Sri Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji Maharaja

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Sri Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji Maharaja

 

In 1849, Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji left grhasta life after the death of

his wife. He moved to Vrndavana and took initiation from Sri Bhagavata Dasa

Babaji, a disciple of Sri Jagannatha Dasa Babaji. For over thirty years Gaura

Kishora Dasa stayed in Vrndavana performing bhajana under the trees at

GiriGovardhana, Nandagrama, Varsana, Radha-kunda, Surya-kunda, Raval, Gokula.

 

Sitting in seclusion, he chanted 200,000 names of Krishna every day (128 rounds

of japa). He felt painful separation from Radha-Govinda and cried profusely. As

he wandered through the dvadasa vana (12 forests) of Vraja, he would loudly

chant the holy names in a deep voice full of lamentation. He would also relish

the following bhajan:

 

kothay go prema-mayi radhe radhe! radhe radhe go jaya radhe radhe! dekha diya

prana rakho radhe radhe! tomar kangal tomay cake radhe radhe! radhe

vmdavana-vilasini radhe radhe!

 

radhe kanu-mano-mohini radhe radhe! radhe astha-sakhir siromani radhe radhe!

radhe vrsabhanu-nandini radhe radhe!

 

"O Radhe Radhe! Where are You, O Goddess of ecstatic love? O Radhe Radhe! All

glories to You, O Radhe Radhe!

 

O Radhe Radhe! Please show Yourself to me and thereby maintain my life. Your

most despicable fallen servant calls out to You, O Radhe Radhe!

 

O Radhe! Oh artful enjoyer of Vrndavana. O Radhe Radhe! O Radhe! Oh enchantress

of Kanu's (Krishna) mind. O Radhe Radhe!

 

O Radhe! Oh crest jewel of Your eight main girlfriends. O Radhe Radhe! O Radhe!

Oh delightful daughter of Maharaja Vrsabhanu. O Radhe Radhe!"

 

Srila Babaji Maharaja's mood of renunciation was unparalleled. Sometimes he ate

mud from the banks of Radha-kunda or the Yamuna. Other times he took madhukari

from the Vrajavasis. Madhukari is a babaji's daily practice of begging a little

food from one to seven houses, just as a bee collects a drop of honey from each

flower. He saw all the Vrajavasis (residents of Vrndavana) as being the direct

personal associates of Radha and Krishna. As a result of this vision, he would

pay respects to every person, cow, animal, bird, tree, creeper, insect, ant in

the holy dhama.

 

While staying in Varsana he made a flower garland everyday for Rai and Kanu

(Radha-Krishna). After thirty years of rendering intimate services to Radha and

Krishna in Vrndavana, Babaji felt inspired by the Divine Couple to see Sri

Navadvipa Dhama. He visited all the lila sthanas of Lord Gauranga in Gaura

Mandala. In Navadvipa, he used to sing one bhajana which means, "By receiving

Nitai's mercy one gets Gauranga's mercy, which makes one eligible for Krishna

prema. With Krishna prema one can attain the service of Srimati Radharani and

the gopis."

 

Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji was the embodied form of Sri Rupa-Raghunatha's

renunciation. Completely detached, he would wash discarded cloth to cover his

body. He drank from a rejected clay pot. Parched rice mixed with Ganges water

or simply some mud from Ganga's bank sustained his life.

 

He carried two books written by Sri Narottama Dasa Thakura; Prarthana,

Prema-bhakti-candrika. On Ekadasi he didn't eat or drink a drop of water.

Recognizing him to be a mahabhagavata, many tried to serve, but he never

accepted.

 

Regularly, he associated with and heard Srimad Bhagavatam from Srila Thakura

Bhaktivinoda in Svananda sukhada kunja in Godrumadvipa. Constantly absorbed in

bhajana, Srila Babaji Maharaja had no desire to make disciples. On the request

of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, however, he reconsidered. Upon seeing the true

humility and deep attachment of Thakura Bhaktivinoda's s on for bhajana, Sri la

Gaurakis hora D as a Babaj i accepted one disciple--Sri Varsabhanavi-dayita

Dasa (Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura).

 

To keep mundane people from approaching him for material boons he once resided

in the lavatories at the Kuliya Dharmashalla (in Koladvipa) for six months.

When public officials came offering to build him a proper bhajana kutir, Babaji

Maharaja locked himself inside and said he already had one. He believed that

associating with materialistic people was much worse than the smell of stool in

the latrine.

 

Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji advised a Calcutta doctor who wanted to open a free

health clinic in Navadvipa Dhama: "If you really want to live in Navadvipa

Dhama, then give up your desire to run a free clinic for healing sense

enjoyers. If you want to render substantial service, then renounce everything

except what promotes Hari bhajana. All other kinds of duties and services

simply bind one to the ghastly cycle of karmic reactions."

