing agony of divine separation within His heart. Lord Sri Krishna embodies the object of this divine love, and Srimati Radharani and gurudev embody the shelter, or repository, of this divine love (prema's asraya-vigraha). All our guru-varga are close associate of Srimati Radharani, or we can also say that they are Srimati Radharani Herself.

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