Sri Gaudiya Vaishnava guru parampara ki jaya. Swami Prabhupada ki jaya. Srila Prabhupada Maha-mahotsava ki jiya. Vaishnava vrnda ki jaya. Gaura premanandi.

Narasingha Maharaja was saying that our Guru Maharaja, that he did what others could only dream of and I think that that is not meant in any way to belittle anyone because to dream of what he did very few people can do that, to dream about such things. And one person who did so was Sacidananda-moya Bhaktivinode Thakura. So, Prabhupada is the dream fulfiller of Bhaktivinode Thakura under the direction and guidance of his dearmost Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada. Sridhara Maharaja used to say that "the conception came in Thakura Bhaktivinode and our Guru Maharaja Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura gave shape to that in the form of Gaudiya Matha. And from that he sent out his missionaries and one of them, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, he took that dream and fulfilled it all over the world and we are proud being associated with him." So, he did what only others could dream of. Their dreams, their background energized his activities, his worldwide preaching. And that type of worldwide preaching is very difficult I think to understand, and this is characteristic of Vaishnavism. Therefore it has been said, vaisnavo-kriya mudra vijyeya na bhujaya. That even a jnani, a very learned person, will find it difficult to understand the movements of a Vaishnava. And Saraswati Thakura giving shape to the mission of Bhaktivinode Thakura certainly startled many learned persons and many Vaishnavas as well in the way in which he went about explaining and disseminating Gaudiya Vaishnavism. And our Guru Maharaja also, as Maharaja mentioned, raised some controversy in the ways in which he went about propagating Gaudiya Vaishnavism, making it difficult even for the so-called orthodoxy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism at the time to understand. Sometimes it is questioned in Bengal, if they see a Vaishnava, "What is your parivara ?" What is the family line in which you are coming? And our Guru Maharaja used to say, and I found later that it was the words of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura that he repeated, that "we are Bhaktivinode parivara. " You may know that even Nityananda vamsa, parivar or Advaita vamsa or some goswamis, everyone is concerned that we have connection with such. But Bhaktivinode Thakura was described as the seventh goswami in terms of his work. So, our direct connection thru Bhaktivinode Thakura is evident in the kind of preaching work that fulfilled his dream that only Gaudiya Matha and subsequent children of Gaudiya Matha and so many missions has done. It is not a small thing, as Maharaja has mentioned, it is the prediction of Mahaprabhu Himself, prithivite ache nagaradi grama sarvatra pracara mora nama. This kind of work of our Guru Maharaja and his family line of Bhaktivinode Thakura has given energy and life to all of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. And I think that without this kind of potent injection of updating the sampradaya and preaching it's tenets in a relevant way, that Gaudiya Vaishnavism would be a very obscure religious tradition, unknown in the world today. So, to minimize the activities of such great preachers as our Guru Maharaja as unfortunately many people do, and which even more unfortunately nowadays some people are doing even though their very sraddha, their adhikari for bhakti has come in the wake of his campaign. For people to criticize such, is like biting the hand that feeds you. I heard a criticism of our Guru Maharaja the other day, that he is riding in airplanes in the first class section. What is this? And everyday there was a big worship going on. This is not, this gentleman said, Gaudiya Vaishnavism. He told, "My guru, he washes his own clothes, he doesn't speak until four in the afternoon, he is very very humble, not accepting service, this is Gaudiya Vaishnavism -- this is our tradition. And what your Guru Maharaja has done and his sampradaya, this is some aberration, some distortion." And then many other points he raised as well, like what Sripad Narasingha Maharaja pointed out about the diksa of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. I thought and I replied that your Guru Maharaja may be such that he is doing madhukari in Vrndavana -- this is a real renunciate, real follower of the line of Mahaprabhu. Madhukari means of course to go from house to house and beg some roti and live in this way. One Vaishnava here in Vrndavana told me a couple of years ago that I was on parikrama in Barsana and this gentleman was there and I said tell me something about this place and he said, "It is a very good place for madhukari." I said, "That is not madhukari." What you are doing, "a very good place for getting capatis." So many people may do madhukari in a traditional type of style and wear the white cloth and overtly appear to represent the sampradaya of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and our Sad Goswamis but we have to look a little deeper to find some substance there, some real vicara, some real -- ne tejala asura hesu harsas -- some real transformation. This dance that Narasingha Maharaja spoke of, the twelve year dance around the world, is real vicar -- real anubhava -- singing and dancing. Actually our Guru Maharaja conducted the longest and largest kirtana in the history of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. And with regard to madhukari I told, "Very nice, your Guru Maharaja may do madhukari begging from place to place in Vrndavana, that may be a good thing, but my Guru Maharaja he went to New York at seventy years old and he did madhukari in the snow in Manhattan and lived on the streets there, not knowing where he would take his next step -- hardly where he would get his next meal and you want to call him a businessman." He criticized, "Your Guru Maharaja is just a businessman." This was his business, the business of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. With regard to any other business, he himself said, "I was a failure, I tried to do chemical business but I was unsuccessful. Krsna foiled my plans at every step. He wanted me to fulfill the order of my Guru Maharaja and finally I accepted that Krsna has taken everything from me." What is that sloka from Srimad-Bhagavatam? yasyaham anugrhnami harisye tad-dhanam sanaih. He used to like to quote this sloka. Who Krsna is especially pleased with, kind to, He takes away everything from him. Taking away everything and giving everything. He went to New York. You try to imagine what it must have been like at seventy years old. Of course he didn't take a first class plane the first time over, he took the ship, he went like a package -- it was not a passenger convoy, for shipping. He said, "they put me on like a package. I would go in a storeroom. The day that he arrived, he said, "when I got off the boat in the Boston harbor I did not know whether to turn left or right." And somebody said, "New York is to the left." Then he went left. Even as the gentleman who had sponsored him in Butler Pennsylvania, whom he found his way to, he stayed in their house for a short time, but he was not happy just living there comfortably and eating. He left that place and went to the streets of New York and he did not know where he would live. This is real madhukari, this is real begging on the behalf of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu -- begging for the mercy of Guru and Krsna. And how he begged also for that? One thing I am speaking of are the external characteristics of our Guru Maharaja by which you can tell he is a real follower of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a real follower of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura. How he innovatively applied the principles of Srila Rupa Goswami.

