All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅga
Ākāra Guru-tattva Śrī Bālā Dau Jī Mahārāja – Ananta Deva serving Śrī Kṛṣṇa in all countless different ways (directly & indirectly) to satisfy Him. The sole right of all pratiṣṭhā resting unto His Lotus Feet.
By Sampradāya-saṁrakṣaka Śrī Śrīla Shyām Dās Bābā Mahārāj
Date 02.02.2026
yeṣāṁ sa eṣa bhagavān dayayed anantaḥ
sarvātmanāśrita-pado yadi nirvyalīkam
te dustarām atitaranti ca deva-māyāṁ
naiṣāṁ mamāham iti dhīḥ śva-śṛgāla-bhakṣye (SB 2.7.42)
Those – who are enjoying the special kṛpā of Ananta Deva –and whole heartedly taking shelter unto His lotus feet without any duplicity — they can cross over this material ocean which is otherwise impossible to cross over — which is full of deva-māyāṁ, they never develop ‘Me & Mine’ conception with this material body which is eatable for dogs and jackals.
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhīpati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda Paramahaṁsa Jagad Guru told that – “Ākāra Guru-tattva Bāldāujī Mahārāja the first expansion of Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself manifesting in this material world in the form of different sad-gurus (from all four sampradāyas).”
Bālā Dau Jī Mahārāja making one network, where he can catch all those fish like jīvas (cancal jīvātmās) who are moving around in this material world and trying to enjoy their material lives. How to catch them to send them to the aprākṛta jagad to engage them in eternal sevā is the sole duty of Bālā Dau Jī Mahārāja and His parṣadas. We know also one short kīrtana by Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura where he expressed exactly the illusionary position of bonded jīva in this material world, and how to come out of it.
ār keno māyā-jāle poḍitecho, jīva-mīn
nāhi jāno baddha ho’ye ro’be tumi ciro-din
O fish like jīvātmā, why you are unnecessarily going to run a risk to get involved in the network of Māyā? Why don’t you understood that being bound up by those nets you will have to remain in this material world for so long time.
ati tuccha bhoga-āśe, bandī ho’ye māyā-pāśe
rohile vikṛta-bhāve daṇḍya jathā parādhīn
After being captivated in Māyā’s snare due to your enjoying mood for those insignificant dirty material enjoyments, you are going to remain transformed in a spiritually diseased condition, lying just like a stick having no personal opinion good or bad.
ekhona bhakati-bale, kṛṣṇa-prema-sindhu-jale
krīḍā kori’ anāyāse thāko tumi kṛṣṇaādhīna
Now at present, by the power of bhakti, always try to remain completely surrendered unto the Lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, very easily you can try swimming and frolicking freely in the nectarine ocean of Kṛṣṇa-prema without any trouble.
This way Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura asking all of us, why you losing this golden opportunity, why you are running after all the fleeting pleasure in this material world which is available in any yoni (birth). Why you are not surrendering yourself completely to Śrīman Mahāprabhu. If a thief raises his hands, then the police will not shoot at him, similarly if we surrender to Guru and Vaiṣṇava Māyā Devī cannot attack us. Full surrender means to give up all our own plans and program. Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev Gosvāmī Mahārāja often used to give one example of a powerful military analogy to explain the concept of complete surrender (śaraṇāgati) to Kṛṣṇa. He said that Kṛṣṇa is like a supreme commander who wants to land in our heart, but He needs a completely clear landing strip. Just as an army commander won’t land his forces on a field filled with obstacles and enemy soldiers, Kṛṣṇa will not fully enter a heart that is still occupied by your own ego and plans. Our part of surrender is to prepare that landing strip by the help of Bālā Dau Jī (Guru-tattva)—to remove all our own will and desires—so that Kṛṣṇa can land and take full command of our heart without any resistance.
In his commentary on the description of guṇḍicā-mandira-marjana-līlā found in the twelfth chapter of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta’s Madhya-līlā, Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura has revealed the hidden, deep meanings of this pastime. There, he has described the various types of ‘dirt’ found within the heart of a sādhaka, as well as the process of purification a sādhaka must follow if, being inspired by the association of sādhus, if at all he desires to invite the Lord to get seated inside his heart.
