SRI NABADWIP DHAM
MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

Antardwip (Atmanivedanam: self-submission)

Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad's Mission

By the mercy of Sri Gurupadpadma, leaving Sri Nandan Acharya's Bhavan, we have now arrived at the headquarters of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) and the puspa-samadhi-mandir of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad in Sri Dham Mayapur.

Om Vishnupad Srila Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad laid a channel to the West, and so many devotees are now coming through that channel. But for his mercy, we would not have been able to conceive today that anything like this could be possible. We feel very happy to be getting the association of international devotees now.

You have all heard that Sriman Mahaprabhu made the following prediction:

"prthivite yata achhe nagaradi grama
sarvatra prachara haibe mora nama"

'My Name will spread to every village and town on this earth.'

Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad tried in many ways to spread the nectar of Sri Krishna-katha and the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in the West and East – he had sent many disciples abroad, but they were not particularly successful. However, Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur had a disciple upon whom he bestowed special mercy – this great soul and exalted Vaishnav is Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad. Srila Swami Maharaj preached all over the world and succeeded in conquering all Western and Eastern countries through Krishna consciousness.

Srila Swami Maharaj met our Srila Param Guru Maharaj (Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj) for the first time in Allahabad when Srila Guru Maharaj went there for preaching. Both had not yet taken sannyas at that time – Srila Guru Maharaj was a brahmachari, and Srila Swami Maharaj was a grhastha. After their meeting, they very soon developed a very close friendship.

When Prabhupad Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur entered his eternal pastimes and some time later our Param Guru Maharaj established Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in Sri Nabadwip Dham, Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad invited Srila Guru Maharaj to stay at his house at 7–8 Sitakanta Banerjee Lane, Kolkata. Srila Guru Maharaj accepted the invitation and stayed there for eight or ten years with our Gurupadpadma, Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. During this time, Srila Guru Maharaj would often participate in various preaching programmes in Kolkata together with Srila Swami Maharaj.

Srila Swami Maharaj Prabhupad was always very enthusiastic to preach Krishna consciousness. Sometimes, he would also take our Sri Gurupadpadma for preaching — he would tell Srila Gurudev (at that time Srila Swami Maharaj was a grhastha, and Srila Gurudev a brahmachari), 'Gaurendu, you are wearing saffron clothes, so you will sit on the vyasa-asan and read Bhagavatam, and I will sit on the ground and give explanation.' Sometimes, Srila Swami Maharaj would also take Srila Sridhar Maharaj for preaching. In whichever possible way, wherever there was any opportunity to preach, Srila Swami Maharaj always wanted to preach. Although he was a grhastha, he would go door to door, trying to preach.

I have heard from my Sri Gurupadpadma that when he stayed in Kolkata with Srila Swami Maharaj, he would sometimes go begging door to door. One day, somebody asked him, 'Why are you worshipping Krishna and not Kali?' Gurudev was a new brahmachari at that time, so he did not think of any reply, but when he came back home and asked Srila Swami Maharaj about it, Srila Swami Maharaj smiled and said:

'Gaurendu, could you not say something in reply to that gentleman? Why did you not tell him what the worship of Kali gives one? If you worship Kali, what will you eat and who will be your friends? Have you seen Ma Kali's munda-mala (a garland of heads)? Are there any Vaishnav tilaks (forehead marks) on this garland? None! All tilaks are asura tilaks (marks of demons)! And how does Ma Kali live? Your Ma Kali lives naked – she attracts you by showing you her tongue, and although you are her son, you run to enjoy with her. As soon as you come close to her, she grabs you by the hair, cuts off your head and puts it on her neck as a garland or sometimes throws it to jackals and ghosts! She always runs in all directions, and her husband, Sivji Maharaj, has to fall at her feet to stop her! This is your mother for you. But if you worship Lord Krishna, you will get so many nice things, such as the bank of the Yamuna, beautiful forests, groves, gardens, fragrant flowers, sweets, nectar. It is a transcendental environment. There, you will eat curd, cheese, condensed milk, laddus, luchi, transcendental fruit and other delicious things – you will get there all these nice things, and you will play, dance, chant and enjoy rasa-lila with Lord Krishna. And if you worship Kali, you will go to the cremation ghat, where dead bodies are burnt. You will see there many jackals, witches and demons – and you, too, getting a form like them, will dance drinking blood of demons and liquor. The choice is yours, so do as you like.' Such was Srila Swami Maharaj's preaching. 'I am giving you an alternative. If you go in this direction, you will get this; and if you go in that direction, you will get that. If you like to drink blood and wine, if you like witches and ghosts, then go ahead and worship Kali.'

When Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj stayed in Srila Swami Maharaj's house, they spent much time together every day, discussing Krishna consciousness. Many years later, having witnessed their spirited conversation and not being able to understand the language (they were speaking in Bengali), one of the foreign devotees asked Srila Swami Maharaj, 'Prabhupad, what were you talking about?' In reply, Srila Prabhupad only said, 'If I tell you, you will faint!' Such was the relationship between Srila Swami Maharaj and our Srila Guru Maharaj.

Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur had a very clear desire – he wanted to spread Krishna-katha, Mahaprabhu's message and prediction door to door all over the world. When Srila Swami Maharaj first came to Srila Prabhupad, Srila Prabhupad looked at him and said, 'You are an educated person. You can preach Mahaprabhu's message to the English-speaking world. You can preach in the West.' Srila Swami Maharaj always remembered these words and was extremely enthusiastic to preach. In the end, he felt such a deep inspiration to fulfil the desire of his gurudev that he decided to leave his family and take sannyas.

At first, Srila Swami Maharaj came to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj to ask him for sannyas, but Srila Guru Maharaj said, 'Prabhu, I have some relationship with your family. If I give you sannyas, they will hate me because I stayed at your house comfortably and they will say that now I am taking the husband away from the family. They will all accuse me of breaking the family. It does not look good, and it will be inauspicious for you also. Besides, we are friends – if you take sannyas from me, how can I think of you as my disciple? You will also be unable to give me respect as your sannyas-guru. Here is what I suggest though. Go to Vrindavan, stay there for six months or a year, and then you can take sannyas and leave. In this case, nobody will blame me.' But Srila Swami Maharaj did not agree. He said, 'No, Maharaj. I cannot wait for so long. I want to take sannyas now and go abroad right away.' Then, Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, 'Then go to Sripad Kesav Maharaj. I will tell you your sannyas name, and as for the mantra, I have given it to him, so you can take sannyas from him. It will be good – then you can maintain the same relationship with me as before.' Srila Swami Maharaj did so.

After taking sannyas, Srila Swami Maharaj went to Vrindavan and stayed at the Radha-Damodar temple, where he translated Srimad Bhagavatam into English. Some time later, he felt a strong inspiration that he had to go abroad. Before leaving, he asked Srila Sridhar Maharaj for his blessing. He sent a letter to him, saying, 'Maharaj, please bestow your mercy on me. I am going abroad. Please give me your blessing so that I can preach there.' Then, in 1965, despite his age – he was sixty-nine years old(!) at that time – Srila Swami Maharaj travelled to America virtually empty-handed, with almost no money. He only had some clothes and a trunk full of scriptures with him. Tolerating all danger and austerity, Srila Swami Maharaj started preaching in the US. We have heard that he would sit alone under a tree in some park, play kartals and chant the maha-mantra, and all the hippies would flock and dance around him. Gradually, some people noticed him and starting coming regularly to listen Krishna-katha from him. In this way, through much struggle and relentless effort, in full surrender at the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna, Srila Swami Maharaj conquered the mind of foreigners and succeeding in planting the seeds of devotional creeper in that soil. When my Srila Gurupadpadma, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, heard how much austerity Srila Swami Maharaj had to tolerate there and how he manifested his paramahamsa mood (the highest transcendental devotional mood), he said, "I want to break my head at Srila Swami Maharaj's lotus feet!"

One time, when Srila Swami Maharaj was preaching abroad, he fell very sick. Feeling apprehensive, he sent a letter to Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, asking, 'Maharaj, I have left Vrindavan, and I am so far away now. Having fallen sick recently, I am thinking I may not survive this time. What should I do now? Should I return to India or stay here? I will do as you say.' Srila Sridhar Maharaj wrote in reply, 'Maharaj, you are not an ordinary person. You are preaching in the West, and it is your great fortune. You have done what many great Vaishnavs have tried but have been unable to do before! So, wherever you are, you are always in Vrindavan. Do not worry. Besides, you are actually turning the West into Vrindavan through your good association and Hari-katha.' When Srila Swami Maharaj read this, he felt peaceful and did not return to India at that time.

A few years later, when Srila Swami Maharaj decided to return to India together with a few foreign disciples, he sent letters to all his godbrothers informing them of his return, but nobody wanted to accept him at that time – everybody had a strict brahmanical mentality and thought that because he had gone to the mlechha countries, he must have become a mlechha himself. Therefore, nobody wanted to keep any connection with him. However, when Srila Sridhar Maharaj heard the news about Srila Swami Maharaj's imminent arrival, he became very excited and happy – he told Srila Govinda Maharaj, 'Gaurendu, immediately send him a reply. Say that he can stay here, and try to arrange a proper reception in Nabadwip in honour of his arrival.' Srila Gurudev arranged everything, and all the godbrothers from Gaudiya Math also came there because the reception had been organised by Srila Sridhar Maharaj: everybody held Srila Sridhar Maharaj in very high esteem, so when they saw that Srila Guru Maharaj praised Srila Swami Maharaj, they too started to praise him.

