A Brief History (Intrview at the Śrī Rādhā-rāmaṇa Temple)

[Note: Edited from the book THEIR LASTING RELATION: An Historical Account From lectures and letters by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Swami Prabhupāda and Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja. (CC-BY-ND Gaudiya Vedanta Publications)]

In June 1996, at the Śrī Rādhā-rāmaṇa Temple in Orange County, California, Siddhānta dāsa of Illumination Television (ITV) interviewed Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja regarding his relationship with Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja.

Interviewer: Please tell us how you first met Śrīla Prabhupādā, and any circumstance you may have had with him when any characteristics of the pure devotee may have been exhibited.

Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja: I was the personal servant of my guru deva, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and I always traveled with him. We had a māṭha (preaching center and āśrama) in Calcutta, called Gauḍīya Vedānta Śamīti. It was there that I met Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja in 1946 or 1947. Whenever Gurudeva used to come to Calcutta, Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja would come to see him. Both were disciples of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupādā, and they were also bosom friends. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja met Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda in about 1922, and about four years before that, in 1918, Guru Mahārāja took initiation from him. So Guru Mahārāja was the elder godbrother of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja, and they were intimate friends from the beginning.

When there were some problems in the Gauḍīya mission in 1939–1940, Guru Mahārāja went to Prayāga (Allahābāda), to the house of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja. At that time, Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja had a very good medical shop there, and he was also very renounced. Guru Mahārāja spent about five to six months with him there.

In 1941, our Gurudeva, along with Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja, established the Gauḍīya Vedānta Śamītī in Calcutta. At that time, Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja was Abhaya Bābū. I went to the māṭha in 1946, and perhaps at the same time, or maybe one month after, I arrived in Calcutta. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja again came there. I was the personal servant of my Gurudeva and I also served Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja was so happy to see my service to Gurudeva. He asked some questions and became very pleased with my replies. He asked me, “What is your name? From where have you joined?” And thus I began to serve him.

In 1953, Guru Mahārāja started two magazines, called Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā and Gauḍīya Patrikā. Gauḍīya Patrikā was in Bengali and Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā was in Hindi. Guru Mahārāja requested Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja to be the editor-general of both journals. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja accepted and began to write many good articles, especially regarding Bhagavad-gītā–from beginning to end. Those who are not actually following Kṛṣṇa and Vedānta are not really religious persons. This is especially how Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja wrote about māyā vādīs in his Bhagavad-gītā articles. Those who think that Kṛṣṇa and His body are the same are Vaiṣṇavas. But those who think that Kṛṣṇa’s soul and body are different are māyā vādīs. They don’t know anything about the meaning of Bhagavad-gītā. One learned doctor, the president of India, Dr. Sarvapalli Rādhākrishnan, was very famous in Western countries for his philosophy, but he wrote that Kṛṣṇa’s body was one thing and the spirit soul of Kṛṣṇa was another. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja wrote against this. He wrote very strongly in regard to Vedānta, and especially about the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He wrote that Kṛṣṇa, His body, His possessions and everything in relation to Him is the same sat-cid-ānanda substance.

One copy was sent from Mathurā to Dr. Rādhākrishnan and one to each of the learned persons of the parliament. Dr. Rādhākrishnan did not reply. They cannot reply, because māyā vāda is against the path of bhakti. There are so many arguments, but it would take time to explain. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja gave me his articles in Bengali, and I used to translate them into Hindi. I had a very close relationship with him.

I knew him as a very good and staunch philosopher. He had not gone to any colleges for learning Sanskrit, Bhagavad-gītā or Vedānta. He was a born philosopher and a pure devotee. He was a mahā-bhāgavata, but he played the role of a madhyama-adhikārī Vaiṣṇava to give help and initiation to others. An uttamā-adhikārī does not give initiation to anyone, because he thinks that everyone is a mahā-bhāgavata and always serving Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja was in this position, playing the role of a madhyama-adhikārī. I realized who he was by his words and his association.

Then, with no money, not a farthing, he came to the West. When he was in New York in 1965, he requested me by letter, “You should come with me. I am alone and I will have to do something here; so you should come.” I replied “My Gurudeva is here, and I am serving him. When he will return to Bengal I may come.” Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja wrote back, “Very good. You should serve your Gurudeva, but when you have the chance you should certainly come and join me.” I replied, “Yes, I will come.” After that I sent all his books–Bhagavad-gītā, Rāmānujācārya’s bhāṣya (Śrī-bhāṣya), Śaṅkara’s bhāṣya (Śārīraka-bhāṣya), and other bhāṣyas (commentaries) to New York. A few days ago I saw those books in Los Angeles. Not all, but some of them are there. I also sent him mṛdaṅgas, karatālas, vigrahas of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, and also ten kilos of sweet pera every month.

In 1967, when Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja returned to India with Kīrtanānanda, I was the only person to meet him at the airport in Delhi. We went to the Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple in Delhi, and I used to live there at his request so that I could render various services to him. Then, when Acyutānanda came, Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja told me, “I am not well; I’m tired. So you go with Kīrtanānandā and Acyutānanda to some persons’ homes; and you will have to give the lectures there.” I did so.

Later, after Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja returned to Vṛndāvana, to the Rādhā-Dāmodara temple, I often came to visit him. There he discussed so many things about Vedānta, and especially about Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. He discussed many principles of bhakti, and he explained that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to this world especially to taste Śrīmatī Rādhika’s mood: anarpita-carīṃ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇah kalau samarpayitum unnatojjvalarāsāṃ sva-bhakti-śriyam. He gave such high-class, deep association there, and he loved me so much.

Later, in 1968, our Gurudeva disappeared from this world, and I sent a message to Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja, who was at that time in Seattle. When he received it, he at once replied to me, as though he was weeping while writing. He wrote, “I am so much aggrieved because of this.”

He composed a śloka and explained, “Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was weeping for his Gurudeva, Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī, and I am feeling like this:

vairāgya-yuga bhakti rasam prajatnai apayayan mām anabhipsu andhām;
kripambudhir yah parā dukhe śrī-keśava-tvam prabhuh asrayami.

I was not in a mood to take the renounced order. I was fearing so much. My family rejected me and I was penniless, but still I was not ready to take sannyāsa and fulfill my Gurudeva’s order to go to Western countries to preach his mission. But Pūjyapāda Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja gave me sannyāsa, the renounced order, and he told me, ‘You must accept this.’” Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja wrote me that this was his śraddhānjali to Gurudeva’s lotus feet.

The renounced order is not a play. It changes one’s entire life and it means that one is aspiring for gopī-bhāva. Some say that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja was only a cowherd friend of Kṛṣṇa, but I strongly oppose this. His sannyāsamantra was a gopī-mantra, and he has also taken gopāla-mantra. Those who are second initiated know the meaning of gopāla-mantra. Without it, no one can have the mood that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to give. So I have heard from him directly, and also by hearing his lectures I know, that he has come in the line of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu–to give this mission. This was also the mission of Śrila Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. They are both associates of Kṛṣṇa and Mahāprabhu. They are not of this world. So Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja has not come only to give dharma (religious principles). He has not come only to give the yuga-dharma of harināma. This was not the primary mission of Mahāprabhu; it was the mission of Mahā-Viṣṇu, or Advaita Ācārya.

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu comes, taking the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, He teaches gopī-prema. It is that prema which He wanted to give to the jīvas.

প্রেম-রস-নির্যাস করিতে আস্বাদন রাগ-মার্গ ভক্তি লোকে করিতে প্রচারণ
রসিক-শেখর কৃষ্ণ পরম-করুণ এই দুই হেতু হৈতে ইচ্ছার উদ্গম

prema-rasa-niryāsa karite āsvādana rāga-mārga bhakti loke karite pracāraṇa
rasika-śekhara kṛṣṇa parama-karuṇa ei dui hetu haite icchāra udgama

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 4.15–16

The Lord’s desire to appear was born from two reasons: He wanted to taste the sweet essence of the mellows of love of God, and He wanted to propagate devotional service in the world on the platform of spontaneous attraction. Thus He is known as supremely jubilant and as the most merciful of all.

Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja has come to the Western countries only to establish the mission of his guru-paramparā–nothing new–only their mission. He has not written any new books. He has translated the Bhagavad-gītā and he has given its purports. He has also given purports to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Śrī Īśopaniṣad and other books. He has given the names of the paramparā, from Nārada to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and down to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. So he was not out of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava line. He is a Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava. We should not try to cut his link with the Gauḍīya mission or the Gauḍīya Māṭha: our disciplic order.

I can tell something about his mission in Western countries. He was always connected with the sampradāya. At first he has plowed and turned barren land into cultivated land–thus fertilizing it. He planted seeds, and these seeds should never stay the same. They should sprout, they should grow, and they should give sweet fruits. We should increase our devotional activities–our Kṛṣṇa consciousness. We should not remain third-class Vaiṣṇavas.

Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja has written everything in his books, including what he could not speak much about at that time. Those who think that he is dead are themselves dead. He is always giving inspiration to the whole world. If we serve him, we will see his books with quite new meaning. Then we can properly read these books and become more qualified.

I learned from him that we should associate with devotees who are more bona fide and advanced than ourselves. We should honor them. We should see that all devotees are in one family, Lord Caitanya’s family. If we do not think in this way, we cannot be devotees. We should think that we are in one family, and there are so many hands. Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja have thousands and thousands of hands, and we should honor all their hands; we should honor all those who are chanting the name. I heard him say that those who are chanting the holy name, even if they have not taken initiation, should also be honored. Those who have taken initiation and are chanting should be more honored. And those who are mahā-bhāgavata should be served by all means. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja has written all this in his translations. So I pray that those who were initiated by Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja be very broad-minded. They should know that I am actually the first disciple of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja, from before ISKCON was founded.

There are two kinds of gurus–śikṣā and dīkṣā–and both are the same. Sometimes the śikṣā-guru is superior, and sometimes the dīkṣā-guru may be. The relationship with the śikṣā-guru is very friendly; he is like a bosom friend. The dīkṣā-guru should be very much respected, and so we may somewhat fear him. But the śikṣā-guru is like a friend, sometimes sitting on the same seat as us.

I used to sit with Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja on the same bed or āsana. Then, during his last days, I went to Vṛndāvana to see him. Taking my hands and putting them in his hands, he told me that I should sit on his bed, but I offered praṇāma to it and sat on a chair. He told me, “I have got so many disciples, but they don’t know very much. You should try to help them. Especially my samādhi should be given by your own hands. I want this.” Tears came to his eyes as he was ordering this, and I told him, “You are my śikṣā-guru. Though you and I are friends, I always consider you my śikṣā-guru. I will always follow your instructions, word for word, letter for letter.” Then I told all the disciples present, especially the leading disciples, “You should not think that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is going to die. You should think that he has a mission to help the Western countries. After his going, you should be united and try to honor each other. Give his mission to the countries where he could not go. Don’t cheat his mission. It is most high level to follow his orders. You should all try to be broad-minded and don’t try to control anyone. You can’t get sneha and prema, love and affection, by controlling and accumulating money. You can’t control by giving orders.” Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja called them, “Come on, come on. Listen to Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja. Hear what he has to say.”

Just after Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja’s departure, many devotees came from Mathurā to Vṛndāvana and we performed nagara-saṅkīrtana. I lead the kīrtana, and then I put Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja in samādhi with Vedic mantras and all other Vedic arrangements. Most of the renounced people of Vṛndāvana, including bābājīs from all four sampradāyas, came there, and I organized everything, including who should do the public speaking and in what order people should speak. I honored all, just as Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja asked me to do in his final words.

Interviewer: Of all the qualities Śrīla Prabhupāda exhibited, does one stand out in your mind?

Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja: The symptoms of guru have been written in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Bhagavad-gītā, and I saw these symptoms in Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja:

तद्-विज्ञानार्थं स गुरुम् एवाभिगच्छेत्
समित्-पाणिह् श्रोत्रियं ब्रह्म-निष्ठम्

tad-vijñānārthaṃ sa gurum evābhigacchet
samit-pāṇih śrotriyaṃ brahma-niṣṭham

Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12

To understand things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the

Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.”

He was brahma-niṣṭhā, one who has given up all other activities and has dedicated his life to working only for Kṛṣṇa.

तस्माद् गुरुं प्रपद्येत जिज्ञासुह् श्रेय उत्तमम्
शाब्दे परे च निष्णातं ब्रह्माण्य् उपशमाश्रयम्

tasmād guruṃ prapadyeta jijñāsuh śreya uttamam
śābde pare ca niṣṇātaṃ brahmāṇy upaśamāśrayam

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.3.21

Therefore, any person who seriously desires real happiness must seek a bona fide spiritual master and take shelter of him by initiation. The qualification of the bona fide guru is that he has realized the conclusions of the scriptures by deliberation and is able to convince others of these conclusions. Such great personalities, who have taken shelter of the Supreme Godhead, leaving aside all material considerations, should be understood to be bona fide spiritual masters.

