His Never-ending Desire to Serve Śri Guru-varga

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I have witnessed Guru Mahārāj sending money orders to various maṭhs on the appearance and disappearance days of Param Gurudev's god-brothers who have entered nitya-līlā (eternal pastimes) thus offering his respects to them. He would ask me to go and send the money order to Durmuth, the birthplace of Śrīla Bhakti Vicāra Yāyāvara Gosvāmī Mahārāj for his appearance day celebrations.

In 2004 Gurujī came to Bathinda for observing Kārtik-vrat. In an act of expanded mercy, he informed us that Param Gurudev's Centenary celebrations also will be observed here and graced us all by his presence for one whole month. During this time he invited Parampūjyapād Bhakti Kaṅkaṇ Āśram Mahārāj, Āchārya of Pūjyapād Bhakti Gaurav Vaikhānasa Mahārāj's maṭh. He called Mahārāj in private and handed over a huge amount to him asking him to please install the deity of Śrīla Vaikhānasa Mahārāj at his samādhi temple in Gonjum, his birthplace (District Ganjam, Orissa). This gesture of Gurudev brought tears in the eyes of Śrī Āśram Mahārāj. Gurujī's mood is that I am not in a position to serve my guru-varga Śrīla Vaikhānasa Mahārāj and by his unlimited mercy Śrīla Vaikhānasa Mahārāj has accepted the little sevā from me. He sees Śrīla Vaikhānasa Mahārāj's greatness in this, not his own.

Our Param Gurudev's elder god-brother Nityalīlā Praviṣṭa Om Viṣṇupada Aṣṭottara-shata Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Svarupa Parvat Mahārāj is from Orissa. He is a very senior Vaiṣṇava in Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur's times. On Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākur's orders, he used to go on nagar-saṅkīrtan in Godrumdvip singing nadīyā-godrume nityānanda mahājana, patiyāche nām-haṭṭa jīvera kāraṇa and when he would return he would get sugar candy as prasādam.

He has a maṭh in Udala (a place in Orissa, fifty kilometers from Balasur near to Khīrāchora Gopīnātha, and thirty kilometers from Nilgiri). I have heard from Gurudev that Param Gurudev used to attend and preside over the annual function in Udala Maṭh. Gurudev also used to visit and preside over the function and during his sickness pastimes, Pūjyapād Bhakti Vijñāna Bhāratī Gosvāmī Mahārāj used to preside. There is no direct train facility to reach there, but I got the opportunity to visit the town this year after attending Guru Pūrṇimā at Anantapur. From their Āchāryadeva Śrīla Sagar Mahārāj, we have heard glories of Śrīla Parvat Mahārāj.

The Udala Maṭh is vast, in the lap of beautiful nature at the foot of a mountain— full of trees and clean surroundings. The maṭh is maintained very well. When I found very huge photographs of our Param Gurudev and Gurudev in the naṭāmaṃdira there along with Parvat Mahārāj's photograph, I was pleasantly surprised. Śrīla Vaiṣṇava Mahārāj (the present Ācārya there) told me that our Param Gurudev suggested to Parvat Mahārāj and Sagar Mahārāj to build sādhu-nivas in the vast vacant land of the maṭh. They expressed their inability because of financial constraints as the whole village in their care.

Later when Param Gurudev entered nitya-līlā, our Gurudev took it upon himself to fulfill the desire of Param Gurudev to build sādhu-nivas there and contributed in lakhs for the construction of the whole of the first floor. Our Gurudev had such a high degree of surrender to his Gurudev. Such are our Gurudev's dealings, thoughts, and activities.

—Śri Kṛṣṇananda Dās

Excerpted from Hindi to English translation, date: 07-04-2020





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