 

Babaji Maharaja spoke gravely to a newly married man: "A Vaisnava wife is

extremely rare and difficult to find in this world. If one has the good fortune

of having one, he should see it as a benediction from Krishna. The wife

worships the husband as her lord and master. Similarly, the husband should

worship the wife because she is Krishna dasi, a secant of Krishna. In this way,

the husband can protect his devotional enthusiasm by not considering his wife

to be his maidservant, but she is always the maidservant of Krishna."

 

"One who wants bhajana (eating palatably) will spoil his bhajana," was a

favorite quote of Srila Babaji Maharaja. In other words, eating here and there

simply to gratify the tongue (bhojana) destroys any attempts to worship Krishna

(bhajana). Once a devotee ate some festival prasadam in his bhajana kutir.

Babaji Maharaja would not speak to him for three days. On the fourth day he

said, "You accepted "festivalprasadam" given by low class harlots and beautiful

women. Because you took food without considering its origin your bhajana is

useless."

 

The essence of Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji's instructions: "The Divine Name

of Krishna offers the one and only shelter. One should never try to remember

Radha-Damodara's transcendental pastimes by artificial methods. Constant

chanting of the Divine Names will purify the heart. By chanting Hari Nama the

syllables of the maha-mantra (Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare

Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare) will gradually reveal the

spiritual form, qualities, pastimes of Sri Krishna. Then you will realize your

own eternal spiritual form, service, and the eleven particulars of your

spiritual identity."

 

In pursuance of Babaji Maharaja's statement, "drag my dead body through the

streets of Navadvipa," a group of so-called advanced devotees proposed to

commit the said sacrilege. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, however,

challenged them: "According to sastra, one who has had carnal association with

a loose woman within the last twenty-four hours is contaminated, and therefore

not qualified to touch my Guru Maharaja." Hearing this bold statement, the

black-hearted brahmanas made a hasty retreat.

 

On 19 November 1915, Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji Maharaja joined the

eternal blissful pastimes of GandharvikaGiridhari. His beloved disciple, Srila

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, established his samadhi on the banks of Sri

Caitanya Matha's Radha-kunda, near Lord Caitanya's Yogapitha in Sridhama

Mayapur.

 

In Vraja lila he serves Srimati Radharani as Guna-manjari. His pushpa samadhi

stands besides the Radha-Kunja Bihari Gaudiya Matha near Radha-kunda.

 

GAURAKISORA DASA BABAJI:

 

He was the guru of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, the founder of

the Caitanya Mathas and Gaudiya Mathas. This Vaisnava saint's life was an

example of utter humility and poverty, the true attributes of a Vaisnava.

Gaurakisora never accepted any material object from anyone. For his clothing

he used the discarded loin cloths from corpses left on the bank of the Ganges.

For food, he would collect rice by begging, soak it in river water, and garnish

it with salt and chilly. He never asked favors from anyone and lived a fully

detached life, devoid of all possessions.

 

Very little information is available about the past life of Gaurakisora

except that he was born in a Vaisya family in the village of Bagjana near

Tepakhola on the bank of the Padma. As a householder, Gaurakisora was known by

the name Vamsidas

 

 

a. At that time he was engaged in some agricultural trade and from the income

took care of his wife and family honestly. After the death of his wife,

Gaurakisora renounced his home and went to Vrndavana, where he was initiated

into Vairagi Vesa by Bhagavata dasa babaji, one of the foremost disciples of

Jagannatha dasa babaji.

 

Gaurakisora lived on madhukari and slept beneath a tree. He would lie

prostrate, offering his humble obeisances to the residents of Vraja,

considering them as embodiments of Lord Krsna. He even offered his obeisances

to the flowers, trees, and land around him. He spent about thirty years at

Vrajamandala serving the deities there. Afterwards, perhaps by the direction

of the Supreme Lord, he left for Navadvipa.

 

During his stay at Navadvipa, Gaurakisora underwent various

transformations of spiritual moods. Sometimes he danced on the bank of the

Ganges chanting, "Gaura, Gaura", while at other times he would lie on the

ground in an unconscious state.

 

 

He joyfully moved throughout the groves located on the bank of the Ganges,

considering them sites of the divine sports of Radhagovinda. His only clothing

was a strip of cloth around his waist and often went totally naked. He chanted

japa on beads or sometimes knotted a cloth and used that as a substitute for

japa beads. Occasionally, he went to Godruma to listen to Bhaktivinoda Thakura

recite Srimad Bhagavatam.

 

Every virtuous person looked forward to rendering service to

Gaurakisora. However, he rarely allowed anyone the chance to serve him. Once

Manindracandra Nandi, the Maharaja of Kasimbazar, sent a distinguished

messenger to escort Gaurakisora to the former's palace. Gaurakisora, however,

did not accept the Maharaja's invitation saying that if he visited the palace

he may feel tempted by the wealth of the Maharaja which may result in a

strained relation between the two. Hence, Gaurakisora suggested that instead of

him visiting the palace, let the Maharaja free himself completely from the

shackles of wealth by donating everything he owned to his relatives and then

come to live with Gaurakisora in a specially prepared shed where both of them

could practice Haribhajan in peace."

