Hari-katha inspired by the Guru-varga
For the purpose of saving the fallen souls and thus bringing happiness to Sri Krsna, Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Thakura descended to this material world, accompanied by his eternal associates who are most perfect for aiding him in this cause.
Just as there are various kinds of paraphernalia needed to perform worship of the Deity; and just as instruments such as the mrdanga, and karatalas are used in the performance of kirtana; in the same way Prabhupada called all these great souls to aid him in his spreading the message of Gauranga Mahaprabhu all over the world.
In the eternal spiritual world the Divine Couple have their ‘reserved force’, their team of expert servants who are ready to follow any order in a second. Sometimes They desire to send one of these groups on a special mission. At this time the commanders will rally their captains and the captains will gather their respective group leaders and in this way many servants will set out, adhering to their positions with one single goal in mind—to please Krsna.
In this world we often find the division between husband and wife; parents and children; brothers and sisters, but, in the Vaisnava society, there is no place for such tension. If these kinds of problems like diversity and anger are seen in any society then that society is not practicing Vaisnavism (not behaving like Vaisnavas.)
Srila Bhaktivedanta Vamana Gosvami Maharaja made a connection with Srila Prabhupada and the whole disciplic succession even before he was born. While he was in the womb, his mother went to Navadvipa-dhama for the pilgrimage and heard hari-katha from the Vaisnavas. It was just like the example of when Prahlada Maharaja was in the womb of his mother, who was fortunate to collect spiritual impressions before being born, and being distracted by so many material objects and relatives.
It is advised in sastra that when a lady is pregnant she should go to the holy places, take maha-prasada, caranamrta, perform kirtana, and follow the limbs of bhakti, and then the soul within her womb will be benefited and purified.
Srila Vamana Gosvami Maharaja’s mother would come to Mayapura to render service to Bhagavan and His devotees. She was so active that her family members were worried.
“You are pregnant,” they warned her, “Your child will be disturbed and may even die.”
She would simply say, "God is our protector."
She continued to come and serve day and night with only one desire in her mind. She had concluded that in this life, she would not be able to do adequate austerity and worship in order to attain perfection. She realized that only the mercy of the Vaisnavas could save her child and herself. She performed her service exactly like the mother of the sage Narada. She would clean the pots that had contained maha-prasadam, collect wood for fire, and clean the place where the Vaisnavas had taken their meal. After this she would collect any small amounts of their remnants of prasada that the Vaisnavas left and honored it herself.
Srila Vamana Gosvami Maharaja was very peaceful from birth. His mother would place him in a basket, or cradle, and leave him there as she cleaned the temple. Seeing that the baby boy was content, and never crying, the Vaisnavas named him Santosa. His mother humbly requested Srila Prabhupada, who she saw as her only authority, to name her child. Srila Prabhupada said, “This boy will never feel distress about anything. He will always be satisfied and content. Therefore, you should name him Santosa.”
Later, Srila Vamana Gosvami Maharaja said, “From the beginning of my life, I took maha-prasada. My body was nourished only with maha-prasada—I took nothing else. I don’t remember from what age this started, but I remember never wanting to go to school, or to play with the other boys. I only longed for the day that I could go to Mayapura where the Vaisnavas were. My mother would bring me there once or twice in a year but she would take me home straight after. At those times I would become very upset and I would start to cry, ‘I want to stay in Mayapura.’ My mother would tell me that I was too young to stay in Mayapura and that it was no place for children but I would insist, ‘No, I will stay in Mayapura and you can also stay with me.’ Women can’t stay in the temple either,’ she would say. ‘Then just leave me there alone!’ But she did not agree.”
As a small boy, whenever Srila Vamana Gosvami Maharaja would see any Vaisnavas he became very happy, and when they left he would become very disturbed. Often they would tell him to go to school and study but he would answer firmly, “No.”
Vaisnavas would come to the area in which he lived regularly and give classes and programs on bhakti and the Supreme Lord. At those times the small boy would become so excited and would serve them enthusiastically. He would bring them water to drink, and offer them mats to sit on and fresh clothes to wear. He was just a baby but he served them very nicely. After these programs his mother would feed him the remnants from the Vaisnavas’ plates and he would honor it properly.
One time, Prabhupada and many sannyasis came to his house. At that time he caught hold of them and said, “My mother does not let me go! Please take me with you.”
They said, “It is good that you want to come with us, but your mother will be disturbed if we take you.”
