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EUROPE August 19, 1999 VNN4543 Comment on this story Our Family The Gaudiya Math BY VRINDA (VIENNA)  VIENNA, AUSTRIA, Aug 19 (VNN) — All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga. Dear Devotees, please accept our most humble dandavat pranams at your feet.Our Family the Gaudiya Math is a book for all aspiring Vaisnavas. Unity in diversity and other topics of the worldwide growing Vaisnava community are reflected here in the light of past experiences. Reconciling all secondary differences, this book pleads to increase appreciation and cooperation amongst different Vaisnavas and their Missions. It also presents historical facts of the original Gaudiya Math and all their later branches. Praying for the mercy of all the Vaisnavas The Publishers Introduction by Swami B.A. Paramadvaiti I wrote this book in an attempt to please my spiritual master, Param Pujyapad Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, affectionately known to his disciples as Srila Prabhupad. My spiritual master stated that after the disappearance of a great acharya, great disturbances and confusion manifests. 1996 was his centennial appearance year, and his followers and admirers are somewhat divided and spread out all over the world. Might this be Krishna's plan to make his devotees surrender more? We have heard and witnessed that after the disappearance of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupad, there was much confusion among his disciples. Similar confusion arose after the departure of Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev Maharaj and many other leading acharyas. Even after Lord Chaitanya's disappearance, His sampradaya went through difficult times. Following this pattern, after the height of the construction of the great temples of Vrindavan, came the period of Muslim attacks when great monuments of the Vaisnava faith were severely damaged, and deities had to go into hiding. Vrindavan, along with the hope of the Vaisnavas, was later restored, however, by Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakur and Srila Baladev Vidyabhusan. Then, when the legitimacy of the Gaudiya Sampradaya was questioned, Srila Baladev Vidyabhusan wrote the famed Govinda Bhasya as the commentary of the Gaudiya Sampradaya on the Vedanta Sutra. Years later, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's prediction that Vaisnavism would eventually influence the entire world and that in every town and village the Holy Names of the Lord would be sung, began to manifest through the activities of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur's studies had first drawn him towards Western philosophical teachings. Only after coming across the original Vaisnava writings, did he discover the greatest treasure of the world lying within; hidden by unfortunate historical developments of his time. During his early life, Vaisnavism in Bengal was suffering severely under British oppression which had replaced the Muslim tyranny of India. Many pseudo Vaisnava groups, due to their degraded sensual abuses in the name of Vaisnavism, had given a bad name to the sampradaya and to Vedic culture at large. Thus, he began his own mission with the purpose of defeating all these abuses and misinterpretations, and vigorously preached pure Vaisnavism. He also established the process of Nama Hatta for the distributing the Holy Name to the entire world without discrimination. In this way, all traditional obstacles, such as caste consciousness, misrepresentations of the teachings, or attempts to claim proprietorship over Lord Chaitanya's teachings, were soundly defeated by the Thakur. Two generations later, my spiritual master, Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj, fulfilled the prediction of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as well as the wishes of all acharyas, by taking the teachings of India to the rest of the world; thus bringing new aspirants from all classes and countries to the feet of the Vaisnavas. Today, five years after the re-establishment of the Visva Vaisnava Raj Sabha under the guidance of the senior most living disciple of Srila Prabhupad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaj, it has become obvious that the disciples of all the different branches of the Gaudiya Math are longing for a combined effort to serve our sampradaya. We see that vigorous efforts of individual Vaisnavas are becoming successful. As the teachings of Lord Chaitanya start embracing the world with so many different arms, it reminds us of the all-pervading universal form of the Lord. I have collected here, as much as I could, information on the history of our family, the Gaudiya Math, to serve my friends and senior Vaisnavas. Sometimes we disrespect that which we don't know and are quick to cast judgments on others due to our own immature weaknesses. Some devotees do not even realize that, as one of the branches, they are members of the Gaudiya Math family. It certainly does not look good for a person to ignore the other branches of the same tree which has given him the life of loving devotional service. We see that the different generations and missions are merging into a combined effort in the true spirit of Unity in Diversity. This cooperation is wanted. This is truly sankirtan, the congregational chanting of the Holy Names; with no attempt to control each other, but rather to love and serve each other. Of course, we still have a long way to go in order to convince all Vaisnavas to give their heart's support to this plan of Srila Rupa Goswami Prabhupad and Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhupad. This will bring about an unprecedented power for the Vaisnavas in this world. It is also true that a branch of the Chaitanya Tree may dry up and separate from the tree. We are neither happy or proud of it, yet this can happen, for example, when Vaisnava aparadha becomes rampant, or the teachings are severally distorted by some ill motivated persons. We will have to dwell on this subject in some of the chapters of this book in order to advise ourselves and hopefully learn from the mistakes of others. We should always follow the track which will certainly lead us into the service camp of Srimati Radharani and Her empowered agents. I pray to all our readers to bless this fallen soul who has dared to approach such an elevated subject, despite his low birth and hopeless condition. I have done so in order to glorify my spiritual master and all of your spiritual masters beyond all limits. Please forgive me if I have omitted any important information or if I have made any mistakes. May Srila Gurudev guide us to write these words solely in his service. May Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu, the embodiment of the divine couple of Brajendra Nandana Krishna, the svayam rupa of the Lord and His beloved Srimati Radhika the svarupa shakti, bless us to never loose the association of his confidential servants. May Lord Sri Vishnu, Sri Narasingha Bhagavan, the protector of all the Vaisnavas, protect us from any mistakes in this presentation. May you, beloved Vaisnava Thakur, pray for my soul to loose all attraction to this mundane existence and to receive the shelter at Sri Nityananda's lotus feet. This is my audacious request. Swami B. A. Paramadvaiti, If you wish to obtain a copy, please send an email to vrinda.wien@aon.at Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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