The Highest Devotee—Gurudev

The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the, as Prabhupād called, Kṛṣṇa Book, it’s the Book of Kṛṣṇa, it’s the Book of Kṛṣṇa conception. This is the Book, understanding which we will know, who is Kṛṣṇa, what is Kṛṣṇa, and how to properly approach Kṛṣṇa. In the beginning, so, in that book it says,

dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo ’tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śivadaṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
śrīmad-bhāgavate mahā-muni-kṛte kiṁ vā parair īśvaraḥ
sadyo hṛdy avarudhyate ’tra kṛtibhiḥ śuśrūṣubhis tat-kṣaṇāt
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.1.2)

Non-enviousness of the devotee is the only way to properly approach Kṛṣṇa

Nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ, the satāṁ here means the “devotees”. As we’re told, Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur explains in the Harmonist, he referred back to the Sajjana Toṣaṇī of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur. We can break it on: sat-jan means, who are they? Sat means the supreme Absolut Truth, which is not Kṛṣṇa alone, means Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa together, and Their Divine Pastimes, and loving exchange. The sajjan are those who belong to them, heart and soul, who’re wholly giving over, they know no other existence, their very life is an offering in service to Kṛṣṇa, particularly Rādhā-dāsyam, the service of the Holy Lotus Feet of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī, which in his Bhaktivinoda-viraha-daśakam, Śrīla Guru Mahārāj reveals, “This is Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s gift to the world, this is the substance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.” What is that movement? It’s moving in the service plane, sevā mayo ’yaṁ loka, the world we’re aspired to is a world full of service, sevā, dedication. At present we’re in a world of exploitation. We’re told, suffering from a heart disease, hṛd-rogam. So, the sajjan, Saraswatī Ṭhākur says, trying to please those who are Kṛṣṇa’s own, who belong to Kṛṣṇa, and we’re told that is a devotional approach and that’s better than so called trying to please Kṛṣṇa directly. We have to recognize, as Śrīla Guru Mahārāj says, “Jīva, is an impoverished śakti, no wealth of her own to offer.”

But he gave some hope, when he said, just as a girl if she marries a prince, whoever she is, and we see it even in the modern world, some girl marries a prince, she becomes a princess. By dint of that connection, by dint of jīva’s connection with devotees of Kṛṣṇa, she gets a position. And what we could say was in a seed, innate wealth becomes expressed in divine loving service. So, the Sajjana Toṣaṇī means to please them.

Saraswatī Ṭhākur also told, “Vaiṣṇavī pratiṣṭhā, tāte koro niṣṭhā” (Vaiṣṇava Ke?: 4). We’re not concerned with the opinions of the people in this world. Said, “But what we are concerned with? What the Vaiṣṇavas think?” Therefore, when the Vaiṣṇava say, “How are you?”, the answer is, “As you keep me. How am I conceived by you, that’s my position.” Śrīla Prabhupād used to always sign his letters, “Your ever well-wisher, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swāmī.” Your ever well-wisher. Means, under all circumstances, I am wishing well for you. You’ll find yourself in many different circumstances in this life, I am always your well-wisher. Whatever I will tell you, will be for your benefit, what is ultimately beneficial for you. That is Guru, that is the friend, that is the devotees, they are our ever well-wishers. They want to bring us in connection with the lotus Feet of Kṛṣṇa through divine service.

So, the Bhāgavatam, the Kṛṣṇa Book, the book of Kṛṣṇa, says in the beginning, “If you would have properly conceive Kṛṣṇa, you cannot be envious of His devotee. And Guru Mahārāj says, this is the real test, because in our finer moments we can think, “Alright, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Absolute Truth, “bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram” (Bg: 5,29), He owns, controls everything, not a blade of grass moves without the will of God, everything is meant for His enjoyment. Okay, I get it. He is the Supreme, He is the Infinite, we’re the Infentesimal complementary aspects of the Infinite.” When the man said to Saraswatī Ṭhākur, “Then what is our position?” And he said, “You have no position.” “Not even…” “Nothing.” But “suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ”, that person who owns everything, is controlling everything, behind every event, is your dearmost friend. So, at least this we could understand.  But Guru Mahārāj said, “The real test will be though is toward the devotee.” How do we see the devotee, how do we feel about the devotee? So, it says, nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ, non-eviousness, that’s the negative way of expressing, not to be envious of the devotee, positive side is to appreciate the devotee, not only be non-envious, what would be a positive aspect is appreciation. To express appreciation for them.

