About Saraswati Thakur

I remember… maybe the first time for me, celebrating the appearance day of Srila Saraswati Thakur, with Srila Guru Maharaj and Srila Gurudev at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, in Nabadwip Dham, and …how things would be approached, because we'd done this before, but how they would observe there… and when it was time for prasadam, they were serving one mango preparation and saying, "This was Prabhupada's favourite,” so, we were a little shocked, taken aback we are thinking…, we'd always heard this famous story that when he was a child he once ate the mango bhog of the deity, means the unoffered mango, and he was apparently 4 or 5 years old, and Bhaktivinod Thakur told the young Bimala Prasad that this should be offered to the deity and explained the situation, and he felt some great remorse in his heart. This intense devotional heart, even at the age of 4 or 5 years old, so serious. So, he vowed never to eat mango, and maintained this vow his whole life.

Bimala Prasad we're told… because… Bhaktivinod Thakur …stationed in Puri at that time and praying for a divine child, who could inherit the real wealth of Bhaktivinod Thakur…prayed… there is a deity, there's many deities, there's Jaganath Subhadra Balabhadra, but there's some peripheral deities, of which Bimala Devi is one; so, some prayer (was offered), and he became known as Bimala Prasad. Anyway, that vow he made, so we were shocked to hear, "Why are they saying, that they are giving this mango preparation, and saying that Prabhupad liked this very much?" It was explained, yes, he maintained this vow and it would break the hearts of his devotees, that every year mango season would come. We know in India that's like a joyous celebratory occasion, all these different mangos come, and …Gurudev used to name them all, and one's in vogue for a week, and then it's replaced by another one. Is Gopal here? No? OK! …He's in mango land. So, Langra, Chosa, Madrasi mangoes, Himsagar… Chosa, Gurudev said was Guru Maharaj's favorite, and he took a seed from the mango, which Srila Guru Maharaj had taken, and he planted that tree and that's at the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math to this day.

So, anyway, that time would come and it would pain the heart of his disciples… it goes… “janakādhika-vatsala-snigdha-padaṁ…” (Prabhupāda-padma Stavakaḥ: 8). We're told by Srila Guru Maharaj that Saraswati Thakur had the sweetness of Vrindavan within, and it could only be detected within. Outwardly, he was in the pose of a devastator, as a “nikhila-bhuvana-māyā-chinna-vichinna-kartrī…” dropping atom bombs on the mayavadi, and another atom bomb on the karmis, jnanis, sahajiya imatationists, but he had the sweetness of Vrindavana within, and those who had the Divine Eyes could see that. Srila Guru Maharaj possesses such Divine Eyes and vision, and it's been expressed in his different poetry and writings, like this Praṇamāmi sadā Prabhupāda-padam, where it says, “janakādhika-vatsala-snigdha-padaṁ” …more affectionate than a father.

So, you can imagine the disciples, they're all reciprocating that affection and it gives them great pain that he can't …he's maintaing that vow, he won't take the mango. So, we're told, “aher iva gatiḥ premṇaḥ, svabhāva-kuṭilā bhavet…,” (Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: Śṛṅgāra-bheda-kathana, 102) Rupa Goswami says Divine Love moves in a zigzag way… not in a straight way. So, devotees, they found a loop hole you could say, or a way around this, by unripe mangoes… green mangoes, they could take, and then by special process, and Gopal and I, we had a discussion about this yesterday, he's familiar with the process; you can take this green mango and then by soaking and by certain process, and adding sweetness, and it turns into some extraordinary preparation. I remember tasting this and thinking, "This is beyond heavenly,” it was some, just… really extraordinary taste, unexperienced by us previously… and I could understand also, by (…Jaya Srila Bhakti Bimal Avadhut Maharaj, ki… Jaya…)

I could understand also, that …a new view of Srila Saraswati Thakur was coming to us, that's what I want to say. Not, that what we …had been exposed to previously, was not correct, but a new view, a new way of seeing him, new depth, the spectrum of viewing him to the Divine Eyes of Srila Guru Maharaj, was revealing something yet again, anew, and without taking the conceit too far, like Vrindavana Das Thakur, he's presenting Mahapranbhu in a particular way, and everyone is relishing that, we're told that when Haridas, the head sevak of the Madhana Gopal, Madhana Mohan temple, when he would speak Chaitanya-Bhagavat; it's said all the maha-bhagavata, all the great Vaisnavas would assemble and he appeared to be the moon in an assembly of stars, with the streams of Hari-katha, Gaura-katha coming from him, like streams of nectar… streaming out of the moon, in the assembly of all these star-like maha-bhagavata personalities.

