CONTENTS:
- GURU MAHARAJA’S OCEAN OF MERCY BOOK LAUNCH IN ORIYA LANGUAGE AT ISKCON BHUBANESWAR
- SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
- GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
1. GURU MAHARAJA’S OCEAN OF MERCY BOOK LAUNCH IN ORIYA LANGUAGE AT ISKCON BHUBANESWAR
Jagannatha is Krishna who wants to go to Vrindavan and be with His most intimate devotees. Krishna on the occasion of solar eclipse went to Kuruksetra and the residents of Vrindavan also came to celebrate the occasion of solar eclipse. The tradition had been going on since time immemorial even 5000 years ago people used to go there to take bath on the occasion of solar eclipse and till today it is going on. So, this solar eclipse was over, people took bath and when they were preparing to leave then the residents of Vrindavan got to know that Krishna also came there so they went to meet Him. They just ran to meet Krishna, after 100 years the residents of Vrindavan met Krishna. Naturally they all were very happy but Srimati Radharani was not happy. Radharani’s feeling was this is not the Krishna that I knew:
- My Krishna is a cowherd boy but this one is a prince;
- My Krishna wears a peacock feather on His head but this one is wearing a crown;
- My Krishna wears a yellow silk chaddar and this Krishna is dressed in royal robes;
- My Krishna wears flower garlands and this Krishna has precious jewels and ornaments adorning His chest;
- My Krishna carries a flute and this Krishna is carrying weapons;
- I used to meet Krishna in a very serene atmosphere of Vrindavan on the bank of Yamuna where it was just the two of us and a few of our associates used to be there but this place is surrounded by so many royal and noble personalities, soldiers, the elephants are trumpeting, horses are whining.
Radharani was not satisfied to meet Krishna. Radharani’s associates the Gopis could understand that, the residents of Vrindavan could understand that. Now in the meantime, Krishna who was already on the chariot about to leave, He also seeing these devotees of Vrindavan became so overwhelmed with emotion that His hands stretched forward with the desire to embrace them, His face lit up with a beautiful smile, His eyes became large as if He was relishing the sight of His devotees. This is the moods that prevailed with Krishna and Srimati Radharani so the residents of Vrindavan got hold of the chariot along with the horses and started to pull the chariot towards Vrindavan. This Jagannatha Puri is that Kurukshetra, Jagannatha here is Krishna who came from Dwarika on the occasion of solar eclipse, now He is eager to be with the devotees of Vrindavan. In that respect Jagannatha Puri is both Dwarika and Vrindavan.
In that respect this land Jagannatha Puri, Sri Ksetra or Niladri mountain is a very very special place and this land is very special. We have seen how when India was dominated by the Muslim rulers the rulers of Orissa maintained their sovereignty in spite of that. We can see the devotees of this place not only Jagannatha Puri practically all of Orissa which is very wonderfully influenced by Lord Jagannatha deep devotion towards Krishna. This is a very special place and HH Gaur Govinda Maharaja was the devotee from Orissa who came to Srila Prabhupada. Previously, it has been described how Gaur Govinda Maharaja was searching for a guru. He left home searching for a guru but he was not satisfied but when he went to Vrindavan he saw that this guru has attracted so many westerners and that actually affected him, so many westerners are following Prabhupada so he must be very special.
Then he met Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada immediately recognised him as it was mentioned Prabhupada asked him if he was already a sanyasi and he said no he was not a sanyasi and Prabhupada told him that he would give him sanyas. Gaur Govinda Maharaja then came to Bhubaneswar and one very wealthy person gave him a land which is presently the temple and that land was really in the middle of nowhere it was a jungle and not only a jungle that place was a hideout of the dacoits. Gaur Govinda Maharaja started to make his centre here and we should also remember one devotee was very very attached to Gaur Govinda Maharaja and that is Sachinandan Prabhu. He stayed with Gaur Govinda Maharaja in the middle of nowhere and he used to on a cycle take Gaur Govinda Maharaja to the city of Bhubaneswar to preach and then of course Prabhupada came. Prabhupada installed the Ananta sesa here to build the temple.
In that respect I also remember few very wonderful devotees like our Godbrother, Tejas Prabhu. Tejas Prabhu in order to help this temple he used to travel all over India to collect. Those days I used to be in Calcutta and I used to have a place and Tejas Prabhu and Vanamali Prabhu used to be his assistant at that time, so often they used to come and stay with me. Tejas Prabhu was very committed to this project. Then Bhagavat Prabhu also spent time here and in this way a few devotees were involved and it was a struggle actually for Gaur Govinda Maharaja because funds were not so readily available. Things changed when Gaur Govinda Maharaja started to accept disciples and he attracted many devotees and they helped take him forward and the temple was completed and we can see how Srila Prabhupada’s mercy is being showered upon this place.
