New booklet about Srila Prabhupada

[stonehearted]

 

Or even Madhumangal:

 

Kṛṣṇa had one brāhmaṇa friend whose name was Madhumańgala. This boy would joke by playing the part of a greedy brāhmaṇa. Whenever the friends ate, he would eat more than all others, especially laḍḍus, of which he was very fond. Then after eating more laḍḍus than anyone else, Madhumańgala would still not be satisfied, and he would say to Kṛṣṇa, "If You give me one more laḍḍu, then I shall be pleased to give You my blessings so that Your friend Rādhārāṇī will be very much pleased with You."

 

Oh, yeah! There seems to be a bit of Madhumangala in Srila Prabhupada's repeated entreaties to his disciples: If you give me laddus and kachauris, then I will bless you! However, as I pointed out, part jokingly, Madhumangala's deal with Krishna might have been more straightforward: bring me some laddus and kachauris, and I'll put a word in with Radharani.

 

And I'll tell you this: I'm a pretty sophisticated reader, and I have always seen in Prabhupada's descriptions of Madhumangala's antics a special delight.

[suchandra]

 

We have proven on a number of occasions that Srila Sridhar Maharaja was lied to by the senior men who went to him after the passing of Srila Prabhupada on the recommendation of Srila Prabhupada.

 

Sridhar Maharaja supported the zonal acharya fiasco because he was told by the senior disciples of Srila Prabhupada that they were appointed as zonal acharyas by Srila Prabhupada.

 

How many times do we have to tell you that?

 

Later, Sridhar Maharaja decided that it was not possible that Srila Prabhupada appointed them as zonal gurus and withdrew all his support for that system.

 

On this issue you are way off.

You need to get your facts straight before you go making such ignorant remarks.

This is of course a stupid idea to say that you can lie to a fully enlightened acarya. It might be true that people lie right to your face because you're fully under the grip of material illusion, but why you compare yourself with Srila Sridhar Swami who is supposed to be a liberated soul? Only conditioned souls fall prey to become lied to.

[Sonic Yogi]

 

Oh, yeah! There seems to be a bit of Madhumangala in Srila Prabhupada's repeated entreaties to his disciples: If you give me laddus and kachauris, then I will bless you! However, as I pointed out, part jokingly, Madhumangala's deal with Krishna might have been more straightforward: bring me some laddus and kachauris, and I'll put a word in with Radharani.

 

And I'll tell you this: I'm a pretty sophisticated reader, and I have always seen in Prabhupada's descriptions of Madhumangala's antics a special delight.

 

Madhumangal

[Beggar]

 

This is of course a stupid idea to say that you can lie to a fully enlightened acarya. It might be true that people lie right to your face because you're fully under the grip of material illusion, but why you compare yourself with Srila Sridhar Swami who is supposed to be a liberated soul? Only conditioned souls fall prey to become lied to. Doesnt make sense what your material brain is hallucinating.

 

Pusta Krsna Prabhu was converted through the association of Gargamuni Prabhu in Gainesville, Fl in late 1970. Gargamuni was in informed by Srila Prabhupada that there was a man in East Pakistan who would help him open a center there. In early '71 when Gargamuni and Pusta Krsna were there, E. Pakistan which later became Bangladesh was invaded by 100,000 or so W. Pakistani troops and there was a bloodbath especially for Hindus. Both Prabhus came very close to being killed by Pakistani troops and when they met Srila Prabhupada in Calcutta, he apologized telling them that the information was wrong and that no such man (wanting to help open a center) ever existed. Pusta Krsna Prabhu told me that he harmonized it that it was simply Krsna's Will, as Srila Prabhupada would always say, when things did not work out, "Krsna has his plans, and we have ours."

[Beggar]

Krsna is the brother of all the Gopis. The Vraja area was very small especially in terms of population. This meant that all the inhabitants were at least cousins of different sorts. In Vedic Culture there is the idea of cousin-brother as we see in Mahabharata. Therefore the Gopis knew that Krsna was their cousin-brother and would sometimes refer to Him as 'bhai' or brother. I heard this directly from Srila Narayana Maharaja.

[stonehearted]

Sure, it's a village culture, and everyone knows everyone else; everyone is someone's cousin. Life was like that on the Big Island. But where are the pastimes of the manjaris wandering through the forest with Krishna all day, running here and there, rolling in the pastures, etc.? That just isn't consonant with the manjaris' character. Nor is approaching Krishna directly in any case.