Still Kaviraja Goswami says, “There are things were not there, whatever he's given is perfect, and there's no need to repeat that, even to repeat would be bordering on aparadha, so I will not do that. But some other things, Mahaprabhu's devotees, they're begging me to reveal those things, and with their grace, under their auspices and sanctions, I’m presenting these Pastimes of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in Sri Chaitanya-charitamrtam.

So, let's put it in that, let's frame it in that way. Just as Guru Maharaj liked to quote the Baladeva Vidyabhushan sloka, praising Govinda by saying that Rupa, Sanatana…, “govindābhidha mandirāśrīta, padaṁ hastastha ratnadivat…” Like a jewel in their palm, and they are, when they turn this jewel and show it one way… cascading, flashing, brilliants light coming from one from Sanatan, Rupa showing in one way, Sanatan in another way, that kind of thing. That infinite variation. So, Srila Guru Maharaj, in his poetry and in his songs, is revealing the personality, the qualities, the characteristics of Srila Saraswati Thakur, and everyone in Gaudiya Math is embracing that and… chanting those songs and singing them…recently I think, Santa Maharaj, one of his last disciples, most prominent disciples disappeared, and we're told that he would..on every ekadasi, sing Pranamami Sada Prabhupada-Padam, and take one sloka, and that would be the subject for that evening… to explain that.

“Kṛpayā hari-kīrttana mūṛtti-dharaṁ…,” how beautiful… “kṛpayā hari-kīrttana mūṛtti…”  he's the hari-kīrttana mūṛtti, and that's how he's distributing divine mercy in this world. I once asked Guru Maharaj, sort of naively and innocently, "Did Saraswati Thakur sing and dance in the kirttan?." Guru Maharaj said, "Prabhupada… Inconceievable!!!”…So, who’s the hari-kīrttana mūṛtti, and he's not singing, he's not dancing, if you see some picture he said, all the kirttanias, everyone is there,  but he's infusing that kirttan, it's all the outcome of… ”vilasatu hṛdi nityaṁ bhaktisiddhānta-vāṇī,” his kirttan playing in the hearts of his followers, they're expressing that outwardly… And, what he said, “But!," he said "that said; every word that came out of his mouth was kirttan, and every gesture and movement was dance, was very beautiful"

Guru Maharaj observing his divine form... atikomala-kāñchana-dīrgha-tanuṁ
tanu-nindita-hema-mṛṇāla-madam
madanārvvuda-vandita-chandra-padaṁ
praṇamāmi sadā...
(Prabhupāda-padma Stavakaḥ 3)

He's saying, like the … what do they call them? Nyagra… nyagrodha-parimaṇḍala extraordinary personalities mentioned at the beginning of the Chaitanya-charitamritam with reference to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, that his arms… “ājaānu-lambita-bhujau kanakāvadātau…” (Chaitanya-bhāgavata: Madhya, 1.1)  that his arms go to his knees, and you see pictures  of Sarawati Thakur, and there's this one picture we published once, you see how long his arms are and they go down to his knees, and actually in a high res image of his hand, if you look at his palm, the beauty of his lotus palm, and the spiritual complexity of what's represented there is astonishing. We've looked at it under high powered loops…

So, and he said… his “kamala-kāñchana-dīrgha-tanuṁ…” his neck, his face, very beautiful like a golden lotus stalk. Guru Maharaj had the privilege also of interacting with his original followers, that's how we know that…, like today Gopal made the luchi, and those little potato sticks, which were a favourite of him, and Gurudev told  that Srila Kesava Maharaj's sister she used to make luchi and other things for Saraswati Thakur, before the heyday of Gaudiya Math.

