Rescuing Mahaprabhu's Line

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, evening class
2 January 2021, part 2, translated from Bengali

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur himself appeared here in Bengal, in Birnagar (in a village called Ula). This place was run by a son of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, Lalita Prasad, who had came to the sahajiya line, and since then the place has been under sahajiyas. He also had a place in Vrindavan, I have never been there. Lalita Prasad was always envious of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, although they were brothers. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur gave all power, all wealth of Srimati Radharani to Bimala Prasad (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur), and because Lalita Prasad could not take share of it, he was envious. That is why Srila Saraswati Thakur wrote to him once, "Baba badha Radha."

I also tell you about it from time to time. It means that 'father' (baba) is one thing, and Guru is another thing. Everybody knows their father, and in every birth everyone gets a father—when I was a dog, I had a father; when I was a goat, I had a father. We have gone through many births, and in this birth we have an Indian father, but when we were born in Mexico, Pakistan, China, we had other kinds of fathers. You get a father in every birth, but it is not in every birth that you can get a Guru. Gurudev is Srimati Radharani Herself, or Nityananda Prabhu. You must remember this. Some of my disciples call me 'baba' ['father', also an affectionate/familiar address to any male]. I do not say anything, but it is not right. A father is a low conception—Gurudev's position is higher than that. Gurudev belongs to Radharani or Nityananda. You must remember this. I do not tell to people when they say 'baba', but you must understand these things. You must understand what 'Baba badha Radha' means.

Lalita Prasad only thought of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur as his father, and he always called him 'father' ('baba'), but Bimala Prasad (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur) never considered Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur from this point of view. He always considered him his Guru. Although Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was his father, he considered him his Guru. Even when they lived together in one house, Srila Prabhupad called his father 'Prabhu'. He called Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj 'Prabhu', and he called Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur 'Prabhu'. He did not call him 'father'. That is why Srila Prabhupad said to his brother, "Because you see Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur only as your father you cannot get Radha—you only get a father. You only see the body, and you see that this body is your father, but you cannot recognise that which is within him. You do not understand the transcendental relationship that is there in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur; in that relationship, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur is Srimati Radharani Herself. Your inability to understand this relationship is the obstacle (badha) to attaining Srimati Radharani." Do you understand the meaning of these words?

Anyhow, seeing the deplorable situation in the world, Srila Bhaktivonod Thakur started collecting Vaishnava scriptures. Many years before that, when devotees (Srila Narottam Das Thakur, Srila Srinivas Acharya Prabhu, and Srila Shyamananda Prabhu) were bringing scriptures from Vrindavan to preach in Bengal, they were robbed by the people of King Birhambir in Vishnupur, Bankura area. Later, the king admitted his mistake and apologised, but the scriptures ended up getting scattered around. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur later rescued and collected those scriptures that contain the authentic teachings of Sriman Mahaprabhu. Through these scriptures, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur learnt what the true conception of Mahaprabhu was. Then, he thought, "I will retire from the government service and instead of returning to Odisha, I will come to stay in Godrumdwip." He did that, and he came to stay here in Godrumdwip.

Before that, he served as a magistrate in Odisha and was the head of Jagannath Puri government committee. He was in charge of the Jagannath Temple during that time. He punished some big bogus sadhu and did so many other things during that time. You can read about it in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's autobiography. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur lived in Puri with his spouse, Sri Bhagavati Devi. One day, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur went with his spouse to Bimala Devi's (Laksmi Devi's) Deity in Sri Jagannath Temple and, offering his obeisances to her, prayed, "Please give me a son who will be able to preach Mahaprabhu's line properly." Jagannath heard his prayer, and then Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur got his sixth son, Sri Bimala Prasad, who later became renowned as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He is Gurudev of our Param Gurudev (Srila B.R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj).

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