Acharyas' Arrival in Nabadwip

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nrisingha Palli, evening class
2 January 2021, part 3, translated from Bengali

This is how Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was born in Sri Jagannath Puri, at a place called Narayan Chata. It used to be a simple house, and now there is Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Maharaj's temple, Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur stayed there during the period of his government service in Puri, and there he got his sixth son.

When his son, Srila Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad, was only six months old, there was a Ratha Yatra festival in Puri, and when the chariots came to the house of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, they stopped and did not move. Then, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur brought out his little son, Srila Saraswati Thakur (his name was Bimala Prasad when he was born, in honour of Bimala Devi's prasad, or mercy) and touched his head to the chariot. When they climbed atop the chariot, Jagannathdev's garland tore and fell on Bimala Prasad's neck! After that, the chariot started moving again to Gundicha. Seeing this, everybody could understand that this boy would be a great personality in the future.

Later, when Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur became the magistrate at Krishnanagar, he got a place in Svaruganj and settled in Godrumdwip. First, he stayed at Surabhi Kunja and later moved to Svananada Sukhada Kunja, nearby, where he stayed with Bimala Prasad. It was his vanaprastha life. He left his wife and daughters and came to live there with only his son. He taught him everything, including all scriptures and Sanskrit.

Although Bhaktivinod Thakur taught Bimala Prasad himself, he did not give him initiation. Bimala Prasad went to take initiation from Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj. Babaji Maharaj had spent thirty years in Vrindavan, at Radha Kunda. Eventually, he got some inspiration from Srimati Radharani, "There is nothing left in Vrindavan. All pastimes of Radha-Krishna are all going on in Nabadwip, which is non-different from Vrindavan Dham and where all the pastimes of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu took place. You must go to this Nabadwip Dham." Following this inspiration, Babaji Maharaj came to Nabadwip.

I told you the other day that at some point, Babaji Maharaj stayed in a public toilet. People asked him, "Why are you staying here? Do you not find it difficult to live with the smell?" Babaji Maharaj replied, "This toilet smell can be tolerated, but I cannot tolerate the smell of materialists! What beads did Babaji Maharaj chant on? Many worry, "What happens if mala breaks?" I still, to this day, have the beads that I received from Gurudev's hand, and I never looked at what mala Gurudev gave me—Gurudev gave it to me, and that is my mala. However, the disciples are such that they examine what mala they were given to see if there is anything wrong with it, etc. How did Babaji Maharaj chant the Holy Name? He found some cloth at the crematorium, tore a strip, and tied knots on it. He used that cloth-made mala to chant the Holy Name, "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare."

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