Leading His Disciples on Goalpara-dhām Parikramā

Gurujī told us that in his childhood he used to go to the Shivajī temple near his house crawling on his knees because there was no other way through the forest. He would sit for hours, he said, "together" there. He spoke only this much, nothing more about it. From whatever little he spoke we got the hint of his teaching that Shivaji is vaiṣṇava vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ (SB 12.13.16) and if you pray to him from the core of the heart, he will bestow you the wealth of Kṛṣṇa-prema, Kṛṣṇa-nāma and engage you in sevā.  

I recall how Gurujī came down to the main road and showed us the open field just opposite which is called Hari Sabhā, the place where Gurujī had the first darśan of his Gurudeva and from where Param Gurudev delivered a very powerful (tejīyas) harikathā. Nearby Hari Sabhā is a small pond by the name Kāśimitra. Gurujī went near the pond and said, “I used to take bath in this pond.”  Though we felt we should take the water of the pond upon our head, we dare not do it in front of Gurudev and so postponed it for the later part of the day.  

From there, Gurujī took us to the Goalpara Library which was constructed entirely from wood. When he walked up to the librarian's seat, he remembered when he borrowed Jaiva Dharma after Param Gurudev’s advised him to read it. The librarian told him that he was the first person to ask for the book. It had been there for a long time and no one had borrowed it. “Then I brought the book and read it,” he said.  As Gurujī went a little further, we got a chance to offer praṇāms at that place. 

Gurujī was going ahead and we were following him from just behind when he reached the banks of the Brahmaputra River. We observed many boulders in the river and on the bank. Indicating that he had sat there, Gurujī said, “This place is quiet, peaceful, and without any disturbances, so I would come here for my studies.”  It was such a beautiful place and even Gurujī stood there for a while engrossed in the beauty and the quietude of the place of his study pastimes.

We were surprised to see how vigorously Gurujī walked along the way; although we were young then, we were feeling tired. When he reached a plain patch between two small huts and said, “In this place, Prapanna Ashram once stood.” Śrī Ananta Prabhu was with us and Gurudev asked him to offer kirtan there. He sang mahāmantra kirtan in an Assamese tune for some time and then we offered praṇāms to the place and came back. On the way, we also saw the school where Gurujī studied in childhood. Recently there was a call from Śrī Vijay Lambajī that the school authorities have gladly approved for displaying Gurujī's big oil portrait there.

After touring the Janmasthān with Gurujī, we returned to the maṭh where Gurujī spoke harikathā on the glories of that day's ekādaśī-tithi and Śrī Rāmānujācārya and Śrī Madhvāchārya's appearance days. Gurujī spoke kathā in Hindi for us and also a little in Bangla. Gurujī asked Pūjyapāda Bhakti Niketana Turīyāśrami Mahārāj to speak in Rabha, (a dialect spoken specifically by traditional people on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra River) his pūrvāśram's tribal language. He stood up and spoke kathā, but I could not understand a word of it.  The local devotees were all happy to hear him and Gurujī also was pleased.  Pūjyapāda Tapasvī Mahārāj was there and he took great care of us and made us eat all the special local dishes like pita, rasa pita (sweet pita), muwa, (jaggery coated murmura), etc.  In short, it was a very pleasant and memorable tour for us.

The second time I got the fortune of visiting Goalpara-dham was in 1997 when our Guru Mahārāj was there for one whole month. There was Param Pūjyapāda Bhakti Śaraṇa Trivikram Mahārāj and other mahātmās of our maṭh. Śrī Bhakti Saranga Gosvāmī Mahārāj's Maṭh Āchārya, Param Pūjyapāda Parivrājakāchārya Tridandi Swami Bhakti Sarvasva Trivikram Mahārāj was also there. He had great affection and love for our Gurujī and we have heard him speak in Gurudev's glories during Śrī Rāmanavamī celebrations and also when he presided over Gurujī's Viraha-sabhā in Chakdah. He was senior to Gurujī and Gurujī would give him due respect. Āchārya Mahārāj and Avadhūta Mahārāj were also present.  When we reached in the afternoon around 2 PM, Gurujī immediately came out of his room and went with us to our allotted room and asked a sevāk to check the fan and light facilities and to offer mats to us. It was Kartik month and sabhā would begin again at 4 PM. Regardless, Gurujī was still overseeing our arrangements; his affection has no limits. He was very pleased to see us there.  Just after we had finished honoring prasād, we heard Gurudev giving jaya-dhvani and we left our rooms immediately to hear Gurujī's kathā.  

—Śrī Kṛṣṇananda Prabhu (Kuldeepjī)

Transcript of Gurukathā on Gokul India, 23.4.2020 

Spoken in Hindi, translated to English by Rasavihari Das