Sridhara Maharaja on scriptures forged

January 6, 2003

Krsnadasa Babaji was sent to me. No one could approach Vasudeva Prabhu, they are all very much afraid of his personality. "Only Sridhara Maharaja can approach him. Though he is his greatest enemy, still he has some affection for Sridhara Maharaja." Vasudeva told me that Prabhupada had done many things that cannot be supported according to the scriptures and he incited that, "your name is Sridhara Maharaja. Where is this name mentioned?" I told him "in Gaudiya Kanthahara, you have all printed this and Ananta Samhita. You have this collection of quotations and one hundred and eight names of sannyasis." Vasudeva said, "Oh, that is all false, concoction. No Ananta Samhita. We have concocted this name and Sachin Pandita has given the Sanskrit. So, it is all false. Therefore, we cannot follow strictly the principles of Prabhupada." Then I gave him this answer. In the Veda and Upanisad, there is sin also. The first consideration is Risi, but if we consider that Srimad-Bhagavatam is full-fledged theism and that it is the primary conception of theism-full fledged theism is given in Bhagavatam and Mahaprabhu. And those persons who preach that full-fledged theism and find expression within their heart, anything added to that, it appeared to me, is greater sastra than the Veda and Upanisad. I asserted this before him. Then he remarked, "of course what you say may be true, but that man who feels any suggestion to create new things to help this movement of full-fledged theism must be svarupa-siddha. If he is svarupa-siddha, then what you say is true." That means that he thinks that Prabhupada is not svarupa-siddha. I thought that this was a hard thing, so I became silent. He also became silent. But anyhow, in my talk with him, I found that he may have some compromise with Kunja Babu. I wrote to Madhava Maharaja, saying that I have talked with Vasudeva Prabhu and I felt that a compromise may be affected very soon.

January 6, 2003

http://www.gosai.com/chaitanya/saranagati/html/vishnu_mjs/affection_unabridged/oag_a_3.html

raga · January 6, 2003

Ananta Samhita is mentioned in other texts as well, such as Advaita Prakasa. Sridhar Maharaja probably means to say Sattvata-samhita, as that is the text to which the quote is attributed in the Gaudiya Kanthahara, along with Muktikopanisad. However, I cannot locate any such text in the Muktikopanisad. Does anyone have any notes on Sattvata-samhita?

tIrthAzramavanAraNya-giri-parvata-sAgarAH

sarasvatI bhAratI ca purI nAmAni vai daza

gabhastinemir vArAhaH kSamit-tRparamArthinau

turyAzramI nirIhaz ca tridaNDI-viSNu daivataH

bhikSur-yAyAvaro viSTho nyAsI-rAbhasiko muniH

viSThalalo mahAvIro mahattaro yathAgataH

naiskarmya-paramAdvaitI zuddhAdvaitI jitendriyaH

tapasvI yAcako nagno raddhantI zuddhAdvaitI bhajanonmukhaH

sannyAsI maskarI klAnto niragnir-nArasiMhakaH

auDalomi-mahAyogi-zruvAk bhavapAragaH

zramaNo'vahUtaH zAntas yathArho daNDi-kezavau

nyastaparIgraho bhakti-sAro'kSrI janArdanaH

urdhva manthi-tyakta-gRhAv-urdhvareto yatoSTha-dhRk

viraktodAsInau tyAgI siddhAntI zrIdharaH zikhI

bodhAyano trivikramo govindo madhusUdanaH

vaikhAnaso yathAsvo vai vAmano paramahaMasakaH

nArAyaNa-hRSIkesI parivrAjaka-maGgalau

mAdhavo padmanAbhaz cauDupako bhrAmI vaiSNavaH

viSNu-dAmodarau svAmI gosvAmI paramogavaH

bhAgavato hyakiJcanaH santo niskiJcano yatih

kSapaNko 'viSaktazcordhva puNdro muNDi-sajjanay

nirviSayI harerjano zrautI sAdhu bRhad-vratI

sthaviras-tat-paro paryaTakAcAryau svatantradhIH

kathyante yatinAmAni prathitAni mahItale

aSTottara-zatAni tu vaidikakhyAni tAni hi

muralidhar · January 6, 2003

When we came to Srila Sridhar Maharaj twenty years ago he told us about all these events of the past. Nothing new in this for we disciples of Guru Maharaj; and for we who saw the brilliance of his Lotus Feet there was the realization that you were drinking nectar at every moment. You felt you were "filled with joy" (anandam buddhi vardhanam)

Krishnadas Babaji brought the love letters of Ananta Vasudev's mundane affairs to Srila Sridhar Maharaj. At that moment, Srila Sridhar Maharaj decided that Vasudev Prabhu should not be Acharya, since he was duplicitious.

