Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
17 November 2010

Today is Utthana Ekadasi: Srila Gaura Kisor Das Babaji Maharaj's disappearance day.

Babaji Maharaj came to Nabadwip from Vrindavan. He got inspiration from Radha Krsna, "Why are you staying here at Radha Kunda? You must come to Nabadwip. My lila is not in Vrindavan, now My lila is going on in Nabadwip, so you must come here." Even though he was old at that time, he came.

Everybody saw him as pagal, crazy—he could not see anything, did not wear good clothes, he did not care for anything. Some boys threw stones at him, and he would say, "Gopal, what are You doing? I will complain to Your Mom, Yasoda, and Your Dad, Nanda Maharaj!" He would say like this, but people threw stones and spat at him... It was too much. Nobody recognised him at that time.

One time he went from Champahati to Godrumdwip, Svananda Sukhada Kunja, Bhakti Vinod Thakur's place. He was blind and could not walk, and it was amavasya, a dark moon day—it was pitch dark outside. (There was no electricity in Nabadwip at that time. You can see at Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur's place, his things are still kept there—his kerosene lamp, kerosene powered fan, etc.) So, Gaura Kisor Das Babaji Maharaj came there and called out to Bhakti Vinod Thakur. Bhakti Vinod Thakur came out and was surprised, "Maharaj, you came on such a dark night! How did you come here?!"

"Oh, somebody helped me."

"Who? Nobody is here, you are alone!"

"Oh, am I? No, somebody took my hand and brought me here. He was here just now..."

Babaji Maharaj took some dead body's cloth at a burning ghat, washed it, made knots and chanted on that. He would get some rice, but he did not cook it: he soaked it in some water and ate it three-four days later, when it got softer. That was his only food...

Once he was sitting inside a big palm tree's hollow on the bank of the Ganges, chanting, and when some naughty people walked past, they heard that he was talking with somebody: it was a lady's voice. They thought that some lady came to him at night, and they decided to watch the place in the day time to see who the lady was when she would come. They had kept guard there for two days but did not see anybody, although they could still hear Babaji Maharaj talking with a lady. In the end, they broke in and saw nobody was there. As they went away they could again hear the lady's voice, but they did not know who was talking and what they were talking about. Then you understand: Srimati Radhika came there, Gaura Kisor Das Babaji Maharaj was Her svaparsad, close associate.

When Gaura Kisor Das Babaji expired—today is the day when it happened—there was a big story on that day. All smarta babajis, goswamis of Nabadwip wanted to take the body of Babaji Maharaj, and they started fighting. When Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur heard what had happened, he came there with Kunja Babu, his disciple. He saw that many people were fighting over the body and the police were already there, but they could not decide who should take the body. Everybody claimed it was their Guru. Prabhupad said,

"They are saying they are disciples of Babaji Maharaj, but actually none of them is his disciple! When he was alive, no one cared, and now everybody is saying, 'He is my Guru.' They are all liars! They are dressed as sadhus, but none of them are sadhus. I am a naistik brahmachari (a life-long strict celibate), no one can tell a lie in front of me. There are many babajis, but they are all doing stri-sanga (have ladies' association). Let those who have not associated with a girl for the past six months raise their hands."

Some of them left.

"Let those who have not associated with a lady for the past three months raise their hands."

Some left.

"One month."

More left.

"Who has not done stri-sanga for the last three days?" (There are eight types of stri-sanga, it can be also thinking of a woman, etc.)

Then all of them went away. A policeman who was there asked Prabhupad, "How would you know it if they had said they had not done any stri-sanga?"

"I said I was a naistik brahmachari—none can tell a lie in front of me."

Prabhupad took the body of Babaji Maharaj and made his samadhi...

Bhakti Vinod Thakur sent Prabhupad (his previous name was Bimala Prasad) to take initiation from Babaji Maharaj. At that time Bimala Prasad did not know so much—he knew his father was a big personality, a district magistrate. When he came to see Babaji Maharaj, Babaji Maharaj said to him, "Get out! I want you to get out!" Prabhupad was surprised, "A boy comes for initiation and Gurudev says, 'Get out!' What is this?" He came back to his father and said that Babaji Maharaj had told him to get out.

Bhakti Vinod Thakur told him to go there again, and when he came again, this time Babaji Maharaj said to him, "You have come again, but your father is a very big personality, a great Vaisnav. Why do you not take initiation from your father?"

"My father has sent me to you."

"No, go to your father."

He went back to Bhakti Vinod Thakur, "Father, I have come back."

"Why? Have you not taken initiation?"

"No, he told me to take initiation from my father."

"No, no, go again tomorrow."

He again went to Babaji Maharaj the next day. Babaji Maharaj asked, "Why have you come?"

The next day again, "Why have you come? I must ask Gora Hari." (He always said, "Gora Hari.") Then another day Prabhupad came, "Maharaj, have you asked?" Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj said, "Yes, I asked, but I did not get an answer."

The next day Prabhupad came again, very humbly. Babaji Maharaj was testing his devotee: How tolerant is he? How much surrender does he have? He tested him in this way, and then finally gave initiation to Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur.

So, today is the disappearance day of this Babaji Maharaj. "Ki rupe paibe seva muni durachara: how will I, a fool, get service?" And another thing is,

যে আনিল প্রেমধন করুণা প্রচুর ।
হেন প্রভু কোথা গেলা আচার্য্য ঠাকুর ॥

ye anilo prema-dhana koruna prachura
heno prabhu kotha gela acharya thakura

Where has Advaita Acharya, the Lord who mercifully brought the wealth of divine love to this world, gone?

('Viraha-giti', 1, by Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

Today is a very good, nice day. Mahaprabhu asked Ramananda Ray,

দুঃখ-মধ্যে কোন্ দুঃখ হয় গুরুতব ? ।
কৃষ্ণভক্ত-বিরহ বিনা দুঃখ নাহি দেখি পর ॥

'duhkha-madhye kona duhkha haya gurutara?'
'krsna-bhakta-viraha vina duhkha nahi dekhi para'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, Madhya-lila, 8.247)

"What is our saddest day? What is a sorrowful day?"—"It is bhakta-viraha, separation from a devotee."

Your mother dies, your father dies... but who is a brahmachari's mother? A brahmachari's father and mother is Lord Krsna. "Krsna mata, Krsna pita"—we are saying this, but at the same time we hear such things as, "Oh, that brahmachari's father died, his mother died." What news is that? Does a brahmachari have a father, a mother? A brahmachari's only father and mother is Krsna. "Krsna mata, Krsna pita, Krsna dhana prana": Krsna is your parent, Krsna is your father, Krsna is your mother. Your other "mother/father" are false. (These are not my words—it is said in the scriptures.)

Gurudev often told me, "Always be careful."

In front of Gurudev's veranda there is Srila Sridhar Maharaj's well and pump, and one time Gurudev saw me walking there and almost slipping. Gurudev said, "Be careful! You are a brahmachari, and the brahmachari life is very slippery! Any time you can fall down." Gurudev always gave examples.

Another example Gurudev gave was about iron and magnet. If you are always together with a girl, always talking, talking, talking, it is like iron and magnet—attraction is inevitable. Also, if there is a fire and some dry straw, the fire will be attracted to the straw—the fire is here and the straw is there, they are far from each other, but before you know it you will see the fire has already gone there. Do you understand? Be careful.

মায়ারে করিয়া জয় ছাড়ান না যায় ।
সাধুর-গুরুর কৃপা বিনা না দেখি উপায় ॥

mayare kariya jaya chhadana na yaya,
sadhur-gurur krpa vina na dekhi upaya

"It is not possible to conquer maya by illusory environment (by engaging in maya), but it is only possible to get relief by the mercy of Guru, Vaisnav."

Jay Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay!

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Download (5.1 Mb)