
[Dear Readers,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga.
February 5, 2007 (in India) is the divine appearance day of Srila Bhakti
Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja. Srila Narayana Maharaja gave this lecture on
his disappearance day, the first day of Kartika, in 2006. It is now being sent
out to you for the first time:]

Offering flowers
Today is the disappearance day (tirobhava-tithi) of our Gurudeva, nitya-lila
pravista Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja.
Where was I? I was born in the place of the demon Jarasandha [*See Endnote 1].
By the infinite mercy of my Guru-maharaja, he attracted this unqualified person
and gave me a place at his lotus feet. By his mercy he made me qualified to
understand the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and to preach it all around
the world.
I had the good fortune to be able to perform his service without any duplicity.
Once, the personal servant of my Gurudeva named Ananga-mohana prabhu was
afflicted with tuberculosis. At that time I approached my Gurudeva and said,
You go and preach. I will take the responsibility to look after Ananga-mohana
prabhu. Years later, Srila Trivikrama Maharaja told me, The reason you are
preaching so successfully all around the world is because you gave your life for
the service of the servant of your Gurudeva. Therefore our Gurudeva has
completely empowered you in every way.
It is only by my Gurudevas mercy that I was able to translate Jaiva-dharma from
Bengali to Hindi. Now, by his mercy only, Jaiva-dharma and other books of Srila
Bhaktivinoda Thakura, like Sri Bhajana-rahasya, are being translated in so many
languages, like English, French, German, Spanish and Chinese. This is all his
mercy.
By his mercy so many hundreds of Bengalis, Delhi devotees and foreigners have
come here, and by his mercy some of them are even becoming qualified to take
sannyasa.
It is our good fortune that Sri Ananda prabhu, the personal cook of my Gurudeva,
is here today. He was so dear to Gurudeva. He knew when Gurudeva was hungry or
thirsty, and according to Gurudeva's desire he would manifest whatever was
necessary. It is our good fortune that of all my god-brothers, Ananda prabhu
could come here.
How my Gurudeva was prepared to give his life for the service of his Gurudeva,
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada! Once, when Srila Prabhupada
Bhaktisiddhanta was performing Sri Navadvipa-dhama parikrama, the sahajiyas and
the Jata-gosais, those who are against the preaching of Srila Bhaktivinoda
Thakura and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura) assembled at Praudhamaya to
kill him. They gathered in large groups, throwing soda bottles, glass and rocks.
Everybody ran to save their own lives, including even the sannyasis and the main
disciples of Srila Prabhupada. But, our Gurudeva took Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Prabhupada into one room, and begged with great concern, Please, give me your
sannyasa-cloth. I will wear it, and you can wear my white cloth.
Srila Prabhupada gave his sannyasa cloth and danda to my Gurudeva. We think this
was his real sannyasa initiation.
Many years after Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada disappeared from this world,
he appeared to my Gurudeva in a dream and gave him sannyasa. This happened three
times. He would say, Oh Vinoda, you have not taken sannyasa, and therefore my
preaching has completely stopped. He gave Gurudeva sannyasa three times in
dream. Later, that sannyasa was formalized by Sri Srimad Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara
Maharaja in Katva.
What was the speciality of my Gurudeva? He was very philosophical, with complete
knowledge of all the sastra, and at the same time he was also a great rasika (relisher
of ecstatic love of Krsna, and knower of all rasas) Vaisnava. Without these two
qualities he could not have composed astakams (devotional poetry consisting of
eight verses) like this one:
radha-cinta-nivesena yasya kantir vilopita
sri-krsna-caranam vande radhalingita-vigraham
[I worship the lotus feet of that form of Sri Krsna, when, due to being
thoroughly immersed in separation from Srimati Radhika (who is displaying mana,
her mood of jealous anger), His own dark complexion vanishes and He assumes Her
bright, golden luster; or, I worship the lotus feet of Sri Krsna as He is
embraced by Srimati Radhika (after Her mana has broken) (Sri
Radha-Vinoda-Vihari-Tattvastakam, verse 1)]
All his writings were very poetic, and completely in the line of Srila Rupa
Gosvami. He reveals here how after Krsna took Srimati Radhika to Srngara-vata,
He then disappeared due to fear of the other gopis. In separation from Srimati
Radhika, He then came to Imlitala where, being completely absorbed in Her, He
manifested the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Although Sri Krsna's form
remained, His complexion and the moods were completely Radhikas.
