Divine Lives: The Descending Current of Bhakti

DIVINE LIVES

The Descending Current of Bhakti

sarasī-taṭa-sukhadoṭaja-nikaṭa-priya-bhajanam

lalitāmukha-lalanākula-paramādara-yajanam

vraja-kānana-bahu-mānana-kamala-priya-nayanam

guṇa-mañjari-garimā-guṇa-hari-vāsana-vayanam

śubhadodaya-divase vṛṣa-ravijā-nija-dayitam

praṇamāmi ca caraṇāntika-paricāraka-sahitam

Near the banks of Śrī Rādha Kuṇḍa at Svānanda Sukhada Kuñja, she is devoted to the service of her Beloved, and is very dear to the gopi girls of Vraja headed by Śrī Lalitā. She (Nayanamaṇi Mañjari) is the favourite of Kamala Mañjari (Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura) who is preeminent in Vṛndāvana.

She joyfully sings the divine qualities of Guṇa Mañjari (Śrīla Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābaji) and the spiritual threads of those qualities entwine, weaving a tent where Śrī Kṛṣṇa likes to dwell.

I bow down to the appearance of the beloved companion of Śrī Vṛṣabhānu-nandini (Śrī Rādhīkā) and the servitors at his holy lotus feet.

—Śrī Dayita Dāsa Praṇati Pañcakam, Verse 4

FOREWORD

It is an immense privilege for me to have the opportunity to write the foreword for this publication, which is being presented on the momentous occasion of two significant anniversaries. Firstly, we celebrate the 150th appearance ceremony of my revered grand spiritual master, His Divine Grace Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura, who is the founder ācārya of the entire Gauḍīya community. Secondly, we honour the 125th appearance ceremony of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Purī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura, the founding ācārya of Śrī Gopinātha Gauḍīya Maṭha.

In our spiritual community, we observe the presence of numerous spiritual masters, also known as gurus, and various spiritual organizations. According to the scriptures, the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate maintainer and protector of the entire universe, making Him the ultimate guru. All initiating gurus (dīkṣā-gurus) and instructing gurus (śikṣā-gurus) are representatives of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. As part of this festival, an important ceremony known as guru puja will be performed. It is essential to understand that guru puja goes beyond honouring an individual guru. Rather, it signifies the recognition that all representatives of Lord Kṛṣṇa should be regarded as equal to the Lord Himself. It is through my grand spiritual master, my spiritual master, and all the pure devotees of the Lord gathered in this divine assembly (divya-samāgam) that Kṛṣṇa’s mercy descends upon us.

We are aware that Lord Kṛṣṇa eternally resides in the hearts of His pure devotees, and they are His heart and soul. This fact has been explained by one of our previous teachers, Śrīla Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura. Although many pure devotees are physically present at this ceremony, we can be certain that all our previous teachers are also spiritually present here.

I humbly offer my prayers at their feet, seeking their blessings to bestow mercy upon all of us. With their grace, may we faithfully carry out the loving mission of Lord Caitanya, chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa Mahā-mantra without committing any offenses, and embody true unity in diversity by maintaining amicable relations with one another.

Vaiṣṇavas are known for their magnanimity and lack of fault-finding. In the arrangements for this three-day gathering, there may be inconveniences and shortcomings that guests and devotees might encounter. I earnestly request everyone to overlook any shortcomings and kindly forgive our mistakes.

Furthermore, I pray that this three-day spiritual gathering will be a spiritually uplifting and invigorating experience for all the attendees. I express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone for their participation, which will contribute to the success of this festival.

I forever desire a mere particle of the dust from the feet of the pure devotees.

An unworthy servant,

B.B. Bodhayan Swami

Śrī Gopinātha Gauḍīya Maṭha

INTRODUCTION

In the early years of this century, Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura inspired a devotional revival that spread rapidly throughout Bengal, India, and eventually around the world. He brought into question the very foundations of current theistic thought in a way that has little comparison anywhere in the dialogue of spirituality, East or West. Through him, the world awakened to the teachings of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the movement of pure devotion (śuddhā-bhakti).