You all know how Srila Sridhar Maharaj lived and what his nature was like. He slept on a broken bed, wore clothes that must have had a hundred stitched holes. Srila Guru Maharaj was very simple. So, when he heard Srila Swami Maharaj was coming from the West, he became excited and cleaned his room and bed, thinking, 'Srila Swami Maharaj will stay here and sleep on this bed!' However, when Srila Swami Maharaj came to our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math temple in Sri Nabadwip Dham and saw that Srila Guru Maharaj had prepared his room for him, he said to our Gurudev (Srila Govinda Maharaj, at that time his name was Gaurendu Brahmachari), 'Gosh, this is Srila Sridhar Maharaj's bed! Am I to stay in the room that I pay my obeisance to? It is impossible! I will not sleep on my Master's bed. What to speak of sleeping on this bed, I cannot even sit on it! Listen, Gaurendu, where is your room? I will stay with you!' So, Srila Swami Maharaj spent some days in our Math, living together with our Gurudev.

When Srila Swami Maharaj returned from the West, he first met with Srila Sridhar Maharaj and told him everything: how he preached, how the preaching was spreading in the West, etc. Srila Sridhar Maharaj was very pleased to hear it.

After that, Srila Swami Maharaj bought this land in Sri Dham Mayapur and established here the headquarters of ISKCON. This Sri Chandradaya Mandir was inaugurated in 1973. Srila Swami Maharaj had invited all his godbrothers to the inauguration, and Srila Sridhar Maharaj came to the inauguration ceremony with Srila Govinda Maharaj (Gaurendu Brahmachari at the time) and Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj. When they came there, Srila Gurudev asked Srila Swami Maharaj, 'Maharaj, you have invited us to the inauguration of the temple, but I cannot see any yajna (fire sacrifice)...' Srila Swami Maharaj replied, 'What need is there for a yajna? Srila Sridhar Maharaj has come, so the temple is already inaugurated!' He gave Srila Guru Maharaj so much respect. That day, during the lecture, Srila Swami Maharaj requested Srila Sridhar Maharaj to speak some Hari-katha, but Srila Sridhar Maharaj said, 'I am not feeling very well today, so Gaurendu Prabhu will say something on my behalf.' During his lecture, Srila Gurudev recited a peculiar sloka:

kam-prati kathayitum ise sam-prati ko va pratitim ayatu
go-pati-tanaya-kunje gopa-vadhuti-vidan brahma

'To whom can I speak? Who will believe me when I say that Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is hunting gopis in the bushes by the banks of the Yamuna? In this way the Lord demonstrates His pastimes.'

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, 2.19.98)

He said, 'Whom shall I tell and who will believe it if I say that the Supreme Lord is playing in a jungle with some milkmaids? In the same way, whom shall I tell that our Abhay Babu, whom we all know as a simple householder, has now become a great Jagad-Guru and is spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world? He has done impossible work!' As soon as Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj heard this sloka and understood what Srila Gurudev was going to say, he jumped up and cried, 'Hari bol! Hari bol!' That day, hearing Srila Gurudev's lecture, everybody was very pleased, and at the end, Srila Swami Maharaj also said about our Srila Gurudev, 'He is my dearest son!'

Srila Sridhar Maharaj said about Srila Swami Maharaj:

'Our Srila Swami Maharaj has done a miracle! What Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur conceived and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad tried, according to his conception, to put into action, we find that those revelations have been fulfilled through Srila Swami Maharaj in his last days. We are happy, we are glad, we are proud of Srila Swami Maharaj! Moreover, it is not a small thing that Mahaprabhu's grace has been spread all over the world through Srila Swami Maharaj. I have gradually come to realise that he is a saktyavesa avatara – some divine potency has descended unto him. Ordinary things can be spread, but it is not an ordinary deed to distribute such things of the highest quality so extensively all over the world. Some divine potency came down to him. It is very rare to find such a saint amongst millions of Vaishnavs, but I can see that by his grace this greatest gift is now being thrown around all over the world without any restriction. We see transcendental vaisnava perfection in him, and this is all inconceivable. Mahaprabhu said, "Prthivite achhe yata nagaradi grama sarvatra prachara haibe mora Nama. My Name will spread to every village and town on earth," and this was Srila Swami Maharaj's intent. He has always been very affectionate and kind towards me; this is my great fortune.'

In the end, the Lord fulfilled His devotee's desire – it was Srila Swami Maharaj's heart-felt desire to leave his body in Vrindavan. In the end, he had grown very weak. He was lying on his bed when suddenly he threw his arms in the air and shouted, 'Hare! Hare Krishna!!' and after that entered his eternal abode and eternal pastimes...

We all pray at the holy lotus feet of this Srila Swami Maharaj that even now, when he is in his abode in Goloka Vrindavan, he may bestow his mercy on us so that we could serve devotees by his grace. We do not know how long, how many more days we will be alive in this world, but we only pray, 'Please, give us some mercy, please give us some place at your holy lotus feet.' Everybody must pray for the mercy of Srila Swami Maharaj.

Om Vishnupad Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Prabhupad ki jay.
Sri Nabadwip Dham parikrama ki jay.
Sri Dham parikrama-palankari bhakta-vrinda ki jay.

— • : • —

Contents

INTRODUCTION

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