Chapter 4: Heralding the Twilight

A Pioneer of Exclusive Devotion

Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur appeared (in 1838) in a very famous kāyastha family, bearing the title Dutta. In Kolkata there is a place called Hāṭ-khola Dutta which was named after the family. Near Bīrnagar there was a big village named Ulā, and the family of the title Mustauphi were landowners there. Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s mother came from this line. Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur was born and brought up at Ulā, and he studied at Kṛṣṇanagar College. Of course, he had exceptional talent. He came into contact with the then educated society. Especially, there was a Mr. Duff, a Christian missionary who established the Scottish Church College. Duff was encouraging and attracting many of the young Bengalis of the time to take up Christianity. Gradually, Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur had close association with the Brahmo Society, the so-called culturally advanced followers of Rām Mohan Rāy. Maharṣi Devendranāth Ṭhākur’s elder brother, Dvijendranāth, was his very intimate friend.

For his livelihood he accepted government service. He was posted at Orissa in the position of subdivisional officer. He was also posted as inspector of the Jagannāth Purī Temple, where his duty was to guard against corruption. At that time he came into contact with the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and he tried to read it. He was gradually charmed by Bhāgavatam, Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, and the life of Śrī Chaitanyadev. The Brahmo Association had expected much of him because of his scholarly nature; he could write and debate well. But after coming into contact with the Bhāgavatam, he dissociated himself from them. When he was serving in Dinājpur he gave his speech on Bhāgavatam, and it was then that he completely separated himself from the Brahmo school, and he was seen to side with the Vaiṣṇava school of thought in the line of Mahāprabhu. And gradually, he also read the śāstras and wrote many books on Vaiṣṇavism.

After his retirement, he wanted to go to Vṛndāvan and pass the rest of his life there. But he repeatedly had a dream that he must discover the actual birthplace of Śrī Chaitanyadev. He could not neglect that dream. He again entered into service at Kṛṣṇanagar, and there, he consulted the records of the locality. With the help of those records, and by his divine inspiration, he discovered the birthplace at Yoga Pīṭh, Māyāpur. Then, with deepened interest, he visited the entire Nabadwīp Maṇḍal, and with reference to the scriptures, he gave a description of both the ancient and contemporary holy places in the Dhām of Mahāprabhu. He established a committee to ensure that the service of Mahāprabhu’s place of advent continue. Lastly, he handed it over to our Prabhupād.

From the beginning, the fourth son of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, Śrī Bimalā Prasād (the family name of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī) was naturally inclined to the service of Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur finally entrusted him with the direct service of Māyāpur. He accepted that, a little hesitantly at first, but to his last moment he conducted the service faithfully. In that matter, from the practical standpoint Kuñja Bihārī Vidyā Bhūṣaṇ, later Śrīmad Tīrtha Mahārāj, assisted Prabhupād a great deal. Gradually, many scholars also gathered around him. With their help, he started the movement of Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh. He was inspired to preach and he did so up to the last moment of his life.

When Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur passed away, Śrīla Prabhupād arranged a condolence meeting in a public hall and invited many respectable gentlemen. Amongst them were the leading scholars of the time, including Bipin Pāl, the then principal of the Metropolitan School, and Satīsh Sarkār, Pāñchkari Bandopādhyāy, and others.

New Thought to the World

They all spoke very highly about Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, recognizing that he gave new thought to the society at large; his writings were of original character, not stereotyped. His investigations into Vaiṣṇavism excelled that of all the modern Āchāryas. Shishir Ghosh also once said, “We have heard of the six Goswāmīs of the time of Mahāprabhu, but Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s writings prove that he holds the seventh position amongst the Goswāmīs. He has left us such extensive and original writing about the teachings of Śrī Chaitanyadev.” In this way, Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur left the world his literature; he is in his literature, present forever. He has delivered his writings about the teachings of Mahāprabhu and Bhāgavatam in a systematic and scientific way, suitable to the modern age. Our debt unto his holy feet has no end.

The Predominant Guru of Śrīla Prabhupād

Although Prabhupād, as suggested by Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, took initiation from Gaura Kiśor Bābājī Mahārāj, he still held Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur as his Guru, substantially. Formally, by the order of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, he took Gaura Kiśor Bābājī Mahārāj as Gurudev. Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur selected Śrīla Gaura Kiśor for him, but from what we have found in him, he knew Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur as his Guru from the internal consideration. We find his outside and inside was filled with Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur. Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur not in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. Prabhupād inaugurated many Maṭhs (Ashrams and Temples), and we find that he named the Deities “Vinoda-Vilāsa”, “Vinoda-Rāma”, “Vinodānanda”, “Vinoda-Prāṇa”, and so on.