To orchestrate this modern bhakti revolution, Śrīla Prabhupāda gathered into his circle some of the greatest spiritual luminaries of the age. Such a convergence of exalted spiritual personalities can only be compared to the assembly of Śrī Caitanya’s direct followers in the sixteenth century. His Divine Grace Bhakti Pramode Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja was one such titan of pure devotion who entered Śrīla Prabhupāda’s sacred orbit.

The keystone of success in practicing devotion is to perfectly hear the holy words spoken by one’s spiritual preceptor. Śrīla Prabhupāda would often say, All that is required of you is that you lend me your ears. Śrīla Purī Mahārāja was fully committed to this maxim. He had the great good fortune to associate closely with Śrīla Prabhupāda for thirteen years, and during that time he served him personally by making a record of his lectures and conversations. These notes were later published. The greater part of the words spoken by Śrīla Prabhupāda today come from transcriptions of Śrīla Purī Mahārāja’s notes. At the same time, Śrīla Purī Mahārāja cultivated a deep knowledge of the Vaiṣṇava scriptures, and so he became a veritable storehouse of the wealth of the preceptorial line coming from Śrī Caitanya and His followers. This led to his becoming one of the most prolific writers and influential teachers in all of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava history. His writings reflect the disciplined eye of a scholar who expresses with grace and directness the purest scriptural conclusions supported by his own uncommonly profound realizations.

In all, our venerable teacher’s wisdom is embodied in over sixty years of writings on Vaiṣṇava philosophy and theology. He penned a rich variety of texts, bringing bhāgavata-dharma to life through hundreds of poems, essays, narratives, diaries, editorials, and personal letters; thus creating a treasure house of pure devotion for his disciples and the world.

Śrīla Purī Mahārāja taught through his every action. He excelled in all aspects of devotional practice, and there was no area in which he did not exhibit utmost expertise, diligence, and foresight, from his encyclopedic knowledge of scripture to maintaining the printing press to his beautiful singing of kīrtana. He was especially recognized for his sensitivity and attention to detail in the performance of deity worship and devotional rites, and was thus widely called on to be the head priest at most Gauḍīya Maṭha deity installations and ceremonial functions. He was rarely known to rest; he served in an uninterrupted flow. Even in his later years, he remained awake through the night, writing and chanting, while his youthful disciples slept. When his personal servants arrived in the morning, they would invariably find him already risen, before everyone else in the ashram, chanting the holy name.

Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Purī Mahārāja had outstanding love for his godbrothers and was inspired in his glorification of others. He found richness in everyone he met. He had the quality of making others feel so wanted and their life so valued. At the same time, he paid almost no attention to himself. He was the emblem of humility and simplicity, and his generosity of spirit and his kindness touched the hearts of the whole Vaiṣṇava community. Among his lifelong intimate companions were Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and Śrīla Akiñcana Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. Toward the end of his sojourn in this world, in 1995, he was honored by the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community for his learning and long life of service and devotion and made president of the World Vaiṣṇava Association.

He has love for his guru; and let it be known that his life is one with his words. This tribute by Śrīla Prabhupāda himself is the most revealing statement about Śrīla Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s personality and qualities. He ascribed all credit for his accomplishments to the mercy of his gurudeva alone. Through the blessings of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Purī Mahārāja attracted the hearts of so many to the path of bhāgavata-dharma. People from so many different backgrounds and countries found in him a true spiritual guide and shelter. He upheld the principles of pure Vaishnavism and delineated the path of śaraṇāgati (wholehearted surrender). He so embodied pure devotion and service to his spiritual master that one of his disciples once remarked that he was able to "silently lay down Śrīla Prabhupāda’s entire siddhānta."

We are greatly indebted to His Divine Grace for his gift—a lifetime of pure devotion, spanning more than a century—which we can learn from, discuss for our own spiritual nourishment, and aspire to. In years to come, as more of his words and vision are translated, the world outside Bengal and India will gradually come to know the spirit of the true Vaiṣṇava religion he so tirelessly shared. May the gentle rain of his perfect, nectarean teachings continue to bring auspiciousness into this world.

—Śrīla Bhakti Bibudha Bodhāyan Mahārāja

(Excerpted from the forthcoming biography of Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, A Century of Devotion: The Life of Śrīla B.P. Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja)

THE TRUE MEANING OF VYĀSA PŪJĀ

THE WORDS ‘VYĀSA PŪJĀ’ MEAN NOTHING MORE THAN THIS ACCEPTANCE OF SHELTER OR SURRENDER AT THE LOTUS FEET OF THE SPIRITUAL MASTER.

VYĀSA PŪJĀ ALSO MEANS OFFERING EVERYTHING TO THE SERVICE OF THE SPIRITUAL MASTER IN THE FORM OF WORKS CONDUCIVE TO THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS WISHES.

THE ULTIMATE OBJECT OF OUR DESIRES IS TO BECOME SPECKS OF DUST AT THE LOTUS FEET OF THE FOLLOWERS OF RŪPA GOSVĀMĪ. REMAIN UNITED IN FOLLOWING THE ĀŚRAYA-VIGRAHA IN ORDER TO SATISFY THE TRANSCENDENTAL SENSES OF THE ONE, NON-DUAL SUPREME TRUTH.

– Śrīla Prabhupāda

INVOCATION

PRABHUPĀDA PRAṆĀMA

nikhila-bhuvana-māyā-chhinna-vichchhinna-kartrī

vibudha-bahula-mṛgyā-mukti-mohānta-dātrī

śithilita-vidhi-rāgārādhya-rādheśa-dhānī

vilasatu hṛdi nityaṁ bhakti-siddhānta-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 VAIDHĪ-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 ŚRĪ GOVINDA.

"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—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 Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. May his divine teachings, bhaktisiddhānta-vāṇī, dance eternally within the core of our hearts."

-Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Gosvāmī

This poem was originally published in 1936 in the Harmonist (Volume 32, Issue 12-13) as a Vyāsa Pūjā offering by Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, then known as Abhaya-caraṇa Dāsa, to his spiritual master, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda. (Courtesy of Bhaktivedanta Research Center)

Part 1

ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF ŚRĪLA PRABHUPĀDA

A Divine Life

śrī siddhānta-saraswatīti viditau gauḍīya-gurv-anvaye

bhāto bhānur īva prabhāta-gagane yo gaura-saṅkīrtanaiḥ

māyāvāda-timiṅgilodara-gatān uddhṛtya jīvanimān

kṛṣṇa-prema-sudhābdhi gāhana sukhaṁ

prādāt prabhuṁ taṁ bhaje

In the great Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava teachers’ line, as Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī he’s renowned. Like the radiant sun in the morning sky, he appeared to rescue all souls swallowed by the all-devouring impersonal philosophy. By spreading the teaching of Lord Gaurāṅga to sing the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa, he gave all the chance to dive in the ocean of love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta, my lord, divine master—at his feet do I pray to serve him forever.

—Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva Goswāmī

Divinity can be seen by its own light. The transcendental life of Śrīla Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura can be known to us only by his own causeless mercy—for such is the nature of the Supreme Lord and His representatives who come to this world. Śrīla Prabhupāda was an infinite ocean of divine treasure; if we are fortunate enough, perhaps we can touch the waves of that ocean as they lap the shore of our mortal plane. Within that ocean are his innumerable transcendental qualities such as scholarship, genius, spiritual realization, humility, magnanimity, compassion, mercy, and divine love, to name only a few. The essence of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s life cannot be revealed in many volumes—let alone a single chapter—if they are merely a catalog of facts and figures. It takes the dedication of a lifetime to attain a true glimpse of his message, and his life is his message.

We are about to stand in front of a divine personality; we are about to catch sight of that reality which is eternal and infinite. Yet in our meeting with the eternal we have to retrace the footsteps of time, because we must begin somewhere.

Childhood, 1874–1892

Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura made his appearance in Puruṣottama Kṣetra (Jagannātha Purī) in the state of Orissa, at 3:30 in the afternoon on Friday, the 6th of February, 1874. He was born in his family home, which was next to the holy site called the Nārāyaṇa-chhātā of Śrī Jagannātha Temple, and which always reverberated with the chanting of the holy name. He was the fourth son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīmatī Bhāgavati Devī. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura firmly established the concept of pure Vaiṣṇavism in the hearts of many educated and spiritually inquisitive people of Bengal in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was a beautiful child with all the bodily symptoms of a great personality that are described in the scriptures. Everyone was amazed to see that the child was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck like a brāhmaṇa’s sacred thread. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura named his son Śrī Bimalā Prasāda, meaning the mercy of the transcendental potency of Lord Jagannātha, Śrīmatī Bimalā Devī.

Śrī Bimalā Prasāda

When Śrī Bimalā Prasāda was six months old, Lord Jagannātha’s annual chariot festival took place. That year the chariot stopped in front of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s house and could not be budged an inch for three days. So, while Lord Jagannātha stayed in front of the house, kīrtana was continuously performed there under the leadership of Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya (Mahāśaya is an honorific title). On one of these days, Śrī Bimalā Prasāda, in his mother’s arms, went to see Lord Jagannātha, and extended his hand towards the Deity as if to offer his obeisance. At that moment a garland fell from the neck of Lord Jagannātha and encircled the child. The crowd was jubilant witnessing Lord Jagannātha’s blessing on the child. Amid the tumultuous sound of Haribola!, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura fed Bimalā Prasāda some of Lord Jagannātha’s mahāprasād, and thus observed the child’s anna-prāśana (grain ceremony—first feeding of grains) under the most auspicious circumstances.

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s birthplace

Śrī Bimalā Prasāda lived in Jagannātha Dhāma for ten months with his mother. Then they traveled to Bengal and resided first at Rāṇāghāṭa and then at Śrīrāmpura. Once, when Śrīla Bimalā Prasāda was a small boy, he took a mango without first offering it to the Lord. When his father chastised him for this, he became very remorseful and immediately vowed never to eat a mango again—a vow which he observed his whole life. In 1881 Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had a house built in Calcutta at Rām-bāgān and named it Bhakti Bhavan. As the foundation was being dug, a Deity of Śrī Kūrma Deva manifested Himself from the ground. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gave this Deity to his son Śrī Bimalā Prasāda when he was eight or nine years old, and taught him the mantra and the method of deity worship. The child duly started his deity worship with great care and devotion.

Śrīmatī Bhāgavati Devī

When Śrī Bimalā Prasāda was in fifth grade, he invented a new method of shorthand which he called Bicanto (or Vikṛnti). His teachers were always amazed by his mastery of Bengali and Sanskrit, his extraordinary intelligence and memory, and his pure moral and devotional nature. At this time Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gave him Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta to read. Śrī Bimalā Prasāda also displayed extraordinary ability in mathematics and astrology. He studied astrology under the tutelage of the famous astrologer Mahesh Candra Churamani, and impressed his teacher with his mastery of the subject and his exceptional talent. He also studied astrology with Paṇḍit Sundar Lāl. Seeing his scholarship in many different subjects, including the scriptures, his teachers named him Śrī Siddhānta Sarasvatī—master of scriptural conclusions. When Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was a student in the seventh grade in Śrīrāmpur, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gave him harināma (the holy name) on Tulasī-mālā (rosary made of Tulasī beads), as well as Śrī Nṛsiṁha mantra.

In 1885 Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura founded the Vaiṣnava Depository, a press which was housed in his own home. Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura learned about the printing press and began assisting his father in proofreading. At this time, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya’s magazine, Sajjan Toṣaṇī, resumed publication. In that same year Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura accompanied Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya on his pilgrimage to such places as Kulīngrām and Sargrām. At these places he heard extensive discussions on the holy name. Also in 1885,