Who would ever think that this place say about 35 years ago this place was a jungle. The city of Bhubaneswar actually shifted to that place, so many tall buildings, so many offices, supermarkets and shops. Literally the city has shifted and that’s what happens wherever ISKCON goes the city moves there, not only in India. The same thing we have seen in various other places like Detroit, Ambarish Prabhu actually purchased this place which was the house of the main designer of the Ford Motor Company and he bought that but that whole area was very run down and then over a period of time the place flourished so much. The same thing with Ahmedabad, how many of you been there? It was also like a jungle in the middle of nowhere a piece of land and today around our temple is the main city. This is how the place is flourishing and not only flourishing with material prosperity but it is flourishing with the devotees also.
The residents of Orissa make very wonderful devotees. We have three sanyasis here so that’s an indication and so many devotees here from Orissa and not only here the temple president of Bombay Brajahari Prabhu is from Orissa. So many sanyasis and devotees came from Orissa that shows that this is a very very special place and the residents of this place are very very devoted. Somehow or the other I became involved in Orissa especially in Bhubaneswar. The devotees actually requested me to take over Bhubaneswar as GBC so I agreed on one condition only Bhubaneswar no other place on Orissa. This is how we are seeing how wonderfully the program is progressing here. Yesterday we had a very successful program with the youth, it’s the first program I did with the youth. I had sent a couple of devotees here to develop the youth preaching here Tukarama is from Ujjain, I sent him and who else came with you? Two of them came 3 years back and the preaching is developing so nicely and they getting very wonderful support from the temple.
Satavik Prabhu is very involved in youth preaching and Premananda Prabhu is giving very nice support as temple president. The result is like yesterday’s program was so wonderful, hundreds of youth college students were here. I was speaking and they listened with rapt attention and after the program I invited questions the question answer session went on for about 40 minutes and I have so many nice questions. The program they organised was also very beautiful like there was a rock band, when we saw the program “rock band” Udayananda Prabhu unfortunately became sick and could not come, he is my very senior Godbrother who is also travelling with me and when he saw the program rock band, he said rock band? I told him don’t worry; you just see the performance of the rock band. When he went there what did the rock band present? Rock band was singing Hare Krishna Maha mantra and then the rock band sang Guruvastakam.
Then there was one devotee whose name is actually Hare Krishna and he presented a beautiful Orissa dance performance really world class presentation, very very talented. I was asking him for how many years he was practising, he has been learning Orissa dance for 17 years and I asked him how old are you? He said 21 that means at the age of 4 he started to dance and he was just about to complete his studies. In Orissa there is a cultural University and he is studying there, doing art and dance and he came to see me with his father. His father is actually a disciple of mine also and they told me that yesterday after the performance when they went home, they got an invitation finalised for him to go to America in July to perform. His father was telling me because he has received your mercy as soon, he went home they found that invitation there. I was also thinking that I would like to take him to America because nowadays I got involved in preaching in America.
Prabhupada wanted a cultural conquest and there was a time when I used to be the cultural minister of ISKCON but those day I couldn’t do anything because as a GBC I had so many responsibilities I could not really focus onto the cultural side as such. Besides making Abhay Charan video and translating Prabhupada’s books. Anyway, to go back to that point we owe a lot to HH Gaur Govinda Swami Maharaja for the development of preaching in Orissa. Maharaja was an amazing devotee very very Krishna Conscious and he was a pure devotee, uttama adhikari devotee who had real love for Krishna, premibhakta. It is unfortunate that Srila Prabhupada had called him back to maybe to assist him somewhere else where he is preaching.
For our loss there must be some gain somewhere where Gaur Govinda Swami Maharaja is there whether he is with Krishna or whether he is somewhere preaching assisting Srila Prabhupada. On a day like this I feel very very grateful to a very wonderful Godbrother of mine Srila Gaur Govinda Swami Maharaja. I used to spend a lot of time with him, I used to come here and there was nothing. The temple was just a few tin sheds and at night we used to just sit out, there was no light, under the star studded sky we would sit and talk about Krishna katha. Maharaja used to love to speak about Krishna. I miss those days. I wish he was here today so that I could offer this book to him. HH Gaur Govinda Swami Maharaja ki Jai! Gaur premanande Hari Haribol!
2. SRILA PRABHUPADA'S APPRECIATION
Previously, it has been described how Gaur Govinda Maharaja was searching for a guru. He left home searching for a guru but he was not satisfied but when he went to Vrindavan he saw that this guru has attracted so many westerners and that actually affected him, so many westerners are following Prabhupada so he must be very special. Things changed when Gaur Govinda Maharaja started to accept disciples and he attracted many many devotees and they helped take him forward and the temple was completed and we can see how Srila Prabhupada’s mercy is being showered upon this place.
3. GURU MAHARAJA’S INSTRUCTIONS
Direct preaching means chanting the Holy Name and making others chant the Holy Name.
(The content of this E-magazine is based on a lecture given by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami on 9 December 2019 at ISKCON Bhubaneswar for Guru Maharaja’s Ocean of Mercy Book launch in Oriya language (Divine Pilgrimage 2019))
(Compiled and Edited by Hemavati Radhika Devi Dasi)