So, where do these ideas come from? Just someone made it up, along the way? Kṛṣṇa. He should know, He’s saying in different places,

ye me bhakta-janāḥ pārtha
na me bhaktāś cha te janāḥ
mad-bhaktānāṁ cha ye bhaktās
te me bhakta-tamā matāḥ
(Ādi Purāṇa)

Where He is telling Arjuna, it says in Ādi Purāṇa, Kṛṣṇa’s saying, “Those who are apparently My devotees, and say they are devotees of Kṛṣṇa, directly My devotees, those are not My real devotees.” Saraswatī Ṭhākur, when He was in South India, inevitably in some town, they would meet with the leaders of that town who were inviting and making so many arrangements for the programs. And some man would be introduced as a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa. “Here is Mr. So and So, he is a great devotee of Kṛṣṇa.” And Saraswatī Ṭhākur says, “And under whose guidance is he preceding?” And one of them says, “Oh, no one, directly. Not like that.” Directly devotee of Kṛṣṇa. And at the time, Saraswatī Ṭhākur being a gentleman, Prabhupād used to always say, “Vaiṣṇava is a perfect gentleman.” He said, “Oh, acha.” But later he would tell his disciples, “He has no devotion.” Who has been introduced as being a great devotee, has no devotion. Why? Under whose guidance are we preceding? This comes from Kṛṣṇa, he’s saying, “Those who say they are My devotees, and they are directly My devotees, those are not My real devotees. But those who are devotees of My devotee, they are My real devotees.” That’s the secret, according to Kṛṣṇa.

Without Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī, as Guru Mahārāj said, “Kṛṣṇa is half māyāvād, without Rādhārāṇī. Kṛṣṇa is Bramha, not very attractive. As Śuk and Śari, when the two parrots were singing and the male say, “Oh, Kṛṣṇa is jagan-mohan, so beautiful, bewildering everyone in the Universe with His beauty.” And Śari, female parrot’s saying, “Yes, but he only has that type of full true beauty in the association of Rādhārāṇī.” “But Kṛṣṇa is Madan-mohan, he is so beautiful, he is bewildering Cupid” “Yes, but with Rādhārāṇī, otherwise He is bewildered by Cupid toward Rādhārāṇī.” So, what is Her position?

When it says, “Not envious of the devotee”, that’s a general thing, [but] what devotee? We will say, “Oh, any devotee.” Alright, but then we hear from Rūpa Goswāmī, “There are different gradations of devotees.” Third class, second class, first class. And then what about the supreme devotee? How can you be a devotee of Kṛṣṇa if you do not appreciate the Supreme Devotee of Kṛṣṇa? And do not give recognition, glorification to Her. So, Viśvanāth Chakravartī tells us,

sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair
uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhi
kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya
vande guroḥ śrī-charaṇāravindam
(Śrī Śrī Gurvvāṣṭaka: 7)

If you love me, love my dog

In the beginning of Guru conception, saying, directly Kṛṣṇa, but it says, “kintu prabhor priya”, but if we look more with greater scrutiny, examine more closely, more carefully, look more deeply, we’ll see a shift takes place. That the Guru conception shifts from Kṛṣṇa to Kṛṣṇa’s potency, the devotee of Kṛṣṇa, and the greatest devotee of Kṛṣṇa, Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. We see Guru as Rādhārāṇī’s delegation.

