Leaving Home and going to Navadvīpa

Śrīla Gurudeva had seen Śrīpāda Narottamānanda Prabhu’s ideal example and heard his expert presentation of the scripture. He had also heard from him about the glories of Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. Śrīla Gurudeva therefore decided to surrender his life and join the maṭha. He attended their gatherings daily and faithfully listened to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Hearing the powerful and extremely sweet hari-kathā in the association of pure Vaiṣṇavas had a great influence on him, and he became eager to renounce this world. He made a firm resolve that he would resign from his job in the police force and go to Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha in Navadvīpa. There he would assist his gurudeva, Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, in spreading the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, love of Godhead, everywhere. Nonetheless, he still continued his service with the police force for some time.

When Śrīman Narottamānanda Prabhu and the preaching party left, Śrīla Gurudeva began chanting one lakh of harināma mahāmantra daily. Due to his natural religious disposition, his life changed completely. By now, he had become completely detached from the material world. At this time, he was transferred to a government position in rājamahala on the bank of the Gaṅgā near rāmakeli (the holy place where Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu first met Śrīla rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī).

For a few months prior to leaving home and joining the maṭha, Śrīla Gurudeva had been contacting his guru by letter from time to time. Our Parama-gurudeva Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja used to dictate replies to Sajjana s evaka Brahmacārī, then a young brahmacārī in the maṭha (later to become my beloved Gurudeva, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja) who then wrote and posted the letters.

In December 1946, Śrīman Nārāyaṇa Tiwari voluntarily retired from the police service and left home to make this momentous move. He had not notified his gurudeva that he was coming, because he thought it would be better to go there unannounced, without disturbing gurudeva and the other maṭhavāsīs. It was a journey of several hours, and it was well into the night before the train pulled into Navadvīpa-dhāma. At that time there was no electricity at the Navadvīpa station, and Śrīla Gurudeva stepped out into complete darkness. He was looking here and there, wondering how to go. He was in a town he had never been in before; it was the dead of night; he knew no one there; and could not speak the Bengali language. He did not even know in which direction to take the first step.

“Where to go now?” Śrīla Gurudeva thought. “What to do? I did not want to bother anyone at the maṭha and tell them that I am on my way, otherwise someone could have come for me at the railway station. If I try to ask anyone anything now, what will they be able to tell me, here in the darkness of the night? And in any case, will I even be able to understand what they say? Maybe I should wait until morning before proceeding.”

Suddenly, to his surprise, he heard someone calling loudly in the distance. For some strange reason, the person was calling out his name: “Tiwarijī! Tiwarijī!”^[1] There in the darkness was a figure carrying a kerosene lantern. “Is Tiwarijī here?” he called, “Is there anyone here called Tiwarijī?”

Śrīla Gurudeva stepped towards him. “I am Tiwarijī,” he said. “Who are you?”

“My name is Sajjana s evaka Brahmacārī,” replied the young man, “and my gurudeva is Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. He sent me here to welcome you, pick you up, and take you to him.”

“But I never informed him that I was coming tonight,” said

Śrīla Gurudeva. “How did he know?”

“My gurudeva is omniscient,” Sajjana s evaka Prabhu told Śrīla Gurudeva. “He told me that you would be coming on the train tonight and that I was to come and meet you, and bring you to the maṭha. Kṛṣṇa must have advised him from within his heart that you were coming.”

Śrī Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.11):

ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस् तथैव भजाम्य् अहम्
मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः

ye yathā māṃ prapadyante tāṃs tathaiva bhajāmy aham
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣyāḥ pārtha sarvaśaḥ

To those who surrender unto Me and perform My bhajana, I reciprocate accordingly.

Our Parama-gurudeva, Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, was doing bhajana of Śrī Kṛṣṇa intensely, and so the Lord revealed, “Your sevaka is coming on the train this evening. Send someone to the rail station to meet him.”

Such was the divine arrival of Śrīla Gurudeva Tiwari in the holy dhāma of Navadvīpa. With great intimacy and devotion he began to serve the lotus feet of his gurudeva, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and on Gaura Pūrṇimā^[2] in 1947, about three months after arriving at Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha, he received both harināma and dīkṣā initiations together.

Footnotes and references:

[back to top]

[1]:

In the same manner as the pūjārī of Gopīnātha was calling out for Mādhavendra Purī at dark night.

[2]:

Gaura Pūrṇimā is the appearance day celebration of Lord Gaura, the golden complexioned Supreme Lord, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who appeared more than 500 years ago.