But Srila Vamana Gosvami’s desire was so strong. One year, he and his mother attended Navadvipa parikrama and when it was at last time to return home after the festival he was nowhere to be found. He hid himself in the cowshed of the temple and his mother could not find him anywhere. There were many announcements about how he had gone missing but in the end his mother had to return being assured by the local people that he would be found and returned to her very soon.
When she returned home, her husband was grief-stricken. “You lost our son?” he cried.
Early the next morning, Narahari Prabhu found Santosa sleeping under a tree without a mat, mosquito net, or cloth to cover himself. His heart melted. “He is still here?” he thought.
He went to Santosa and asked him, “You did not go home with your parents?”
"I am yours,” Santosa answered. “Why would I go anywhere else? I’m not any anyone else’s, only yours.” Then Narahari Prabhu took him on his lap and wept.
"Alright,” he said, “Come with me."
He led him to the storeroom where all the rice, vegetables, leaf-plates and other such items were kept and told him to stay there for some time until he came back and arranged a place for him. Santosa cleaned the storehouse top to bottom and organized the goods into respective sections of the room.
An hour or two later, Narahari Prabhu returned and was delighted to see how nicely Santosa had done the service. “He is very intelligent,” he thought, noticing how all the items were separated and kept so neatly.
“The storeroom accepted me,” said Santosa. “Please make keeping the storeroom neat my responsibility. Let me serve the storeroom of the Vaisnavas.”
His family returned later to search for Santosa in Mayapura, and finding him, tried to convince him to return home.
“I’m not going,” he said.
“Why not?”
Srila Vamana Gosvami Maharaja was only a small boy, but his answer showed his great intelligence. He said, “If I go with you now then your love and affection will steal at least nine or ten more years of my life. Afterward, you will further trap me by any means thinking that I am your property and that I ought to remain with you because you took care of me and raised me in your womb for nine or ten months. You will make me feel indebted to you and then I will never be able to come back to Prabhupada and the service of Bhagavan. This human life is precious. It is so rarely achieved. How can I waste it?”
He never went back to his house. His family begged him repeatedly but he never went back.
He would say to them, “If you like this body you have given me then you can try to take it. But my soul will never leave Sri Guru and the Vaisnavas.”
He was such a small boy but his words were full of so much wisdom. The residents of the temple praised his determination, “This boy is very strong.” They clapped and cheered him.
Bhakti Kushala Nrsimha Maharaja, a prominent disciple of Srila Prabhupada, was Srila Vamana Gosvami’s uncle, and at that time he was still a brahmacari living in the matha. He told Srila Vamana Maharaja’s distressed parents that he would personally take care of his nephew and not to worry for his welfare.
Srila Vamana Gosvami Maharaja said, “I won’t stay with kaka.” (Bengali for uncle.)
At that time there were many young boys under Prabhupada’s shelter, but they were mostly of the ages sixteen to twenty. There were only a few that were younger than this.
Prabhupada instructed Santosa to begin studying at the Bhaktivinoda Institute. Under the instruction of Prabhupada, Santosa was enrolled in the Bhaktivinoda Institute, which was run by the Gaudiya-matha. Bhakti Viveka Bharati Maharaja, Bhakti Pradipa Tirtha Maharaja, Narahari Prabhu, and others were the professors and the teachers under them were also brahmacaris and sannyasis.
Santosa pleased all the teachers and professors from the very first day of school. When he got to his classroom on the first day he saw that the boys did not clean their desks nicely. The area was not kept tidy and clean. Santosa quickly cleaned his table and chair, made his area very tidy and then sat before the professor arrived for the lesson. The next day, he came to the classroom early. The normal starting time was 10:00 a.m. but he came at 9:00 a.m. with a small group of boys who he had collected saying, “Let’s clean the classroom. We will wash everything nicely and line up outside before the teachers come and start work only after they give their permission and we have prayed to our Guru-varga, Sri Krsna, and Mahaprabhu.”
Nobody told him to behave like this. It was his inspiration. That day when Bhakti Pradipa Tirtha Maharaja, Pujyapada Bharati Maharaja, Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja, and the other teachers arrived on the school premises, they were surprised to see all the students standing in lines with their hands folded in prayer to greet them. The boys recited prayers and glorification of the Vaisnavas such as, “Krpa kara Vaisnava Thakura’ and ‘Ohe Vaisnava Thakura dayara sagara.’
Santosa thought to himself, “It would be best if we started our lessons only after doing Guru-vandana, Vaisnava-vandana, and the panca-tattva-mantra.”
The next day Santosa was found standing ahead of everyone at the front gate ready to greet the professors and teachers. He was the youngest boy in the whole school but he led everyone in the recitation of Gurvastakam, Vaisnava vandana, panca-tattva mantra, and the maha-mantra. The professors were very pleased with him.