So, when Śiva and His consort Pārvatī, one day she asked him a question, Śiva is Her Lord, and She’s saying, what is the highest type of worship, and Śiva answered by saying, “ārādhanānāṁ sarveṣāṁ.” Of all types of ārādhanaṁ, worship, Viṣṇu ārādhanaṁ is param, is the highest, it’s the best, and she is thinking, it gave a little pain in her heart, she’s saying, “But you’re my Lord, I’m worshiping you, you’re telling me the higher worship is the worship of Viṣṇu”, and he says, “Tasmāt parataraṁ devi” (Padma Purāṇa), devi, my dear devi, but “tadīyānāṁ samarchanam.” Higher though than that worship is that is more dear to Kṛṣṇa, who Kṛṣṇa loves, that’s higher type. And Prabhupād, Guru Mahārāj, Saraswatī Ṭhākur, they all use this one example, “If you love me, love my dog.” It means, if you really have love and affection for me, then the things that are dear to me, you’ll also find dear. But if you are professing so much love and affection, but what is dear to me, you’re dismissing or abusing, then what kind of love is that? It’s not real. Same thing with Kṛṣṇa, and the real test as Guru Mahārāj said, “How much love and affection you have for the devotee?” And he says in the voice of Kṛṣṇa, “I am more or less an abstract thing.” We find it so difficult to achieve the Personality of Godhead. To get our heads around that. The personality of Godhead, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

But Guru, Kṛṣṇa’s devotee, and Gurudev, as Guru Mahārāj said, the King of the sādhus, Mahārāj told,

’sādhu-saṅga’, ‘sādhu-saṅga’ - sarva-śāstre kaya
lava-mātra sādhu-saṅge sarva-siddhi haya
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 22.54)

But the king of the sādhus is Guru. So, and he is someone we can deal with, interact with. Guru Mahārāj says, “Kṛṣṇa’s dealing with so many.” But Guru is dealing with me, Gurudev is dealing with me personally. And it’s mentioned [that] it’s out of the inconceivable kindness and mercy that Kṛṣṇa comes before us as Guru—the best of the devotees. Mukunda-preṣṭha, who is most dear to Kṛṣṇa, is there we are to give our attention. So, we’re taking Guru as Rādhārāṇī’s delegation. So, this principle is a signifier of the progressive devotional position to understand the position of the devotee and the worship of the devotee.

Kaviāj Goswāmī’s example, his relative brother-in-law, he is worshipping the Deity, the devotee comes [and] in the name of worshipping the Deity, he neglects the devotee. And Kavirāj Goswāmī is chastising him, he said, “Really, what you should have done, is that with the permission of the Deity, worship the devotee.” That will please Kṛṣṇa, “mad-bhakta-pūjābhyadhikā sarva-bhūteṣu man-matiḥ,” (SB: 11.19.21), the worship of My devotee takes precedence of Myself. Kṛṣṇa tells this to Uddhava, in his parting instructions, before He leaves the world. Mad-bhakta, My devotee, pūjābhyadhikā, you worship the devotee first, then me. And in another place, “tasmai deyaṁ tato grāhyaṁ sa cha pūjyo yathā hy aham,” (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa: 10.127), whatever applies to me, applies to my devotees, without hesitation.

So, when we, and we’re here to try to worship the devotee of the Lord. His Divine Grace, Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj, who why is he so exalted amongst all the devotees and revered and praised as Guru Mahārāj wrote in his śloka, “Not only did he fulfill every desire of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, including taking the post of the Āchārya of Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh, but “guru-gaṇair āśīṣa-saṁbhūṣitaṁ,” (Praṇāma mantra) all the other godbrothers of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, who are in the Guru-varga, the Guru section, they also gave their blessings to him, because of his extraordinary sevā, exclusive service to the lotus feet of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj and using every drop of blood and his energy, and his intelligence to do that sevā.

