(3/4) Srila Swami Maharaj Starts His Mission

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
18 November 2020, Kolkata, part 3

When Srila Swami Maharaj returned from a preaching programme, he would always speak to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. Because they were staying together at that time, they would often speak about Krishna-katha, Hari-katha. One time, someone saw them speak, and they asked Srila Swami Maharaj, 'Prabhupad, what conversation was going on between you and Srila Sridhar Maharaj?' Srila Prabhupad replied, 'If you heard it, you would faint.' Such was his relationship with Srila Sridhar Maharaj.

When Srila Swami Maharaj first came to Srila Prabhupad, Srila Prabhupad told him, 'You have the qualification, you can preach in the Western world in the English language.' Srila Swami Maharaj always remembered what Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur had told him and was always enthusiastic to go to the West. After his initiation, he kept a good relationship with Srila Sridhar Maharaj and took his good association.

Eventually, Srila Prabhupad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj wanted to leave his family life and accept sannyas. Srila Swami Maharaj came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj and asked him, 'I want to take sannyas from you,' but Srila Sridhar Maharaj replied, 'It will not look good. I have stayed at your house, so your wife and other relatives will abuse me, saying that I am a bad person – I came, stayed with them and now I am taking her husband away by giving him sannyas. It will not look good. It will be better if you go to Vrindavan, stay there for six months or a year, and after that you can take sannyas.' Srila Prabhupad A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj said, 'Maharaj, I cannot. I am becoming very old, and Srila Prabhupad told me that I should preach. I want to go for preaching in the West now.' Then, Srila Sridhar Maharaj told him, 'All right, then I can select your name, and you can take sannyas from Srupad Bhakti Prajnan Keshav Maharaj. I have given the mantra to him, so you can take it from him; it is the same as taking it from me, but our relationship will remain the same as before. If I give you sannyas myself, then I cannot take you as my disciple, and you also cannot take me as your sannyas-guru. You always take me as your siksa-guru, that is sufficient. It is not necessary to take sannyas from me. You can receive sannyas from Sripad Keshav Maharaj.'

Srila Swami Maharaj did that and took sannyas from Srila Keshav Maharaj. After that, he went to Vrindavan. He stayed at the Radha-Damodar temple (you all know this place, it is near our Vrindavan temple, and we always pay our obeisances to his room there when we go to Vrindavan every year). At that place, he started translating Srimad Bhagavatam.

Soon after that, receiving an inspiration from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, Srila Swami Maharaj wanted to go abroad. But before going abroad, he came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj to ask him for his mercy. He said, 'Maharaj, I want to go abroad, please give me some mercy.' Srila Sridhar Maharaj gave him his mercy and said, 'Yes, you can go there for preaching.' It was 1965 at that time, and Srila Swami Maharaj was 69 years old! He travelled to America empty-handed, without any money. He only took some clothes and a trunk of books with him. He got very much austerity there. I have heard from Srila Guru Maharaj that Srila Swami Maharaj would sit under a tree and chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, and many hippies would join and listen to his kirtan, dancing to it. Then, Srila Swami Maharaj started to preach Hari-katha to them, and they became devotees. This is how his mission started.

One time, when Srila Swami Maharaj was in America, he was very sick. He wrote a letter to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, saying, 'Maharaj, I am living in this western world, so far from Vrindavan. I want to go back home...' Srila Sridhar Maharaj replied, 'You are not an ordinary person, Maharaj. You are a great Vaishnav. You have mercy and you are preaching in the Western world – that is very great fortune. Who is capable of preaching like this? So, why do you want to come back? Do not think like that. You are distributing Hari-katha in the Western world and you are a great Vaishnav, so wherever you are living that is Vrindavan.' When Srila Swami Maharaj read Srila Sridhar Maharaj's letter, he felt very peaceful and did not return to India at that time.

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Transcendental Glory of Srila Swami Maharaj
2) Srila Swami Maharaj's Reply
3) Srila Swami Maharaj Starts His Mission
4) Srila Swami Maharaj's Return to India