The Seventh Gosvāmī-Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda | Rus-Split | 9.9.92 | Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī Mahārājā

Today is the day that the great sage Thakur Bhaktinodh appeared on this planet. In Krishna consciousness, there are so many auspicious days. It is not that our auspicious days only once a year. Recently devotees celebrated Janmasmi, before that Lord Balaram's birthday and Radhasmi, and yesterday you celebrated Lord Vamandev's birthday and Jiva Goswami's appearance day, and today Tākura Bhakti Vinod. So I will read out the pranām mantra of Tākura Bhakti Vinod and explain it. Namo bhakti vinodaya sācidānanda-nāmāne gauraśakti-sorupāya rūpa-nuga-vrāyate. The translation is: I offer my respectful obeisances unto Sācidānanda Bhakti Vinod, who is the transcendental energy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, a strict follower of the Gauḍḍvāmīs headed by Śrīla Rūpa. So Ṛkṛṣṇa Mahāprabhu has been described as the energy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. After Caitanya Mahāprabhu departed from the planet, His true teachings got lost in the waves, and ṭhākura-bhakti-noda appeared to re-establish the true teachings of the Bhāgavad-gītā. Spiritual knowledge comes through the parampara. Ivaṁ parampara-prapta-mimāṇya-rajasya vidhu. Through the parampara one receives spiritual knowledge. Just like Kṛṣṇa imparted this knowledge to Brahmā, and so Brahmā to Narada. So similarly, in our disciplic succession, Thakura Bhaktinanda imparted this knowledge to Bhaktisiddhānta Ji. From Bhaktisiddhānta Ji it came to Śrīla Prabhupāda and then to all of us. Spiritual knowledge has to be received through an authorized source, namely the bona fide spiritual master. Only then can one make spiritual advancement. So Thakura Bhakti Vinod was the energy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he was able to spread Lord Caitanya's teachings even though he was in the grihastha ashram. Thakura Bhakti Vinod was a householder who was born as Kidāna Datta. So Kidāna Datta was very well educated. He was a magistrate in the British government, and he had 12 children. But Thakura Bhaktinoda was very, very dedicated to fulfilling the mission of the Lord. The ideal guru can also be a grihastha. It does not matter whether one is a brahmachari or grihastha as long as one is well-versed in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Therefore it is said, kībā-vipra-kībā-sūdra-nāye kehā-nāya, yehī Kṛṣṇa-tāto avete saī-guru-haya. So it doesn't matter whether one is a sūdra or a brahmana or a grihastha or a sannyāsi. The essence of one who wants to be a spiritual master is that he must be well-versed in the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Thakura Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākura could see that the teachings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu had become greatly distorted, and he was very disturbed. He was just thinking, how can the true teachings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu be re-established? So Thakura Bhakti Vinod ṭhākura was constantly meditating how He can fight all these opposing elements that were opposed to presenting the true teachings of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In fact, even the brāhmanas at that time were grossly misusing their position. So Tākura Bhakti Vinodā had also to fight the brāhmanas. He had to convince them that the real brāhmana is not on the basis of birth but on the basis of qualification. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu on one occasion was having a lengthy conversation with Rāmānanda Rāya. All of you have heard of Rāmānanda Rāya. Saurāmnanda Roy was the governor of Madras State in southern India. Saurāmnanda Roy was a grihastha, but Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked him a series of questions as to show that it doesn't matter whether one is grihastha or brahmachari as long as one is fully versed in the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So Thakura Bhaktinoda was working as a magistrate for the British government, and he had requested the government to please transfer him to Jagannath Puri. Have you heard of Jagannath Puri? Is nahi the? There's a very big temple there called the Temple of Lord Jagannath. The word Jagannath means Lord of the Universe. This Jagannath Puri Temple is located in the, in a place called Orissa. Mahāśakti is from Orissa. So Orissa was also known in the olden days as Utkala. And through a maharaja, Dhruva Maharaja was ruling from Utkala, Orissa. Actually, Utkala is the name also of the son of Dhruva Maharaja. So there's a very famous temple called Temple of Jagannath Puri. Thousands of people go there every day. And you must have read in Teaching of Lord Caitanya how Lord Caitanya passed all his time in Jagannath Puri. So Thakura Bhakti Vinod became in charge because he was very religiously minded. The British government put him in charge of the Jagannath Puri Temple. In the Jagannath Puri Temple, you know how many times a day they offer prasāda to the Deities? 56 times a day. 56 times a day they offer bhoga to the Deities. And they don't offer 1 or 2 items, hundreds of items. So Thakura Bhaktivedānta Mahāprabhu, when he became in charge of the temple, he was still working as a magistrate, but in addition to his duties of magistrate, he was also looking after the deity worship and making sure that all the offerings, etc., were in time. The Thakura Bhaktinath made sure that all the offerings to the deities were in time. In olden days, there were no restaurants. People would just go and eat in the temples. In all the big temples in India, they would serve prasad all day free to anybody who came. So in the Jagannath Puri Temple, the tradition was they would offer prasad 56 times a day to the deities. And after offering to the deities, it would be offered to the public. So Thakur Baktinath made sure that all these offerings were done in time. Now at the time Thakur Baktinath was magistrate in Orissa, there was a bogus yogi who was claiming that he's an incarnation of God. He was a very powerful yogi. He was claiming that he's incarnation of Vishnu. So from far people were coming, they were coming to have his darshan. And he would also do the rāsa-līlā with the young girls. So, so many people were sending their daughters and wives to dance with the Lord incarnate. And many people were also complaining that this man is stealing their wives and daughters and sisters and so on. And this mystic yogi was not living in the city, he was living in the jungle, in the forest. So the British government, when it got so many complaints, He told Thakur Bhakti Vinod, "Please go and investigate this man." So Thakur Bhakti Vinod put on civilian clothes, just like you have the KGB that used to walk around in civilian clothes. So in every country there is a department, in India they call it the CID. They walk around in civilian clothes, not in uniform. So Thakur Bhakti Vinod disguised himself in ordinary clothes along with some policemen. He went in the middle of the night. To that yogi's house. He was a very powerful yogi. So Thakura Bhaktinath was only standing at the entrance of the yogi's house when the yogi said, "Meśa-kedāna datta." "I know that you are standing at the entrance of the house." But the yogi was very smart. He said, "I will make you king of India. Please don't bother me." Because the yogi was a cheater, but he had power, so he knew If Thakura Bhaktinath has come, he must have come for some purpose. So he was trying to bribe Thakura Bhaktinath. He said, "I will make you king of India." So Thakura Bhaktinath then went inside the house and he came directly in front of that mystic yogi face to face. Thakura Bhaktinath said, "You are such a powerful yogi. What are you doing in a jungle? You should go to the city. You should go to the city and have darshan of Lord Jagannātha." because the Jagannātha Puri Temple was not very far from there. The yogi said, Lord Jagannātha? Why should I have darshan of Lord Jagannātha, that statue made of wood? I am Lord Jagannātha. I am Kṛṣṇa. I'm not going to go to that statue made of wood. So those who are less intelligent, they don't understand that the Lord can incarnate in the archa-vigraha form. It may be made of wood or brass or metal or marble. This form of the Lord is non-different from the Lord. This should be carefully understood. So arca-vigraha means the manifestation, manifestation of the Lord in a personal form which is identical with the Lord. Just like in your country, do you have mailboxes? So just like if you post your letter in an authorized post box or the big post office, the letter will reach its destination. So similarly, when you worship a bona fide, an archa-vigraha, the Deity incarnation of the Lord, then that Deity of the Lord is not different from the Lord. I know in one of my previous trips here I gave you the story of Sakshi Gopal. So in the story of Sakshi Gopal, you saw how the Deity can identify, speak, talk, walk. So when Thakur Bhakti Vinod saw that this yogi is saying, "I am Kṛṣṇa," and that statue of Lord Jagannātha is made of wood, His blood began to boil. Thakur Bhaktinath said, arrest him! Because Thakur Bhaktinath had come with many other policemen who were all in civilian clothes. And when this bogus yogi was arrested, all his followers who was there, they started protesting, no, no, no, you can't take him to prison! But Thakur Bhaktinath refused to budge. Now this man was a very powerful mystic yogi. At the time Thakur Bhaktinath had him arrested, After that, his wife and children and the families of all the policemen who were involved in the arrest, they all became very, very sick. Even Thakur Bhaktinath's wife started saying, "What have you done? You have arrested Vishnu. That is why we are all sick." So Thakur Bhaktinath became sick and all his 12 children became sick. And they had more than 105-degree temperature. They were all very sick. And his wife was saying, "What have you done? You have arrested Viṣṇu. Therefore all our children and I am sick." But Thakura Baktinath said, "Let them die. I don't care." His children and wife were dying and they were pleading with him, "Release this yogi, release this yogi." All the friends were coming and saying, "Release him." But he said, "No, this man must be arrested." And the whole, all the family of the policemen, they were also all sick. So everybody was pleading with Thakura Baktinath. Please release your incarnation. You have arrested Vishnu. That's why we are suffering. But he refused to budge. This mystic yogi was trying to kill Bhaktivedanta's family, but Thakura Bhaktivedanta was not disturbed by it. Because one who is well-versed in the scriptures, he knows who is God. He knows the qualities of God. He knows how to recognize the genuine incarnation of God. Actually, this mystic yogi had many, many rich followers, and they were all protesting, begging Thakura Bhaktivedanta to release him, but he refused to budge. On the day that Thakur Bhaktinath was supposed to write the judgment, you know, there was a trial, so he was supposed to write a judgment. This mystic yogi was so powerful that his whole, his whole body was paining and he could not even lift his hand. He was in so much pain, but still Thakur Bhaktinath did not deviate from the true principles and he refused to release him. Because Thakur Bhaktinath was determined to establish the true teachings of the Lord, The Lord tested him, but in the end, just 1 hour before Thakur Bhaktinath was supposed to release the judgment on this crook, Krishna, his pain went away and he was able to write the judgment. And then Thakur Bhaktinath went and really wrote the judgment and convicted this man to 6 months in jail. Now Thakur Bhaktinath had read that these mystic yogis, they keep their power in in their hair. Our Vaiṣṇava devotees, they don't keep their power in their sikhas, but the mystic yogis do. Where did Durvāṣa Muni take out the demon when he wanted to kill Amṛśmarāja? From his sikha. Durvāṣa Muni wanted to annihilate Amṛśmarāja, so he produced a demon, and that demon was ready to burn Amṛśmarāja. So mystic yogis keep their power here in their sikha. So Thakura Bhakti knows, as this man was being taken out of the prison, He ran behind and cut his sikha out. And this bogus yogi, in the prison he committed, he took poison and he committed suicide. And then all the whole town said, yes, yes, yes, Thakur Bhakti Vinod was right. And his children and wife, they all recovered also. So there's so many wonderful stories of Thakur Bhakti Vinod. Many great ācāryas have called him the seventh Gosvāmī. You know the six Gosvāmīs, and he's called the seventh Gosvāmī. Thakur Bhakti Vinod was a very powerful writer. He would work in the office from 9, from 9 or 10 o'clock till 5 o'clock. 5 o'clock he would come home and have prasad. Then at 7 o'clock he would go to take rest, and then he would get up at 12 o'clock. Then on 12 o'clock in the night till 6 in the morning he would write, and then he would get ready, take little prasad, and go to work. And Thakur Bhaktinath wrote over 100 books. Ajayavadharma, Caitanya-caritāmṛta-sikṣāmṛta. And it was Thakura Bhaktivinoda who organized the worldwide preaching of the Kṛṣṇa conscious process. In 1896, Thakura Bhaktivedānta Mahāprabhu wrote a book called Life and Precepts of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And Thakura Bhaktivedānta Mahāprabhu, after writing this book, he sent this book to all the universities all over the world. In fact, in Montreal, Canada, he sent this book to McGill University in 1896. This is the university from where we had the opportunity to also graduate. And in Montreal, McGill University, this book was lying in the library till the Krishna conscious devotees came to Montreal in 1966. So Thakur Bhaktinoda had this great vision that Lord Caitanya's teachings will be embraced by the whole world. He was fully convinced that the whole world would take to Lord Caitanya's teaching. So Thakur Bhaktinoda sent his book on Lord Caitanya to every University of the world, but the first university he sent was this McGill University in Montreal. Thakur Bhakti Vinod had predicted that one day in Mayapur, the British men, the Russians, the Americans, the French, the Japanese, they'll all come sing and dance together. Actually, Thakur Bhakti Vinod did not use the word Sovietic, he used the word Ruski. So he said people from the whole world would come and dance and sing the holy names of Krishna. So today this is happening. Some of you have been to Vrindavan, to Mayapur, like Ajuta. But now every year at the Mayapur Festival, devotees come from every corner of the world and they together take part in the parikramas, chanting, dancing, feasting. Another great contribution that Thakura Bhaktivedanta made was that he identified Lord Caitanya's birthplace. Actually, there was great confusion as to which was exactly Caitanya Mahāprabhu's birthplace, and many people were thinking that Navadvipa was the birthplace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Navadvipa is on the other side of the Ganga. So Thakura Bhaktinath carried his spiritual master Jagannātha Dāsa Babājī. Jagannātha Dāsa Babājī could not walk, so Thakura Bhaktinath carried him on his head in his old age, and he identified, yes, this is Mayapur, birthplace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And then Thakura Bhaktinath organized the development of Mayapur. And so then Mayapur was developed. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu helped establish different temples in Mayapur. Thakura Bhaktinath, after he resigned from government service, he was going house to house and begging for ₹1 donation. And Thakura Bhaktinath Because he was preaching very forcefully. As I said earlier, our philosophy is doesn't matter whether you are Brahmin or Kshatriya, white, black, brown, if you are well-versed in the science of Kṛṣṇa, then you can take everyone back to Godhead. But Thakura Bhaktivedānta Mahāprabhu will know, at that time the Brahmanas were there in society and the Brahmins were saying, "No, no, no, you have to be born as a Brahmin, only then you can preach God's message." So Thakura Bhaktinath destroyed this theory, and he— his son Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī later on preached this philosophy in a more— in a, in a bigger way, where he destroyed the concept that only by birth you can be a Brahmana. As I told all of you, Thakura Bhaktinath did not take sannyāsa till old age. In retired life only, at the end, he took sannyāsa. It is said that when he was in the Īhāsta āśrama, he went to his spiritual master and said, "Should I take sannyāsa?" His spiritual master said, "No, you're already in sannyāsa. There's no need to take sannyāsa." But still, Thakura Bhakti Vinod did take sannyāsa, but right at the end of his life. He trained up all his 12 children to become pure devotees. And the greatest of the children of the children was whom? Who's that, huh? Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī ṭhākura. So once, the story is Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī ṭhākura, when he was a young boy, he ate a mango without offering it to Kṛṣṇa. Till the age of 5, you can let the child do what it wants, but after the age of 5, the child has to be disciplined. So Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati ate this mango without offering it to Kṛṣṇa when he was 5 years old. The ṭhākura Bhaktirādhara severely chastised him, "Why did you eat this fruit without offering it to Kṛṣṇa?" And Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati took it so seriously that for the rest of his life he never ate a mango again. When even when his disciples would offer him mangoes, he would say, I have made a mistake when I was a child, so I'm not going to eat a mango. So Thakur Bakhniad wrote, as I said, hundreds of books and songs. We don't have much time, but I'll just go over some of the highlights of some songs' message. In the song that we sang this morning, just now, is revealing the mission of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to reclaim the fallen souls of Kali-yuga. Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to present a very sublime philosophy that could be availed of by everyone in Kali-yuga. Like all of you have taken to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, obviously you were not born in this culture. Today there are more than 400 centers around the world And in most of these, nearly all the people who are participating in these, uh, in this process were not born in this culture. But why are people taking to it? Because it is very satisfying. It works. It satisfies the individual, gives them a real sense of happiness. Recently, in the August 3rd issue of Newsweek magazine, there was a big article called New Gods in Russia. Did you see that article? Okay, Newsweek is a very big magazine. It goes all over the world. It's one of the biggest magazines in the world. So they had a very big article, and in that article they said— this is the issue of August 3rd— so in that article they have said that the Hare Krishna movement is the fastest growing spiritual movement in Russia. And Newsweek magazine has estimated that there are 7 lakh followers of Hare Krishna just in Russia. 700,000 It is Newsweek uvača, so it must be true. Krishna uvača niyaḥ sikda-pravadal. But Newsweek uvača must be true. So people everywhere are taking the Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Why? Because they find it very satisfying. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared in order to deliver the conditioned souls with the sublime process. So Tākura Bhaktinoda is saying, "Oh conditioned soul, please get up. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has appeared." to reclaim you. So Thakura Bhaktinath says, I have appeared specially to deliver you, oh conditioned soul. I'm not discussing word by word the meaning of the song 'Deva Jagad' because we don't have enough time. Thakura Bhaktinath says, I'm your only real friend. I have appeared just to save you. So the devotee of the Lord who is delivering the message of God is the only real friend of society. So Thakura Bhaktinath says, I have brought There's one medicine to save you. Please take this medicine. And if you take the medicine, then the disease of illusion will be destroyed. And what is the disease of illusion? Identifying with the body. So Thakura Kīva-bhaktinoda says, please pray for the holy name and take it at any cost. Then another song, Thakura Bhaktinoda says,— that is, whether you are a householder or a sannyāsi, constantly chant the names of Hari-Hari. Don't forget the names of Hari whether you are happy or sad. Generally we forget the names of God when we get what we want, and we remember God when we are in trouble, isn't it? Tākura Bhaktinath says whether you are happy or in distress, always remember, chant the names of Hari-Hari. Then in one other song, Tākura Bhaktinath says, mana sadeha geha yo kichor mora aripalam "My dear Lord, I place everything at Your lotus feet. My wife, my children, my property, my house, everything is Yours. Use it as You see fit." And Thakura Vakinoda said, "My dear Lord, if You desire, I may take my next birth even as a worm in the house of a Vaiṣṇava." Why? Because in the house of Vaiṣṇava, you'll have the chance of hearing the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. So he says, "Please, if I have to take my next birth, birth. I'm ready to take my birth as a worm, but in the house of a Vaiṣṇava. So on this auspicious day, the appearance day of Thakura Bhaktinoda on this planet, all of us, all the devotees should pray for Thakura Bhaktinoda's causeless mercy so that we can spiritually advance, so that we can become spiritually peaceful, so that we are determined to throw māyā out, so we are determined to serve Kṛṣṇa according to direction of guru seriously. Thakura Bhaktinoda is very kind. To many of you devotees, he is your great-great-great-grandfather, isn't it? So he's very kind. He's watching all of you, and if you all pray and sincerely desire to throw illusion out, he'll help you. Hare Krishna.