SRI SRI GURU-GAURANGA JAYATAH
All glories to Sri Guru and Gauranga! In a lecture given in Maui, Hawaii, Srila Govinda Maharaj remarked, "If you try to serve the Lord of Yajna, Krsna, with your full energy through a real Guru or real Vaisnava, you will not receive any mundane reaction. But if you don't engage in such service, you will receive reaction." There is much more to this remark than one may gain by calculating, "How can I avoid getting the reactions from my misguided life's activities." I have been fortunate in my life that I was able to approach Srila A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad and then Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj. I had the association of Srila Prabhupad, and unlike others who only knew him from a distance, I was fortunate to have been with him, to hear from him, to know and serve him. Later I came to the lotus feet of Srila Guru Maharaj, Srila Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. At that time Srila Govinda Maharaj had already been given the responsibility by Srila Guru Maharaj of guiding his mission and serving his Math and Deities. Srila Govinda Maharaj was installed in the chair given to him by Srila Guru Maharaj. I consider that I am fortunate to have the association of these stalwart followers of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur, and I feel that through their guidance I have been given the real substance of devotion, that divine seed that is sown in the heart of the disciple by the spiritual guardian. As Srila Govinda Maharaj has remarked, in my life I have had the association of both Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu. Certainly, Srila Guru Maharaj (with some gentle questioning by Srila Govinda Maharaj) expressed that Srila Prabhupad was a saktavesh-avatar of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, who has gone all over the world, spreading the chanting of the Holy Names and so generously given out mercy to all "as if it were water." Srila Guru Maharaj himself gives an insight into the highest realisations of the line of Sri Gauranga, who presents the combined aspects of Rasa-Raj (Sri Krishna) and Mahabhava (Srimati Radharani). There is no doubt that Srila Guru Maharaj has given so much nourishment, and through the expressions of his realisations, we can understand the very gist given by Srila Krsnadas Kaviraj in the Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, the siddhanta known to the followers of the line of Srila Rupa Goswami. This point has been repeatedly expressed by others who are far more erudite than myself, and at this time I am not going to expand upon these topics which are well known to persons who are able to comprehend spiritual realities. Srila Guru Maharaj said that the primary education should not go in rebellion against the secondary education. I humbly bow my head to Srila Prabhupad, Srila Govinda Maharaj, Srila Guru Maharaj and those who follow them. We have often heard Srila Guru Maharaj cite the famous statement from the Adi-Purana where Sri Krishna tells Arjuna, "He who says he is My devotee is not My devotee, but he who is the servant of My devotee, he is My devotee." That means, that the servant of the devotee has the real connection with the Lord. What this serves to illustrate to me is that there are many persons who since the departure of Srila Prabhupad and Srila Guru Maharaj have sought to deify these personalities. By this, I mean they have made Them into Deities. They have sculptured Them out of brass, or marble, or wood, or maybe out of the element of their mind. Or they have sculpted Them out of jewels. They have placed Them on the altar, or on the altar of their mind, and now they officially bow down to them when and if they enter in their presence. Srila Guru Maharaj when he first approached Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur asked, "What is this Deity (of Mahaprabhu) made of?" "Oh, don't ask like that. He is directly Mahaprabhu Himself." "Then if your spiritual master is the divine servitor of the Lord, why doesn't he live near the Lord?" Srila Guru Maharaj has commented that in that conversation he could understand from the reply given that the expression of the Lord in the heart of the devotee is a higher expression than in the form of the Deity. No doubt we all try to serve the Deity in the temple, making so many offerings, providing nice clothes, and arotis, bowing down and making such an endeavor to not disrespect the Deity. But why is it then that in the words of the Srimad Bhagavatam, the devotion to the Deity is within the purview of the kanishta devotee, or the prakrita-bhakta (the external practitioner). Someone who is of more substance goes beyond the confines of the four walls of the temple, and will take the Lord's message to others. What did he mean when Srila Guru Maharaj commented that the expression of the Lord in the heart of the devotee is a higher expression, or presence, of the Lord than in the Deity? We may ask, "Then what are we now seeing? What is going on in the name of devotion?" There are those who want to deify Srila Prabhupad and Srila Guru Maharaj like the Christians have deified Christ. They have made him God. Now He is far away, exported to heaven, and occasionally someone can talk about Him if they like. But He is no longer in the center but rather far away, on the distant circumference. It is a good business to put the Guru on a pedestal like a Deity. Then you can always bow down to Him, and everybody will think you are a great devotee. If you like, you can offer some fruit or a chapati to His picture. Who helped us and amplified our understanding of Srila Guru Maharaj? Who revealed his teachings, his inner thoughts and realisations to us? It was Srila Govinda Maharaj. It was Srila Govinda Maharaj who encouraged Srila Guru Maharaj to extend his mercy to all, to give initiation and his divine connection to the Westerners. It was Srila Govinda Maharaj who promised that he would continue giving Guru Maharaj's mercy to the worldwide assembly of devotees. Only by Srila Govinda Maharaj's sincere entries on our behalf and his acceptance of responsibility do we have any connection with Srila Guru Maharaj. Srila Govinda Maharaj has also amplified and expanded Srila Prabhupad's distribution, his preaching, on the same global scale which Srila Prabhupad initiated some thirty or more years ago. Srila Govinda Maharaj has gone all over the world so many times that we can say his energy parallels that enthusiasm which Srila Prabhupad displayed. And Srila Govinda Maharaj has given us his divine guidance and suggestions how to better serve Mahaprabhu's divine mission. I know that to put Srila Prabhupad and Srila Guru Maharaj in a position of Deities, to worship them and to not acknowledge the guidance that Srila Govinda Maharaj is giving is to condemn my feeble efforts to a position of meaningless. Certainly one may have good intentions. We do not wish to interfere with the sentiments and good intentions of anyone's heart. We must respect that we have all come with noble intentions to serve the Lord of our heart. Still the Lord reserves the right to be distributed to all as He wants to reveal himself. The highest expression of the Lord will come in the heart of a devotee. We are fortunate to have Srila Govinda Maharaj present with us today. We do not know how long we may live. We may in all humility and respect say we do not know how long we shall have Srila Govinda Maharaj present in this world. His presence is of great importance to the conditioned souls. His mercy is of great importance to us. Without him we have only the semblance of devotion. Without him, our worship is condemned to a mere parody of forms and shadows. I humbly beg forgiveness if my callous words are of offense to anyone. May we all unite on the platform of service and on this divine occasion of his sixty-eighth appearance celebration, this most important Gurupuja day, may the devotees throughout the whole world unite. Let us all glorify Srila Om Vishnupad Paramahamsa Srila Govinda Maharaj and join together to serve him. Falling at your lotus feet, I pray to remain your servant.
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