Sri Gangadhara Sadashiva installation in Nabadwip

By the grace of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj we are maintaining our spiritual lives in Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh. This day is a very auspicious day. What Guru Mahārāj wanted, he told so many things to us before. We could not understand at that time, but now we are observing, we are seeing the glories of Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh. When Śrīla Guru Mahārāj came to Koladwīp, Aparādha Bhañjan Pāṭ, he took some land for us as a base, Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh, a base from which to preach all over the world.

At that time there was only three bigars of land. Śrīla Guru Mahārāj thought that it was sufficient for spending his life. But he expressed his inner desire through one śloka. In this verse he expressed what the position of  was and what  would be in future. Śrīla Guru Mahārāj saw it clearly. He composed this śloka,

śrīmach-chaitanya-sārasvata-maṭhavara-udgīta-kīrtir jaya-śrīṁ
bibhrat sambhāti gaṅgā-taṭa-nikaṭa-navadvīpa-kolādri-rāje
yatra śrī-gaura-sārasvata-mata-niratā-gaura-gāthā gṛṇanti
nityaṁ rūpānuga śrī-kṛtamati-guru-gaurāṅga-rādhā-jitāśā

Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh has unlimited glories in this material world and it has appeared from the highest place of the spiritual abode. Some ordinary thinking people were thinking that it was a little Maṭh. One of the godbrothers of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj who was very qualified commented that, “Śrīdhar Mahārāj has taken one long bamboo pole and put there one flag. He is living in a thatched room and he has composed this great śloka!” I told Śrīla Guru Mahārāj and he said, “You will see in future what will be Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh.”

Later some godbrothers were very envious of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj. They were thinking that Śrīla Guru Mahārāj could not eat properly because of a problem for money. He was not asking for money from anyone and he was not going anywhere. He was staying in a thatched room and if someone was giving food then he was eating. Which way did he maintain his life?

But when this temple, naṭ mandir and other structures came then that godbrother asked Pisimā (Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī’s sister) “How is Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh and how is Śrīdhar Mahārāj?”

Pisimā gave a very clever answer, “You cannot conceive the glories of Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh. Now the deities Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅga-Gāndharvā-Govindasundar have manifest and there in Rādhārāṇī’s courtyard, Lakṣmī Devī is going every day. Lakṣmī Devī herself is going to the courtyard of Rādhārāṇī. That is the position of Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh.” That godbrother said, “She was very clever. She did not say: ‘Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s courtyard’. She said: ‘Rādhārāṇī’s courtyard’. It is possible and it is very good.”

Now I am thinking what was the desire of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj for Śrī Govinda Kuṇḍa. From the very beginning Śrīla Guru Mahārāj mentioned that this is Śrī Govinda Kuṇḍa. He said, “If you can buy it then we can make something in Govinda Kuṇḍa.” A little later we bought it but we couldn’t do anything because the neighbours of the kuṇḍa did not want it to be very big and very nice. They wanted to take their cows, buffalo and everything there every day for bathing. That was their natural life. Then for 12 or 14 years I fought to get a compound wall around Govinda Kuṇḍa. Some opportunity came and then the wall came.

It was Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s desire that in the middle of Govinda Kuṇḍa there would be one small temple and Śrīman Mahāprabhu would go there at Chandan-yātrā time. Mahāprabhu would play in a boat on Govinda Kuṇḍa and rest at the temple with some food and nourishment.

I could not think who would do it or how it would be possible. But by the grace of Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅga, through the service of the devotees, mainly Śrīpād Āchārya Mahārāj, Śrī Govinda Kuṇḍa has come out.

When I expressed my desire he said, “Yes, it is possible.” Then I thought, “Which way is it possible.” It would be necessary to build it like Vṛndāvan. It Vṛndāvan all of the kuṇḍas are nicely decorated.

Now we are seeing that at present the position of Śrī Govinda Kuṇḍa is very nice and day by day it will become more beautiful. The grace of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj is helping us and we are all very much eager to serve Śrī Govinda Kuṇḍa and Śrīman Mahāprabhu.

Each year Mahāprabhu will come once, twice or thrice to stay a few hours at the temple, but the temple may be disrespected. Some swan or goose will make the temple dirty, so I wondered what to do. I meditated and it came to my mind: Śrī Girirāj Govardhan is present here as Śrī Gupta-Govardhan. Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur said that this Koladwīp is Gupta-Govardhan. So, why will Gupta-Govardhan not be revealed here? It is Gupta-Govardhan, but nobody knows this and if Govardhan reveals himself, is that a bad thing?

So, now we are seeing Girirāj Govardhan come and the property of Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh is like a small city. But who will take care of all of these things?

