(2/9) Rescuing Mahaprabhu's Line

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, evening class
2 January 2021, part 2, translated from Bengali

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur himself appeared here in Bengal: in Birnagar, in a village called Ula. That place was later taken over by a son of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, Lalita Prasad, who had gone to the sahajiya line, so since that time the place has been under sahajiyas. He (Lalita Prasad) also had a place in Vrindavan – I have never been there. Lalita Prasad was always envious of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, although they were brothers. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave all power, all wealth of Srimati Radharani to Bimala Prasad (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur), and because Lalita Prasad could not take a share of it, he felt envious. That is why Srila Saraswati Thakur wrote to him once, ‘Baba badha Radha (বাবা বাধা রাধা).’ I tell you about it from time to time. It means that ‘father’ (baba, বাবা) is one thing, and guru is another thing.

Everybody knows their fathers, and in every birth everyone gets a father. When we were dogs, we had fathers; when we were goats, we had fathers, and so on. We have gone through many births: in this birth, we have Indian fathers, but when we were born in Mexico, Pakistan or China, we had other kinds of fathers. You get a father in every birth, but it is not in every birth that you get a guru. Gurudev is Srimati Radharani Herself or Nityananda Prabhu. You must remember this. Some of my disciples call me ‘baba’ [lit. ‘father’, a very common affectionate or familiar address of any male]. I do not usually say anything, but it is not right. A father is a low conception – gurudev’s position is much higher than that. Gurudev is Radharani or Nityananda. You must remember this. I do not normally say anything to those who call me ‘baba’, but you must understand these things. You must understand what ‘Baba badha Radha’ means.

Lalita Prasad only thought of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur as his father, and he always called him ‘father’ (‘baba’), but Bimala Prasad (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur) never considered Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur from this point of view. Although Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was his father, he always considered him his guru. Even when they lived together in one house, Srila Prabhupad called his father ‘Prabhu’. He called Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj ‘Prabhu’, and he called Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur ‘Prabhu’ – he did not call him ‘father’. That is why Srila Prabhupad said to his brother, ‘Because you see Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur only as your father, you cannot get Radha – you only get a father. You only see the body, and you see that this body is your father, but you cannot recognise that which is there within him. You do not understand the transcendental relationship that is there in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur – in that relationship, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur is Srimati Radharani Herself. Your inability to understand this relationship is your obstacle (badha) to attaining Srimati Radharani.’ Do you understand the meaning of these words?

Anyhow, seeing the deplorable situation in the world, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur started collecting Vaishnav scriptures. Many years before that, when devotees (Srila Narottam Das Thakur, Srila Srinivas Acharya Prabhu and Srila Shyamananda Prabhu) were bringing scriptures from Vrindavan to preach in Bengal, they were robbed by the people of King Birhambir in Vishnupur, Bankura area. In the end, the king admitted his mistake and apologised, but the scriptures ended up getting scattered around. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur rescued and collected those scriptures containing the authentic teachings of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Through those scriptures, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur learnt Mahaprabhu’s true conception. Then he thought, ‘I will retire from the government service, and instead of returning to Odisha, I will come to stay in Godrumdwip.’ He did that – eventually, he came to stay here, in Godrumdwip.

Before that, he served as a magistrate in Odisha and was the head of the government committee in Jagannath Puri. At that time, he was in charge of Lord Jagannath’s temple. He punished some big bogus sadhu and did so many other things during that time. You can read about it in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur’s autobiography. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur lived in Puri with his spouse, Sri Bhagavati Devi. One day, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur went with his spouse to Bimala Devi’s (Laksmi Devi’s) Deity at Sri Jagannath Temple and, offering his obeisance to her, prayed to her, ‘Please give me a son who will be able to preach Mahaprabhu’s line properly.’ Bimala Devi, or you can say Lord Jagannath, heard his prayer, and Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur got his sixth son, Sri Bimala Prasad, who later became renowned as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Srila Saraswati Thakur is gurudev of our Param Gurudev Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

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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