So, he had their blessings too, including Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj Prabhupād saying, when invited Gurudev and Guru Mahārāj to Māyāpur for the inauguration of the Sri Chaitanya Chandrodaya Mandir and he said, “Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj I accept as my śikṣā-guru, and Govinda Mahārāj is like my affectionate son.” So, the godbrothers saw, that sometimes things that they’re unable to do with their resources, their experience, their man, their money and all that. That type of sevā, Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj could do for Śrīla Guru Mahārāj by using his intelligence. He did not have all of their resources, he had the finer intelligence. How fine? He always knows the inner aspect of something. That’s not visible to everyone else. Sometimes Guru Mahārāj would say, “We’re devotees of the invisible.” Doesn’t mean it cannot be seen, it’s not seen by everybody. But those whose vision is higher and deeper. That [are] just some examples and if you don’t know all the players that’s ok.

Once, a famous Goswāmī Mahārāj of Gauḍīya Maṭh; there is a picture of Saraswatī Ṭhākur with the governor of the West Bengal, and this Goswāmī Mahārāj arranges, and Saraswatī Ṭhākur has a garland, the governor of Bengal has a garland, but Goswāmī Mahārāj doesn’t have a garland. But it is the famous picture. And Govinda Mahārāj is just a young boy and he told him, “I know why you don’t have a garland.” And Goswāmī Mahārāj said, “What?” “I know why in this picture you’re not wearing a garland,  when you should be, cause the system is to give all the dignitary persons, but you’re not.” “Why? Guru Mahārāj, Saraswatī  [Ṭhākur] he has his garland, the governor has a garland, everything’s fine.” “No, no, you should also have a garland, but the reason is because, who is bringing the garlands, that man was late, and you there were only two, so, you gave your garland to the governor of Bengal, and that’s why you’re without a garland.” And Goswāmī Mahārāj said, “You have crossed Viśvanāth Chakravartī Ṭhākur.” Meaning Viśvanāth’s specialty is this deep level interpretations of very seemingly insignificant things in Kṛṣṇa-līlā.” So, that’s a very high compliment, “You have crossed Viśvanāth.”

And he told another time, that Goswāmī Mahārāj, sometimes godbrothers have some differences, so, he is speaking in some assembly, but Guru Mahārāj was speaking sarcastically about another Mahārāj, but not everyone can understand that, but that Mahārāj, who knows that what he’s saying is sarcastic, he is looking at Govinda Mahārāj, because he wants to see, does he understand the sarcasm, and of course Gurudev did. So, always, he has some extraordinary ability.

And his sense of humour, you can’t think of Govinda Mahārāj, without sense of humour. Some funny things, but they teach you spiritual principles, it’s funny, but there is a spiritual principle within the humour, so Prabhupād said of him, “You’re transcendental humourist.” Cause you know how to make something funny. Like people don’t want to hear philosophy, but [if] you tell something funny there is underline spiritual principle there. But I remember in London him preparing to leave, going a World Tour somewhere, and he was reflecting back to his childhood in Bamunpar. And we should understand that’s the modern way, they say the name of this town, but really it means Brāhmaṇpur, city of brāhmaṇs, everyone there is a brāhmaṇ historically. That’s where he was born. So, he is brāhmaṇ by birth, to the extreme, but sort of like, not asserting his brāhmiṇical tendencies all the time, suppressing them a little bit.

Do you want to follow your own mind?

But anyway, he said, he was very happy there, most people will say about their spiritual path, they’ll describe how they were suffering in a world and couldn’t live another day, and this happen and that, and horrible, and that brings them to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, “chatur-vidhā bhajante māṁ janāḥ su-kṛtino ’rjuna,” (Bhagavad-gītā: 7.16), Kṛṣṇa tells that to Arjuna, “Four types of people, economically distressed, just distressed, curious, four types sukṛti, will take shelter.” But Gurudev he doesn’t say that. He said, “I was very happy, living in the village life,  I loved everyone, they loved me,” he said, “I loved the animals, the cows, they also loved me, even the riksha-wallahs loved me,” and we know they don’t like anybody. Then this man came, preaching on behalf of Guru Mahārāj and Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh [and] said, “Your mother is nothing, your father is nothing, this world is nothing, you have to give it up, we all will have to die, you’ll have to leave here.” [Gurudev] said, “Talking this nonsense!” What is that nonsense? Spiritual philosophy. And he said, “But that struck my heart, and I thought, “Even as happy as I am in my village life, what he’s saying I can’t deny, that it’s not true, and it effected me.” It went into his heart, so then, in classic style, that man could see, “Oh, this boy is effected by what I am saying, maybe I should take him back to the Maṭh.” And Gurudev, in his classic way said, “I’ll go, but we have to go tomorrow, immediately.” So man said, “Alright.” They end swimming in the Ganga, to cross the Ganga, go to the Maṭh, and they got to the Maṭh, and that’s when Guru Mahārāj meets them and he said, Guru Mahārāj said to him about spiritual life, “Are you ready to listen to me and not your own mind?” Sounds very simple, and Gurudev, who was very honest, he said, “I was seventeen, what did I know?”  I said, “Yes.” He said, “I didn’t know how difficult that could be.” So, I said, “Yes, I am ready to listen to you, and follow everything you say, and not my mind.”

That’s what is Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, “Arjuna, [do] you want to follow your mind or listen to me? If you gonna follow your own mind, we don’t even need to have a discussion, but if you’re ready to give up or try to fight that uncontrollable mind, then I can help you.” And Arjuna says, “śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam,” (Bg: 2.7), “Now I want to be your disciple, please, instruct me, tell me what to do.” And Guru Mahārāj said, “How long you will stay?” And Gurudev was offended, “If I say, that’s forever,” but Guru Mahārāj is testing him, “How long?” “No, if I joined it’s forever. Forever I am yours.” That’s tat tvam asi, the mantra.

But his family didn’t like this idea, sometimes Guru Mahārāj says, “What do we learn from Prahlad Mahārāj, one of the things, but one of them, “What we learn from the pastimes of Prahlad Mahārāj? That if you are gonna dedicate yourself to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, prepare yourself for life of trouble, that your family is going to object.” His mother showed up with so many people from the village to try and take him back. Because Gurudev had this complex relationship with his mother, we can say. So, she came with the whole village, they wanna take him back. And in India the windows are old, they have metal bars on the window, and Gurudev’s holding on to the bars, and they are trying to take him. And one man who was Vedānta Paṇḍit, he came and said, “Don’t force the boy, this is not good.” And then they brought it to case of Guru Mahārāj, and he said, “If he wants to go, he can go. But let him decide that.” And the old wise man said, “Don’t force him. That’s not the right way.” And so of course he stayed.

And what his mother was unhappy about is before Gurudev was born, near to where they live there is another town, called Jhamalpur, where they have the Burorāj Śiva Deity, and she prayed to Śiva for a son, and she got some inspiration from Śiva, “Alright, son, you’ll have the son, but when he’s seventeen he will take sannyās, give up the world.” But it’s one of kind of like a degraded custom in Bengal, so-called Śiva-sannyās. So, she’s thinking [that he will take] Śiva-sannyās. and what Śiva-sannyās is? It’s a bogus custom in modern day of Bengal, when boys take sannyās for a week or month. So, she is thinking, “Oh, okay. So, when he is seventeen, that’s what he’ll do,” not that he’ll go permanently give up the world and go to Guru Mahārāj and Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh.  

And Guru Mahārāj said in discussing this, “And I’m thinking when Śiva agreed to give a son, maybe he’s sent one of his own man, a pārṣada, his associate.”  Because I see in him some mystic power—siddhi, mystic power and different evidence of that, and his special affinity for Śiva.” Is that Guru Mahārāj was suffering from heart disease and other conditions. And Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj, Śrīla Gurudev, he only lives for Guru Mahārāj, he has no other reason to live, so, he’s always thinking of Guru Mahārāj, the service of Guru Mahārāj, and it’s pain in his heart to see Guru Mahārāj suffering his physical condition. So, he is bathing and praying to Śiva to reveal to him some medicine for Guru Mahārāj. He’s just praying honestly, and he hears like a mantram inside: ‘Kali phos’. And up to that point he said, he has not heard this word, and he went around asking, “Is there some medicine called Kali phos?” “Oh, yes, homeopathic, they have something like that.” Then he goes and gets this medicine. And he gives this medicine, and it saves Guru Mahārāj’s life, it’s a perfect medicine for Guru Mahārāj. And if you hear the lectures of Guru Mahārāj speaking, you hear most often, Rāma Didi, Guru Mahārāj’s sister, comes in the middle of the talk and you hear, “Phos.” She would extend her hand with this little shot with some Kali phos in it, Guru Mahārāj drinks it, but that saved him, his life, he attributed that to Gurudev’s sincerity and dome sort of mystic power that he has.

