A Humble Submission - My Life Story

July 11, 2003

The following is excerpted from 'A Humble Submission - My Life Story' written by Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami at the end of his 100 th year of Devotion. This article was printed in 'Sri Vyasa Puja - 100 years of Devotion.'

I pay my prostrated obeisances to Sri Guru and Gauranga, Gandarvika and Giridhari Gopinatha and beg them for their causeless mercy. It is the twilight of my life, and I have completed my one hundredth year. My hands are arthritic, my memory is failing and I am no longer able to discuss anything in a sequential manner. Even so, I make this humble submission at the feet of my Guru, the Vaisnavas and the Lord, I hope that you will find the kindness within you to forgive me for my shortcomings.

guru -vaisnava-bhagavan tinera smaran

tinera smarana hay vighna vinasan

anayase hay nija vanchita -puran

"I meditate on my guru, the Vaisnavas and the Lord, because by remembering them, all obstacles are destroyed and one easily attains the fulfillment of all desires." (Caitanya Caritamrta Adi 1.1.20-1)

I have been inspired by the example of Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami to make this effort to tell my story. In the Bhagavata, there is a verse:

srstva purani vividhany ajayatma -saktya

vrksan sarisrpa -pasun khaga-dandasukan

tais tair atusta -hrdayah purusam vidhaya

brahmaloka -dhisanam mudam apa devah

"With the help of his Maya potency, the Supreme Lord created this visible world with its trees, serpents, animals, birds and other creatures, but his heart remained dissatisfied, Then He created man, who alone possesses the intelligence to see Brahman, and He was delighted." (Srimad Bhagavatam 11. 9. 28)

sadhu-sange krsna -nama ei matra cai

samsara jinite ar kono vastu nai

'All I want is association with sadhus and the Holy Name of Krsna. I need nothing else in order to conquer over the world of birth and death.' (Bhaktivinoda Thakura)

Now, after first remembering the lotus feet of my most worshipable spiritual master, Nitya -lila-pravista Om Visnupada 108 Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada, and offering them unlimited prostrated obeisances, I will say a few words about my life.

A Few Words About My Live (part one)

I was born in Jessore district, in a small town called Ganganandapur on the east banks of the Kapotakha River. This place is now in Bangladesh, but it is not more than about 80 kilometers from Calcutta. There where many educated and cultured people living there at that time. We lived on the south side of the village, witch consisted predominantly of brahmana families, but I was born in a poorer household. My father's name was Tarini Charan Chakravarty and my mother's Ram Ragini Devi. I had a uncle named Pryanath Chakrvarty. On my mother's side , I also had an accomplished uncle who earned three master's degrees in Bengali, Sanskrit and Mathematics. He also had numerous traditional titles for studies in Sanskrit grammar and poetry, Sankhya philosophy, the Vedas and Vedanta, etc. He was thus a great scholar. He taught at a high school in Sridhama Mayapura, including some time at the Thakur Bhaktivinode Institute. Prior to my birth, my parents had lost a four-year-old daughter and a one- year-old son. Our neighbors in the village were a family of Vedic brahmanas who had established a temple of Buro Siva. My mother went faithfully to worship this Siva deity and one day was told in a dream about my birth and that of my younger brother. She used to tell us that we were born as a result of Siva's blessings, his vara- putras.

According to the custom of the time, my nurse "purchased' me from my mother for only three coppers, so I was given the name Tin Kori. People used to call me Tinu. I could never understand the value of a life that could be sold for such a pittance. Anyway, now that I have such a big title "Founder President" people find it amusing. From the time that I was a baby, I was always overjoyed whenever I heard singing or music being played. For this reason, my father gave me the name Promode Bhushan.

>From my father, I heard that in the distant past the king in Bengal, Adisura, brought five Vedic brahmanas from Kanyakubja to settle his land. Their names were Daksa, Bhatta Narayana, Sri Harsa, Chandora and Vedagarbha. Or family was descended from Sri Harsa. One of my Godbrothers, the reverened Bhakti -Hrdaya Vana Maharaja was also descended from the same forefather. Vana Maharaja, however, was a Kulina Brahmana. His family name was Mukhopadhyaya. The custom of separating brahmanas into these higher and lower categories began under the Sena king, Ballala Sena. The nine characteristics with which the higher class or Kulina Brahmanas were supposedly endowed are given as follows.

acaro niyamo vidya pratistha tirtha-darsanam

nistha vrttis tapo danam navadha kula -laksanam

"There are nine ways of judging a family: by its treatment of others, the rules it keeps, its learning, its social position, whether or not its members have performed pilgrimage, its steadfastness, the way is makes its money, and whether its members perform austerities or give in charity."

We were Srotriya brahmanas, which means that we were Vedhyayis, or versed in the Vedas. This is a lower ranking in the caste system than Kulina brahmana. I would think that in the Caitanya Caritamrta story about saksi Goala, of the two brahmanas who went on pilgrimage to Vrndavana, the older one was likely a Kulina brahmana, the younger one a Srotriya. In the Smrit scriptures it is said that if a girl from a Srotriya Family marries into a Kulina Family, then the latter becomes glorious. But if a kulina girls marries a Srotriya man, the Kulina family is ruined In those days the people were still extremely influenced by false pride based on family, caste and lineage.

Eventually by the Lord's will I started to get my first understanding of Gaudiya Vaisnavism, Srila Prabhupada and Bhaktivinoda Thkarua as a result of going to the Madan Mohan temple on the north side of the village with Bhaktiratna Thakura and conversing with him> Prior to that, I had a superficial understanding of who Caitanya Mahaprabhu was, I would simply sit down nect to Bhaktiratna Thakura and study the writings of Bhaktivinoda Thakrua of Krsnadas Kaviraja Gosami or other Vaisnava Mahajanas, and in this way I gained a great deal of valuable knowledge about the Gaudiya Vaisnava religious path that Sriman Mahaprabhu taught and practiced, My narrow understanding of his teachings was completely eradicated.

Mahaprabhu said.

nica -jati nahe krsna-bhajane ayogya

sat-kula -vipra nahe bhajaner yogya

jei bhaje sei bara, abhakta -hin, char

krsna-bhajane nahi jati-kuladi-vicar

"A person born in a low caste is not unfit for discharging devotional service to rksna, nor is one fit for devotional service simply because he is born in a high -caste brahmana family. Anyone who takes to devotional service is exalted, whereas a non devotee is always condemned and abominable. In the discharge of devotional service to the Lord, there is no consideration of cast or social status."

(Caitanya Caritamrta 4.66-7)

to be continued...