He Very Clearly Establishes the Supremacy of Devotion

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With a few words, I want to describe what I have learned from Gurudev. When I came to the maṭha, I had a desire to live in Vṛndāvana.  In 2003 I did kārtika-vrat in Delhi with Guru Mahārāja. In 2004 I attended kārtika-vrat in Bathinda. In 2006 I was coming from Vṛndāvana to Kolkata, Gurudev was in Delhi at that time. Gurudev called me and told me that I should go to Māyāpur where Śrī Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja was in charge of Māyāpur at that time and I was to assist him. I had no desire to leave Vṛndāvana and go there, though I had no understanding of the tattva of Vṛndāvana. 

Gurudev said so lovingly to me that I could not say no to him. I had heard that Gauḍīya-maṭha is like a spiritual school and we are the students, and the Guru and Vaiṣṇavas are like professors. So I came to Māyāpur on ekādaśī day. I had some biscuits given to me by a devotee and I gave it to a dog in the maṭha. At that time I did not know that grain should not be offered to anybody on ekādaśī. And when I gave the biscuit to the dog on that ekādaśī day, even the dog did not take it. Then I realized that anybody who prays to go to Gauḍīya-maṭha, even a dog or a cat, by the mercy of Guru and Vaiṣṇavas they don't just become a student but they become teachers. Gauḍīya-maṭha is the place where we can obtain the highest goal. 

Prahlad Mahārāja has said in the seventh canto that one will not get an attachment to Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa by any means except finding a pure devotee to take foot-dust from and smear it all over your body.  That is the only way to get the favor of Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.  Forget about kṛṣṇa-bhakti, even your material attachments will not go away without the mercy of a pure devotee and our Gurudev is such a pure devotee.  

I remember one incident in Bangalore.  It was in 2004 and Gurudev asked me to go with him to Bangalore.  There was one program kept in Śrī Ramakrishna Mission in Bangalore. It is a nice auditorium.  Some devotees were telling Gurudev that the followers of Śrī Ramakrishna Mission are all very educated.  Of course, the Ramakrishna Mission believes in māyāvād philosophy and worship of Kali Devī.  They are influenced by the philosophy of Śrī Śaṅkarācārya. 

One of my god-brothers even went to the extent of telling Gurudev to be careful while speaking there.  Gurudev arrived there, took his seat, and began to speak. They had fixed the precise time for him to speak. The topic was related to Bhagavad-gītā and Gurudev spoke about karma, jñāna, and bhakti-yoga establishing the supremacy of bhakti and refuting all the principles established by Śaṅkarācārya one by one. Gurudev very clearly established the supremacy of devotion. 

There were many people sitting outside the auditorium.  So many people had come but there was pin drop silence.  Even the saints of Śrī Ramakrishna Mission were present there.  Gurudev concluded his speech and the kirtan was performed.  Then one of the saints of the Ramakrishna Mission said that our Head person wants to speak something. Some people supporting him brought him to the stage because he was an elderly person.  Then we were a bit perturbed about what he was going to say.  The Head of the Ramakrishna Mission took the microphone and everyone was left wondering what he was going to speak as Gurudev had already refuted all Śaṅkarācārya principles. 

First of all, he paid his respects to our Guru Mahārāja. He said he has done research on Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, has read so many commentaries, and has given many lectures on it. He said,  "I have heard so many commentaries on Gītā in the last sixty years but the way Guru Mahārāja has spoken in the commentary of Gītā I have never heard before; in fact, he has added a new chapter to my life.  Whenever Gurudev comes to Bangalore again he is always welcome to hold a program here."

I want to pray unto the lotus feet of my Gurudev that I have not performed any bhajan and I have no qualification to understand the Vaiṣṇavas.  I pay innumerable prostrated obeisances to his lotus feet that life after life he gives me a place at his lotus feet.  

I have heard many times Gurudev read the final words of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupad. There is one line that he says with great enthusiasm: "You should spread the teachings of Śrī Rūpa Raguṇatha." Śrīla Gurudev is a living example of this throughout his life.  

Once there was a Governing Body Meeting in Kolkata in 2008 or 2009.  At that time I was Maṭha-in-charge of the Kolkata maṭha. Gurudev called for his diary and somebody brought it.  There were some kirtans, some notes, and some parts of the final words of Śrīla Prabhupad.  One after the other all those teachings are written. Śrī Swarupa Damodar Prabhu was reading from it which was in Hindi and then the diary was given to me as other parts were written in Bangla. I went on reading it and it went on for two hours and then he gave me another diary. So in that GBC meeting for two hours he only made us hear harikatha.  And that is the example of the final word of Śrīla Prabhupad to spread the teachings of Śrī Rūpa Raguṇatha.  This is the greatest example.  

—Śrī Bhakti Parangata Sannyāsī Mahārāj

Spoken in Hindi, translated to English






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