Srila Bhaktisiddhanta S. & Sri Purusottam Thak. & Gour Govinda Swami

[Guest guest]

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur

 

>From Back to Godhead Vol.1 Part 9

March 1952

An offering by

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 

 

It is the honest belief of Srila Saraswati Thakur that

people in general, modern philosophers and thinkers as

also the religionists will be struck with wonder when

they seriously make a study of the gift of Lord

Chaitanya.

 

Oh! my Master

The evangelic angel.

Give us thy light,

Light up thy candle.

 

Struggle for existence

A Human race,

The only hope

His Divine Grace.

 

Absolute is sentient

Thou hast proved.

Impersonal calamity

Thou hast moved.

 

This gives us a life

Anew and fresh.

Worship thy feet

Your Divine Grace.

Had you not come

Who had told,

The message of Krishna

Forceful and bold,

 

That's your right

You have the mace.

Save me a fallen

Your Divine Grace.

 

The line of service

As drawn by you,

Is pleasing and healthy

Like morning dew.

 

The oldest of all

But in new dress

Miracle done

Your Divine Grace.

 

 

Om Vishnupada Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati

Goswami appeared in this mortal world in the year in

February on as the third son of Srila Bhaktivinode

Thakur known as Late Kedarnath Dutt in His early

householder life. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati was

known as Bimala Prasad Dutt in His early life and from

His very boyhood, inspired by His devotee father,

lived a strict pious and religious life. One instance

in His early life will prove how much He was rigid in

His principle of religious way of life. The instance

may be cited here as a matter of course. Srila Kedar

Nath Dutta as an ideal Grihastha used to worship Sree

Sree Radha Govinda Vigraha at his house. As such one

day he purchased some good quality mangoes for the

deity when Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati was a mere

child. The child Bimala Prasad pretending the childish

nature ate up the mangoes without the knowledge of His

father. The father when he came to know that the

mangoes purchased for offering to the deities at his

house were swallowed up by his child Bimala Prasad, he

mildly rebuked Him and warned Him also not to commit

the mistake in future. The child Bimala Prasad took up

this matter very seriously and as the proverb goes

that child is the father of future men, so He proved

Himself then as the future Acharya of the human

community. From that day forward till His departure

from this mortal world He remembered that mistake

which He had committed in His early life and as a

matter of self imposed punishment He never touched

mangoes of any kind for His eating purpose. In His

later life He was so many times requested by His

thousands and thousands disciples to accept mangoes

but He always reminded of His childish so called

mistake and always quoted the instruction from the

Ishopanishad that everything belongs to the Almighty

God. No body therefore accept anything in this world

unless the same has first been offered to Him

(Almighty God).

 

Another instance of His early life may be stated here

that when Bimala Prasad was on the lap of his beloved

mother His father Late Kedar Nath Dutta was posted as

Magistrate of Puri. The Car festival of Sree Sree

Jagannathji took place at that time. The house was

situated just near the main road through which the Car

used to pass. So when the Car was moving it stopped

all of a sudden in front of the house where Sri Bimala

Prasad was on the lap of His mother. The Car of

Jagannath stopped and did not move with utmost

endeavour of the pulling devotees. The mother of

Bimala Prasad took this opportunity and was helped to

get up on the Car for Darshan of the Deity with her

saintly son. The baby Bimala Prasad was then thrown on

the holy feet of Sree Sree Jagannathji and at once the

baby was blessed by the God as some flowers fell down

on the baby from the hands of the Deity. After this

incidence the Car began to move and every intelligent

person present there could understand that the child

Bimala Prasad was not an ordinary one. There are many

such small but very significant instances from His

very childhood which indicated Bimala Prasad to be a

future great personality and it so happened that in

His later age He became the most powerful Acharya in

the line of Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya in the

disciplic succession from the Madhyacharya who was in

the line of Brahma Sampradaya coming down Brahma the

Creator of this Universe. There are four Sattawata or

transcendental spiritual Acharya Sampradayas or

fundamental schools of Theism such as the Brahma

Sampradaya beginning from Brahma after His initiation

from the Personality of Godhead; the Rudra Sampradaya

beginning from Sankara or Mahadeva; the Shree

Sampradaya beginning from Sreemati Luxmi Devi the

Eternal Consort of Shree Narayana and the Kumar

Sampradaya beginning from the Kumar namely Sanak Sanat

Kumars. Sree Madhyacharya belonged to Brahma

Sampradaya, Sree Ramanuja to the Sree Sampradaya, Sree

Vishnuswami to the Rudra Sampradaya and Sree Nimbarka

belonged to Kumar Sampradaya. All these four Acharyas

are bonafide preachers of the pure transcendental

philosophy dealing with the problems of the world, the

living entities and the Almighty God who is the Father

of the creation as well as the living entities who are

falsely trying to dominate over the creation and the

controlling energy known as the material Nature.

 

Sree Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj

happened to be the tenth generation in the line of

disciplic succession from Lord Chaitanya who accepted

Srila Iswar Puri as His spiritual Master. Srila

Madhabendra Puri was the spiritual Master of Srila

Iswar Puri and He (Sri Madhabendra Puri) belonged to

be in the disciplic succession from Madhyacharya who

was direct disciple of Sree Vyasdeva. The Spiritual

Master of Srila Vyasdeva was Srila Narada Muni who was

directly initiated by Brahma the originator of the

Brahma Sampradaya and therefore my spiritual Master

Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami

Maharaj belonged to the transcendental spiritual

school of philosophy of the Brahma Sampradaya linking

Brahma to Vyasdeva; from Him to Madhyacharya, from

Madhyacharya to Lord Chaitanya and from Lord Chaitanya

to Himself in a systematic principle of disciplic

succession as stated in Bhagavad-gita.

 

As a bonafide Acharya of the Brahma-Madhya-Gaudiya

Sampradaya the mission of Sree Sreemad Bhakti

Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami was to re-establish the

pure form of theism as propounded by Lord Chaitanya in

the line of His predecessors. Lord Chaitanya preached

only the teachings of Bhagwat Geeta in the most

practical way to suit the present environment created

by the dark age of quarrel and fight. In the

latter-age calculated to be two hundred years before

the advent of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami

Maharaj many pseudo-spiritualistic parties in the name

of Lord Chaitanya grew up like mushrooms to exploit

the noble sentiment of spiritualism of the innocent

people of Earth. Such pseudo-spiritualistic parties

deviated poles asunder from the preaching of Lord

Chaitanya because they were unfit to undergo the

disciplic regulations and as such they had mitigated a

via-media principle of rotten materialistic idea with

pure spiritualism. They misunderstood the highest form

of worship contemplated by the Gopies of Brindaban in

the transcendental loving pastimes of Lord Shree

Krishna and misidentified the spiritual process with a

materialistic idea of erotic principle. As such the

highest principle Rashlila stated in the Bhagwat to be

understood and relished at the stage of the

Paramhansas was made a plaything by such pseudo

parties are known as the Oal, Baoul, Nera, Karta

Bhaja, Sain, Darbesi Sakhi-vekhi, Sahajia, Caste

Goswamins, Caste Brahmins and so on. These pseudo

parties passed as the disciples of Lord Chaitanya with

their cheap nefarious activities and of all the above

parties the Sahajias and the Caste Goswamins became

the most obstinate obstructors to the onward progress

of the universal movement of Lord Chaitanya.

 

The Philosophy of Lord Chaitanya was that God is One

without a second. He is known as Shree Krishna but His

incarnations such as Rama Nrisingha are all identical

with Him. The living entities or Jivas are

qualitatively one with Godhead but quantitatively they

are innumerable but eternal servitors of the Supreme

Personality of Godhead. The present materialistic

activities of the Jivas are to be understood as the

acts of Maya or illusion and therefore they are all

waste of energy of the human being. The energy of the

human being as also of other living being should

therefore be directed under the bonafide regulations

of the Acharya so the line of Lord Chaitanya and as

such He vehemently protested against the principles of

those pseudo transcendentalists now passed in the name

of Lord Chaitanya.

 

Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode initiated the reformatory

movement by literary contributions while he was still

engaged as a high Government Officer. During his

householder life and serving as a Magistrate he wrote

books of various descriptions in Bengali, English,

Sanskrit & etc. to present an actual picture of pure

devotional activities of Lord Chaitanya. Srila Bhakti

Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj got inspiration

from his very Childhood all about Srila Thakur

Bhaktivinode's movement. As a matter of fact out of

all his other son's Srila Saraswati Thakur practically

worked as the private secretary of Srila Bhaktivinode

Thakur as such Bhaktivinode Thakur gave Him (Srila

Saraswati Thakur) the transcendental Power of Attorney

to espouse the cause of Lord Chaitanya and so after

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur's departure--Srila Saraswati

Thakur took up reins of that reformatory movement.

 

The first and foremost task of Srila Saraswati Thakur

was to excavate the holy birth-place of Lord Chaitanya

at Sreedham Mayapur in the district of Nadia in West

Bengal. To substantiate this preliminary act of His

great future movement Srila Saraswati Thakur had to

face tremendous difficulties offered by the caste

goswamins at Nabadwip--because they apprehended a

lawyer in that initial movement. The caste goswamins

were exploiting and still are exploiting the religious

sentiments of the common people in the name of Lord

Chaitanya and presented themselves as so called

relative and descendants of Lord Chaitanya and Lord

Nityananda. Factually Lord Chaitanya or for the matter

of that Lord Nityananda accepted nobody as their

relative or kinsmen who were not devotee of the Lord.

On the contrary Lord Chaitanya accepted Thakur

Haridas, who happened to come out of a Mohammedan

family, as the Namacharya or the most powerful

authority for preaching the samkirtan movement which

Lord Chaitanya inaugurated so arduously.

 

Lord Chaitanya, as it is stated in the Bhagwat Geeta

or in other authentic scriptures, wanted to

re-establish the Vaishnava Dharma on the real basis of

spiritualism. He never deprecated the natural caste

system but neither He approved of the birth-right

caste system, which has degenerated into slut of

anachronism. Lord Chaitanya opined that anyone who is

well conversant with the philosophy of the Absolute

Truth Shree Krishna, never mind what he is either a

born Brahmin or Sudra or in the Ashram of a Sanyasi or

Grihastha, is perfectly competent to act in the role

of Spiritual Master. And He practically demonstrated

this fact during His preaching work.

 

The caste goswamins assisted by the other

pseudo-transcendentalists made a clique to check up

the universal movement of Lord Chaitanya and made a

business of dispatching those foolish followers to the

kingdom heaven after having drawing a lumpsum amount

for this priestcraft hooliganism.

 

Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami

Maharaj wanted to check up this pseudo-spiritualistic

activities of the so-called followers of Lord

Chaitanya and present the actual thing for acceptance

by the general public religionists and modern

philosophers for a critical study of the sublime gift

of Lord Chaitanya. It is the honest belief of Srila

Saraswati Thakur that people in general, modern

philosophers and thinkers as also the religionists

will be struck with wonder when they seriously make a

study of the gift of Lord Chaitanya.

 

What was thought by modern leaders like Gandhi and

Rabindranath was long long before thought by Lord

Chaitanya not as a public leader of political

aspiration but as the Father of all living entities.

The movement of Lord Chaitanya is generally known as

the Samkirtan movement which is a transcendental

process of self-realisation by removing the dust of

materialism on the mirror of human intelligence. The

present problem confronting the human civilization is

due to lack of a proper introspection of the goal of

human knowledge.

 

By: His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

 

------

 

SRI PURUSOTTAMA THAKURA

 

"The twenty-third and twenty-fourth prominent devotees of Nityananda Prabhu

were Sadasiva Kaviraja and his son Purusottama dasa, who was the tenth

gopala. Since birth, Purusottama dasa was merged in the service of the lotus

feet of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, and he was always engaged in childish play

with Lord Krsna." [C.C. Adi 11.8-39]

 

"Sri Sadasiva Kaviraja was extremely fortunate. His son's name was Sri

Purusottama das. He was never externally conscious of his material body.

Nityananda Candra enacted many pastimes from within his heart." [C.B. Antya

5/741-742]

 

Sri Purusottama Thakura had three main disciples: Sri Madhavacarya, Sri

Yadavacarya and Devakinandana dasa, who were born in Kulina brahmana

families. Madhavacarya married Nityananda Prabhu's daughter, Ganga-devi.

Devakinandana was the author of the book Vaishnav-vandane. Purusottama

Thakura's Sripat was previously at Sukhasagar. Now his Deities are at

Candriya Gram.

 

This temple is called Vasu-Jahnava Pat. Perhaps this is due to the fact that

Kanai Thakura, the son of Purusottama, was the adopted son of Sri Jahnava.

 

Sri Purusottama Thakura was the cowherd boy Stoka-krsna in Krisna-lila.

