In Kolkata, after Gaura-pūrṇimā 1996, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja summoned members of the Gauḍīya Vedānta
Samīti for a significant meeting.
When the meetng began, Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, as chairman, made a special request of Śrīla Gurudeva. He said, “You have protected me since the time you gave me the responsibility to continue Guru Mahārāja’s mission. Now please continue to protect me. I cannot carry the responsibility of being guru alone.
You will have to help me with this burden. The time has come. Pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja and I completely support you. You will preach all over the world for many years. We will be with you wherever you go. You will be an unparalleled Ācārya; very few will be able to understand the extent of your glories.
Everywhere you go people will surrender to you. We will defend you against any who are against you. The Guru-varga will shun whoever decries you.”
Śrīla Gurudeva relutantly accepted the proposal. Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja then ordained Śrīla Gurudeva as an Ācārya of the mission, with responsibilities to initiate and preach around the world.
Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja offered Gurudeva ceremonial tilaka, a cādara, and gifts. They then offered praṇāma to each other.
Afterwards, Śrīla Gurudeva said to Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, “By your mercy may I always be able to do guru-sevā; this is my prayer. Even though I don’t desire this position, by your request and the request of Gurudeva, and especially by the strong desire of Guru Mahārāja and Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja, I will preach in the Western countries. I understand that whomever and whatever comes to me is the property of Guru-pādapadma.Whoever comes to me, please accept them and give them shelter, as I have given help and shelter to your disciples.”
From that time on, Śrīla Gurudeva began accepting disciples. Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja instructed the editor of his Gauḍīya Patrikā to publish a report of this meeting where Śrīla Gurudeva was established as Ācārya. Being envious of Śrīla Gurudeva, the editor neglected this order, and thus greatly angered Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja.
From Kolkata, Śrīla Gurudeva returned to Mathurā and prepared for his first Western tour. Tickets were purchased for Holland. In April, Gurudeva invited the paṇḍitas, Vaiṣṇavas, and paṇḍas of the villages of Vraja to Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha and asked them for blessings before he departed to the West.
The paṇḍitas performed Vedic mantras, and with this gave Śrīla Gurudeva abhiṣeka as a blessing for his Western preaching. All the scholars and saints accepted Śrīla Gurudeva as their representative to preach the glories of Vraja in the West.
Śrīla Gurudeva then supplicated the congregation of Mathurāvāsīs, Vaiṣṇavas, paṇḍas, and paṇḍitas, declaring, “I am traveling to the Western countries on the behest of my spiritual masters, to spread our sanātanadharma, which is none other than bhagavad-bhakti. I am not a great scholar and am unqualified for this service.
But keeping the order of Guru and Vaiṣṇavas on my head, and begging for their mercy so I can please them, I will go to the West to spread the glories and message of Vraja. I entreat you all to bless me that I never forget Vraja or lose my connection, and that I will be able to carry out the desire of Śrīman Mahāprabhu and the Guruvarga.
May I not succumb to the bewildering force of māyā. Although all I want is to remain in Vraja, I have been entrusted to help the conditioned souls outside of India. I will attempt to bring back the errant devotees and to guide the misguided populace on the path of sanātana-dharma and to lead them to the realm of Vraja. My only consolation for externally leaving Vraja is that I am going to the holy places in the Western countries.”
“We have never heard of any tīrtha or dhāma in the West,” the paṇḍas said.
“My śikṣā-guru, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja, traveled all over the world,” Gurudeva said. “Wherever he went, in the cities and towns of the world, because he carried the Lord in his heart, those places all became tīrthas. He danced in the streets during Ratha-yātrā, and wherever his footsteps fell became purified. I will go and anoint myself with the dust from those places.”
Śrīla Gurudeva bid farewell to the paṇḍitas. Before seeing them off, he gave them garlands, dakṣiṇā, and cloth. In turn, they garlanded Śrīla Gurudeva and offered their respects and good wishes on his journey.
Thus ends Part One of Volume Three, Śrī Guru Darśana A Bhakta Bandhav Publication