Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj: 'My Close Friend'

When we came to Mayapur Chandrodaya Math after the departure of Swami Maharaj, ** said, 'So long we used to come here with a happy heart, but now we have come with a heavy heart...' He was reminding me of that day. So, now that we have learned that Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj has also left this world, we would like to remember his life and activities as much as possible.

I met him first in 1926 or so. I found him shortly after I joined Gaudiya Math. At that time, he had just returned from a preaching tour with Sripad B.V. Bharati Maharaj. He was young, smart, beautiful, jolly and very firm in his principles, especially towards Nama-bhajan. He was from a high, respectable family from Munshiganj, Dhaka (at present, it is within Bangladesh; at that time it was all Bengal, under British India). Next time I saw him was when he had come back from the western parts of India with a preaching party headed by Sripad B.H. Bon Maharaj. They came from Naimisaranya. Somehow, a natural friendship grew between us. Perhaps, it was because we were of a similar high social rank, had similar education, similar simplicity and similar earnestness for Krishna consciousness. This is what gradually brought us together and made us intimate.

I had a closer connection with him in the later part of 1927, when he was in New Delhi. We were allowed to work there together during a few weeks, and our intimacy grew further. Next, in 1929–1930 or so, he was staying in a village math in Balihati, Bengal, going on with his Nama-bhajan. At that time, I requested Srila Prabhupad regarding him, 'He is an educated young man, and his service may be very useful in present New Delhi preaching. If you allow it, I may ask him to come and join me in my activity.' I was the math-commander of New Delhi (the New Delhi math was founded through me). Prabhupad gladly gave his consent, saying, 'If you can take him and engage him in the preaching service of Mahaprabhu, then you will act as his real great friend.' So, Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj (at that time, his name was Svadhikarananda Brahmachari) came to stay with me in New Delhi. We had a very intimate friendship and a friendly connection for a very long time. We worked together.

He had much appreciation for me, and I also had appreciation for him for his sincere search after Krishna consciousness. But he was more of a scriptural nature – he tried his best to adhere to whatever advice he found in the scriptures, but when it came to the application of scriptural advice in practical life in the way that our Guru Maharaj wanted us to do, he was a little miserly. 'Tara madhye sarva-srestha nama-sankirtana (তার মধ্যে সর্ব্বশ্রেষ্ঠ নাম-সঙ্কীর্ত্তন). Of the practising processes, the best is Nama-sankirtan' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.4.71). This is Mahaprabhu's clear scriptural advice, so he tried his best to stick to that almost until his very last days.

He is of a pure character; from the moral, social and educational sides – from different directions – he is a very good man and very strict and firm in his practice, very sincere and very jolly. And he tried to be satisfied under any circumstances.

When there were some differences amongst the trustees in some way or other and we could not stay in the mission anymore, I left and he also left at the same time. I went to Vrindavan and after staying there for a month came back here to live permanently by the grace of Nityananda Prabhu and Mahaprabhu; and he finally decided to live in Nandagram at that very time. We both retired from the missionary life. I chose this place for the last days of my life, and he chose Nandagram.

There is a place called Nanda Bagicha a little far off from Nandagram, towards Yavat and Kadam Khandi. He wrote me a letter from there, and I found in his language that he was very much satisfied – he had attained full satisfaction in his present life. I felt it was very conspicuous that he was now very happy and fully surrendered – that he had attained what he had been searching for and was now fully satisfied. But this is the impression I got from his letter.

At that time, I was already here [in Nabadwip]. I was staying alone in a rented house, paying two rupees a month for the rent. This is when I got his letter. It was not much, but it was after a very long time. Only a few years passed and suddenly he said, 'In my whole life I had the greatest inner satisfaction when I lived in Nanda Bagicha.' That was 1940 or the beginning of 1941. After so many years of bhajan, he came to appreciate his life and felt that highest satisfaction at Nanda Bagicha. I could detect from here how fully satisfied he was in his life. I could feel it.

This is suddha-sattva: being completely surrendered, detached from everything and living a life wholly dependent on Krishna's will. No worry, no aim, no object in life, fully vacant, only living for Krishna to come and approach him. A life of full preparedness. Without any prejudice, thoughts or suggestions for the design of one's own to acquire Krishna consciousness – not even that. Fully surrendered. 'He may do whatever He likes. I am prepared for whatever comes.' Such an attitude. Generally, we find in scriptures that saranagati (surrender) is the basis, the foundation on which so many other variegated structures may be constructed for the service of Krishna. This is the general conception, but, if you look closely, you can see that there is also one remarkable thing mentioned. Just saranagati (inner surrender) only can give everything without taking any form of devotional tendency.

So, Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj's words in that letter reminded me about that type of saranagati. It is also mentioned, perhaps, in my Sri Prapanna-jivanamrita that just saranagati only can give us the highest desired result. Without sravan, kirtan, smaran, vandan and so many other forms, mere saranagati (surrender) can give us the highest result. There are different types of surrender, and if we examine closely the very quality of surrender, we may find that it can even be of different rasas. The highest type of saranagati is in the highest type of rasa service, which is madhura-rasa. Madhura-rasa is accepted to open up the fullest saranagati when every atom of your spiritual body cries for the corresponding atoms of the Lord's spiritual body. This is not possible in any other rasa. In a Bengali verse of a greatest devotee, it is said, 'Prati anga lagi kande, prati anga mora. Every part of my limbs is crying for the corresponding part of the Lord's limbs.' This is saranagati: being prepared for any sort of autocratic service of the Lord, no rhyme, no reason, no room for any aspiration, whether good or bad – only saranagati. Just such saranagati only proper can satisfy our desire.

So Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj's earlier surrendered life began in Nandagram, in Nanda Bagicha. He expressed in his letter, 'I feel very happy that I have taken the right course, the right position in my life. I feel exclusively surrendered at the sweet will of the Lord.'

Since that time so many years have passed. He spent many ekadasi nights in various places, staying awake and going on with his Nama-bhajan, discussing scriptures, and so on. He deeply engaged himself in all religious forms of bhajan. Yet it was his remark that 'I felt the highest blissfulness in my life when I was in Nanda Bagicha.' It was 1940 or the beginning of 1941 at that time. Such was his saranagati.

He was fond of sakhya-rasa although he used to read all types of scriptures dealing with the rasas of all types and used to listen to even sahajiya kirtans. But even though he attended the sahajiya school, they could not turn him into a sahajiya. So firm was his faith in Krishna consciousness proper. 'Yah kaumara-harah sa eva hi varas ta eva chaitra-ksapas', 'Whenever I see a forest, I see Vrindavan; whenever I see a sandy hill, I am reminded of Govardhan' – Mahaprabhu would say all such high things, and if one's aim is firmly established, if one's earnestness for the realisation of Krishna consciousness is very sincere, then their association even with the things that are objectionable in our consideration cannot attract them in any bad way; rather, it will make some contribution towards their own direction.

Mahaprabhu says about Sriman Nityananda Prabhu:

মদিরা যবনী যাদি নিত্যানন্দ ধরে ।
তথাপি ব্রহ্মার বন্দ্য কহিল তোমারে ॥

madira yavani yadi nityananda dhare
tathapi brahmara vandya kahila tomare

'Even if Nityananda Prabhu comes drunk with a Muslim lady by His side, He is always worshippable for Lord Brahma.'

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 3.6.123)

'If Nityananda Prabhu is seen to enter the house of a wine shopkeeper or seen to enter the house of a prostitute, you must still know for certain that He is worshippable even for Lord Brahma and Lord Siva. If He comes there, He come not to take anything but to give something to those fallen souls, to deliver them from their present position. Wherever He goes, He does not come to take anything.'

So, although Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj apparently mixed with the so-called sahajiya section, he did not deviate from the real conception of Krishna consciousness as given by the acharya of Sri Gaudiya Math. We saw him stick to his firm principles to the end and lastly he took his shelter at Nandagram, Pavan Sarovar, near the place of Srila Sanatan Goswami's bhajan kutir. That was his final selection, and therefrom he left the visible world and entered the invisible world – he surely entered the invisible aspect of Vrindavan. And he told plainly that he had much attraction to sakhya-rasa, considering Subal his leader and next guide. Subal has some connection with madhura-rasa, so, because of his intimate connection with madhura-rasa, he is considered to be the highest amongst all Krishna's friends. Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj saw his guide in form of that Subal.

Once, long ago when I was in Vrindavan, I was sitting in an underground room in the bungalow of Sripad B.H. Bon Maharaj, explaining Radharani's state and Her talk with Uddhav. Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj was only one amongst the audience. After I finished speaking, he told me, 'You are the expert. None in the whole of our Mission can explain these passages so deep as you have done.' He realised it. He appreciated my high hankerings, but now I have lost his company...

He had a very liberal heart: he used to mix with all the contending parties of the Gaduya Math of the time. He would go almost everywhere and mix and associate with everybody with a smiling face. Despite that, he still had some special attraction to one special quarter... He was an intimate friend of mine, as I have already told, and he had much appreciation especially for my Sanskrit poems. I asked him once, 'Why have you got such special affection for me?' He said, 'Your poems are the cause. I am captured by the ideal, by the language, and by the style of your poems.' He was very strict, not a man who would submit to anyone and everyone under the pressure of circumstances. He was not of that type. That was one of the characteristic features of his nature. He used to sing the poems of the goswamis about Krishna-lila (selected, not ordinary ones), but he had so much affection towards me that when he chanted the whole day and night on ekadasi, when he went here, there or anywhere, he would prefer chanting the more modern slokas of mine. So, there was a heart to heart relation. He was very intimate to me.

Anyhow, today's function also shows this. It was not predesigned, but anyhow, by the divine arrangement, I have got entangled in this function held in his connection. So, our connection was something above the conscious area of our experience, it was a causeless connection, and we had much in common in many ways. Sometimes I might have dealt with him in a rough way, but he did not mind it: his friendship with me was so deep that he did not care. Such happenings also took place... So, today I pray to him that whatever wrong I might have done to him, may he forgive it all and accept me as his sincere friend, with the help of you all. Gaura Hari bol.

'Vaisnavera guna-gana karile jivera trana suniyachhi sadhu-guru-mukhe (বৈষ্ণবের গুণ-গান করিলে জীবের ত্রাণ শুনিয়াছি সাধুগুরুমুখে). Singing Vaishnavs’ glories rescues and protects the jiva soul – I have heard this from the holy mouths of sadhus and gurus' ('Acharya Vandana'). It is broadly advertised that if we can sing in praise of the Vaishnav, then we can be promoted higher in the line of devotion.

It is easy to praise the songs or poems written about the Supreme Lord, but it is difficult to be able to really praise the servitors of the Absolute because a possibility of jealousy (matsaryata) comes to interfere there: 'He is a man, and I am of a similar or the same status, so why should I submit to him?' This sort of pratistha, egoism, hinders us and prevents us from call a spade a spade. So, nirmatsaranam satam (there must be no jealousy). The Lord also says, 'If you are My devotee, then you are not a real devotee of Mine, but if you are a devotee of My devotee, then you are My real devotee.' This is a test of jealousy (nirmatsaranam satam).

By nature we may not have any competitive position in relation to the Supreme lord, but there is a possibility for a competitive superiority complex to come in the face of a Vaishnav, as the result of which we cannot submit ourselves to them. It is difficult, but when we are really captured and conquered by the svarup-sakti (Yogamaya) of Krishna, then a realistic view will come within us and improve our own purification, our own progress. We will feel, 'I am nothing,' and this feeling will grow infinitely. 'I am nothing, but he is everything. He is a Vaishnav, a guru. The guru and Vaishnav are the ones who really hold Krishna-bhakti, they are the stockists, but I am empty-handed. I have nothing.' This is the nature of the finite's association with the infinite. The more real our approach towards the infinite is, the more we cannot but consider ourselves to be the meanest of the mean. This is the standard of measurement of vaishnavata (quality of a Vaishnav), and it is not lip-deep, but a sincere feeling of the innermost heart. When Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami says, 'Purisera kita haite muni se laghistha (পুরীশের কীট হৈতে মুঞি সে লঘিষ্ঠ). I am lower than the worms in the stool' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.5.205), this is not mere imitation. It is his heartfelt truth.

At the same time, when there is some difference in acharya-abhiman, that is a different matter. Such assertion is only for the service to the Vaishnav, and all sincerity is maintained there. It is one's assertion not out of selfishness but with the only view to save the public and to upkeep the prestige of the Vaishnav in reality. So, there is this proper adjustment with reality in a twofold sense: to establish the real position of a Vaishnav, and at the same time to save people from the danger of false thoughts and subsequent reaction. That sort of assertion is not egoistic; rather, it is sacrifice in the dynamic sense. It must be considered as well.

Our Guru Maharaj managed it tactfully. At Vishva Vaishnava Raja Sabha, he would ask one of his disciples to say something in praise of another disciple or to express their appreciation for the other disciple, and he requested to do this especially those disciples who were a little antagonistic towards each other. He asked them, 'Say something in praise of your friend.' They were unhappy, 'What for?' But he would say, 'Try to mark the bright side, the svarup, and ignore the other, apparent, side. Try to say something in praise of your friend whom you consider your apparent opponent.' It was his order, and necessity is the mother of invention: they had to say something in praise, so they had to dive deep into the bright side of the other person and thereby bring out their Vaishnav layer. Such giving and taking was being aroused, and the apparent, the mayik side was being ignored, diminishing.

Why is kirtan powerful? When I am requested to say something, I have to speak, so I cannot but utilise my highest attention, gather my best ability to attempt to say something. Glorification of a Vaishnav is similar to glorification of the Lord. You reveal the svarup (the inner aspect, the bright side) and ignore the apparent side, and you will thrive thereby because a real relationship with them will be roused and awakened. This is what was instructed by our Guru Maharaj, especially at the Vishva Vaishnava Raja Sabha in Mahaprabhu's Dham. Once a year he took his seat at that meeting, and his method was such: to try to praise the Vaishnav.

So, it is difficult to appreciate the nobility of a Vaishnav. If we can do it, then we can reach the standard of devotion and dedication to a certain extent. The Supreme Lord says, 'Those who love Me do not really love Me, but if one loves My devotees, My servitors, their love for Me is more real, it is of a true, absolute character.' Therefore, we shall try to appreciate Vaishnavs, their character and conduct. Thereby we can raise the standard of our own life of dedication.

Gaura Hari bol.
Jay Om Vishnupad Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupad ki jay.
Jay Sripad Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj ki jay.
Tadiya mahotsav ki jay.
Viraha-mahotsav ki jay.
Jay bhakta-vrinda ki jay.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupad ki jay.
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj ki jay.
Bhakta-vrinda ki jay.
Sri Rupanuga Vaishnav-vrinda ki jay.
Nanda-gram ki jay.
Vraja Dham ki jay.
Gaura Hari bol.

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