Some Remembrances of Śrīla Gurudeva With Śrīla Santa Gosvāmī Mahārāja
We have seen our Gurudev deliver up to four harikathās on any normal day and sometimes it would even go up to seven or eight in a day at various locations in the cities. And his specialty was that he would invariably include Śrīla Bhakti Pramod Puri Gosvami Mahārāj and Śrīla Bhakti Kumud Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj at the beginning and at the end of those seven to eight sessions in his jayadvani. This shows his śraddhā in them.
Once Gurudev was in Jammu with the pracār party accompanied by Śrīla Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj. As Śrīla Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj played pastimes of sickness there, he was shifted to the residence of Śrī Madanmohan Dās (Śrī Madanlal Gupta Prabhu) the first floor for complete rest and also to enable the doctor’s direct observation. On the day of nagar-saṅkīrtana, Gurudev went for darśan of Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj and to take his blessings. Gurudev humbly requested him not to strain himself to come down and to take good rest, and he agreed.
I have heard many sannyāsis express that Śrī Nityananda Prabhu and Śrīman Mahāprabhu personally manifest and dance on their tongues when Gurudev sings "Kahan Nityānanda, Kahan Gaurahari" in kirtan. Other senior guru-varga and vaiṣṇavas say that his kirtan makes listeners realize the truth that nāma and nāmi are abhinna, non-different.
As Gurudev was leading nagar-saṅkīrtana that day suddenly a white car arrived and stopped in front of Gurudev and Śrī Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj alighted from the car with his walking stick in hand. Gurudev was surprised and offered pranāms. Before he could say something, Sant Mahārāj said, "Mahārāj, I could not stay back..." I was with Gurudev and I remember those words well.
The parikramā proceeded to Śrī Raghunātha mandir where it was to conclude. Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj could not hold himself and in the courtyard of the temple itself began singing a Bangla kirtan: sacira-angane amar gaura saṅkīrtana arambila. It means in the courtyard of Mother Saci, our Gaura began saṅkīrtana. Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj was repeating the words "amar gaura, amar gaura...." and he went into raptures; his whole body exhibited all the eight ecstatic symptoms of devotion. Devotees had all gathered around him in the form of a circle and all were crying. Our expert mṛdaṅga player Amarendra Prabhu also could not keep pace with Mahārāj's kirtan. Then inside Śrī Raghunātha mandir he sang, "Ramā Lakṣman Jānakī, Jai bolo Hanumān ki" in front of the deities. The kirtan was so wonderful that all devotees forgot themselves.
When Śrīla Sant Gosvami Mahārāj was residing in Śrī Madanlal Gupta's place, I went to meet him accompanied by my senior god-brother Bhūtabhāvan Prabhu and his mother. Śrī Bhūtabhāvan Prabhu had desired that his mother accept harinām from our Gurudev. She had already accepted harinām from a pseudo sect and was afraid she would commit an offense if she accepted initiation again from Gurudev. Then Śrīla Mahārāj spoke such convincing words to her: "Those who have taken shelter of Śrī Madhav Gosvāmī Mahārāj are most fortunate and will surely attain eternal welfare and similarly, those who have taken shelter of Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj who is a real sādhu, they will surely attain their eternal welfare." He had such regard for our Gurudev.
Following Param Gurudev's practice, Gurudev would invite Śrīla Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj to Kolkata maṭh during Janmāṣṭamī/Nandotsav festivals to bless devotees with harikathā. Once when he arrived, he went straight to Śrīla Trivikram Mahārāj's room and sat there. I was present there and I also offered pranāms. That time a tall sannyāsi came in and offered pranāms to Śrīla Sant Mahārāj and Śrīla Trivikram Mahārāj. Then the sannyāsi humbly prayed to Śrīla Sant Mahārāj in Bangla for blessings so that he could do pracār of Mahāprabhu's Vani in Murshidabad District (West Bengal).
Once Gurudev was in Jammu with the pracār party accompanied by Śrīla Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj. As Śrīla Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj played pastimes of sickness there, he was shifted to the residence of Śrī Madanmohan Dās (Śrī Madanlal Gupta Prabhu) the first floor for complete rest and also to enable the doctor’s direct observation. On the day of nagar-saṅkīrtana, Gurudev went for darśan of Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj and to take his blessings. Gurudev humbly requested him not to strain himself to come down and to take good rest, and he agreed.
I have heard many sannyāsis express that Śrī Nityananda Prabhu and Śrīman Mahāprabhu personally manifest and dance on their tongues when Gurudev sings "Kahan Nityānanda, Kahan Gaurahari" in kirtan. Other senior guru-varga and vaiṣṇavas say that his kirtan makes listeners realize the truth that nāma and nāmi are abhinna, non-different.