[Sonic Yogi]

 

Only conditioned souls fall prey to become lied to.

 

That of course is a lie that you cannot support with shastra.

[Beggar]

 

Pusta Krsna Prabhu was converted through the association of Gargamuni Prabhu in Gainesville, Fl in late 1970. Gargamuni was in informed by Srila Prabhupada that there was a man in East Pakistan who would help him open a center there. In early '71 when Gargamuni and Pusta Krsna were there, E. Pakistan which later became Bangladesh was invaded by 100,000 or so W. Pakistani troops and there was a bloodbath especially for Hindus. Both Prabhus came very close to being killed by Pakistani troops and when they met Srila Prabhupada in Calcutta, he apologized telling them that the information was wrong and that no such man (wanting to help open a center) ever existed. Pusta Krsna Prabhu told me that he harmonized it that it was simply Krsna's Will, as Srila Prabhupada would always say, when things did not work out, "Krsna has his plans, and we have ours."

 

 

More details:

When Pusta Krsna Prabhu (who was uninitiated at the time) and Gargamuni Prabhu (who was a sannyasi at the time) were in Dacca (now known as Dhaka) in late March of 1971, both Army units of the E. Pakistan Army loyal to W. Pakistan, and W. Pakistani rebels began to target the civilian population. They were after those Bengalis who wanted liberation for E. Pakistan (which became Bangladesh) such as students, politicians, intellectuals and Hindus in general. Gargamuni and Pusta tried to get out of Dacca as fast as possible. They got on a bus with a large amount of Bengalis and a Pakistani half-track pulled up with a large mounted machine gun which immediately took aim. Pusta told me that they just chanted japa and depended on Krsna but thought they were about to die. Suddenly the half-tack simply pulled away and drove off.

When they saw Srila Prabhupada in his room in Calcutta, he told them that he was sorry that the whole incident occurred since there was actually no such person in Dacca who wanted to help him secure a center there. He told Pusta Krsna who was uninitiated, "you have risked your life for Krsna, therefore I will make you sannyasa". A few days later Pusta Krsna was given Hare Nama and diksa at the same time directly by Srila Prabhupada and sannyasa a year later in Houston, Texas along with Hrdayananda Maharaja.

[Sonic Yogi]

Swami B.G. Narasingha Maharaja

 

http://gosai.com/chaitanya/saranagati/html/nmj_articles/sp_song_purp.html

 

 

His Holy Place of Bhajana

The Radha-Damodara Temple

Once in Vrndavana Srila Prabhupada informed a small group of his devotees of something very sublime, "I live eternally in my rooms at the Radha-Damodara temple." The real substance of this statement is of course only fully known to Srila Prabhupada himself, but we can feel with our heart that this clearly indicates that Srila Prabhupada is an eternal member of the camp of Srila Rupa Goswami.

In his small rooms overlooking the samadhi of Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Prabhupada used to execute his daily bhajana of chanting the holy name of Krsna and writing the Bhaktivedanta purports in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srila Prabhupada also informed us that, "I got inspiration for going to the West simply by performing my bhajana and praying before the samadhi of Srila Rupa Goswami." There he did his bhajana and there he daily sang Narottama dasa Thakura's song "Sri Rupa Manjari Pada ." It is in this song that we find the highest aspiration of the followers of the Rupanuga sampradaya in the service of Sri Radha.

The Radha-Damodara temple is located within the rasa-mandala of Sri Vrndavana Dhama and it occupies a most exalted position as the place of highly confidential lila of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda. It was here also that the renowned devotee Srila Jiva Goswami prepared transcendental literature on the science of Krsna-consciousness.

Damodara generally means bound by the ropes of love of Mother Yasoda. But there is another meaning of Damodara which is known only to the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Damodara means bound by the love and affection of Srimati Radharani. So great is Srimati Radharani's love for Krsna that she has captured Krsna and bound her Lord making him Her exclusive property and servitor.

The Radha-Damodara temple now stands at that place where Lord Krsna became a slave to the love of Srimati Radharani, where he bowed to her holy feet in radha pada seva, and this also is the eternal place of service and bhajana of Srila Prabhupada.

Let us always remember the Radha-Damodara temple, the place of holy bhajana of Srila Prabhupada and let us never forget his most exalted position as a servant of Srimati Radharani in the camp of Srila Rupa Goswami.

 

[stonehearted]

I'm waiting to see Narasimha Maharaja's response to this article.

[Beggar]

 

Sure, it's a village culture, and everyone knows everyone else; everyone is someone's cousin. Life was like that on the Big Island. But where are the pastimes of the manjaris wandering through the forest with Krishna all day, running here and there, rolling in the pastures, etc.? That just isn't consonant with the manjaris' character. Nor is approaching Krishna directly in any case.

 

Granted that "wandering through the forest with Krishna all day, running here and there, rolling in the pastures, etc." is firm evidence of sakhya rasa. But just like Nityananda Prabhu, who is Baladeva Himself, there is also a representation in madhurya rasa, just as Baladeva is represented as Ananga Manjari. Just because I am putting this forth does not mean that I have any personal conception of being in any rasa. Srila Sridhar Maharaja would say, "High talks, mad talks, who are we?" Then to purify from any offense he would chant, Nitai Gaura Hari bol and Dayal Nitai. He would sometimes say, "we must be careful not to disturb the higher quarter."

[Sonic Yogi]

 

I'm waiting to see Narasimha Maharaja's response to this article.

I wonder if he ever follows this forum.

It's a rather harsh arena at times.

 

I don't see that much more new evidence either way will be discovered.

 

About all there is to know about any revelations Srila Prabhupada might have written are already well-known.

 

What is the question is the reason, the motivation, the conditions etc. etc. as to why Srila Prabhupada wrote what he wrote.

 

I am almost positive that there is a tape somewhere where Sridhar Maharaja said that it could be that Srila Prabhupada was possibly concealing parakiya-rasa and showing some sakhya-rasa out of regards for Lord Nityananda who's mercy he needed to preach to the fallen souls of the world.

 

So, the words are there, but the depth of why and how they were said is something that we can only guess and disagree on.

 

In guru-tattva there are so many possibilities that all can be simultaneously true at the same time.

[stonehearted]

 

Granted that "wandering through the forest with Krishna all day, running here and there, rolling in the pastures, etc." is firm evidence of sakhya rasa.

Well, there you go. I'm not engaged in any speculation here. I'm just following the evidence, and it's the realization of Srila Sridhara Maharaja, who is a realized soul and close associate of Srila Prabhupada's throughout their lives as disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, that this is indeed, along with the other evidence he cites, as well as the other evidence I present in my little booklet, of an affinity for sakhya bhava. If there's real evidence of something different, let's bring it out and drink the nectar of the katha of our divine master's lila and charitra.

 

 

But just like Nityananda Prabhu, who is Baladeva Himself, there is also a representation in madhurya rasa, just as Baladeva is represented as Ananga Manjari.

Would you suggest, then, that Srila Prabhupada is directly Nityananda Prabhu, or Baladeva? I wouldn't. I remember the stir that such suggestions caused around ISKCON in 1970--and I was living in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as far away from land as anyone can get!

 

 

Just because I am putting this forth does not mean that I have any personal conception of being in any rasa. Srila Sridhar Maharaja would say, "High talks, mad talks, who are we?" Then to purify from any offense he would chant, Nitai Gaura Hari bol and Dayal Nitai. He would sometimes say, "we must be careful not to disturb the higher quarter."

 

Therefore, there's no chance of entering the pastimes of Sri Sri Radha Krishna in Vrindavan without first attaining the mercy of Sri Nityananda Balarama, whose lotus feet are as soothing as the rays of millions of moons. Dayal Nitai, Dayal Nitai, Nitai-Gaura Haribol!

[stonehearted]

 

I wonder if he [Narasimha maharaja] ever follows this forum.

It's a rather harsh arena at times.

I have no doubt that he has never visited this board. And rather harsh is a bit euphemistic, I think. Even this thread, meant for glorifying Srila Prabhupada, has degenerated into silly, 7th-grade name calling. If we can't discuss this topic civilly, I'll ask the admin to close it.

[Sukhada]

 

Back then I was hoping and praying that Tripurari Maharaja would give up trying to become an ISKCON guru and just take shelter of Srila Sridhar Maharaja.

 

Eventually my prayers were answered and one of my favorite Godbrothers Tripurari Maharaja gave up trying to become a voted in guru of ISKCON and took guidance from Srila Sridhar Maharaja.

 

I was very happy about that.

I didn't appreciate the insinuations you made in the above quote but I didn't know the exact history, so I sent it to Swami B. V. Tripurari for clarification. Here is his reply. He doesn't mention it, but the year in question he was president of the sannyasis:

 

I understood the true position of Pujyapada Sridhara Deva Goswami, as opposed to what the Iskcon GBC had told us, in 1984. At that time I contacted those who had taken shelter of him and had been rejected from Iskcon because of their affinity for him. They advised me to try to stay in Iskcon and find receptive devotees to speak with about the value of Srila Sridhara Maharaja's siksa. In those days we thought it would not be long before Iskcon realized its mistake and we would move on happily under the realized guidance of Sridhara Deva Goswami.

 

My coming under the influence of Srila Sridhara Maharaja happened to coincide with pressure that many were putting on the GBC, including non guru GBC members, to increase the number of gurus in Iskcon thus taking some of the power out of the hands of eleven men and creating a "fair field for preaching," to use a term coined by Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja. After all, many senior devotees were preaching and awakening faith in new devotees only to have one of the eleven gurus fly in and initiate new devotees and turn them against the senior devotees who had awakened their faith. These were troubled times for Iskcon and many disciples of Srila Prabhupada felt oppressed.

 

I was approached by Hridayananda Maharaja, who told me that I should initiate and that he realized that the leadership was stifling other senior devotees. Thus he submitted my name to the GBC as someone he thought was a qualified preacher that should initiate his own disciples. By then he and others knew that I had been influenced by Srila Sridhara Maharaja. I told Hridayananda Maharaja that I agreed with him that Iskcon was stifling but that this negative impetus to move on was not the whole story. There was considerable positive impetus in the form of the siksa of Srila Sridhara Maharaja. In other words, I told him that if Iskcon would broaden the preaching field for senior devotees, for me this was not sufficient reason to remain in Iskcon. Iskcon needed to embrace the siksa of Pujyapda Sridhara Deva Goswami.

 

When the GBC met in 1985, they interviewed me. The only question that had for me was why I was interested in Srila Sridhara Maharaja. I told them that if I left the Iskcon I did not feel that any of them would come after me to bring me back, but that Srila Sridhara Maharaja upon learning that a senior sannyasi had left would send someone for me. Thus they did not recognize me as being qualified to initiate.

 

With one foot out the door already and realizing more and more that Iskcon was not about to change, and with the encouragement of those under the shelter of Srila Sridhara Maharaja who had previously advised me to stay in Iskcon and try to bring reform, I set both feet outside of Iskcon. I then started in a humble way from scratch to preach independently from Iskcon under the inspiration of Srila Prabhupada, my eternal guru, and Pujyapada Sridhara Deva Goswami, my eternal siksa guru. He advised me, "Swami Maharaja has told you everything. Now go and start something yourself and I will be in the background to help you." This is what I have done by the grace of Sri Guru and the Vaisnavas with some success, at least internally.

 

Swami

[stonehearted]

Thanks for taking the trouble to straighten that out, Sukhada. I thought about writing to ask him, too, but I don't like to bother him. I think anyone who has any questions about his history or his ideas will find him straightforward in his responses.

 

Now, if there is more discussion of the substance of the booklet, let's go!

[Sonic Yogi]

 

I didn't appreciate the insinuations you made in the above quote but I didn't know the exact history, so I sent it to Swami B. V. Tripurari for clarification. Here is his reply. He doesn't mention it, but the year in question he was president of the sannyasis:

 

I understood the true position of Pujyapada Sridhara Deva Goswami, as opposed to what the Iskcon GBC had told us, in 1984.i

 

The year in question was 1981 when I first went to San Jose to work with Sudhira Maharaja in developing the Caitanya Saraswata Mandir where I was the pujari that established regular deity service there as well as managed and set up the kitchen.

 

So, there was a good two or three years there that I was worried if Tripurari Maharaja was going to hang around ISKCON and try to become a guru or if he would do the right thing and take guidance and shelter of Srila Sridhar Maharaja.

 

I was acquainted with Maharaja from time at the Chicago temple when he was somewhat taking over the leadership there from Subha-vilasa the Indian grhasta temple president.

 

One time Maharaja even told me "you are one of my favorite devotees".

Isn't that a hoot?

 

No matter what though I have always appreciated Tripurari Maharaja, though some of his ways were a little on the edge.

 

Don't get me wrong.

 

Tripurari Maharaja is one of my favorite devotees.

[Narasingh]

 

 

No, it is not feasible that Srila Prabhupada would not be a servant of his guru in Goloka. And no also, this is not a paradox. As Rupa Goswami explains, there are sakhas with a mix of madhurya sentiment. There are sakha's who are involved in Krsna's love life, just as there are manjari's who are involved from the other side with Radha. These sakha's have relationship, friendship and service to gopi's in assistance to the union of Radha and Krsna.

 

 

Dear "mud", you have taken my statements out of context. My original statement is as follows:

 

Here is the paradox.

 

How is it that, while Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati is a manjari, Srila Prabhupada may or may not be a sakha. If there is one thing more certain than whether or not Srila Prabhupada is a sakha, it is that his ultimate desire is the service of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati.

The paradox that I was speaking of was not that Srila Prabhupada does not want to serve under his Guru, but that if he truly wants to serve closely, then how is it that he is in a separate camp (yes, even priya-narma sakhas are one step distinguished from manjaris)? Working together wonderfully does not imply being in the same camp. However, the more closely connected one is in dasa, dasa anudasa seva, should imply the same camp. Can it be that the gift of his (Srila Prabhupada's) Guru to him was service in the camp of the cowherds?

[Sonic Yogi]

 

I'm waiting to see Narasimha Maharaja's response to this article.

 

 

 

Krsna Talk: My Guru is Radharani

Questions and Answers with Swami B. G. Narasingha

 

Question: I have seen in the composition "Prabhupada Lila-Smarana-Mangala-Stotram" that you have indicated Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was in madhurya-rasa. However, we have also heard from other great souls quoting Srila B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami Maharaja that Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja has shown affinity for sakhya-rasa. This apparently has been shown in Swami Prabhupada's prayer written on the good ship Jaladutta while he was on his way to the western world. So my question is, being an admirer of Srila Sridhara Maharaja how do you harmonize your opinion about the rasa of your Guru Maharaja with that indicated by Srila Sridhara Maharaja?

 

Narasingha Maharaja:

What Srila Sridhara Maharaja has spoken, we should take that upon our head. After the departure of our Prabhupada, it is appropriate that we should accept the direction of Srila Sridhar Maharaja. Almost these very same words were uttered about Srila Sridhara Maharaja by our Guru Maharaja in a letter to Sripad Govinda Maharaja (Our Affectionate Guardians, pp. 8. ). So to accept Srila Sridhara Maharaja's opinion is quite natural for anyone who even remotely knows something of his higher subjective realizations and of his intimate relationship with our Srila Prabhupada.

When Srila Sridhara Maharaja heard the recitation of the poem composed by our Guru Maharaja, "Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Krsna," he commented that there was indeed strong indication of our Srila Prabhupada being in sakhya-rasa. Srila Sridhara Maharaja said, "He has expressed himself, his eternal position, the acme of his aspiration. In Vrindavan he has established Balarama and Krishna and Nitai Gaura, and he is saying like that, Nitai Gaura are Krishna and Balarama. It's almost clear that he comes from that group. And now he's again there. Hare Krishna."

Such a statement by Srila Sridhara Maharaja is not to be taken lightly. A short time later there was some objection to Srila Sridhara Maharaja's referring to our Guru Maharaja as being in sakhya-rasa. Some of Srila Prabhupada's disciples for some reason took objection to Srila Sridhara Maharaja's statement. Srila Sridhara Maharaja was shocked by the immaturity of those disciples who objected. The consideration of rasa was obviously not a topic that those disciples were familiar with. Indeed their harshness in dealing with Srila Sridhara Maharaja reflected their extremely neophyte state of Krsna consciousness.

At that time Srila Sridhara Maharaja made reference to the effect that because of the special empowerment of Sri Nityananda Prabhu that our Guru Maharaja might have couched his madhurya tendencies in deference to Lord Nityananda.

The idea given by Srila Sridhara Mahraja was that it is possible that our Guru Maharaja was in madhurya rasa, but out of deference to Nityananda by whose potency he was influenced for his preaching campaign, Srila Prabhupada may have veiled his madhurya sentiments. Therefore some of the sakhya influence of Nityananda Prabhu was shown outwardly, keeping madhurya in the backgound.

It was not unthinkable for Srila Sridhara Maharaja to say such a thing-that our Guru Maharaja was outwardly showing sakhya influence and keeping his madhurya sentiments in the background. Certainly such is not unreasonable.

