Sripad Bhakti Vichar Jajavar Maharaj:

I cannot speak English, this is my fault, but I am trying to always serve all the Vaishnavs—the Vaishnavs ordered me, so I will try to speak something about Srila Jajavar Maharaj.

By fortune, I came to Srila Guru Maharaj's lotus feet in 1946, and when I had been here in Nabadwip for only two months, Guru Maharaj took me to Sri Dham Puri for the cart festival of Jagannathdev. At that time, in Puri, I saw Sripad Bhakti Vichar Jajavar Maharaj for the first time.

Jajavar Maharaj was the last sannyasi of Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave him sannyas a few months before his disappearance. I heard from Sripad Jajavar Maharaj and from Srila Guru Maharaj also that at that time Jajavar Maharaj was afraid to take sannyas. Prabhupad called him and asked,

"Why do you hesitate?"

"Sannyas is very heavy, and my age is very young... If I cannot maintain it, I will be in much difficulty, this is why I have some fear."

"Abhay-charane sarana nite yachchho: you are going to take shelter at the fearless feet of Godhead, then why do you hesitate? Fear is always with us in this mundane world, but the lotus feet of Bhagavan are fearless (abhay), and you are going to take sannyas—sannyas means you want to deny everything and you are coming close ('samyak nyas') and taking the seva of Guru, Vaishnav."

Then Sripad Jajavar Maharaj got ready, and Prabhupad gave him sannyas, and up until his last time, he maintained it nicely.

I have composed several Vaishnavs' pranams, and thirty years ago or more I composed a sloka of Sripad Jajavar Maharaj's pranam, I can remember it now:

saumyam suddha-tanum sudhamsu-vadanam sarasvatam sundaram
namananda-puram prasanta-manasam samsara-santarakam
abalayad-bhagavat-padabja-madhupam dinarti-ham daivatam
vande bhakti-vicharakam prabhu-varam yayavara-svaminam

"I offer my obeisance unto my great master, the worshippable Srimad Bhakti Vichar Jajavar Maharaj. He is a beautiful follower of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur and has been a bee in the lotus feet of the Lord since his youth. He has a divine form and a moonlike face. He is filled with the Name's ecstasy and his heart is tranquil. He is gentle, he relieves the fallen of their distress, and he delivers the world."

(Published in Gaudiya Darshan, Volume 1, Issue 10)

Srila Guru Maharaj was very happy with this sloka, and when I gave it to Sripad Jajavar Maharaj's hand, he was also very happy.

So, since we met first, I met Sripad Jajavar Maharaj several times with the blessings of Srila Guru Maharaj. From time to time, Sripad Jajavar Maharaj came to Srila Guru Maharaj, and he would say, "I am coming not only for your darshan—when I come here, I get my Gurudev's, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur's sanga (association)." His feeling was that Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur were nondifferent from one another.

After the disappearance of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, not only Jajavar Maharaj, many godbrothers of our Guru Maharaj always wanted to come here for the loving association of our Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

Srila Jajavar Maharaj joined the Gaudiya Mission of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur at a very young age. He could sing nicely, his tune was very sweet, and he was very simple, saral. In the sloka I composed, I wrote "saumyam": he looked very simple—there was not a shadow of inauspiciousness in his body, he was also very auspicious to look at.

He always tried his best to serve Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur. He was not a great pandit, but many pandits were his sisya, disciples. Why? There is only one cause: he was a very simple and great Vaishnav. There was a non-questionable Vaishnavata in Jajavar Maharaj's character.

I saw from early times that Jajavar Maharaj was always like a shadow going with our Guru Maharaj...

Once, Guru Maharaj had very much difficulty here in this Math. At that time Jajavar Maharaj came and gave assurance to Guru Maharaj, "Maharaj, do not worry about your Math. Goswami Maharaj, Kesav Maharaj, myself, and others will definitely try to give you relief." Jajavar Maharaj, myself and many devotees went to collect for Guru Maharaj in Rada-desh, Sundarban, Ranchi, Jalpaiguri, etc. Goswami Maharaj also went to collect. Guru Maharaj was at that time almost penniless, and he did not try to do anything for himself, but difficulty cannot be avoided in this material world. So, headed by Jajavar Maharaj, we tried our best, and also the Vaishnav-gan tried their best, and that difficulty was gone.

When Jajavar Maharaj came here, we felt he was next to our Guru Maharaj, and sometimes he also chastised us, "Why are you not doing the seva to your Guru Maharaj properly?"

The cause of my sannyas was also Jajavar Maharaj. He always told me, "Take sannyas! If you take sannyas, then your Guru Maharaj will be very happy, and I will also be happy." In the end, he told me, "You must take sannyas, otherwise your Guru Maharaj not will be happy, and I am also very sad. If you take sannyas, I will be very glad." And I took it.

After Jajavar Maharaj joined the Gaudiya Mission, Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur gave him some opportunity to learn Sanskrit. He had a very sweet voice and could give a unique type of Srimad Bhagavat path (reading of Srimad Bhagavatam), so many were attracted by his Bhagavat path and kirtan.

When there was some difficulty in the Gaudiya Mission with the other devotees and all the Vaishnavs were ousted and came out of the Gaudiya Mission, they wanted to start another mission with Guru Maharaj at its head, but Guru Maharaj did not agree. Guru Maharaj said, "We can serve in our own individual way to Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, but we need a mission, and that mission's head will be Srila Jajavar Maharaj." Later, Guru Maharaj, Goswami Maharaj, Madhav Maharaj, Kunja Babu, and others went to Midnapur and started Shyamananda Gaudiya Math there. At that time only Jajavar Maharaj took disciples, and Guru Maharaj, Madhav Maharaj and others preached. Guru Maharaj did not want to take disciples—everybody requested him, but he did not agree. He suggested, "Jajavar Maharaj is the last disciple of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and he is a very saral Vaishnav, brahman, he is qualified. He may be the Guru in our society." This is how Shyamananda Gaudiya Math was started. Later, Guru Maharaj came out of there.

After that, Guru Maharaj came here in Nabadwip. His wish was, "I do not want to take disciples. I want to retire in my preaching life and spend time doing Mahaprabhu's bhajan, reading Chaitanya-charitamrita and Bhagavatam. I shall spend my last days in Nabadwip Dham, in a little room at the Ganges." But all disciples of Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur inquired, "Where has Srila Sridhar Maharaj gone?" They found him living in Nabadwip, in a small house on the bank of the Ganges. They came and, headed by Keshav Maharaj, started another mission, Devananda Gaudiya Math. Jajavar Maharaj was also there at that time.

I heard from Jajavar Maharaj, "After the disappearance of our Guru Maharaj (Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur), our only shelter is Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj—he is the only person who can distribute the nectar of Rupanuga-sampradaya. That is why we all come to Srila Sridhar Maharaj." Goswami Maharaj, Madhusudan Maharaj also came here and said like that. Also, Srila Swami Maharaj, Goswami Maharaj, and others came here and said, "We come here for our Gurudev's beloved Guru Maharaj's sanga, to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. When Srila Sridhar Maharaj is speaking, we think our Guru Maharaj is speaking."

Every year, Jajavar Maharaj came to see Guru Maharaj three-four times, at every festival, and whenever Guru Maharaj called him, he would also come.

He was a great Vaishnav. Up to his last day, he always chanted Hare Krishna maha-mantra. "Namananda-puram prasanta-manasam samsara-santarakam abalayad-bhagavat-padabja-madhupam dinarti-ham daivatam": we did not see any noise in his mind, and he was always merciful to all the devotees of our sampradaya. "Vande bhakti-vicharakam prabhu-varam yayavara-svaminam."

That Jajavar Maharaj's disappearance day is today.

I feel some ksobha (ক্ষোভ, grief, pain)... Last time when I took Jajavar Maharaj from Nabadwip to Midnapur, he was very blessful to me. He told me, "I shall come back, and when I come back, I will tell you something intimately. You must come to take me from Midnapur to Nabadwip," but I did not get that chance—Jajavar Maharaj disappeared in Midnapur, in Sri Shyamananda Gaudiya Math. Anyhow, a Vaishnav can live anywhere.

Swami Maharaj asked me once, "Ask Srila Sridhar Maharaj, if I die in the West what will become of me?" Guru Maharaj said, "A Vaishnav can live or die anywhere, that is not a problem—a Vaishnav is always in Vrindavan." So, Jajavar Maharaj disappeared in Shyamananda Gaudiya Math, but we can think he is always in Mayapur. It was also his desire in his last days, "I want to die in Sri Mayapur Dham." And it must have happened, no doubt. We cannot see it, but wherever Jajavar Maharaj is, there is Vrindavan, no doubt of this.

Today is the disappearance day of our Jajavar Maharaj...

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