Srila Gurudeva (The Supreme Treasure)
by Swami Bhaktivedanta Madhava Maharaja | 2010 | 179,005 words
This page relates ‘Our First Meeting’ of the book dealing with life and teachings of Srila Gurudeva, otherwise known as Shri Shrimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja. Srila Gurudeva is a learned and scholar whose teachings primarily concern the spiritual beauties of Bhakti—devotional service and the qualities and pastimes of Shri Krishna.
Our First Meeting
[Narration by Śrīla Gurudeva][1]
In 1947, I was in Calcutta as the personal servant to my gurudeva, and one day there was a large assembly and many Vaiṣṇavas were present there. During the lecture given by Gurudeva, a gṛhastha devotee came in at the back door. Upon seeing him, Gurudeva stopped speaking and asked me to bring him forward. That devotee humbly hesitated to come forward, but my gurudeva ordered that he come all the way to the front.
Gurudeva showed great respect to him and insisted he sit next to him on the platform. I looked up at Gurudeva, silently questioning, “Who is this devotee?” It was very rare that he had done this with others. Afterwards he told me, “This is Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Bābu, my dear godbrother. He is a very special disciple of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupādā. He is very humble and qualifed. You should take note of him, you should hear carefully from him, and you should serve him.”
At that time I would cook breakfast, lunch, and any other meal for Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Prabhu and many of the other senior Vaiṣṇavas. I would also wash their clothes and clean for them. He would watch me, and became pleased with me. He was happy to see my service for my gurudeva and asked me many questions about myself, like where I was from and where and how I had joined the māṭha. We spoke together, and he was satisfied with my replies. I was also very impressed with him, and attracted to him. This is when I began my service to him in my heart and in my work.
I am thinking now how very fortunate I was to have met him long ago, and to have served him. We had so much affection for each other that I cannot explain my heart sufficiently. He stated in one of his letters to me that from the first time he saw me, there was affection between us and that we shared a transcendental relationship of spontaneous love. He wrote that, as his Śrīla Prabhupādā had great faith and love for him from the beginning, he similarly had love and well-wishing for me.
He was a powerful speaker, and his lectures were most influential. Discussing translations from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by first giving word-forword meanings, he would then present thorough explanations; and what he spoke was beautiful. In those days there were many senior disciples of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda, such as Śrīla Śrīdhara Mahārāja, Śrīla Tīrtha Mahārāja, Śrīla Śrauti Mahārāja, Śrīla Nemi Mahārāja, Śrīla Yāyāvara Mahārāja, Śrīla Auḍulomi Mahārāja, Śrīla Vaikanas Mahārāja, Śrīla Purī Mahārāja, Śrīla Giri Mahārāja and Śrīla Mādhava Mahārāja. All these disciples were like tigers and thunderbolts, being well-versed in siddhānta. They would often come to visit my gurudeva, and I was able to serve them. Though Abhaya Caraṇāravinda Prabhu was then a gṛhastha living outside any māṭha, he was considered by all to be extremely qualified.
He was very bold and never compromised with anyone regarding the established siddhānta–never. He defeated and convinced everyone by his realized preaching.
In those days I often saw him associating with his godbrothers, and he had many deep friendships in all the temples where they assembled–in Calcutta, Navadvīpa, Chinchura, and Delhi. He was often meeting with godbrothers he would show respect to them because he was a gṛhastha at that time. And, even though he was married then, all the sannyāsīs and senior brahmacārīs highly regarded him because he was a learned scholar and a potent, brave preacher. He was known by all to be abhaya, fearless.