Another godbrother Keśava Mahārāj said, called him, satya-bhāk, that whatever he will say, it will come true. If he says something it must come true. And so many devotees, his disciples, followers and friends have some example like that. If something, maybe a little enigmatically or mysteriously, that Śrīla Gurudev said, that mysteriously came true. Always the emissary of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj, eager to do any service for the Maṭh, he would go to villages for festivals to collect rice, the local will give something, and it’s for Girirāj, for the Deity, for Kṛṣṇa. But village boys can be very naughty. Sometimes they see devotees coming and he went to one village and the village boys came and said, “You’ll get nothing here, you’re wasting your time, go back to where you came from.” But this will tell you, who Gurudev is, Gurudev turn to them and said, “I will leave with the bullet cart, full of rice.” He doesn’t know anything, he’s just entered there, they said, “You’ll get nothing,” he said, “I’m gonna leave here with the truck load of rice. You wait and see.” Then he goes preaching.

And they’re thinking, because they know, the man who is in charge of this village, he is a miser, if you’ll go to him, he will give you like a hundred grams of rice. And then at the end of the day, Govinda Mahārāj leaving with his party, big bullet cart, like truckload of rice, and they are, “What?!” And they go to that man, who is the miser head of the village, they go, “Why? What are you doing? You won’t give us anything, and you give him do much!” And he said, “Oh, you don’t know, he gave me so much love and affection, he filled my heart with super natural joy, I would give him more, if he’d asked for it, but that’s all he asked for.” And Gurudev with his head [up], leaving the village, sevā to Guru Mahārāj, and the Maṭh, and the Deities.

So, he had a full recognition of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj. Guru Mahārāj told me in a final times, “In many ways he’s more qualified than even myself.” And because Guru Mahārāj was in the center of everything, and Govinda Mahārāj was always in the background, doing the sevā, he said to me, but to everyone, “If you’ll become more deeply acquainted with him, you’ll find very deep Kṛṣṇa conscious substance with him.” He’s always in the background, arranging the sevā of Guru Mahārāj, the Deities and the Maṭh, so much so, that some devotees are unaware of that.

When he went to Māyāpur once, the Prabhupād servitors said, “Prabhupād’s resting right now, you have to wait.” And Gurudev said, “I felt like Bramha visiting Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā.” Where the famous Brahma goes to see Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā, what are we told? The secretary of Kṛṣṇa comes out and says, “Kṛṣṇa is busy right now, so, you have to wait, and Kṛṣṇa wants to know also, which Brahma are you?” He says, “Which Brahma? I am four-headed Brahma, I am the creator of the Universe.” “Oh, okay” And he goes back. Then later, when Brahma’s seeing Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa say, “Oh, Brahma, I could not receive you before.” And Brahma say, “I have one question. Before we talk, the secretary said, “Which Brahma?” Are there other Brahmas, besides me?” And Kṛṣṇa summons all the Brahmas from the innumerable Universes, eight-heads, sixteen, thirty-two, sixty-four, a gig of heads. All the Brahmas come, and that Brahma, our Brahma, with four heads, said, “I felt like a little insect in the presence of so many elephants.” So, Gurudev said, always praising, “So, I went to Māyāpur, and they told me to wait, and these big GBC members are going, he said, “I felt like Brahma visiting Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā.” But when Prabhupād awoke and saw him waiting he chastised the devotees for making him wait, he said, “If he comes, always bring him to me.”

