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EDITORIAL April 10, 1999 VNN3564 See Related VNN Stories Relationship Of Our Beloved Srila Prabhupad And Srila Narayan Maharaj BY UJJWALA SAKHA DAS EDITORIAL, Apr 10 (VNN) — All glories to Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga! I would like to offer my innumerable dandavat pranams unto the lotus feet of my beloved Harinam, and diksa guru, Om Visnupad Paramahamsa Parivrajakacarya Astottara Sata Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayan Goswami Maharaj. As a recipient of the mercy of Srila Gurudev I shall disclose in brief some monumental history, of the relationship of our beloved Srila Prabhupad, and Srila Narayan Maharaj. As well as some siddhanta on guru-tattva. Srila Narayan Maharaj first met Srila Prabhupad in Calcutta 1946, while serving his Guru Maharaj Srila Kesava Goswami. The Sannyas Guru of Srila Prabhupad. Upon meeting Srila Prabhupad asked Him some Questions and became very pleased with His replies. As the years went by They would always associate upon meeting. In 1955 Srila Prabhupad lived in Mathura in Srila Kesava Goswami's math, for more than 5 month. He would recite Srimad Bhagavatam daily. At the time Srila Narayan Maharaj was very famous for kirtan, and dancing, so Srila Prabhupad would always ask him to do kirtan. Srila Narayan Maharaj was with Srila Prabhupad for so many years in Mathura, and Vrindavan. He would cook for Srila Prabhupad and help Him in so many other ways. In 1959 when Srila Prabhupad took sannyasa in Mathura in Kesavaji Goudiya Math, He arranged for His danda, dor kaupina, organized the yajna, and performed the fire sacrifice. Srila Prabhupad in 1965 requested for Him to come to New York, and help with the preaching. Srila Narayan Maharaj replied: "My Guru Maharaj is here and I'm serving Him. When You return to Bengal I will come." Srila Prabhupad replied "very good, but when you have the chance you should come and join me." After that Srila Narayan Maharaj sent all His books, some are still in the Los Angeles temple, He sent Him mrdangas, kartals, Sri Radha Krishna vigrahas, and 10 kilos of sweet pera every month. In 1967 when Srila Prabhupad returned to Delhi with Kirtanananda for the first time, He was received by Srila Narayan Maharaj alone. A few weeks later another disciple went to India Acutyananda. They stayed in the Radha Damodar temple. Srila Narayan Maharaj would visit regularly, and honor Mahaprasad with them. He recalls that all caste Goswami's and most of Srila Prabhupada's god brothers wouldn't even accept water from Kirtanananda and Acutyananda because they were previously omnivorous. Years went by and there were over 300 letters written by Srila Prabhupad to Him. On the night before Srila Prabhupad entered nitya lila he called in several of His disciples and said: "Narayan has come. I'm so glad. Now everything will be done." Then He said: "Narayan Maharaj you please put Me in My samadhi with your own hands and try to help My disciples, they don't know much You are the most qualified. He replied: "I shall follow your orders to my best ability." Srila Narayan Maharaj has said my mission in the West is of three reasons: "First I want to take the dust of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj Lotus Feet, by going to the places He preached. Second I have come here to give His message to the entire world. He has the seeds and they have somewhat grown, but they are lacking water which is Hari Katha, and I'm carrying this water everywhere according to my ability. I am so happy to carry out his instructions, and take his foot dust from places he has sanctified. The third purpose of my traveling is to help the sincere devotees who are unhappy due to their long term lack of good association. I have come to tell them that 'You should see that Swamiji is still here, among you. You must now again become powerful and energetic, just as you were at the time of His manifested appearance. Think neither that He is dead, nor that He«s not Here.' I did not know any of you before but Swamiji has done such a marvelous thing, wherever I go, many devotees are coming to see me. I'm so grateful to Swamiji, and I offer lotus flowers of devotion to His lotus feet. I will speak some Hari katha from Caitanya Caritamrita and Srimad Bhagavatam, and I will try to quench your thirst so that the bona fide appreciation you have for your Prabhupad will increase. He will bless us all and He will be so happy you have come. I want to notify all that Srila Narayan Maharaj is not preaching to create any knew divisions or prevaricate from the teachings of Srila Prabhupad, and our previous acaryas. He's simply coming on the order of Srila Prabhupad, and the request of many sincere vaisnavs in our line. We must ruminate that our subsidy from the absolute is Sri Guru. Srila Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur has elaborately explained that Krishna Is of two aspects the master and servant. Master being Sri Krishna, and servant being Sri Guru. This confirmed In (Cc Adi 1.47) guru krishna rupa hana sastrera pramane guru rupe krishna krpa karena bhakta gane According to the sastras the guru is non different from Krishna because It is through Him that Krishna bestows mercy on His devotees. He further explained that in guru's relationship with man He's master: The guru is the divine giver of efficient as well as material relationship between the master and his relative subservants. In his aspect of absolute servant guru is the source of all relative subservient entities. He is the cause of man and all spiritual entities by whose help the soul of man is enabled to serve God in and through the guru. In His aspect in aspect of master the guru allows or disallows man the service of god. But the guru is never disallowed the service of god. So our approbation to assert our propensity in the eternal service of the infinite resides in the lotus hands of Sri Guru. Another prospect we endear to appreciate Sri Gur is that bonafide acarya is one. Srila Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur has written: The person to whom the acarya is pleased to transmit his power is alone in a position to convey the Divine Message. This constitutes the underlying principle of the line of succession of the spiritual teachers. The acarya thus authorized has no other duty but that of delivering intact the message received from all His predecessors. There is no difference between the pronouncements. All of them are perfect mediums for the appearance of Divinity in the form of the transcendental Name Who is identical with His Form, Quality, Activity and Paraphernalia. Srila Sridhar Maharaj said: "It is acaryam mam vijanam. The spiritual master is not to be differentiated. One thing is coming down from the supreme lord, so the oneness of continuity is not to be ignored. Guru can be here; guru can be in another body also. The same teacher may come in a different form to aspire us; He may come give us a new hope higher education. The substance should always be given a higher value than the form. The followers of form are only imitationists; they want to exploit Mahaprabhu and not serve Him. They are our worst enemies. They are traitors." The ramification of repudiating sadhu sanga leaves us deficient for the service to the infinite. vina na gaura priya pada sevam vedadidushprapya padam vidanti If one is not serving at the lotus feet of Gauranga's devotees, then even following Varnashram rules, worshipping the deity of Visnu, traveling to the holy place, and becoming expert in discussing Vedic truths won't help him a bit in achieving Vrindaban and other abodes of Sri Govinda inaccessible even to the Vedas. (Srila Santa Goswami) Hearing Hari katha is the antidote. Srila Narayan Maharaj's evening class Dec 8th in Malaysia. "Hearing the name and lilas of Krishna is not material. There is a very great difference between the mortal and immortal world. Even if one has just a little sraddha, honor for these transcendental sounds, Krsna's name and lilas, then these words, which are Krsna Himself will come in the heart, clean it and make it pure, even though there may be so many anarthas and ignorance there. Gradually one's sraddha will become thick, all bad habits and anarthas will disappear, and one will quickly develop his Krsna consciousness, from nistha, ruci, bhava, asakti up to prema. If saints have come from far away, and those who could come to hear from them don't , then they're killers of their own souls. nivrtta-tarsair upagiyamanad bhavausadhac chotra-mano-bhiramat ka uttamasloka-gunanuvadat puman virajyeta vina pasughnat Glorification of the Supreme Person of Godhead is performed in the parampara system; that is, it is conveyed from spiritual master to disciple. Such glorification is relished by those no longer interested in false, temporary glorification of this cosmic manifestation. Descriptions of the Lord are the right medicine for the conditioned soul undergoing repeated birth and death. Therefore, who will cease hearing such glorification of the lord except a butcher or one who is killing his own self? (SB 10.1.4) To kill an animal or even to kill one's self is really killing, but those who wont't hear hari katha are losing their lives for lakhs and lakhs of births. Quickly, this hearing will make you pure, so don«t neglect. Start bhajana from today, this evening you don't know when you are going to die. Try to give up bad habits. There may be a rasagula, a very good Indian sweet, but if it is poisoned then mother will say: 'Dont take it!' So we are like this, you can have faith in me, we are like a mother and a doctor, you can have faith in sadhus." See Related VNN Stories | Comment on this Story | Contact VNN regarding this Story
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