So, one such person, who was privileged to be there was Sakhi Charan Babu, who donated the land for Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math in Nabadwip… the original land, where the Math is to this day, and he also donated land in Mayapur, and he recalls in those early meetings with Saraswati Thakur, this magnitude of intensity. He would be preaching to them, this kṛpayā hari-kīrttana mūṛtti, this insatiable… desire to convey Krishna conception to others, so intense that he said, sometimes, he would be pounding on the table and his face would flush, the blood would rush to his face in excitement, and Guru Maharaj witnessed this later, and he said "Then we understood what is lotus face.” There's blue lotus flowers, there's also pink lotus flowers, and he said, “When his face would flush from this intensity, he would look like a lotus flower in full bloom, in full blush,” and Sakhi Charan told Guru Maharaj that, "And we could not understand everything that he was saying, but what we could understand was that he was forcibly trying to make us drink some nectarine substance, that we could understand.”

But, what was the nature of all of that? That we could not.” Srila Guru Maharaj pointed out that sometimes, because he's describing the highest thing, which includes the Divine Pastimes of Krishna, Radharani and the Braja-gopis, purposefully, he couched this in language that requires intense concentration, to catch the nature of what is being said, because so carefully he's protecting that. Guru Maharaj said when he would speak about these things, because inevitably his talks turned toward Radha-dasyam and higher subject matters, “As if speaking to a group of those who are undeserving,” and Guru Maharaj was not saying that in a …dismissive way, but just as a statement of fact. So, he said, "When he was talking about Srimati Radharani," and this was Guru Maharaj's example, "he was like a football fully pumped.” He used that expression, he used that as an example… Fully Pumped… it means almost bursting, it's so full, and he said, "then he would be quiet at home, that's when he felt most at home,” but always guarding that carefully, like śrī-jīvate-jastatiḥ ...with the same tej - strength, intensity and care of Srila Jiva Goswami.

Jiva Goswami's job is Raksak, like Guru Maharaj's is Bhakti Raksak, the guardian, protector. Saraswati Thakur, like Jiva Goswami, is protecting what Rupa Goswami, and Sanatana Goswami have given, from adulteration, modification and those who would challenge it's authenticity …So, he's been compared by Guru Maharaj in different slokas to Srila Jiva Goswami …and, he said, “He spilled 100 gallons of blood, litters if you will… to show what madhura-rasa is not,” and we think "why?." Prākṛta-rasa Śata-dūṣiṇī…100 faults of Prākṛta-sahajiyism, and as Guru Maharaj pointed out, it's not that there's 100 faults, there's thousands of faults, he pointed out a hundred prominent ones. As, Madhvacharya gave the Māyāvāda Śata-dūṣiṇī, Śata-dūṣiṇī… means a hundred faults. Prākṛta-rasa Śata-dūṣiṇī, he's saying, “It's not this, it will never be that, a rasik-guru will never do this, one will never give rasa-siksa to an unqualified person, who doesn't have the adhikara, a hundred no's, nevers, nots, to make it clear, what it is. That’s why. It won’t be this/that through eliminating all of these misrepresentations, then he will draw attention to what it actually is.

Just his, …behaviour, even when he was young, Guru Maharaj told how one big sahajiya-guru came to visit Bhaktivinod Thakur, and so two chairs were drawn, and that man, he wanted to enquire something from Bhaktivinod Thakur, and he observed that Saraswati Thakur was giving dandavats to Bhaktivinod Thakur from 100 ft away, so he's saying “Why does the boy do that?, that's peculiar. The custom is to come near and to give dandavats, why from such a great distance?" Guru Maharaj told that Bhaktivinod Thakur said, "Oh, don't mind him, he has a vow that we won't come within a hundred feet of a  sahajiya, and he saw you here, so don't mind it.”

