(Extract from the classes of Śrī Shyam das Babaji)
Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pathi Śrī Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda told that Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura is providing us with everything that we need in our daily bhajana. He was the one who gave us all the treasures that we can see in Gauḍīya Math. His unique way of representing the essence of all Gosvāmī granthas and Vedic literature is well known to everyone. In this age of Kali, the people have no good memory, – most of the people are very weak regarding scriptural analysis, and nobody has the time to go through volumes of books.
nānā-śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saḿsthāpakau
lokānāḿ hita-kāriṇau tri-bhuvane mānyau śaraṇyākarau
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-padāravinda-bhajanānandena mattālikau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau
(Sad Gosvāmī -aṣṭakam Verse 2)
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raguṇatha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raguṇatha dasa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who are very expert in scrutinizingly studying all the revealed scriptures with the aim of establishing eternal religious principles for the benefit of all human beings. Thus, they are honoured all over the three worlds and they are worth taking shelter of, because they are absorbed in the mood of the gopīs and are engaged in the transcendental loving service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”
Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura is called the seventh Gosvāmī,- never we can pay back what he has given to us. He has taken out all the cream of the ocean of Vedic scripture’s and he has made all the essence accessible in common languages, like Sanskrit, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, English, etc. Day and night, Śrīla Ṭhākura was thinking of the welfare of all the common people of this world. Even at the time when he was still working as the District Magistrate of Purī district of Orissa, he used to spend his lunchtime in writing all kinds of wonderful kīrtanas. How to utilize time we can learn from the life of these great personalities who never waste even a fraction of second in their lives.
sańkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-kṛtau
nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau cātyanta-dīnau ca yau
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-guṇa-smṛter madhurimānandena sammohitau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau
(Sad Gosvāmī-aṣṭakam Vers 6)
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Raguṇatha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raguṇatha dasa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who were engaged in chanting the holy names of the Lord and bowing down in a scheduled measurement. In this way they utilized their valuable lives and in executing these devotional activities they conquered over–eating and sleeping and were always meek and humble, enchanted by remembering the transcendental qualities of the Lord.”
Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura has written all about Śaraṇāgati–the vitals of bhajana. If you have life then you can go for preaching, if you have no life then your preaching can put no effect. What does it mean? We are living creatures, so why you speak like that? The vitals of our life are Śaraṇāgati; without Śaraṇāgati there is no question of any preaching. If there is no bhakti with you, then what you can preach? In Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is also said:
kali-kālera dharma kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana
kṛṣṇa-śakti vinā nahe tāra pravartana
(Cc Antya-līlā 07.011)
“The fundamental religious system in the age of Kali is the chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. Unless empowered by Kṛṣṇa, one cannot propagate the saṅkīrtana movement.”
If there is no kṛṣṇa-shakti with you, then you cannot preach. What you like to preach? Preaching means to inculcate the bhakti cult inside the heart of a bonded soul. That is called preaching, but without kṛṣṇa-shakti one cannot do that — “prana ache tara, se hetu prācāra”- if you have life then you can go for preaching. If you have bhakti in you, which is the kṛpā of Svarup-shakti, then and only then you can go for preaching. PREACHING MEANS TO INSTALL BHAKTI INSIDE THE HEART of a bonded soul.
There is another very important mood which is prominent in all Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas: “tomara sevaya, dukha haya jato,seo to parama sukha”— in the course of serving You, whatever difficulties may come are indeed my topmost joy. Every eventuality, every problem I face, that’s all ok, I like it, because I like to serve you. I like to serve guru-Gaurāṅga, so any problem supposed to come into my life, I will gladly accept that. Kuntīdevī also praying same way. Why? Usually nobody likes to be in problems, but Kuntīdevī says: “If problems are there in my life, then I have the chance to remember you continuously, otherwise if you give me a very peaceful life with all opulence’s and all facilities, then I cannot remember you.” That is why Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura has written- “tomara sevaya, dukha haya jato,seo to parama sukha”–This kīrtana you must read daily to grow that kind of mentality. Otherwise, if you like to live a very peaceful life, so that nobody going to disturb you, then this is also one kind of kama, passive kama.– You cannot understand or feel it, but that is one kind of self-satisfaction. This kind of mood is strictly prohibited if you at all want to identify yourself as a member of Gauḍīya Matha, there is no question of living a peaceful life. Our seventh Gosvāmī, – Śrīla Sacidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura , wanted to teach us that way.
At present, who is going to follow that system? At the time of Śrīla Prabhupāda it was the system effective. Any new devotee was bound to remember all those śaraṇāgati kīrtanas. Nowadays, there is no longer so much interest; they think that these are all preliminary things. But that is a great fallacy. If you can realize those śaraṇāgati kīrtanas, then nobody can throw you out of your bhajana. Do kīrtana and try to cry from heart, don’t make a show. All our bhajana efforts should be only for the total satisfaction of sankīrtana-pīṭha– Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Gaura Hari Hari Bol