All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru and Gauranga
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda used to say that— “The Lord Śrī Gaurasundar, puts his devotees in various difficulties and association to test their patience and strength of mind. “He also said that— “This material world is a place of painful testing.” Further Śrīla Prabhupāda told that— “When our desire matching with the desire of Bhagavan, then we can feel happy in true sense.”
So long as honeybees are hovering around the flower they make some kind of humming sound, but as soon as they sit on a nice flower drinking its sweet nectar, then all they become quiet and peaceful. Similar way as long as we have our separate desire, running here and there to search for happiness, we cannot really be peaceful. Actual happiness we cannot find in this material world, it is only after tasting the sweetness of the Lotus feet of the Lord (to realize our eternal relationship between attma the soul and paramātmā the Super soul) and accepting everything arranged by him gladly for our spiritual development. As soon as we can realise our eternal relationship with Bhagavan then our darśana will also change. In that case we cannot have any question or doubt about the situation in which we are put into, because we can realise that all are done by Bhagavan for our testing.
Only those śaraṇāgata Bhaktas who are hundred per cent inclined unto the lotus feet of Śrī Guru-Vaiṣṇav-Bhagavan they can see everything favorable. They always think that everything happening according to the desire of Bhagavan. This is called Vaikuṇṭha darśana. Even though apparently situations can be dangerous or fearful, but for those who are actually established in Vaikuṇṭha darśana, they can always feel that every situation in which they are putted is for their absolute good, because Śrī Kṛṣṇa Bhagavan is maṅgala moy mūrti (all-auspiciousness).
In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam we can find the following śloka , spoken by Brahmāji
tat te ’nukampāṁ su-samīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātma-kṛtaṁ vipākam
hṛd-vāg-vapurbhir vidadhan namas te
jīveta yo mukti-pade sa dāya-bhāk (SB 10.14.8)
[“One who seeks Your compassion and thus tolerates all kinds of adverse conditions due to the karma of his own past deeds, who engages always in Your devotional service with his mind, words and body, and who always offers obeisance’s unto You, is certainly a bona fide candidate for becoming Your unalloyed devotee.”]
Well, all arrangements by Bhagavan are all for good, but we cannot realise this most fundamental point, that is why we are oscillating with pain and pleasure. Bhagavan is the source of all maṅgala and bliss. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that— “There cannot be any amaṅgala in the arrangements of Bhagavan.” The other name of Bhagavan is “Madhu” the source of all aprākṛta sweetness. One sweet ball any portion I bit can give sweetness to me. But am I ready to accept that apparent bitterness, I mean any kind of problem or disease etc. as a boon given by Him? That is the most vital question. We always like to build up a professional relationship with Bhagavan with the mood of profit and loss.
To illustrate our kapat bhāva (falsehood) in the worship of Śrī Guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavan, we want to mention the following incident which was printed in “Gauḍīya Magazin.” Named “Genuine and false Gaura-bhajan“.
When Śrīla Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura was in Lucknow in November 1929, the district sessions judge, Śrī Raya Bahadura Basu come to meet him. Finding this sādhu wholly devoted to Gaurāṅga, Mr. Basu related how his friend R. Babu, a superintendent engineer, also was known as an exalted devotee of Mahāprabhu! Mr. Basu described that when R. Babu’s only daughter fell sick, R. Babu started loudly chanting Gaura, Gaura!’’ day and night. As much as his daughter’s condition intensified, so did R. Babu’s Gaura-bhajana. He began to regularly visit the house of his guru, always coming and going, offering many varieties of delectable food for his guru’s deities. All were amazed by his unprecedented guru-bhakti. Yet despite such devotion to Mahāprabhu, his only daughter died. On the day she departed, from early morning until about nine in the evening her breathing became increasingly strained, and with much suffering she finally succumbed.
After some days, when Mr. Basu again saw R. Babu, he found that R. Babu’s apparently unflinching devotion to Mahāprabhu had completely vanished. R. Babu told Mr. Basu, “There is no such ‘Mahāprabhu.’ If truly there were Bhagavan, He would not cause suffering to His devotee. If He were truly present in everyone’s heart, then knowing the pain that would afflict the heart of His devotee, surely, He would have saved my daughter. His greatness as God would have become more widespread in this world. Devotees’ faith and devotion to Him would have grown a million times. They would have preached His greatness to others and brought them to worship Him. All members of the family would have increased their faith in Mahāprabhu. And once revived, my daughter would have become so much attracted to Him. People in ignorance have faith in the Lord and chant the name of Mahāprabhu. But it is more felicific to go about one’s daily work than to utter the name of Gaura. That’s the truth.”
