(Published in “Sri Sajjana Toshani –or The Harmonist No.6 Vol.XXX, June1932)
Editor’s speech at the farewell-meeting held at Sree Gaudiya Math, Calcutta, on March 18, 1933, in honour of the preachers going out to England.
Mr. President of the farewell-meeting, you are a great well-wisher of Sree Gaudiya Math,—of this institution for the promulgation of the words of Sree Chaitanya. You have earned the grateful thanks of this Institution for accepting the chair at today’s farewell meeting which is an eloquent testimony of your great sympathy for the cause. This day our minds are experiencing also the high prerogative of complete immersion in the ocean of gratitude by being reminded of the kindnesses of other well-wishers of our undertakings. I am unable not to offer first of all the very best praises, in lieu of their magnanimity full of goodness, to my very great friends Rai Sakhi Charan Bhaktivijaya and the landowner of Baliati, Srijukta Manomohan Rai Choudhury. Their kind help may be mentioned as being at the root of our present undertaking. Various arrangements have been promoted by Bhaktivijaya Prabhu in fostering the expansion and glory of Sree Chaitanya Math, the institution which is the source of our propaganda. The full-blown flower of that bud of spiritual service may be said to constitute the first offering to this extension of the propaganda to countries outside India. I also consider it a timely performance to conceive and intimate in anticipation my thanks to those who may in the future follow in the foot, steps of these first helpers of the worldwide promulgation of the Message of Sree Gaursundar.
The back-bone of our Maths, Mahamahopadeshaka Acharyyatrika Srimad Kunjabehari Vidyabhusan, Bhaktisastri and those numerous servitors of the Maths who are the propagators and helpers of his cementing methods with a single-hearted devotion to the cause, are the Body, Secondary Limbs, Wea pons and Associates of Sree Gaursundar, being the bed-rock basis of the propaganda to all parts of the world. The Words of instruction of Sree Gaursundar are verily His Beautiful Body ; the preachers of His Word through the Ages are His Secondary Limbs; the Teaching of Sree Gaursundar is His Weapon and Sree Hari’s own, established in the Word of Sree Chaitanya, are His Associates. Therefore, for the purpose of worshipping Sree Gaursundar by the only method viz , by worshipping the Gaudiyas of alloyed and unalloyed natures and their All, the Lord of the Gaudiyas, that I am submitting these few words of mine to the preachers who are about to proceed to countries beyond India.
We find the following great precepts (mahavakya) in the body of the Teaching that has been vouchsafed to us by the Supreme Master of our Masters. To chant constantly the discourse of Hari by being (1) extremely more humble than the blade of grass, (2) by being as forbearing as the tree, (3) by seeking no honour for oneself and (4) by offering due honour to all entities, is the highest natural function of the unalloyed individual soul (jeeva), The lotus feet of my Sree Guru attracted me to his service by his manifestation as the living embodiment of these four great precepts. My friends will be in a position to attract all souls of the world to the footstool of the Real Truth by pursuing the same unfailing method.
The crest jewel of the order of the sannyasins of the triple-staff, Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati Goswamipad, has taught the same process to those who assume the triple-staff of renunciation, in the following words. “I say this by holding the straw between my teeth, by falling at your feet and uttering hundreds of the humblest entreaties, ‘All ye good souls, by discarding everything from a distance, practise love to the Feet of Sree Chaitanya Who is so surpassingly Beautiful.” In pursuance of the foot- steps of all the former devotees I am making my submission to my friends for following the identical method of propaganda. Sree Krishna Chaitanya Deva is the Supreme Teacher of all teachers of this world and the Ideal Possessor of Intelligence that is the highest of all. It should be our only duty to constantly chant those words regarding the cleansing of the mirror of the heart of which He speaks in His Eight Precepts (Shikshastakam), by following in His Foot-steps. We are only the bearers of the Transcendental Word. There is no scope for any arrogance or vanity of our own. We should always bear this in mind. We shall never in any way hesitate to offer every honour and facility, for which they are eligible, to all persons of this world. We must pray to all for the boon of aptitude for the service of Krishna. We shall come across many persons in this world, possessing the endless variety of characters, disposed or hostile to the service of Krishna. But we should not slacken in our loving service of the Lord of our hearts by offering due honour to all persons. The instruction that is constantly recited to their own selves by the highest order of the denizens of Braja, and one which we should study closely, is this,—
‘Katyayani, Mahamaya, Great Yogini, Great Divine Power, Goddess, may thou be pleased to make the the Son of Nanda, the milk-man, my Husband. I make my prostrations to thee’,
‘All glory to Soma, crescented with the Moon, lord of the Realm of Vrindavana, worshipped of Sanandana, Sanatana and Narada, ruler of the milkmen (of Braja), may thou be pleased to bestow on me unceasing, transcendental Love for the Lotus Feet of the Divine Amorous Couple of Braja‘.
It will be our opportunity as we approach different persons in all parts of the world with the vendor’s bag of the discourse of Hari, to see a good many sights, to hear much and to seek to derive much benefit from our experience. May we never forget that all entities of this world are condemned proteges of the Lotus Feet of Sree Guru for helping the expansion of His service. May we always remember that the experience of this world and all the highest excellences of mundane culture attain their true significance only if they are prepared to wait with the utmost eagerness on the particle of dust of the lotus feet of my Sree Guru and that otherwise they are merely the mirage devised by the deluding potency for our ruin. I wish to remind those friends of mine who are proceeding to the west for preaching the Words of Sree Chaitanya, the two precepts of my Master Sree Rupa that are written on the crown of the head of the Gaudiya. ‘The constant endeavour for cultivating relationship with Krishna of a person who, being free from all mundane affinity, enjoys the entities of this world, having due regard to the propriety of each case, in pursuance of his purpose, is called the proper kind of renunciation.’ ‘The abnegation, by persons desirous of liberation, of entities that have an affinity with Hari, in consideration of their mundane nature, is termed renunciation possessing little real value.’ It is my request to my friends by giving due honour to all persons to follow in their preaching the ideal of Sree Sanatan Goswami Prabhu in his exposition of the aphorism of the Vedanta viz., ‘cessation of mundane birth from (the transcendental) sound, cessation of further birth from sound,’ under the section of ‘result to be achieved,’ to be found in such slokas as ‘All glory to the Bliss of the Name of Murari…,’ etc. Those nations to whom you are going for the propagation of the chant of Hari are mounted on the summit of proficiency in all affairs of this world. They are practised in the exercise of of their rational judgment, are endowed with the quality of good manners and are superior and glorious in many respects. Therefore, we should maintain our hope unshaken that they will prove to be the worthiest recipients of the heard transcendental voice if we unlock to them the gates of the natural exhibition of abiding argument and enduring judgment. If we unpack our baggage of the genuine discourse of Hari by relying on the quality of forbearance it will cartainly receive the garland of welcome of the hearts of nations gifted with keen intelligence.
We have not been actuated by any attempt of rivalry or hostility in undertaking this propaganda. This should always be borne in mind. We should call at the door of each and every seeker of the Truth, conveying on our heads the baggage of the Real Truth. It is no business of ours to be elated or discouraged by the praise or neglect of any person. We must be constantly alive to the duty of enhancing the Pleasure of our Master by serving Him with perfect sincerity.
We must not look at the world by being weighed down with the mentality that is oppressed with the sense of deficiency or otherwise by the poverty or otherwise of the display of wordly erudition, rank, etc. by any particular person. This is the state of forgetfulness of our real selves. All persons of this world are really superior to us in every way as far as this world is concerned. All those matters are not any commodities that are fit to be coveted by us. We are merely beggars with the triple staff of renunciation devoted to the chanting of the words of Sree Chaitanya, We have no more nor any higher desirable object than the pleasure of serving Sree Hari, Guru and the Vaishnavas.
We are not the operators of the instrument, but only the instruments. We must always bear this in mind. The triple staff Bhikshus are the living mridangas (clay drums) of Sree Chaitanya. We must constantly give forth our music beneath the lotus feet of Sree Guru. We should practise the function of the peripatetic preacher (paribrajaka) of carrying aloft the victorious banner of the Commands of Divine Sree Gaursundar by constant submission to Sree Guru and the Vaishnavas, fixing our eye on the polar star of the heard transcendental voice.
We must always bear in mind that we have been initiated in the vow of the peripatetic preacher for the sole purpose of promulgating the Heart’s Desire of Sree Guru and Gauranga. If we are constantly inspired with the vow of discoursing the Truth under the guidance of the lotus feet of Sree Guru, no vain hankering for travelling, nor any veiled form of desire other than the chanting of Hari will, ever strike their terrors into our hearts.
The vowed service of the Name, the Transcendental Abode and the Desire of Sree Gaursundar, is our only eternal function. We are bhikshus of the triple-staff. The in-gathering of the smallest alms, even such as are gathered by the bees, is our only means for serving the manifestation of the Manifestive Divine Form of Sree Chaitanya Math all over the world. We are neither enjoyers nor abnegators of mundane entities. We recognise as our highest desideratum the desire for carrying the shoes of the transcendental order of the Paramahansas.
It will be our only duty by being infinitely humbler than the humble blade of grass to proclaim to all the people that complete reliance on the Transcendental Absolute Truth is by far the highest form, of freedom and one that is infinitely superior to the partial independent mastery over the distorted reflected entity in the shape of this mundane world. By holding the straw between our teeth in supplication we shall carry aloft the banner of that real freed am to all persons. We should be constantly engaged in the chanting of Sree Hari by adopting as our fundamental enlightening formula the voice of the path of submission endorsed by Sree Rupa which tells us to cherish the faith that He will protect us.
In conclusion let me tell you, Sriman Sambidananda who are an object of our affection, that from the very first appearance of your faculty of knowledge, by virtue of being brought up by your most worthy elder brother, you have had the opportunity of listening to the tidings of the highest good all the time that you have been receiving your secular education. Recently, having felt the necessity for having still greater education, you are following the preachers of the Math for helping them in their activities. May you acquire your secular education by leading a life that is conducive to the highest good and may you always have your mind fixed on the thought that you might be in a position in the future to employ your learning in serving the Teaching of Sree Chaitanya Deva.