He saw everything through his Gurudev, Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur. His attempt to approach Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda or Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu is inconceivable without Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s intervention in him. I attempted to write something about Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, and I thought that this was the key to Prabhupād’s affection towards me. His attention was drawn to me because I tried to give the greatness of Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s character to the public in a systematic way. It is my own feeling. He can give everything to one who is a little attached to Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur.

That was his spirit. He thought himself indebted to Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s holy life, so much so, that he saw Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Gadādhar Paṇḍit in him. This is the highest ideal of Guru-tattva: Gadādhar Paṇḍit in Gaura-līlā and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in Kṛṣṇa-līlā, in madhura-rasa. He also once said, “If we raise our vision and observe, we shall find Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in Gurudev.” If we raise our head a little and search, then we shall find that it is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī Herself who is behind the function of Gurudev; all others are channels or instrumentals, but the real source of grace as Guru springs from the original source of service, of love. He saw Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur in that light.

sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair
uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ
kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya
vande guroḥ śrī-charaṇāravindam

“According to all the scriptures, Gurudev is directly the Lord Himself, and the pure devotees also realise the same. He is actually a simultaneously one and different manifestation of the Lord, different in the sense that he is the Lord’s dearmost servitor. I offer my obeisances unto the lotus feet of that Divine Master, Śrī Gurudev.”

We are asked to see Gurudev not opaque, but transparent — transparent to such a degree that through him the highest end, the highest conception of service, can be seen and attained. We can attain it there. If we are earnest, we shall find the highest link, from the very source. So we are requested not to see Guru as limited in his ordinary personification, but as the transparent mediator of the highest function in his line. We can see this only if our vision is deep. According to the disciple’s depth of śraddhā, he will see the Lord present in his Gurudev. The Guru Principle, Guru-tattva, is very special, very noble, very broad, and very deep.

So we are warned against thinking that our Gurudev is in mortal relativity. Prabhupād showed us by his ideal conduct how much earnestness one may have for Gurudev. We have witnessed this in his practices and teachings. Gurvaika-niṣṭhā — exclusive adherence to the service of Śrī Guru. Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur was his very being. Everything was Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur.

Indomitable Loyalty to Mahāprabhu: Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī Prabhupād

Devotee: Is it true that Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī would openly criticise Īśvarachandra Vidyāsāgar (a famous Sanskrit scholar of the time)?

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: Once Vidyāsāgar wrote in a book “Īśvara-nirākāra-chaitanya-svarūpa” (The Lord is without any figure, and He is a mass of consciousness). As but a young boy, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī Prabhupād went to him and challenged, “What have you written here? You say Īśvara, Lord, and then you say nirākāra, formless! Where have you found this? Īśvara, the Creator, the Master — He is nirākāra, formless?! Where have you found that Īśvara is nirākāra? He has a type of ākāra, form, and that is chidākāra, a transcendental form. But you say He is only a mass of consciousness and without any figure, and He is the Creator? Where have you found this?” In this way he challenged Vidyāsāgar. But he was very young, and Vidyāsāgar may not have cared for the challenge. Nonetheless, he did his duty. That was his temperament; he would always challenge. He had to challenge whatever was against the line of Mahāprabhu; otherwise, he could have the satisfaction of having done his duty.

Devotee: No compromise.

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: No compromise. Protest. Once Rabindranāth Tagore wrote articles in some book under a pen-name, and Prabhupād also wrote protesting against those writings, also under a pen-name.

Devotee: Mahārāj, did you personally spend some time with Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Goswāmī?

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: Yes. In my later years with the mission I got chances to live with him quite often. Many persons used to come and visit him, and perhaps he liked to keep me with him to talk with them in a respectable way and to authoritatively explain his teachings to them. In his later years his memory faded, so when he spoke, some appropriate ślokas from the scriptures were required to be supplied, to indicate and support his line of thought. Very few of us could do that. When he was trying to recollect a certain ślokas in support of his speech, I could generally supply it immediately, and sometimes in advance as well. Of course, we originally heard all those ślokas and their proper representation from him only.

Infinite Courage of the Pioneer

When Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur began the service of the Dhām and Mahāprabhu, he had to do many things to attract the public to accept his discovery of the Dhām as authentic. At that time, the place was uninhabited. Gradually, a brick building was made, and the worship of the Deity of Mahāprabhu was begun.