So, what is he showing? It's interesting, Bhaktivinod Thakur is talking to that person, Bhaktivinod Thakur is not going to be polluted by this man, Bhaktivinod Thakur, as Guru Maharaj says, “Considering the magnitude of his gifts, we can understand, he's not a practitioner. He descended from the upper world.” What is the target for everyone else, he's descending from that plane, as is Srila Saraswati Thakur, but he's showing some example, not to mix. The very nature of human interaction will be the cause of one's downfall, so keep far enough that there will not be that sort of thing.…

And, as Srila Guru Maharaj mentioned, his preaching was MOSTLY revolutionary, causing his followers to repeatedly reconceive what is Krishna Consciousness, not to become comfortable or complacent and be thinking, "I know what it is, I’ve been a devotee for X amount of years." What is that? As, Gurudev would say, "1%, 5%  of…, what is this idea?," or the sense of entitlement, "because I've been doing so many practices, for so many years, I’m ready to approach the higher plane." His followers also,… these are not new ...assertions… one man came who knew Sanskrit… and everything to the extreme, he said, "Now we should approach the works of Rupa Goswami like Ujjvala-nilamani etc," which Guru Maharaj said Saraswati Thakura forbade his followers from going into the details of, so when Guru Maharaj was telling us this story he said, "How you will take it, I do not know.”

...but Saraswati Thakur said when they mentioned that man, who had written him a letter saying, "Prabhu, now is the time to engage in this type of bhajan: together you and I will do that," this is the disciple writing to Saraswati Thakur. And Saraswati Thakur told this follower, he said, “Oh, that man, in his real life he's a lady, and due to Krishna's connection he had a child." That's why Guru Maharaj said, "How you will take this, I don't now,” but what he means is, in his real life, that means his so called svarupa, siddha-svarupa, real life means in the spiritual world, he's imagining... Stanislavski method, the acting method, he's imagining he's a particular character, so he said, “In his real life he's a lady," so in that world, because he's carried mundane conception into that plane, he said, “Due to Krishna's connection," the outcome was… "he had a child," which tells us among many things that he also had a sense of humour, but a very unique sense of humour. You had to be very qualified to get it, but Guru Maharaj could get it.

-3Vrindavan, when he went on the Vraja-mandala parikrama with so many followers, we're told that after completing the Vraja-mandala parikrama, which means going to all these different holy places, stopping at all of them, having some Hari-katha, being introduced to the local people, after completing the whole thing, that's when he went "Oh! I'm so unfortunate, I just completed the Vraja-mandala parikrama, and I couldn't find a single Vaisnav." This is what Guru Maharaj means by ‘Mostly revolutionary’, everyone was shocked, this is not an ordinary statement. Everyone is thinking that everyone in Vrindavana is a Vaisnav, minimally, and he's saying, "Oh! Im so unfortunate, I couldn't find a Vaisnava” …In Vrindavana, the so called land of Krishna.

So, in response to the disbelieve of the disciples, they thought, “What about Rama Das Babaji," who was taking 3 lakhs of Krishna Nama everyday, that's around 192 rounds. He was reading the works of the Goswamis, following Vaisnav-sadachara etc, if he hears the name of Krishna his hairs are standing on end, he's foaming at the mouth sometimes, apparently exhibiting different ecstatic symptoms, so they offered him, “What about him?” and Saraswati Thakur replied, "He's a kanistha-adhikari,” infant class Vaisnava, a practitioner.

So, what this points to is …quality… We take it that Saraswati Thakur has descended from the upper world, Goloka Vrndavan. So where he's from, that realm, which is qualified and constituted by degree of dedication; it's the land of dedication, the Spiritual World, (separated into the) lower hemisphere of Vaikuntha, (and) the upper hemisphere of Goloka, (where) the highest aspect of the adhoksaja realm is the aprakrita-lila of Krishna... So, what qualifies those that reside in that realm is degree, the extremes of self giving and dedication, that's how it's structured, so they're not practitioners.