Śrīla Prabhupāda has written that the real ‘dirt’ in a sādhaka’s heart is the desire to obtain dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa, and that it must be thoroughly cleaned before the Lord can be seated there. Those who falsely teach that one can become purified by pursuing these objectives and by following yoga-mārga, jñāna-mārga, tapa-mārga, siddhi-mārga or any other path, do so with the utmost matsaratā (hostility). This matsaratā is directed not only toward others, but toward themselves as well. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has very clearly explained that the heart is cleansed only through bhakti, or performing loving devotional service to Bhagavān and His devotees. There is no other way open for us.
So before Śrī Kṛṣṇa can sit in our heart Balārāma has to come. That is also the secret reason why Bālā Dau Jī first appeard in Devakī Mā’s whomb.
Śrīla Narottama Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has sung this prayer in the beginning of his Prārthanā:
āra kabe nitāi-cāṅda karuṇā karibe
saṁsāra vāsanā mora kabe tuccha habe
viṣaya chāṛiyā kabe śuddha habe mana
kabe āma heribo śrī vṛndāvana
“When will Nitāi-cāṅda show His mercy to me? When will I feel the desire for material life to be insignificant? When will my mind be purified by rejecting material things? When will I be able to see Śrī Vṛndāvana dham?”
Śrī Baladeva is the very personification of the sandhinī-śakti that expands spiritual consciousness everywhere. Being non-different from his personal manifestation, in the form of Śrī Guru, He delivers the message of Kṛṣṇa for the aural reception of the living entities to purify their consciousness and free them from material contamination. Until this happens, the living entity will not develop eagerness to have darśana of the spiritual Vṛndāvana-dhāma and the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, the master of Sri Vrindavan dhāma.
guru-kṛpā-jale nibhai viṣaya anala
“By the application of kripa water of Śrī Guru I am able to extinguish the fire of material existence.” (Gītāvalī 5.2)
The sermons of pure devotional principles coming forth from the mouth of Śrī Guru will extinguish the fire of material existence and simultaneously urge the core of the heart to cry out, “Where is my Vṛndāvana? Where are the lotus feet of Rādhikā? Where is the treasure of the life of Rādhā, the life of the gopikas, Śyāmasundara, the son of Yaśodā?” When the mind is still contaminated by the filth of material desires, this kind of craving prayer does not arise inside the heart.
Until and unless we are hankering after that absolute seva mood by shedding tears continuously to develop that kind of seva saubhagya (the absolute luck to be engaged in this kind of seva) under the shelter of Śrīman Mahāprabhu who wanted to show the exact vipralambha bhava.
kāhā kṛṣṇa prāṇa-nātha muralī-vadana
kāhā jāo kāhā pāo vrajendra-nandana
“Where is Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of my life, the one who plays the flute? What can I do to find him? Where is the son of Nanda?” (Cc. Madhya 2.15).
Material Prathista — the last kick of Maya Devi!
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhi Pati Paramahaṃsācārya Varya Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākur Prabhupāda told that—“It is not our target to collect a huge amount of money because then we can try to insult Guru-Vaiṣṇava-Bhagavān. Bless me so that I need not see the faces of those who are collecting money to secure their personal labha-puja-pratiṣṭhā for the rest of my life.”
To speak nice nice philosophy is very easy, but to avoid material pratiṣṭhā from heart is very difficult. Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that the actual meaning of ‘tṛṇād api sunīcena’ bhāva is to establish the honour and interest of Gauḍīya guru-varga and to ignore personal labha-puja-pratiṣṭhā (personal interest). Usually, those who are always trying to protect and preserve the interest of Gauḍīya guru-paramparā, they are not going to be honoured by those jealous people or so-called devotees; this way the whole system of Gauḍīya bhajana going to collapse down.
If we trace back the root cause of every fighting taking place in this material world, then we can solemnly say that pratiṣṭhā is the main root cause for all infighting, violence, jealousy, anger etc. Even in heaven Indra and the other devatās fighting for pratiṣṭhā. What to speak more, even people are speaking Harikathā to get pratiṣṭhā, people doing austerity and penances to get pratiṣṭhā, people donating lakhs of rupees to get pratiṣṭhā. Even they make sure that after their death their name and fame can be spread far and wide. But pure Guru-Vaiṣṇava they never do anything to get pratiṣṭhā. Vaiṣṇavī pratiṣṭhā that is a different thing. Vaiṣṇavī pratiṣṭhā is such a unique thing that a sādhu cannot avoid, because this is arranged by the Supreme Lord Himself. Though Śrīla Madhavendra Purīpāda wanted to avoid pratiṣṭhā but that special Vaiṣṇavī pratiṣṭhā was arranged by Śrī Gopināth Himself, so naturally he was bound to accept that pratiṣṭhā ultimately.
