(3) Saving Mahaprabhu's Line

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur's appearance day, Hooghly district
24 February 2019, morning, part 3
Translated from Bengali

You all know that after Mahaprabhu left (after He finished His pastimes in this world), Acharya Srinivas, Sri Shyamananda Prabhu and Srila Narottam Das Thakur started preaching Mahaprabhu's message, and after them Mahaprabhu's religion took a different turn. In the name of preaching Mahaprabhu's religion, people started doing objectionable things, tarnishing Mahaprabhu's line. Many bogus sampradayas sprang up: i>aul, baul, kartabhaja, nera,darvesh, saki, sahajiya, sakhibheki, smarta, jata-gosani, atibari, chudadhari, gauranga-nagari. As the result, people started criticising Vaishnavs. Moreover, desiring to gratify their carnal lust for sexual union, so-called Vaishnavs became notorious for their vitiated character. People used to hate Vaishnavs.

Many years after that, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur (Kedarnath Dutta) appeared in the Ula village in Birnagar, Nadia. He first worked as a high school teacher, then he passed exams and became a magistrate. It was the time of British rule. He worked as a magistrate in Kanaighat and Dinajpur. From there, he started collecting scriptures about Mahaprabhu (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, Sri Brahma-samhita and many others). Reading all those books, he saw what Mahaprabhu preached in this world and realised that what people were preaching was all misconception.

In Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's time, everybody said Mahaprabhu's birthplace had been lost in the Ganges, but when he worked as a magistrate in Nadia and lived at Svarupganj, Svananda Sukhada Kunja in Godrumdwip (when we go for Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama, we always visit it – our Nrisingha Palli temple is near, too), he proved that it was not so.

He came to stay in Godrumdwip together with his son Bimala Prasad. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and his spouse Bhagavati Devi had prayed to Bimala Devi (Laksmi Devi) at Lord Jagannath's temple (when we go to the temple, we see Bimala Devi and offer her obeisances), 'Please give us somebody who will be able to preach Mahaprabhu's genuine teachings in this world.' Pleased with their prayer, Bimala Devi gave them a son. This son was named Bimala Prasad. He was born in a place called Narayan Chata in Sri Puri Dham. This was the birthplace of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. We always go there when we do Sri Puri Dham parikrama – there is a temple of Pujyapad Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj. In his later years, Srila Prabhupad stayed at Chatak Parvat; we also always visit it. It is near our temple and near Tota Gopinath's temple. The house is situated on a hill, so it is compared to Govardhan.

Many things happened after that. In the end, Srila Prabhupad's teachings were preached in this world by Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was present in this world for only sixty-four years, but during those sixty-four years, he established sixty-four temples, mainly here in India, as well as a few places abroad. He preached Gaudiya teachings (Mahaprabhu's teachings) widely in this world.

Before opening his first temple in Mayapur, Srila Prabhupad had vowed to perform a ‘sata-koti Nama-yajna’ – he made a promise to chant a billion Holy Names in Mayapur. It took him six years, six months and sixteen days to complete it. All this time, he only chanted the Holy Name. When he completed his vow, Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharvika Giridhari (Srimati Radharani) appeared in front of him and said, 'O Nayana Manjari, preach about Mahaprabhu in this world (about His dasa-tattva and viraha-lila). Preach about Me.' Srila Prabhupad replied, 'Preach? But I am alone. How will I preach?' Srimati Radharani told him, 'Do not worry, I will send My associates (those who took part in My pastimes in Vrindavan) to you.' You know the names of all the great scholarly personalities who came to assist Srila Prabhupad: our Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj (the founder of ISKCON), Srila Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Goswami Maharaj (Kunja Babu, the successor acharya of Sri Chaitanya Math), Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Goswami Maharaj (Vinod Bihari Brahmachari, the acharya of Sri Devananda Gaudiya Math), Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaj (the founder of Sri Gaura Nityananda Mandir; he took sannyas from Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj), Srila Bhakti Kamal Madhusudan Goswami Maharaj (the founder of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Math ), Srila Bhakti Aloka Paramahamsa Goswami Maharaj (the founder of Sri Paramahamsa Gaudiya Math), Srila Bhakti Kumud Shanta Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Goswami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Prakash Aranya Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Vivriti Puri Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Vichar Jajavar Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Gaurava Vaikhanash Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Svarup Parvat Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj and many others. Srimati Radharani sent them all together to Srila Prabhupad. Most of them were given sannyas by Srila Prabhupad, and, perhaps, five or six, were given sannyas later by Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. All of them started preaching, and now their disciples and grand-disciples also travel all over the world preaching Mahaprabhu's genuine teachings.

So, today is the appearance day of this great soul, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad...

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