Lecture on Krishna Consciousness outside of what Srila Prabhupada gave by HH Sivarama Swami on 25 Oct 2014 at India

(Sivarama Swami was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1949. His family immigrated to Canada where some years later in 1970 he first came in contact with Srila Prabhupada's teachings, via his transcendental books. He became an initiated disciple of His Divine Grace in 1973 and accepted the renounced order of life in 1979.)

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Lecture on Memorial Class of HG Kaulini Mataji and HG Sankirtan Prabhu by HH Romapada Swami in 27 Mar 2015 at Naperville

(Romapada Swami‘s first encounter with Krishna consciousness came in Buffalo, in the shape of a lecture at the State University of New York in 1969. The lecturer was His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The following year, Romapada Swami joined the movement in Boston and was initiated in 1971.)

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Lecture on Grihastha Ashram by Kratu Prabhu on 10 Jan 2011 at Toronto

(During high schooling years, he became president of the students union and went on to receive a bachelor degree in engineering from the M.S. University, Baroda.)

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Lecture on All You Need is Love by HH Bhakti Vikas Swami on 23 Aug 2015 at Crawley England

(HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami appeared in this world in 1957 in England. He joined the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in London in 1975 and was initiated in that year with the name Ilapati dasa by ISKCON’s founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. )

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Time passes quickly when you are doing something you love, and since the devotees love spreading Krsna consciousness, the summer flew by. Our schedule was intense—a festival every day—but the reward of seeing people smile and dance with us was enough to keep us going. And we got this reward every day.

One evening during harinam on the beach before the evening festival, an elderly woman came up to me. “I just love the way you people sing,” she said. “I can’t wait for the festival tonight.” We stood watching the devotees as they danced. The woman smiled a little smile. “I have a big desire in my heart,” she said. “I wish that all the people on this beach would jump up and start singing and dancing with you. Do you ever feel like that?”

“All the time,” I said.

“I have been watching you for many years,” she said. “I once read a book that explained that you are singing the names of God. Your singing is like a spiritual first-aid kit. People get cured of their awful ways.”

Farther on the beach another woman came running toward us. “It’s you!” she said, out of breath. “The Hare Krsnas! I found you!” She bent over to catch her breath, and then looked up with a smile. “No, actually you found me.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I was trying to decide where to go on vacation this summer,” she said, still out of breath, “but my co-workers told me not to go overseas. They said the weather in Poland was supposed be good this summer and that I should just come to the Baltic Sea coast. They said if I was lucky I might even run into the Hare Krsnas and be invited to your festival. Many of them have been to your festivals and they just raved about it. Are you having a festival here?”

“We sure are,” I said, handing her an invitation.

“Will there be samosas?” she asked.

“Oh? You already know about samosas?”

“Well, I’ve never actually had one,” she said. “But they are one of the things my friends told me about. They said I had to try one if I found you, and they asked me to bring some back to the office.”

“Well, yes,” I said. “We’ll have plenty of samosas. We make six hundred for every festival. We have a restaurant tent, and you’ll find them there.”

On our way back to the festival site we passed through the town. A man called out to me from a restaurant, “Hey Guru! Come here! I want to talk to you!”

I took the chance and walked over to the restaurant. The man took my hand and shook it vigorously. “Thank you,” he said. “My wife here said that if you shake hands with a guru you get lots of blessings. Thank you so much!”

“Um… no problem,” I said. “We’re having a festival this evening. Please come if you can. You’ll get lots of blessings there too.”

I was jogging to catch up with the harinama party when a woman rushed out of a store and ran up to me. “Stop!” she shouted. “Can you just stop for a minute! I want an answer from you, and I want it now. Why do you people only sing in this part of town? Why only here, huh?”

“This part of town?” I asked. “What do you mean?”

“Oh don’t act like you don’t know,” she said, looking me in the eye, her clenched hands pushing on her hips. “Years ago you used to come and sing in the other part of town where my store is. We used to look forward to it all summer. Don’t you care about us on the other side of town anymore?”

I didn’t know what to say.

“Answer me!” she demanded. “Why should the people in this part of town be the only ones who get to hear your singing?”

“Well,” I began, “we came here to chant because…”

“Look,” she said, cutting me off, “if you don’t turn around right now and come to my part of town, I’m going to tell all my friends and neighbors not to go to your festival.”

I called out to the kirtan party and waved for them to come back.

“You lead the way,” I said to her. We chanted behind her as she led us to her part of town, and we stayed for an hour, chanting and dancing. She waved to us from the doorway of her store as we left. “See you tonight!” she shouted with a huge smile.

Our detour had made us late for prasada. The devotees ate a hurried meal and began preparing for the festival. Half an hour or so before the festival was to begin, I saw a man, a woman and their young daughter sitting in the front row of benches.

I walked up to them. “It will be a little while before things get going,” I said.

“That’s OK,” the man said. “We could use a little break. We just drove up from Warsaw. Our daughter was adamant that we come.”

“Oh, I see,” I said. “So is this your first time with us?”

“No, no,” the woman replied. “We were at another one of your festivals earlier in the summer. But when we got home our seven-year-old daughter couldn’t stop talking about it. She loved everything: the singing, the dancing, the puppet shows, the make-up tent, the food. Everything. And day and night she insisted on wearing the sari she had won at the dance competition.”

“She was pestering us constantly to come back,” the man said. “She just wouldn’t stop. It was driving us crazy. So in the end I asked my boss for another week’s vacation. Fortunately he understood the situation. He had been to one of your festivals himself, so he agreed. I had to take money from my pension fund to pay for the trip.”

“So here we are,” the woman said with a laugh. “And we’ll be at every one of your events over the next week.”

Forty five minutes later as Bada Haridas began the first bhajan on the stage, a woman walked up to me. “I just wanted to thank you for all you’re doing,” she said. “I know you have very high principles.”

“Thank you,” I said. “You must have read some of our books then.”

“No, not yet,” she replied. “I was speaking with my neighbor about you last summer. Her son had become interested in your movement and was thinking of joining. My neighbor was concerned and went to our local priest for advice, but the priest told her not to worry. He said her son probably wouldn’t stay long because your principles are so high and your discipline is so strict. Then he said that if her son did decide to stay it would be all the better for him.”

Hungry from the day’s activities, I decided to go to our restaurant. Inside the tent, a young teenage girl carrying a plate of prasada came up to me. “I’ve always wanted to thank you for how you changed my life,” she said. “Five years ago I came with my parents to your festival. I put on a sari in the fashion tent, and when I came out you were standing there. You said I looked like an angel. I was just a child then, but I was touched by your words, and I decided I should actually become like an angel. I started going to church more, and every night I prayed to God.

“Then last year I found a Bhagavad-gita in our house. My parents had bought it at your festival. I started reading it and found many instructions about how I could become the angel you saw in me. I even became a vegetarian and I started learning English so that if I ever met you again I could thank you and learn more about your way of life.”

“I… I hardly know what to say,” I replied. “I am so moved by your story. Let’s sit and talk for a while.”

We had been talking for about twenty minutes when a young man interrupted us. “Are you the leader here?” he asked. “Someone told me you’re in charge of the show.”

“Yes,” I said. “I do help manage things.”

“I have a question about the big chariot that you have parked in the middle of the field out there. Man, that thing is gigantic! One of your people told me that it gets pulled through the streets with long ropes on special days.”

“Yes, it does,” I said.

“Well, my question is this: Where do you keep the slaves who pull it?”

“Uh… Did you say ‘slaves’?” I asked.

“Yeah. I figure it must take between fifty and a hundred slaves to pull that massive cart down the street. Do you keep them locked up somewhere?”

I had to try hard to keep from laughing. “Actually we don’t use slaves,” I said. “We pull the chariot ourselves. It’s said that by pulling that chariot one makes spiritual advancement. Everyone is eager to pull the ropes.”

“So there aren’t any slaves?” he said.

“Nope,” I said. “No slaves.” He shook his head and wandered off into the theater tent to wait with the others for the show to start.

As he left, another man came up to me. “Can you sign this Bhagavad-gita?” he asked. “I just bought it.”

“Sure,” I said.

“I’ve been attending your festivals each summer for fifteen years,” he said as I began writing. “But this time something just clicked, and I decided it was high time that I bought a book and went deeper into your philosophy. Sorry it took me so long.”

I smiled. “Better late than never,” I said and handed the book back to him.

Then I saw a man dressed in a suit, wearing old-fashioned glasses and carrying a small briefcase. He looked like an old professor, and I could see that he wanted to talk to me. I excused myself from the young woman I had been talking to, and stood up to receive him.

“May I have a brief word with you?” he asked.

“Of course, sir,” I said. “I am at your service.”

“It’s only a quick question,” he said. “I just want to know when you will begin your lecture.”

I looked at my watch. “In about thirty-five minutes,” I said, “when the theater is over.”

“Very good,” he said. He turned to leave, but I called after him.

“Excuse me sir,” I said. “Is this your first time with us?”

“Oh no,” he said. “I have been attending your event for many years, as far back as I can remember. It’s been going on for twenty-eight years now, hasn’t it?”

A smile broke out on my face. “You have a great memory, sir,” I said. “Yes, it’s been exactly twenty-eight years.”

“Each time, though, I only come for one hour,” he said. “I come just to hear you speak. I write your words of wisdom down and try to imbibe them in my life throughout the year.” He opened his briefcase and showed me a notepad and pen. “I have become a much better person through the years and have gotten closer to the goal of life.”

“What do you mean when you say ‘the goal of life’?” I asked

“You know very well what that means,” he said with a smile.

When I was giving my talk from the stage that evening, I saw him on the last bench furiously writing. At the end of the lecture, I made my way over to where he had been sitting, but he had gone.

As I walked back toward my van, I saw a woman carrying an especially large plate of samosas. It was the woman I had met on the beach whose co-workers had told her to visit our festival. “Hey!” I called out. “I see you got your samosas!”

She turned toward me. “I can’t thank you enough!” she shouted back. “I love your festival! And my friends were right. These samosas are fantastic!”

“Everything about this festival is auspicious,” I thought. “I feel so fortunate to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord, delivering His message in such an attractive way.”

The last kirtan of the evening went on for about an hour. Everybody was dancing—children, parents, everybody. Afterwards, a middle-aged man came up to me, his eyes welling with tears, a gentle smile on his face. He stopped for a minute and took a deep breath. “Hearing you people sing,” he said, “is like touching the feet of the gods.”

*****************************

“The people had fallen into the sinful life of this age of quarrel, being overwhelmed by grief and delusion, disturbed by anxiety to acquire money for family and relatives. Considering the situation, the Golden Lord took birth in order to protect them. Being very merciful, He made manifest His delightful form as the giver of His holy names.”

[Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, Susloka-Satakam, text 4]

By Nrtya Kisori Dasi

“I bow down to Sri Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who is the embodiment of the energy of Sri Gaurasundara and a great sadhu in the line of the followers of Sri Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada.”

Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura was born with the name Sri Kedarnath Dutta on September 2, 1838. He appeared in the village of Ula, in the district of Nadia, West Bengal, which was his maternal uncle’s home, but the house of his forefathers is in the village of Chhoti in the Kendrapara District of Orissa. Chhoti is the sripat, the native place of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and he resided here.

Having been decorated with the dust of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s lotus feet, this is a very sacred place, but most people have not known about it. This place is now coming to everyone’s notice because of the blessings of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Getting the strength of that blessing, the research scholar Dr. Fakir Mohan Das has been working to reveal this place to the world. Without such blessings, no one can do this work. Sripada Fakir Mohan Das may face much opposition, but after resisting this opposition strongly, he will surely establish the real truth.

Three Catagories of Daya

What is the best welfare work for the world? Thakura Bhaktivinoda has expressed the following in his monthly journal Sajjana-tosani: Showing compassion, daya, to living entities can be divided into three categories,

• Deha-sambandhini-daya, which means showing kindness to the material body of the living entity through sat-karma, auspicious deeds. Giving food to a hungry person, supplying medicine to a patient, giving water to a thirsty person, and supplying winter clothes to a poor person suffering from the cold are acts of kindness to the material body.
• Manah-sambandhini-daya, which means showing kindness to the mind by giving knowledge.
• Atma-sambandhini-daya, which means showing kindness to the soul, which is the best daya of all. By such kindness one attempts to save a person from all worldly sufferings by giving him devotion to Lord Krsna. Some persons consider acts of kindness to the body to be very auspicious. Others, who are learned persons, emphasize acts of kindness to the mind, but pure devotees of the Lord act for the eternal welfare of the living entities by preaching devotion.

He Exhibited the Topmost Type of Compassion

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura exhibited the topmost type of compassion or welfare work, but how many people understand it? How many people glorify the qualities of such Vaisnava sadhus and mahajanas? Even learned persons do not understand the work of the Vaisnavas.

We see that those who have done or are doing something for the welfare of the body or mind are highly glorified, but who is speaking the glories of those doing welfare work for the soul? How many people have spiritual knowledge? How many people realise the soul? How many people have the vision to see the soul? The sadhu-mahajanas have dedicated their whole lives for doing welfare work for the soul. By their blessings, spiritual vision has been received by many persons. Who knows and glorifies these sadhus and mahajanas? In this material world, no one speaks about their great works and efforts.

He Exercised His Mighty Pen

Srila Thakura Bhaktivinoda left this world on June 23, 1914. He dedicated his whole life to preaching Gaudiya Vaisnavism and spiritualism, or bhagavat-dharma [eternal service to God]. In the Bhagavad-gita it is said, yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata: Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, Lord Krsna Himself descends along with His followers to re-establish the principles of religion. Thakura Bhaktivinoda is the embodiment of this verse. In this age of scepticism and fruitless nihilism, he exercised his mighty pen to re-establish sanatana-dharma, eternal religion. Inspired by the Gaudiya Vaisnava Acaryas, he wrote book after book, refuting materialistic views based on nihilism and atheism. By speaking on the eternal Vedas, on civilization and education, he enlightened many conditioned souls who had forgotten their real spiritual identity. Without imparting scriptural knowledge there is no means to bring the living entities, who are oppositely attracted, towards para-tattva, the Supreme Truth.

He Strung Together the Teachings of

the Gaudiya Gurus

Gaudiya gurus such as Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Sanatana Gosvami, and Srila Jiva Gosvami did the work of spiritual masters by analyzing the Srimad-Bhagavatam and commentaries on it. TheBhagavatam is the essence of the eternal Vedic sound and the mature fruit of the desire tree of the Vedic literature. Thakura Bhaktivinoda nicely strung together the teachings of these Gaudiya gurus in easy and simple language. Therefore, after the six Gosvamis, Thakura Bhaktivinoda is known as the Seventh Gosvami.

Following in the footsteps of Srila Jiva Gosvami, in 1884 Bhaktivinoda re-established the Viswa Vaishnava Sabha (World Vaishnava Congregation) and preached the Vedic religion—Upanisads, Vedanta Sutras, Srimad-Bhagavatam—as well as the life and philosophy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. His son Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Prabhupada inherited these bright qualities from him and preached this great ideology of Gaudiya Vaisnavism throughout the Indian subcontinent, from the Himalayas to the oceans and abroad.

Srila Bhaktivinoda’s Great Call

Thakura Bhaktivinoda wrote more than one hundred books, both original works and commentaries, in English, Sanskrit, and Bengali. His numerous devotional songs, immersed in divine love born of full surrender, reveal his deep love for Lord Sri Krsna. These songs have inspired all types of people, from ordinary conditioned souls to highly elevated devotees. His books of devotional songs, such asSaranagati, Gitavali, and Kalyana-Kalpataru, are food for the soul and are very praiseworthy in human society. In this age of short-lived sensual pleasure and false renunciation, these books are Bhaktivinoda’s great call for those who are thirsty to get a taste of Vaikuntha [spiritual] love. Who can imagine the kindness he has shown?

Hear the Devotional Message Spoken by Mahajanas

Conditioned souls, being victims of illusion and the repetition of the cycle of birth and death, are prone to commit errors. The material world created by the Lord is our testing place. Here at every step we are continually being tested by maya. To pass this test one has to hear the devotional message spoken by mahajanas like Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

Bhaktivinoda’s teachings should be preached more and more. If the leaders of present-day society sincerely desire the welfare of humanity, they should deeply cultivate and introspectively reflect upon these teachings. Please practice these teachings in your life and teach them to the world. This will surely bring auspiciousness and the unlimited blessings of Thakura Bhaktivinoda.

I pray for his blessings as follows:

“Keeping straw between my teeth, I pray repeatedly that life after life I may be a particle of dust at the lotus feet of Thakura Bhaktivinoda.”

Jaya! Sri Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura ki jaya!

By Iskcon Mayapur

As 2015 is the 50th year of HDG Srila Prabhupada’s entry into western land, ISKCON Mayapur is making all the arrangements to make 2015 book distribution marathon a mega event. So, it was announced that this year marathon will be celebrated from 1st October, 2015 to 31st December, 2015 for a period of three months. ISKCON Mayapur conducted an event on 23rd September to encourage devotees to engage in book distribution. The event was inaugurated by HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj, HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami Maharaj and HG Pankajanghri Prabhu.

HG Pankajanghri Prabhu highlighted the importance of book distribution as major service to Lord Krsna. He went on to say that if a devotee fails to engage him/herself in the service of book distribution, their service is not considered beneficial.

HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami Maharaj stressed the need to give top priority to book distribution service. He wanted that everyone should to engage in this service to please Srila Prabhupada. He gave a strong message to all the temples to make book distribution a mandatory service, rather than being satisfied with daily services like mangala aarti, lectures and distributing prasadam. Maharaj even went to the extent of saying that a married woman in India looks very beautiful and attractive in golden ornaments, but she loses her charm and beauty if she becomes a widow. Similarly, a temple without book distribution is like a widow. This gave clear direction to the devotees to engage in book distribution always. He recollected his initial days when he was asked to engage in book distribution within a month after completing new bhakta course. He concluded that material world is superior to Goloka Dham since sastra daan is a rare opportunity available only in the material world and not in any of the other planets including Goloka.

The assembled devotees become ecstatic when they saw HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj entering the stage for his lecture. After giving a short, transcendental kirtan, HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj added further on the importance of book distribution. He wanted all assembled devotees to take part in the great mission of Srila Prabhupada. He referred to the speech of HH Bhakti Purusottama Maharaj and described the beauty of Lakshmi Priya, wife of Lord Caitanya. He narrated how beautiful were her golden ear rings and how glittering were her golden bangles and golden waist belt. HH Jayapataka Swami showed His humility and gave full credit to the efforts of Mayapur devotees who were instrumental in achieving sale of more than 7 lacks book units last year. On the other hand, HG Sankarshan Nitai Prabhu gave him the credit for his constantly encouraging the devotees by sending letters even while he was undergoing treatment for critical illness in Delhi.

HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj wanted everyone to actively participate in book distribution service and asked all the assembled devotees if they all will involve in it. The devotees’ whole heartedly showed their support and raised both their hands to commit themselves in the great service. Maharaj wanted everyone to take a pledge in front of Lord Caitanya for distributing the scriptures. As Maharaj is known for his humor, he displayed that during the course of this lecture when he said that the organizers wanted him to speak short but he remember that only then. With that HH Jayapataka Swami Maharaj ended his inspirational speech. It gave great inspiration to all the assembled devotees to participate in the mission. A devotee came forward and took a commitment to sponsor 3000 Bhagavad Gita books. HG Nareshwar Prabhu took a commitment of 1000 books.

HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami wanted all to take a pledge of distributing at least one book to their friends or family members. As the program was nearing its completion, HG Bhadracharu Prabhu read the sankalpa mantra and made everyone to take a sankalpa for their yathasakthi.

These transcendental books, the life line of ISKCON have to be spread continuously. HH Bhakti Purusottama Swami Maharaj wanted support from all the devotees and exhibited his desire to double the amount which Mayapur is giving to BBT every year for printing the sastras.

Before the start of the program, Mayapur Sankirtan Department inaugurated two new vehicles for Sankirtan. HG Pankajanghri Prabhu performed an aarti for the buses. A Deity of Srila Prabhupada cut open the ribbon at the entrance of the bus.

Villa Vrindavana’s Renaissance salons host MOSA, the Museum of Sacred Art, an artistic space that is quite unique in Italy.

The gallery displays impressive artistic works portraying religious and devotional subjects from ancient India lore and its epics. Here are displayed imposing works by the Italian contemporary artist Giampaolo Tomassetti, together with other beautiful pieces of art by other international painters.

The varied styles reflect different artistic traditions from the great regions of India (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Orissan, Kerala and Tanjore). The collection includes original sculptures from different areas of the Far East.

With its permanent exhibition and its periodic initiatives, MOSA also encourages interfaith dialogue, where art is man’s universal language.

MOSA also has a gallery in Belgium at Radhadesh, a Durbury, in the Ardennes region.

The MOSA Villa Vrindavan is open to the public at the following times:

Saturday and Sunday: guided tours at 10:00 and 16:00

You can book special openings for groups (minimum 15 people).
http://www.villavrindavana.org/en/gallery-mosa-museum-of-sacred-art/

Compiled by Manu dasa

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura (1838-1914) is a prominent preceptor acharya in our succession of spiritual masters and disciples coming from Lord Krishna. He was a pioneering spiritual leader, a householder, a magistrate working in colonial India under the British rule, a prolific preacher, writer, and poet. He wrote volumes of books reintroducing the pure teachings of Lord Chaitanya at a time when those teachings had practically become lost. He composed hundreds of devotional songs glorifying Krishna to uplift the consciousness of the suffering people of this world. He corresponded with philosophers, theologians, leaders, scholars, and professors of his time and sent books, including The Life and Precepts of Lord Chaitanya, to university libraries in foreign countries, planting the seeds for a worldwide movement of Krishna consciousness. Bhaktivinoda Thakura discovered and excavated the birthplace of Lord Chaitanya. Along with his devoted wife, Bhagavati Devi, he raised ten children, including the illustrious Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura, who would become a great spiritual leader in his own time and the spiritual master of ISKCON’s founder-acharya, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

Above all, Bhaktivinoda Thakura taught devotion to Krishna by his personal example. His life story, excerpted below, demonstrates a tremendous amount of courage, character, and perseverance in the face of many difficulties and gives hope to those of us who may be wondering just how to find the time to serve Lord Sri Krishna, His holy names, and His devotees in our ever so busy lives.

In many ways, aspiring devotees of Krishna today owe a significant debt to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura for charting the course and laying the foundation for the modern-day Krishna consciousness movement.

Once, as he looked out from his window across the river towards the birthplace of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Bhaktivinoda Thakura had a vision that people from all nations would soon come together there in harmony through the blissful chanting of the holy names of Krishna, sankirtan.

His great-grand-disciple, Srila Prabhupada, who humbly and fearlessly spread Krishna consciousness to the far corners of the world, thought it significant that he was born in 1896, the year the Thakura sent copies of The Life and Precepts of Lord Chaitanya to universities across the oceans.
Chronology of the Life of Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Adapted from The Seventh Goswami, by Rupa Vilasa Dasa.

1500 AD. The avatar of Krishna, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, inaugurated the Hare Krishna Movement in Bengal, India. The movement, based on ancient Sanskrit texts of devotion to Krishna like the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam, spread all over India within a short time. It popularized sankirtan, the congregational chanting of the maha-mantra – Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare – as the practical means of God realization and the panacea for the miseries of this age of materialism.

1750. Two centuries later, the influence of the Hare Krishna movement had waned. Sects of pseudo devotees, such as the sahajiyas and similar groups, had become prominent. Professing love of Godhead but acting in base, immoral ways, these groups brought disrepute upon the pure movement begun by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

1838. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who was named Kedarnatha Datta by his parents, was born in opulent circumstances in Biranagara (Ulagrama) in the district of Nadia, West Bengal. He was the seventh son of Raja Krishnananda Datta, a great devotee of Lord Nityananda. He would be known as daitya-kulera prahlada, “Prahlada in the family of non-devotees,” because Vaishnavism (the worship of Vishnu or Krishna) was not very much respected in his family.

His childhood was spent at the mansion of his maternal grandfather in Biranagara. His environment at this time was very opulent. He got his elementary education at the primary school started by his grandmother. Later he attended an English school in Krishnanagar started by the king of Nadia. He left that school when his older brother died of cholera.

1849. When he was 11 years old, his father passed away. Subsequently, the grant of land that had been conferred upon his grandmother changed owners, and the family fell into poverty.

1850. When he was just twelve, his mother arranged his future marriage to the five-year-old daughter of Madhusudana Mitra Mahasaya, a resident of Ranaghata. Around this time his uncle, Kasiprasada Ghosh Mahasaya, who had mastered English under the British education, schooled young Kedaranatha Datta at his home in Calcutta. Kasiprasada was a central figure in the literary circles of his time, being the editor of the Hindu Intelligencer. Kedaranatha assisted his uncle with selecting appropriate articles to publish in the newspaper, studied his books and frequented the public library. He later attended Calcutta’s Hindu Charitable Institution high school.

1856. At the age of 18, Kedaranatha Datta entered college in Calcutta. He started writing extensively in English and Bengali. He studied English literature and taught speech-making to a person who later became a well-known orator in the British Parliament. Between the years 1857 and 1858 he composed a two-part English epic entitled The Poriade, which he planned to complete in 12 books. These two books described the life of Porus, who met Alexander the Great.

He was very taken by Christian theology, regarding it more interesting and less offensive than Hindu monism, the advaita-vedanta of Sankaracharya. He would spend hours comparing the writings of Channing, Theodore Parker, Emerson, and Newman. At the British-Indian Society he gave a lecture on the evolution of matter through the material mode of goodness. Dvijendranatha Thakur was Kedaranatha Datta’s best friend during these scholastic years. He assisted Kedaranatha Datta in his studies of Western religious literature. Affectionately, Kedaranatha Datta used to call Devendranatha Thakura baro dada, or “big brother.”

1858. Kedaranatha Datta returned to Biranagara and found his native village ruined and deserted. A cholera epidemic had killed the inhabitants, including most of his relatives. He returned to Calcutta with the two surviving members of the family, his mother and paternal grandmother. Acting on the last wishes of his grandfather, he undertook a pilgrimage and traveled to all the monasteries and temples in the state of Orissa.

As a young householder Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura began to consider the question of the means of his livelihood. He was not interested in business, as he’d seen how the apparent “necessary dishonesty” of the trade world had morally weakened the merchant class. He decided instead to become a school teacher, establishing a school for English education in the village of Kendrapara, Orissa. After some time, he went to Puri and passed a teachers examination. He got a teacher’s post in a Cuttack school and later became headmaster of a school in Bhadraka and then in Medinipura. His dedicated work was noted by the school board authorities.

1860. In Bhadraka, his first son Annada Prasada (Acyutananda) was born. Unfortunately, Kedaranatha’s wife died during childbirth. Sometime later, he married Bhagavati Devi.

He published a book in English that described all the ashramas and temples in the state of Orissa, which he had visited earlier.

During his post as headmaster of the Medinipura high school, Kedaranatha Datta looked into the various religious sects, their philosophies and practices. He could see that people in general were taking religion cheaply. He came to understand the unique importance of the sankirtan movement, spreading love of God through chanting of His names, that had been established in Bengal by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Unfortunately, at that time, His movement was not well-represented. Kedarnatha Datta made an onslaught against those who were polluting Lord Chaitanya’s teachings and who had, mostly because of their boldness, been seen by the public as representing the Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage (followers of Vishnu or Krishna coming in line from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who appeared in Bengal, formerly known as Gauda-desha).

1861. Kedaranatha Datta accepted the post of deputy magistrate in the government of Bengal. Later, after seeing the corruption of the government workers, he became collectorate officer. He established an organization called the Bhratri Samaj, wrote an English book called Our Wants, constructed a home in Ranaghata, and composed two novel poems in Bengali: Vijinagrama (deserted village) and Sannyasi, which received praise from reviewers.

1866. Kedaranatha took the position of deputy register with the power of a deputy collector and deputy magistrate in the district of Chapara. He became fluent in Persian and Urdu. He successfully settled disputes between tea farmers and helped secure public aid to build a school for teaching nyaya-shastra, sacred texts that ascertain knowledge and truth through logic and argument. He was transferred to Purniya, where he took charge of the government and judicial departments.

1868. He became the deputy magistrate in Dinajapur, West Bengal, the highest rank in the government that could be held by an Indian person during the British rule. At this time he was finally able to procure rare copies of the sacred texts Srimad-Bhagavatam, describing the pastimes of Krishna and His associates, and Chaitanya-charitamrita, the biography of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He read Chaitanya-charitamrita repeatedly. His faith increased until he was absorbed in the sacred text all day and night. He began incessantly submitting heartfelt prayers for the Lord’s mercy. He came to understand the supreme majesty and power of the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Sri Krishna, and His incarnation in this age, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He published a song about Lord Chaitanya entitled “Saccidananda-premalankara.”

1869. While serving as deputy magistrate under the government of Bengal in Dinajapur, he delivered a speech in the form of a treatise he had written on the Srimad-Bhagavatam to a large congregation of prominent men of letters from many parts of India and England.

He was transferred to Camparana, during which time his second son, Radhika Prasada, was born. In Camparana, people used to worship a ghost in a banyan tree. The ghost had the power to influence the mind of the local judge to decide in the favor of the worshiper. Sri Kedaranatha Datta advised a local scholar to read Srimad-Bhagavatam under the tree continuously, day and night. After one month the tree crashed to the ground, and many people found renewed faith in the message of the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

From Camparana he moved to the holy city of Jagannatha Puri, Orissa, which gladdened his heart to no end.

1873. Near the capital of Orissa, in the town of Kamanala, there lived a mystic named Bisakisena, who would lean into a fire, then return to an erect sitting posture; in this way he’d rock back and forth over the flames. By his acquired mystic powers, he could also produce fire from his head. He had two companions going by the names of Brahma and Shiva; he claimed to be Maha-Vishnu. Together they were the divine trinity, the creator, maintainer, and destroyer of the universe described in the sacred scriptures. Some of the lesser kings of Orissa came under his sway and were providing funds for the construction of a temple. They also sent him women. Bisakisena declared he’d drive off the British from ruling Orissa and would himself become king. He published such statements, which were circulated all around Orissa. The British thought him a revolutionary for speaking out against the British rule, so the district governor of Bengal drew up arrest orders. However, nobody dared to act upon these orders, fearing Bisakisena’s mystic powers.

Mr. Ravenshaw, district commissioner for Orissa, requested Sri Kedaranatha Datta to bring Bisakisena to justice. Sri Kedaranatha Datta went personally to see Bisakisena. The yogi showed some powers that would normally scare off an ordinary man, and informed Kedaranatha Datta that he knew well who he was, but that since he (Bisakisena) was the Lord, Kedaranatha better not interfere with him. That was enough for Sri Kedaranatha Datta, who replied by acknowledging Bisakisena’s accomplishments in yoga and tantra and requesting him to come to Puri, where he could receive the blessings of Jagannatha, the famous deity of Krishna there. Bisakisena haughtily replied, “Why should I come to see Jagannatha? He’s only a hunk of wood; I am the Supreme in person.” Sri Kedaranatha Datta became furious. He arrested the rogue, brought him to Puri and threw him in jail, where he was guarded by 3 dozen constables and 72 policemen.

The fearless Kedaranatha Datta tried Bisakisena in Puri. The trial lasted 18 days, during which thousands of people whom he had control over gathered outside the courtroom, demanding Bisakisena’s release. On day six of the trial Kedaranatha Datta’s daughter Kadambini became seriously ill and nearly died. Sri Kedaranatha Datta knew it was the power of the tantric yogi at work. He remarked, “Yes, let us all die, but this rascal must be punished.” The next day in court the yogi announced he’d shown his power and would show much more. He suggested that Kedaranatha Datta should release him at once or face worse miseries. On the last day of the trial Kedaranatha Datta himself became ill from high fever and suffered exactly as his daughter had. But the determined Kedaranatha pronounced the man guilty and sentenced him to 18 months for political conspiracy. When Bisakisena was being readied for jail, the district medical officer cut off all his hair. Apparently, the yogi drew power from his long hair. He hadn’t eaten or drunk during the whole trial, so he fell to the floor like a dead man and had to be taken to jail by stretcher. After three months he was moved to the central jail at Midnapura, where he took poison and died.

In Puri, Sri Kedaranatha Datta studied Srimad-Bhagavatam with the commentary of Sridhara Swami. He also copied out in longhand the Sat-Sandarbha of Jiva Goswami and made a special study of Rupa Goswami’s Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu.

1874-93. During these years, Bhaktivinoda Thakura spent much time in seclusion chanting the holy names, though he still executed his worldly duties perseveringly. He wrote several books in Sanskrit, including Sri Krishna Samhita, Tattva-Sutram, and Tattva-Viveka. He wrote many books in Bengali, such as Kalyana-kalpataru. In 1874 he composed Datta-kaustubha in Sanskrit.

While in Puri he established a Vaishnava discussion society known as the Bhagavat-Samsat in the Jaganatha-Vallabha gardens where the saint Sri Ramananda Raya (a contemporary and devotee of Lord Chaitanya) had held his worship. All the prominent Vaishnavas at the time joined this group except for one Raghunatha dasa Babaji. He thought that Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was unauthorized, as he did not wear the customary religious symbols of neck beads (kanthi-mala) or clay marking (tilaka) on his head. Moreover, the Babaji advised other Vaishnavas to avoid Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s association. Soon thereafter, Raghunatha dasa Babaji contracted a deadly illness. In a dream, Lord Jagannatha appeared to him and told him to pray for the mercy of Bhaktivinoda Thakura if he at all wanted release from the illness and death. He did so. Bhaktivinoda Thakura gave him special medicines and cured him. At this time Raghunatha dasa Babaji gained awareness of Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s exalted spiritual position.

Sri Swarupa Dasa Babaji, who performed his worship (bhajana) at Satasana near the ocean in Puri, showed much affection for Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and gave him profound instructions and insights from his realizations on the chanting of the holy name.

Charan Dasa Babaji preached and printed books advising that one should chant the Hare Krishna maha-mantra in personal meditation (japa), but “Nitai Gaura Radhe Syama Hare Krishna Hare Rama” in public kirtan. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura preached long and hard to him, trying to convincing him to stop spreading this unauthorized mantra. Eventually Charan Dasa Babaji came to his senses and begged forgiveness from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, admitting his fault. Six months later Charan Dasa Babaji went mad and died in great distress.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was one of the foremost devotional scholars of his time, yet he always humbly presented himself as the insignificant messenger of the Lord, as we can note from the following passage:

“The way how I got the inspiration to compile this book is a Divine Mystery which I felt not proper from my part to disclose as it might be bridging spiritual conceit, but subsequently I realize that it would be an undoing to my spiritual master which might stand as an obstacle on the path of my spiritual progress. Therefore without any shame I record the fact that, while under the benediction of my Guru Sri Bapin Behari Goswami, who belonged to the great heritage of Thakur Vamshibadananda, a faithful follower of my Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, I was deeply penetrating upon Srimad-Bhagavatam. One day in a vision Sri Svarup-Damodara, the right hand personal adherent of Lord Sri Chaitanya, instructed me to compile the slokas of Srimad-Bhagavatam in accordance with the principles of sambandha, abhidheya and prayojana as laid down by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu – so that the book will read with an easy understanding with great interest and delight by the loving devotees of the Lord. Sri Svarupa-Damodar Prabhu further guided me by giving a wonderful explanation of the first sloka of Srimad-Bhagavatam and also showed me how I have to explain the slokas under the light of Gaudiya-Vaishnava philosophy.” –Bhaktivinoda Thakura (from Sri Srimad Bhagavata Arka Marichimala)

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura became manager of the Jagannatha Puri Temple complex. He used his government powers to establish regularity in the worship of the deity. In the temple courtyard he established a Bhakti Mandapa where daily discourses of Srimad-Bhagavatam were held. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura would spend long hours discussing Krishna and chanting the holy name, especially at Tota-Gopinatha Mandir, the tomb of the great saint Haridasa Thakura, the sacred Siddha Bakula tree, and the Gambhira temple. He made notes on the Vedanta-sutra, and those notes were used by Sri Syamalala Goswami when he published Baladeva Vidyabhusana’s Govinda Bhasya commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.

1874. Near the Jagannatha-vallabha gardens, in a large house adjacent to the Narayana Chata Matha, the fourth son of Bhaktivinoda Thakura was born, answering his prayer for the Lord “to send a ray of Vishnu” to preach the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. He was named Bimala Prasada, and would later be known as the great Vaishnava spiritual leader and scholar Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada, the spiritual master of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

When Bimala Prasada was six months old, Lord Jagannatha’s cart stopped in front of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s house in Puri for three days during the procession. Bhaktivinoda asked his wife Bhagavati Devi to bring the child to view and receive the blessings of Lord Jagannatha. As she placed the child before the Lord, a garland from the Lord fell and encircled the baby boy, and the first-grains ceremony was performed at that time, with sacred food (prasada) from Lord Jagannatha. Bimala Prasada stayed in Puri for ten months after his birth and then moved to Bengal, where his infancy was spent at Ranaghat hearing topics of Sri Krishna from his mother.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and his wife Bhagavati Devi were orthodox and virtuous; they never allowed their children to eat anything other than prasada, sacred food prepared for and offered first to the Lord, nor to associate with bad company. One day, when Bimala Prasada was still a small child of no more than four years, his father mildly rebuked him for eating a mango not yet duly offered to Lord Krishna. Bimala Prasada, although only a child, considered himself an offender to the Lord and vowed never to eat mangoes again. This was a vow that he would follow throughout this life.

By the time Bimala Prasada was seven years old, he had memorized the entire Bhagavad-gita and could even explain its verses, giving wonderful purports. His father then began training him in proofreading and printing, in conjunction with the publishing of the Vaishnava magazine Sajjana Tosani.

At this time, Bhaktivinoda Thakura discovered that the king of Puri had misappropriated eighty thousand rupees. This money belonged to the temple, so Bhaktivinoda Thakura forced the king to offer Lord Jagannatha meals 52 times daily in retribution. This diminished the money quickly. The king was furious and began, with the help of 50 pundits, a 30-day tantric ritual sacrifice meant for killing Bhaktivinoda Thakura. When the last oblations were poured into the sacrificial fire, it was the king’s son who died, not the pure-hearted Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

1878. Bhaktivinoda Thakura left Puri, returned to Bengal and saw Navadwip, Shantipura, and Kalana. He was put in charge of the Mahisarekha subdivision in Haora. After that he was transferred to Bhadraka, and later was made head of the Naraila subdivision in the Yashohan district. While in Naraila, his two famous books Sri Krishna-samhita and Krishna-kalpataru were published. These two works caught the attention of many of India’s pundits and educated men. In a letter dated April 16, 1880, Dr. Reinhold Rost wrote:

“By representing Krishna’s character and his worship in a more sublime and transcendental light than has hitherto been the custom to regard him, you have rendered an essential service to your co-religionists…”

1877-78. In Ranaghata, Varada Prasada, and Viraja Prasada were born, the fifth and sixth sons of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Bhagavati Devi.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura took formal diksha initiation from Vipin Bihari Goswami, descended from the Jahnava family of Baghnapara. Around this time, his seventh son, Lalita Prasada, was born at Ranaghata.

Many people had adopted Vaishnavism but they could not tell who was a Vaishnava and who was not. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura gave them shelter and instructed them on this matter most exactingly.

Once Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and his son Bimala Prasada went to see Bhaktivinoda’s guru, Vipin Bihari Goswami.
Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s dealings with his diksha (initiating) guru were always exemplary. Bhaktivinoda always played the humble disciple. Once, in the presence of young Bimala Prasada, Bhaktivinoda Thakura bowed down and paid his respectful obeisances to his guru. Vipin Bihari Goswami replied by placing his feet on the Thakura’s head. For the young, fiery Bimala Prasada, this was too much. It was one thing that his father had accepted him as his formal initiating spiritual master, but this was going too far. Bimala Prasada was only seven years old at the time, but when Bhaktivinoda Thakura left the room, leaving the two of them alone, Bimala Prasada decided to set things straight:

“You are acting like a big, big guru and you place your feet on the heads of those who you don’t know. If you knew who the Thakura is you would not do it. But you do not know. My father is a great exalted nitya siddha eternal associate of Sri Radha and Krishna who has come here to fulfill Their mission. Do you think that you are so advanced that you can place your feet on the head of such a person? I think not. You have proven yourself to be a kanistha adhikari (neophyte) by not being able to distinguish between those who are advanced and those who are less advanced, therefore I suggest that you desist from this practice any further.”

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura then re-entered the room and the conversation changed. Later that day, Vipin Bihari Goswami mentioned to Bhaktivinoda, “Your son is bold to the point of being rude.” Later Thakura Bhaktivinoda found out about the conversation and used to jokingly glorify his exalted son in front of his friends, saying, “He is so fearless that he even chastised my guru Vipin Bihari Goswami.”

1881. Bhaktivinoda Thakura began publishing Sajjana Toshani, his Vaishnava journal.

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had previously pilgrimaged to Kasi, Prayaga, Mathura, and Vrindavana (Vraja Mandal) in 1866. At the close of his stay in Naraila he desired to again see the land of Vraja. He took three months for this purpose. While there, he met Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, who would moved every six months between Navadwipa and Vrindavana. Meeting him, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura accepted him as his eternally worshippable shiksha (instructing) guru.

During his pilgrimage at this time he dealt with a gang of criminals known as the Kanjharas who robbed and killed pilgrims; he gave evidence to the government, and a commision was formed to wipe out this scourge.

From Vrindavana he went to Calcutta and bought a house at 181 Maniktala Street, now called Ramasha Datta Street, near Bidana Park. He started daily worship of Sri Giridhari, the transcendental form of Krishna who appeared in the form of Govardhan Hill, and called the house Bhakti-bhavan. He was appointed head of the subdivision of Barasa.

In the course of excavating for the construction of the Bhakti-bhavan, a deity of Kurmadeva was unearthed. After initiating his seven-year old son in the practice of deity worship, Bhaktivinoda entrusted Bimala with the service of the deity of Kurmadeva, the Lord’s tortoise incarnation.

The well-known novelist Bankim Chandra met Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura at Barasa. Bankim Chandra had written a book about Krishna and showed it to Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who preached to Bankim Chandra for four days, taking little food and hardly any sleep. The result was that Bankim Candra changed his ideas (which were mundane speculations about Krishna) and his book to conform with the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

1884. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was appointed the senior deputy magistrate of Serampore, where he admitted Bimala Prasad into the Serampore High School. When Bimala was a student in class five, he invented a new method of shorthand named Bicanto. During this period he took lessons in mathematics and astrology from Pandita Mahesacandra Cudamoni. However, he preferred to read devotional books rather than the school texts.

1886. During the last year of his stay at Barasat, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura published an edition of the Bhagavad-gita with the Sanskrit commentary of Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura, which he translated into Bengali. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had undertaken this task at the request of Babu Sarada Carana Mitra, ex-judge of the Calcutta High Commission. Sriman Bankima Candra wrote the preface, acknowledging his own indebtedness to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura; he noted that all Bengali readers would be indebted to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura for his saintly work.

From Barasat, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was transferred to Sriramapur. He visited the residence of Uddharana Datta Thakur, a great associate of Lord Nityananda, at Saptagram. At Khanakula he visited the place of Abhirama Thakur, and saw the place of another great devotee of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Vasu Ramananda, at Kulinagrama.

At Sriramapura he composed and published his masterly Sri Caitanya Siksamrta, and also the Vaisnava-siddhanta-mala, Prema-pradipa, and Manah-siksa. He was also publishing his Sajjana Toshani journal on a regular basis. In Calcutta he set up the Sri Chaitanya Yantra, a printing press at the Bhakti-Bhavan, upon which he printed Maladhara’s Sri Krsna-vijaya and his own Amnaya-sutra and the Chaitanyopanishad of the Atharva Veda.

Finding the Chaitanyopanishad was a difficult task. Hardly anyone in Bengal had heard of it. Consequently Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura traveled to many places in its search. Finally, a devoted Vaishnava pundit named Madhusudana dasa sent him an old copy. Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote a Sanksrit commentary on the book and called it Sri Chaitanya Charanamrita. Madhusudana Dasa Mahasaya translated the verses into Bengali. This translation was called Amrita-bindhu.

In Calcutta Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura started the Sri Visva-Vaishnava Sabha, dedicated to the preaching of pure bhakti as taught by Lord Chaitanya. To publicize the work of the society, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura published a small booklet entitled Visva-Vaisnava-kalpatavi.

He also published his own edition of the Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, with his Amrita-prabhava Bhasya commentary. He introduced the Caitanyabda, or Caitanya-era, calendar and gave assistance to the propagation of the Caitanya Panjika, which established the annual feast day of Gaura Purnima, celebrating the appearance of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

He lectured and gave readings on books like the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu (Nectar of Devotion) of Srila Rupa Goswami in various Vaishnava societies. He published in the Hindu Herald, an English periodical, a detailed account of Sri Chaitanya’s life. It was at this time that the learned Vaishnavas recognized Kedarnatha Datta and gave him the honorary title of Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

1887. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura resolved to quit government service and go to Vrindavana with Bhaktibhringa Mahasaya for the rest of his life. One night in Tarakeswara, while still in government service, he had a dream in which Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared to him and spoke. “You will certainly go to Vrindavana, but first there is some service you must perform in Navadwipa [Lord Chaitanya’s birth place], so what will you do about that?” When the Lord disappeared, Thakura awoke. Bhaktibhringa Mahasaya, hearing of this dream, advised Bhaktivinoda to apply for a transfer to Krishnanagar, near Navadwipa. He did, even turning down offers of personal assistanceship to the chief commissioner of Assam and the seat of the minister of Tripura State. He also tried to retire at this time, but his application was denied. Finally he arranged for a mutual exchange of personnel: himself for Babu Radha Madhava Vasu, deputy magistrate of Krishnanagar.

During his stay at Krishnanagar, Bhaktivinoda Thakura used to go to Navadwipa and search for the birthsite of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. One night he was sitting on the roof of the Rani dharmashala in Navadwipa chanting on his prayer beads when he spotted a tal tree next to a building that gave off a remarkable effulgence. He went to the Krishnanagar library, where he began to study old manuscripts of Chaitanya Bhagavat and Navadwipa Dhama Parikrama, and some old maps of Nadia. He went to the village of Ballaladibhi and spoke with the elderly people, uncovering facts about modern-day Navadwipa. Eventually he discovered that the place he’d seen from the dharmashala rooftop was in fact the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This was confirmed by Srila Jaganatha Dasa Babaji, the head of the Gaudiya Vaishnava community in Nadia. A great festival was held there. In glorification of this sacred place, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura published the Navadwipa Dhama Mahatmya.

In the same year, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura renovated the house of Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji at Ravasghata. He took leave from office for two years and acquired a plot of land at Sri Godrumadwipa, or Svarupaganga. He built a retirement house there for his bhajana (worship) and called it Surabhi Kunja.

1890. He established the Nama Hatta there, the market place of the holy name. Sometimes Jagannatha dasa Babaji would visit and have kirtan, chanting devotional songs glorifying Krishna. Several hundred years earlier, Lord Nityananda, the eternal brother of Lord Chaitanya, had established His Nama Hatta in the same place. Bhaktivinoda Thakura considered himself the street sweeper of the Nama Hatta of Lord Nityananda.

While he was stationed at Krishnanagar, every spare moment was spent in Mayapur, the holy land of the birthplace of Lord Chaitanya. When the birthplace was uncovered, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji would worship Lord Chaitanya there.

Once, one of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s sons contracted a skin disease. Jaganntha Dasa Babaji told the boy to lie down at the birthsite of Lord Chaitanya for the night. He did so, and the next morning he was cured.

1888. He took charge of the village of Netrakona in the district of Mayamanasimha, because he could not keep good health in Krishnanagar. From Netrakona he went to Tangaila, and from there he was transferred to the district of Vardhamana. There he would have kirtan with devotees of Krishna at a place called Amalajora.

1890. He was put in charge of the Kalara subdivision and from there would often visit holy places. From there he was transferred to Ranighata, and then to Dinajapura again. Sailaja Prasada, his youngest son, was born there. In Dinajapura, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura wrote his Vidva-ranjana commentary and translation of the Bhagavad-gita. It was published in 1891 with the commentary of Baladeva Vidyabhushana.

1891. Bhaktivinoda Thakura took leave from government service for two years. He desired to preach the holy names of Krishna. His base was at Godrumadwipa; from there he used to visit other places to lecture in clubs, societies, and organizations. This he had also done in Krishnanagar.

1892. He travelled and preached in the Basirahata District with some other Vaishnavas. All the while he was writing also. He opened many branches of Nama Hatta in different districts of Bengal. The Nama Hatta became a self-sustaining success which continued to spread even after his return to government service.

From Basirahata he set out on his third trip to Vrindavana. He stopped off at Amalajora to celebrate the Ekadasi day with Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji. In Vraja, he visited all the forests and places of Lord Krishna’s pastimes. He continued to give lectures and readings on Hari Nama in various places in Bengal when he returned to Calcutta.

1894. He gave a lecture on his investigation into the whereabouts of the birthsite of Sri Chaitanya. His audience included highly learned men from all over Bengal who became very enthusiastic at the news. Out of this gathering was formed the Sri Navadwipa Dhama Pracarini Sabha, an organization for spreading the glories of Navadwipa-Mayapura. All the learned pundits, having deliberated fully on Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s evidence, agreed that the Yogapitha was the true birthsite of Mahaprabhu.

That year, on Gaura Purnima, a big festival was held to witness the installation of Gaura-Vishnupriya Deities at the Yogapitha. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura personally, in a spirit of pure humility, went door to door collecting funds to build a temple on the site. His venture was highly successful, and the temple was built.

In October of 1894, at age 56, he retired from his post as deputy magistrate, though this move was opposed by his family and the government authorities. He stayed at Surabhi Kunja, preached, and revised his old writings. Sometimes he went to Calcutta, where he begged door to door for building the Yogapitha temple.

1896. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura went to Tripura state at the request of the the king, who was a Vaishnava. He stayed in the capital for four days and preached the glories of the holy name. His lecture on the first day amazed the local pundits. For the next two days the royal family and public were thrilled to hear his talks on the pastimes of Mahaprabhu.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s mercy reached far beyond the geographical boundaries of India or even Asia. He was intent on spreading Krishna consciousness to the West. He sent out a small booklet, written in Sanskrit, Sri Gauranga-lila-smarana-mangala-stotram, with a commentary by Srila Sitikantha Vacaspati of Nadia. The introduction, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, His Life and Precepts, was in English. This book found its way into the library of the Royal Asiatic Society in London, the library of McGill University in Canada, and other respectable institutions. It was reviewed in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society by Mr. F.W. Fraser, an erudite European scholar.

In the rainy season of the same year, requested by the Maharaja of Tripura, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura went to Darjeeling and Karsiyam. In 1897 he went to villages such as Medinipura and Sauri to preach.

Sri Sisira Kumar Ghosa was the founder of the Amrita Bazaar Patrika, a leading newspaper in Bengal at the time, and the author of the Sri Amiya Nimai-carita. He had great respect for Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and took up the preaching of the holy name throughout Calcutta and in many villages in Bengal. He published the Sri Visnu Priya O Ananda Bazar Patrika under the editorship of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. In one of his letters to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura he wrote, “I have not seen the six Goswamis of Vrindavana, but I consider you to be the seventh Goswami.”

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s son Bimala Prasad (later Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati) had been residing at Puri as a celibate monk (brahmacari) and was engaged in worship at the Gandharvika Giridhari Matha, one of seven temples near the tomb of the saint Haridasa Thakura, near the ocean. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, desiring to help his son, had the monastery cleaned and repaired when he came to visit Puri. After the young Siddhanta Saraswati left for Navadwipa Mayapura, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura constructed his own place of worship on the beach, calling it Bhakti Kuti. Sri Krishnadasa Babaji, an assistant and devoted disciple of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, joined him there and became very dear to him. He remained his constant attendant up to the end of the Thakura’s life.

At the Bhakti Kuti the Thakura began solitary bhajana (worship and devotional meditation). He had many visitors; some simply wanted to disturb him, whereas others were sincere and benefited greatly from his spiritual inspiration.

1908. One of his sons informed him that Sir William Duke, chief secretary to the government, was visiting Calcutta. Formerly, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had served under him as a magistrate. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura made an appointment to meet him the next day in Calcutta. Sir William Duke greeted Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura on the street outside and personally escorted him into his office. With folded hands he asked forgiveness for having once planned to remove Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura from office of district magistrate, because he had thought that if such qualified Indians took up such posts, the British would not last much longer in India. In those days, while studying Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s activities, the magistrate would come to his house and would be fed by the Thakura’s wife. But now he was begging forgiveness as he was getting on in life. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura answered, “I consider you to be a good friend and a well-wisher all along.” Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was pleased with him and gave him his blessings. Later he admitted he was astonished that Sir William Duke had wanted to harm him.

In the year 1908 Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura took the external dress of a babaji, signifying one who devotes the remainder of his life to solitary devotional practices, especially chanting the holy names. For the first two years he would travel between Calcutta and Puri and was still writing books.

1910. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura shut himself away from the world and entered samadhi, claiming paralysis. He devoted the remainder of his years to solitary bhajana, meditation, prayer and chanting Lord Krishna’s holy names.

1914. On June 23, just before noon at Jagannatha Puri, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura Prabhupada left his body. On the Gaudiya Panjika calendar this day was also the disappearance day of Sri Gadadhara Pandita. His bodily remains were taken from Orissa back to his beloved Godruma, in the land of Nadia, the land of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and His eternal pastimes. Amidst sankirtana, congretational chanting of the Lord’s holy names, his remains were interred in Godruma.
Remembering His Divine Character

In an obiturary about Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Sarada Carana Mitra, Calcutta high court judge, wrote: “I knew Thakur Bhaktivinoda intimately as a friend and a relation. Even under the pressure of official work as a magistrate in charge of a heavy subdivision he could always find time for devotional contemplation and work, and whenever I met him, our talk would turn in a few moments to the subject of bhakti and achintya bheda abheda, dvaitadvaita-vada etc., and the saintly work that lay before him. Service of God is the only thing he longed for and service under the government, however honorable, was to him a clog.”

His son Lalita Prasada recalled the following about his father Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, including his daily schedule:

7:30-8:00 PM – take rest.
10:00 PM – rise, light oil lamp, write.
4:00 AM – take rest.
4:30 – rise, wash hands and face, chant ‘Hare Krishna maha-mantra japa.
7:00 – write letters.
7:30 – read.
8:30 – receive guests, or continue to read.
9:30-9:45 – take rest.
9:45 – morning bath, breakfast of half-quart milk, couple of chapatis, some fruits.
9:55 – go to court in carriage.

He would wear coat and pants to court, with double-size Tulasi neckbeads and Vaishnava tilaka [religious marking on his forehead]. He was very strong in his decisions; he would decide immediately. He did not allow any humbug in his court; no upstart could stand before him. He would shave his head monthly.

He never allowed harmonium in his sankirtan, considering it a distraction from the sound of the holy name.

He never had any debts.

10:00 – court began.
1:00 PM – court finished. He’d come home and bathe and refresh.
2:00 PM – return to office.
5:00 PM – translate works from Sanskrit to Bengali.
Then take evening bath and meal of rice, couple of chapatis, half quart (half litre) of milk.

He always consulted a pocket watch, and was always accountable keeping time very punctually.

He was always charitable to brahmanas and equally befriended other castes. He never showed pride, and his amiable disposition was a characteristic feature of his life. He never accepted gifts from anyone; he even declined all honors and titles offered by the government to him on the grounds that they might stand against his holy mission of life. He was very strict in moral principles, and avoided the luxurious life; he would not even chew betel. He disliked theaters because they were frequented by “public women.”

He spoke Bengali, Sanskrit, English, Latin, Urdu, Persian, and Oriya. He started writing books at age 12, and continued turning out a profuse number of volumes up until his departure from this world.

By the EuroGBC

This paper aims to present the contribution of Bhaktivinoda Thakur to the establishment and development of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). It regards his personal life as the role model for the practitioners of Vaisnavism, and it considers his input in expanding preaching techniques, both innovative and traditional ones.

Bhaktivinoda Thakur: role model for ISKCON members

Being born in a non-Vaisnava family, educated in Christian and Westernized Hindu schools and colleges, Bhaktivinoda Thakur, more than many other spiritual teacher in Gaudiya tradition, is the reference point for ISKCON, many of whose members have been born in and molded by the Western civilization. The historical context in which Bhaktivinoda Thakur commenced his spiritual quest can be portrayed as a time of serious encounter and conflict between Hindu traditionalists and a Westernized and secularized Bengalis intelligentsia. Because of his studies in and appreciation for Western ideologies, Bhaktivinoda Thakur experienced profound religious doubts and did not take for granted the philosophical and theological doctrines of Vaisnavism. This disproves the claim that ISKCON represents a merely incongruous transplant in Western civilization. On the contrary, Bhaktivinoda’s example shows how acceptance of Vaisnavism is a meter of personal conviction and not geographical and cultural conditionality.

Another point which makes Bhaktivinode Thakur the role model for ISKCON members is the way in which he has practiced his sadhana (spiritual discipline). Like most ISKCON members, he was a family man with many worldly responsibilities. Nevertheless, he had very intense sadhana. And despite having demanding a post as a deputy magistrate in government service, and a big family, he always found enough time for writing books on Vaisnavism and organizing preaching activities.[i] His life showed that becoming practitioner of Krishna consciousness does not mean to exclusively become a renouncer (tyagi). Rather it showed how to be responsible in worldly duties and engage them in service to Krishna.[ii] Shukavak (1999, 258) notes that ‘In the scarcity of viable role models for Gaudiya-Vaisnavas in the West, Bhaktivinode presented an excellent example of responsible worldly engagement and Vaisnava practice.’ His personal example can guide ISKCON devotees how to be in this world but not of it; and thus facilitate ISKCON’s integration into the society and help it avoid identification as a sect.
Saragrahi Vaisnava

Bhaktivinode Thakur’s involvement with Bengal’s intelligentsia and his attempts to present Vaisnava philosophy in a scholarly and inclusive manner definitely presents a solid framework for ISKCON’s attempts to express its own intellectual perspectives in a way suitable and relevant to Western intellectual and academic developments. Bhaktivinode Thakur’s concept and personal example of a saragrahi, an “essence seeker” who can step beyond a parochial position and meet the requirements of modern theology such as self-criticism and comparative scholarship, has been a great help in ISKCON’s efforts to find its place in the world of contemporary academia. (Shukavak, 1999, 140). Again, as with his private life, Bhaktivinoda Thakur with his theological perspectives sets an ideal example which if followed by ISKCON devotees will assure them a stable and influential role in contemporary society.
Bhaktivinoda Thakur, a preacher with vision and a mission plan

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (the founder-acarya of ISKCON) very often emphasized the importance of Bhaktivinoda Thakur in regard to the establishment of ISKCON. For example, he said, ‘We should take it for granted that whatever is happening at the present moment by my humble endeavor, it is all by the grace of Bhaktivinode Thakura’. (Prabhupada, 1994, 256). Bhaktivinode Thakur did not deserve such a eulogy from ISKCON’s founder-acarya only because of his successful preaching in India, but because of his deep conviction that Krishna consciousness would spread all over the world. This is displayed in his writings: “Sriman Mahaprabhu did not descend to deliver a certain number of human beings in the land of India, but rather His purpose was to deliver all living beings in all countries of the world.” (Dasa, 1989, 195). Bhaktivinoda Thakur was not only the prophet of Krishna consciousness in the West but also the first one to send his writings to the West. In 1986,[iii] his book Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: His Life and Precepts reached various thinkers and institutions, including the library of McGill University in Montreal, marking the beginning of the most important missionary activity of ISKCON, book distribution.[iv] Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s idea of introducing Krishna consciousness to intellectuals was carried on by A. C. Bhaktivedanta, who very much emphasized book distribution to libraries and colleges. Following the example of Bhaktivinoda Thakur, who was a prolific writer (he has written or published about a hundred literary works), A. C. Bhaktivedanta translated and wrote numerous books and fully encouraged his disciples to write.

Another significant preaching technique of Bhaktivinoda Thakur that has been accepted and developed by A. C. Bhaktivedanta is the concept of the nama-hatta preaching program to spread the practice of chanting the holy name. The nama-hatta, or the “marketplace of the holy name,” was a highly developed and organized preaching plan with detailed job description for all participants. Devotees traveled to different places and established and maintained meetings in rented halls or in the homes of people interested in Krishna consciousness.[v] Taking Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s idea of the nama-hatta as the basic model, A. C. Bhaktivedanta established many preaching centres that facilitated association of devotees and preaching activities even in the places without temples. As the expansion of ISKCON’s members went more in the direction of congregational members than in the initial direction of priests who lived in the temples, nama-hatta became a key method of congregational preaching.
Conclusion

As Shukavak notes, in spite of Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s global spirit of nama-hatta and his universal perspective of the saragrahi, his outreach to the world at large was relatively limited. (Shukavak, 1999, 253). However, we may conclude that the crucial influence of his personal example, his prolific writings, and his systematic teachings and preaching techniques were not limited only to the Gaudiyas’ mission in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but inaugurated and echoed in the preaching attempts of his successors, in particular his son Srila Bhaktisidhanta Sarasvati and Sarasvati’s disciple A. C. Bhaktivedanta.
Bibliography

· Shukavak, N. Dasa (1999) Hindu Encounter Modernity. Los Angeles, SRI

· Dasa, Rupa-vilasa (1989) The Seventh Goswami. Mumbai, Sri Sri Sitaram Seva Trust

· Prabhupada, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (1994) Collected Teachings of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Los Angeles, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

[i] For detailed daily schedule of Bhaktivinoda Thakur, please refer to Dasa, 1989, 140.

[ii] Engagement of material possessions in devotional service (yukta vairagya) as opposed to false renunciation (phalgu vairagya) has been one of the main principles of Gauidiya-Vaisnava theology. The evangelizing spirit of Bhaktivinoda Thakur’s and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s preaching missions was perfect embodiment of yukta vairagya.

[iii] It is interesting to note that 1986 happens to be the year when A. C. Bhaktivedanta was born.

[iv] The McGill library is where ISKCON devotees first found the book.

[v] For detailed information on nama-hatta, please refer to Dasa, 1989, 170

http://www.eurogbc.com/content/bhaktivinoda-thakur%E2%80%99s-influence-establishment-and-development-iskcon

By Gopi Gita Schomaker

Each Friday, students at the TKG Academy Gurukula in Dallas worship the school Deities by bathing, dressing, preparing bhoga for and performing different services, emulating the temple Deity worship program. They take turns leading the kirtan, offering arati and giving the class each week. Here’s a short video of their festivities.

By Padmapani das

This month marks the 14th anniversary of Tribhuvanatha Prabhu leaving this world. In his memory, I’ve made some postings on Prabhupada Connect website in our “What’s New” section (for a total of six entries). Here’s one that you might find quite interesting:
—————

Over the years, devotees and friends have asked me what it was like preaching and distributing Srila Prabhupada’s books in the Middle East back in the late Seventies and early Eighties. During that time, our main focus for book distribution was Beirut (Lebanon), Amman (Jordan) and Damascus (Syria). Beirut was our headquarters. For those unaware, there was a civil war raging in Lebanon at the time. After a long trip overland from England, I was surprised to discover the reality of the situation awaiting me because my good friend, Tribhuvanatha Prabhu, had failed to warn me beforehand. When we arrived in Beirut I said to Tribhuvanatha, “You didn’t tell me there was a war going on down here.” Tribhuvanatha replied, “Oh, I forgot!” Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I think the following selection speaks for itself. It was truly “A Season in Hell.

(After seeing the above page (and reading about how Tribhuvanatha conveniently “forgot” to tell me there was a war raging in Beirut at the time), an old friend of his in the U.K. commented:

“That made me laugh. I’m glad I was married and he couldn’t talk me into it!”

Tribhuvanatha — gotta love him!)

On September 22, 2015, Radhanath Swami was in New York City to speak at The Bhakti Center for their 3rd Annual Pearl Festival, celebrating Radhastami (the Divine appearance of Srimati Radharani). A special feature of this festival is that all guests received the opportunity to write a prayer on a paper pearl and offer it, along with a real pearl, to Radharani. All the real pearls were then collected, strung into a necklace and offered to Radharani as a gift. Below are some excerpts of his talk.

“The Latin poet Virgil, has written, ‘Love conquers all’. The second part of what he wrote, in many ways is instrumental. He said, ‘Love conquers all, so let us all be conquered by love’. This is the principle of bhakti. The first and great commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and the natural consequence of that is that you will love your neighbor as yourself. And according to the Bhagavad-gita you will see every living being as your neighbor.”

“But that actual ecstasy of loving God really comes when we become conquered by God’s love. Krishna, who is the Supreme Absolute Truth, the one God who has many names and has descended into this world many times, in his fullest expression, comes once in a day Brahma to this world. Sri Radha comes with him. The one Supreme God is ever as two personalities, Krishna, the Supreme object of love, and Srimati Radharani, who is the ultimate supreme lover.”

“The deepest pleasure that everyone is seeking in this world is to love and to be loved. The origin of that experience is the love of Sri Krishna and Sri Radha. We are all part and parcel of Krishna and our nature, our greatest potential, is to love Krishna. This love for Krishna is within every heart. It is the nature of the soul.”

“In bhakti the goal of life is very different than what we see many religious people have done throughout history. People want to conquer others on a material platform in the name of God. In bhakti, we understand that the higher principle is to be conquered by love. Radharani is giving us the capacity to be conquered by Krishna’s love and to conquer Krishna by our love – that is bhakti.”

“Like a pearl, a little grain of sand goes into an oyster and just by staying there for some time it becomes a precious natural pearl. So whoever we are, if come into the association of those who have been blessed by the grace of Sri Radharani and Krishna, then naturally from our hearts, that pearl of love will grow and there is nothing more priceless than that.”

Soon you will be offering a pearl, but it is not things that give Krishna happiness, only love can do this. The real pearl is our love. I like this festival because I was born on Pearl Harbour Day! (laughter) But the Pearl Festival is a festival of love, of making an offering and when we write our prayers in bhakti we pray, ‘How may I please you my Lord, how may I serve you? How may I be the servant of the servant of the servant of the instrument of your love and compassion in everything I do?’ That is the highest prayer and it is that prayer, when offered sincerely, that conquers Krishna and in reciprocation, His and Radha’s love conquers us. – Radhanath Swami

By Nima Suchak

The Canada Rugby World Cup Team attended the ISKCON Leicester Kirtan Fest this Sunday 27th September.

The Canadian Team, who are in the UK for the World Cup tournament, were walking through Leicester’s City Centre, when they heard the sound of kirtan coming from the magnificent temple. Ananda Monet was leading a beautiful kirtan, and they were warmly welcomed by Leicester’s Bhakta Ash.

Still in their red training tops, the rugby stars enquired about the festival, the significance of the Hare Krishna mahamantra, and about the ISKCON Centre in Leicester. In his usual, friendly way, Ash asked them to read and chant the Hare Krishna mahamantra, which they did so happily.

The Canadian Team then met some devotees, and spoke to young 8-year old devotee who also plays rugby in Leicester.

The devotees wished them the best of luck for their upcoming games in the Rugby World Cup.

The Lord observed the religious principles regularly during His transcendental journey on this planet exhibiting His divine acts on this material platform. There are certain philosophical speculations that even the Lord is under the obligations of fruitive action. But actually this is not the case. He does not depend on the action of any good or bad work. Since the Lord is absolute, everything done by Him is good for everyone. However, when He descends on earth, He acts for the protection of the devotees and for the annihilation of the impious non-devotees. Although He has no obligatory duty, still He does everything so that others may follow. That is the way of factual teaching; one must act properly himself and teach the same to others, otherwise no one will accept one's blind teaching. The Supreme Being is Himself the awarder of fruitive results. He is self-sufficient, and yet He acts according to the rulings of the revealed scripture in order to teach us the proces, so that the common man is directed on the right path to perfection. 

By Giriraj Swami

Today is Visvarupa-mahotsava, the date on which Lord Caitanya’s older brother, Visvarupa, tooksannyasa, the renounced order of life. And on the same date some four hundred and fifty years later, our own spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, also accepted sannyasa.

According to Vedic scripture, Lord Caitanya is Krsna Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, come in the present age in the role of a devotee. In the previous age, Lord Krsna came in His original feature and spoke the Bhagavad-gita, and at the conclusion He instructed, sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja: give up all other duties and surrender unto Me. But people could not understand or appreciate Lord Krsna’s instruction. So later, about five hundred years ago, the same Krsna came again, not in His original form but in His devotional form as Lord Caitanya. And Lord Caitanya taught us how to serve Krsna, how to worship God in the present age.

Lord Caitanya taught various methods of worship, but He especially emphasized the chanting of the holy names of God, or Krsna. In particular, He quoted a verse from the Brhan-Naradiya Purana(38.126):

harer nama harer nama 
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva 
nasty eva gatir anyatha

“One should chant the holy name, chant the holy name, chant the holy name of Hari, Krsna. In this age of Kali, there is no other way, no other way, no other way for spiritual realization.”

He acted like a teacher who shows students how to write the alphabet. The teacher stands in front of the class and writes on the board, “A, B, C, D.” She has no need to practice writing, but she shows by her own example how to form the letters properly. In the same way, God, Krsna, had no need to worship, but to set the example for us, so that we could learn how to worship God in the best way in the present age, He came as Lord Caitanya and taught and demonstrated the chanting of the holy names.

When Lord Caitanya appeared, the social and spiritual system called varnasrama-dharma was still prevalent in India. In this system there are four social and four spiritual divisions, all necessary for society to function properly. Although we may not refer to them by the same terms, and although the system has not been developed as systematically and scientifically as in Vedic culture, still, by the arrangement of nature, the divisions still exist. In the Bhagavad-gita Krsna says, catur-varnyam maya srstam guna-karma-vibhagasah: “According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me.” (Bg 4.13) So, the four social orders, or broad divisions of occupational duties, are created by Krsna.

The four divisions include the intelligent class, who are teachers and priests—mainly teachers. Then there is the martial or administrative class, comprised of rulers and warriors; they govern and protect the citizens. There is the vaisya, or productive class, who engage in agriculture—farming and cow protection—and, with any surplus, in trade. And there is the service class, or workers, who perform services to support the other three classes.

When a person hears the description of the different social orders and duties, he or she may be alerted to the possibilities for exploitation and domination of the “lower” classes by the “higher.” But in Vedic society the different members work cooperatively for the common good, ultimately for the pleasure of God. In the physical body there are natural divisions—the head, the arms, the stomach, the legs—and they all have different functions. But they all cooperate for the benefit of the whole. In the social body, the brahmanas are compared to the head—they give guidance. The ksatriyas are compared to the arms—they protect the body. The vaisyas are compared to the stomach—they provide food for the body. And the sudras, or workers, are compared to the legs—they carry the rest of the body where it wants to go. There is no question of competition among the different parts of the body—or exploitation. They all work for the good of the whole.

Apart from the social divisions, there are four spiritual divisions. These are also natural, especially in a culture meant for self-realization and God realization, which Vedic culture is. The first order is thebrahmacaris, celibate students. In the traditional system, the brahmacari would study in the asrama of the guru, in the gurukula. He would be trained mainly in principles of good character. And because the main emphasis was on good character and spiritual development, the teachers had to be spiritually qualified.

Here we can see the defect in modern education, where emphasis is given to material knowledge without much consideration of personal character. Now practically no spiritual or moral qualification is required of teachers. They may drink, they may smoke, they may gamble, they may do all sorts of nonsense in their “private” lives, but if they know the subject in a material way, they are considered qualified to teach. But in the Vedic system, because the emphasis was on moral character and spiritual development, the teachers, the brahmanas, had to be exemplary. And in addition, they had to know the content of the subjects they taught. The exemplar in the Vedic system was called acarya. Acaryameans “one who teaches by example”— not that in the classroom the teacher says, “You should not smoke” but then outside the classroom he or she smokes, or that the teacher says, “You shouldn’t drink” but then outside he or she drinks.

A friend of ours in Mumbai was attending an international conference on drug abuse in Delhi. She is a devotee, and she works with a lot of underprivileged people in the slum areas of Mumbai. And in her own way, she tries to introduce Krsna consciousness, seeing how it can transform people’s lives, how people who were addicted to drugs can give them up with the spiritual strength gained by chanting and other practices—by the grace of God. So, she went to the conference, and during the evenings her colleagues would get together and have parties and drink and smoke and take drugs. Then, during the day, they would meet to discuss what to do about the problem of substance abuse. Socially, she would be with them. After all, they were her friends and colleagues, but when she attended their parties, they would insist, “Why don’t you have a drink? Have a smoke. Have this, have that.” And she would always refuse.

One night, their party was busted by the police. The only one of them of good character, of spotless character, was our friend, the devotee. They knew that her word would be accepted because she was strict in her habits. So her colleagues appealed to her to make up some story that they were doing some experiment, some research, on taking drugs. Whatever happened in the end, the point I am making is that in Vedic culture the teachers were supposed to be exemplary. Their character was considered one of their main qualifications as teachers.

So, the first order is brahmacari—celibate students living in the asrama of the guru, the spiritual preceptor. The second order is grhastha—married, or household, life. At the age of twenty or twenty-five, the young man could choose to enter the grhastha-asrama. At such a time he would take permission from the guru to leave the gurukula, and there would be a ceremony comparable to today’s graduation. The young man would leave and go out into the world, bringing with him all the principles of moral character and spiritual development that he had learned in the asrama of the guru.

Then, after living in the grhastha-asrama, having children and providing for their future, the husband and wife would enter the vanaprastha-asrama, retired life. They would retire, not to while away their time in idle pursuits and reminiscences, but to realize God. Of course, there is no harm in reminiscing sometimes, but they had a positive engagement, and their positive engagement was spiritual perfection.

The first instruction of the Bhagavad-gita is:

dehino ’smin yatha dehe
kaumaram yauvanam jara
tatha dehantara-praptir
dhiras tatra na muhyati

“As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.” (Bg2.13) In other words, the soul is distinct from the body.

Later in the Gita Krsna says that He has two energies: the superior energy, or para-prakrti, which is spiritual, and the inferior energy, or apara-prakrti, which is material.

bhumir apo ’nalo vayuh
kham mano buddhir eva ca
ahankara itiyam me 
bhinna prakrtir astadha

apareyam itas tv anyam 
prakrtim viddhi me param
jiva-bhutam maha-baho
yayedam dharyate jagat

“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego—all together these eight constitute My separated material energies. Besides these, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is another, superior energy of Mine, which comprises the living entities who are exploiting the resources of this material, inferior nature.” (Bg 7.4–5) The spiritual energy is conscious and eternal, whereas the material energy is unconscious and temporary. Physical bodies are made of the eight material elements, inferior energy, but the soul within each body is made of the superior, spiritual energy.

The soul continues to live after the death of the body. In one sense there is no death of the body, because the body is always dead. It is just a machine, and the soul is the driver of the machine who makes the machine work. When the soul is in the body, the body appears to be alive. When the soul leaves the body, we declare that the body is dead, because the soul has left. Now, someone might argue that the soul, or life, is created by a particular chemical combination, that when the chemicals or atoms and molecules combine in a certain way, life is produced. But if that were the case, death would be merely a breakdown in the chemical combination. If life were created by a certain combination of chemicals, then death would mean that the combination had broken down, and the implication would be that if we restored the combination, the person would come back to life. A car is a combination of material elements. The car may break down, but if you keep replacing the material elements, the car will work again. Even if the car is from 1900, if you replace the engine, replace the carburetor, replace the steering—whatever the parts are—if you keep replacing them, it will work again. Yet although people have tried to become immortal since the beginning of time, they have never succeeded in bringing a dead person back to life, because life is not a combination of material elements. Life is the quality of the spiritual soul, the superior energy of the Lord. Once the spiritual soul leaves the body, we can do nothing to bring the body back to life, because the living force has left.

So the question is, “What happens to the living force when it leaves the body? What happens to the soul?” According to the Bhagavad-gita, the soul, depending on its activities or karma, will enter a particular type of body. If the car breaks down and is not worth fixing, the driver will get another car. Now, what kind of car he gets will depend on how much he can afford. If the person has been earning and saving, he can get a luxury car. If the person has been working but not earning so much, or has been saving but not that much, he might get an ordinary car. If the person has been irresponsible or is unemployed, he might not be able to afford a car at all. He might have to get a motorcycle or a scooter or a bicycle, or he may just have to walk. In the same way, the body we get in the next life will depend on how we conduct ourselves in the present life. If we are responsible and follow a disciplined, moral, spiritual life, we will get a better body. In fact, if we are fully self-realized or God-realized, fully surrendered to God, we can get a spiritual body and go to the spiritual world and live with God in the spiritual kingdom. Otherwise, if we are not perfect but are good, we will get a good material body in the material world; we will take birth on a higher planet—on a heavenly planet—or on earth in a better situation, with better opportunities for education; we may be born with more intelligence, with more opulence, with better looks, and so on. And if we have been negligent in our duties toward God, if we have been immoral or irreligious, we will be born in an unfortunate situation on earth in a human body or even in a lower species of life. Or we may have to take birth on a hellish planet and suffer there for some time.

In the Vedic system, by the time a person reaches the age of fifty or so, he or she should have fulfilled his or her family responsibilities and be free to leave the work and assets to the next generation, to concentrate on spiritual development. Old age is a warning or a reminder that one will have to leave the body, and so one will consider, “How can I use my time to reach the best destination?” It is as if you are living in a house and you get notice that you will have to vacate. Of course, you will continue to take care of the house to some degree, but you will not put all your energy into taking care of a house that you must soon vacate. Rather, you will consider, “Where am I going to move?” That is the guiding principle in Vedic civilization: “Where am I going to go after I leave the present body, this present habitat?”

The best destination one can achieve is the spiritual kingdom of God, and for that one must engage in spiritual practices, especially the chanting of the holy names of God, by which one will develop love for God. Such practices are common to different religious traditions. Although here we speak on the basis of the Bhagavad-gita, on the basis of Vedic knowledge, the principle of chanting God’s name is in practically every tradition; the principle of praying to God, glorifying God, learning about God from scriptures and teachers, and serving God and His creatures—ultimately to develop love for God—is part of every bona fide religious tradition. As the Bible says, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shalt be in thine heart. Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. . . . Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him.” This passage from Deuteronomy (6.5–9, 7.9) pretty well describes the life of devotees. While at home or on a path, sitting or walking, lying down or getting up—wherever they are and in whatever they do—they are conscious of God, and they teach their children the same principle: to be God conscious.

Again, the ideal of singing the name of the Lord or praising the name of the Lord is common to every tradition. The Bible, for instance, enjoins us: “Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon His name, make known His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him, sing psalms unto Him, talk yet of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name; let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually.” (I Chronicles 16.7–11) But the actual process of chanting, especially the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, is elaborated most scientifically in Vedic literature. Srimad-Bhagavatam in particular gives precise and detailed information about God and the process to reach Him. Otherwise, one could question, “If the principles are the same, why did you have to take to Krsna consciousness? Why could you not have just been a good Christian or Jew or whatever?” The answer is that this method, technically called bhakti-yoga, is scientific and practical, and that the knowledge of God given in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam is most detailed. To love someone, you must know the person: “To know him is to love him.” To know God is to love Him. Otherwise, we may talk theoretically about loving God, but if we don’t know Him, how can we really love Him?

God in the most complete conception is both male and female: Radha and Krsna. Still, for simplicity’s sake, we often use the masculine pronoun. In any case, we learn about God in detail from sastra, especially Srimad-Bhagavatam. As our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, used to say, “Every religion will teach that you should love God, but who is God? The Vedic scriptures tell you His name, His address, His telephone number—all the details—about His family, His friends, His habits, His hobbies, His pastimes.” That is why we have taken to Krsna consciousness: to learn about God and how to reach Him—in detail. Even then, as Srila Prabhupada said, “You don’t have to give up being a Jew or a Christian or a Muslim or whatever; you can add Krsna consciousness and become a better Hindu or a better Christian or a better Jew.” It is not a religion in the sense that you have to convert, like one gives up one faith and accepts another, but you can remain whatever you are and add bhakti-yoga. With the physical practices of yoga, hatha-yoga, people don’t mind—they may be Christian or Jewish or Muslim and still practice yoga. So too you can practice bhakti-yoga whatever your faith may be. But this yoga will help you to come closer to God and have direct realization of God.

In varnasrama-dharma, the last stage, after retired life, is called sannyasa, renounced life. Although in retired life the husband and wife may stay together, their aim is God consciousness. They often retire to a holy place to worship and serve God, associating with learned scholars and saintly persons, so that they can come closer to God and be with God in their next life. But in the fourth stage, which is not meant for everyone and is not generally recommended in the present age, the husband and wife do not remain together. Also, although the brahmacari will usually marry and have children, in exceptional cases he may not; he may remain in the brahmacari-asrama for his entire life, or at some point proceed directly from the brahmacari– to the sannyasa-asrama. In the renounced order too there are different stages, four stages, but in the present age the recommended process for the renounced order is to spread the message of Godhead—to travel and preach the message of Godhead, and to write articles and books on the science of God.

So, these are the four social and spiritual orders, and from that background we come to today’s occasion: Visvarupa-mahotsava. As mentioned earlier, Lord Caitanya is Krsna Himself, and He appeared on earth, as did Krsna, like an ordinary person. Yet although He seemed to take birth like an ordinary person, His birth was not ordinary; it was divine. Just as a dramatic actor plays the part of a family member on stage, so Lord Caitanya appeared in a particular family on earth. And in the family in which He chose to appear, He had an older brother named Visvarupa (who Himself was an incarnation of Lord Balarama, Krsna’s first expansion).

From the very beginning, Visvarupa was attracted to devotional service to Lord Krsna. As soon as He was old enough, He would go daily to bathe in the Ganges and then proceed to the home of Advaita Acarya to engage in topics of Krsna. He had no interest whatsoever in material life. And so, when he heard that arrangements were being made for his marriage, Visvarupa left home and took sannyasa. At that time, Lord Caitanya tried to console His aggrieved parents: “My dear mother and father, it is very good that Visvarupa has accepted the sannyasa order, for thus He has delivered both His father’s and His mother’s family.”

As a sannyasi, Visvarupa’s name was Sankararanya Svami. He traveled from one place of pilgrimage to another, throughout the country. Finally, He attained perfection—entered the spiritual world after giving up His mortal body—in Pandarapura, a holy place in Maharashtra. As cited by Srila Prabhupada, the Gaura-candrodaya states that after His departure, Visvarupa remained mixed within Sri Nityananda Prabhu. The date on which Visvarupa took sannyasa is celebrated today as Visvarupa-mahotsava.

Now we come to our spiritual teacher and founder-acarya, His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He was born in Calcutta in 1896 in a very pious family. He was well educated and attended Scottish Churches’ College, one of the most prestigious colleges in Calcutta. As a young man he married and had a child, but soon he met a very saintly person, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja, and was impressed by him. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta requested that Srila Prabhupada take up the mission of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and spread His message all over the world, specifically in English. From their very first meeting in 1922, Srila Prabhupada accepted Srila Bhaktisiddhanta in his heart as his spiritual master, and eleven years later, in Allahabad, he was formally initiated as Abhay Caranaravinda dasa. Abhay means “fearless” and caranaravinda means “the lotus feet” of Krsna. By taking shelter of the lotus feet of Krsna one becomes fearless—even of death, the most fearful situation in the material world.

Srila Prabhupada always remembered the order of his guru maharaja, and in his household life he began the fortnightly magazine Back to Godhead. He personally wrote all the articles, got the issues printed, and distributed them. He would go on foot to the teashops in Delhi and approach the customers with his magazine. Later, a friend suggested that magazines might be thrown away but that books would remain forever. And so Srila Prabhupada turned his attention to translating the Bhagavad-gita, and later Srimad-Bhagavatam.

In 1950, Srila Prabhupada retired from family life as a vanaprastha. He traveled to Jhansi and tried to start his guru maharaja’s mission there. He was on the verge of acquiring an ideal property to use as a center, but in the end there was some politics with the governor’s wife and the deal fell through. So he left Jhansi and came to Mathura, a holy place associated with Lord Krsna’s pastimes, to the Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha, where he served in cooperation with one of his godbrothers, His Holiness Bhaktiprajnana Kesava Maharaja.

Even in his household life, Srila Prabhupada had dreams in which his guru maharaja was calling him to leave his family and follow him. Srila Prabhupada would wake up and feel horrified: “How can I takesannyasa?” He continued to have the dream, and in Mathura, Kesava Maharaja advised him, “To really preach the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and fulfill Guru Maharaja’s order, you must takesannyasa.” So, on September 17, 1959, on Visvarupa-mahotsava, the same date that Visvarupa, the older brother of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, took sannyasa, Srila Prabhupada accepted the renounced order of life at the Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha in Mathura. At the end of the ceremony Kesava Maharaja asked him to speak. Although the common language was Hindi, Srila Prabhupada thought of his mission and the order of his guru maharaja,and he spoke in English. Now he was Bhaktivedanta Swami, and “completely ready to discharge the order of his spiritual master.”

It is most fortunate for all of us today that Srila Prabhupada did take sannyasa. After he translatedSrimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, in three volumes, he felt ready to travel. Later he would remark, “When I decided to go to foreign countries, I thought of New York. Generally they go to London, but I thought, ‘No, I will go to New York.’ ” He managed to procure free passage in the passenger cabin on a cargo carrier of the Scindia Steam Navigation Company, and so he crossed the Atlantic on board theJaladuta, suffering two heart attacks on the way. Then, in New York, for almost one year, he struggled alone. No one took up his message seriously. He would stay at different people’s places, but he had no place of his own—and almost no money. He felt so discouraged that from time to time he would go to the Scindia office to see when the next boat was departing for India. But—again fortunately for us—he never left.

Hare Krsna.