Gurudev's Appearance

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Vyasa Puja of Srila B.S. Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, morning programme
1 January 2021, part 1, translated from Bengali

Today is 1 January, the first day of the year, and this is the day of my Gurupadpadma Om Vishnupad Jagad Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj’s appearance. You are all present here on this occasion. Choosing this holy dvitiya tithi day, Gurudev appeared in this world 92 years ago. I told you yesterday that Gurudev chose to appear in Bamunpara, a village near Putsuri, in the Bardhaman district. Gurudev accepted Nitaipada Adhikari as his father and Tarangini Devi as his mother – to bestow His mercy on the jiva souls, the Lord sent His own associate to this world.

You know that our Param Gurudev, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, came back from Vrindavan to Nabadwip in 1941. As you also know, Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur left this world on 1 January 1937 (his disappearance day is in a few days), but the Lord sent another His associate to this world to tell the souls about Him. After Srila Prabhupad’s disappearance, it happened so that Srila Sridhar Maharaj left Chaitanya Math and came to Nanda-gram, Vrindavan. While he was staying there, he heard a divine message from Srila Prabhupad: ‘You have come to Vrindavan for your own benefit – to practise spiritual life and go back to the Lord – but what will become of My fallen souls in this world?’ Hearing this message, Srila Sridhar Maharaj came to Koladwip, where he first rented one small thatched house.

At first, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj stayed alone. Gradually, his godbrothers started coming to him, and our Gurudev came also a few years later, in 1947.

Before Gurudev appeared, his father, Nitaipada Adhikari, and mother, Tarangini Devi, had a few children, but they all died. So, eventually, they made a promise to Dharmaraj Buroraj (Lord Siva’s Deity in Jamalpur, Bardhaman) that if they had one more child, they would give the child to him. That is why when Gurudev appeared, he was named Dharma Das, and that is also why we say that Gurudev is the son of Lord Siva. It was also Gurudev’s peculiarity that when he spoke – when words came out of his holy mouth – it was impossible to forget it.

When Gurudev was six days old and his family arranged his chhathi ceremony (performed for children on their sixth day), Gurudev’s mother went to Lord Siva to offer him worship. At the temple, she heard Lord Siva say, ‘You said you have given this child to me, but you are doing this worship taking the child as your own. Why did you put this black mark on his forehead? Instead of a black dot, you must put a chandan dot on his forehead!’ When she came back home, she told Gurudev’s grandmother (his father’s mother), ‘Ma, put a chandan dot on Dharma Das instead of a black dot. I have got this order from Dharmaraj during the worship. I have no right over this child.’

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