Sripad Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj's lecture:

So we are here at the Puspa Samadhi of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad in the Sri Chandradoya Mandir, Mayapur. This place was inaugurated by Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad in 1973 under the divine auspices of Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. We were present when Guru Maharaj came here and sat on the same seat with Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, and Srila Govinda Maharaj was also present. Perhaps you've all seen that photo where Srila Prabhupad and Srila Guru Maharaj are sitting on the vyas-asana and Srila Govinda Maharaj is at the microphone. On that occasion Srila Govinda Maharaj quoted the verse from Raghupati Upadhyaya:

kam prati kathayitum ise, samprati ko va pratitum ayatu
go-pati-tanaya-kunje, gopa-vadhuti-vitam brahma

"To whom can I tell it and who will believe it, that the Supreme Absolute Truth, Param Brahman Sri Krishna is now enjoying with the Gopis in the groves of Vrindavan."

This verse is about Lord Krishna, but Srila Govinda Maharaj chose to use it to very nicely glorify Srila Prabhupada by saying, "To whom can I tell it and who will believe it, that who we all knew as Abhay Babu is now Jagat Guru and has spread Krishna Consciousness all over the world!"

Srila Prabhupad and Srila Guru Maharaj lived together for so many years and Srila Prabhupad's sister, Bavatarini, financed Srila Guru Maharaj's book, Prapanna Jivanamrita. Srila Prabhupad also gave one house on Sita Kanta Banarjee Lane in Kolkata, for Srila Guru Maharaj's preaching mission there. Srila Govinda Maharaj lived there also and he would preach with Srila Prabhupad in Kolkata.

Srila Prabhupad would arrange preaching programmes. At that time, Srila Prabhupad was in white, and Srila Govinda Maharaj was in saffron, so he would arrange Srila Govinda Maharaj to sit in the chair of honour and read the verses from the Scripture, and Srila Prabhupad himself would lecture on the verses.

So you all know that in our mission, as Srila Govinda Maharaj says, we are continuing the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math all over the world with the help of many senior disciples of Srila Prabhupad who are preaching in the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Such personalities as Sripad Bhakti Kusum Ashram Maharaj, Sripad Bhakti Sudhir Goswami Maharaj, and of course, Sripad Bhakti Premik Siddhanti Maharaj, formally known as Chidananda Brahmachari.

So I came here in 1972 and Prabhupad put me in charge of teaching the Bengalis English (laughter). Srila Prabhupad always said, "Vrindavan is my home, Mayapur is my place of worship, and Bombay is my office," because from Bombay he did much of his preaching.

Here in Mayapur, Srila Guru Maharaj initially helped to arrange this land for Srila Prabhupad. Srila Guru Maharaj himself helped with the purchase of Srila Prabhupad's original land here. Also, when Srila Prabhupad went to the West, he came back to Nabadwip in 1967, and Srila Guru Maharaj and Srila Govinda Maharaj arranged a big reception and parade for him. At that time, Acyutananda Swami and Ramanuja Brahmachari were Srila Prabhupad's main disciples who accompanied him when he came back to India.

So there was always a close relationship between Srila Prabhupad and Srila Guru Maharaj, and Srila Prabhupad wanted that Srila Guru Maharaj would represent Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, especially in the Western world. He wanted his disciples to come and have the association of Srila Guru Maharaj. Srila Prabhupad also asked Srila Guru Maharaj to become the president of ISKCON, but Srila Guru Maharaj said, "I could not imagine that I would out live him because he had so much energy." So Srila Guru Maharaj declined the offer.

Later, when Srila Prabhupad left this world, Srila Guru Maharaj said that he considered that through the words of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, was asking him to take responsibility for the Western devotees.