The Temple came later. Generally, the brāhmaṇ cooks he required would not stay there very long because it was an isolated place and there were violent elements nearby. To ensure that the service continued, he had to undergo many undesirable things. For example, sometimes he had to prepare gañjikā (hemp) by his own hand, for the cook! Otherwise, the cook would have left. At times, when ‘respectable’ persons came, he had to make arrangements for tobacco. There were many other trials.

Our Guru Mahārāj, Prabhupād, also did similar things, to the extreme. When Anderson, the Governor, was invited to Māyāpur, at that time it was arranged with a Kolkata hotel to bring appropriate food for the function, including even meats. The hotelier was arranged to cater for the Governor and his entourage. And when Prabhupād suggested some similar approach in foreign preaching also, I modestly protested that if the meat dishes, non-vegetarian dishes, were served in the Maṭh area, it would bring criticism to the mission; to which he replied, “No, no! I decided all these things thousands of births ago. We have to do anything and everything for the service of Mahāprabhu.” That was his answer. Vaikuṇṭha-vṛtti — no kuṇṭha, no limitation: “I am prepared to do anything for the service of Mahāprabhu, for the propagation of His mission. The grace of Mahāprabhu should be distributed throughout the length and breadth of the whole world. And for that, anything should be done. No stone unturned. Physical connection is no connection. We shall try to save our internal purity; that is all.” And to save so many souls from impure habits and diet, Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj also took the risk of external contamination by filthy things. He had to go to the place of that anti-atmosphere to save them. If the house is on fire, one must run the risk of burns to his body if he really wants to save the inhabitants.

The Ṭhākur’s Divine Vision and Foresight

Devotee: Śrīla Ṭhākur Bhakti Vinod also had a great vision for the world.

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: Yes. He saw in his divine eye that prema-dharma, the religion based on divine love, is so self-evident in character that the intelligent could never avoid embracing such a conception of pure religion as the highest. Love — prema — the fine intellect cannot but detect the purity in the love in religion, in its highest conception. His idea was: “With an unbiased mind, the Western thinkers cannot but appreciate the doctrine of divine love, as given out by Śrī Chaitanyadev. So I am sure that in the future many of the Western scholars will come under the flag of Śrī Chaitanyadev.” This was his conviction, and he mentioned this in lectures that he delivered throughout Bengal.

When Śrīpād Bhakti Sāraṅga Goswāmī Mahārāj returned from preaching in England, he brought one Mr. Burchett back with him. A meeting was held at the Bagh Bazaar Math. That meeting was presided over by a gentleman of the name Hiran Dutta, a good scholar and a Theosophist. In his talk he said, “When we were students at City College, Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur delivered a lecture there to the effect that in the near future Western scholars would come and join the saṅkīrtan under the banner of Mahāprabhu. Now, clearly, I can bear witness to the fact that his prediction is beginning to come true. I heard the lecture in my young days, and now in my old age I see the evidence; it is going to be true. I am very glad for that.”

Devotee: Did Your Grace ever have the darśan of Ṭhākur Bhakti Vinod?

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: No. He left the world in 1914, and I joined the mission in 1926, twelve years later.

Devotee: Perhaps you met other persons who had his contact?

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: There was one Parvat Mahārāj who lived next door to Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur when he passed his old age in Godrum.

“To Spread the Holy Name Around...”

Parvat Mahārāj said that there was only a partition wall between his house and Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s. That was at Surabhī Kuñj. From about three o’clock in the morning, Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur would rise and take the Name of Kṛṣṇa, the mahāmantra, at the top of his voice. Parvat Mahārāj described it like this. As though calling someone from afar — with this spirit Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur would chant the Holy Name. That Mahārāj was astonished to see such behavior. There was a cement chair, and when Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur felt tired, he took his seat and rested there awhile. And then after some time he would again wander in the garden, chanting at the top of his voice, “Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa!” With such animation in his voice he was calling — calling a person. With this spirit, and not in a formal way, but with a material hankering, he was calling for the Lord.

There was another thing I also heard about him from another source, Rām Gopāl Vidyābhūṣaṇ, an M.A. and Barrister-at-law. Rām Gopāl Vidyābhūṣaṇ told me, “Once we went to visit him. We had heard that a Government officer, an educated man, had become a Vaiṣṇava Bābājī. So we went to see him, and someone amongst us asked him, ‘Please speak something about Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa-nām (the Holy Name of Kṛṣṇa).’

“After a moment, Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur then said, ‘Oh, you want to hear something about Kṛṣṇa, you want? You want Kṛṣṇa-nām?’ In this way he continued for some time: ‘Kṛṣṇa? You are so fortunate? You have come to hear Kṛṣṇa-nām?’

“Then the consequence of that inquiry had such an influence on his body and mind, that as it is written by him personally in his own poem, Śrī Nāma-māhātmya”:

kṛṣṇa-nāma dhare kata bala
viṣaya-vāsanānale mora chitta sadā jvale
ravi-tapta maru-bhūmi sama
karṇa-randhra patha diyā hṛdi mājhe praveśiyā
variṣaya sudhā anupama [1]

hṛdaya ha-ite bale jihvāra agrete chale
śabda-rūpe nāche anukṣaṇa
kaṇṭhe mora bhaṅge svara aṅga kā̐pe thara thara
sthira ha-ite nā pāre charaṇa [2]

chakṣe dhārā dehe gharmma pulakita saba charmma
vivarṇa ha-ila kalevara
mūrchchhita ha-ila mana pralayera āgamana
bhāve sarva-deha jara jara [3]

kari’ eta upadrava chitte varṣe sudhā-drava
more ḍāre premera sāgare
kichhu nā bujhite dila, more ta’ vātula ka-ila
mora chitta-vitta saba hare [4]

la-inu āśraya yā’ra hena vyavahāra tā’ra
valite nā pāri e sakala
kṛṣṇa-nāma ichchhā-maya yāhe yāhe sukhī haya
sei mora sukhera sambala [5]

premera kalikā nāma adbhūta rasera dhāma
hena bala karaye prakāśa
īṣat vikaśi’ punaḥ dekhāya nija-rūpa-guṇa
chitta hari’ laya kṛṣṇa-pāśa [6]

pūrṇa vikaśita hañā vraje more yāya lañā
dekhāya more svarūpa-vilāsa
more siddha-deha diyā kṛṣṇa-pāśe rākhe giyā
e dehera kare sarva-nāśa [7]

1kṛṣṇa-nāma chintāmaṇi akhila rasera khani
nitya-mukta śuddha-rasa-maya
nāmera bālāi yata saba la’ye ha-i hata
tabe mora sukhera udaya [8]

Chakṣe dhārā — From my eyes tears flowed; dehe gharmma — my body perspired; mūrchchhita ha-ila mana — I fell into a faint; kari’ eta upadrava — the Holy Name created a great turmoil in me; chitte varṣe sudhā-drava — causing a rain of nectarine current in my heart; more ḍāre premera sāgare — and casting me into the ocean of ecstasy, of love; kichhu nā bujhite dila, more ta’ vātula ka-ila — I could not feel the environment around me and became as though mad; mora chitta-vitta saba hare — I lost myself in that thought.

That gentleman, Rām Gopāl Vidyābhūṣaṇ said, “I saw with my own eyes that all these symptoms were displayed in his body and mind, simply upon hearing our inquiry. Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur said, ‘You are so fortunate; you have come to hear Kṛṣṇa-nām from me? Kṛṣṇa! Kṛṣṇa!’ In this way, he entered into another domain, and so many symptoms and expressions appeared in his body and mind — convulsions, tears, all these things.” I heard this from an eyewitness.

Devotee: Is it true that prior to Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s appearance the Vaiṣṇava tradition had become very much neglected?

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: Very few śuddha Vaiṣṇavas were to be found, just before the appearance of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur. But he adjusted religion in a modern garb, and so it was easy for many regardful students to come forward and accept śuddha Vaiṣṇavism. It had been much molested by pseudo-followers. The real ideal had become eclipsed, and so for the inquisitive it was difficult to have real entrance and real attachment for Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism. The so-called bābājīs were especially responsible for disturbing the ideal. They hailed from any caste, they could marry, and they simply went on taking the name with no proper practice or feeling of real earnestness for the truth. They dragged on their lives with no pure practices or pure habits, and worst of all, in the name of religion they freely mixed with women. That brought in return a hatred for them in society. Similarly, those ‘goswāmīs’ who took up initiating disciples as their trade also lost their honour in the general respectful society, because they had some low association. The bābājīs and goswāmīs lost their prestige in society because of their imitative character. But Gauḍīya Maṭh came out with the real spirit of religion, and pure practices subsequently followed. So the attention of the educated inquirers after truth was drawn to Gauḍīya Maṭh, and they flocked together.

Devotee: After hearing about great personalities like Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur, we feel ourselves to be very insignificant.

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj: Yes. We can but do our might, contribute our might as much as possible for the service of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur.