Representative Heads West

By the unfathomable sweet will of the Lord and His pure representatives, Śrīla Gurudeva boarded the plane at the Delhi airport, finally heading to the Western world. This was a monumental time in the history of the world, greater than anything that our mundane history books landmark as important turning points or world changing events. By the blessings of such a mahā-bhāgavata, all perfection can be reached. This was the same airport where he alone personally greeted Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja when he first returned to India in 1967 from his groundbreaking preaching success in America.

Śrīla Gurudeva is a rasika Vaiṣṇava of the highest order, and his going to the West, is for no other reason than to give the highest goal of our life, prema-bhakti. His ability to transparently deliver the precise teachings of our sampradāya Ācāryas is outstanding. He is in the direct line of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda and a direct disciple of Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja. He has imbibed their moods and their teachings, as well as those of Śrīla Bhaktivinode Ṭhākura, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura and the Six Gosvāmīs. He represents all of them and the entire paramparā and by his immense love and devotion, he is sprinkling their mercy upon all of us. Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja, a close associate and his śikṣā-guru, wrote Gurudeva and said, “Our relationship is certainly based on spontaneous love. That is why there is no chance of us forgetting one another.”

Śrīla Gurudeva’s departing India for the West is a natural progression in Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s mission to spread Lord Caitanya’s movement—love of God—all over the world. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is the Supreme Lord Himself, predicted that in every town and village the chanting of the Holy Name would be propagated. Not just anyone can fulfill this prediction and fulfill the mano-bhistam, the heart’s desire of the Lord. Only a great personal associate specifically empowered by the Lord, like these two great stalwarts of Lord Caitanya’s saṅkīrtana army, can truly fulfill His heart’s desire.

The Western world is on the whole filled with tamo-guṇa (the mode of ignorance) and raja-guṇa (the mode of passion). Humans are madly absorbed in sense gratification and for the most part, they are falling into the abyss of ignorance which brings them down into lower and lower species of life. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupādā has said that this material world is not a fit place for a gentleman. A rare opportunity is awaiting us. Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja came and Śrīla Gurudeva has come with the most precious, matchless gift, pure bhakti. If we sincerely follow in this line with faith, Gaura-Kṛṣṇa and Their most merciful representatives will eagerly save us.