(1/13) An Auspicious Evening

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Basirhat, 13 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 Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj ki jay.
Om Vishnupad Bhagavan Sri Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad ki jay.
Rupanuga-sri-guru-varga ki jay.
Namacharya Haridas Thakur ki jay.
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ki jay.
Samagata Sri Gaura bhakta-vrinda 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.
Harinam sankirtan ki jay.
Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol.

Devotee: Jay Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya-varya Ashtottara-sata-sri Srimad Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj ki jay. Nitai Gaura premanande Hari bol.

vande ’ham sri-guroh sri-yuta-pada-kamalam sri-gurun vaisnavams cha
sri-rupam sagrajatam saha-gana-raghunath-anvitam tam sa-jivam
sadvaitam savadhutam parijana-sahitam krsna-chaitanya-devam
sri-radha-krsna-padan saha-gana-lalita-sri-visakhanvitams cha

‘I worship the holy lotus feet of my initiating and instructing guru as well as all predecessor gurus and all Vaisnavs; Sri Rupa Goswami, his elder brother Sri Sanatan Goswami, along with their dear associates Sri Raghunath and Sri Jiva; Sri Advaita Prabhu, Sriman Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Krishna Chaitanyadev, along with all His near and dear ones; and Sri Sri Radha-Krishna, along with Their dear associates Lalita, Visakha and others.’

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

‘I offer my obeisance to Sri Guru, who has opened my eyes, which were blinded by the darkness of ignorance, by applying the anjan (potent kajol, or antimony) of knowledge upon them.’

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 a 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 suffused 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 my obeisance to Vrinda Devi (Tulasi Devi), who is very dear to Lord Kesav, 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 the gurus in the universe.’

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

‘All glory to the holy 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

[Clamour in the audience.] Please do not talk, stay quiet. If some of you are busy cooking, busy with the service to the Lord, then do your service with your hands and only say ‘Krishna’, ‘Krishna’ with your mouths. There must be no other talks.

We are very fortune because we have come today on this auspicious evening. A very special day is coming very soon…

[His Divine Grace calls a devotee and instructs] Can you get a lau (gourd)? Make some payesh with lau, milk and sugar. Mahaprabhu is leaving Nabadwip tomorrow to take sannyas, so make some payesh from lau and milk, enough for everyone.

On this day today, in the evening, Mahaprabhu sat together with all the devotees in Nabadwip. Only four devotees (Vakreswar Pandit, Mukunda, Nityananda Prabhu, Sachi Mata and maybe Vishnupriya) knew that Mahaprabhu would leave tomorrow in the morning. Nobody else knew about it. Mahaprabhu left early in the morning, at dawn, swimming across the Ganges… He left Sachi Mata and Sri Vishnupriya Devi to save the fallen souls of this world such as ourselves. Do you know what Mahaprabhu told everyone that evening (today)?

‘Do you really love Me or not?’ Mahaprabhu asked everybody.

‘Yes, Prabhu, we love You,’ the devotees answered.

‘If you have any love or affection for Me,’ Mahaprabhu said, ‘then only say “Krishna” – do not say anything except “Krishna”. I am leaving Nabadwip, but My life, My heart and soul will stay with you all. I will always be with you.’ Then, Mahaprabhu turned to Srivas Pandit, ‘Srivas, you must have kirtan at your house every evening. You will see Me come there.’

One time, somebody asked Mahaprabhu, ‘Prabhu, where do You stay?’ Mahaprabhu replied, ‘I stay at My mother’s kitchen, in Nityananda’s dancing, at Srivas Angan and at Raghav Bhavan.’ Sachi Mata’s kitchen is where Nimai’s Mother always thinks about Him and cooks for Him – where she thinks, ‘If only Nimai was here, I would cook all these nice things for Him and feed Him!’ Srivas Angan is the house of Srivas Pandit, and Raghava Bhavan is the house of Raghav Pandit in Panihati, where Raghav Pandit’s sister, Damayanti, cooks so many things for Mahaprabhu during the whole year. Two months before Ratha-yatra, when Sivananda Sen and Raghav Pandit went to Puri with all the devotees, they would put baskets full of different pickles (achar), kasundi, pitha (cakes), pana (snacks) and many other preparations on their heads and carry them to Mahaprabhu in Puri.

It is a very auspicious day today – to fulfil His devotee’s desire, Mahaprabhu told His mother, ‘Mom, please make some payesh with milk and lau.’ Sachi Mata was surprised, ‘Oh, but it is cold in the evening! Who is going to have lau when it is so cold?’ It was cold because the month of Magh was coming (the end of the winter season). Mahaprabhu took sannays on poila magh (the first day of Magh) – He walked to Katwa and took sannyas from Keshav Bharati. So, tomorrow He will be walking the whole day. It is forty to forty-five kilometres to Katwa from Nabadwip. He walked the whole day and in the evening appeared at the door of Keshav Bharati’s ashram.

Each of our temples observes this day. It is Sankranti tomorrow, the day when Mahaprabhu left Nabadwip. Before He left, He told everyone:

যদি আমা’-প্রতি স্নেহ থাকে সবাকার ।
তবে কৃষ্ণ-ব্যতিরিক্ত না গাইবে আর ॥

yadi ama’-prati sneha thake sabakara
tabe krsna-vyatirikta na gaibe ara

‘If you all have love and affection for Me, then do not chant anything else except “Krishna”.’

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.28.27)

Why does Lord Krishna come in this Kali-yuga? What was His purpose? To rescue the conditioned souls who are ruined by Kali and live in the material bondage of illusion. The souls of the material world always think, ‘This is my house’, ‘This is my room’, ‘This is my son’, ‘This is my relative’, ‘This is my wife’, ‘This is my daughter.’ They always think like this and live in the world of ‘my, my, my’. There is so much illusion… We sing in a kirtan written by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur:

কবে শ্রীচৈতন্য মোরে করিবেন দয়া ।
কবে আমি পাইব বৈষ্ণব-পদছায়া ॥

kabe sri chaitanya more karibena daya
kabe ami paiba vaisnava-pada-chhaya

‘When will Sri Chaitanya (my chaitya-guru) be merciful to me? When will I come in the shade of Vaishnavs’ feet?’

কবে আমি ছাড়িব এ বিষয়াভিমান ।
কবে বিষ্ণুজনে আমি করিব সম্মান ॥

kabe ami chhadiba e visayabhimana
kabe visnu-jane ami kariba sammana

‘When will I give up this mundane ego? When will I give honour to the Lord’s devotees?’

(Sri Kalyan-kalpataru, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)

When will I be able to surrender at Vaishnavs’ holy lotus feet and know about the Lord?

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Length: 112 min
Language: Bengali

READ OTHER PARTS:

1) An Auspicious Evening
2) An Auspicious Birth
3) Turning Back Home
4) Beyond Perverted Comfort Zone
5) What Are Your Plans?
6) Life In Lord's Family
7) Not So Fast, Not So Cheap
8) Mano-dharma vs. Bhagavat-dharma
9) Eternal Values
10) Ultimate Word of Scripture
11) Guided and Misguided
12) Exclusive Zone
13) Insurmountable Devotion