How wonderful is my Gurudevas mangala-arati song: mangala sri guru-gaura
mangala murati Glories to the auspicious forms of Sri Guru and Gaura. (Mangala
Arati, verse 1)
This song is the essence of the books Sri Govinda-lilamrta and Sri
Krsna-bhavanamrta. In essence, the mangala-arati pastime is described there.
When my Gurudeva wrote this mangala-arati song, I was very new. I did not know
anything. Therefore, when he showed me that composition and asked, Do you like
it? I said, Oh it seems very long. The poems of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura are
very short. At that time none of the devotees in the Matha knew very much about
the pastimes of Radha and Krsna. Still, my Gurudeva gave Radha-Krsnas
asta-kaliya-lila. At that time, at the end of the night, Lalita, Visakha and the
other gopis are looking to see: Are They awake yet? And Vrnda-devi is making
all arrangements for the pastimes of the Divine Couple.
Despite his being very rasika, if someone would say anything against his Guru
Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, my Gurudeva would become like
a thunderbolt. Once someone (from the group of sahajiya babajis) *[See endnote
2] wrote an article and made some propaganda, saying, Oh, members of the
Gaudiya Matha dont know anything. They only suck on the dry skin of the mango,
while we babajis are drinking the rasa of Krsnas pastimes.
When my Gurudeva became very angry and accused these babajis of disrespecting
his Guru Maharaja, they made a case of five hundred thousand rupees [equivalent
to eleven thousand dollars] court case against him. At that time, Gurudeva sent
me, along with pujyapada Trivikrama Maharaja, pujyapada Vamana Maharaja and
pujyapada Nrsinga Maharaja, to Medinapur. Gurudeva told us, This is a big case.
We should not get any ordinary, ten-rupee (twenty-cent) lawyer. We therefore
got the best lawyer in Calcutta, and with five people we presented our case in
court: Gurudeva, Pujyapada Vamana Maharaja, Pujyapada Trivikrama Maharaja,
Pujyapada Nrsmha Maharaja and myself.
My Gurudeva used very strong language, saying, They are sahajiyas! They have no
siddhanta and no purity! My Gurudeva completely destroyed the arguments of
their case. When the judge was giving his verdict he requested Gurudeva to use
softer, more polite language. My Gurudeva replied, I have not come into this
world to speak polite language. I am a sannyasi. We preachers alone have the
right to speak strongly. It is our responsibility to speak for the purification
of society. No one else can do it.
Another time, when my Gurudeva was visiting us in Mathura, some followers of the
Nimbarka-sampradaya wrote an article in a magazine called Sri Sudarsana [* See
Endnote 2], saying that when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu met with Kesava Kasmiri,
Kesava Kasmiri defeated Him and gave Him the gopala-mantra. Sriman Mahaprabhu
was thus the disciple of Kesava Kasmiri.
This publication came to my attention and I showed it to my Gurudeva. His face
at once became red, he became angry, and he ordered me to get a piece of paper.
He then dictated, and I wrote, that there was no Nimbarka in our history and no
books of Nimbarka. He said that Srila Jiva Gosvami and our other Gosvamis, Sri
Madhavacarya, Sri Ramanuja, Srila Gopal Bhatta Gosvami and all other previous
acaryas never wrote about anyone named Nimbarka acarya. The followers of this
false person used to say that Nimbarka Acarya lived at the time of Krsna. If
that were true, why have none of the acaryas written about him? Sankacarya never
wrote about him and Srila Jiva Gosvami never wrote about him in his Sandarbhas.
Thus there was no person named Nimbarka this false persons followers had
invented a story.
Guru Maharaja explained from the evidence in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta that Kesava
Kasmiri came to Navadvipa and was defeated by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and then
he received some teaching from the Lord. Gurudeva wrote: The mentality I will
conquer the whole world is not the teaching of vidya, knowledge. Our paper was
sent to those persons involved in writing the misinformed article, after which
they became quite furious. Oh, there is no Nimbarka?! They challenged, and
they filed a case in court for defamation. Our Guru Maharaja replied, I will
prove my statements, so you should file a suit for one million rupees for
defamation. You should go to court, and I am also coming. I am ready and will
prove my points. He proved all his points and the opponents apologized. They
promised, In the future we will never write like this.
My Gurudeva once went to the son of Thakura Bhaktivinoda, Lalit Prasada, and
requested from him all the books of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura that were kept in
storage by Lalit Prasada. He then printed all the books and other literature of
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.
Gaura Premanande!
[*Endnote 1 Jarasandha was a very powerful king of Magadha, and the history of
his birth and activities is also very interesting. His father, King Brhadratha,
was also a very prosperous and powerful king of Magadha, but he had no son,
although he married two daughters of the King of Kasi. Being disappointed in not
getting a son from either of the two queens, the King, along with his wives,
left home to live in the forest for austerities, but in the forest he was
blessed by one great rsi to have a son, and the rsi gave him the king one mango
to be eaten by his two queens. The queens did so and very soon became pregnant.
The King was very happy to see the queens bearing children, but when the right
time approached, the queens delivered one child in two parts, one from each of
the queens' wombs. The two parts were thrown in the forest, where a great
she-demon used to live, and she was glad to have some delicate flesh and blood
from the newly born child. Out of curiosity she joined the two parts, and the
child became complete and regained life. The she-demon was known as Jara, and
being compassionate on the childless King, she went to the King and presented
him with the nice child, The King was very pleased with the she-demon and wanted
to reward her according to her desire. The she-demon expressed her desire that
the child be named after her, and thus the child was surnamed Jarasandha, or one
who was joined by Jara, the she-demon. In fact, this Jarasandha was born as one
of the parts and parcels of the demon Vipracitti. The saint by whose
benedictions the queens bore the child was called Candra Kausika, who foretold
of the child before his father Brhadratha. (Srimad-Bhagavatam, purport, 1.15.9)
*Endnote 2 "Some time in 1956, Srila Gurudeva came to Mathura to Sri Kesavaji
Gaudiya Matha. At that time followers of the Nimbarka sampradaya in Vrndavana
used to publish a spiritual journal called Sri Sudarsana. In one issue they cast
aspersions on Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, saying that He was a disciple of Kesava
Kasmiri. In other editions they insolently dared to claim that Gaudiya Vaisnava
acaryas such as Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura were in the Nimbarka
sampradaya. When I showed these editions to Srila Gurudeva, he became extremely
angry and immediately had a short essay written for Sri Bhagavata Patrika. The
headline was Sri Nimbaditya and Nimbarka are not the same person. The purport
of his headline is as follows.
"'Nowhere in the scriptures is there any mention of a Nimbarka sampradaya. The
Puranas mention a vaisnava-acarya called Sri Nimbaditya, and the Catuhsana (the
four Kumaras) have accepted this Nimbaditya Acarya as their sampradaya-acarya in
the age of Kali. However, Nimbarka Svami is a completely different person.
Nimbaditya was a disciple of Naradaji at the end of Dvapara-yuga, but Nimbarka
Acarya appeared much more recently. Great and eminent authors of scripture such
as Srila Jiva Gosvami have mentioned the names of the prominent acaryas of all
the other sampradayas, but they have not mentioned the name of Nimbarka Acarya
anywhere.
"'The Nimbarka sampradaya currently uses the Parijata-bhasya which was written,
not by Nimbaditya Acarya, but rather by Srinivasa Acarya and Kesava Kasmiri.
These two wrote this scripture and then preached that it had been written by
their guru. The scriptures of the Six Gosvamis mention the names of acaryas such
as Sri Ramanuja, Sri Madhva, Sri Visnu Svami, Sri Nimbaditya and Sri Vallabha
Acarya. If the Nimbarka sampradaya had existed even to a slight extent at that
time, then they would most certainly have mentioned the name of Nimbarka Acarya
as well. None of the other sampradaya acaryas, such as Sri Ramanuja, Sri Madhva,
Sri Visnu Svami and so on have mentioned Nimbarka Acaryas name in any of the
scriptures that they have written.'
"When this essay was published in Sri Bhagavata Patrika, the office directors of
the Sudarsana journal announced that they were making arrangements to prosecute
for slander. Srila Gurudeva replied firmly, We will prove each and every word
that we have written on the basis of evidence supported by sastra. When the
prosecution party heard about Srila Gurudevas immense scriptural knowledge and
his profound personality, they became absolutely silent, and from that day
onwards they did not dare to write any more nonsense.]

Offering arati
Editorial Advisors: Sripad Madhava Maharaja and Sriman Brajanath dasa
Translator: Sripad Damodara Maharaja
Editor: Syamarani dasi
Transcriber: Janaki dasi
Typist: Vasanti dasi