Sri Vyasa Puja- 100 years of devotion. A short sketch of the life history of His Divine Grace, my spiritual master Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Gosvami Maharaja – Prabhupada-varya, written by Shyamal Krishna (now Shri Shyam Das Babaji Maharaja) in the year 1998.
sankirtane krsna-kathopadese
gaudiya-patrasya prakasane ca
saddnurakta-guru-bhakti-yuktah
bhakti-pramodakhya-jagad-varenyah
“Whether in the performance of kirtana or in instructing and lecturing about Krsna, or in publishing and editing the Gaudiya magazine, you who are named Bhakti Pramode always displayed intense devotion to your spiritual Master. You are an example to this universe.”
O Lord Master! You are the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who never sees the faults of others. O Lord Master! You are the epitome of humility and tolerance in accordance with the verse “trinad api sunichena”, etc.
O Prabhupada-varya! O my master, it is you who has given me scope in bhagavata seva, so I am ever grateful to you. Please bestow your causeless mercy upon me which has no ill effect. Please empower me to sing some of your divine glories. Let your supreme compassion become the subject matter of our discussion:
yasya prasadad bhagavat-prasado
yasyaprasadan na gatih kuto’pi
dhyayan stuvams tasya yasas tri-sandhyam
vande guroh sri-caranaravindam
“Meditating and glorifying his wonders thrice daily, I worship the lotus feet of my guru, through whose grace one attains the mercy of Krsna, and through whose displeasure one’s spiritual life is doomed.”
Your pastimes are eternal. Still, your appearance as an unalloyed servitor of Srila Prabhupada (or as Prabhupada-varya) to deliver all the fallen souls like us it is noteworthy. As a messenger from Sri Goloka you bear the special instructions of the Supreme Lord; this is really spectacular and also a worshipable matter because of the rarity of such events.
The history of mankind is like the rolling waters of a river: similar events are repeated again and again. Even so, there are some remarkable events which have to be remembered forever for their eternal glory. In fact, anything related to Visnu and the Vaisnavas always implies eternity. Srila Guruji appeared in the holy village of Gangananda in Jessore district in what is now Bangladesh. The year was in 1898 or 1305 according to the Bengali calendar, in the month of Asvina. It was the fourth day of the waxing moon, or Gaura-caturthi. That day is now a remarkable holiday when our Guru Pada- padma manifested on this earth in a high class brahmana family. His father’s name was Tarinicharan and his mother Ramrangini; this was the divine couple he accepted as his parents in order to come down to us. His given name was Promod Bhusan Chakraborty.
The innate tendency to devotion automatically attracted him to taste bhakti-rasa from the very beginning of his childhood. In the early stage of his youth, he was inspired to dedicate his whole life to the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada in order to serve Guru and Gauranga. At the time he was employed by the Port Commission in a prestigious post after excelling in his student career.
On Janmastami in 1923, he took shelter of his spiritual master Srila Prabhupada. After initiation, he started to experience a change of attitude; he started to feel complete detachment from material enjoyment and a strong attraction for Sri Krsna. This spirit of renunciation, his profound knowledge in all the authentic scriptures, together with his unique mood of self-surrender soon marked him out as the North Star in the sky of Srila Prabhupada´s great and generous heart. Before long he was appointed as divisional editorial head for the publication of the daily Nadia Prakash and he also took on editing responsibilities for other books and papers. Seeing his extraordinary knack and unforeseen capability in this field, Srila Prabhupada conferred upon him the title mahopadesaka, A great instructor of spiritual knowledge. On that day, this beloved disciple of Srila Prabhupada, Pranavananda Brahmacari Pratna-vidyalankara received a golden crown of Vaisnavi pratistha upon being formally recognized as mahopadesaka, i.e., Krsna-tattva-vit or Aknower of the philosophy of Krsna. As a result of his long attachment to the publications department as editor of Gaudiya, much name and fame was available to him, but still this unalloyed soul was always full of divine love and devotion for his spiritual master. As Prabhupada-varya, he in fact set an example of exclusive dedication to bhajana while remaining equipoised toward both fame or defamation.
Just one day before the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada in 1937, an event took place which installed his Guru´s footprint perpetually in the inner core of his soft heart. After the disappearance of Srila Prabhupada, he wanted to avoid all the dramatic events which then took place. As his inner-directed heart was completely drawn into the blissful ocean of bhakti-rasa, he decided to engage himself in intense bhajana to quench the flames of separation from his spiritual master. To do so, he shifted to an isolated location at Kathiganga in Kalna. But just as the sunlight automatically manifests according to the will of the Supreme Lord, so it was the case with Srila Guruji. Though he wanted to continue his exclusive bhajan, the fragrance of his divine love attracted the attention of the then king of Burdwan who presented him with the glorious service of the Sri Sri Ananta Vasudeva temple in Kalna. We are proud of the standard of bhajana in isolation set by Srila Guruji for this reflects the intensity of his devotion, but how could Sri Hari permit him to break the instruction issued him prior to his coming down on this earth, namely to deliver all the fallen souls like us? The Mahopadesaka could not hide himself anymore.
Thanks to Guru and all the Vaisnavas. I offer them all my most humble dandavats
Guru-Vaisnava-dasanudasa.
Shyamal Krishna (now Shyam Das Babaji Maharaja)