(1/13) Without Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur Our Line Is Nothing

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata-Worldwide, 21 June 2020, part 1

Hari bol. Hare Krishna!

Dandavat.

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay
Om Vishnupad Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj ki jay
Sachchidananda Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur ki jay
Sarvabhauma Sri Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj ki jay
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay
Vrinda Devi, Tulasi Devi, Sri Bhakti Devi ki jay
Sri Shyama Kunda, Radha Kunda, Sri Giri Govardhan ki jay
Sri Vrindavan Dham, Sri Mathura Dham ki jay
Sri Purusottam Ksetra ki jay
Baladev, Subhadra, Jagannathjiu ki jay
Akar Math-raj Chaitanya Math ki jay
Mayapur Yogapith ki jay
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay
Tadiya sakha Math samuha ki jay
Sri Mather sevak vrinda, bhakta-vrinda ki jay
Ananta-koti Vaishnav vrinda ki jay
Sri Gaudiya Acharya vrinda ki jay
Tridandi-pad-gan ki jay
Saparsada Sriman Nityananda Prabhu ki jay
Saparsada Sriman Mahaprabhu ki jay
Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay
Suddha-bhaktir-vighnar vinasankari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay
Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar, Giriraj Govardhan ki jay
Jay Sachchidananda Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur ki jay
Tadiya tirobhav tithi (his disappearance festival) ki jay
Harinam sankirtan ki jay
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda ki jay
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol

By the mercy of Gurudev, we are again here in front of you today, I can see that everybody is here. Usually, every year at this time, I stay with the devotees (some Indian devotees and also some foreign devotees) in Sri Puri Dham when we go for Sri Purushottam Ksetra parikrama, Sri Puri Dham parikrama. It is Ratha-yatra festival in two days, we are waiting for this day, and tomorrow is Gundicha-marjan, the temple cleaning day.

Gundicha-marjan means the pastime when Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu cleaned the temple of Gundicha Devi with all the devotees—it means He was cleaning all the devotees' hearts. We have so must dust, so many bad elements in our heart, and it is the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that we must clean all this dust and bad elements, that is why He Himself showed it to us in His pastime of cleaning the temple of Gundicha Devi. When Ratha-yatra (the journey of Jagannath, Baladev, and Subhadra in the chariots) finishes, the chariots will stay at Gundicha Bari, which is Vrindavan Dham or Sundarachal. So, during the Ratha-yatra, Jagannath, Baladev, and Subhadra go to Sundarachal, Vrindavan.

Today is also a very auspicious day for our Guru-parampara, Guru-varga, and our line of Bhaktivinod-dhara. Today is the disappearance day of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur—he left us and entered his nitya-lila on this tithi, lunar day. He is doing service in his abode now, but he is still bestowing his mercy on all devotees and on us. Without Sri Bhaktivinod Thakur our line is nothing. We cannot even think of our line without Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. He is the main personality in our line.

Sach-chid-ananda Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur showed everything to us. Who was he? In this mundane world, he showed grihastha-lila, householder life, but you can see in his lifestyle and biography how much capacity and how much power he has to preach Krishna consciousness. We have heard something from our Guru-varga, our Gurudev also gave many lectures about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, and our Param Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, also wrote many slokas in glorification of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, he composed his pranam-mantra and Sri Bhaktivinod-viraha Dasakam (you can find it in our Kirtan Guide, Gaudiya Gitanjali). Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj many times spoke about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and his gift to us—Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave us Saranagati, Jaiva-dharma and so many other books. If you read his Saranagati, you can understand how much he has given and what sort of gift he has given to this world. You can understand something from his pranam-mantra,

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

"He is the giver of Sri Guru; he is the giver of scriptures; he is giver of the holy dham of Gaura; he is the giver of the Name; he is the giver of pure devotion; he is the greatest donor. I always offer my obeisance to this Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur."

(Sri Laghu-chandrika-bhasya, 1.8)

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave us our Guru (Guru-dam) because Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur—if he had not given us Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, whom would we have surrendered to? Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur brought our all Guru-varga (Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad, and many other digpal guru-varga came at this time).

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur has given us grantha, scriptures (grantha-dam). He gave us Gaura Dham, Sri Dham Mayapur (Gaura-dhama-dam). Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur showed all the places within it. When he actually discovered Mahaprabhu's appearance place, there was much confusion going on in the society, and Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur fought against it (he even went to High Court to prove where the exact place of Sriman Mahaprabhu's birthplace was). Everybody said that Mahaprabhu's birthplace is in Nabadwip Town (western bank of the Ganges), but Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur established that Mahaprabhu's birthplace is in Mayapur, Antardwip. That is why, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave us Sri Gaura Dham.

Nama-dam. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave us the real conception of the Holy Name. Before Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur there were so many misconceptions in Vaishnav sampradaya—aul, baul, kartabhaja, nera, darvesh, sani, sahajiya, sakhibekhi, smarta, jata gosai, atibari, churadhari, gauranga-nagari. There were these thirteen apa-sampradayas, and now there are thirteen thousand misconceptions, these people are all over the world now. The scriptures say that we must not associate with such people. So, amidst all these misconceptions, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur brought the pure conception of the Holy Name, and he taught everything to his son and disciple, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. People are chanting so many Names, especially here in Bengal, they do not follow what Mahaprabhu told,

হরের্নাম হরের্নাম হরের্নামৈব কেবলম্ ।
কলৌ নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব গতিরন্যথা ॥

harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva nasty eva gatir anyatha

"Only chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name, chanting the Holy Name—there is no other way, no other way, no other way."

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila, 7.76)

হরে কৃষ্ণ হরে কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ কৃষ্ণ হরে হরে ।
হরে রাম হরে রাম রাম রাম হরে হরে ॥

hare krishna hare krishna krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

So, at the time when there were so many misconceptions going on in this world, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur established himself as a sweeper at the market of the Holy Name (Nama-hatta). He cleaned all misconceptions with his broom!

— : • : —

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Without Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur Our Line Is Nothing
2) Mandakini Dhara
3) Spiritual Safety
4) Ignore and Avoid Misconception
5) Practise and Keep Faith
6) Family Consciousness
7) Uncover Yourself
8) Opportunity to Serve
9) Live in Seva-Kunja
10) On Astrology
11) Be Sharp
12) Sincere, Keen and Humble
13) Observing Gundicha Marjan