All glories to Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga
Śrī Śyāma Dāsa Bābā
nikhila-bhuvana-maya-chinnavicchinna-karttri
vibudha-bahula-mrgya-mukti-mohanta-dhattri
sithilita-vidhi-rāga-radhya-radhesa-dhani
vilasatu hrdi nityam bhaktisiddhānta-vāṇī
With his first step, He cut to pieces the whole plane of exploitation, and with his second, he crushed the speculation of scholars of salvation and liberation. With his third, he softened vaidhi bhakti with a touch of divine love (rāga-mārga). Taking us beyond Vaikuṇṭha, he has introduced us to the highest worship of Śrī Rādhā and Govinda.
Śrīla Bhakti Raksaka Śrīdhara Dev Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to say that—“With the softness of Vṛndāvana within, and the hardness of a devastator without, he created havoc in the world–fighting with one and all. Singlehandedly fighting against the whole world, and cutting everything to pieces–that was his external attitude. And his second attitude was to stop the boasting research of the scholars and doctors of different schools of thought; and third, to minimize and slacken the grandeur of the worship of Nārāyaṇa, and establish the service of Rādhā-Govinda as the highest attainment. He caused the domain of love to descend into this plane, with the service of Rādhā-Govinda, establishing the flow of divine love from the heart as all in all. That was his history–the real existence of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. May his divine teachings, bhaktisiddhānta vāṇī, dance eternally within the core of our hearts.
Really we are extremely proud of our Gauḍīya guru-varga, especially the protector of the whole Gauḍīyas – who is known as Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda and his eternal pārṣada are perfect in all ways, there is no doubt in it. Especially because of their outstanding aprākṛta vāṇī which appeared either through their divine Lotus mouth or their divine pen. Swami Sadananda dasa said that— “The bhakta is the mouth of a spring through which the eternal knowledge of God is flowing. The ear and heart of those who are longing to serve is the chalice. The eternal words of His līlā are knowledge of God, intelligible through the will and the power to serve.”
That heart which has been softened by sincere submission will be a fertile ground for the message of God—the word of God. Prabhupāda’s mouth and pen look like any other ordinary mouth and pen, but in fact there is a heaven and hell difference. Although the faculty of the mouth has only one purpose – to glorify the Supreme Lord (Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya) and His devotees, unfortunately in this world the complete opposite situation is seen. Even the writings of the noblest of the noblest poets, writers or philosophers in this world are all dry like bone for those who are relishing the divine aprākṛta vāṇī of The Prabhupāda, because none of them having Śrī Kṛṣṇa as their center point, they all are writing for the satisfaction of the public for their own enjoyment. This is just the complete opposite of Śrīla Prabhupāda. His pen movement was only for the complete satisfaction of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura has written that—
jaḍa-kāvya-raso nahi kāvya-rasaḥ
kali-pāvana-gaura-raso hi rasaḥ
alam any-kathādy-anuśīlanayā
bhaja godruma-kānana-kuñja-vidhum
(Śrī Godruma-chandra Bhajanopadeśa)
The rasa found in mundane poetry is not the rasa of true poetry. The essence of all rasa is found in connection with Gaura, the saviour of the age of Kali. Cultivating anything else is useless. Worship that Moon of Godruma’s forest bowers.
The Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is referring to those writings devoid of bhakti as a place of pilgrimage for crows.
na yad vacaś citra-padaṁ harer yaśo
jagat-pavitraṁ pragṛṇīta karhicit
tad vāyasaṁ tīrtham uśanti mānasā
na yatra haṁsā niramanty uśik-kṣayāḥ (ŚB 1.5.10)
Those words which do not describe the glories of the Lord, who alone can sanctify the atmosphere of the whole universe, are considered by saintly persons to be like a place of pilgrimage for crows. Since the all-perfect persons are inhabitants of the transcendental abode, they do not derive any pleasure there.
Further the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is saying that if the pure Ganges of topics concerning the Supreme Lord’s activities does not flow, even if it is the topmost place in the whole Universe, pure devotees of the Lord have no interest to stay there.
na yatra vaikuṇṭha-kathā-sudhāpagā
na sādhavo bhāgavatās tadāśrayāḥ
na yatra yajñeśa-makhā mahotsavāḥ
sureśa-loko ’pi na vai sa sevyatām (ŚB 5.19.24)
An intelligent person does not take interest in a place, even in the topmost planetary system, if the pure Ganges of topics concerning the Supreme Lord’s activities does not flow there, if there are not devotees engaged in service on the banks of such a river of piety, or if there are no festivals of saṅkīrtana-yajña to satisfy the Lord [especially since saṅkīrtana-yajña is recommended in this age].
When pure devotees like Śrīla Prabhupāda appear in this world and drive their divine pen, then surely it is only for the absolute pleasure of the Supreme Lord (Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Deva). Śrīla Sadananda Svami has written that—“The bhakta’s life and activity in the world wholly takes place in the fulfilment of his nature to serve Kṛṣṇa, and is not intended to delight or offend, to enlighten or mislead people regulated by law. The life of the bhakta has its center in Kṛṣṇa, and the fact that, here and there, there may be a person who by His grace becomes free from himself (bonded stage), is only a side effect. The bhakta may extol Bhagavan and make His līlā known so that it seems that he was endeavouring for the sake of humanity. How little this is the case follows from the fact that the realized bhakta may extol and make Bhagavan and His līlā known even where there is not one single person ready to receive it, because the only meaningful use of his faculty of language is to speak of Kṛṣṇa and sing His Name.”
Once Śrī Guru-padapadma (Paramahaṁsa Jagad Guru Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj) was asked by some port trust officers who used to come and visit Śrīla Guru Mahārāj very often that– “You are writing so much, who is going to read all these?” Śrīla Mahārāj replayed with a smiling mood that, “I am not writing to get lābha, pūjā or pratiṣṭhā. Only I am writing to carry out the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Long ago he blessed me with the gift of a pen to do caitanya vāṇī seva. From then onward all along I have been trying to do srī caitanya–vāṇī-. I know it for sure that thousands of people are not going to read my writings, because they are busy with Maya’s. This is quite natural.”
By the magic spell of the divine pen of The Prabhupāda the whole Universe can be illuminated again, of course – it needs our honest sincerity. The only question remains that who will be able to catch all these aprākṛta siddhānta vichars and can apply them in their own lives so that their final goal (kṛṣṇa prema) can be secured. Prabhupāda’s pen has brought about a revolution in this world. The tip of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s pen is like a magnifying glass where all the divine powers of the aprākṛta jagat are always ready to appear. All Vedas, Upaniṣads, Purāṇas, Smṛtis etc. are standing in a queue with folded hands just to appear in the service of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s pen. Then what to speak about aparā-vidyā (material knowledge) like nyāya, sāṅkhya, vaiśeṣika, yoga, mīmāṁsā etc. Just by looking at Śrīla Prabhupāda — Śrī Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī it becomes crystal clear for what purpose he has appeared in this material world. The original Goddess Sarasvatī — Śrīmatī Rādhārani herself appears on the tip of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s pen. Who other than a foolish can dare to challenge The Prabhupāda. Had Śrīla Prabhupāda not come to churn all the ocean of scriptures, in that case we would have been in the ocean of doubts and blind like an owl forever. If we are not at all ready to serve bhakti siddhānta vāṇī, then absolute maṅgala can never be attained by us. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s writings are just like mṛta-sañjīvanī medicine which can give us back life, because we are almost like a dead body.
If we can gather or collect all the writings or speeches of the whole world, even not one of them can be compared with the writing or speech of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Puri Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to say that—“ Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta was a very powerful devotional personality – bhagavat pārṣada. He used to speak or write with such a great force that people in front of him (be it devotee or noon devotee) where bound to hear him speechlessly (or motionless). Let people say whatever they want. Prabhupāda’s philosophical conclusions are the highest of all and we must worship his vāṇīvapu according to those siddhānta vichars given by him. At present almost everyone trying to get deviated from the Absolute Truth in some or other way. Also they are trying to divert others from the track of Śrīla Prabhupāda to make them fall down from the path of devotional practice.”
Suppose if all the sacred texts are at present missing from this mundane world, but still then there would be no loose, if we can get all the writings of The Prabhupāda. Just like Śrī Lakṣmaṇe Ji Mahārāj who wanted to ensure the absolute safety of Śrīmatī Sītā-devī by drawing a line of protection all around the bhajana kuṭira of Śrī Ramachandra to protect her, similarly, Śrīla Prabhupāda also wanted to act that way to protect us from sahajiyās, Māyāvādīs, wayward devotees. Prabhupāda’s pen is like an eternal golden broom by which he drives away all kind of garbage appearing in the field of our śuddha gauḍīya bhajana. Prabhupādas pen is successful in sealing the mouth of the whole sahajiyā community. All their misconceptions and apa siddhāntas were converted into ashes by the mighty pen of Śrīla Prabhupāda. What a great seva this divine pen of Prabhupāda has done, we cannot even imagine. Surely all other pens of this material world must feel jealous about the pen used by The Prabhupāda, just like all the other bamboo trees were feeling jealous against that dry piece of bamboo (in the form of vaṁśī) which got place in the hand of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s to touch His nectarine lips.
Prabhupāda’s vāṇī is the most powerful weapon for this age of Kali. If one sharp knife is there in the hand of a gunda (hooligan) then surely he can misuse it, but the same if we can find in the hand of a doctor then we can find the right application of the knife in any operation of a patient. If you hand over some pearls to a monkey, then what kind of utility can be there in it?
Nowadays the unity of the whole Gauḍīya sampradāya has scattered into pieces, no unity at all, so how we will be able to fight against the most powerful current of Maya in the form of sahajiyās, Māyāvādīs or wayward devotees. Maya Devi has a great influence all over the world, then what to speak about our sampradāik unity. So if we are failure to come together to stand under the same shelter of the Lotus feet of The Prabhupāda, then never we can come out successful, not even in infinite time period. One stick can break very easily, but to break many will be difficult. Bhakti siddhānta vāṇī must be fully utilized to save us all at this most critical moment in our devotional life.
Gaura Hari Hari Bol