His Choice of Speaking Topics
I went with Guru Mahārāja to programs in Europe and the former Soviet Union States in 1999. He took me with his team and sent me in advance. Actually, I first came to Europe and then to the Soviet Union. So I was collaborating with European devotees and with ex-Soviet devotees about how to organize the program and how to receive Guru Mahārāja.
My idea was to bring him into the public as much as possible to different institutions such as universities and other spiritual organizations like ISKCON. We wanted to invite a lot of people and spread posters everywhere. We also had ideas to go to TV and radio stations and speak with journalists to give some advertisements about our programs in different places. So I went to different places along with local devotees we tried to bring him as widely as possible around Europe and the former Soviet Union.
And Guru Mahārāja was prepared. Actually, we had an agenda for him in advance that presented him with information about where he would speak, whether it be university or college students or professors and staff. We even had topics set before he went. We had discussed with the institutions what kind of topic they like to hear about, i.e. Oriental Studies department or Philosophy department, as they may have some interest in different topics and Guru Mahārāja can offer that. Also, we asked local devotees if they wanted to hear some particular topic related to śāstra.
I remember once we had a group of devotees who liked to hear Vedānta Sūtra. I came to Guru Mahārāja and asked him if he could please read Govinda Bhāṣya of Vedānta Sūtra. We have an edition of that by Siddhanti Mahārāja who has a maṭha in Kalighat near our Kalighat temple. He was Prabhupāda’s disciple. He published 3 or 4 volumes of Govinda Bhāṣya by Śrila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana Prabhu in Bengali and he added some comments himself.
We told him that we had these volumes and asked if he could read them. His reply was very amazing. He said, "This is the first time I am requested to speak on Vedanta Sūtra. I have to prepare myself and I need to read it." We left with him a set of 4 volumes of Siddhanti Mahārāja and he prepared and gave lectures on that. He read different sūtras and explained them and it was very interesting. It was in 2002 and it was recorded; even some videos are there.
There was a big group of devotees. They discussed his lectures every day and asked some questions about what he was speaking about. The festival continued for 4 or 5 days. In every lecture, he spoke about a few sūtras. This happened in Voronezh (a city in the south of Russia) in 2002.
For all festivals, we were always inventing different topics for him. We thought, let Guru Mahārāja describe these difficult topics to expose his erudition in śāstra and give some deep understanding of them. We were a team of organizers thinking about what kind of topics this time we would offer for Guru Mahārāja.
Guru Mahārāja would sit for a few days and do some writing from different śāstras to prepare for the lecture. He would prepare himself by referring to different dictionaries, and different śāstras and going here and there, and then speaking on that topic. I think the same situation happened when different books were published by Mandala in the US.
When Arjun das from Holland produced the publications known to you now like "Suddha Bhakti," "Sages of Ancient India" and "A Taste of Transcendence" under Ramadas and Mandala Publications. They (these books) are based on transcriptions from lectures in the West. It is common in the West that we always demand some topic to explain. We had all the books here, huge libraries brought from India in advance, so he did not need to carry all the books with him. We have many Bengali books here, thanks to the devotees who brought them.
And Guru Mahārāja was prepared. Actually, we had an agenda for him in advance that presented him with information about where he would speak, whether it be university or college students or professors and staff. We even had topics set before he went. We had discussed with the institutions what kind of topic they like to hear about, i.e. Oriental Studies department or Philosophy department, as they may have some interest in different topics and Guru Mahārāja can offer that. Also, we asked local devotees if they wanted to hear some particular topic related to śāstra.
I remember once we had a group of devotees who liked to hear Vedānta Sūtra. I came to Guru Mahārāja and asked him if he could please read Govinda Bhāṣya of Vedānta Sūtra. We have an edition of that by Siddhanti Mahārāja who has a maṭha in Kalighat near our Kalighat temple. He was Prabhupāda’s disciple. He published 3 or 4 volumes of Govinda Bhāṣya by Śrila Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana Prabhu in Bengali and he added some comments himself.
We told him that we had these volumes and asked if he could read them. His reply was very amazing. He said, "This is the first time I am requested to speak on Vedanta Sūtra. I have to prepare myself and I need to read it." We left with him a set of 4 volumes of Siddhanti Mahārāja and he prepared and gave lectures on that. He read different sūtras and explained them and it was very interesting. It was in 2002 and it was recorded; even some videos are there.
There was a big group of devotees. They discussed his lectures every day and asked some questions about what he was speaking about. The festival continued for 4 or 5 days. In every lecture, he spoke about a few sūtras. This happened in Voronezh (a city in the south of Russia) in 2002.
For all festivals, we were always inventing different topics for him. We thought, let Guru Mahārāja describe these difficult topics to expose his erudition in śāstra and give some deep understanding of them. We were a team of organizers thinking about what kind of topics this time we would offer for Guru Mahārāja.
Guru Mahārāja would sit for a few days and do some writing from different śāstras to prepare for the lecture. He would prepare himself by referring to different dictionaries, and different śāstras and going here and there, and then speaking on that topic. I think the same situation happened when different books were published by Mandala in the US.
When Arjun das from Holland produced the publications known to you now like "Suddha Bhakti," "Sages of Ancient India" and "A Taste of Transcendence" under Ramadas and Mandala Publications. They (these books) are based on transcriptions from lectures in the West. It is common in the West that we always demand some topic to explain. We had all the books here, huge libraries brought from India in advance, so he did not need to carry all the books with him. We have many Bengali books here, thanks to the devotees who brought them.
Actually, he asked us about the agenda and itinerary, and he called for a preliminary itinerary. So in that, we described all the dates, all the places, and the topics. This was very important for him. He asked us to set the topics. He said, "You know the public, you know the devotees, you know the local places and what would be of interest to them." And we sent that itinerary to him. Then he reviewed that and decided, "Yes, I will speak on this, but I will not speak on this. So please choose something else." So we actually offered several options for him. You may speak on this like Rāmānanda Rāya Saṁvāda or something else.
And sometimes he turned back and said, "No, I will not describe this." Like rasika topics, he would not discuss. We offered different options and he selected what was appropriate for him. When we offered this Vedanta Sūtra, he was kind of confused and said, "You know I never spoke about this. I have no experience like this." But we said we had all the books and no problem and devotees were eager to hear this and he finally agreed.
And sometimes he turned back and said, "No, I will not describe this." Like rasika topics, he would not discuss. We offered different options and he selected what was appropriate for him. When we offered this Vedanta Sūtra, he was kind of confused and said, "You know I never spoke about this. I have no experience like this." But we said we had all the books and no problem and devotees were eager to hear this and he finally agreed.
—Vṛndāvana Dasa
Spoken on August 20, 2023
Hare krishna prabhu
ReplyDeleteCan you share guru dev's recordings?