Keshava Maharaj was enraged. His mood was more like the mood of a Lion. But Srila Sridhar Maharaj just turned his face away and walked out.

In regard to Ananta Vasudev, some leader of the Math said, "Api cet sudaracaro"

Guru Maharaj's reply was that this verse is not applicable in the case of the Acharya, for the Acharya cannot be dishonest or a hypocrite (Putana)

So Guru Maharaj left the Gaudiya Math of Ananta Vasudev, and became, as is quoted, "his greatest enemy".

But then years later when everything was resolved - the court case. Ananta Vasudev felt some concilliatory mood. So he said to Srila Sridhar Maharaj's chosen successor, the boy Govinda Maharaj, "Ask me for anything and I will give it to you." So Govinda Maharaj asked for a book, the Harinamamrta Vyakarana of Sri Jiva Goswami, and Vasudev Prabhu gave the boy the gift. And he told Govinda Maharaj, "you have a very good Guru".

muralidhar · January 6, 2003

Bhakti Sudhir Goswami:

Vasudev Prabhu approached Srila Sridhar Maharaja and tried to break his faith in Srila Saraswati Thakur. The crux of his argument was that Saraswati Thakur’s innovations were not Vedic. He offered evidence: The 108 sannyas names. Knowing Srila Sridhar Maharaja to be a Bhattacharya and Vedic Brahmin, he appealed to his samskar (background) by describing them as non-Vedic and challenged their authenticity. Srila Sridhar Maharaja responded by referencing a Vedic text. Then Vasudev Prabhu, the insider, revealed: “You don't know, we hired some pundits, Prabhupada dictated, they couched his concepts in Vedic language, and we published that book as Veda.” At this point a man without guru nistha (inexorable faith) would collapse.

Without hesitation Srila Sridhar Maharaja replied: What is Veda? And what comprises Veda? It is Divine revelation that has descended in the inspiration of the rishis. Sruti is what has been heard—Divine Sound. The recorded realizations of those who have heard (conceived) the divine sound is transmitted as the sacred mantram and scripture. It is revealed truth, inaccessible to the mind, senses and intellect [scholarship], (avan manasa gochara, na bhaved grahyam indriyaih). Revealed to whom? Rishis, saints, devotees, gurus (tattva drsi—tattva darshinah). Those who are seeing and experiencing the Absolute Truth. Their recorded realization, in written form, is known as scripture.

Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur and his paribar (spiritual family line), lead by Srila Saraswati Thakur et al., are the Vedic Rishis of the modern day. What they reveal through their divine inspiration and record in written form is no less valuable than the original Vedas themselves. Simplified, Vedas are: The words of God from the mouths of Rishis. Whether you transmit that aurally, write it down, or record it in any media, it is Veda.

In this way Srila Sridhar Maharaja established the validity and equality of the writings of Bhaktivinode Thakur and Srila Saraswati Thakur with Veda. But then something dramatic, more divine, descended. Srila Sridhar Maharaja revealed that the statements of Srila Saraswati Thakur and Bhaktivinode Thakur are even more valuable than the Vedas. At this point we might conjecture, every disciple sees his gurudeva like that, “My Guru is Jagat Guru!” (mat guru si jagat guru). The difference is Srila Sridhar Maharaja proved it.

What are the realizations of the Vedic Rishis. We are told in the Mahapurana Srimad Bhagavatam the Absolute Truth is known as Brahman, Paramatman and Bhagavan, The Vedas, Upanishads, mainly deal with Brahman, developing gradually toward Paramatman with a hint of Bhagavan, what to speak of aprakrta lila of Sri Krishna and the channah avatara of Krishna as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (anarpita carim cirat, ujjvala rasam, radha bhava).

The conception of God as Bhagavan, Krishna with his potency (hladini shakti), develops from Narayan of Vaikuntha, to Ramachandra of Ayodhya, Krishna of Dwaraka, Mathura, Vrindavan, Govardhan, and Radha Kunda, with Srimati Radharani expanding at every step along the way to accommodate the transcendental desires of Swayam Bhagavan Krishna (tabhir ya eva nija-rupataya kalabhih). And in his most extraordinary manifestation, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Supreme entity Krishna, is eclipsed, utterly overwhelmed by his potency, and converted into a devotee himself. It is the supreme triumph of devotion — Radha's heart defeats Krishna (radha bhava dyuti suvalitam naumi krsna swarupam).

Bhaktivinode Thakur and Srila Saraswati Thakur reveal this full-fledged theistic conception of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and in so doing not only equal, but surpass Vedic revelation (granthanam racanaih satam, mahatmya sima na tat). And no less than the Vedas themselves concur (Sruti Gana, Sruti Stuti, srutibhir vimrgyam). Having witnessed and participated in Krishna’s rasa lila, they fell to the ground wailing, “Please forgive us! We did not know that You (the Absolute Truth personified), possessed such, beauty, charm and sweetness (akhila rasamrta murti, achintya guna swarupam, raso vai sah). What we have described as Divine was rather an offense!”

The Vedas themselves admit to the superiority of the Krishna conception of Divinity. That sweetness (madhurya) with the added element of magnanimous distribution (audarya) is flowing as an infinite spring of nectar from the lotus feet of Gauranga (yatha yatha gaura padaravinde, yadi gaura na hoita tabe ki hoita kemane dharitam de). This is the inconceivable, ever increasing, dynamic, sweetness and beauty of Krishna consciousness (krsna lilamrta sara, nava yauvana etc.).

How shall all of this be described or written about? Actually, only Krishna can properly describe and reveal himself. He chooses his devotees as his agency. Kaviraja Goswami says, “To say I have written Chaitanya Charitamrta is false. I am like a wooden doll with Divine current passing through me by the mercy of the Lord and his devotees (‘ami likhi’,——eha mithya”). Jayadeva distrusts his inspiration and hesitates to write that Krishna falls at the feet of Radharani begging forgiveness. But Krishna appears personally, in Jayadeva's persona (murti) and pens with his own hand: dehi ...-pallavam udaram. Sanatan Goswami Prabhu reveals previously unknown confidential conversations (su-gopyam) of Jaimini and Janamejaya, quoting Parikit to his mother Uttara, as the basis of Brhad Bhagavatamrta. To the empiric fact that he was not on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Samjaya reveals, "By the mercy of Vyas I have heard Bhagavad Gita" (vyasa-prasadac chrutavan). And Ramananda Raya, who compares himself to a sitar being played by Mahaprabhu, says, “At the beginning of our conversation you said whatever I say must be supported with a quote from scripture, but I feel something in my heart that is not in scripture, yet goes even deeper.” He began to sing his own inconceivable song, with Mahaprabhu placing his palm over his mouth (ne plus ultra).

In fact, if we deny Divine revelation coming through his agency, Sri Guru, by choosing to focus on the background, the humanness, we commit offense and become the cause of our own misfortune. Even in the presence of Divine revelation, it becomes opaque and inaccessible. In Nyaya, logic, this is the fallacy of nagna matrka nyaya: Logic of the Naked Mother: Although she is in fact, mother, she is meditated upon as the naked girl she once was.

In the Light of the Bhagawat, Srila Prabhupada takes it one step further: When the sky is clouded you can distinguish between the clouded section and the unclouded section (nitya baddha, nitya siddha). But just as when the clouds vanish there is no distinction, the sky is seen equally, when the clouds of illusion vanish, you can no longer impose mundane distinction upon a liberated soul, what to speak of those whom have descended from the supreme abode of Krishna on his Divine order. Srila Sridhar Maharaja: "When we consider the extent of the spiritual wealth of Bhaktivinode Thakur, we can only conclude that it was not acquired in this lifetime. He descended from the highest plane of spiritual reality".

What to speak of the works of Srila Saraswati Thakur and Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, there are those who challenge the authenticity of the Brahma Samhita, saying it so much supports his conception, that it must have been written by Mahaprabhu Himself. In Srila Sridhar Maharaja's opinion, if that be the case, its value has increased ad infinitum.

But to comprehend this requires faith, association, (adau sraddha, tatah sadhu sangha, etc.) The fundamental priniciples—the very foundation of Krishna consciousness. Why did Srila Saraswati Thakur have his sannyasis read from Prahlad Charit and Upadesamrta at the divide of Radha and Syama Kunda? Poor water on the root of the Krishna conception of divinity and the fruit will automatically appear (pujala raga patha gaurava bhange). Devotion, and Chastity to the lotus feet of Sri Guru will deliver everything (etat sarvam gurau bhaktya purusho hy añjasa jayet). You will not be neglected under the ever watchful eye of Yogamaya.