So, again this song “praṇamāmi cha charaṇāntika-parichāraka-sahitam,” which Srila Guru Maharaj wrote for the appearance day of Srila Saraswati Thakur… there's one line,

vrajakānana-bahumānana-kamalapriyanayanam
guṇamañjari-garimā-guṇa-harivāsanavayanam
śubhadodaya-divase vṛṣaravijā-nija-dayitam
praṇamāmi cha charaṇāntika-parichāraka-sahitam
(Śrī Dayita Dās Praṇati Pañchakam: 4)

Where Srila Guru Maharaj, on the basis of authoritative references, is revealing the positions, the internal identity of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, Srila Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj and Srila Saraswati Thakur and as Srila Kesava Maharaj once said of Srila Guru Maharaj, "How perfectly he combines ontology, ontological substance in beautiful poetic style," as Saraswati Thakur himself remarked ‘Happy style’. This part is so happy, the sound of it… “guṇamañjari-garimā-guṇa-harivāsanavayanam…” and here, showing his extraordinary capacity in glorification of Gaura Kishor das Babaji Maharaj, the Gurudev of Srila Saraswati Thakur, he says "In this kunja, in the Spiritual World, the leader there is Kamala Priya," which is the internal identity of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, so "this kunja is presided over by Kamala Priya and Nayana Mani Manjari," who is Srila Saraswati Thakur, and "they like to sing the glories of Guna-manjari," who's Gaura Kishor das Babaji Maharaj, but here Srila Guru Maharaj uses the word guna with triple meaning, three levels of meaning, because Guna means Gaura Kishor das Babaji Maharaj, another meaning of guna is quality, so he's singing the guna's of Guna-manjari and another meaning is thread. So, each guna, quality of Guna-manjari is like a spiritually conscious thread, and by singing so many, a weave is taking place, one quality after another quality, after another quality, after another quality, unlimited, innumerable divine qualities, as Saraswati Thakur concludes Charitamritam with his internal vision of how he views Bhaktivinod Thakur and Gaura Kishor Das Babaji Maharaj, Srimati Radharani and Lalita Sakhi, Gadhadhara Pandit and Swarupa Damodhar.

So, the depth of his vision, of Guru, all the way to the Holy, lotus feet of Srimati Radharani, anyway here, he's singing the glories of Guna-manjari, and it's weaving a tent, a spiritually conscious tent that… harivasana… that Hari, that Krishna likes to reside in… a spiritually conscious tent woven from the qualities of Guna-manjari that Krishna wants to enter, this kind of hint is given in Srila Guru Maharaj's poetry, so that plane, Saraswati Thakur descending from that plane, he can say "Oh, I didn't find a single Vaisnava…” of that quality, of that type.

So, he got a divine inspiration to began the missionary work of Gaudiya Math, by a page of Charitamritam floated to him, about the lupta-tirtha, murti-pratistha, vaisnava sadachara pravartan, bhagavat sastra…, this what Mahaprabhu told Sanatana Goswami, came to him, and he realised this would be the focal point of his mission's activities, he would form an institution, extracting from Bhaktivinod Thakur's teachings, the essential principle, the most essential principle, is association… sādhu-saṅge sato vare…, if people will get association with Vaisnavas, they will get Krishna Consciousness. Not just the method, the process, the formula, they need association. So, then what did he do? One by one, as Sakhi Charan Prabhu telling him, pounding out the drum of his Krishna Conception, one by one he's converting so many followers, and they're giving their association, converting so many more.

And sometimes, because he had no income at this point, Guru Maharaj said when he thought, “Where is this all going to come from?" he said that the Pancha-tattva appeared to him and told him not to worry about resources, that everything would be supplied. Sometimes Guru Maharaj also mentioned, in his divine madness, he wanted to reveal the glories of the Dhama, the beauty of Nabadwip Dhama, especially all the different places, and he'd say “We'll make golden temples with the finest jewels," and would start describing what it was going to look like, and some of the other devotees hearing this, they're in the earthly plane thinking this is going to be quite expensive, saying, "Where are we going to get the funds for this?" Guru Maharaj said he was in like a divine trance, and he said, "I will take a brick from a Vaikuntha temple, and bring it down here and that will more than cover it." “Chintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasu…” (Brahma-saṁhitā 5.29) …that type of spiritual substance.