Yesterday, Lord Śiva mercifully appeared to take charge. Lord Śiva as kṣetra-pāla has taken charge here. In Māyāpur, at Mahāprabhu’s birthplace, Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur inaugurated a temple of Lord Śiva and the service is going on there. In every Maṭh, in Śrīpād Mādhava Mahārāj’s Maṭh and other big Maṭhs, there are Śiva deities; Bhuteśvar, Kāmeśvar, Chakleśvar and Gopeśvar.

There is a very nice praṇām mantra:

vṛndāvanāvani-pate jaya soma-soma-maule
sanandana-sanātana-nāradebhya
gopeśvara vraja-vilāsa-yugāṅghri padme
prītiṁ prayachchha nitarāṁ nirupādhikaya
(Śrī Sankalpa Kalpadruma 103)
[“Oh, the protector of Vṛndāvan! Oh, the husband of Umā, who holds the mood on his forehead and who is worshipped by Sanandana, Sanātana and Nārada! Oh, Gopeśvar Śiva! Please, give me devotion, free from all relative conception of self-interest, to the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa whose Pastimes are going on in Vraja Dhām.”]

Oh, Gopeśvara Śiva, you always bestow your mercy as Kṛṣṇa-prema, Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. You have the right to give it to us. You are the controller of all obstacles and you can control what is undesirable. You are living in Vṛndāvan and always Kṛṣṇa-līlā is going on there. You are avani-pate which means you are master of that land of Vṛndāvan (as the protector of the Holy Dhām). Actually, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Lord Śiva is a super-servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Vedavyās has written,

nimna-gānāṁ yathā gaṅga
devānām achyuto yathā
vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ
purāṇānām idam tathā
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 12.13.16)
[“Just as the Gaṅgāis the greatest of all rivers, Lord Achyuta the supreme among deities and Lord Śambhu [Śiva] the greatest of Vaiṣṇavas, so Śrīmad Bhāgavatam is the greatest of all Purāṇas.”]

The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam has given this kind of prestige and position to Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva is a super-Vaiṣṇava and his position in Vṛndāvan is such a high position. As Gopeśvar, Śiva is giving guard to the Rasasthalī, the place of the rasa-līlā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the gopīs. This is the kind of glories of Lord Śiva.

Śiva has so many glorious names:

śambhurīśaḥ pāśupatiḥ śivaḥ śūlī maheśvaraḥ
īśvaraḥ śarva īśānaḥ śaṅkaraśchandraśekharaḥ
bhūteśaḥ khaṇḍaparaśurgirīśo giriśo mṛḍaḥ
(Amarkośa 1.1.72-74)

Sometimes he is Maheśvara, Devādideva. Of all the demigods he is the leader and they’re worshipping Lord Śiva. Śiva is very simply a merciful Vaiṣṇava. His auspicious presence will clear all the obstacles of divine service to Lord Kṛṣṇa and Mahāprabhu, who is the non-different form of Lord Kṛṣṇa. All bhakti-vighna-vināśa; all obstacles will go out by his divine, merciful glance and we can happily serve our Supreme Lord: kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.3.28).

Śiva has many varieties of positions; sometimes he is Rudra, sometimes he holds the position of guṇāvatār, sometimes he is Sadāśiva, and sometimes he is holding the Ganges on his head.

His blessings and his mercy will always be healthy for the souls who are very conditioned and they will get relief from this illusory environment through that. Lord Śiva has very renounced and detached nature. I am using his dhyāna mantra. There are a lot of dhyāna mantras, but we are using this one,

dhyāyennityaṁ maheśaṁ rasata-giri-nibhaṁ chāru-chandrāvataṁsaṁ
ratnākalpojjvalāṅgaṁ paraśu-mṛgavarā-bhītahastaṁ prasannaṁ
padmāsīnaṁ samantāt stutamamara-ganair-vyaghra-kṛttiṁ vrasānaṁ
viśvādyaṁ viśva-bījaṁ nikhila-bhaya-haraṁ pañcha-vaktraṁ tri-netram
(Śiva-purāṇa 1.20.52)
[“He who is fixed in eternal meditation, who is known as Maheśa. Who resembles a grand mountain and has the effulgent moon as an ornament on his head. Who is like a jewel, free of desires and whose brilliant bodily limbs shine. Who holds the axe-like weapon Paraśu in his hand which drives fear into all the beasts and animals. Who is very pleasing and is seated on a lotus as on all sides, groups of lions offer Him prayers; Who is the topmost ruler of the material universe and the giver of the divine seed of the universe as Śambhu, in the form of a liṅga. Who dispels all fear, who has five heads and who has three eyes.”]

This is a dhyāna (meditation) on Lord Śiva. Mahāprabhu said that Śāṅkarāchārya was an incarnation of Lord Śiva and Vṛndāvan Dās Ṭhākur has written that Mahāprabhu himself also mentioned Advaita Prabhu as an incarnation of Lord Śiva. Mahāprabhu worshipped Advaita Āchārya and Mahāprabhu himself also offered flowers to Advaita Āchārya in worship, “Yo ’si so ’si namo ’stu te’” (Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya, 15.11).

So, we will get the super-chance to serve Mahāprabhu, through the mercy of Lord Śiva. Lord Śiva has a disinterested, renounced nature and he is not involved with any material things. All material things are serving him like a maidservant. Śiva’s position is given in Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā, “Tal liṅgaṁ bhagavān śambhur jyotīrūpaḥ sanātanaḥ”
(Brahma-saṁhitā 5.8).

Māyā is the material power and Bhagavān Himself is chinmaya, transcendental. At the time when Bhagavān is manifesting the creation he is giving connection with māyā through Lord Śiva, Śambhu, as liṅga-rūpa. Then Śiva’s position is Sadāśiva. When he is Sadāśiva he is living in Vaikuṇṭhaloka (the spiritual world), in the lower part. In the highest part of the spiritual world, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Śrīman Mahāprabhu and Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu are living. In the middle part is living Lord Nārāyāṇa and other incarnations of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

ete chāṁśa-kalāḥ puṁsaḥ
kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam
indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokaṁ
mṛḍayanti yuge yuge
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.3.28)
[“All of the above-mentioned incarnations are either plenary portions or portions of the plenary portions of the Lord, but Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the original personality of Godhead. All of them appear on planets whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists.”]

īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
sach-chid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
anādir ādir govindaḥ
sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
(Brahma-saṁhitā 5.1)
[“The Supreme Lord, the embodiment of truth, consciousness and joy, is Govinda, Kṛṣṇa. He is beginningless, the origin of all that be, and the cause of all causes.”]

There are so many ślokas [about Śiva] in the scriptures and also Śiva has a position as one of the dvādaśa-mahājan, the twelve mahājans. A mahājan is a great devotee, who is an indicator of the service world.

The twelve mahājans are Svayambhū (Lord Brahma), Nārada, Śambhu, the Four Kumāras, Kapila, Svayambhuva Manu, Prahlād Mahārāj. Janaka Mahārāj, Bhīṣma, Bali Mahārāj, Śukadeva Goswāmī and Śrīla Vyāsadeva.

Kṛṣṇa gave some necessary type of service to Lord Śiva to create some disturbance by distributing māyāvād. Māyāvād is very bad thing, but Kṛṣṇa wants to hide his bhakti-yoga. So, he ordered Lord Śiva to preach māyāvād,

māyāvādam asach-chāstraṁ
prachchhannaṁ bauddham uchyate
mayaiva vihitaṁ devi
kalau brāhmaṇa-mūrtinā
(Padma-purāṇa 25.7)
[“[Lord Śiva informed goddess Durgā, the superintendent of the material world:] ‘In the Age of Kali I take the form of a brāhmaṇa and explain the Vedas through false scriptures in an atheistic way, similar to Buddhist philosophy.’”]

And Śiva appeared in the form of Śāṅkarāchārya to preach māyāvād. “Asach-chāstraṁ prachchhannaṁ bauddham uchyate…,” wherever there is great difficulty and great obstacles, Śiva is going there and clearing all with his power. At the time of the churning of the milk ocean, no-one called Lord Śiva to attend. Lord Viṣṇu himself, Lord Brahmā and all the demigods along with all of the demons decided to make some compromise and they tried to churn the ocean of milk in order to produce the amṛta, the nectar of immortality. So many things came out from that churning. Lakṣmīdevī came out, Chandra, the moon came out, Surabhī came out and so many other things. Everyone took those things as they liked. Lakṣmīdevī went to Lord Viṣṇu, Surabhī was taken by Lord Indra etc.

No-one thought of Lord Śiva at that time, but when they again went to churn the ocean to produce more, poison came. Everyone was disturbed by the poison and no-one could control or counteract that poison.

Then Viṣṇu said to the demigods, “Go to Lord Śiva. He is living in meditation in Kailāsh.” Then all of the demigods went to Lord Śiva and prayed, “Prabhu, please save us.” Śiva asked, “What happened?” “We were churning the ocean and poison came out.” And Śiva said, “Ok, no problem.” Śiva went there and took that poison in his hand and drank it. This is the nature of Lord Śiva. If you surrender to him, he will do anything for you. His nature is very merciful. I composed this praṇām mantram to Śrī Gaṅgādhara Sadāśiva:

devādidevam-ahibhūṣaṇam-indukāśaṁ
panchānanaṁ paśupatiṁ varadaṁ prasannam
gaṅgādharaṁ praṇatapālakamāśutoṣaṁ
vande sadāśiva-haripriya-chandramaulim
[“The chief of the Devas, who is decorated by snakes, whose body shines like the mood, who has five heads, who carries his weapon know as Paśupat, who gives boons, who is of satisfied nature, who holds the Gaṅgā on his head, who maintains those who give obeisance to him. who is easily pleased – I offer my obeisances to Sadā-Śiva who is dear to Hari, and whose crown is the moon.”]

Sadāśiva hari-priya; he is always dear to Kṛṣṇa and chandra-maulim, he has a moon as his crown; devādidevam, all the demigods are worshipping him; ahibhūṣaṇam, he is not using any ornaments, like flowers – his ornament is a snake!; indukāśam, his colour is like the rising moon; panchānanam, he has five heads and he is always chanting the Holy Name of the Lord, Rāmachandra as well as Kṛṣṇa.

Gaṅgādharaṁ; when the Ganges came from Vaikuṇṭhaloka to heaven and then from heaven to earth, the question came, who will hold the Gaṅgā? The Gaṅgā is very powerful and she will break anything. So, Bhagīrath came to Lord Śiva and asked him to help. Śiva said, “Ok, tell the Gaṅgā that I will help.” If anyone comes to Śiva in a position of danger, Lord Śiva is giving mercy and fearless power to that person. He is known as āśutoṣam; if you offer bael leaf to his head, the he is very happy. By a little worship and honour, Lord Śiva will give everything. There is no other god of heaven who is this merciful to us. So, he is known as āśūtoṣa. Kṛṣṇa has taken his help many times for many kinds of service. Even the asuras are worshiping him and he is so merciful to them. Even if they are fighting with Kṛṣṇa.

anvaya-vyatirekābhyāṁ
yat syāt sarvatra sarvadā
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.9.36)

The power of Kṛṣṇa is living everywhere and this kind of power is living with Lord Śiva, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly. Everything that Lord Śiva is doing is exemplary. Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Janardan Mahārāj: You said Lord Śiva gave Guru Mahārāj’s medicine…
Govinda Mahārāj: Yes. That I am not telling because some persons may make an offence. What is the truth, they cannot understand. They can make offence, for that reason I am not telling. Otherwise I can say that with my life, there is so much mercy of Lord Śiva. Many times I have seen, I have seen, seen! Impossible! What I have seen, that is impossible to tell. But I have seen.

ākāśe to āmi rākhi nāhi, mora
uḍibār itihās
tabe haiyachen sei mora ullāsa
(paraphrased from Rabindranath Tagore)

It is my joy, in my heart, I have seen. But there is no history. How much I flew in the sky, there is no record. But I flew in the sky. That is the truth. And how high that was, there is no record. Then which way I shall show you that I went there. But it is the truth. The connection with Lord Śiva has given me a life that is so beautiful. So nice and merciful he is upon me. And what you are seeing here is all coming by remembrance of Lord Śiva. In that way my service is growing so fast.

Anyhow, yesterday was Śrī Śivarātri and we are thinking that everywhere Lord Śiva is present. And now Śrī Chaitanya Saraswat Maṭh is so glorious and it is increasing day by day. So many devotees are respecting Lord Śiva and I thought that if Lord Śiva would come here that that would be very good. That was my desire only.

Then the devotees went by bus to Haridwar and Lord Śiva took his position in a seat on the bus and came here. Anyhow, mercifully he appeared here yesterday and it is my prayer to Lord Śiva that he will accept our service and give his divine mercy. Through his mercy we will get strength for the service of Lord Kṛṣṇa and we will get connection with the transcendental service world. He can give that service to us. That is his glorious position. When the mercy of Lord Śiva is with us our exclusive devotional line will be clean. But we must not forget our position as a conditioned soul.

One thing I did not say about Śrīla Guru Mahārāj. When he was living in Hāpānīyā, every day he was going to the Ganges for bathing. He would go directly to the Lord Śiva temple at Jamalpur and on the way there was a very nice lake. He would take some lotus flower from that lake for Lord Śiva and he used to sit there under a neem tree and rest. Then he returned to Hāpānīyā to take breakfast. Every morning he was doing that. Śrīla Guru Mahārāj said that before he joined with his Gurudev, Prabhupād Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur, he went to Jamalpur and meditated there. He asked Lord Śiva for inspiration to join in the mission of Śrīman Mahāprabhu that was being organised by Prabhupād Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur. Then he went to Māyāpur and was initiated by Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākur. He said many times that he got inspiration and full support from Lord Śiva in Jamalpur. He told it many times.

Jay Oṁ Viṣṇupād Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj