September 18, 2005
In Honor of Srila Prabhupada's Sannyasa Day
Srila Narayana Maharaja has been residing in his Sri Giriraja Govardhana Gaudiya Matha for the past couple of weeks, writing and translating. On Sunday, September 18, about 300 devotees gathered there to celebrate Visvarupa Mahotsava (the day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu found out that His elder brother Visvarupa left this world)) and the day that Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja and Srila Prabhupada Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja took sannyasa.
Srila Narayana Maharaja spoke about the glories of Srila Prabhupada in the morning, and also called on several of Srila Prabhupada's disciples to offer their glorification. His class was followed by Guru-puja and then a large feast. Srila Narayana Maharaja continued the glorification of Srila Prabhupada in the evening as well. Below, is a summary of his talk:
During his talk, Srila Narayana Maharaja said that Srila Prabhupada first gave Bhagavad-gita As it Is – the purport of Bhagavad-Gita. In there Srila Prabhupada taught that we are not these bodies. These bodies are made simply of blood, urine, stool and flesh, and when the body dies you get a new body. He gave everything in the Gita, up to the last teaching. He taught, "nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam" – of all living beings Sri Krsna is the Supreme, and of all eternals Sri Krsna is the Supreme eternal.
Srila Prabhupada taught:
man-mana bhava mad-bhaktoHe gave the conclusion of Bhagavad-gita, and then he taught Srimad-Bhagavatam.
mad-yaje mam namaskuru
mam evaisyasi satyam te
pratijane priyo 'si me["Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend."
(Bhagavad-gita, 18.65)]
Srila Narayana Maharaja said that Srila Prabhupada wanted to preach Sri Ujjvala-nilamani (a very elevated scripture by Srila Rupa Gosvami, explaining the pastimes and philosophy of the love of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna), but there was no one qualified to understand it. Therefore he taught the principles of Varnasrama-dharma, how to perform acamana, etc. He knew that the Westerners could not understand higher topics. Even now, people are still trying to be established in Varnasrama, but in Srila Prabhupada's translation of Srimad-Bhagavatam and Caitanya-caritamrta there are higher subjects. The five rasas are discussed there.
Srila Narayana Maharaja explained that Prabhupada came to give Gaura-vani. "Aradhyo bhagavän vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam…" – the gopis' worship of Lord Krsna is supreme. Prabhupada didn't express this elaborately in his speeches, but he did so in his books. Prabhupada knew that later on, if his disciples would read his books and become qualified in bhajana, they would realize what is in his books.
Srila Narayana Maharaja said, "When I would go to the West, some people say there is a difference between Srila Prabhupada and myself. Yes, there is definitely a difference. He was shorter, and I am taller and thinner. These are the differences. Sometimes there are differences in our words, but not in our mood. Now when I go to the West, people are gradually understanding this more and more and coming to hear from me.
"Bhakti is like a current, it cannot stop. If it stops it will become stagnant. Some people say, 'Srila Swami Maharaja didn't give more than varnasrama. And he said, "Don't read the 10th Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam." ' My Guru Maharaja also said this, but he didn't forbid me to read it. I have seen Srila Swami Maharaja's personal copy of Ujjvala-nilamani, and I saw the marks that he made in it. He wrote here and there on the pages, 'Most important' and 'Very important.' He didn't speak about these subjects very much; but he wrote about them, and after some time people will understand what he wrote.
"Don't think that I am different from him. Don't have a doubt. Srila Swami Maharaja didn't use the same words as his Guru, Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, or his parama-guru, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, but his moods are the same as theirs.
"Today is his sannyasa day, and I bow down to his lotus feet. I also bow down to my Gurudeva who gave him sannyasa. Sannyasa is not a formality. Don't think that there is no importance of sannyasa. It is for gopi-bhava.
"We must understand this. Now time is over. Again, I pray at their lotus feet."
Srila Maharaja had ordered Syamarani dasi and the art department to create paintings for the covers of his upcoming Hindi books, Camatkara-candrika and Prema Samput. Here, before the evening class, the artists showed him the cover of Camat-kar-candrika and he gave his instructions.
