Indications of Departure

[Note: Edited from the article entitled Oṃ viṣṇupāda aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja Entered Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Ramaṇa-Bihārījī's Naīśa-līlā which was originally based from a report by Śrīpad Bhaktivedānta Siddhanti Mahārāja and Śrīman Sañjaya dāsa Brahmacārī published in the Rays of The Harmonist, issue 24/Kartik 2011 -Entering Nitya-līlā (CC-BY-SA Rays of The Harmonist Team) and printed in Hindi in the Vyāsa-pūjā issue of Śrī Śrī Bhāgavat Patrikā, Year-7, Issues 11–12]

On Wednesday, 29 December 2010, shortly before dawn on the auspicious kṛṣṇa-navamī-tithī of the pauṣa-(nārāyaṇa-)māsa–the appearance day of oṃ viṣṇupāda aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja–at 3 a.m., in the Śrī Jayaśrī-Dāmodara Gauḍīya Maṭha, which is located at Śrī Cakra-tīrtha, the sacred appearance place of Śrī Jagannātha-Baladeva-Subhadrā in Kṣetra-maṇḍala Jagannātha Purī, he who is an intimate associate of nitya-līlā praviṣṭa aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, who in turn is the intimate and dear associate of jagad-guru oṃ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, the protector of the Śrī Gauḍīya sampradāya; he who is best among the one-pointed followers of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda, who fulfils the innermost desire of kali-yuga pāvana āvātārī Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the saviour of the most fallen in this age of Kali; he who is the crown jewel of the clan of rasika Vaiṣṇavas in present times; he who was acclaimed Yuga-ācārya; and he who was the president-ācārya of the Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti Trust: oṃ viṣṇupāda paramahaṃsa svāmī aṣṭottara-śata Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja by his own sweet desire entered Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Ramaṇa-Bihārījī’s naiśa-līlā (night pastimes), in the Lord’s own eternal abode, thus submerging those sevakas who had taken shelter at his lotus feet in an ocean of intense separation from him.

Return From Nepal

Śrīla Gurudeva had cherished desire for a long time to visit the birthplace of Śrīmati Sita devi, eternal consort of maryada-purusottama Lord Śrī Ramacandra. So many times he had expressed his desire that I want to visit Janakapura, the kingdom of Mahārāja Janaka. Śrīmati Sita-devi's father's name was Shiradhvaja Janaka. Janaka is the title of their dynasty and pura means city. In which city Mahārāja Janaka used to live, that is called Janakapura. One of Gurudeva's disciples, Mr. Somnath Prabhu prayed to Śrīla Gurudeva, "O Gurudeva, whenever you order me, I'll do all arrangement to visit Janakapura. Nothing to worry." When Gurudeva had time, the weather was not good to go there. Then Mr. Somnath and Punama didi offered to Gurudeva, “We can arrange a helicopter for you from Kathamandu, the capital city of Nepal to Janakapura, After that you may return to Kathamandu by the same helicopter. Due to his cardiac problem, he was not allowed to fly twice within 24 hrs. So, we never took any risk. At last, it so happened that Śrīla Gurudeva went to Janakapura as a preaching tour. In August 2009, Śrīla Gurudeva went to Nepal to preach the message of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as well as to visit the city of Janakapura to have darśana of Śrī Sītā-devī’s birthplace. Gurudeva addressed his devotees in Nepal as well as upon his return to Mathurā, in his arrival address at the Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha, he described that cherished journey: “For a long time, I had desired to visit the birthplace of Śrī Sītā-devī, the śakti of Lord Rāma, and by her mercy that desire has been fulfilled in the final part of my life. Therefore, I think that with this pilgrimage, I have completed my darśanas of all the holy places of the world.” Although, Śrīla Gurudeva is an eternal associate of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and divine couple, but in his early age, due to influence of his family members, he had inclination towards Śrī Śrī Sita-Rama and he has even taken darśana of Śrī Śrī Sita-Rama, Laksmana, Bharata, Satrughna and Hanumanaji. When Śrīla Gurudeva went to touch Lord Rama's lotus feet, they disappeared. Hearing harikathā from Śrīla Narottamanda Prabhu, later on famoused by the name Śrīla Bhaktikamala Madhusudana Gosvami Mahārāja, Gurudeva's inclination increased towards Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the divine couple because it was his constitutional form, the maidservant of Śrīmati Radha-ṭhakurānī. For example, Venkatta Bhatta, Trimalla Bhatta and Prabhodananda Sarasvati were devotees of Śrī Śrī Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa in the beginning. Due to association of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they changed completely and came in the line of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu because they had constitutional form of service of Śrī Śrī Radha-Krsna, not Śrī Śrī Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa.

Śrīla Gurudeva expressed his desire in Nepal in front of so many devotees, who were the part of his preaching tour and darśana of Janakapura, "I'll not stay in this world for a long time. For what purpose I have come in this world, my purpose has been fulfilled. There is no need to stay any more in this world." Hearing this heart-breaking news from Śrīla Gurudeva's lotus lips, the present devotees become very morose. Easily someone can understand from the picture that everyone's face became morose. We want to thank Mr. Somnath Prabhu and Punama didi. They bore all expenses for Śrīla Gurudeva and his party to visit Janakapura and became recipient of Śrīla Gurudeva's mercy.

Badger

In June 2010, Śrīla Gurudeva presided at Badger’s annual Summer Harikathā Festival, delivering a series of heart-rending classes portraying the anguish that Kṛṣṇa felt in separation from the Vrajavāsīs after He left them to go to Mathurā, and the torment they felt being separated from Him. At the end of what was to be his final class there, he announced, “This is my last journey to America.” Then, to the great dismay of the over eight hundred devotees gathered, Śrīla Gurudeva left the festival a day before its scheduled conclusion. The devotees who were present there never believed that this is Śrīla Gurudeva's last journey in America because he has told so many times, "This is my last tour. My preachers will come, I may not come anymore. But, I have to come to Houston, America, for my checkup every year. So, at that time I may visit few places." So, any devotee couldn't take it seriously. Everybody thought that Gurudeva is saying this to increase the eagerness of devotees.

Thus in various ways, Śrīla Gurudeva began to reveal some of what his supremely worshipful gurupāda-padma, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Ramaṇa-Bihārījī were indicating to him–that he had fully accomplished his assigned service of disseminating Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s teachings (gaura-vāṇī) in this world and was soon to enter nitya-līlā and present himself to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Ramaṇa-Bihārī for service to Them in Their eternal abode.

Enacting the Pastime of Illness

In accordance with the unfolding of a divine plan, Śrīla Gurudeva enacted his human-like pastime of illness from the beginning of 2010. In a prelude to the more serious illness that would occur later in the year, on two occasions at the time of Śrī Navadvīpa-dhāma parikramā, Śrīla Gurudeva did not come to preside over the evening assembly. Great disappointment filled the hearts of the attending devotees, who yearned to hear transcendental kathā from his lotus mouth.

Even though he was noticeably weak during his American and European tour, after he had returned to India and celebrated Gurupūrṇimā. One day, Śrīla Gurudeva called myself (Śrīpada Mādhava Mahārāja) and Brajanātha Prabhu, "What is my next schedule for out of India?" Brajanātha Prabhu replied that Gurudeva you have promised Russian devotees to attend Russian festival via Dubai to bestow your mercy on the devotees of Dubai for the first time. They have been eagerly waiting for your darśana for so many years. Gurudeva replied, "Okay, I'll fulfill my promise, but after this tour, don't make any arrangement to go out of India. This will be my last tour out of India. Now I am in advanced age. Any thing may happen anytime. So, I don't want to go out of India anymore." We both replied, "O Gurudeva what you have ordered, we shall follow. We shall not make any more arrangement for you to go out of India." We never understood that Gurudeva will leave us so soon because so many times Gurudeva had life threatning warnings and he came out from danger due of causeless mercy of Śrī LakṣmīNṛsiṃhadeva and sarva-abhista-pradata (fulfiller of everyone's all desires) Śrī Giriraja Govardhana. He still planned to fly to Dubai and Russia to participate in hari-kathā festivals there. Some devotees expressed concern about this. He had just returned from a world tour and had little time to rest. Further, he had just given darśana to thousands of devotees at three Guru-pūrṇimā festivals in India. For these reasons, the devotees felt he should not travel again so soon. But Śrīla Gurudeva could not be dissuaded from going and remained fixed in his determination to fulfil his promise to the devotees in Russia, who for years had been eagerly yearning for his darśana, being unable to come to India due to their financial constraints. Upon his return to India, however, after the successful completion of those festivals, he went directly from the airport to the hospital.

Janmāṣṭamī–his last lecture in Delhi

On the request of his doctors, Śrīla Gurudeva stayed in Delhi to regain his health. Therefore, for the first time in fifty-six years, he was not in Mathurā or Vṛndāvana for the celebrations of Jhulana-yātrā; his annual three-day conference honouring Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī on his disappearance day; Śrī Baladeva Pūrṇimā; Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī; and Śrī Nandotsava. Words cannot describe how he lamented not being able to be there. The transcendental moods he expressed in his last lecture, given on Śrī Janmāṣṭamī at Śrī Ramaṇa-Bihārī Gauḍīya Maṭha, Delhi, have already been published along with the complete discourse in the Hindi magazine Śrī Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā (year 7, number 7).

Arrival in Mathurā and Govardhana

Śrīla Gurudeva completed his medical treatment just after Śrī Nandotsava and immediately travelled to Mathurā. After staying there for two days, he proceeded to Govardhana.

A devotee in Mathurā told Śrīla Gurudeva that in his absence, the Janmāṣṭamī festival seemed devoid of life. He requested Śrīla Gurudeva to be present in Mathurā every Janmāṣṭamī, just like he used to be. At this, Śrīla Gurudeva became very grave. “A new era is about to begin,” he responded. “Everything will be different from now on.” With these words, Śrīla Gurudeva fell silent.