Famous opening of the Chandrodaya Mandir in Māyāpur

And at that famous opening of the Chandrodaya Mandir in Māyāpur, Guru Mahārāj was not feeling so well that day, but he spoke something very beautifully, and Gurudev, Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj, was not expecting to speak, thinking, “Guru Mahārāj is invited, he’ll speak, Swāmī Mahārāj Prabhupād will speak, but when Prabhupād asked him to speak and they said, “Yes,” he didn’t know what he was going to say, and he got some inspiration in his heart, and he quoted this famous śloka of Raghupati Upādhyāya, he’s meeting with Mahāprabhu,

kaṁ prati kathayitum īśe
samprati ko vā pratītim āyātu
go-pati-tanayā-kuñje
gopa-vadhūṭī-viṭaṁ brahma
(Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya 19.98)

When he quoted this śloka, and before begin his explanation, Guru Mahārāj said, Kṛṣṇadās Bābāji Mahārāj was there on the side, and as soon as he heard, kaṁ prati kathayitum, because he knows what this śloka mean, Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj Bābāji went, “Hare Kṛṣṇa!” This is too perfect, this is unbelievably perfect thing, who could think to say this, at this time, and he had told Guru Mahārāj before, “This Gaurendu Brahmachāri, you mark him, he is more than many mystic yogis in one. He is very special.” So, Bābāji Mahārāj was a big fan of Gurudev from the very beginning, he’s telling Guru Mahārāj, “This is the one.”

So, when Gurudev begin his explanation, it’s Raghupati Upādhyāya telling Mahāraprabhu, when Mahāprabhu wants to know, what’s like the highest thing to understand, he says, “Who can I tell and who would believe me?” That’s the beginning of his explanation, who can I tell this to, and if I could find somebody, who was really qualified to hear it, would they believe me, and he’s saying, that the Supreme Reality, Kṛṣṇa, what is he doing, he is hunting the gopī-girls in Vṛndāvan, who is qualified to hear this? And if you can find somebody, would they believe it? But Guru Mahārāj says, the hint is [that]: now that you’re here, Mahāprabhu, the world will hear about Kṛṣṇa conception, you’ll qualify everyone with you’re mahā-vadānyāya, merciful divine distribution, divine dispensation giving everyone entrance into this, and they’ll believe it. But what Gurudev did, if you want a living enterpretation, he took this śloka and applied it to Śrīla Prabhupād, Śrīla Bhaktivedanta Swāmī Prabhupād, saying, “Who can I tell, who will believe me [that] when I was seventeen, I sat in his kitchen, as a young brahmachāri, and we would eat breakfast together, and Prabhupād would say to him. Prabhupād’s breakfast is like purīs and sabji, that’s a Prabhupād’s breakfast, alu dam, and some hot purīs. And he would say to Gurudev, “Gaurendu, have some purīs and sabji.” And Śrīla Govinda Mahārāj would say, “No, I will take muri,” which is puffed rice, that’s what he would eat from his village days, and Prabhupād would say, “That muri is cheating the stomach, that’s not real food.”

So, he’s saying, that we sat there and just had this loving exchange, he loved me like his son, and that person spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world, who can I tell and who would believe me?” So, to have that sort of command, that sort of things that just springs out of his heart, [it] gives us a hint. As I told, we hear the kokils, they’ve returned here in the tree. In Nabadwīp we were listening [to] the kokils: one’s singing, the other is singing, Gurudev’s saying, “Oh, they are competing for the affection of the female, and he said, “I remember that sound from my village days, he said, “We had no watch, we had no clock. We told what time it is by looking at the sky, the stars and the sound of the birds. There is the rooster, but the other birds can tell you time of year, season, many things. That’s how we understood things.” So, he is thinking like that. That’s the world we see in here before our eyes, but it’s bringing some divine remembrance of him, within him.

He said, Rūpa Goswāmī, in his maybe Stava-mālā, Padhyāvali, one of his śloka collection, he’s saying [that] Rādhārāṇī is hearing the sound of kokil, which we’re generally told as something very sweet, liquid sweetness, reminiscent of the liquid sweetness of the voice of Kṛṣṇa. So, we think it should make all the devotees happy, but She is not happy, and rather, what is She doing? She’s going, “Jaimini, Jaimini.” She is chanting the Name of Jaimini Ṛṣi, why? This is peculiar and bewildering, the sweet sound of kokil is coming and She is praying for protection, why? That is their custom, that if there is thunder and lightning, if you take the name of Jaimini Ṛṣi you won’t be strike by a thunderbolt. But there is no thunder, it’s not raining, there is no thunder and lightning, why is She taking the name of Jaimini? He said, because, the sweet sound of the kokil, which [is] the reminiscent of the voice of Kṛṣṇa, in separation it’s striking Her heart like a thunderbolt.

Love conceals all the defects

So, this gives us a hint of ecstatic emotional interior of Śrīla Gurudev, but he is concealing that position, he is mercifully, affectionately dealing with his friends, telling to one of them, “To err is human, and he is very human.” Another man called him on the phone, what was that man’s name from Venezuela? Śrīnivās. Doesn’t speak a word of English, he called Gurudev on the phone talked to him for ten minutes in Spanish, and Gurudev’s going like, “Yes, Prabhu. Kṛṣṇa bless you.” And that man is ecstatic and happy, and Gurudev says, “Heart to heart transaction. I don’t know what he is saying, but we’re connecting, our hearts are connecting and I’m happy and he is happy.” And always doing that, that was his, we see it like personification of love and affection. Love can conceal all of our defects, that’s the beauty of love, they like to photoshop away all of the defects. Love is the ultimate photoshop of the heart and fault. All our faults, love doesn’t see them.

Padmalochan, we’re told the lady, her child is blind and what is she named a child? Padmalochan, means lotus eyes, and everyone thinks she is crazy, “Lady, your child is blind.” “No, he has such a beautiful lotus eyes, don’t you see how beautiful his eyes are? Oh, he can’t see with those eyes, but they are so beautiful.” So, love conceals all deficiency, all the defects. Gurudev, that’s what he personified. He has such a deep level of Kṛṣṇa consciousness inside of him, he is not here to make a show, to make people think, how deep he is, he is this type of Vaiṣṇava—never, that is his own matter. Dealing with everyone else in this plane, with love and affection, compensating all their deficiencies.

One of the last things that he said, thematically, he said, “Everyone has some faults, big or small, that is not a question, whether someone has a big faults, someone has a small fault, that is not a question. But someone who has devotional spirit fully, that we recognize and must respect. And that’s what others, the godbrothers of Guru Mahārāj saw in him, everyone saw in him, that they could not deny, this pure devotion. So, when Guru Mahārāj wanted him to take the position of the Āchārya of the Maṭh, Gurudev said, “I am your goat.” And we could say, in Bengal you don’t want to be somebody’s goat, because goats means they go to the slaughter. And he’d told to Guru Mahārāj, “I am goat. If it makes you happy to cut off my tail, you can do that. Or if you want to slit my throat, whatever you want to do, I belong to you.” That Jīva Goswāmī says is a surrender. Like when someone buys an animal, and they take it away. That’s how he offered himself to Guru Mahārāj, unconditionally. Not, well, up to this point, or that point, or no, unconditional surrender. Giving yourself over. We can talk about it, we can praise him for that, but we don’t say, we have that ever, but he has that, that’s why, one of the reasons, one of the thousands of reasons, that he is our worshipable Gurudev and why Śrīla Guru Mahārāj had full faith and confidence in his representation of Rūpānuga-line. And even in the praṇām-mantra, one of Gurudev’s favourite lines there is about the tanum and Bhakti Sundar, the sundar tanum, means beautiful form, that he also looks beautiful, but Gurudev would say, “And looking very nice.” About Himself. “And looking very nice.” That was in the verse too, cause someone would say, “Enriched with devotional qualities...” Yes-yes, all of these things, and Gurudev would say, “And looking very nice.” [laughing] As Puṇḍarīk Vidyānidhi appreciated his own devotional beauty.