When we presented Search for Sri Krishna Reality the Beautiful to Srila Guru Maharaj, it was on Gaura Purnima of 1983, and as the moon was rising, this was like a deadline that was met upon moon rise, and with the moon shining on Srila Guru Maharaj, he very happily received that book, and he said with great joy and Srila Gurudev was practically dancing, and Guru Maharaj said, “It was 50 years ago to the day that we presented Sri Krishna Chaitanya to Srila Saraswati Thakur," so the significance of that was not lost upon him, he was sharing that with us, and we're going through the book and explaining everything that's there, every page, every breaker, every picture, everything… and interestingly, sometimes I'm reading from it  and sometimes Guru Maharaj is finishing what is written there. So, it's like he's the book, the book is him, it's going back and forth, i'm reading, and then the book personified is finishing the sentence.

Then came this picture of Srila Saraswati Thakur as we have here (points to picture nearby), where sometimes they said, “It's showing that devotion is higher than jnana, yoga, karma, everything," if you look there, there are little traces. Then in the caption I put something that Srila Guru Maharaj had said encapsulating him saying… “He declared totalitarian war against misconception, including all other religious conceptions," and I thought maybe this was a little too bold.

You know, I was in some particular mood when I put that there, and then I thought maybe it's an overreach, and I was a little anxious about how Srila Guru Maharaj would react to that, so I read it to him… "He declared totalitarian war against all other religious conceptions and maya…” and Guru Maharaj started beaming, he was so happy, and he said, "If you didn't put anything else about my Guru Maharaj, he would be perfectly described there," and of course, the description came from him ...

So, he said, "That gives you some representation of the intensity of Srila Saraswati Thakur and his representation of the line of Rupa and Raghunatha." Many times his talk finished with "Let our aspiration be to become the dust of the holy feet of Sri Rupa and Raghunatha," …and the last line, the

nikhila-bhuvana-māyā-chinna-vichinna-kartrī
vibudha-bahula-mṛgyā-mukti-mohānta-dātrī
śithilita-vidhi-rāgārādhya-rādheśa-dhānī
vilasatu hṛdi nityaṁ bhaktisiddhānta-vāṅī

About slackening the raga-marga, when we were in India just recently, we were talking about Vaikuntha-vritti, you know Guru Maharaj's famous saying when Saraswati Thakur said, "Im prepared for preaching to open a youth hostel in London, and for the non veg people we'll buy in from a nearby restaurant to take care of them," and Guru Maharaj said, in his Brahminic nature, "I think that will introduce contamination into the Math." Guru Maharaj said, the Saraswati Thakur's words were like a thunderbolt to his heart, Saraswati Thakur said, "Oh, you don't know, I decided this ten thousand years ago," that was his take on it, "I made this decision ten thousand years ago, it's not something whimsical.”

And we have to employ Vaikuntha-vritti," Vaikuntha in this sense means no restriction, no limitation, …as Guru Maharaj said, "The goal is the most exclusive, but means is the most inclusive." So, the word slackened is used here with ragha-marga, to give others access. When we were discussing this Sripad Tirtha Maharaj said, "This Vaikuntha-vritti, we're hearing about it for so many years, but I don't completely comprehend, but it's good if we keep on hearing about it," and it occurred to me at a point, and I said, "Yes Maharaj!, because for you, your brahminical background, birth etc, the Vaikuntha-vritti is towards our section, we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that." Who's the… “yati-rāja-gaṇaiḥ parisevya-padaṁ…” (Prabhupāda-padma Stavakaḥ: 10). the yati-rāja, gauḍiya goṣṭhya pate, the king of the Gaudiyas, the ultimate sannyasi, he, for other, slackened… loosened it, to allow them entrance… to allow, particularly those from the west to gain entrance...