Soon after, Bhakti Pradipa Tirtha Maharaja made an announcement, “It is my desire that this boy become monitor of the school.” There was unanimous agreement.
Being monitor meant that he would have to arrive at school first and leave last. He would have to check on all classes aside from attending his own class. Then he had to check the common room, do paperwork with the principle, and assign work or chores to certain children. He was given many responsibilities like this. It was the duty of the school monitor to clean and arrange the area for Prabhupada’s picture and perform arati before the commencement of the school day.
One day, the principle said, “Tomorrow another brahmacari will recite Guru-vandana.”
But the next day came and none of the boys had been able to memorize the full song. They were older than Santosa but their memory was not as strong. Santosa began to sing the kirtana in glorification of Sri Guru and all followed his lead.
That day the principle gave a strong order, “From now on a different boy will sing Gurvastakam everyday accompanied by mrdanga and karatala. Furthermore, everyone will come to school wearing tilaka and kanthi-mala.”
Santosa had not received tilaka and kanthi-mala from Prabhupada. He had received a kanthi-mala from his mother a while back. Narahari Prabhu went to Prabhupada personally to request that this be arranged.
Prabhupada agreed and he gave tilaka and neck beads to Santosa. He gave him harinama, and the name Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari.
“You must chant every day,” Prabhupada said. “If you don’t then Krsna will be unhappy with you. Mahaprabhu cannot be pleased with someone unless he chants harinama. Harinama is the way to please Krsna. Mahaprabhu won’t accept any offering from one who does not chant harinama.”
“What is the importance of tilaka?” asked Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari.
Prabhupada said, “With tilaka we mark our body and remind ourselves that it is only a temple for God. By wearing tilaka, we signify that our body is reserved as a temple for God, and is His property. If you offer your body to God then it becomes a holy place and your mantra devata, the personified Deity of your mantras, will always reside there and protect you.”
As the monitor of the school, Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari enforced the rules of wearing tilaka and kanthi-mala. At that time there were even some Muslim boys attending school there. It was a strict rule, however, that without tilaka and neckbeads, and without first reciting the Gurvastakam and other prayers, one was not allowed to come to learn at the Bhaktivinoda Institute. In this way even Muslim children would come wearing Vaisnava dress.
Sometime later, Sajjana Sevaka started the idea of a coaching class on the day of Ekadasi, which until then had been a holiday.
“Everyone should come to the classroom on Ekadasi for coaching class,” he announced. “On Ekadasi we will hear and speak about the glories of our disciplic succession of divine masters coming down from the Lord Himself. Each Ekadasi, we will pick one of these great personalities and glorify them. By this we can receive their blessings and will become strong in spiritual life.”
News of Sajjana Sevaka’s plan soon reached the ears of Prabhupada and the management of the school and they all agreed whole-heartedly. The decision was officially made that, “Every Ekadasi there will be a coaching class from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. First, there will be kirtana, then recitation of the glories of Ekadasi, and then that of a particular maha-bhagavata, such as Ramanujacarya, Visnusvami, the twelve Alwars, Prahlada, Dhruva, Citraketu Maharaja, the Pracetas, Bhisma, and so forth. In those discussions, whoever gave a nice presentation or glorification would be given a reward. After the class was completed, the students together circumambulated Mayapura and the room of Prabhupada Sarasvati Thakura. At lunch they would take some fruits and roots or anything that was available, and in the evening they would go to Srivasa Angana and dance and sing in maha-sankirtana. This is how they followed Ekadasi day. Everyone was filled with so much joy to see Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari’s glorious qualities.
Gradually Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari improved the whole standard at the Bhaktivinoda Institute. This was the result of his spiritual power. Everyone was attracted to him. Under his direction the boys made a beautiful garden and decorated the entire path from Sri Caitanya Gaudiya-matha all the way to Chand Kazi’s samadhi with plants and hedges along the side of the dirt road. Anyone who walked there admired the work and felt as though they were in Vraja.
Whenever Prabhupada would return from preaching or whenever he would set out for preaching, all the boys in the school would gather together and do kirtana and guru-puja.
Prabhupada was very happy. He said, “These boys are so brilliant. The students are learning well.”
The boys were studying Sanskrit, English, and Bengali—all three languages. They were very intelligent.
One day, Prabhupada expressed a desire he had. He said, “A student in a Vedic school should certainly know Vedanta. Without knowing the Veda mantras one cannot be strong and established in spiritual life.”
