Vaiṣṇava-sevā

[Śrīla Gurudeva is awarded the title Bhakta-bāndhava]—Śrīla Gurudeva used to serve and take care of all Vaiṣṇavas from every maṭha. Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja observed his friendly mood toward all the devotees and awarded him the title Bhakta-bandhava. Bandhava means ‘friend’, and bhakta means ‘devotee’, so Bhakta-bandhava means ‘friend of the devotees’.

One of Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s disciples in the maṭha at that time was called Anaṅga-mohana Brahmacārī. He was a sweet-natured, simple-hearted boy and very expert in cooking, singing and playing the mṛdaṅga. Anaṅga-mohana served our Parama-gurudeva as his personal assistant. After some time he became infected with tuberculosis which at that time in India was an extremely dangerous, life-threatening disease.

Anaṅga-mohana was taken to Sidha Bari, a hilly rural village in West Bengal, known for its temperate climate and condusive atmosphere; Parama-gurudeva had been there once himself. At Sidha Bari, Śrīla Gurudeva took charge of serving Anaṅgamohana Brahmacārī, attentively seeing to all his needs.

(Much later, Śrīla Gurudeva’s elder godbrother pūjyapāda Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Trivikrama Gosvāmī Mahārāja revealed to the author and other devotees such as Premānanda Prabhu that it was by serving Anaṅga-mohana Brahmacārī that Śrīla Gurudeva conquered the heart of our Parama-gurudeva, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja.)

Despite the attentive care and efforts of his guru and godbrothers, Anaṅga-mohana Brahmacārī’s health did not improve. As his condition became worse, Śrīla Gurudeva took him to Madras TB sanitorium, where he eventually passed away.

As he was passing from this world, Ananga-mohana Brahmacārī called out, “Bābā! Bābā! Bābā…” (He was addressing his gurudeva whom he called ‘Bābā’, which means father). “Bābā! rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are calling me! I’m going to Vrndavana. How fortunate I am! rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are calling! O Bābā! O Kṛṣṇa! O gurudeva!”

Śrīla Gurudeva informed the doctor of what was happening, and when the doctor came to check the patient, he discovered that he had no pulse.

“He has no pulse at all! So, how is it that he is chanting like this?” the surprised doctor said.

Witnessing this divine incident, Śrīla Gurudeva cried out to him, “O Prabhu! You are going to Vṛndāvana. Please pray to rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Conjugal that They may shower mercy on me so that I may be a pure devotee in Their service.”

Anaṅga-mohana Prabhu held a photograph of his gurudeva to his chest and called out again and again, “Bābā! Bābā! rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are calling me! I’m going to Vṛndāvana! rādhe! rādhe! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! I’m going to Vṛndāvana!” In this way, he left this world.

Śrīla Gurudeva has since said that it is extremely rare to see rādhā and Kṛṣṇa personally calling you at the time of leaving this world. If one serves a bona fide guru sincerely and wholeheartedly, such will be the auspicious outcome.

The passing away of our Parama-gurudeva, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s, is also very significant in this regard. I (the author) have heard repeatedly from both my dīkṣā and śikṣā spiritual masters that as he was departing, he was chanting the mahā-mantra:

हरे कृष्ण हरे कृष्ण कृष्ण कृष्ण हरे हरे
हरे राम हरे राम राम राम हरे हरे

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

This incident with Anaṅga-mohana prabhu was also spoken about in a lecture given by Śrīla Gurudeva in Mathurā, India, on September 13, 2000. It is interesting to note that he spoke this on the anniversary of Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja’s sannyāsa ceremony.

Here is an excerpt from Śrīla Gurudeva’s very instructive speech:

“You should also consider this. Place your hand on your heart, ask yourself, “What am I doing? Am I serving my gurudeva as my gurudeva served his gurudeva?” My gurudeva was prepared to give his life for Śrīla Prabhupāda (Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura) in Navadvīpa. He never cared for his life. He once wanted someone among his disciples to serve a very dear disciple of his who had become a victim of tb. All were afraid because so much blood was coming from him. All were afraid. No one dared to serve that boy. But I told gurudeva, “You can go and preach, and I will serve him.” He was vomiting blood everywhere; but I never cared for my life, and the result came. I was so fortunate to see that on the day he left this world, he said, “Oh, rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are coming to me. They are calling me to Vṛndāvana. I am going to Vṛndāvana. O Bābā! O Kṛṣṇa! O gurudeva!” I then requested him, “Prabhu, you are going to Vṛndāvana. Please pray to rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Conjugal that They may shower mercy on me so that I can be a pure devotee in Their service.”

That boy was illiterate, with no material qualification at all. He was a very beautiful Assami boy of about sixteen or eighteen years old. He used to play on the mṛdaṅga, and he was very good at kīrtana. He used to cook and wash the clothes of his gurudeva, and he always followed him. By chanting the name of Nārāyaṇa, Ajāmila attained far more than salvation. He went to the abode of Nārāyaṇa and worshipped Him there. What therefore will this boy attain?–rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. He was totally immersed, calling “rādhe! rādhe! Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa! I’m going to Vṛndāvana.” So, he must be there. His only qualification was that he served his gurudeva. No one can do bhajana without the mercy of gurudeva.