 

--------

 

A Brief Life Sketch Of Srila Gour Govinda Swami

 

His Divine Grace Gour Govinda Swami Maharaja made his appearance as

Braja-bandhu Manik in a vaishnava family on 2nd September 1929. He appeared

in the village of Jagannathapura, not far from Jagannatha Puri Dhama, in

Orissa, India, but as his mother was descended from the Giri family of the

village Gadeigiri, Braja-bandhu spent his childhood there. His grandfather

was a paramahamsa whose only business was to chant Hare Krishna and cry

before the local Deity of Krishna known as Gopal Jiu. He taught Braja-bandhu

how to chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra by counting on his fingers. In the

company of his uncles, Braja-bandhu would travel from village to village

chanting Hare Krishna and singing the songs of Narottama Dasa Thakura. The

Giri family have been known since the time of Syamananda Prabhu as famous

kirtana performers in Orissa. Three hundred years ago, in the temple

registers of Jagannatha Puri, the king of Orissa wrote that the kirtana

party of Gadeigiri should come to perform kirtana for Lord Jagannatha

whenever possible. In Orissa they are seen as kirtana-gurus.

 

>From the age of six, Braja-bandhu worshiped the Deity of Gopal by making

garlands, and sometimes, under the light of a candle, by singing hymns for

Him from palm-leaf manuscripts. He would never take any food that was not

offered to Gopal.

 

By the age of eight he had read the entire Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam

and Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and could also explain their meaning. At night

many villagers would come to hear his recitation of the Bhagavata, Ramayana

and Mahabharata. Thus from the very beginning of his life he was absorbed in

chanting Krishna's holy name, studying vaishnava literature, and worshipping

his beloved Gopal. Friends and relatives remember him as always being very

quiet and introspective. He was never interested in playing with other boys

or in going to see cinema shows or theatre.

 

After the death of his father in 1955, as the eldest son he became

responsible for maintaining the family, and on the request of his widowed

mother he entered the grhastha-asrama. He first met his wife, Srimati

Vasanti Devi, during their marriage ceremony. Because of financial

constraints he could not enroll formally in University courses, but he

studied privately at night to attend the examinations, obtaining a B.A.

degree from Utkal University with overall second highest marks on the exam.

He later also obtained a B.Ed. degree in a similar way and took up the

profession of a school teacher. Despite many responsibilities, however, his

devotion to Gopal never slackened. He would daily rise at 3.30 A.M., chant

the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, worship tulasi-devi, and speak to his family

from the Bhagavad-gita. In school he would take every opportunity to speak

to his students about Krishna and devotional principles. Some of his

students would become his disciples thirty years later.

During school breaks he would take his wife and travel to the Himalayan

mountains, visiting different tirthas and asramas, and he would sometimes

engage in philosophical debates with the mayavadis he found there.

 

On 8 April 1974, at the age of forty-five, Braja-bandhu left his home and

relatives in search of spiritual perfection. Giving himself the name

"Gour-Gopalananda Dasa" and carrying only a Bhagavad-gita and a begging

bowl, he wandered around India, visiting many sacred places along the banks

of the Ganges River. He was looking for his spiritual master, that person

who could help him develop an understanding of the maha-mantra. Although he

had met many sadhus and gurus during his householder days-Orissa has many

prominent sects of gaudiya-vaishnavas-he had not found any whose teachings

sufficiently touched his heart. Still not finding his spiritual master after

wandering in this way for one year, he eventually reached Vrindavana,

thinking that his desire would certainly be fulfilled in Krishna's dear

abode.

 

Two weeks after arriving in Vrindavana he saw a huge signboard which read,

"International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Founder-acarya His Divine

Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada," and he met a group of western

devotees who gave him a copy of Back to Godhead magazine. When he read the

contents describing the glory of divine love for Krishna, his heart became

anxious to meet the magazine's editor and the founder of the movement, Srila

Prabhupada. Gaining entrance to Srila Prabhupada's room, he introduced

himself and the first question Srila Prabhupada asked was, "Have you taken

sannyasa?" Gour-Gopalananda replied that he had not. "Then I will give you

sannyasa!" exclaimed Srila Prabhupada. Understanding that Srila Prabhupada

knew his heart, he surrendered himself at his lotus feet and soon became

Prabhupada's initiated disciple.

 

In 1975, at the opening of ISKCON's Sri Sri Krishna-Balarama Mandira in

Vrindavana, Srila Prabhupada awarded him the sannyasa order, sending him to

preach in Orissa and to construct a temple on the newly donated property in

Bhubaneswar.

The donated land was a jungle full of mosquitoes, snakes and scorpions. It

was so far from the city center that even during the daytime people were

afraid to visit. Meditating on the desire of Srila Prabhupada, Gour Govinda

Swami worked with unwavering determination. Sometimes residing in the

storeroom of a tea dealer and even sometimes sharing a small hut with road

construction workers, he began translating Srila Prabhupada's books into

Oriya as he had been instructed. He would visit house after house, office

after office, in and around Bhubaneswar to collect some small donations, and

he constructed with his own hands a thatched hut on the donated property.

 

In early 1977 Srila Prabhupada came to Bhubaneswar. Although the arrangement

had been made for him to stay comfortably in the State Guesthouse, Srila

Prabhupada at once rejected this proposal, "I will only stay where my

disciple child Gour Govinda has built a mud hut for me." Srila Prabhupada

stayed in Bhubaneswar for seventeen days, during which time he started

translation work on the tenth canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. On the auspicious

occasion of Lord Nityananda's appearance day he laid the foundation stone of

the temple-to-be, his last-founded project.

 

During a visit to Mayapura in 1979, Gour Govinda Swami was attending kirtana

one day when he fell to the ground unconscious. He was carried back to his

room followed by several ISKCON leaders and other concerned devotees.

Doctors came to examine him but were unable to diagnose the cause of his

condition. One person even suggested that he may have been possessed by a

ghost. Finally, Aki?cana Krishnadasa Babaji Maharaja, a godbrother of Srila

Prabhupada, explained that Gour Govinda Swami was manifesting the symptoms

of bhava, the advanced stage of ecstatic love of God.

When he returned to Bhubaneswar he became even more absorbed in the mission

of his spiritual master. Some western devotees had been sent there to assist

him, but most of them could not tolerate the austere conditions. They were

amazed to see how he was never disturbed, how he would eat only once a day,

and how he would never sleep. He would simply preach, chant, and write in

his notebooks both day and night.

Following Srila Prabhupada's order, Gour Govinda Maharaja preached

vigorously all over the land of Orissa. The simple pada-yatra festivals and

nama-hatta programs that he started, have helped hundreds and thousands of

people in the ancient land of Lord Caitanya's pastimes, discover their

spiritual roots and take up the chanting of the maha-mantra:

 

hare Krishna hare Krishna Krishna Krishna hare hare

hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare

 

Srila Prabhupada gave Gour Govinda Swami three principal instructions: to

translate his books from English into Oriya, to build the temple in

Bhubaneswar, and to preach all over the world. Carrying out these

instructions was Gour Govinda Swami's life and soul. He had a strict policy

of not eating until he had completed his quota of translation for the day.

Devotees would be struck to see how even after undergoing long international

flights Gour Govinda Swami would always insist upon first doing the

translation work given him by his spiritual master before he would eat or

sleep. This was a practice he maintained up to his very last day.

 

In 1985 Srila Gour Govinda Swami first travelled overseas for preaching. He

had so much enthusiasm for speaking Krishna-katha that he continued this

every year for the following eleven years, despite a crippling leg injury

and great personal inconvenience.

Although he was always very meek and humble in his personal dealings, in his

classes on Srimad-Bhagavatam he would roar like a lion, smashing the pride

and cutting the misconceptions from the hearts of his listeners.

Krishna-katha was his life and soul. He would often say, "The day that goes

by without Krishna-katha, that is a very bad day." In the course of his

lecturing he would inevitably burst into song, nourishing everyone with the

devotional sentiments of joy, humility and surrender as expressed in the

prayers of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and other acaryas.

Gour Govinda Swami's knowledge of scripture was formidable. He would

substantiate everything he said with evidence from all over the Vedic

literature. Sometimes he would question a disciple and if the disciple could

not answer with reference to the scriptures he would immediately exclaim,

"He is a cheater! Don't be a crooked person. A vaishnava quotes authority."

In this way Gour Govinda Swami always preached fearlessly, never

compromising the conclusions of the scripture in the name of being

practical. "One who cannot see Krishna," he would say, "is a blind man. He

may speak about Krishna, but in his mind he is speculating. Therefore his

words will never be effective. A real sadhu never speaks theoretically."

 

Gour Govinda Maharaja always kept a diary, making daily entries without

fail. Each entry would conclude in the same way: "Whatever service this

servant has performed today, Gopal knows." Every day he would pray to Gopal

in his diary, "Please give me the association of like-minded devotees."

 

In 1991, on Rama Navami, the auspicious appearance day of Lord Ramacandra,

after sixteen years of determined endeavour, Gour Govinda Maharaja fulfilled

the instruction of his beloved spiritual master Srila Prabhupada by opening

the magnificent Sri Sri Krishna-Balarama temple in Bhubaneswar. Since that

time the Sri Sri Krishna Balarama Mandira has grown into a flourishing

project that every year attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors.

 

He never gave up his simple lifestyle. Until his last days he continued to

live in the small mud hut next to the one he had built for Srila Prabhupada

in 1977. Several times he was requested by devotees to expand his managerial

responsibilities, but he always refused, saying, "I am not a manager, I am a

preacher." However, when the land in Gadeigiri, where he spent his childhood

and where his beloved Gopal resided in a simple structure, was donated to

ISKCON, he did take up the responsibility of one more project, that of

building Gopal a magnificent temple.

Gour Govinda Swami said, "I have opened a 'crying school' here in

Bhubaneswar. Unless we cry for Krishna, we cannot get His mercy." This was

the message he preached so vigorously all over the world during the last ten

years of his manifest pastimes.

 

In late January, 1996, he mentioned, "Srila Bhaktisiddhanta said that this

material world is not a fit place for any gentleman. Therefore, because he

was disgusted, he left this world prematurely. I may also leave. I don't

know. Let me ask Gopal. I will do whatever He wants." The next day Gour

Govinda Swami went to Gadeigiri to see his Gopal. After returning, for the

next four days he preached more powerfully than ever to thousands of people

who flocked to the Prabhupada Centennial festival in Bhubaneswar. Then he

left for the annual ISKCON management meetings in Sridhama Mayapura.

 

On 9 February 1996, the holy appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta

Sarasvati Thakura, two senior ISKCON devotees requested an appointment in

the early evening to see Gour Govinda Maharaja. They had never spoken

personally with him before but had become very eager to hear from him after

reading some of his books. They inquired, "Why did Caitanya Mahaprabhu stay

in Jagannatha Puri?" Delighted by their question, he began to explain the

confidential significance of Mahaprabhu's pastimes in Puri. He lovingly

described the pain of separation felt by Radha and Krishna when Krishna was

away from Vrindavana. This moving pastime appears in chapter eight of The

Embankment of Separation. Enchanting all the devotees in his room with the

nectarean topics of Krishna, he gradually unfolded the pastime to the point

where Radha and Krishna were finally united after Their long separation. He

described how Krishna became so ecstatic upon seeing Radharani that He

manifested a form with big round eyes and shrunken limbs, Lord Jagannatha.

At that time the devotees noticed that tears had come to his eyes and his

voice had become choked up. Barely audibly, he said, "Then the eyes of

Krishna fell upon the eyes of Radharani. Eye-to-eye union." Unable to

continue, he apologised with folded hands, "Please excuse me. I cannot

speak." He then gave his final instruction: "Kirtana! Kirtana!" The devotees

present began to chant as their spiritual master calmly lay back on his bed,

breathing slowly and deeply. A servant placed a picture of Gopal Jiu in his

hand. Then, gazing lovingly at that picture of his worshipable Deity, Gour

Govinda Swami called out, "Gopal!" and departed for the spiritual sky to be

united with his beloved Lord.

 

Every day before Srimad-Bhagavatam class, Gour Govinda Swami would sing an

Orissan song he had learned as a boy. Now his prayer was fulfilled:

 

paramananda he madhava

padungaluci makaranda

se-makaranda pana-kari

anande bolo 'hari hari'

 

harinka name vanda vela

pari karibe caka-dola

se-caka-dolanka-payare

mana-mo rahu nirantare

 

mana mo nirantare rahu

'ha-Krishna' boli jiva jau

ha-Krishna boli jau jiva

mote udhara radha-dhava

mote udhara radha-dhava

mote udhara radha-dhava

 

"O supremely blissful Madhava! The nectar is coming from Your lotus feet.

Drinking that nectar, I blissfully sing 'Hari! Hari!' Taking the name of

Hari, I am binding a raft on which Lord Jagannatha will ferry me across this

ocean of material existence. May my mind always remain at the lotus feet of

that Lord Jagannatha who has very large round eyes. In this way, I call out,

'Alas! Krishna!' and give up my life. O husband of Radharani, please deliver

me."