Before Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, this verse was mostly understood that if by taking bhakti nirbandhah krsna-sambandhe yuktam vairagyam ucyate, you should not give up japa-mala, you should not give up chanting like mayavadis do. They think that if you want to make progress, you give up ultimately the name, you give up ultimately the mala, nirguna. This verse was applied to refute this idea. But Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura took it a step further by, as you know, engaging everything in the modern world in the service of Krsna. So, our Guru Maharaja did this also and that also raised some controversy even amongst his own godbrothers to the extent to which he did so. But in this way he followed in the footsteps of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura and Srila Rupa Goswami and externally he demonstrated that he had an inner experience and realization of the substance of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. We have real touch with the substance, then we can alter the details in such a way as to make it accessible for a larger audience. This is preaching. It is not 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, that it is all in the book, every answer. Every moment in our life is new and every moment we are confronted with the challenge of applying ourselves in terms of Krsna consciousness. We must draw upon everything our Guru Maharaja has done that we can remember, what the Vaishnavas have said and their example, sastra and so forth, reflect upon that within our heart and something new will come. This is the idea of preaching. And his preaching was such that many innovations were there, but those innovations and the altering of details etc constitute real understanding of the essence and substance of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. As I said he did a dynamic form of madhukari, really wholey depending upon Guru and Krsna. And so far, internally speaking. Externally, sometimes some people criticize my Guru Maharaja and I heard this, and internally giving another criticism along the same lines. What is that? I have read the books and he is not going very deep into Gaudiya Vaishnavism, not a very deep penetration. Some purport he is giving Gandhism explanation of cow protection and this kind of thing, a little bit touching here and there. But if you want the deeper thing - you come to us. That is Radha Kunda or this place - that place. In your line there is no rasam. You will not get unnatojvala rasam sa bhakti sriyam. And they are thinking that by examining a little the books and what they have heard and that is some disappointing examples of our Guru Maharaja, that may be there also in a wide campaign, then so many people will come. And I was hearing that the other day in an article of Puri Goswami Maharaja, Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura's conception of daiva-varnasrama. And in Dava-varnasrama some sudras will also come for joining the divine idea. And Saraswati Thakura said their characteristic is that they are not very capable of following the guru's instructions and controlling the senses etc. They go away and maybe come back and go away. So, we had a few of those also. So drawing from some bad examples perhaps and putting more emphasis on such, and a surface reading of his books and understanding of his mission and they are criticizing. Externally they think he is not doing bhajan but bhojan, flying first class, eating from silver plate. He had one, I think, silver plate and very nice prasadam he would take. Not just kitri and never cold, it had to be hot. But before that he was living in two rooms at Radha Damodar eating once a day and chanting one lakh a day. And if he got any donation, how would he spend it? To take the train to Delhi to try and print his Back to Godhead Magazine. He only had one cloth at that time. He didn't use the money to buy a second piece of cloth, but to take the train and print the Back to Godhead Magazine. And so far, internally speaking, the criticism that he has no, what is his siddha-pranali, is it there? Does it exist? How can he give it? What does he know about the heart of Gaudiya Vaishnavism? When Prabhupada came to America on the boat he made one prayer, a very nice prayer. And in that prayer the basis of his whole mission is described. If we study this one prayer we can understand that he undstood the very essence of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In that prayer he said that, "Oh my dear brother. I think that it is known the world over, it is fixed Dhruvaloka, it is fixed like this dhruvati bholi chai, it is fixed like this, for anyone who knows that Krsna will be pleased if Radharani is happy. If She is pleased, Krsna is pleased. He made a prayer like this, "Oh my dear brother it is known that You will be pleased, by those who know, if Radharani is happy. This is how he spoke ultimately. He was not writing this poem to become a famous poet or to distribute around the world. In a handwritten note on the boat he expressed his inner feelings about the mission that he was about to embark upon. He wasn't taking notes and thinking I have only so many rupees and so many books. And he didn't have a calculator like a businessman, "I will sell so many books and i will get this amount and then I will organize in this way." It wasn't with any business accumen or common sense that he sought to fulfill the mission of his Guru Maharaja. But he begged the mercy of Krsna and he did it in a very thoughtful way, in a way that indicates that he knew the very heart of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. He said like I mentioned, "My dear brother Krsna," he appealed like this. "It is known that if Radharani is pleased You will be pleased." Now, if you say this Krsna will pay attention. What is that? You know this about Me. In India so many people have affinity for Krsna but Prabhupada used to say, "The whole world wants to love Krsna but Krsna is trying to get the love of Radhika." This is Gaudiya Vaishnavism. To know this is to go to the heart of the mission. One fellow I was explaining this to said, "What are you talking about? Radharani consciousness. This is Krsna consciousness." This is Krsna consciousness. So he said like this. He appealed to Krsna and then he said, "My Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura." Sridhara Maharaja rendered the prayer in this way. "Who is Sri Dayita Dasa, who is a maidservant of Radhika, she has sent me here to do this mission of preaching and I think it would be good for You, Krsna, if you please Her, Radharani's dasi. If you please Her then it will be good for You and You can please Her by giving me the shakti to do Her work." And the whole mission worldwide has come out of this prayer and this is the essence. [applause] So you cannot say that he did not know what is the essence of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. So the whole mission, hundreds of temples, thousands of devotees, hundreds of books is all coming from this, this simple appeal. Krsna agreeed, "yes, you speak to Me like this, and so sincerely with your heart. Take it. Take all the shakti you need." So the whole mission, all the movement, all the temples, everything all stands for this one point. This is the central ideal of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. So we are very proud to be a disciple of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and we are happy on this occasion to rise to the occasion so that any challenge as to authenticity of our Guru Maharaja, his understanding, his character and his preaching mission. We are, all of us in one way or another indebted to him, whether our sraddha has come from him, not directly or even indirectly, still his contribution to Gaudiya Vaishnavism has brought it so much attention and dignity worldwide. Now we have a great preaching field opened by him, so we should try to follow his example and be dynamic thinkers and not just go through the motions of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Sometimes it is such that mind is perplexed for want of knowing the goal of life and we are fortunate that we hear from Caitanya Mahaprabhu's sampradaya, we know what is the goal of life, but then we just get on with our life rather than making the goal of life our life also. So he exemplified this, he wasn't happy to know the goal of life and just get on with his life. He made a change in his life, a dramatic and radical change and this is what his life says to us, that Gaudiya Vaishnavism insists upon a change. But you have to change your life and change radically. And ultimately it must change like this, that all of these transformations of ecstacy that constitute the life of love must come within us. The heart must change, tad asma-saran hrdayam batedam grhyamanair hari-nama-dheyaih. If it is not coming after repeated hearing and chanting, some problem is there in the background. We have to look deeply. He insisted upon this and such faith he had in Harinama. Chant harinama without any offense. Puri Goswami Maharaja here in Vrndakunja said a very nice thing which stuck in my mind, so simple and so profound. Someone was asking him a question about Vraja-lila, some higher question and he did not give a full answer, but he said "One thing you should know for sure, he said, "Without chanting Hare Krsna, Krsna nama purely without offense, you can never get prema. It is not possible." Such a simple statement and so cutting to the point. Our Guru Maharaja emphasized like this in the same way. He sat in that park in New York City and chanted Hare Krsna, everything coming from that. He told that, "For two years I just experimented with the Holy Name, giving it out to see what happen, how it would go. Later I gave some structure to the mission when I saw it was developing. He had this faith, "I am giving Harinama to them and mantra diksa from my guru." It is very simple way, he thought. And so many ladies made so much progress also. They didn't get the purusa-bhava. They became nice dasis and if there was any purusa-bhava that came, he used it by sending them out on the streets for preaching. It can be employed like that. He taught them to be very nice ladies at home. He said, like chaste, what is that saying, "A lamb at home and a lion in the chase." So we are on the chase of Mahaprabhu. At home with husband we will be very chaste and in the street you will go and preach like a lion. And roar. You can even tell the men "take Krsna consciousness. You look like you'll like Caitanya Mahaprabhu, take this book" and so forth. So he had anyway a very dynamic idea, a very good example for all of us. We are all indebted to him and I pray that he will give us his mercy on this day and many days thereafter.

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