So from then on, classes on Vedanta and the Upanisadas were added to the curriculum of the students. Sometimes, Prabhupada would personally give a lesson otherwise the professors and teachers would.
In the following years Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari progressed rapidly through his education. In one year he completed all the grades from kindergarten to 4th grade. Then in a similar fashion he went through grades 5 to 12, passing all exams with outstanding marks. By the time he was 16 years old he was fully graduated with all certificates from the state, and perfect in Sanskrit, English, and Hindi.
Prabhupada was very happy with Sajjana Sevaka.
He told Narahari Prabhu, “This boy will stay with me in the temple. He is not like the other boys. He has strong faith in God. He knows not to waste this life in ordinary sport and games.”
Srila Vamana Gosvami Maharaja used to say, "Temple life is very simple and sweet. From early in the morning there is kirtana, hari-katha, prasada—where is the tension?"
Prabhupada used to visit the school at the end of the year and would test the students and give them gifts and rewards. On one such occasion, Prabhupada arrived for testing the students and they all told him, "Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari is very qualified. First hear from him."
Then Prabhupada asked him, “Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari...who is your Gurudeva?”
“In school, Sriman Bhakti Pradipa Tirtha Maharaja is our Gurudeva, and in spiritual life, you are our Gurudeva.
"Yes. Very good," Prabhupada said. Prabhupada was pleased that Sajjana had a proper respect for his teacher as well as his spiritual master.
One day Prabhupada asked him, “What is the essence of what you have learned?”
“I don’t know anything,” Sajjana replied humbly. “But I can repeat what my teacher has told me.”
“What did he tell you?”
“My teacher told me that the essence of everything is to follow bhakti and to perform all action for the pleasure of Sriman Mahaprabhu in Sri Gaura-Dhama, under the guidance of Sri Guru, and that this is actual food for the self and the only way to make any progress in life.”
"Very good,” Prabhupada said.
Then he gave him some books to study. He gave him Jaiva-dharma and Srimad Bhagavad-Gita, and said, “Tell me, how long will it take you to finish these books and report back to me?”
Normally the boys would be frightened and ask for one year to finish two big books, but Sajjana answered, "Prabhupada, you fix the time. If you don’t give your blessings then nothing is possible and, if your mercy is with me, then anything is possible."
“Okay one month, 15 days, one week?”
“Other boys said, “No! We need one year.”
"Come after one month," Prabhupada said.
Then a small competition took place amongst the boys. They all began to study very hard and learn slokas and chapters of sastras and recite them to Prabhupada who, being very happy, would give them rewards. Sajjana Sevaka Brahamacari however, learned all the 750 slokas of the Bhagavad-Gita and memorized all the contents of Jaiva-dharma. He had a photographic memory.
Prabhupada was thrilled. “Baba! You are Srutidhara! You will soon be like a human dictionary or encyclopedia of the Gaudiya philosophy.”
Indeed in time all the professors and teachers gave him the affectionate nick-name “The dictionary of the Gaudiya-matha.” He could present any information about any verse from which chapter of which sastra on which page and by any author without opening any book. If the devotees working in the publication department ever needed information on any such topic, they would come to him.
Under the tutelage of Vinoda-bihari Brahmacari he studied all Vedic literatures including the 108 Upanishads and Vedanta. Later in life Param Gurudeva would give him the title “Bhaktivedanta’ because he has fully knowledgeable in the conclusions of the Vedas and Vedanta.
Sajjana Sevaka Brahmacari possessed such noticeably powerful energy for spiritual life. Everyone would ask him, “From where did you get this energy?”
He would answer, “I received nothing by my own effort. I simply stay nearby the Vaisnavas. Just like if you go to a tree you will receive shade and fresh oxygen and fruit, in the same way if anyone associates with the pure devotees of the Lord then automatically all kinds of qualities will come to them.”
If you are not present near the Vaisnavas or with Sri Guru, your mind will become restless and take you here and there. The desire to return to Bolivia, or to England or back to school will come into your mind. You will meet with your friends on the internet and gradually you will be completely disconnected from the Vaisnavas. Then neglecting your true well-wishers, you will become a materialist. If you associate with anyone, that person’s qualities will come to you — good or bad.
Therefore don’t even for a minute distance yourself from the Vaisnavas. Sleep nearby them, eat with them, walk with them, and talk with them. They possess all auspiciousness. Sometimes out of mercy they will keep some nice things with us. But they can also take it back as they like. We should know that these qualities we receive from them are their property alone. This is a very easy process. There is no need to perform severe penance and meditation to receive anything good in this life. Simply endeavor to please the Vaisnavas.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.