First visit of Srila Madhusudan Maharaj after 20 years in India

Goswami Mahārāja: You can turn the ..

Madhusudan Mahārāja: You have to move the chairs.

Goswami Mahārāja: Right, in the west we have these things.

Madhusudan Mahārāja: Ah yes..
[All laugh]

Goswami Mahārāja: Madusudhan Maharaj has been in India since the time of the Raj, actually.
[All laugh]

Madhusudan Mahārāja: The Raj of Guru Maharaja!

Goswami Mahārāja: When I first came (to India) – we used to have to register in Calcutta and at the registration office there would be ‘Anglo-Indians and if you don’t know then, they are Indians that are ‘More British than the British’ is that is possible. Or at least they try to be.

and we used to have to go to their office. The guys who smoke the cigarettes and wear khaki pants (mimics inhaling) – what a group.

But they were charmed by us, and this will be by way of introduction (Madhusudan) Maharaja just the Prema dvani to sGurudeva, Guru-Maharaj and Giri Raj Govardhana.

I will say this, that they were charmed to see people from the west taking Indian culture, Mahaprabhu and they know who is Mahaprabhu, seriously.
No matter how materialistic they might have seemed. It melted their hearts to see ‘shives’ – white people – who come from England and America and embrace Mahaprahus culture – that will go to the heart of every Bengali – they melt at that point.

Including Guru Maharajs family members. We know that sometimes Gurudeva, many times – He’s as charming as He can be, polite, tactful – everything. He can also say something that is just like a thunderbolt to your heart.

So as the western world, was discovering the glories of Srila Guru Maharaja and how great He is. We shall recall, He is from a high class Battacharyya family. The Battacharyyas, they are acharjyas by caste almost you could almost say. High quality Brahmins and Guru Maharaja is the eldest son. So Guru Maharaja will say things like – when He was a boy He heard his cousin say the ‘@@janmya yasya[…] arteshu abigyarat’ sloka – and I thought ‘(it’s) a very mystical sloka’. He thinks like that when he’s 9 years old, 8 years old.

He can speak Sanskrit, they (his family) speak Sanskrit conversationally in the house. Guru Maharaja is composing as a teenager, He’s seeing the Virata Rupa in his teens, He’s bringing lotus flowers to Mahadeva Shiva. In college he hears, @@Amiya Nimai Charita which was a book made by Shushir Kumar Ghosh. When we first went to India we would see the Amrita Bazar Patrika newspaper and it would always say ‘Founder Shushir Kumar Ghosh’ and the present one – at that time – was Tarun Kanti Ghosh – who I was sort of assigned to preach to whenever he would show up at the temple.

Anyway, that man thought – as many might think, or pious qualified men. ‘Oh Mahaprabhu, Gauranga Sundhar, He is so beautiful and His pastimes are so unique. If we take the best from Charitamrtam, from Chaitanya Mangal, from Chaitanya Bhagavat – certainly everyone will appreciate that.’

And none less than Guru Maharaj Himself – who read this book – in English it was translated as ‘Lord Gauranga’ and believe it or not there was this society of pious ladies in Chicago – in the fin de siècle – they had a ‘Gauranga Society’. So they were charmed.

But Guru Maharaja said that as a student ‘I devoured this like nectar’ – hearing about Mahaprabhu’s pastimes. But He was in search of Mahaprabhu’s agent who was Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur – Om Vishnupada. When Guru Maharaj came in connection with Him – what did he say. ‘Nija bhoge Gauranga..’ I forget the Bengali but it means, ‘What he has presented is the Gauranga of his imagination’.

Like the real men of substance - they won’t find it there. Really you will find it in the Chaitanya Charitamrtam. So its Guru Maharaj from a tatastha-vichar a partial analysis (perspective), showing some sort of gradation in His own spiritual evolution. We may see this in another way but He is telling this kind of story.

Anyway, our Guru Maharaja by giving up the world. Oh, He is at the famous talk of Saraswati Thakur. It’s Gaura Purnima, and Guru Maharaja hasn’t joined yet, in His divine pastimes. He is coming, He is listening and we are told that He is a very acute listener, so much so that one devotee…Guru Maharaja shows up for Saraswati Thakur’s evening talk and the devotee says ‘I am sorry but you cannot come this evening’.
And Guru Maharaja is like ‘What?’ – and He explained later that that man was thinking, that this was around the time of Gandhi’s movement and Indian independence. They think that some religious organisations are fronts for political activities, and this man said that He would observe Guru Maharaj listening to Saraswati Thakur and he thought ‘Nobody listens like that’ – so he thought, ‘He’s a spy, He’s a government agent. It’s too intense what is going on over here’ (laughs).

