He Teaches Us How to Worship Through His Conduct

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We hear our senior god-brothers say that if we do not follow and bring to practice the teachings of Gurudeva in our life then our life is in vain, so I wish to make an effort in trying to remember Gurudeva and his glories.

I had my first darśan of Gurudev in 1996 when I was a small child playing with other children in Gītā Bhavan Hari Mandir. Later in 2006, I accompanied my friends to the airport to welcome Gurudev when he came to Mumbai during Kartik month that year. We received lots of mercy from Gurudeva and also through harikathā, hari-kīrtan, and from our ṣikṣā-guru, Rādhā Govinda Prabhu.

In 2009  I went to Jagannātha Purī for Rathayātrā for the first time. Before that, we went to Kolkata for Gurudev's darśan. Gurudeva is sitting on his chair in his bhajan-kuṭīr and Jahnava Mātājī (Madan Prabhujī's wife, Jyoti Mātā) took out a lamp to perform ārati of Gurudeva. As I was sitting very close at the feet of Gurudeva I also extended my hand and joined her in the ārati. As I touched the ārati plate I felt my hands shake and I was filled with divine feeling as I looked at Gurudev. By the mercy of Gurudeva and the vaiṣṇavas, I got hāriṇama in 2009 in Chandigarh and in 2010 dīkṣā, still, I do not know what to do and how to do things. Gurudev's mercy is causeless and in 2013 during Gurudev's illness pastimes I got to hear from our ṣikṣā-guru Pūjyapād Kṛṣṇānanda Prabhu the importance of hāriṇama that we got from Gurudev, and in what mood and how we have to chant.

I did not have much physical association with Gurudev and so no experience, but I have heard our Gurudeva is full of such transcendental qualities like Śri Rāmachandra on whose appearance day he appeared. I try to repeat whatever I have heard from our senior god-brothers. This instance happened in Śrila Bhakti Kumud Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāja's maṭh at Behala, Kolkata when Gurudev went to visit him. Śrila Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāja, in his very advanced age, was sitting on his wheelchair and asked our Gurudev to sit on the sofa which was nearby. Though the sofa's seat was a little lower than that of Mahārāja's seat, still, Gurudev said it is ok and sat on the plain floor without taking even an āsan (a floor mat) for himself. Even when Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāja said I am ordering you, still Gurudev did not accept the seat saying I cannot follow this order of yours. Also said, I have heard that some orders of vaiṣṇavas should not be followed, while we should not follow such instructions which result in disrespect to Gurudeva or guru-varga. Hearing his words, Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāja smiled. Our Gurudev gave the example of Prabhupāda not following the final instructions of Gaur Kishor Das Babaji Mahārāja that his transcendental body be dragged in the dust of Navadvip-dhāma so that it would be covered by the holy dust. Hearing his words, Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāja began to laugh. This demonstrates how Gurudev never crossed his limits in his vaiṣṇava conduct.

Another instance is when Navadvip parikramā was going on in our math Gurudeva invited Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāja to give us his association and lead the parikramā group. And when he arrived Gurudev welcomed him with kīrtans at the main gate and led him to naṭa-mandir. Also, Gurudev led him to the special chair arranged in the center among other chairs and seated him. When Sant Mahārāja asked Gurudev to take the next chair near him, Gurudev replied, "Yes, yes, I will," but did not and soon the ārati ceremony began. Then flowers were offered at Sant Mahārāja's lotus feet. When devotees came to offer flowers to Gurudev's feet he angrily told them to offer it to our Gurudev's feet, he was sitting in front of us, why do you offer to me? And after all this, Gurudev sat on the floor. Sant Mahārāja said, "I am requesting you to take a chair, you are ācārya of the organization." Gurudev replied, "The place of Hanumān is at the feet of Śri Rāmachandra. My place is at your lotus feet and you are my Gurudev." And he added, "Along with Śri Rāmachandra, Mother Sītā, brother Lakṣmaṇa, and Shatrugna will be there and my place is at your lotus feet, Mahārāja." Such is our Gurudeva's humility.

In the praṇam-mantra of our Param Gurudev, he is glorified with the words satīrtha prīti saddharma guru prīti pradarśine—these words are one hundred percent or we can say two hundred percent true. I read these two instances from the book Volcanic Energy by Śrila Bhakti Vijñāna Bhārati Gosvāmī Mahārāja in glories of Param Gurudev. One time Śri Vīrendra Govardhan Prabhu, our Prabhupāds disciple, and Param Gurudev's god-brother, fell ill, and as there was no one to take care of him, he took shelter at his disciple's place. Śrila Bhakti Śrauti Paramārthī Mahārāja (another of Prabhupāda's disciple) who visited him cried and said, "If Madhava Mahārāja were present here, then there would not have arisen this situation of your staying here at all. He would have kept you in his maṭh and his disciples would have served you." Param Gurudev's god-brothers had such trust, love, and affection for him.

Another instance is Bhakti Prasiddha Āchārya Mahārāja, who was Param Gurudev's god-brother, had written a letter to Param Gurudev that he needed fifty rupees urgently for medicines. At that time, Param Gurudev was in rented accommodation and would collect funds personally to run the maṭh. He would exchange rice that came as a donation in exchange for other things needed for deity worship. Param Gurudev was very sad that he is not able to serve his god-brother. Śrila Bhārati Mahārāja Param Gurudev then called his god-brother Uddarana Prabhu and explained the situation to him and asked him to somehow arrange for fifty rupees from the regular grocer to whom they would lend rice in exchange for other grocery requirements. But the grocer gave only thirty rupees and Param Gurudev's householder god-brother Govinda Prabhu's wife gave the balance of twenty rupees. Immediately Param Gurudev asked Śrila Bhārati Mahārāja to send the money order to his god-brother. When Śrila Mahārāja returned after sending a money order and reported to Param Gurudev, his face was filled with happiness that his god-brother gave me this service opportunity to serve him.

—Navin Vijay Prabhu (Mumbai) 

Source: gurukathā on Gokul India 
Spoken in Hindi, 30.4.2020. Translated to English by Rasavihari Das.






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