EXCLUSIVE GUARDIANSHIP

Editorial

I pay my full dandavat pranams to my Divine Masters and all the Vaishnavas. Their grace is glorified throughout the scriptures and by the Lord Himself. They are my only hope in any world.

As I put pen to paper this is a historic period of time when countless fortunate souls here in the Western world have the chance to bask in the cooling shade of the lotus feet of Om Vishnupad Sri Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. He is the Sri Acharyadev of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math and the fully appointed maintainer of the sampradaya of our illustrious Divine Master, Om Vishnupad Sri Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

I myself am also currently away from the Math for service to our Srila Guru Maharajs, but by my great misfortune I must be one of the few who have no opportunity to meet and render service to Srila Govinda Maharaj on any part of this, his first preaching tour to the West. This is especially a time for us all to cast our thoughts to wherever he is and try as best we can to share in the relish of his current pastimes.

In order to attempt to serve, however indirectly, the tour, this booklet has been compiled to glorify the goal of the devotional school and to glorify the exclusive guardians whose grace is so necessary for us on our own individual journeys home. It has been compiled from taped recordings of the contemporary exclusive guardians of the Rupanuga sampradaya, our Srila Guru Maharajs—Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. I pray that this attempt at service may be accepted by them.

At first is a transcription of a conversation with Srila Guru Maharaj of 29th April 1987 further clarifying the most exalted position of Srila Govinda Maharaj. It is but one of numerous occasions when Srila Guru Maharaj strongly expressed his appointment of Srila Govinda Maharaj as his full successor. Indeed, after handing over all charge, Srila Guru Maharaj focussed his preaching so much on this theme to the devotees visiting the Math that I for one, in my arrogance thought, “Srila Guru Maharaj, it is not necessary to keep stressing your full transfer to Srila Govinda Maharaj and that we are to honour him and follow him as we do you. You have declared it so many times, publicly and individually, to so many already. We all know and understand.” But he knew the necessity of such repetition—for our benefit.

Srila Govinda Maharaj is now fulfilling another repeatedly expressed wish of Srila Guru Maharaj: to travel the world to preach Krishna consciousness.

In earlier days Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupada repeatedly invited Srila Govinda Maharaj to accompany him to the West and offered him free airline tickets, etc. And Srila Guru Maharaj wanted Srila Govinda Maharaj to go, so much so that he asked him to sell some of the Math property in order to have sufficient spending money while abroad. However, due to Srila Guru Maharaj consistently showing poor health, Srila Govinda Maharaj could not even consider leaving his close association.

With the passage of time the unthinkable eventually happened in that Srila Guru Maharaj disappeared from this world. The date was the 12th August 1988. A few days before, and again a few days after his departure, earthquakes shook Gauda-desha. The shock of his disappearance was felt by devotees the world over. The Math itself became a disaster area of broken hearts.

Amidst the pain of finding ourselves separated from our loving guide, we had but one fortune: the clear guidance given by Srila Guru Maharaj that his Mission will go on with Srila Govinda Maharaj at the head. A new chapter in the exalted history of the Rupanuga sampradaya begun with the handing over of all the Math’s affairs to Srila Govinda Maharaj on 26th March 1986 was now well under way. All the faithful devotees of Srila Guru Maharaj took it joyfully as service to adjust their devotional lives under the shade of Srila Govinda Maharaj’s lotus feet.

There had already been a constant stream of invitations from all over the globe for Srila Govinda Maharaj to travel abroad to preach widely. But his first priority was to construct the samadhi mandir to properly honour Srila Guru Maharaj at the place of burial of his divine form. Without architects’ plans, but through the meditation and virtually daily supervision of Srila Govinda Maharaj, this Temple of Union in Separation was completed aided by the spontaneous support of devotees worldwide. It stands as grand glorification of Srila Guru Maharaj by all his devotees headed by Srila Govinda Maharaj.

Not only in Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, but at each of the centres in India the programmes progressed steadily. In Sri Dham Jagannath Puri the temple for Sri Sri Nitai-Chaitanyadev was beautifully constructed; the two-storey guest-house completed (reputed to be the finest in Puri), as well as a new kitchen, pujari quarters and a small prasadam distribution room. The brahmachari and sannyasi quarters are presently being renovated.

In addition to the numerous developments at the existing centres, a piece of land was purchased in Vrindavan, and another by Govardhan Hill. It is Srila Govinda Maharaj’s plan that devotional facilities be constructed on each site in the near future.

Despite all the progress throughout the centres of India since Srila Guru Maharaj’s disappearance, Srila Govinda Maharaj still did not feel free to travel: he wanted to properly honour an important year of our Math. The Jagannath Ratha-yatra Festival in June 1991 saw the beginning of the Golden Jubilee Year of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Receiving inspiration from Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Govinda Maharaj arranged a year of extra programmes of glorification of Srila Guru Maharaj and his holy Mission. This Golden Jubilee Year was inaugurated in Jagannath Puri by the King of Puri, the respected Vaishnava, Gajapati Maharaj Sri Divyasinghadev Bahadur. The various additional programmes throughout the year included a pilgrimage to Vrindavan and Govardhan and later culminated in the main festival at the Math coinciding with an extended celebration at the time of Sri Gaura Purnima 1992.

In the meantime many more invitations continued to pour in for Srila Govinda Maharaj to travel to the West, therefore, in order to fulfil his wish that, for the pleasure of Srila Guru Maharaj, a tour may begin within the Golden Jubilee Year, preparations by the devotees for “The Divine Servitor’s World Tour” were already well under way. Sripad Bhakti Ananda Sagar Maharaj and Sripad Mohanananda Prabhu deserve special mention for their untiring efforts to make it all possible.

So it was that with a large and emotional sankirtan party at Calcutta Airport to wish him well, Srila Govinda Maharaj, with a small entourage, started on 2nd June 1992 for his first destination, Australia.

Since that time I have received glimpses of the overwhelming response of the early days of the Tour. Now, feeling greatly his separation, this short publication has come about in order to try to have even some smallest participation in this grand spiritual event of which many of the readers will have had the fortune to participate directly.

Praying for the causeless mercy of Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj and all their venerable devotees and associates,

Humbly,
Mahananda Das Bhakti Ranjan

June 1992

CONTENTS

• Editorial
• Preface: Wholesale Transfer
• By Way of Introduction
(1) The Willing and the Able
(2) A Wonderful Touch
(3) Faith and Harmony
(4) Focussed to Guru
• Epilogue: Last Will and Testament

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