(1/7) 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

Jay Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Visva-varenya Srila Guru Maharaj ki jay.
Om Vishnupad Jagad-Guru Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay.
Rupanuga-guru-varga ki jay.
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay.
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay.
Bhakta-prabara Prahlad Maharaj ki jay.
Suddha-bhaktir-vighna vinasa-kari Bhagavan Nrisinghadev ki jay.
Sri Sada-Siva Gangadhar, Giriraj Govardhan ki jay.
All the assembled devotees ki jay.
All the worldwide devotees ki jay.
Harinam sankirtan ki jay.
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol.

mukam karoti vachalam pangum langhayate girim
yat krpa tam aham vande sri-gurum dina-taranam

‘The dumb can speak, the lame can climb a hill – all it takes is mercy from gurudev.’

(Bhavartha Dipika)

om ajnana-timirandhasya jnananjana-salakaya
chaksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri-gurave namah

‘I offer my obeisance to Sri Guru, who has opened my eyes, rescuing me from the illusory darkness of ignorance, by applying the salve of knowledge upon my eyes.’

gurvvabhista-supurakam guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam
chintyachintya-samasta-veda-nipunam sri-rupa-panthanugam
govindabhidham ujjvalam vara-tanum bhakty anvitam-sundaram
vande visva-gurun cha divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam

‘I offer my obeisance to him who perfectly fulfils his gurudev’s most cherished desires; who is fully adorned with the blessings of his gurudev’s associates; who is expert in all conceivable and inconceivable aspects of Vedic knowledge; who is the pre-eminent follower of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhu’s line; who is known as “Govinda” (Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj); whose beautiful, effulgent, exalted form is infused with pure devotion; who is the guru of the entire universe; and who is the giver of the seed of divine love for the Supreme Lord.’

devam divya-tanum suchhanda-vadanam balarka-chelanchitam
sandrananda-puram sad-eka-varanam vairagya-vidyambudhim
sri-siddhanta-nidhim subhakti-lasitam sarasvatanam varam
vande tam subhadam mad-eka-saranam nyasisvaram sridharam

‘I worship Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, the bestower of all auspiciousness, my only shelter and the master of all renunciates. He is my Lord, who possesses a transcendental form, whose face expression is very grave, who is clad in the holy clothes the colour of the newly risen sun. He is an abode of intense joy, the only genuine master whom one can accept and surrender to, and an ocean of divine knowledge of renunciation. A repository of holy scriptural teachings and pastimes of the highest devotion, he is a great follower of Srila Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad.’

vanchha-kalpatarubhyas cha krpa-sindhubhya eva cha
patitanam pavanebhyo vaisnavebhyo namo namah

‘Again and again I offer my obeisance to the Supreme Lord’s devotees, who are saviours of the fallen, oceans of mercy and wish-fulfilling trees.’

vrndayai tulasi-devyai priyayai kesavasya cha
krsna-bhakti-prade devi satyavatyai namo namah

‘Again and again I offer obeisances to Vrinda Devi (Tulasi Devi), who is very dear to Lord Kesava, who bestows devotion to Krishna and is known as Satyavati.’

atha natva mantra-gurun gurun bhagavatarthadan
vyasan jagad-gurun natva tato jayam udirayet

‘Before reciting scriptures that can conquer material world, let us offer obeisances to our initiating guru, to the guru who teaches us the meaning of Srimad Bhagavatam, to Sri Vyasadev and all gurus in the universe.’

jayah sa-parikara sri-sri-guru-gauranga-gandharva-
govindasundar-padapadmanam jayastu

‘All glory to the lotus feet of Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva-Govindasundar and all Their associates.’

vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau

‘I worship Sri Rupa Goswami, Sri Sanatan Goswami, Sri Raghunath Bhatta Goswami, Sri Raghunath Das Goswami, Sri Jiva Goswami and Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami.’

sri-krsna-chaitanya prabhu nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi gaura-bhakta-vrnda

hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare
hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare
hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

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. As I told you yesterday, Gurudev chose to appear in Bamunpara, a village near Putsuri, in the Bardhaman district. He accepted Nitaipada Adhikari as his father and Tarangini Devi as his mother – to bestow His mercy on the jiva souls, the Lord sent him, 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 His other 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 a small thatched house (the rent he paid was 58 rupees).

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

Before Gurudev appeared, his father, Nitaipada Adhikari, and mother, Tarangini Devi, had a few children, but they had 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 a son of Lord Siva. It was also his 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 father went to Lord Siva to offer him worship. At the temple, he heard Lord Siva say, ‘You said that you had 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 he came back home, he told his mother (Gurudev’s grandmother), ‘Mother, 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.’

— : • : —

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

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THE LECTURE

Size: 17 Mb
Length: 40 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Gurudev's Appearance
2) Gurudev's Coming to Temple
3) Perfect Adherence
4) Who Is Guru?
5) Sri Guru Tattva
6) Guru's Greed, Disciple's Greed
7) Deceivers and Deceived