To be a follower of Srila Sridhara Maharaja does indeed mean to adhere to his instructions and opinions. Last but not least, his instruction was that one should come to the plane of eternal truth, by surrender-to know the truth in the core of one's heart, anuraga.

Some devotees may be in favor of our Guru Maharaja in sakhya-rasa while others may favor him in madhurya-rasa but to establish a right and a wrong in this matter may not be as black and white as some would like it to be. The truth is subjective-as He wishes us to see Him, so we shall see Him.

In the life of our Guru Maharaja there were innumerable indications for thinking that he was connected to Krsna-lila in madhurya-rasa. We have tried to show practically, by those indications, how Srila Prabhupada is very dear to Srimati Radharani. Only a portion of those indications have been recounted in the song "Prabhupada Lila-Smarana-Mangala-Stotram." Those were as follows: (1) That Srila Prabhupada's father praying to the vaishnava-sadhus asked for their blessings that his son become the servant of Srimati Radharani. (2) That Srila Prabhupada took mantra-diksa (initiation) from Sri Saraswati Thakura (Vrsabhanavi Devi Dayita Dasa also known as Nayana-mani Manjari in his siddha-rupa). (3) That Srila Prabhupada received his most cherished instructions to print books from his Guru while they strolled along the banks of Sri Radha Kunda (the most sacred place of pilgrimage for the followers of Sri Rupa and Raghunatha dasa). (4) That Srila Prabhupada's chosen place of bhajan in Vrindavan was just behind the samadhi of Srila Rupa Goswami (Rupa Manjari). (5) That Srila Prabhupada after completing his world preaching mission returned to Vrindavana and selected Kartikka month (the month non-different from Srimati Radharani) as the time of his departure and his entrance into the eternal lilas of the Lord. (6) And lastly Srila Prabhupada manifested a great desire just a few days before his pastime of departure to go to Govardhan Hill, the eternal place of residence of the followers of Sri Rupa and Raghunatha dasa. These and other indications of Srila Prabhupada being the dear most servant of Srimati Radharani were expressed in "Prabhupada Lila-Smarana-Mangala-Stotram"

It may be said that one can not judge the rasa of a particular devotee simply by his external movements or place of residence etc. However such a statement may be taken as only partially true. Otherwise Gaudiya-vaishnavas would not choose the Holy Dhams such as Vrindavana, Navadwipa, and Jagganatha Puri as their preferred places of residence/bhajan. The prakata-lila (external movement) of the pure devotee is not necessarily devoid of aprakata-bhava (one's internal feelings of love of Krsna). Although the movements of the pure Vaishnava are certainly deeply mysterious and not easily understood, such may nonetheless give us some perspective on the level of their intimacy with the Supreme Lord.

Further biographical information that has not been mentioned in the "Prabhupada Lila-Smarana-Mangala-Stotram" indicating the intimacy of Srila Prabhupada in Radha Krsna-lila is as follows. (1) When choosing to establish his mission "The League of Devotees" at Jansi, India Srila Prabhupada chose a building known as "Radha Smarak" (Radha Memorial) to set up his offices. (2) When Srila Prabhupada went to Delhi for printing his Back to Godhead magazine he chose a residence in the Chippiwada, Radha Krsna temple. (3) When choosing a printing press to begin the publication of his life's work Srimad Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada chose the Radha Press in Delhi. (4) When introducing his disciples to the worship of Sri Guru, Srila Prabhupada requested us to daily sing the prayers to the spiritual master composed by Viswanatha Cakravarthi Thakura, in which the glorify the spiritual master as a servant of the divine couple in madhyura-rasa (nikunja-yuno rati-keli-siddhyai) is mentioned. (5) Srila Prabhupada's favorite bhajan was "jaya radha madhava jaya-kunja-bihari, gopi-jana-ballabha" (This song was sung whenever Srila Prabhupada gave Srimad Bhagavatam class).

In any case, we have many such remembrances of our Divine Master which have unfolded in our heart so as to impel us to contemplate him as a follower of Sri Rupa Goswami and an eternal member of the intimate circle of the madhurya-rasa. We feel it proudly in our heart the Srila Prabhupada was the confidential representative of Srimati Radharani who was especially empowered by Sri Nityananda Prabhu to spread Krsna consciousness all over the world.

 

nama om visnupadaya krsna-presthaya bhutale

svami sri bhaktivedanta prabhupadaya te namah

gurvajnam sirasi-dharyam saktyavesa sva-rupine

hare-krsneti mantrena pascatya-pracya-tarine

visvacarya prabaryaya divya karunya murtaye

sri-bhagavat-madhurya-gita-jnana-pradayine

gaura-sri-rupa-siddhanta-saraswati nisevine

radha-krsna-padambhoja-bhrngaya gurave namah

 

"I offer my humble obeisances unto His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who is very dear to Lord Krsna on this Earth, having taken shelter at His lotus feet. Taking the order of his guru on his head, be became empowered by Nityananda Prabhu to act as a saktyavesa-avatara. He distributed the Hare Krsna mantra all over the Eastern and Western world, delivering and uplifting all fallen souls. He is the best of millions of jagat-gurus, because he is the personification of divine mercy. He has distributed the sweet nectar of Srimad Bhagavatam and the transcendental knowledge of Bhagavad-gita all over the world. He is constantly engaged in exclusive devotional service to Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, Srila Rupa Goswami, and Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. I offer my humble obeisances unto Srila Prabhupada, who is like a bumblebee always tasting the nectar of the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha and Govinda." (pranam-mantra composed by Sripad Govinda Maharaja upon Srila Prabhupada's personal request)

As Srila Sridhara Maharaja has said, "If we raise our head a little higher and look up then we shall find Radharani and Gurudeva. It is Radharani who is instrumental in accomplishing the function of Gurudeva from behind. The source of grace for the guru is coming from the original source of service and love. Saksad dharitvena samasta sastrair, we are asked to see Gurudeva not as opaque but as transparent, to such a degree that through him the highest conception of service, the first conception of service can be seen. It can be obtained there. If we are earnest then we shall find the highest link from the original source. We are requested not to see guru as limited in his ordinary personification, but as the transparent mediator of the highest function in his line. If only our vision is deep, we can see that according to the depth of our sraddha, our vision, guru-tattva is very particular, very noble, very broad, wide and very deep." (Follow the Angels, pp.163. Available from Mandala Publishing Group: http://www.mandala.org/)

In summary we may conjecture that our Guru Maharaja, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada is in madhurya-rasa simply because he saw his guru as Srimati Radharani. His guru is Srimati Radharani. A simple observation-he saw his guru as Srimati Radharani. This was also confirmed by Srila Sridhara Maharaja on several occasions as follows: "Swami Maharaja has clearly written that his guru is Radharani, it is there. Krsna, Radharani will be pleased if you help me in this campaign. Is it not written there, e-punya koribe jabe radharani khusi habe dhruva ati boli toma tai. So he has admitted that his guru is Radharani. So we aspire after the service of Radharani, under the direction of Sri Rupa and other devotees, not committing any wrong." (Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Krsna)

"In general rasa, general service of Krishna he preached in the West. Though he knew and admitted that, 'My guru is Radharani.' Radharani, my gurudeva, has ordered me to preach in the west. And Krishna, my friend, you are to help me, because Radharani will be satisfied, my gurudeva. Your bigness is also like that. So, You must come to help me"

Certainly Srila Prabhupada will forgive us if we have over stepped our bounds in our endeavors to serve him with our full hearts love and devotion.

We offer our humble apologies to anyone and everyone if we have made any offence in following our heart felt intuition and pray that you will kindly forgive us.

 

[stonehearted]

Tripurari Maharaja and I have both gotten very positive responses from Narasimha Maharaja. He first worried that the booklet may generate unnecessary controversy. But he decided that he likes it enough that, if we were to get it printed, he would see that it's distributed widely, including at Radha-Damodara temple. His comments were very encouraging, to say the least.

[Sonic Yogi]

 

Atul Krsna dasa then succinctly proved that Srila Prabhupada never preached nor is he in the opinion that the jiva fell from Goloka Vrndavana. After his talk, Srila Narayana Maharaja announced:

 

"I want preachers like this prabhu. He summarized everything I have taught about your Prabhupada. He did not speak about mangos and kachoris. He has preached that the jiva did not come from Goloka Vrndavana and that your Srila Prabhupada is not in sakhya-rasa but that he is a follower of Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. You should all preach in this spirit. Try to have this bold spirit of preaching."

[Beggar]

 

Would you suggest, then, that Srila Prabhupada is directly Nityananda Prabhu, or Baladeva? I wouldn't.

