(1/9) Advent of Srila Prabhupad

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, Adhivas of
Srila Saraswati Thakur's disappearance
2 January 2021, evening, part 1
Translated from Bengali

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 Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay.
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay.
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay.
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay.
Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay.
Suddha-bhaktir-vighna vinasa-kari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay.
Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar, Giriraj Govardhan ki jay.
All the assembled devotees ki jay.
All the worldwide devotees ki jay.
Harinam sankirtan ki jay.
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol.

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)

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

‘I offer my obeisance to Sri Guru, who has opened my eyes, rescuing me from the illusory darkness of ignorance, by applying the salve of knowledge upon my eyes.’

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam
chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam
govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram
vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

‘I offer my obeisance to him who perfectly fulfils his gurudev’s most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all conceivable and inconceivable aspects of Vedic knowledge; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu’s line; who is known as “Govinda” (Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj); whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.’

devam divya-tanum suchhanda-vadanam balarka-chelanchitam
sandrananda-puram sad-eka-varanam vairagya-vidyambudhim
sri-siddhanta-nidhim subhakti-lasitam sarasvatanam varam
vande tam subhadam mad-eka-saranam nyasisvaram sridharam

‘I worship Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, the bestower of all auspiciousness, my only shelter and the master of all renunciates. He is my Lord, who possesses a transcendental form, whose face expression is very grave, who is clad in the holy clothes the colour of the newly risen sun. He is an abode of intense joy, the only genuine master whom one can accept and surrender to, and an ocean of divine knowledge of renunciation. A repository of holy scriptural teachings and pastimes of the highest devotion, he is a great follower of Srila Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad.’

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha krpa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

‘Again and again I offer my obeisance to the Supreme Lord’s devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy and wish-fulfilling trees.’

vrndayai tulasi-devyai priyayai kesavasya cha
krsna-bhakti-prade devi satyavatyai namo namah

‘Again and again I offer obeisances to Vrinda Devi (Tulasi Devi), who is very dear to Lord Kesava, who bestows devotion to Krishna and is known as Satyavati.’

atha natva mantra-gurun gurun bhagavatarthadan
vyasan jagad-gurun natva tato jayam udirayet

‘Before reciting scriptures that can conquer material world, let us offer obeisances to our initiating guru, to the guru who teaches us the meaning of Srimad Bhagavatam, to Sri Vyasadev and all gurus in the universe.’

jayah sa-parikara sri-sri-guru-gauranga-gandharva-
govindasundar-padapadmanam jayastu

‘All glory to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva-Govindasundar and all Their associates.’

vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

‘I worship Sri Rupa Goswami, Sri Sanatan Goswami, Sri Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Sri Raghunath Das Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami and Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami.’

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

The festival of the holy appearance day of our Gurupadpadma, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, was completed yesterday. When we stayed in Kolerganj, Nabadwip, we would every year go to Bamunpara on this day today. Now, there is a big problem at the place. Santosh Prabhu used to stay in Bamunpara, and he would arrange the festival, but now there is nobody to do it there, and we do not know who can arrange anything or who is doing what there. That is why, to avoid giving you austerity and pain, we do not go there. Tomorrow we are observing one more festival – the festival of Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad’s disappearance. Many of you are leaving early tomorrow, so I will speak about Srila Prabhupad today. He is a grand pillar in the sky of Sri Gaudiya line.

I had some time earlier today, and I studied a scripture describing Srila Prabhupad’s pastimes (Gaudiya Acharya Bhaskar Srila Prabhupad, in Bengali). I had this book before also, in Kolkata. Tomorrow is Srila Prabhupad’s disappearance, and I wanted to read this book. I brought some books here, but I saw that this book was not in my room, so I got another copy. Tomorrow, there will be a programme organised by the Gaudiya Vaishnav Sangha (held online this year due to the pandemic). I have been invited to speak through ‘zoom’. The programme is from 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., and after that, at 7 p.m., we will have our own regular ‘zoom’ programme. I can speak in English or Bengali, it is not a problem. Last time, when it was Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s appearance day, there was also an online programme with Gaudiya Vaishnavs.

So, tomorrow is Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur’s disappearance festival. He is gurudev of our Param Gurudev Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. You can see Srila Prabhupad’s Deity in various temples. In Gaudiya Math, everyone calls Srila Saraswati Thakur ‘Prabhupad’, but later ISKCON devotees also wanted to call Srila Swami Maharaj ‘Prabhupad’, and there is no fault in that (anyone can call their guru ‘Prabhupad’). However, if somebody downplays the position of Srila Prabhupad, then they are making an offence. I myself never create any contradiction, and I also sometimes call Srila Swami Maharaj ‘Prabhupad’ – Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Srila Prabhupad. I know the relationship between our mission and Srila Prabhupad, so I give honour to everyone. I know very well that you can never get any respect if you do not treat others with respect. If you do not want good for others, if you do not have faith in others, the Lord will not want good for you. If you want everyone to face an ill fate, the Lord will make you face an ill fate, too; but if you want good for everyone, then the Lord will also want good for you. You must always remember this. It is not necessary to humiliate anyone or make anyone small.

You all know that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur appeared in this world in Sri Jagannath Puri, at a place called Narayan Chata.

Srila Sachchidananda Bhaktivinod Thakur was nine years old when he got married, and his wife was five years old (in old days, marriages took place at a very young age). When Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s first wife died, he got married again, and he had all his children from his second wife. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was his sixth son. At first, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was a school teacher in Midnapore, then he took the ICS (Imperial Civil Service, under the British government) exam and, having passed it, became Deputy Magistrate. He served as Deputy Magistrate in Dinajpur (present-day Bangladesh), and it was there that he became drawn to Mahaprabhu. He wanted to understand what Mahaprabhu’s real religion was. After Mahaprabhu left, there was Srila Narottam Das Thakur, Sri Acharya Srinivas, Srila Shyamananda Prabhu, they continued Mahaprabhu’s conception and teachings, but after them, much time had passed and people started criticising Vaishnavs: the society of Vaishnavs had become full of imitation and wrong behaviour (sahajiya). Muslims would not call temples a ‘math’ – they would use the word ‘akhra’ (আখড়া), which means a club or a place for musical or sport exercises (in other words, a dirty place).

In this way, in the name of pure religion, many dirty, polluted things were taking place, and people abused those who wore tilaks. The Vaishnav religion was dragged into a dirty place. Seeing what was happening, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur felt disgusted…

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CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 27 Mb
Length: 55 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Advent of Srila Prabhupad
2) Rescuing Mahaprabhu's Line
3) Acharyas' Arrival in Nabadwip
4) Srila Prabhupad's Initiation
5) Illustrious and Loving Service
6) Srila Sridhar Maharaj's Kirtan
7) Advent of Gaura-Saraswati
8) Step Towards Lord, Not Maya
9) Be Kind to Yourself and Others