In the same way, Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja never cared for his own life in obeying the orders of his gurudeva, and he jumped over the seven oceans. He even had a heart attack on the way, but he never cared. He had a strong will to serve his gurudeva. And what did he accomplish? A miracle.

You should try to learn from these examples. Otherwise, even if you are hearing and chanting, even if you have taken saffron cloth, and even if you have taken sannyāsa, if you have no guru-niṣṭhā, no samdbandhuvat, no viśrambhena guru-sevā, you cannot do bhajana.

It has been told in śāstra that among koti koti (tens of millions) bhaktas, a one-pointed kṛṣṇa-bhakta is very rare in this world. We should try to be one of the rare bhaktas, and this can only be made possible by gurudeva’s mercy.

Śrī Narahari Ṭhākura was one of the associates of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was always with Him, and He wrote an aṣṭakam of eight ślokas, about Him. In the first śloka he wrote, “Śacīnandana Gaurahari was the leader of the cheaters of cheaters. He was a very big cheater–the leader of cheaters. He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, so why did he take sannyāsa and saffron cloth and the golden color of Śrīmatī rādhikā? Why is His hair always standing on end in aṣṭa-sāttvika vikāra? It is because rādhā’s mood is there. He is hiding Himself, and therefore, He is the greatest cheater in this world.”

In the same way, Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja was also a leader of cheaters. Do you admit that he was a cheater? He cheated everyone. How? He went door to door, like a sannyāsī, saying, “You’ll be very happy if you are serving rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” Actually, he was cheating us in so many ways, because although outwardly he had the form of an elderly sannyāsī, he was always in his eternally youthful svarūpa, serving rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana.

Sometimes we are in confusion or doubt and we cannot reconcile his statements. He has said so many things, and everything is true to the highest extent. Bhagavad-gītā says, “sarva dharman parityajya, mam ekam saranam vraja–Completely abandon all material religious activities, and fully surrender to me alone.” On the other hand, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, “eho bahya–This statement is external.” This shows that Kṛṣṇa and His representatives speak according to the qualification of their audience. Many devotees could not reconcile Prabhupāda’s statements. They thought, “Previously he was telling this fact, and now he’s telling something against it.” Some of them have even lost their faith. I know that so many did. They should try to reconcile all these things. It may appear that Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja has said so many apparently contradictory things. That is why general people–that is to say, devotees who were not in good association–could not reconcile his statements. They lost their faith in Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja and left ISKCON. But we should have a very strong faith in guru. He may tell one, two, three, four or five things at a time, but we will have to reconcile them. Never give up your gurudeva; it will be a very big offence. It has been said in śāstra that if you have accepted a guru who is not qualified, who is very much attached to sense gratification, and who is not renounced from worldly desires, you should give him up at once. If a guru is not so qualified in siddhānta, that is, if he is a madhyama-adhikārī, but he has so much faith and niṣṭhā in his guru, he should still be honored. The qualification is not only learning.

It is stated in śāstra that Kṛṣṇa has no shape, and that He is nirguṇa. On the other hand, it is sometimes said that He is saguṇa: He has all qualities. We will have to reconcile so many apparently contradictory statements. If you do not reconcile them, what will happen? You will lose your faith in your gurudeva, and thus ruin your bhakti. So do not be like this. Have no doubt. So many of Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja’s disciples followed his instructions externally, but not deeply, and that is why they lost faith.

You know that he has written everything in his books; nothing is left out. That is all right. I think that if Śrīla Vyāsadeva were here, he would have written more and more. Similarly, although Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja has written everything, if he were here, he might have translated so many more books. I know this. We know that everything is in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then why did Śrīla rūpa Gosvāmī write so many books, if everything is already in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? Why? Because it was needed.

And if Śrīla rūpa Gosvāmī had already written so many books, why did Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī write so many more? And why did Śrīla Narottama Ṭhākura and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura write so many books? Why did Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura write so many books? If any pure devotee will come later on, he will also write so many books. And there is no harm in that. Bhakti is endless–like an endless ocean. The qualities and pastimes of Kṛṣṇa are like an ocean. No one, not even Kṛṣṇa Himself, can fully explain or express everything about Him. New, new understandings will always come. So we should not think, “everything has been done and there is no need of anything else. We do not want to read any books other than Prabhupāda’s.” If someone’s teaching is in line, that is, it is in the line of Śrīla rūpa Gosvāmī, Mahāprabhu, and our guru-paramparā, we should try to accept it. We have accepted Śrī Caitanyacaritāmṛta though there were already so many books, and now we have accepted Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Jaiva-dharma although there are already so many books.

So try to reconcile all these things otherwise you will make an offence. If you want to develop your Kṛṣṇa consciousness, do not hear any allegations against a pure Vaiṣṇava and especially against your gurudeva. Never criticize him. If someone is saying anything against him, try to ‘cut his tongue’. In other words, try to refute his arguments. If you are not able to do that, then cover your ears and go away. We can learn so many things from Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja–your Śrīla Prabhupāda.”