He Enables the Lame to Cross Mountains

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What can I speak about Gurudeva? How much ever I speak it will be like a small bird taking water in her little beak from the magnificent ocean of mercy of Gurudeva. I am so insignificant.


Nitai Das Prabhu is unable to speak at all. He lives in Vardhman, sixteen kilometers from Goalpara. Nitai Prabhu's mother waited patiently for four years to see her child start speaking and then took him for Gurudev's darśan and blessings. When he was around six or seven years old,  due to a good neighbor’s advice, she left him in Gurudev's care at the maṭh.  Gurudeva placed his lotus hands upon his head and blessed him and gave him hāriṇam, he slowly started speaking a little.  After he started chanting the dīkṣā mantras from Guruji, he started speaking so much, singing kīrtan and participating in saṅkīrtan.  This is purely by the mercy of our Gurudeva.  


mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ

paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim

yat kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande

śrī guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam


(CC Madhya 17.80)


Translation:  I offer my respectful obeisances unto my spiritual master, the deliverer of the fallen souls. His mercy turns dumb persons into eloquent speakers and enables the lame to cross mountains.


There are no words to express what our Gurudev can do, he is All-powerful and omnipresent: sarvaśakti and sarvavyāpini.


Nitai Prabhu's mother said that Param Gurudeva and Gurudeva visited their village so many times that it is now a holy dhām.  Gurudev would visit all the houses, sit with them, and accept their offerings.  Many of our god-brothers reside here. There is a Lakshmi Devi mandir there that Srila Prabhupad also visited. Param Gurudev and Gurudev visited Nityananda Das' place several times, so his house is a worshipable place; our Srila Gurudev’s lotus feet were placed there.


Hearing them sing glories of Param Gurudev and Gurudeva, our heart is filled with joy and bliss. I feel blessed that Gurudeva has given shelter to me too.  I was happily settled and enjoying life in Mumbai. Suddenly in 1997, I came in contact with the prachar party who had begun activities in 1995 in Mumbai to reciprocate with Param Gurudev's and Gurudev's desire.  I have seen whenever Gurudev spoke about Mumbai, he would always remember Pandeji with great regard. Pandeji accommodated the whole prachar party (between forty and fifty devotees) in Mumbai from the time of their initial arrival there on prachar, He gave them a place to stay in his five newly built big flats. We should not forget the efforts of prachar party in Mumbai by whose presence blessed us, facilitating our ability to come into the shelter of Gurudev. When we first saw Gurudev we felt our desire to reach our destination was fulfilled. Gurudeva lifted us with both of his hands and has given us sevā opportunities.  


In 1998 I got the sevā of arranging for cooking vessels, supplying cooking gas cylinders, etc. in Mumbai thus I had Gurudev's special grace on me.  It was as if Gurudev had adopted Mumbai like his little child. He would express his affection for Mumbai devotees with the words, “Bombay aa gaya,” (Bombay has come!) I do not know how many times I have visited Gurudeva and whenever I saw his face, I thought, “He is my life,” and I feel blissful.  I lack knowledge and remember little. I don’t know much bhajan or kirtan and haven’t read much scripture so far, but I fully accept that Gurudeva is Sarvajña (All-knower, Omniscient) and Krishna is Sarveshwar (Lord of all lords).  I have understood these two truths by Gurudev's grace and I accept them.  Proof of this is that I am still attached to Gurudev's maṭh and mandir and by his grace and blessings, I serve here. He has kept me engaged in sevā.  I am an illiterate man and I can only offer labor and vaiṣṇav-sevā such as arranging the supply of gas cylinders, arranging tempo for travels, and go welcome and send-off vaiṣṇavas at railway and bus stations.  


Gurudev is taking care of us so well and I feel very blessed.  When we were sitting for prasad at Nityananda Prabhu's place he had spread an Assamese gamsha on my seat as a gesture of honor and I felt moved to tears. I refused to sit there along with him. I am unfit, I said.  Whatever an Assamese person speaks, you must accept, they will not hear anything else.  I said, “I am a householder.” He said, “No, you left Mumbai and now and have been staying in Assam for two years serving in the maṭh, how can you be less than a renunciate?”


—Vrindavan-chandra Das (Vijay Lamba), Goalpara 


Spoken in Hindi, translated to English by Rasvihari Das, 3.5.2020


source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4pk6If_8bU   






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