So as Guru Maharaj would say ‘God save us from our enemies, God save us from our friends’. (laughs). So that man has the audacity to tell the ‘Guardian of Devotion’…
Jay Ananga Mohini Devi Dasi – ki Jaya! The rock of the Doy Chang, Cinmoya/Chang mai/Gupta Govardhana – Hare Krsna - that’s Ananga. (laughs) So now we are happy and worry free…

So Guru Maharaja, He is a high Battacharyya Brahmin, Sanskrit speaking family. The women speak Sanskrit, the women quote slokas, His aunties – they can quote slokas too.

As when Guru Maharaj showed some enmity towards the lady section, when he was younger he had to live with his aunt for a couple of years. She called him in and said ‘Young man, I detect in you some lack of appreciation for the lady section’. Guru Maharaja is around 8, and He says ‘I have read some things in the shastra’. And she says ‘Oh really?’. And remember she can speak Sanskrit and she can quote scriptures and she quotes a sloka where it says that the ladies are to be seen as the Lakshmi section, they are to be seen as expansions and extensions of Lakshmi Devi. ‘Did you read that?’

And Guru Maharaj said, ‘I had to change my opinion’. Because He is regulated by the scripture. So anyway, He is at that.

First of all that man sends Him away from Sarawsati Thakurs talk. This is actually instructional. Guru Maharaj is very insulted, as we can imaging, and He goes for a walk along the banks of the Ganga. For all the Calcutta lovers in the crowd this evening... I like to remind them that the Hoogley (river).. It’s the Ganga. You know, we say Hoogley and Howrah bridge.. This is the Ganga! And there is a place in Calcutta where people go for walks along the Ganga. It’s the only place where they call it the Ganga. You know where it is… Its next to what was Govinda Pura, three villages make up Calcutta, some of it donated by Bhaktivinode Thakurs family line.

But anyway, so Guru Maharaj goes… and He is thinking, Saraswati Thakur.. He has got.. and I want to connected with Gaurangas representative. And He is that! He can bring me in connection with Him. But these people surrounding Him. Some of them are intolerable, so what shall I do?

And just to say as a footnote, we find ourselves in our own version of that. Comparisons are odious but every devotee has some vaguely similar experience to that.

(with) Srila Gurudeva we also found (this)… In any substantial Vaishnava they are like devotional magnets and they are attracting so many. And many different type of devotees who might not know each other otherwise actually. In the regular karmic movements, they may not run into each other.
Maybe some, others not but being drawn by a devotional magnet whereby someone is carrying Krsna in their heart, and that person is capable of reciprocating love and affection with many, then we have to adjust ourselves.

With Gurudeva we would see Him very affectionately dealing with somebody, and maybe we didn’t share that (feeling). But if He has that with them, and they have that with Him then I should adjust myself.

So Guru Maharaj thought… Saraswati Thakur.. There is no doubt He is that person who has this incomparable wealth. Considering what it is.. The Lotus feet of Mahaprabhu and by extension Radha dasyam. @@Sri Radha pada sevanam aho sri miso bhavan. He is saying ‘Considering what it is, that He can connect me with, then I am ready to tolerate anything.

So Guru Maharaja comes back and then what happens (at that Gaura Purnima festival) Guru Maharaja – He is thinking in His mind, there are a few things that I’ve got to take care of in life. He was the eldest son, and He is thinking about what His remaining obligations are because His father, when he was about to leave the world, called Guru Maharaja to his side and he wanted him to promise something but remember that Guru Maharaja is ‘honest to a fault’.

So the promise, is that they had already noticed this detachment in Guru Maharaja, His Aunties saw it, other relatives saw it. One of His uncles told Him, seeing that He was too much in Krsna Consciousness, “We know from science that the stars are so far away that their light hasn’t even reached here yet.. Considering that we are so insignificant, do you think He has any time for people like us?”

And Guru Maharaj, what does He do? He quotes the Īśopaniṣad [5]. This is how he thinks, always thought. He said “ It says in the Isopanishad:
tad ejati tan naijati
tad dūre tad v antike
tad antar asya sarvasya
tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ
He is very far away but He is also very near. In fact, He is within everything. Is there any place where He is not?
That was Guru Maharajs answer. And his relative thought ‘Uh oh’.. we are not going to convert him..’

Guru Maharaj was thinking of His remaining obligations and that is when everyone is coming before Saraswati Thakur, they are leaving to go back. That is the time when you should say some pleasant words like ‘Have a safe journey’ or ‘Glad you could attend the festival’. You say something sweet right? You should finish the meal with a sweet.
And suddenly what does Saraswati Thakur say? ‘Don’t cheat me!!’

They are all, what?? And Guru Maharaj is thinking, ‘Why is He saying that?’ – (thinking) this is the time when you should be saying something sweet to everybody and He is saying ‘Don’t cheat me?’.
He (Saraswati Thakur) is saying ‘You and I came together and connected for some particular purpose’, back to that purpose that Guru Maharj detected. He said ‘That is our arrangement, and I am living up to my side, do not cheat me. You are going to go back to your family and your house. I say if your house is on fire let it burn to the ground as it is that house and everything in it that keeps you bound to this world’.
So don’t cheat me, stay today and dedicate yourself fully, for Guru Maharaj this was like lightening in His heart. Guru Maharaj is very honest, everyone is thinking something, He was also thinking something.
And as His father left the world, the promise was (with His father) ‘Promise me that you will marry’. And Guru Maharajas response, in classic Guru Maharaja style was ‘I cannot promise but I will try’. He wouldn’t promise on His fathers.. leaving the world. ‘I cannot promise but I will try’.

Things went on but gradually one family member after another is dying, and some devotees.. Devotees are always our best friends. The devotee was saying ‘Prabhu, give your family a break.. don’t you see what is happening. Krsna has taken father, mother, wife.. ’ Just join (laughs), before He has to take everybody away like in the Brahma story.

So they are saying different things and of course Guru Maharaja comes to the lotus feet of Saraswati Thakur, and now I come to the point of what I wanted to say. So He is legally dead, when you take Sannyas. Like in India when you take Sannyas you are legally dead, you will not own anything, so Guru Maharaja as the eldest son all the inheritance shifts to Amar Babu next and Guru Maharaja has nothing and He’s not bothered by that either. Even later, we were telling when He spent that year in Navadwipa He was asked can you give 10 rupees a month. Imagine, 1 rupee was rent and the other 9 expenses. So anyway Amar Babu was always very sweet and helping, but this was Govinda Maharaj said to him.

We all went to Happaniya and they are starting to understand something about (Guru Maharaj) because for 4 years Guru Maharaja was there in Chaitanya Saraswata Math but now it is going all over the world, and this is classic Gurudeva, Srila Govinda Maharaja, He chastises (Amar Babu) and He said ‘You came from the same womb as Guru Maharaj and you didn’t know how great He was, until people from the west came.’ I mean heavily.. and they all got initiated by Guru Maharhaj. That’s what he said to him.. It’s like ‘Whoaa!’, and in that place Happaniya, after so long, Babaji Maharaj, with Guru Maharaja/Gurudeva, Jajavar Maharaja and Acyutananda they went there, and that is where a family member said to Acyutananda, surprised to see – and this is my original point – a boy from New York, a real New Yorker, born, bred raised in New York city and he was a teenager at the time. He’s there trained by Srila Guru Maharaj and Guru Maharaj bring him to Happaniya. They hadn’t been there for thirty years and one of the relatives is astonished to see this boy from the west and he says ‘How can you have so much appreciation, you are from New York and have so much appreciation for Mahaprabhu and this culture, and we are from this place and we don’t have so much appreciation?’

Remember he is trained by Guru Maharaj, and what does he answer? Guru Maharaj told this story for 30 years… he said ‘ Oh Prabhu, brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona bhāgyavān jīva
 guru-kṛṣṇa-prasāde pāya bhakti-latā-bīja’ It is not a question of location, born here born there, but you have to get by the mercy of Krsna.. He sends you by the grace of Guru and Vaishnava you get Krsna’ and they were all astonished to hear this boy answer in that way.

So, similarily we got the opportunity to go there.. Madusdhan Maharaja has been there forever.. He is practically and Anglo-Indian himself (laughs) and Guru Maharaja hand picked Him, of all the people, to be personal secretary, of Srila Govinda Maharaja – and for the westerners, right.

But He picked .. at the time Mahananda, Bhakti Ranjan.. Guru Maharaja gave Him that title, and we can interpret it in different ways.. that makes all the devotees happy. That’s how we many know him, always serving all the Vaishnavas.

Gurudeva told us in His final days when we had so many questions about how the western devotees are going to go on - the future. Always He would mention his name first.. (that we should) proceed under his guidance, he knows me, he represents me.

It’s our good fortune brahmāṇḍa bhramite kona and we have to say for our viewers this evening (we have) in the audience Krsna Kanta Didi and Monindra Mohan Prabhu and we will deal with their glories at an appropriate time. So we are feeling very happy, safe and nourished by being in the loving, affectionate association of those who are so dear to Srila Gurudeva who is affection personified. So as usual I’ve spoken more than I should, but I give you now Sripad Bhakti Ranjan Madusudhan Maharaj. Hare Krsna.

Madusudhan Maharaj: Maharaja, truth to make an objection that Maharaj hasn’t spoken enough. We would like to hear more from him.
Goswami Maharaj: You will!
Madhusudhan Maharaj: I have come here to Chang Mai to come to the association of Maharaj and to come to the association of the devotees, who with a very clean heart are coming to engage in service. I am so surprised, as Maharaj is saying ‘Oh now is a very quiet time’..’few people in Chang Mai’ because now..

Goswami Maharaj: Avadhut Maharaj has given them (seva) marching orders..
Madusudhan Maharaj: They have service projects in different places but when I come here I still find there are at least 25-30 devotees here in Chang Mai, including Chinese and Russian devotees – and you mentioned Ukraine and Estonia and now USA, Italy…

Goswami Maharaj: Romans.. friends Romans countrymen, lend me your ear..

Madusudhan Maharaj: And we have Srila Gurudeva and Srila Guru Maharaj and a wonderfully beautiful reminder of where I just came from before starting the journey, Giriraj Govardhana. Before coming out from India this time, I then went to Govardhana Hill. I went there to the pushpa samadhi of Srila Govinda Maharaja to beg for His blessings. Already, I felt that it was His wish that I should come out. I had the opportunity, and perhaps the first opportunity without neglecting seva in India for a long time. So I felt it was His wish and Guru Maharajs wish that I would come out to get the association of devotees abroad.

Madusudhan Maharaj: So I went to His pushpa Samadhi which anybody who has been to Govardhana they must feel surely Srila Govinda Maharajas presence there. His murti is very beautiful, it’s very much like you are sitting in front of Him, it was Gurudeva, Srila Govinda Maharajas wish that He has told not only to me but to many, who have told me separately without me giving any hint. They have said ‘Oh Gurudeva told me, we were talking with Him one day and he said I want to spend my last time in Govardhana’. And we feel he has come to Govardhan in some way, and the pushpa samadhi is of course that representation of Srila Govinda Maharaj.

Goswami Maharaj: Like His bhajan kutir and He said which trees would be planted there and the flowers…

Madusudhan Maharaj: He did indeed, and He said there ‘I am worry free in Govardhan and in Govardhan I am worry free and there I shall write’.

Goswami Maharaj: Hare Krsna.
Madusudhan Maharaj: So it was His wish to go there..
Goswami Maharaj: Didn’t He write the Giriraj arati (there)? One of them He wrote there. One He wrote in Nabadwipa but another one He wrote in Govardhana.
Madusudhan Maharaj: It may be but I don’t know Maharaj.
So coming here to Chang Mai, a remote corner of the world (all laugh). To see beautiful Giriraj here is very.. making me feel at home. And of course being with the devotees makes me feel very much like being at home, today I had the good fortune to go to the airport and to be one of the reception party to receive Monindra Mohan Prabhu and Krsna Kanti devi dasi and then just a few minutes later Ramachandra Prabhu also. I was very happy to be able to do what I am used to doing so much in Calcutta airport and other airports in India, and go with a garland to give to somebody to welcome them. Here we find a wonderful community of devotees who are engaging in service and we are feeling the mood of Nabadwipa that Gurudeva wanted that all the facility, we had a big office room and we had so many rooms for devotees, all facilities for were for seva – everything was for service. And we know that this place has come by the dynamo energy of Srila Avadhut Maharaj

Goswami Maharaj: and His team..

Madusudhan Maharaj: – And of course His team, Paramananda Prabhu and Satyasundar Prabhu and of course Srila Goswami Maharaj himself who always is telling us how he is seeing Avadhut Maharajs wonderful activities, and he is always thinking can we do what he is trying to get us to do, with all these different programs. Srila Goswami Maharaj is very pleased with Avadhut Maharaj, that he is very expert at gathering people. He has gathered you all here and he has actually gathered me here (laughs) because he is repeatedly invited me to come and he has gathered us, that we can all come together and hear hari katha this is our good fortune. And specificially the hari katha of our family, and our family most of us have come by the grace of Srila Prabhupada , in the initial stage, we can say through His books. In some way the whole of the west is in gratitude to Him. As we come towards, more and more, the family of Srila Prabhupada, we see that Srila Prabhupadas whole preparation was from Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev Goswami Maharaj, who as we very well know – all of us here, that He prepared not only Srila Prabhupada but He prepared, hand made and carved the living murti of Srila Bhakti Sundhar Govinda Dev Gowsami Maharaj.

Madusudhan Maharaj: So Govinda Maharaj and Srila Prabhupada have been the active visible, widespread, visible representation of the conception of Srila Sridhar Maharaj and in different ways. Here we have also with us ‘live and present’ and for those on the television, live and through the Internet but we have Srila Goswami Maharaj who is fully active presenting Srila Sridhar Maharaj to the western world specifically. Srila Govinda Maharaj was always indebted to that and appreciated that, and all of us we owe our fortune – in difficult circumstances at the beginning of the 80s – to find the shelter, we need some sign (board) we need somehow to get an opportunity to come to a safe shelter, and that opportunity was given through principly the widespread enthusiastic preaching of Srila Goswami Maharaj – at that time, and now in 2014 – here is Goswami Maharaj with us, continuing the presentation and the elucidation, explanation of what Srila Sridhar Maharaj has given and what Srila Govinda Maharaj lived His whole life for.

In this age and time, we have to always encourage our family – we are out preaching for new people – like an advertisement so people can know we exist – they can see that we are present. So new people are coming, but our family also.. now we are all the children that have come.. the children that are growing up now when the father and parents have disappeared.
So together we need to go on, in good association, and proceed. Whenever we can come to a gathering like this, and it is not a festival time as such, it’s not a (festival day)… If it was, we could think that everyone has come here, and we’ve got 30 plus people surrounding us here but it is my great happiness to come here and see that on a regular day that automatically the magnet of the devotional family has drawn everyone together.

