When He Engages Us in Sravaṇa-kīrtan, We Forget All Worldly Troubles
Bhakti begins with sravaṇa-kīrtan, (hearing and chanting) and when sravaṇa-kīrtan reaches the peak, the topmost stage, it also continues; it never stops.
There is nothing greater than when Gurudev is pleased by our efforts. Our Gurudev dedicated himself fully to his Gurudev; every engagement of his was serving Gurudev, forgetting about his food or rest. Param Gurudev entrusted him with much sevā, one service after another, and Guru Mahārāj would forget himself becoming so engrossed in completing that sevā in order to fulfill the desires of his Gurudeva, to please him. We have heard the instance when he shed incessant tears and got up leaving prasādam and very remorsefully ran to perform the sevā entrusted to him by Param Gurudev, which was only posting a letter. I practically saw that whenever Gurudev gave me letters to post, he would wait until I would return and report that the letter has been posted. He would give a lot of time and energy to write those letters in reply to devotees' letters and also ensured that they reach them on time.
I have a postcard written by Gurudev from Bathinda dated 17th November, 1987 after the completion of Vraja-mandala parikramā. At that time, a small postcard was priced at 15 paise. He took his precious time to write in a few lines about the whole story of Vraja-mandala parikramā. He would fill the postcard (which was the size of a mobile phone) with his writing in all directions.
A portion of the letter reads like this: "By the Grace of All-Merciful Sreela Gurudeva and Sree Gauranga, the month long Braja mandal parikrama, the Annakut-utsav at Koshi, and the Holy Advent Anniversary of Sreela Gurudeva at Vrindavan terminated grandly and very successfully. About 250 devotees participated in parikrama at the beginning. The number of participants increased up to 400 at Vrindavan. The devotees returned to their respective destinations on the 6th of November. Although there were irregularities in stay, prasad, and rest, all were happy due to continuous remembrance of Sree Krishna, seeing the holy pastime places of Sree Krishna, hearing the glories of each place, and chanting His Holy Name, etc."
(CC, Madhya 19.152)
Observing how Guru Mahārāj was managing and conducting the 64-kos Vraja-parikramā, we could not have imagined it. He did not miss a single program and did not give even a thought to his fever. There was not even a single doctor available in Vṛndāvan in 1984. Even in 1990 when Gurudev needed the doctor's help, not a single specialist doctor was available in Vṛndāvan. When malaria started spreading to the sadhus and other pilgrims, it was decided to give quinine malaria tablets—very bitter pills even to smell—that was served on the leaf plate along with lunch to all devotees.
Gurudev wrote on that postcard that there were irregularities in the arrangements for stay, food, and rest, but because of sravaṇa-kīrtan of the glories of the Lord, all the devotees were happy and blissful. There is a saying that those who are happy chant and hear harikathā. But in reality, it is the other way around, i.e. those who chant and hear harikathā are blissful, happy. If we are in any way listening to Gurudev, hearing from him all the time, where can there be bodily consciousness in us?
Gurujī's statement about me, "As there is less comfort here, he went there to stay," became a life- changing statement for me. I never looked back again— wherever Gurudev stayed. I would spread my bed on the veranda in front of his room door. I never bothered where I stayed or what I ate.
Guru Mahārāj had great concern for Punjab devotees; those were the days (1985) when terrorist activities had increased and innocent people were pulled out from trains and buses and killed. One day he said, "It has been quite some time since I've seen a newspaper, can I get one?" Hearing this, I ran to the market, to all the shops and all the book-sellers looking for an English daily paper, but could not find one. It was becoming dark then but I was desperate to find one with a spirit of being on a mission.
There is nothing greater than when Gurudev is pleased by our efforts. Our Gurudev dedicated himself fully to his Gurudev; every engagement of his was serving Gurudev, forgetting about his food or rest. Param Gurudev entrusted him with much sevā, one service after another, and Guru Mahārāj would forget himself becoming so engrossed in completing that sevā in order to fulfill the desires of his Gurudeva, to please him. We have heard the instance when he shed incessant tears and got up leaving prasādam and very remorsefully ran to perform the sevā entrusted to him by Param Gurudev, which was only posting a letter. I practically saw that whenever Gurudev gave me letters to post, he would wait until I would return and report that the letter has been posted. He would give a lot of time and energy to write those letters in reply to devotees' letters and also ensured that they reach them on time.
I have a postcard written by Gurudev from Bathinda dated 17th November, 1987 after the completion of Vraja-mandala parikramā. At that time, a small postcard was priced at 15 paise. He took his precious time to write in a few lines about the whole story of Vraja-mandala parikramā. He would fill the postcard (which was the size of a mobile phone) with his writing in all directions.
A portion of the letter reads like this: "By the Grace of All-Merciful Sreela Gurudeva and Sree Gauranga, the month long Braja mandal parikrama, the Annakut-utsav at Koshi, and the Holy Advent Anniversary of Sreela Gurudeva at Vrindavan terminated grandly and very successfully. About 250 devotees participated in parikrama at the beginning. The number of participants increased up to 400 at Vrindavan. The devotees returned to their respective destinations on the 6th of November. Although there were irregularities in stay, prasad, and rest, all were happy due to continuous remembrance of Sree Krishna, seeing the holy pastime places of Sree Krishna, hearing the glories of each place, and chanting His Holy Name, etc."
In the last line, the whole story is told. Life is like that. Vraja-mandala parikramā is of one month duration and all through filled with sravaṇa-kīrtan as Mahāprabhu says in Rūpa-siksā:
mālī hañā kare sei bīja āropaṇa
śravaṇa-kīrtana-jale karaye secana
[Translation]: When a person receives the seed of devotional service, he should take care of it by becoming a gardener and sowing the seed in his heart. If he waters the seed gradually by the process of śravaṇa and kīrtana [hearing and chanting], the seed will begin to sprout. *
I share my experience of Vraj parikramā. I went to Vṛndāvan alone for the first time in 1984, from Jammu to Delhi by train and Delhi to Vṛndāvan by bus. I reached Vṛndāvan bada (big) maṭh. It was the fourth and last week of parikramā. About four hundred and fifty devotees were residing there and there and our Param Pūjyapāda Bhakti Prasād Puri Mahārāj and Pūjyapād Bhakti Lalit Nireeha Mahārāj were assisting Śrila Gurudev in looking after the arrangements. Our Guru Mahārāj was in a small room near the kitchen, sharing the room with another devotee who is now Babajī at Dehradun. Guru Mahārāj would take us all on nagar-saṅkīrtan to various places in Vṛndāvan— mostly devotees were there from Bengal and Assam; I did not find any devotee from Punjab then. I had problems with the language, so I would closely follow Gurudev and was always with him.
Gurudev's kīrtan was so powerful and he would lead nagar-saṅkīrtan with great enthusiasm. He brought us to various temples starting with Śri Rādhā Dāmodara Mandir and we would hear glories of the places and remembrances of Param Gurudev— days were filled with bliss.
But the ground reality was also that in maṭh the prasād that was served was so simple. I do not have prasād-buddhi, but I will try to describe it. On a leaf plate. we would be served a lot of rice and on making a hole in the middle of the rice, dhal was served; there was no separate bowl for dhal. On the side, we would get some salt, a green chili, and one mixed vegetable.
During prasādam, we got the news that malaria is spreading and one elder Matajī from Dehradun had died. For the first time then, I witnessed how cremation is done in Vṛndāvan on the banks of Yamunā. I was alone and seeing all this, I got a bit anxious and I went to ISKCON and stayed in nice facilities. From our math to ISKCON, I had to cross the jungle. No buildings on the way, all through there were trees and no monkeys then. At that time, Yamunā water was so clear and pure that we could directly make ācaman from it and we could clearly see big tortoises under the water. I would go to ISKCON in the night to rest and come back to Guru Mahārāj early in the morning and spend the whole day with him.
One of these days Guru Mahārāj also got malaria with a high fever and shivering. Even in such a situation, he was still managing all the affairs, making all of the arrangements, and giving care and attention to everyone. I was with him in his room. Mr. Dey, an engineer from Bengal came to meet Guru Mahārāj and Guru Mahārāj introduced me to him saying he is from Jammu. I was young then. The first question Mr. Dey asked Guru Mahārāj was, "Where is he staying? Gurudev's answer to him was a life changing answer for me. He told Mr. Dey, "Here he has no comfortable stay, so he is staying in ISKCON." I felt so sad and pained at heart thinking why at all I went to ISKCON leaving Gurudev. I touched my ears (as a sign of seeking pardon) and decided I will never go to stay elsewhere seeking my comfort leaving Gurudev. This is a special remembrance of Gurudev.
Observing how Guru Mahārāj was managing and conducting the 64-kos Vraja-parikramā, we could not have imagined it. He did not miss a single program and did not give even a thought to his fever. There was not even a single doctor available in Vṛndāvan in 1984. Even in 1990 when Gurudev needed the doctor's help, not a single specialist doctor was available in Vṛndāvan. When malaria started spreading to the sadhus and other pilgrims, it was decided to give quinine malaria tablets—very bitter pills even to smell—that was served on the leaf plate along with lunch to all devotees.
Gurudev wrote on that postcard that there were irregularities in the arrangements for stay, food, and rest, but because of sravaṇa-kīrtan of the glories of the Lord, all the devotees were happy and blissful. There is a saying that those who are happy chant and hear harikathā. But in reality, it is the other way around, i.e. those who chant and hear harikathā are blissful, happy. If we are in any way listening to Gurudev, hearing from him all the time, where can there be bodily consciousness in us?
Gurujī's statement about me, "As there is less comfort here, he went there to stay," became a life- changing statement for me. I never looked back again— wherever Gurudev stayed. I would spread my bed on the veranda in front of his room door. I never bothered where I stayed or what I ate.
Guru Mahārāj had great concern for Punjab devotees; those were the days (1985) when terrorist activities had increased and innocent people were pulled out from trains and buses and killed. One day he said, "It has been quite some time since I've seen a newspaper, can I get one?" Hearing this, I ran to the market, to all the shops and all the book-sellers looking for an English daily paper, but could not find one. It was becoming dark then but I was desperate to find one with a spirit of being on a mission.
Someone suggested that I go to (Banke) Biharijī area, so I went inside the temple to seek the help of pandits and had darśan of Biharijī also. There I learnt that the Gosvāmīs of Śri Rādhā Vallabh Jiu get an English newspaper and so I went running through the lanes until I reached Śri Śri Rādhā Vallabh Jīu temple. Even without taking darśan of the deities, I ran up to the pūjārī to ask for the newspaper. He inquired why and for whom you want the paper and handed me the latest newspaper which had not even yet been opened. I rolled the newspaper into a stick and in great speed like lightning, I ran towards the maṭh.
By then, it was night and Guru Mahārāj was in his room which was room number 1 on the ground floor of the guest house. Gurujī had no secretary then, his sevāk had already gone to retire to his place. Guru Mahārāj already had his prasādam and had put off the light in his room. It seemed like Gurudev had latched his room door and was resting. There was light in the veranda and I did not know how I could hand over the newspaper which I brought with such great effort. I waved the rolled newspaper in front of the two windows to the room from the veranda itself, but did not get any response. Then I thought, okay, Gurudev will read it tomorrow.
As I was thinking thus, immediately the light was on and the room door was opened and Guru Mahārāj came out and asked, "Did you get the newspaper?" And I gladly handed over the paper to him. Then sitting in front of me, Guru Mahārāj read all the news of Punjab and was pacified.
Again in reference to what he wrote on the postcard, [mentioned above] he said, "All were happy." Why? Due to the continuous remembrance of Śri Kṛṣṇa, seeing the holy pastimes of Śri Kṛṣṇa, hearing the glories of each place, chanting His holy names, etc. Just imagine you are with Guru Mahārāj and following him on parikramā of dhāma—will you have any time to give attention to other things like accommodation, food, or rest? Guru Mahārāj would simply transfer us to a different world altogether and we felt as though we had become residents of that holy dhāma.
—Śri Rasavihari Das
—Śri Rasavihari Das
Guru-kathā via Zoom on 15-05-2020, Gokul India
translated from Hindi to English
*source of verse translation: BBT
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