Neither would I suggest that Srila Prabupada is directly Visnu tattva. Rather we are to see guru tattva as more akin to sakti tattva. As we know saktyavesa of Nityananda Prabhu means a jiva who is empowered with the sakti of Nityananda. Once it was brought up to Srila Sridhar Maharaja that Srila Prabhupada made one statement which is on an audio recording from Bombay, maybe 1975, where Srila Prabhupada debates with his Indian doctor friend who plays 'the Devils advocate'. The debate is over whether or not a person can have good qualities without being a bhakta. Srila Prabhupada is preaching similar to this excerpt from Srila Prabhupada Arrives in London, 9-11-69:

Harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna [sB 5.18.12]. Anyone who has no God consciousness, he has no qualification. However academically he may be very rich, he has no qualification. Manorathena asato dhavato bahih. His only qualification is mental concoction. Mental concoction. That’s all. He has no other qualification. So we reject all these nonsense. We simply accept a sincere soul who wants to dedicate his life for God’s service.

 

When his friend insists that there are good men, Srila Prabhupada says, "show me a good man, show me a good man, and I will kick on his face, I am so strong!"

 

When Srila Sridhar Maharaja heard this he chuckled and told that this is similar to a statement by Srila Vrndavana das Thakur in Caitanya Bhagavat.

He explained that Srila Prabhupada being empowered by Sri Nityananada had entered into the mood of Sri Balaramaji. So there was a connection between the saktyavesa and the mood displayed.

[stonehearted]

 

Sonic:Atul Krsna dasa then succinctly proved that Srila Prabhupada never preached nor is he in the opinion that the jiva fell from Goloka Vrndavana. After his talk, Srila Narayana Maharaja announced:

 

"I want preachers like this prabhu. He summarized everything I have taught about your Prabhupada. He did not speak about mangos and kachoris. He has preached that the jiva did not come from Goloka Vrndavana and that your Srila Prabhupada is not in sakhya-rasa but that he is a follower of Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami. You should all preach in this spirit. Try to have this bold spirit of preaching."

If I'm not mistaken, this Atul Krishna, having left Harikesh (?) for Narayana Maharaja, later left NM for Ananta das babaji (to be then known as Madhavananda das). More recently he left Adb to become some sort of Buddhist bhikku, and now is just a self-described vagabond named Ananda wandering around Asia. Ah, well.

 

Anyway, I'd be grateful for any posts responding to the substance of the booklet.

[stonehearted]

 

Neither would I suggest that Srila Prabupada is directly Visnu tattva. Rather we are to see guru tattva as more akin to sakti tattva. As we know saktyavesa of Nityananda Prabhu means a jiva who is empowered with the sakti of Nityananda. Once it was brought up to Srila Sridhar Maharaja that Srila Prabhupada made one statement which is on an audio recording from Bombay, maybe 1975, where Srila Prabhupada debates with his Indian doctor friend who plays 'the Devils advocate'. The debate is over whether or not a person can have good qualities without being a bhakta. Srila Prabhupada is preaching similar to this excerpt from Srila Prabhupada Arrives in London, 9-11-69:

 

When his friend insists that there are good men, Srila Prabhupada says, "show me a good man, show me a good man, and I will kick on his face, I am so strong!"

 

When Srila Sridhar Maharaja heard this he chuckled and told that this is similar to a statement by Srila Vrndavana das Thakur in Caitanya Bhagavat.

He explained that Srila Prabhupada being empowered by Sri Nityananada had entered into the mood of Sri Balaramaji. So there was a connection between the saktyavesa and the mood displayed.

Nice. Of course, I discuss this a little in the booklet.

[melvin]

I like to read a booklet about Srila Prabhupada when he was Abhay Charan de from the time he was born in 1896 until he relinquished his boyhood. How Srila Prabhupada was reared by his parents and relatives. What games did he played. Did he played basketball or hide-and-seek with his neighborhood friends? Did he had fights with boys bigger than his size? Did he have a girlfriend or childhood crush?

You see, it is where you will find Srila Prabupada`s humaness and vulnerability which we all mere mortals possess. It seems that we all look up to Srila Prabhuapa as if he was God himself in the human form if we keep on adoring him as one. If he were alive today, Srila Prabhupada I believe would have none of it of the accolades we gave to him for being a true and loyal devotee and friend of Lord Krsna.

I`d rather bow and give my respects to a devotee who cleans the toilet bowls everyday inside the temple of Sri Damodara than one who wants to be treated as if he were God himself.