Gift of Saptam Goswami (2)

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur
11 September 2019, Kolkata, part 2

Dhama-dam. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur has given us the Holy Dham. Everybody told that Mahaprabhu's place had been submerged by the Ganges. You know that sometimes the water of the Ganges can take some land, and sometimes the Ganges can give that land back also. The Ganges did actually take the land of Mahaprabhu's birthplace at first, but then Ganga Devi gave it back for the devotees of Gauranga. You know that Columbus discovered America, but discovering America means the land was there before too, but somebody went there first and discovered it. So, the land of Mahaprabhu's birthplace was there too but Ganga Devi first hid it and then gave this land back. Who recognised and discovered that land? It happened by the mercy of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was staying at that time in Godrumdwip, Svananda-sukhada Kunja, the place where he started chanting the Holy Name. He would work the whole day as a magistrate in court, mixing with different people and devotees the whole day, and, when he came home in the early evening, he would go to bed early and wake up at midnight. His nature like this. At midnight, he would start his duty—he would go to the roof of his house and chant the Holy Name, the Hare Krishna maha-mantra on his chanting beads all night, from midnight to morning.

One day, when he was chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra on the roof, he suddenly saw some light in the distance. He wondered, "What is this light there? I should go there and see." When the morning came, he took some man with him and went there. When he came to the place where he saw the light was coming from, he saw a forest land with many Tulasi plants growing there. Some local Muslim person was passing by, perhaps some guard or an office worker, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur (at that time his name was Kedarnath Dutta) asked that man, "Who is the proprietor of this land?" The man replied, "We do not know who the proprietor is. This land suddenly came from the Ganges." Then Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur asked, "Why are you not cultivating anything in this area?" The man replied, "We have tried to cultivate this land—we planted rice, jute seeds, etc. but nothing grew, only Tulasi grows." Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur thought, "They keep cultivating this land, but they cannot kill the Tulasi plants—what is this?" Then he went to Nabadwip and spoke to Vaishnav Sarvabhauma Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj. He was a very old man by that time, about 137 years old. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur asked him, "Prabhu, I have been searching and found one land where only Tulasi grows. Can you come and see it?" Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj replied, "Yes, I too want to go and see it." Then, Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj's servant Bihari Das placed Babaji Maharaj into a basket and carried him to that land. When Srila Jagannath Das Babaji Maharaj arrived, he jumped out of his basked and started dancing, "O Hari bol! Hari bol! I have got it! I have got it! This is Prabhu's place! This is Mahaprabhu's birthplace!"

Following that, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur established the Yogapith temple as the birthplace of Sriman Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. At that time, some contradiction also came—all the babaji sampradayas united and filed a court case trying to overrule that Yogapith was the birthplace of Mahaprabhu, but they lost the case, and Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur won it. There are so many pastimes of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur...

Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj wrote one sloka in Bhaktivinod-vraha Dasakam,

srigauranumatam svarupaviditam rupagrajenadrtam
rupadyaih parivesitam raghuganairasvaditam sevitam
jivadyair abhiraksitam sukasivabrahmadi sammanitam
sriradhapadasevanamrtam aho tad datum iso bhavan

"What was sanctioned by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by His descent was intimately known only to Sri Svarupa Damodara Goswami. It was adored by Sanatan Goswami and served by Rupa Goswami and his followers. Raghunatha Das Goswami tasted that wonderful thing fully and enhanced it with his own realization. And Jiva Goswami supported and protected it by quoting the scriptures from different places. The taste of that divine truth is aspired for by Brahma, Siva, and Uddhava, who respect it as the supreme goal of life. What is this wonderful truth? Sri radhapadasevana: that the highest nectar of our life is the service of Srimati Radharani. This is most wonderful. O Bhakti Vinoda Thakur, you are our master. It is within your power to allow them to bestow their grace upon us. You are in a position to bestow the highest gift ever known to the world upon us all. It is at your disposal. O Bhakti Vinoda Thakur, please be kind to us and grant us your mercy."

It is a very beautiful poem, you can read it in the Kirtan Guide. When Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur saw it he said that it had not been written by Srila Sridhar Maharaj—Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur had himself come and written it. He said, "Happy style." Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur was very happy, very pleased with what Srila Sridhar Maharaj wrote about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur.

We cannot tell what Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur has given us in one day or one night, neither can we finish hearing his glorification. It is impossible to tell everything. We are only trying to tell something that we have heard from our Guru-varga, from our Gurudev.

Today we will sing Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's songs. [His Divine Grace starts chanting kirtans: • Gurudev bada krpa kari' • Nadiya-godrume nityananda mahajana • Emana durmati samsara bhitare • Amara jivana sada pape rata • Gaya gora madhur svare • Hare Krishna maha-mantra.]

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