All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga

The Holy Appearance Day of
Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur

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The Voice of Sri Chaitanyadev

By His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

Affectionate Guidance, Chapter 22 continued...

'We must be ever cautious to follow the principle of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad.'

As described by Srila Vrndavan Das Thakur, Mahaprabhu has said,

prthivite achhe yata nagaradi grama
sarvvatra prachara haibe mora nama
                                  (Chaitanya Bhagavat)

"My Name shall be preached in as many towns and villages that be in the world."

As predicted by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, we can now see devotees chanting and dancing all over the world in the Name of Nitai-Gauranga. The Hare Krsna Mahamantra has spread all over the world. No doubt, this knowledge is transcendental, but it is necessary to properly follow the line of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Otherwise, after a few years, or fifty or a hundred years, all will fall into the pit of 'sahajiyaism' (imitation). We must be ever cautious to follow the principle of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad.

We have also seen that our Guru Maharaj could never accept anything but pure Vaisnavism. Many compromises have been seen in so-called Vaisnavism, but Guru Maharaj would never mix such 'alloys.' His talks were always completely straightforward, in the line of the pure, unalloyed devotion that was distributed in the world by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus, it is clear that Guru Maharaj purely distributed unalloyed devotion all over the world.

We have all seen that when Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad toured all over the world for preaching, he would regularly return to India and meet with Guru Maharaj. Guru Maharaj was his very intimate friend, and he also took Guru Maharaj as his Siksa-guru. He would come to see how Guru Maharaj was keeping, and give him a report about the progress of his preaching work. And Swami Maharaj said to Guru Maharaj, "I am bringing raw materials from the West -- you please purify and use these materials for the service of Mahaprabhu and Lord Krsna."

For the general preaching, Swami Maharaj distributed the Hare Krsna Mahamantra all over the world. That is general preaching. But it is not that he did not know what good preaching is -- he well knew. But he had to check himself, like Mahaprabhu. When many people came to see Mahaprabhu's dancing in His intoxication of Divine Love, He would come to bahya-dasa, that is, He would check Himself.

So we see that Swami Maharaj brought many fortunate souls, from many countries, to Krsna consciousness. He thought that a special group would necessarily require higher spiritual education. He mentioned this to Guru Maharaj. "I am bringing raw materials -- you please rectify them and use them for Mahaprabhu's Service."

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami came into this world and distributed real Vaisnavism. And by his grace, we have our Guru Maharaj. He is the Guru of both Srila Swami Maharaj and Srila Guru Maharaj. We can never come to the end of singing the glories of such great souls. How can we fully glorify the character of the supreme Vaisnavas? It is impossible to do them justice. We try, but time checks us.

Anyway, today, this day of Sri-Krsna-panchami is most auspicious. We can only pray at the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur that he may be pleased with us - and no doubt he is always pleased with us, otherwise how could we have a place in his sampradaya? Especially in the line of his very dearmost Srila Sridhar Maharaj.

We have come under the guidance of Srila Guru Maharaj, so we have no doubt that we are very, very fortunate. But that is not the end of our work. We must proceed towards our destination. The blessings of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur and the Vaisnavas are always necessary. Everybody's well-wishes are necessary for our practising spiritual life.

Sriman Mahaprabhu has said,

trnad api sunichena taror iva sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirttaniyah sada harih

Mahaprabhu has very kindly given us three rules. "Trnad api sunicena: do not disturb anyone -- consider yourself lower than a blade of grass; taror iva sahisnuna: like a tree, tolerate everything in this mundane world; amanina manadena: the life of service is the eternal property of the exalted jiva-soul, or the liberated soul, and that is also the property of everyone - so you must respect everyone, without expecting respect in return. By following these principles, always sing the glories of the Supreme Lord Hari." We have received these instructions by the grace of Sriman Mahaprabhu Chaitanyadev and Prabhupad Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur.

The purport of such teachings has its own subtle connotation, which must be in the proper line. We cannot follow the proper line of thought without taking shelter in the lotus feet of a genuine Guru. Such are the teachings of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami. Previously, many sastras, many types of Vaisnavas and religions were to be seen in the world, but only after the appearance of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami was it openly clarified that the only necessity is a life of service to Krsna, under the guidance of the genuine Guru and Vaisnava.

May Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur be gracious upon us. Srila Guru Maharaj wrote many Sanskrit verses about him. They are so exalted that if we enter into the purport of only one of them, hours can pass unnoticed. After the departure of Srila Prabhupad, Srila Guru Maharaj wrote this sloka about him:

nikhila-bhuvana-maya-chhinna-vichchhinna-kartri
vibudha-bahula-mrgya-mukti-mohanta-datri
sithilita-vidhi-ragaradhya-radhesa-dhani
vilasatu hrdi nityam bhakti-siddhanta-vani

"May that bhaktisiddhanta-vani dance eternally within the core of your heart." Explanation of this verse by Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj: "With his first step, he vigorously cut asunder the whole plane of exploitation, and with his second, he put a stop to all the calculations of the different scholars with their different conceptions of salvation, liberated stages. With his third step, he minimized the hardness and stiffness of the rules and regulations of calculative devotional service, by a touch of the Divine Love: crossing Vaikuntha, he gave us the worship of Sri Sri Radha and Govinda." Calculation, the rules and regulations, awe, reverence, all these things are minimized, checked, slackened with the softness of Vrindavan within, and with the hardness of a devastator without, he created havoc in the materialistic world, fighting with one and all. Single-handedly fighting against the whole world, and cutting asunder everything -- that was his external attitude. And his second attitude was to put a stop to all scholarly researchers and doctorates of different departments, and to stop their boasting research; and third, to minimize, to slacken the grandeur of the worship of Narayan. He caused the domain of love to descend into this plane with the service of Radha-Govinda, establishing the flow of Divine Love from the heart as all in all. With that we come to serve our object of worship, and he represented the service of Radha Govinda as the highest attainment. That was his history. The real existence of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad is in bhaktisiddhanta-vani, his divine teachings. May that bhaktisiddhanta-vani dance eternally within the core of your heart.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj: "He (Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami) clarified to the world the real position of Vaisnava-dharmma. Now nobody can accuse Vaisnava-dharmma of being a lower-class religion or conception. It can only be admitted to be greater than the greatest."

Guru Maharaj himself said that if Srila Prabhupad were present to hear this sloka, he would have said that his entire personality had been embraced in only four lines. Revealing his own identity, Guru Maharaj wrote:

vrsabhanu-suta-dayitanucharam
charanasrita-renu-dharas-tam aham
mahad adbhuta-pavana-sakti-padam
pranamami sada prabhupada-padam

"I eternally bow unto the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupad, who is the dearmost attendant of Vrsabhanu-nandini. By taking the dust of his lotus feet (charanasrita-renu-dharas) I have now become Sridhar Maharaj. The dust of his lotus feet is so glorious -- it purifies everything in an astonishing and miraculous way: mahad adbhuta-pavana-sakti-padam -- glorious, wonderfully purifying lotus feet."

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sri siddhanta-sarasvatiti viditau gaudiya-gurv-anvaye bhato bhanur iva prabhata-gagane yo gaura-sankirtanaih mayavada-timingilodara-gatan uddhrtya jivaniman krsna-prema-sudhabdhi gahana sukham pradat prabhum tam bhaje "In the great Gaudiya Vaishnava teachers' line, as Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati he is renowned. Like the radiant sun in the morning sky, he appeared to rescue all souls swallowed by the all-devouring impersonal philosophy. By spreading the teaching of Lord Gauranga to sing the holy name of Lord Krishna, he gave all the chance to dive in the ocean of love for Sri Krishna, the Supreme Person. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta, my lord, divine master, at his feet do I pray to serve him forever."