Śrīla Prabhupāda also used to say that — “In course of Hari Bhajana automatically labha–puja–pratiṣṭhā (or kāminī–kañcan) can come in our life, do not be busy with all those things. Such labha-puja-pratiṣṭhā all should be passed away unto the Lotus Feet of Sad Gurudeva to avoid self- destruction”. The chastity of all pratiṣṭhā resting unto the Lotus Feet of Ākāra Guru-tattva Śrī Nityānanda Balārām, we have no right to rob all those things in the midway.
Unfortunately we can see at present that so called Ācāryas they are selling all the Vāṇī Vaibhava of our Gauḍīya Sampradāya (all the treasures of Vāṇī Vaibhava of Gauḍīya Math), just to smear their body with stool & urine. They are ready to come down to any level to get just the slightest drop of pratiṣṭhā poison. To get pratiṣṭhā is the sole target nowadays, for which everyone is fighting for.
In this regard we can remember one very practical story—One day a small bird was flying over a village, and found a small piece of meat. The small bird excitedly grabbed the meat in its beak and flew away, but as soon as the other birds in the sky saw the piece of meat, they began to chase and harass the small bird. The small bird with the piece of meat was constantly attacked from all sides until finally he dropped that piece of meat. After that immediately the bigger birds changed its course and flew to catch that piece of meat. After that the small bird could realise that actually they were not chasing me, but that piece of meat was the original reason for why they wanted to attack me as their enemy. In this way each and everyone in this world somehow or other running after labha-puja-pratiṣṭhā (anyhow directly or indirectly). They can kill, they can cheat, they can try to play all kinds of foul games, just to ensure a little bit pratiṣṭhā. That is the reason for why Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura wrote so many nice nice kīrtans, so that we can rectify our dirty mood. For example he wrote in his bhajana—Amar Jīvan (from Śaraṇāgati)
(1)
amara jivana, sada pape rata,
nahiko punyera lesha
parere udvega, diyachi ye koto,
diyachi jivere klesa
(2)
nija sukha lagi’, pape nahi dori,
daya-hina svartha-paro
para-sukhe duhkhi, sada mithya-bhashi,
para-duhkha sukha-karo
(3)
asesha kamana, hridi majhe mora,
krodhi, dambha-parayana
mada-matta sada, vishaye mohita,
himsa-garva vibhushana
(4)
nidralasya hata, sukarye virata,
akarye udyogi ami
pratishtha lagiya, sathya-acarana,
lobha-hata sada kami
(5)
e heno durjana, saj-jana-varjita,
aparadhi nirantara
subha-karya-sunya, sadanartha-manah,
nana duhkhe jara jara
(6)
bardhakye ekhona, upaya-vihina,
ta’te dina akincana
bhakativinoda, prabhura carane,
kore duhkha nivedana
Translation:
1) I am an impious sinner and have caused others great anxiety and trouble.
2) I have never hesitated to perform sinful acts for my own enjoyment. Devoid of all compassion, concerned only with my own selfish interests, I am remorseful seeing others happy. I am a perpetual liar, and the misery of others is a source of great pleasure for me.
3) The material desires within the core of my heart are unlimited. I am wrathful, devoted to false pride and arrogance, intoxicated by vanity, and bewildered by worldly affairs. Envy and egotism are the ornaments I wear.
4) Ruined by laziness and sleep, I resist all pious deeds; yet I am very active and enthusiastic to perfrom wicked activities. For worldly fame and reputation I engage in the practice of deceitfulness. Thus I am destroyed by my own greed and am always lustful.
5) A vile, wicked man such as this, rejected by godly people, is a constant offender. I am such a person, devoid of all good works, forever inclined toward evil, worn out and wasted by various miseries.
6) Now in this old age, being deprived of all means of success, developing humble and poor condition without any alternative left, so Bhaktivinoda submiting his own poor and painful story of grief at the feet of the Supreme Lord.
Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev Gosvāmī Mahārāja used to say that we must do this kīrtana, so that we can realizes our fallen stage. Many of the kīrtans written by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura drawing the exact picture of conditioned jīvas bound by Māyā Devī. Actually this is fact. The Prabhupāda also used to give the reference of His Guru—Paramahaṃsa Śrīla Gaura Kiśore dās Bābājī Mahārāja who used to say that—“The first thing what we have to do in the morning time is to beat our mind with wooden kapāla hundredth times”.
Nothing can be more dangerous than having some jealousy inside our heart against those elevated Gauḍīya sādhus —Who are already enjoying vaiṣṇavī-pratiṣṭhā by the grace of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda. Their position is so high, their standard is so excellent that any kind of false allegations against them by any demonic ācārya cannot even touch the aprākṛta stool and urine passed by them. This will be just a laughing stroke, nothing else, so let them criticize, what it concerns to us. Specially Parātpara Akhileśvara Śrīman Mahāprabhu can never excuse them. Because Śrīman Mahāprabhu was very strict in regard of these most dangerous and fearful vaiṣṇava-aparādha.
Whenever we can see dirty comments against Gauḍīya Maṭha or Mission or against those highly exalted Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, then immediately we can remember the case of wicked Duryodhana, who in front of the Universal Guru Śrī Baladeva Bhagavān started speaking all rubbish against Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa or against Yadu-vaṁśa (destiny) as a whole. When out of our personal achieved self-pratiṣṭhā-intoxication, we forget that life is very unstable then we become a puppet on a chain, or become totally controlled by Mahāmāyā, then naturally we can express tremendous audacity to insult and criticize those exalted sādhu-guru-vaiṣṇavas. Fallen jīva cannot digest such unexpected huge material pratiṣṭhā-bistha (stool), that is why they can ignore or insult sādhu-guru-vaiṣṇava. Genuine guru-vaiṣṇava, they are always getting vaiṣṇavī-pratiṣṭhā, so they never feel false ego. Baladeva Bhagavān was really speechless by hearing all those rubbish dirty comments by wicked Duryodhana. Ultimately, He took decision to destroy the whole Hastināpura together with Duryodhana by quoting the following śloka:
nūnaṁ nānā-madonnaddhāḥ śāntiṁ necchanty asādhavaḥ
teṣāṁ hi praśamo daṇḍaḥ paśūnāṁ laguḍo yathā (SB. 10.68.31)
[Lord Balarāma said:] “Clearly the many passions of these scoundrels have made them so proud that they do not want peace. Then let them be pacified by physical punishment, as animals are with a stick.
Comparatively Māyāvādīs—their condition is more dangerous than prākṛta-sahajiyās, also comparatively Viṣṇu-Vaiṣṇava apparādhīs—their condition is still more dangerous than Māyāvādīs. Now you can understand the painful fallen condition of those who want to criticise Gauḍīya guru-varga or Gauḍīya Maṭha-Mission to protect and preserve their own pratiṣṭhā.
Nowadays highly elevated positions in our Vedic culture like the Brahmacārī āśrama, saṃnyāsī āśrama or even the post of an Ācārya have become so cheap, so cheap, so cheap that we cannot even imagine. The saṃnyāsī āśrama or post as an Ācārya is so sacred, so sacred, so sacred that blindly we can take shelter there. But at present we have to be more aware than ever so that we don’t fall in the trap of so called saṃnyāsīs or so called ācāryas, if their only aim of life is to collect huge amount of labha-puja-pratiṣṭhā. So we cannot blindly trust each and everyone just by watching saffron dress or huge opulences or excellent orator ship etc. There is a very nice story which can highlight the crookedness of our Vaiṣṇava society at present.
Once a learned and compassionate brāhmaṇa was walking through the forest. Suddenly he came across a cage inside which one tiger was in trap. The tiger pleaded with the brāhmaṇa, “O noble one, I am dying of hunger and thirst. Please be merciful and release me. I promise on my life that I will not harm you.”
The brāhmaṇa was hesitant. He knew the nature of a tiger. “If I let you out, you will surely eat me,” he said. The tiger insisted, “A tiger may be a wild beast, but I am not ungrateful. I have learned my lesson in this cage. I promise that I will not betray the one who saves me. My heart has changed.”
Moved by the tiger’s words and his own compassionate nature, the brāhmaṇa opened the cage. The tiger, now free, stretched its powerful limbs. A wicked glint came into its eyes as it turned to the brāhmaṇa and roared, “Now I will eat you! A promise made out of desperation is not a real promise. I am a tiger, and this is my nature.”
The brāhmaṇa was horrified. “But you promised!” he cried. The tiger laughed at his naivety. “Promises are for men, not for me. My hunger is my only law.”
Just then a jackal known for its cunning was passing through that forest. He saw the angry tiger and the terrified brāhmaṇa and askedabout the situation. The brāhmaṇa explained the situation, begging the jackal to help. The jackal, after hearing both sides, scratched his head. “I am a simple animal,” he said, “and I find this difficult to believe. Maybe brāhmaṇa you are speaking lie, because how to believe! The cage is so small, and my uncle (tiger) is so large, I cannot understand how my uncle could ever fit inside that cage. Surely you are speaking lie.”
The tiger, wanting to prove his story was true, growled, “Of course I fit, I can show you!” The jackal said, “Please, show me how you were trapped. I must see it to believe it.” Driven by pride, the tiger foolishly re-entered the cage. The moment the tiger was back inside, the jackal quickly slammed the door shut and fastened the lock. He turned to the tiger and said, “It is the nature of a tiger to eat. But it is the nature of a jackal to be clever. And now you have to stay inside the trap.”
The brāhmaṇa was overjoyed and thanked the jackal profusely. The jackal then said something profound: “My uncle the tiger can promise falsely, but his nature never changes. One must be careful while trusting a beast.”
In this way the whole world running to sacrifice their lives unto the feet of those demons. That’s why The Prabhupāda used to say that –“I will sacrifice my life only unto the Lotus feet of such a Guru who can give me 100 % maṅgala.”
Many such material people in the guise of Vaiṣṇavas can come and cheat us. Those foolish and innocent society always busy with apparent sweet bhāvas and glamour or positions etc. The only result of such foolish trust will be that both the Guru and the disciple will go to hell forever. Śrī Śaṅkara Bhagavān speaking to Devī—
guravo bahavaḥ santi śiṣya-vittāpahārakaḥ
sat guror durlabhaṁ devī śiṣya-santāpa-hārakah
There are so many gurus in this world, but they only steal away the wealth of their disciples. But a real guru is one who steals away the miseries of the disciple and such a genuine guru is very very rare.
In this way we have to be aware of tiger and jackal like Vaiṣṇavas. Jackals are very clever (according to their own estimation), they are the politicians of the forest, they know how to ultimately get their desires fulfilled. Similarly those jackal like Vaiṣṇavas in our Vaiṣṇava society, they are also very expert in trying to manipulate the whole system, but one thing they always forget. What is that? Maybe they can cheat the public, but surely they cannot cheat Nityānanda Balārām. This way the sole right of all pratiṣṭhā resting unto the Lotus Feet of Nityānanda Balārām. We like to see stainless Guru-paramparā, otherwise we cannot cross over this material world.
Guru-tattva is always more and more merciful than Bhagavat-tattva
Actually, the Supreme Lord Himself is coming in this material world to deliver all those fallen souls who are burning day and night, in the form of the most merciful Incarnation of Śrī Gurudeva. Even we cannot have any estimation about his fathomless ocean of kṛpā. Though Guru-tattva is non-different from the Supreme Lord, still a great specialty is there. We can have countless such examples from different śāstras about his inconceivable causeless mercy. Duryodhana was the incarnation of Kali, still he was enjoying so much affection and kṛpā of Bala Dau Jī Mahārāja, but because of his tremendous false ego, he couldn’t digest this kṛpā. Duryodhana took club fighting technique from Bala Dau Jī Mahārāja. Even when we can see that Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa is also going to avoid him, still Bala Dau Jī Mahārāja never wanted to throughout the wicked fallen soul Duryodhana. In Bhāgavata Jī Mahāpurāṇa, we can find evidence that Bala Dau Jī Mahārāja was always in favor of that fallen soul to protect him. Bala Dau Jī Mahārāja wanted to arrange the marriage of his own sister Subhadrā Jī with Duryodhana. Also at the time of the last club fighting between Duryodhana and Bhīmsen, Śrīla Bala Dau Jī Mahārāja was in favor of that fallen soul. Not only that but also he was very angry with Bhīmsen when he was bound to ignore some strict rules and regulations of club fighting to strike on the thigh of Duryodhana according to the gesture of Kṛṣṇa.
Baladeva appears to give us knowledge of Bhagavān
Baladeva is prakāśa-vigraha—He appears to give us knowledge of Bhagavān and explain who Bhagavān is. Balarāma holds a plough and a mace in His hands. Just as a field is tilled with a plough to sow seeds for the crops to grow, Baladeva ploughs the field of our hearts to prepare it to receive the seed of bhakti, and by His mace He subdues the opposing tendencies to help us surrender unto Bhagavān. That is why He is Guru-tattva.
Gaura Hari Hari Bol