As Gurudev was leading nagar-saṅkīrtana that day suddenly a white car arrived and stopped in front of Gurudev and Śrī Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj alighted from the car with his walking stick in hand. Gurudev was surprised and offered pranāms. Before he could say something, Sant Mahārāj said, "Mahārāj, I could not stay back..." I was with Gurudev and I remember those words well.
The parikramā proceeded to Śrī Raghunātha mandir where it was to conclude. Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj could not hold himself and in the courtyard of the temple itself began singing a Bangla kirtan: sacira-angane amar gaura saṅkīrtana arambila. It means in the courtyard of Mother Saci, our Gaura began saṅkīrtana. Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj was repeating the words "amar gaura, amar gaura...." and he went into raptures; his whole body exhibited all the eight ecstatic symptoms of devotion. Devotees had all gathered around him in the form of a circle and all were crying. Our expert mṛdaṅga player Amarendra Prabhu also could not keep pace with Mahārāj's kirtan. Then inside Śrī Raghunātha mandir he sang, "Ramā Lakṣman Jānakī, Jai bolo Hanumān ki" in front of the deities. The kirtan was so wonderful that all devotees forgot themselves.
When Śrīla Sant Gosvami Mahārāj was residing in Śrī Madanlal Gupta's place, I went to meet him accompanied by my senior god-brother Bhūtabhāvan Prabhu and his mother. Śrī Bhūtabhāvan Prabhu had desired that his mother accept harinām from our Gurudev. She had already accepted harinām from a pseudo sect and was afraid she would commit an offense if she accepted initiation again from Gurudev. Then Śrīla Mahārāj spoke such convincing words to her: "Those who have taken shelter of Śrī Madhav Gosvāmī Mahārāj are most fortunate and will surely attain eternal welfare and similarly, those who have taken shelter of Śrīla Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Gosvāmī Mahārāj who is a real sādhu, they will surely attain their eternal welfare." He had such regard for our Gurudev.
Following Param Gurudev's practice, Gurudev would invite Śrīla Sant Gosvāmī Mahārāj to Kolkata maṭh during Janmāṣṭamī/Nandotsav festivals to bless devotees with harikathā. Once when he arrived, he went straight to Śrīla Trivikram Mahārāj's room and sat there. I was present there and I also offered pranāms. That time a tall sannyāsi came in and offered pranāms to Śrīla Sant Mahārāj and Śrīla Trivikram Mahārāj. Then the sannyāsi humbly prayed to Śrīla Sant Mahārāj in Bangla for blessings so that he could do pracār of Mahāprabhu's Vani in Murshidabad District (West Bengal).
That time Śrīla Mahārāj was sitting in a very blissful mood and was speaking with Śrīla Trivikram Mahārāj. He asked, whose disciple are you and the sannyāsi replied I am a disciple of Śrīla Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāj. Just hearing these words Śrīla Mahārāj got upset and angry. He said, "Are you Mādhava Mahārāj's disciple? What pracār will you do? Listen to me. Residing in Mādhava Mahārāj's maṭh and serving there even by sweeping the floor is devotion. That will do you good. Go, stay in the maṭh, and serve by sweeping the floor." The person's face fell down in shame and disappointment. He was chastised very severely and was told to leave.
Our Param Gurudev and Śrīla Mahārāj have very close relations and there are many instances that illuminate this. When Śrīla Mahārāj decided to establish a maṭh in Behala, Kolkata, a local political party with an atheist background became very opposed to the temple coming up in the locality. When they were facing great hardships, our Param Gurudev personally supervised the construction activity. He visited Behala every day to oversee that everything was done properly. So that was the commitment of Param Gurudev for his god-brother.
Śrīla Sant Mahārāj also visited Punjab many times. He was in Jalandhar during the inauguration of the Chandigarh Maṭh and Gurudev would request him to speak harikathā. He would speak in a very powerful way and he would give teachings on how to chant harinām.
Our Param Gurudev and Śrīla Mahārāj have very close relations and there are many instances that illuminate this. When Śrīla Mahārāj decided to establish a maṭh in Behala, Kolkata, a local political party with an atheist background became very opposed to the temple coming up in the locality. When they were facing great hardships, our Param Gurudev personally supervised the construction activity. He visited Behala every day to oversee that everything was done properly. So that was the commitment of Param Gurudev for his god-brother.
Śrīla Sant Mahārāj also visited Punjab many times. He was in Jalandhar during the inauguration of the Chandigarh Maṭh and Gurudev would request him to speak harikathā. He would speak in a very powerful way and he would give teachings on how to chant harinām.
When our Gurudev would remember Srila Sant Maharaj and his pastimes, he would mention particularly about an instance in Medinipur when a poor farmer came to the city to get some money for his daughter's marriage. He exchanged some of his old jewelry in a jewelry shop and heard the owner and his servant chanting the holy names of Govinda, Gopāla, etc. He also saw that they were wearing tilaka and kāntihara and mistakenly thought they were all good people, devotees of the Lord. We have heard this instance from Śrīla Sant Mahārāj himself.
Once I privately asked Śrīla Sant Mahārāj a question: when chanting should we give more importance to the number of rounds or give attention to the quality of our chanting? In reply, he explained to me, what is the benefit of chanting in a great hurry to only complete the rounds? You should chant nāma with arthi (a bhāva like Gajendra, in great desperation, in distress, with eagerness and thirst). Then I asked him what is arthi then he said, you have to chant, call the Lord's name from the core of your heart, in a vocative case (sambōdhana-ātmaka), as if addressing Him, calling Him by His name. we have seen such arthi in our Guru Mahārāj [he played a video of Guru Mahārāj chanting mahāmantra with great arthi]. If it were not for this example, we would not have known what the word arthi implies.
When in Kolkata we would always go with a group of about twenty devotees to visit Śrīla Sant Mahārāj's maṭh at Behala to offer him pranāms. He would show us great affection and also speak harikathā. He would make us sit on the veranda in front of his room on the first floor to honor prasad. Earlier he would sit on a chair, later in his sickness pastimes on a wheelchair, and directly sitting in front of us give directions to his sevaks while they served prasād. We would feel hesitant to honor prasād in front of him. Also, he gave strict instructions to brahmacārīs to lift our leaf plates after prasād and would not allow us to do it ourselves. Like this, he would give us his teachings.
One of his teachings is that our connection with Gurudev is important. Like if you switch on the fan, the fan moves but the electricity is coming from outside, from the powerhouse. That powerhouse is Gurudev from whom you get the power for your spiritual life. If you are disconnected, then you cannot function. Thus he explained to us about the āmnāya-dhara (line of guru-parampara) which begins from Śrī Kṛṣṇa and comes down in the guru-parampara and you get this connection from Gurudev and only by connecting with the guru-parampara āmnāya-dhara you will attain all-auspiciousness, otherwise not.
—Kṛṣṇananda Dās
Once I privately asked Śrīla Sant Mahārāj a question: when chanting should we give more importance to the number of rounds or give attention to the quality of our chanting? In reply, he explained to me, what is the benefit of chanting in a great hurry to only complete the rounds? You should chant nāma with arthi (a bhāva like Gajendra, in great desperation, in distress, with eagerness and thirst). Then I asked him what is arthi then he said, you have to chant, call the Lord's name from the core of your heart, in a vocative case (sambōdhana-ātmaka), as if addressing Him, calling Him by His name. we have seen such arthi in our Guru Mahārāj [he played a video of Guru Mahārāj chanting mahāmantra with great arthi]. If it were not for this example, we would not have known what the word arthi implies.
When in Kolkata we would always go with a group of about twenty devotees to visit Śrīla Sant Mahārāj's maṭh at Behala to offer him pranāms. He would show us great affection and also speak harikathā. He would make us sit on the veranda in front of his room on the first floor to honor prasad. Earlier he would sit on a chair, later in his sickness pastimes on a wheelchair, and directly sitting in front of us give directions to his sevaks while they served prasād. We would feel hesitant to honor prasād in front of him. Also, he gave strict instructions to brahmacārīs to lift our leaf plates after prasād and would not allow us to do it ourselves. Like this, he would give us his teachings.
One of his teachings is that our connection with Gurudev is important. Like if you switch on the fan, the fan moves but the electricity is coming from outside, from the powerhouse. That powerhouse is Gurudev from whom you get the power for your spiritual life. If you are disconnected, then you cannot function. Thus he explained to us about the āmnāya-dhara (line of guru-parampara) which begins from Śrī Kṛṣṇa and comes down in the guru-parampara and you get this connection from Gurudev and only by connecting with the guru-parampara āmnāya-dhara you will attain all-auspiciousness, otherwise not.
—Kṛṣṇananda Dās
Spoken in Hindi on 13.4.2020, the appearance of Śrīla Bhakti Kumud Sant Gosvami Mahārāj (siksa guru of our Gurudev)
Briefing in English by Śrī Rasabihari Prabhu
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