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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."
[Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj]
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Srila
Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad |
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Srila
Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad, the disciple
of Srila Gaura Kisora Das Babaji
Maharaj, was the Guru of both Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar
Maharaj and Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupad.
Srila
Bhakti Siddhanta Prabhupad preached that the Gaudiya Math stood
for the dignity of the entire human race, by teaching wholesale
surrender to the Absolute Good. Especially active in the field of
publishing transcendental literature, his erudition was profoundly
commanding and elaborate. He revolutionized Krishna conscious preaching
by giving preference to pure devotional qualifications over lineage,
and it was he who set the precedent of Vaishnava Tridanda-Sannyas
[the renounced order of devotional life] in accordance with the
injunctions of the revealed scriptures.
In
a poem describing the descending divine succession of the Brahma
Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati
Goswami Thakur Prabhupad wrote: sri krsna
caitanya -- radha-krsna nahe anya, rupanuga janera jivana.
"Lord
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is none
other than Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, the life and soul of the true
followers of Srila Rupa Goswami."
To
exemplify this sublime ideal, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta established
sixty-four Gaudiya Maths in India in the 1930's, and all through
he embraced the line of worship of Lord Chaitanya as nondifferent
from Sri Sri Radha and Krishna.
The
deep sense of urgency he felt to propagate the divine teachings
of Lord Chaitanya for the benefit of the suffering world of misconception
is exemplified in the indomitable conviction of his statement: "If
fire burns the whole world, do not waste time trying to put it out.
All necessities can be met only by serving Krishna."
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Glorification
by Srila Sridhar Maharaj |
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Although
outwardly he was like a lion, inwardly he was very, very sweet --
yet it could be traced only in his internal sweetness. Outwardly,
the way of love was worshipped by him with grandeur, awe, and reverence,
but his object was the simple and beautiful Divine Love of Vrindavan,
and his temperament in establishing that in the world was just like
a lion's. After his departure I described his life in one sloka:
nikhila-bhuvana-maya-chinnavicchinna-karttri
vibudha-bahula-mrgya-mukti-mohanta-dhattri
sithilita-vidhi-ragaradhya-radhesa-dhani
vilasatu hrdi nityam bhaktisiddhanta-vani
"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.
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This website is © Sri Chaitanya Saraswat
Math, Nabadwip.
Founder-Acharyya: Srila B. R. Sridhar Maharaj
President-Acharyya: Srila B. S. Govinda Maharaj
www.scsmath.com - online since 1995. Updated
regularly.
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