We see that one symptom of guru is that he knows Vedānta, Upadeśāmṛta, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Bhagavad-gītā, etc. He should be siddhānta-vit (knower of all philosophical conclusions), so that he can clear all the doubts of his disciples. I know that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja was very much qualified in this. He knew everything. He was perfect in this.

Second, guru should be detached from worldly things, and I know that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja had no attachment. He had attachment to those who are thoroughly attached to Kṛṣṇa. The guru should have realization of his iṣṭadeva, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. One cannot preach without realization. If he is not factually practicing bhakti, and he has no realization, then his words will vanish into the air. No one will be able to truly follow his instructions.

I have realized this: that any disciple, or anyone else, who came to Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja was overpowered by him. He conquered their hearts with love and affection. Without realization of Kṛṣṇa, no one can do this.

It has been said in Bhagavad-gītā (4.34):

तद् विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया
उपदेक्ष्यन्ति ते ज्ञानं ज्ञानिनस् तत्त्व–दर्शिनह्

tad viddhi praṇipātena paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṃ jñāninas tattva–darśinah

Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.

Who is tattva-darśi? One who knows all siddhānta in all the Vedas, Upaniṣads and other śāstras. Praṇipātena paripraśnena. You should go to such a guru, again and again, very honorably questioning and serving him.

I see how Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja went to Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, how he accepted him as his guru deva, and especially how, in a very short time, he spread his prema, his mission, Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s mission, to the whole world. This was the śakti–the energy, the potency of Caitanya Mahāprabhu and his guru deva–that he could do all this. No common person could have done what he did.

I remember another instance. The last time I saw Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja (the evening before he departed from this world) he was so friendly to me. He told me, “I have done something wrong in my life, so I want to be forgiven. You should especially forgive me, because you have served me and you are so dear to me.” I said, “No, don’t say this. Anyone who comes in a special situation, at a special time, can say anything to encourage new devotees. We also say things like this. So I don’t think you have done anything wrong.” Then he told me, “You should forgive me, and you should tell all my godbrothers to forgive me. When I told some disciples, ‘Don’t mix with anyone; don’t mix with my godbrothers,’ it was in a letter, not in my books; and I told this only for a special time.” Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja was a first-class Vaiṣṇava, a mahā-bhāgavata; and he wrote like this only for third-class, kaniṣṭha, devotees.

I had once asked him, “Mahārāja, we are friends. I want to know why your Deities have names which are not siddhāntic, like Rādhā-Pārthasārathi and Rukmīṇī-Dvārakādhīśa. Regarding Rukmīṇī-Dvārakādhīśa, I know that in 1968 you established and performed prāṇa-pratiṣṭhā (the installation ceremony) of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa with peacock feather and flute, and with Rādhā there on His left side.”

He replied, “When I established Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa in Los Angeles, I gave Them the name ‘Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’, and then I left Los Angeles to go to India. When I returned I saw that someone had changed the name to RukmīṇīDvārakādhīśa. I became very angry with that person. I was against this name, but now this name has come about.”

Regarding Rādhā-Pārtha-sārathi, he told me he was very ill at the time and his disciples gave this name without his actual approval.

I read in his books that this is rasa-ābhāsa. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja has written this, not only in one place but in many places. He told me not to think that this was his idea, and I told him, “My doubt is gone, and I pray that you bless me so that I may be like you in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.” He benedicted me, and I felt so glad, so fortunate, to think that he ordered me to always serve him.

Interviewer: I understand that Śrīla Prabhupādā was having many difficulties and harassments in Bombay to keep his centers, and you took some role to keep ISKCON’s property?

Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja: Some years ago Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja’s son told the Bombay court that he [Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja] was a vaiśya, a businessman–that he was not a sannyāsī. His son said that only a brāhmaṇa can take sannyāsa. Because Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja was a businessman, he went to the West for business, and ISKCON is a family business. The son’s conclusion was that he himself is the master of all of ISKCON’s property. An ISKCON leader came and told me, “If you don’t give evidence, this son will take all of ISKCON, all over the world.” He told me that I should go immediately. I told him that I only want to serve Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja, so I will go. After that I went to Bombay several times and sat in court the entire day. Every day Śrīman Navīna use to cook early morning I would take prasādam early in the morning, at about 7 a.m., and then immediately go to the court. I want to always serve the mission of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja.