Dwelling in Our Hearts, He Understands Our Feelings

Once in Kolkata Maṭha (even after becoming Ācārya), Gurudev went quietly and started washing cooking vessels by himself after he heard the cook say that they had not been cleaned for the evening cooking. Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja happened to see Gurudev do this and made him leave it saying it would be taken care of. Like this, Gurudev gave us teachings through his conduct.

 

During his final sickness pastimes in 2017 from 12th April to 20th April, Gurudev gave us instructions that we have to always perform nāma-saṅkīrtana, we have to read holy scriptures like Śrīmad Bhagavātam, and continue harināma-japa while endeavoring to perform deity worship. He called all disciples to him and inspired and engaged them in these services for eight full days. This is his mercy.

Gurudev is not an ordinary personality. I remember a few instances to demonstrate this. 

Gurudev was in Delhi and some devotees came from Jalandhar to visit him for a weekend. They thought they will have darśan of Gurudev and then have prasādam. It was around 2.30pm when they arrived and Gurudev's sevāk had closed Gurudev's door after lunch. He asked them to come back for darśan at 4 pm. The devotees were disappointed and thought how can we have lunch now when we did not have Gurudev's darśan? Additionally, If they had darśan after 4, they will be late for their train. They sat quietly in the corridor waiting without any noise so as not to disturb Gurudev. Gurudev is antaryāmī, an indweller of the hearts, so he casually pulled up the window curtains and saw the group of about ten or fifteen devotees eagerly waiting outside for his darśan. He called all of them in, then after darśan they had prasādam and left for home. If he is not antaryāmī how could he have known their heart's feelings?



In Kolkata on Janmāṣṭamī-tithi, Gurudev delivered kathā, sang kirtans, and concluded. A new man in the audience was thinking that Kṛṣṇa is Nanda Mahārāja's son and felt that Gurujī neglected to speak anything about this. Gurudev had already concluded and offered closing prayers; even his mic system was moved. Gurudev asked me for the mic again and said, "Kṛṣṇa is Nanda Mahārāja's son and so it is indicated in Bhagavātam that He is Nandātmaja. He appeared in Vasudev's heart and took birth from Yaśodā's womb in Nanda Mahārāja's home. In another place, it is said that Yogamāyā is Kṛṣṇanuja, who appeared after Kṛṣṇa's appearance.” That person was surprised and confessed to me that he had a question as to why Gurudev did not speak about this but felt ashamed to ask it in front of everyone. But knowing his heart's desire, Gurudev spoke about it even after he had concluded the session. Such is Gurujī's transcendental character.



In 2005 Gurujī called me to Kolkata and told me that our Gurudev had the desire to publish magazines in other languages and so it would be good if one magazine is published in Oriya. I offered him prāṇaṁs and said, "With your blessings, I will surely try my best, but do not know whether it will be possible for me or not." He said, "Gurudev's desire will be fulfilled, you proceed." I discussed what the title of the magazine could be with Śrīla Bharati Mahārāja. There is a magazine in Bengali by the name of Śrī Caitanya Vani, and in Hindi Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Sandesh. He suggested it can be "Gauranga Vani," or "Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Vani." Then I went and discussed it with Gurudev and he said, "Śrī Gauranga Vani" and ticked it. And within one month, I was able to take the first copy of the magazine to Gurudev and he became so very pleased.



When I was in Kolkata once and was about to leave for Puri, Gurujī called me and asked "What time you are leaving? The train is at 4 pm, so you have to leave by 2 pm from here. And what food are you taking with you? Is it sufficient?" Like this, he called me 3-4 times before leaving and asked the same questions, then I had to tell him I will be taking five parathas with me, etc., then he asked again if it was sufficient. Then I would have to say at this particular time I will have this, and later time I will have that. This demonstrates Gurujī's perfect planning.

 

I had been to Goalpara for Gurujī's darśan during his illness pastimes and then he spoke to me. He said, "This place has been given to me to serve my Gurudev, so I have to develop it, but until now nothing has happened, so I want to stay here and complete the work." He expressed his desire that Goalpara becomes a place of visit for devotees.

 Gurudev is non-different from Nityānanda Prabhu, non-different from Baladeva. I offer anantakoti sāṣṭāṅga dandavat prāṇaṁs at his lotus feet and pray to forgive all my offenses and bestow mercy and servitorship, so that I may surrender myself and become his humble servant.



—Śrī Bhakti Sambhandh Shuddhadwaity Mahārāja 

From zoom meeting hosted by GOKUL India, 29.4.2020 by Rasavihari Das