Addressing Mr. Basu as to the cause of this about-face, Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura spoke at length:
The Mahāprabhu whom I have taken shelter of is not the Mahāprabhu of R. Babu. He takes Mahāprabhu like a hired gardener. I take shelter of the Mahāprabhu of Śrīvasa Paṇḍita. Mahāprabhu spoke of Śrīvasa, who was absorbed in prema, as follows:
putra-soka rid jānile ye mora preme
hena saba saṅga muñi cchadiba kemane
(Cb 2.25.52)
How can I ever leave the association of such a person who, due to his love for Me, is unaffected even by the demise of his son?
I worship the Mahāprabhu of that Śrīvasa Paṇḍita, who told the ladies of his house to stop their crying:
kāla raba śuni’ ’ yadi prabhu bāhya pāya
tabe aji gaṅgā praveśimu sarvathaya
(Cb 2.25.36)
If by this hullabaloo the Lord’s ecstasy is disturbed, then today I shall certainly enter the Gaṅgā [and thus commit suicide].
I worship the Mahāprabhu of Śrī Rūpa, who described Him thus:
viracaya mayi daṇḍaṁ dīna-bandho dayāmī vā
gatir iha na bhavattaḥ kācid anyā mamāsti
nipatatu śata-koṭi-nirbharaṁ vā navāmbhaḥ
tad api kila-payodaḥ stūyate cātakena
O friend of the poor, do what you like with me, give me either mercy or punishment, but in this world I have no one to look to except Your Lordship. The Cātaka bird always prays for the cloud, regardless of whether it showers rains or throws a thunderbolt.
I worship the Mahāprabhu who played the role of jagad-guru to teach us:
āśliṣya vā pāda-ratāṁ pinaṣṭu mām
adarshanam marma-hatāṁ karotu vā
yathā tathā vā vidadhātu lampaṭo
mat-prāṇa-nāthas tu sa eva nāparaḥ
(Śikṣāṣṭakam Vers 8)
Lord Kṛṣṇa, the lover of many female devotees, may embrace this fully surrendered maidservant or trample me with His feet, or may render me broken-hearted by not being present before me for a long duration of time, yet still He is nothing less than the absolute Lord of my heart.
nā gaṇi āpana-duḥkha, sabe vāñchi tāṅra sukha,
tāṅra sukha — āmāra tātparya
more yadi diyā duḥkha, tāṅra haila mahā-sukha,
sei duḥkha — mora sukha-varya
(Cc 3.20.52)
I do not mind My personal distress. I wish only for the happiness of Kṛṣṇa, for His happiness is the meaning of My life. If He feels great happiness in giving Me distress, that distress is the best of My happiness.
Mahāprabhu may release all the misfortunes of the universe upon me millions of times so that I will worship Him. I am ready for that with all my senses. Accepting those calamities, I surrender to His feet, thinking He is protecting me, drawing me toward His lotus feet. He is most merciful to remove my duplicity. He is not allowing me to enjoy my senses. He is making me understand that other than His lotus feet, there is no eternal object of which to take refuge in this world. I am bearing the heavy weight of karmic reactions due to my past actions. If I endure these with a little sufferance and take refuge in my eternal Lord, I will find actual benefit.
If I belong to the enjoying category, then when my enjoyment is interrupted, I become angry. On the other hand, the renunciant will say that it is proper to give up enjoyment. The devotees of Śrī Gaurāṅga do not tell anyone either to indulge in or renounce enjoyment. They say, “Let the jiva imbibe his natural tendency for real, spiritual objects.” If one accepts all three types of misery, which come upon him in full force, it is of no benefit, and if one wants to artificially renounce attachment, he cannot. But one who performs daṇḍavat to the Lord’s feet with body, mind, and words is the rightful heir to liberation. Whatever drawback may come, he will accept it as the Lord manifesting in the form of mercy. It defies description how much Śrī Caitanya has arranged for our welfare. We are on the path of material enjoyment. To open our eyes, He orchestrates that certain obstacles appear, stage by stage, among the objects of attachment. He gave me bad health and step by step gave me accidents. He gave a specific transitory nature to all things, to help put us on the spiritual path.
Also, our Sadananda Svāmī is writting in one article named “The Eternal call “.
Why am I lamenting for all that I lost? Health, wealth, friend and country, hope, ideals and expectations? All sorrow comes from [what we call] love. Love and attachment is beginning and end of all distress. If I like things of this world, I shall have to suffer for changeable and perishable things and lament in case of loss. And then I shall become aware that I had no [true] love for God, nor was I willing to do what He wanted from me. Why am I lamenting for pains and sorrows and grief? I should rather lament that I am still getting aware of my pains and sorrows, and I should be ashamed before myself and others that there is no [true] love for God in me. If I had, how I could i be sorry for any gain or loss?
Gaura Hari Hari Bol