 

Gaurakisora was very selective about accepting invitations for food.

He believed that partaking of food here and there could adversely affect the

spiritual life of a devotee. Once a devotee name Harenbabu partook of prasada

offered at the festival held at Bhajan-kutir at Navadvipa. For this Gaurakisora

stopped communicating with Haren for three days. On the fourth day Gaurakisora

explained that the prasada of the above festival had been financed by a woman

of questionable profession.

 

Once, on the eve of Sanatana Gosvami's disappearance day, Gaurakisora

decided to celebrate the occasion. The devotee attending him asked who would

provide them with the materials for the celebration. Gaurakisora replied:

"Remember not to speak to anyone about it. We shall miss a meal and continue

around the clock chanting the holy name. This could be the typical festival

for those of us who have taken the vow of poverty."

 

Narendra Kumar Sen, a resident of Agartala (Tripura), once approached

Gaurakisora to learn about Guru-pranali or Siddha pranali. Gaurakisora told

him, "The Supreme Lord cannot be realized through worldly knowledge. Only

through the chanting of the holy name can the true nature of the Lord be

revealed. As the Lord is revealed from the letters comprising the Nama, the

devotee gradually begins to understand his own nature and becomes acquainted

with seva.

 

Once a physician told Gaurakisora that he intended to move to Navadvipa

and take up charitable practices. Gaurakisora advised the physician that if he

truly desired to live in Navadvipa then he should give up the plan for a

charitable practice because it would only encourage materially minded people to

save money. Those who sincerely practiced Hari bhajan should never get

distracted by the chains of welfare activities.

 

A young seeker wearing a kaupina, once stayed with Gaurakisora for some

days. later he arranged, through the agency of an employee of a female estate

owner, to obtain five kathas of land as a donation from the woman. When

Gaurakisora heard about this he was extremely annoyed: "Navadvipadhama is

beyond this material world. How can a worldly land-owner dare to hold land here

and even think he can donate five kathas out of it? A mere grain of sand of

the transcendental Navadvipa is more valuable than all the precious gems in

this world put together. Moreover, how advanced could this young kaupina-clad

devotee be if he dares to collect so much land in lieu of his bhajan merit?"

 

Once a devotee offered some sweets to Lord Gauranga and then took the

offering to Gaurakisora, urging him to partake of it. Gaurakisora told the

devotee, "Those who are non-vegetarian, those who commit adultery, or offer

food to Lord Gauranga with a particular motive, their offerings never reach

Lord Gauranga and are never sanctified as prasada."

 

Gaurakisora regularly begged for rice, after which he would cook the

rice, offer it, and partake of the prasada. He never touched any foodstuff

offered by someone else. Once during monsoon, Gaurakisora stayed in the

rest-house at Phulia Navadvipa. Some prasada was left in a vessel for him to

respect later. Meanwhile a snake passed by the vessel and a woman there

happened to notice it. When Gaurakisora sat down to take prasada the woman

appeared there and informed him about the snake. Gaurakisora, however, firmly

stated that he would not touch the prasada until the woman left. After the

woman left, Gaurakisora said, "Look how maya works! Taking the form of

compassion, maya attempts to hit deep into her target slowly. Maya can assume

countless forms. She always prevents a mortal being from practicing

Haribhajan."

 

Giribabu and his wife once ardently requested Gaurakisora

to stay in their house at Navadvipa. Gaurakisora was moved by their sincere

devotion and finally agreed to oblige them on the condition that he would live

only in their toilet room where he would perform Hari bhajan. Giribabu tried

to persuade him to change his mind but Gaurakisora remained firm. Giribabu

reluctantly arranged to have the toilet thorougly cleaned and Gaurakisora used

it for Haribhajan. A realized soul can practice Haribhajan anywhere in an

unconcerned manner, and wherever he resides, that place becomes Vaikuntha.

 

Gaurakisora was a highly spiritually advanced soul. He never allowed

deceitful practices or any discussion which was not within the purview of the

holy books. One day when a devotee questioned Gaurakisora about a well-known

reiciter of Srimad Bhagavatam who was in the habit of chanting "Gaura, Gaura",

Gaurakisora remarked, "He doesn't say "Gaura, Gaura. Rather what he means to

say is, `Money, Money.' Those who recite Srimad Bhagavatam for payment are not

entitled to chant the name of the Supreme Lord."

 

Gaurakisora never delivered discourses openly, yet his spotless

character drew everyone to him. Upon meeting Gaurakisora, even a staunch

materialist would become inclined take up Haribhajan.

 

In November 1915 AD. on Ekadasi day, Gaurakisora dasa babaji breathed

his last. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati himself arranged to bury the mortal

remains of his revered guru.