Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana

Article: Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana
January 4, 1997

hana-i bālāi torā dui bhāi patita janarā bandhu
adhama patita āmi he durgama hao more kṛpā-sindhu

O Kṛṣṇa, O Balarāma, you two brothers are the friends of the most fallen. I am most lowly and fallen. I am in the most miserable situation, so please be an ocean of mercy towards me.

I fall prostrated in most sincere obeisances to all the devotees and residents of Vṛndāvana. I do this mentally because I can no longer fall prostrated physically before them. Please forgive me, I did not come here to give a speech. I have simply come here to ask you for your mercy. I am now in the very last part of my life. I only wish that I can spend the last few days of my life at the Queen of Vṛndāvana Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s lotus feet.

Without the blessings of the devotees, it is impossible to receive Rādhārāṇī’s blessings, for it is said, “all perfections come through the mercy of the Vaiṣṇavas” – vaiṣṇavera kṛpā yāhe sarva-siddhi. And furthermore, without Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s blessings, I will not receive the mercy of Vrajendranandana. I will not receive the mercy of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma.

Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sang:

habe śrī-caitanya more karibena dayā
habe āmi pāiba vaiṣṇavera pāda-chāyā
galā-vastra kṛtāñjali vaiṣṇava-nikaṭe
dante tṛṇa dhari’ dāuḍiba niḥsṛte
hāṅdiyā hāṅdiyā janāiba duḥkha-grāma
saṁsāra-anal ha’te māgiba viśrāma
śuniyā āmāra kathā vaiṣṇava ṭhākura
āmā lāgi’ kṛṣṇe karibena prācura
vaiṣṇavera avedane kṛṣṇa dayāmaya
amara praty upakāra karibena niścaya
vinodera nivedana vaiṣṇava caraṇe
kṛpā kari’ kara more śrī-hari-saṅgati

When will Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu be merciful to me? When will I find shelter in the shade of a Vaiṣṇava’s lotus feet?

I will approach the saint with a cloth around my neck in humility, my hands folded and with straw between my teeth. In this way I will stand before him and bare my soul to him.

Crying, I will tell him of my suffering and beg him to release me from the fire of materialistic life.
When he hears my story, the most merciful Vaiṣṇava will intercede on my behalf to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa.

When Kṛṣṇa hears the Vaiṣṇava’s prayers on my behalf, He will be compassionate towards me, even though I am most unworthy and insignificant.
Bhaktivinoda humbly submits to the Vaiṣṇavas’ lotus feet: please be merciful and take this pitiful soul with you. (Kalyāṇa-kalpataru)

This song shows that without the mercy of the Vaiṣṇavas, nothing is possible. Therefore, it is important to ask for their blessings before doing anything else.

There is a saying:

āpane icchāya jīva ho’ye vāñchā kare
kṛṣṇa icchā haya yadi tabe phala dhare

An ordinary person may have millions of desires, but only if Kṛṣṇa wishes do they bear fruit.

And Kṛṣṇa’s wishes follow behind those of His devotees. The Lord considers Himself subordinate to His devotees.

sādhavo hṛdayaṁ mahyaṁ sādhūnāṁ hṛdayaṁ tv aham
mad-anyat te na jānanti nāhaṁ tebhyo manāg api

He said to Durvāsā, “All the saintly persons are My heart and I am also the heart of the saintly devotees. They know nothing other than Me and I consider no one but them to be My own.” (SB 9.4.68)

Therefore I tell you that I am begging for the mercy of all the Vaiṣṇavas. I am not a great lecturer. In my day-to-day life I may have committed so many offenses and I ask the Vaiṣṇavas to kindly forgive me for these so that I may spend my last days here in Vṛndāvana, and that I may obtain the blessings of Rādhā and Govinda, the blessings of Govinda, Gopīnātha and Madanamohana. I pray to you all that you bestow this kindness on me.

jaya rādhē jaya kṛṣṇa jaya vṛndāvana
śrī-govinda gopīnātha madana-mohana
keli-kuñja vaṁśī-vaṭa dvādaśa-kānana
yāhā saba līlā ha-ila śrī-nanda-nandana
śrī-nanda-yaśodā jaya jaya gopa-gaṇa
śrīdāmādi jaya jaya dhenu-vatsa-gaṇa
jaya vṛṣabhānu jaya kīrtidā-sundarī
jaya paurṇamāsī jaya ābhīra-nāgarī
jaya jaya gopīśvara-vṛndāvana-mājha
jaya jaya kṛṣṇa-sakhā baṭu dvija-rāja
jaya rāma-ghāṭa jaya rohiṇī-nandana
jaya jaya vṛndāvana-vāsī jata-jana

May you all be ever victorious. All of you please give me your blessings that I may stay here in the Dhāma and pass my last days in sincerely chanting the Holy Names.

As Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī said,

jāgāi mādhāi haite muñi se pāpiṣṭha
purīṣera kīṭa haite muñi se laghiṣṭha

I am more sinful than Jagāi and Mādhāi. I am lower than a worm in stool. (CC Ādi 5.205)
I may make statements of humility in following the Mahājanas, the great authorities, but if I don’t experience genuine humility in my heart, it is simply an exercise in deception. Here at the end of my life, I have no desire to make any pretense of humility. I am no longer capable of giving a lecture, but Rām Bābā has spent a great amount of money to bring me here and has made opulent arrangements for me here. I pray for his well-being. And I pray that by accepting all this not the least bit of egoism will affect me.

āmi to vaiṣṇava ei buddhi haile
āmānī na haba āmi
pratiṣṭhāśā āsī hṛdaya duṣibe
haiba niraya-gāmī

“If I think that I have become a Vaiṣṇava, then I will never be prideless. The desire for prestige will descend on my heart and contaminate it and I will go to hell.” (Kalyāṇa-kalpataru)

O dear Vaiṣṇavas, please protect me. I am sitting here above all of you. Please don’t take offense at this. I have not taken this seat and made you sit below me because I desire to lord it over you.

From the words of the Mahājanas, we have heard,

śrī-gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi yeba jāne cintāmaṇi
tāra haya vraja-bhūme vāsa

Anyone who knows the land of Gauḍa to be made of the divine touchstone truly resides in the land of Vraja. (Narottama dāsa)

We cannot take up residence in Vraja by abandoning Gauḍa-maṇḍala. So it is not enough to come here to Vṛndāvana and simply spend one’s time in eating the local milk sweets or ice cream. It is not the purpose of life in Vṛndāvana to try to enjoy sense objects or anything other than Kṛṣṇa. Residence in Vṛndāvana means to take the dust of the Vaiṣṇavas’ feet, to follow in the footsteps of the great Vaiṣṇavas and to chant the Holy Names.

guru-vaiṣṇava-bhagavān – tine-rā smaraṇa
tine-rā smaraṇe haya vighna-vināśana
ānāyāse haya nija vāñchita-pūraṇa

I meditate on the guru, the Vaiṣṇavas, and the Lord. By remembering them, all obstacles are destroyed and one quickly attains the fulfillment of all desires. (CC Ādi 1.20–21)

If one can always keep the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, the guru and the Vaiṣṇavas firmly placed on his head, then all obstacles will be removed. The path of worshiping the Supreme Lord is filled with millions of obstacles. There is no way to overcome these obstacles other than through the mercy of the guru and the Vaiṣṇavas.

Mahāprabhu came to teach the chanting of the Holy Names. We have no way of achieving perfection other than through the Holy Names. So let us not become inattentive in our nāma-bhajana. I make this humble request to all of you. At the same time I ask you to bless me that I may also be able to chant the Holy Name. That I may take my last breath chanting the names of the Lord free from all offense.

In His mercy, our divine spiritual master revealed his identity as the servant of the beloved of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Śrī Varṣabhānavī-dayita dāsa. Śrīla Prabhupāda is Rādhārāṇī’s personal associate for all eternity. Without his mercy and the mercy of those Vaiṣṇavas who are the members of his spiritual family, we cannot make our residence in Vṛndāvana meaningful. We should all pray constantly that we may be able to follow in their footsteps always and that we never forget their lotus feet.

vidhi-mārge vraja-bhāva pāite nāhi śakti
We cannot achieve the mood of Vṛndāvana simply through following the rules and regulations of the vidhi-mārga. (CC Ādi 3.15)
This is why we absolutely must take up the rāgānugā path. Rūpa Gosvāmī has said the following about taking up the rāga path:

iṣṭe svarasikī rāgaḥ paramāviṣṭatā bhavet
tan-mayī yā bhaved bhaktiḥ sātra rāgātmikoditā

The intense and spontaneous absorption in the object of one’s adoration (iṣṭa) is called rāga.
Devotion which is characterized by such rāga is called rāgātmikā-bhakti. (BRS 1.2.272)

The love and affection that the residents of Vraja feel for Kṛṣṇa is natural and spontaneous. The love that Kṛṣṇa feels for them is similarly natural and spontaneous. We take up the chanting of the Holy Names in the hope that we may develop the transcendental greed that allows us to purchase a consciousness imbued with the divine taste of devotion to Kṛṣṇa – kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-bhāvitā matiḥ. We wish to develop this divine greed.

We chant the Holy Names under the direction of the Vaiṣṇavas. If we do so, then we can win the mercy of the Holy Name and make our stay in Vṛndāvana a success. The kind of devotion which follows the example of the Vraja-vāsīs’ rāgātmikā-bhakti is called rāgānugā-bhakti. We should all strive for this kind of devotion.

I have completely lost all physical strength. All I desire now is that you should bestow your causeless mercy upon me so that I can chant the Holy Name free from all offenses.