Audience: Loosened the viddhi-marga Maharaj?
Goswami Maharaj: Yes!… So, in one of the slokas that Guru Maharaj wrote, he says, “Who are these people? They're people who are lost, in their own... whatever, doing whatever it is they're doing, whatever they like, it's just a whatever, whatever sort of says it all, but for them, he made a boat to take them to the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu. It's like the, “vande mahā-puruṣa te charaṇāravindam,” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: 11.5.33) sloka, ‘bhavābdhi-potaṁ’, potaṁ means boat, so his idea, this is the mercy extension of Srila Saraswati Thakur, ...Oh, and and this is what was I going to say,… so his followers, they may have had a particular nature, that we could say, just for the sake of argument, that would have disallowed our participation..could have, but, “vilasatu hṛdi nityaṁ bhaktisiddhānta-vāṅī” the voice of Saraswati Thakur vibrating in their hearts is why we can be here today, without Saraswati Thakur we don't have access to Bhaktivinod Thakur, without Saraswati Thakur, there's no A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, without Saraswati Thakur, there's no Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami, there's no Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami… without Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur… and numerous other gurus who maybe connected with around the world. Without him, outside of a few in India, no one would have a substantial connection with the Krishna Consciousness movement, and it's the… “vilasatu hṛdi nityaṁ bhakti…” beating in their hearts, Guru Maharaj saying, "My preference was towards nirjan-bhajan," if not for Saraswati Thakur's divine instructions beating in his heart, he would have went into nirjan-bhajan, and we would never have known him.

But, he said, "I knew my Guru Maharaj did not approve." It's beating inside, "You must preach!" so Guru Maharaj said modestly, humbly, after going to Ekcakra, getting Nityananda Prabhu's permission, he goes to to Chaitanya Saraswat Math.. aparādha bhañjanera pāṭ, place for all the offenders to be forgiven for their offences in Nabadwip, and he said modestly, humbly, not aggressively canvassing money, men etc, modestly, humbly he begins the Chaitanya Saraswat Math… “śrīmach-chaitanya-sārasvata-maṭhavara-udgīta-kīrtir jaya-śrīṁ…,” plants that flag on the bamboo pole, announcing “…gaura-gāthā gṛnanti,” the members of this math, their primary activity is talking about Mahaprabhu..making propaganda, extending Mahaprabhu's Krishna Conception to others, and what is that? What is Mahaprabhu?

jadi gaura nā ho’to, tobe ki hoito,
kemone dhoritām de
rādhāra mahimā prema-rasa-sīmā
jagate jānāta ke?

That’s, “udgīta-kīrtir jaya-śrīṁ…” To loudly broadcast the highest thing to understand is that Radharani, she is Krishna Consciousness personified, she is extending Krishna Consciousness to everyone, the goal of Krishna Consciousness, is the service of her holy, lotus feet… to broadcast this loudly, not only in the volume, but also in the profundity. So he knows Saraswati Thakur wants this from him, he said, "All the wealth, the treasure that he deposited in me, now you've come, and it's coming out, being preserved and extended to the next generation." The anthological line of Srila Saraswati Thakur.

So, when he read that Bhaktivinod Viraha Dasakam of Srila Guru Maharaj and concluded that, "Bhaktivinod Thakur has written this through Srila Sridhar Maharaj, he is the Rupanuga-dhara, he's carrying this line, he's carrying that substance, and although I may leave the world, one will remain who can represent me fully." So, our fortune is extreme… by the grace of Srila Saraswati Thakur we come in connection with lotus feet of Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Gurudev and Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, and to say something in his praise, on this day of his appearance.

Srila Gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev Goswami Maharaj, he liked to say, "Bhagavan Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati," because, as he explained, that Srila A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, he's become known as Prabhupad all over the world, although within Gaudiya Math, everyone refers to Saraswati Thakur as Prabhupad, so Gurudev wanted to give him some special recognition, so he started calling him Bhagavan Srila Saraswati Thakur, then some objected, and Gurudev gave many references, you can say Bhagavan Bhadarayani, Bhagavan Bhadarayana, Bhagavan Narada, there's even Bhagavan Drona in Bhagavatam, and he said, "But, still they're wondering, is this some bold, unprecedented move by Srila Govinda Maharaj." So, he took out a book by Srila Guru Maharaj, and showed them in the margin, in Srila Guru Maharaja's own handwriting: ‘Bhagavan Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur’.

Hare Krishna