And I am very aware of having been in Nabadwipa for so long in Srila Gurudevas association and specifically as something central to the communication to the western world, we know very well that around the word, our family, Gurudeva’s family, Guru Maharaj’s family – they are...like this, some communities but here there is a large community – relatively speaking on an ordinary Tuesday and not on a festival day, but around the world our devotional family, they are in their communities in their homes, they are doing their arati, they have their hearts captured by Gurudeva and they are proceeding as best they can. We have a sweet family.
Somehow when you meet Srila Gurudeva and Srila Guru Maharajs disciples around the world, and the disciples of His family then we automatically somehow feel ‘Oh we know you, we can relate to you’ immediately that affectionate magnetism of Gurudeva that’s brushed off, and coming here we are finding that manifest so sweetly.
Just before coming here I went first to Malaysia, and they captured me first with their invitation, which also felt appropriate.

Goswami Maharaj: Yes

Madusudhan Maharaj: .. because it was the disappearance day of one of their leaders there, which was Aprakrita Prabhu, he passed away three years ago, and so they wanted to do some festival and draw the devotees together, and there in Malaysia as a local nearby example, so many households , in their homes, you go in there and there is Sri Sri Guru Gauranga Gandharva Govindasundar.. there is a sweet altar, and they say ‘Yes, we are offering everyday our food’ and there is a sweet program that has been going on all these years. They are very affectionate and they took me from place, to place, to place, and seeing our family it is a physical reminder..
We are aware that the devotee are everywhere in the world but by being able to meet with them, there is a much more direct feeling of the reality of the necessity for seva and the necessity for association, not only for ourselves but for our extended family, in larger communities, in official communities like temples and centres. But also in their families when they are having little festivals for different times, in their local areas.
So coming from India for the first time in many years, for more than a few days out from India, then it is also my good fortune to be able to meet this family of devotees of Gurudeva face to face, and my good fortune to be able to come here to Chang Mai, where automatically devotees are coming to where there is a connection of seva, a connection of Hari Katha, a connection of sadhu sanga.
I feel it is my good fortune to come here and be with Gurudevas family, His direct family, extended family and I only ask that I can do some seva while I am here.

Goswami Maharaj: Hare Krsna. Well I can think of some seva you can do, you could lead a kirtana?
Madusudhan Maharaj: I am best at following Maharaj, you can let some of your experts do the leading part.

Bhakti Lalita: Maybe questions?
Goswami Maharaj: Ahh, yes. If there are questions from devotees..
Question from Devotee: ‘Where are you going next?’
Madusudhan Maharaj: I have no idea, some plans I have heard. The devotees propose, the Lord disposes - and I am not proposing and I am not a devotee to propose.. but I am not proposing..
Goswami Maharaj: Avadhut Maharaj is proposing..
Madusudhan Maharaj: Yes, Avadhut Maharaj is proposing and others.
Goswami Maharaj: That you will continue onto the Russian Federation, Ukraine and everything in between.

Madusudhan Maharaj: In Malaysia, I told them after the first day – and I saw, ‘Oh is it ok if we do this’ because they are asking me for the plans and I said, I realised that I’m just a package that has come by DHL..
Goswami Maharaj:
Madusudhan Maharaj: .. and I have come here, so you try to make this package useful – more or less they did just that and they took me wherever they wanted, which means there in @@Kao we saw how things are progressing, just now they have a new centre in @Setzuan and the centre in @Setzuan is very suitable, for their community and environment and we held very nice programs there. We met old friends there, @Aramban Prabhu, (is) one person who has been a servant and supporter now for literally 30 years. I mean the clock ticks, and for those of you who are less than 30 years old, you may think – ’Oh my goodness ’ but the clock ticks by and there so much has progressed with the devotees. They are practicing. If we practice devotional life, if we do what is recommended, naturally then there will be progression in spiritual life. We need to follow the process, and the process is to have Sadhu Sanga, hear Hari Katha, chant the Holy Names of the Lord, take prasadam – all these things and devotees are doing this for many years.
Old devotees, new devotees and when we start talking about Gurudeva with devotees, then everybody who has had any touch with Him, they’ve got something - some experience - and when you ask the devotees to say something, anything about ‘What is your experience with Gurudeva?’, ‘What stands out?’ or anything like this. It’s so wonderful to hear the different ways of looking at the Jewel of Srila Gurudeva and of Srila Guru Maharaj though I have to say, less and less, even in our programs in India, where we have big festivals and you ask ‘How many people here met Srila Sridhar Maharaj?’ and now each year less hands are going up.

At one program in Vrindavan, full of sanyassis, and older sanyassis and brahmacharis, it’s a nice program in the Vrindavan temple..
Goswami Maharaj: Yes.
Madusudhan Maharaj: Not one person had met Srila Sridhar Maharaj and it was His Vyasa Puja.
Goswami Maharaj: Wow, inconceivable.
Madusudhan Maharaj: Maybe two years ago – inconceivable. They have heard of Him, some relation with Him, they are coming to honour Him at our program, the program in His honour. The Bengali, older sanyassis and leaders now of the various and many branches of the tree, not one had met Srila Sridhar Maharaj.
And then, I spoke something and tried to let them know something of my own very small perception.. but when you meet somebody you can say something about them. If you know someone you can say something about them, and so we did meet Srila Guru Maharaj, we did meet Govinda Maharaj and so these topics we could share with them.
For instance, in this room how many people have not met Srila Govinda Maharaj here? Put up your hand. Not met..
Goswami Maharaj: Not..
Madusudhan Maharaj: Ahh, this is the English language – the ‘not’ part. How many people here did not meet Srila Govinda Maharaj? Not..
Madusudhan Maharaj: 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 – so 7 out of 30. So quick percentages, about 20 percent perhaps didn’t meet Srila Govinda Maharaj, so then if you talk with those who did meet him.. it doesn’t matter we can say Junior/Senior/Long time/Little time – it’s not a factor. The factor is those who have met Srila Govinda Maharaj, then you can hear something, you can get some feeling, you can ask some questions.
Goswami Maharaj: On this point actually, it’s part of the culture of Krsna consciousness. When Mahaprabhu left the world then some of these great devotees like Srinivasa Acharja, Narottam Das Goswami – they would go.. to meet Ishanaa, who was the servant in the house of Mother Saci – and imagine, he would be very old and these younger devotees would come and he would tell them stories, I mean, Gaura Katha, about Nimai Pandit and about what he observed, imagine what he could say. In one sense there is a lamentation, like we hear that Narottama Das Thakur He was born in the year He (Mahaprabhu) left
So Mahaprabhu is sometimes calling His name (Narottama), and mystifying the devotees, who is this person He is calling out for, but it only comes later, and if you think of someone like Narottama Das Thakur and His qualifications, how painful would that separation be for someone like Him to have just missed Mahaprabhu’s appearance..

Madusudhan Maharaj: Yes.
Goswami Maharaj: But at the same time that generates this interest for them to search out the devotees who did have personal association. We always hear that Ragunatha Das Goswami when He is very old He goes to Radha Kunda, and who is there? Krsnadas Kaviraja Goswami, and He is extracting so much from Ragunatha Das and all devotees are doing that but especially Narottama, Srinivasa and Syamananda because of when they appeared so it is similar.. there are people who.. there was a lady and she wanted so much to be initiated by Srila Prabhupda and she flew to India and heard He was not well, she arrived at the time of His disappearance and she was devastated.
And then she was wondering where to go and people suggested that she go to Srila Guru Maharaja, in Navadwipa, “If you are looking for this quality, there is this particular Vaishnava in Navadwipa..” and Guru Maharaja – just one of the things at the time He said to console her, He said “You are dealing with the infinite and the infinite has infinite alternatives”.

So as we were discussing the other day on Gadadhar Pandits disappearance day, and again Srinivas coming to hear the Bhagavatam from Him, and Gadadhar leaving the world and then.. by the time He made the new Bhagavatm.. He goes, devastated, towards Vrindavan to learn Bhagavatam from Rupa Goswami - and because He is travelling, maybe he doesn’t have the calendar right – and there is a huge festival going on, and He thinks – “I don’t see anything on the calendar, what is it?”, “Haven’t you heard?”, “No, what?”, “Rupa Gowsami has left the world.”

Madusudhan Maharaj: Hare Krsna.
Goswami Maharaj: And that practically kills Him.. after Gadadhar..to go there and now He is told that Rupa Goswami has left the world.. He faints, He looses consciousness, and then what do we hear? He awakens in the ashram of who? Jiva Goswami.
Somehow it is Krsnas divine will that Jiva Goswami will instruct Him on these things. So you know, comparisons are odious but still these things are not just stories but they are there to teach us, you know what they call “teachable moments”.
So in a similar way, what Maharaja is saying is true – those who have had association of Srila Prabhupada, Guru Maharaj, Guru Deva they have got something. We were discussing this the other day, if we analyse ourselves we will come to another conclusion.

You know even Guru Maharaj remember… about putting on Tilak what would he say? My…
Madusudhan Maharaj: Disguise.

Goswami Maharaj: disguise... like, ‘I’m not a Vasihnava.. It’s to deceive the people..’ You know, if He is thinking of Himself.. (also) Kaviraja Goswami (is saying)
jagāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha
 purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha
(CC Adi Lila 5.2)
I asked Guru Maharaj once.. I said ‘ Alright, Kaviraja Goswami is saying.. I’m more sinful that Jagai and Madhai, lower than the worm.. alright’ but I said ‘What if you actually are?’ and Guru Maharaj He said to me.. ‘Oh, you think it is a pose, posing? That He is just saying these things? No, this is a heartfelt expression from him, when he estimates himself that he is nothing. We will say in terms of the higher Vaishnavas that it is because of how much depth of penetration there is into the positive realm, of genuine Krsna tattva, substance, that there is a correspondence negative depth of humility in them to think of themselves nothing.

But still, the point is there that they are feeling like that. They are self deprecating in presenting themselves. But what Guru Maharaj points out, at the same time, Kaviraj Goswami will say, there is nothing.. what I am saying what is passing through me to you there is nothing higher than this, there is nothing better than this. So we are not trying to certify ourselves or indirectly self-aggrandize but if we’ve met with Srila Gurudeva, Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Prabhupada to say you’ve got nothing is not true. However low we might conceive of ourselves to say that we got nothing from them is not a fact. It’s a falsity, a falsehood and it will be expected by people as it would be in that time of Isana – ‘You were in the house of Sacimata,and Nimai Pandit’ and he is saying ‘I’m so fallen I can’t say anything about it!’. That would be wrong. He would be wrong. He may say ‘ Yes, I’m such a fallen soul but by their grace I observed certain things and I would like to share that with you’. Not as a means of promoting himself but of promoting their glories. So I’ve also said this, that everyone who has some appreciation from Srila Gurudeva.. and even if you didn’t meet him personally, there were those.. you know Srila Govinda Maharaj didn’t meet Saraswati Thakur personally but Janardana Maharaj likes to remind us, hearing Gurudeva say that there are disciples of Saraswati Thakur that said, he is so steeped in Saraswati Thakurs’ conception, and you can say by the grace of Srila Guru Maharaj and by his own sprirtual background and substance, it is as if he is a disciple of Srila Saraswati Thakur.

Madusudhan Maharaj: Yes.
Goswami Maharaj: So that can be there too, when we hear these things and it is very enlivening to the older section to hear, those who are newly acquainted to express some genuine appreciation for Srila Gurudeva, Guru Maharaj, Prabhupada or the predecessor Acharyas. It brings joy to the hearts of everyone, as it brought joy to the heart of Guru Maharaj to sit in his nat mandir and for Swami Maharaj to bring some of his disciples, and then for them to ask for some lady devotee to speak or somebody else and if they would say something that resonated in the heart of Guru Maharaj it was like a cause for celebration and something substantial.
So we are actually told to emphasise more what we get from Guru and Vaishnava. Our ability to extract from shastra is not so developed we know that, but Guru Maharaj is shastra nippun - the spiritual expert on that.
So what he selected and what Gurudeva selected.. that’s another thing that people think ‘What should I read?’, or ‘What should I focus on?’.. what they spoke, that is what they distilled, for those who have some capacity to extract something substantial from the Gita, the Bhagavatam, Charitamtram all of the these revered literatures. If they are quoting something, some sloka or drawing our attention to some particular Gaudiya siddanta we can understand that this is the thing that you are supposed to concentrate on they have extracted that for us, so we should give our full attention there.
So by remembering them, their qualities, singing their glories that makes Krsna very happy. Guru Maharaj wrote about that in his poem which is kind of like the birthday song of Saraswati Thakur, the one that goes pranamai charanan.. tika parichar the five slokas for .. it was written for birthday, they don’t sing it on tirobhava but on birthday. And it is a very happy style and very profound, some of the things.. or everything that is said there. But particularly that sloka where he says guna manjari gunima haribasa kamala priya nayamam he talks about in the spiritual world in this kunja that is predominated by Kamala Manjari which means Bhaktivinode Thakur.. there are nyanamani manjaris Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur he sings the glories of guna manjarai which means Gaura Kishora Das Babaji Maharaj. He is saying, this is what he likes to do, he likes to sing the glories of guna manjari his Gurudeva, Gaura Kishora Das Babaji Maharaj but here Guru Maharaja shows part of his spiritual genius by using the word guna to mean three things. Guna is the confidential name of Gaura Kishora Das Babaji, guna manjari, guna also means ‘qualities’ so by singing the gunas of guna if you put it this way, by singing the gunas of guna it creates a guna, another meaning of guna is ‘rope’ or ‘thread’ so each one of these qualities is like a thread and they are weaving a spiritually conscious tent that Krsna is so attracted by hearing Saraswati Thakurs glorification of Gaura Kishora Das Babaji – that Krsna enters the tent of that glorification.
Madusudhan Maharaj: Hare Krsna
Goswami Maharaj: Guru Maharaj has written that. That is how Krsna is captured by singing the glorification of His devotees. What does Nityananda Prabhu tell everyone? Talk about how great I am? No, bhaja gauranga katha gauranga latha gauranga He is saying ‘Worship Gauranga, talk about Gauranga, take the name of Gauranga’ then I am yours. And Guru Maharaj will say that openly, we always talk about getting the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu. One way to get it is to gloriy Mahaprabhu, which we are told is the primary occupation of the members of the Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Gaura gatha grananthi that will please Nityananda, if we are glorifying Mahaprabhu. That pleases Guru Maharaj, because Mahaprabhu means by extension, the supremacy of Radharani and then that will please Krsna. That will make Krsna happy.

jadi gaura ni hoite tavi ki hoite radha he mahima .. Why did Mahaprabhu come? To reveal to the world how great His devotee is. His greatest devotee Srimati Radharani, and we take it by extension that our Gurudeva is her delegation so these are the happy substantial talks of the members of Sri Chaitanya Saraswata Math and Maharaj is so right if we spend our time glorifying Srila Gurudeva and Srila Guru Maharaj we’ll get so much grace, we will be in a safe position, Krsna will be very pleased – all the Guru Varga will be pleased.
So to conclude Narottama Das Thakur says asraya laya bhaje tara krsna nahi .. don’t try for Krsna directly, it’s very difficult to deal with Krsna, but he is saying asraya laya take shelter of the devotee of Krsna and automatically you get Krsna. And that was Gurudevas process too, always glorifying His Guru Maharaj. That everything is meant for the service of His Guru Maharaj the Math, the extension of the Maths glories and position was to further expand the glories of Srila Guru Maharaj all over the world.
Yes, Maharaj!
Madusudhan Maharaj: Well, Maharaj is saying all the substantial things and I am giving something from my external view of everything. But what I can say is that Srila Govinda Maharaj also.. He appreciated all the devotees and it was not a question if they were 10 years in the mission or 20 years or 1 year or 1 day. Somehow He gave personal appreciation and attention to all of the devotees and sometimes He was asking for the grace of the devotees as they are going somewhere and sometimes devotees say or are a little puzzled when a very young person is asking His grace (something) and Gurudeva said, ‘Everybody has some Vaishnavata, they have all got some Vaishnava quality maybe 5 percent, maybe 95 percent but whatever they have we have we want that and we want that they will be gracious towards us because that will accumulate and come to ourselves.’
Another matter is that really, when we have had little gathering of devotees and asked devotees to say something about Gurudeva, some of the very sweetest things have come from devotees who have met Him even for one minute, or something very short. We have had devotees meet Gurudeva at the airport , Gurudeva noticed them and there was some interaction that they felt was such a personal communication.. and Gurudeva was always saying ‘heart to heart’ transaction is what we are doing here. We have people speaking different languages and Gurudeva is always saying that this is not verbal transaction in the sense of the spiritual transaction of Vaishnavism it is actually heart to heart and devotees, they felt this in so many ways and it is wonderful to be able to hear about this and share this. So all of us in Gurudevas eye were are all in kindergarden some junior position, some maybe more or less but we will all go on with each other by the strength of many sticks in one bundle they are very strong and one by one, very weak. The sticks in the bundle we shall try to share the guru katha, the Krsna katha, the gauranga katha, the nityananda katha we try amongst ourselves as best we can and take as much opportunity as possible when we have the fortune of having guru varga present, our senior Vaishnavas present and with Gurudeva I suppose we could take His association for granted at that time but we will get repeated reminders and there is one devotee who came who forgot to get a Visa for coming and it was only when he was on the plane and they gave out the form to fill out did he realise that he hadn’t got a Visa to come to India.
Goswami Maharaj: Oh My God.
Madusudhan Maharaj: He was so eager to come, and in coming to India he got turned back so he went to Dakka to get a Visa and when he got to Dakka it was a holiday so in deciding what to do, so he got on a plane, and it only takes 20 minutes, the plane takes off and it is landing again.
Goswami Maharaj: From Calcutta to Daka, Bangladesh.
Madusudhan Maharaj: Yes, and then so he became a little determined, so I’m going to go back and at the border I’m going to do the Indian trick of giving a little sweetener at the border.
Goswami Maharaj:
Madusudhan Maharaj: So he did that because they are getting a sweetener they were looking at the book about how they could give him something as there was some allowance that they could give him 72 hours the special emergency situation so with the sweetener in their pocket, they gave him 72 hours. So that devotee was there for 72 hours and I think did not sleep at all in all of that time and that’s I think including coming from Calcutta, but when I saw that intensity, it was a reminder to me that it is not a question of time, it’s not a question of how long or anything, but of the sincerity, they faith the connection – all of this is of prime importance so we are always getting reminders. So when we are getting extensive, you (the attending devotees in Chang Mai) are getting week by week, month by month – rare kind of association. So try to keep a little reminder to yourselves when you have such an opportunity that the Vaishanvas really are our source of nourishment in this world and we have to try to get their grace and hear from them, and put our own wild minds within the proper tracks of devotion thought and proceed in service through that connection of service as far as possible.
Goswami Maharaj: Hare Krsna.
Madusudhan Maharaj: No one is too small, no one is too big – we want the grace of all the Vaishnavas and Gurudeva was the example in so many ways, He appreciated the devotees of all corners and quarters and natures and everything and the with the devotees that reciprocation was so sweet to witness and the world is made up of our family. Just a few words.
Goswami Maharaj: Hare Krsna.