Grateness Of Bhakti Vinod Thakur By Radhanath Swami In our tradition , it is the tradition of gaudiya vaishnava sampradaya, today is a very holy and special day. We see how throughout India religious minded people celebrate such days as Shivratri or Janamashtami or Ramanavami. Krishna explains in the Geeta ”paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge yuge “ that he comes to deliver the true message of religion, protect the pious and annihilate the bad in the world. In the same way the saintly persons who repeat the word of God and live by the word of god and invoke others to do the same, their presence is as important as lord himself. Therefore those auspicious days which celebrate the appearance of the saintly persons are very holy and sacred. Most of all when we reflect upon the lives and teachings of such saints our lives become enriched by their divine example we become instructed and inspired. Krishna explains in Bhagvatam to Uddhava “Mad-bhakta-pujabhyadhika Sarva-bhutestu man-matih “ Without understanding the lives of my devotees no one can understand me in truth. Krishna explains in Geeta “janma karma ca me divyam evam yo vetti tattvatah tyaktva deham punarjanma naiti mam eti so arjuna” that if we simply understand the spiritual nature of lord Krishna appears in this world we will never have to take birth again we attain the supreme abode. But it is very very difficult to understand the transcendental nature of Krishna or any of the avatars. But the great saints they teach us by example how to truly understand the transcendental nature of the supreme abode. Therefore it is very very important part of human society to learn how to appreciate respect and observe the celebrations on the birthdays of such great saints. Today is the appearance day of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. And you will all be very much interested in his life, because he taught how one can be the top most saint amongst all saints, and live within grihasta ashrama, with wife and childer and have a very responsible occupation working for the government of India. We think of most saints we think of them as sanyasis, sadhu is like this begging for alms and leaving behind all the things of this world. But for BVT even the great swamis the saints the sadhus they would all come to his home to hear him speak and touch his lotus feet in his house he had 10 children. How many children do u have -2, how many do you have- 1. Is it difficult providing for them? Is it difficult making sure everything is alright for them? Difficult ! Mother Sachi what do you think. He had 10 children. Let me tell you about this great saint, would you like to hear. He was born in the year 1838 in a very very wealthy family. In fact one of his great great grandfather was one of the founders of Calcutta. And founding means that one time there were 3 parts of Calcutta, and he was the owner of one of those parts. When he was young, he was educated in the best of the British schools. He was very very learned. He was very attached to his grandfather. And his grandfather was a very very great devotee of the lord. And by that attachment to his grandfather he had a very very deep sentiment towards god and religion. At the same time as he was growing up, he became very learned, very successful. He later got married. He was giving a very high position. He was first in education system. He was the first to introduce English medium education in the state of Orrisa. He was given a post of a magistrate, as a judge in Bengal by the british government. He was a very literate man and he was mixing with very very literate people. What he found is that the whole western world, specially the British and German scholars, they considered Hinduism to be a gross absurd mythological hotch potch which really had no dignity or respectability what so ever. Almost all of them except 2 or 3 considered at that time that Hinduism was simply foolish superstition and any intelligent hindu would give it up. At the best become a Christian and the second best become an atheist, would be advancement. Bvt was so deeply philosophical and so deeply religious that he became the foremost scholar of the Kuran of the old testament and then the new testament. He then happened to read SB , what he read and found it to be so profound. Every religion in all of its teaching and all of its various precepts were so scientifically and logically and philosophically contained within this SB. He began to study the CC the life and teachings of LC. He found he here was the person that lived on earth only 400 years before BV and he was living in perfect exemplary behavior according to the teachings of Bhagvatam. Teaching and the essence and the conclusion of all these great scriptures is to purify our heart by living a godly life and chanting gods name. He began to give lectures and speeches and he began to write books profusely explaining the true essence of Sanatan dharma according to the Vedic scriptures. In this way the Indians who were being completely misled by western propaganda could see the dignity and the treasure within their own tradition. Even the biggest and most antagonistic British scholars when they would meet BV or read his teaching they had all respect for Krishna all respect for Geeta all respect for the dignity for the Vedas. Any ways he was a magistrate and how responsible he was. Every district wanted him to come. The leaders of every district court were fighting who would get Kedarnath Dutt. And it is explained in the whole British court system all over india the decisions by Kedarnath Dutt whose spiritual name is BVT and the notes that he wrote they were incomparable in the entire nation. But at the same time he had a wife her name was Bhagavathi devi and 10 children. All fully satisfied none of them felt neglected. He worked hard every day. He provided food, clothing, shelter but most of all he provided the most import thing a perfect spiritual example for all of his children to follow. It is described that when he would come home from his work from the courts. He would take some Prasad, take some food, spend some time with his family discussing Krishna, having kirtan, having Prasad with them. Then he would go to villages and give lectures every night. And he would give charity and Prasad every night. Then he would return home, and would spend hours writing beautiful books poems and songs. Rise in the moring after a few hours of sleep. He would spend sometime with his family having mangal arti, having discussion from Srimad Bhagavat, taking prasad together, see to their needs. Then he would go to the court. He was such a busy man that the British government. He was a district magistrate at one time in his life in Krishna nagar which is in West Bengal , but he wanted to live in Navadwip which is a holy place. So the British government made a train track from the court house to his house just to make sure he could come in time without any inconvinence. What a distinguished and responsible person he was. At one time he was transferred by the British government to Jagannath Puri in Orissa. At that time the temple of Jagannath was being terribly mismanaged. Besides taking care of his family and being the district magistrate for that section of Orrisa. He was also asked by the government to take charge of the Jagannath temple. And he found that the pujaris of the temple were engaging in all sorts of immoral activities. And the worship of the deity of the lord in the temple, there was no schedule at all . It was completely chaotic. He established that there be 56 offereings of bhoga every day, made sure that every offering was put on the alter to the second on time. And he was so strong that all of the pundits and pujaris had to become moral and religious. You see how important this is because if the priests and the pandyas of the temple are irreligious are immoral are hungry for money are not taking proper care of the god in the temple, then the whole society will simply lose their faith and not take it seriously. He established the highest standards of punctuality and morality in that temple. Pious Hindus from all directions applauded this insurmountable effort. Can you imagine someone doing like that today in the temples of India.Someone of the stature of BV can do. In this way BVT he also discriminated very carefully who was a real sadhu and who was not a real sadhu. Infact there were certain bogus sadhus who were exploiting people performing immoral activities with people and misleading people, but they had certain mystical powers by which they were completely captivating peoples mind BVT exposed them, brought them to court and put them in jail. He was really and truly protector of truth. But when he would find a true sadhu a real sincere devotee of the lord following the right path, every evening he would invite such persons to his home and teach his whole family how to serve them and offer them Prasad and love them. He was so learned and so powerful, so influential he was more humble than a blade of grass. He was so simple and humble in his heart. But when it came to stand up for the truth he was like a thunderbolt. In this way this great man BVT created an entire spiritual revival in Bengal and Orrisa. He wrote hundereds of books , 100’s and 100’s of the most beautiful songs. Some of the songs that I sing tonight were written by BVT. amongst the gaudiya vaishnavas day and night devotees what ever they are doing whether they are doing their jobs or sitting in temple or singing bhajan the songs of BV are always in our minds. BVT was very anxious that the message of the bhagavat and the lifes example be spread thru’ out the wourld. Infact in 1896 he had just finished publishing a book called the life and precepts of Sri chaitanya, in English language. Most of his books were in Bengali or Sanskrit. He took this book and send it to universities all over the world and it was applauded by scholars throughout the world. The fact is it is first time in history that the teachings of Lord chaitanya were sent outside of india. Now one of , when BV was younger in grihasta life he was praying to Lord Krishna, that this mission of sanatan dharma is so important for the world to understand and I am such a small man I can only do so little, I pray send one of your personal servants from the spiritual world to help me. This was at the time he was living in Jaganath Puri. And a son was born and it is described when the son was only 2 months old the Ratha yatra was taking place in Puri. BVT house is right on the main road where the rath yatra takes place and the rath cart from the jagannath mandir to the gambhira mandir . just in front of the house of BV the cart stopped, so bhagavati devi the wife of BV decided this is an opportunity to give my little born baby the darshan of lord jananath , because she was the wife of the supritendent of the temple they let her climb up the cart. Although he was just a little infant child hardly a month or 2 old when she brought the child close to the feet of Jagananth. Imeediately the little baby just reached out and touched J feet and took the dust on his head as he did that a garland feel off Jaganath and fell right around the child. When BV had heard of this he was thinking my prayers have been fulfilled. This somn was named bimala Prasad, latter became BSST. He became a great great sanyassi. When we have 10 children you don’t mind if one takes sanyasa. From his 10 children many of them took sanyas. He is very happy. Anyways BVT such a life and such a example he lived. His whole life was giving god to others, giving Krishna to others. All person in his family was successfully, was successful highly educated And respected by the whole society as being great saint. BVT he would write in his books, that he had a dream. In that dream he prayed that someday Europeans, Africans, Americans, Orientals, Indians, everyone would be coming together putting aside all nationalism, all racism, all religious sectarians, every one would come together with their arms raised chanting the holy names of god together. His son BSST started 64 temples in India and his son made 100s and 1000s of disciples. Bringing to the true path of Sanatan dharma. And one of the disciples was my guru maharaj Srila Bhaktivedanta Sami Prabhupada and he fulfilled the dream of BV. At the age of 70 he was also responsible grihasta . When he was only 22 and he had first child. BSST said you are educated you should spread the teachings of lord Chaitanya all over the world. When children grew up after everything is alright he went to vrindavan and he prepared for his journey. When he was 70 yrs old he had no money, he didn’t know anyone. Here in Bombay he met srimati Morraji the president of India shiplines and she gave him a free passage to NY city on a cargo ship. On that ship he had 2 heart attacks terrible sea sickness, but finally arrived in NY and he had 30 rupees and nobody would exchange them for him. This was in 1965 . Somehow or other he said, he used to write to in his diary I have no one to help me, I have no money, but I feel the presence of BS and his father BV, they are here to support me. And in the next 12 years he travelled around the world 20 times and open 108 temples in every continent of the world. European, American, Orientals, Indians, Africans every one together would chant the names of god. The Seed of this great mission were planted by the great BVT. Such a divine being , enlightened beingHe demonstrated how one can be in this world but not of this world. Some people say if you take to spiritual life you become materially ineffective in your occupation people think like that. Foolish justification because people are just lazy and they don’t want to take part in spiritual practice . But the fact is Arjuna on that great battle field of Kurukshetra, when he heard from Krishna the Bhagavad Geeta he became divinely inspired spiritual person. Was he ineffective, was he lazy, was he a social parasite? He was the best fighter. Why? He was the best fighter because he was motivated with love of god. Like BV, Arjuna did not have small family affairs to take care of he had 3 wife’s. I am a Sanyasi , I do not know anything of having wife’s . What I heard is it is very difficult to satisfy one wife. He satisfied three. He was a great politician, statesman and warrior. He was Krishna conscious. BVT he was Krishna Conscious. All of the responsibilities he had we cannot even imagine. And in a responsible way he effectively performed all his duties was applauded by everyone. Why? Because he was motivated and inspired by the power of god. “Mukam karoti vachalam pangu langhyate girim | yatkrupa tamham vande ParmanandMadhavam ||” Even a lame man cross mountains, dumb man can speak, even a blind man can see the farthest stars in the sky if one is blessed by the grace of god. BVT was a perfect example of how everyone in the grihasta ashram can live a pure saintly life giving the highest good to others. Having done strong spiritual sadhana at home and at the same time maintains and prosper in every aspect of life. Of course we may not be able to imitate the extreme of the example of BV who lived just a couple of generations back. There are books and biographies about him, so many people who saw him, who knew him, who loved him. But we can follow in the footsteps of such a great teacher. Such a contemporary example a practical example it gives hope and faith in our lives. Something we can see tangibly that we can strive for “Atho Bramha jigyasa” The human life is meant for self realization. Human life is not meant simply like the animal to just maintain our bodies, build a home, sleep, have a family, eat, defend what we have. Human civilization without a real strong root in our god consciousness is simply animal life. There can be no real satisfaction or fulfillment without the substance of spirituality within our life. People decorate themselves with all nice degrees and all nice jewelry and all nice wealth and beautiful houses and all nice things but inside they are like empty shells. We are lonely , we try to forget the loneliness by going to cinemas, by listening to all different music by watching TV, by taking intoxications, people are doing all crazy things just to forget loneliness within our hearts. The soul is longing for god’s love…the soul and every living being. Every being in this world is longing for love, but no loving relationship is perfectly satisfying the soul unless it is in union with god. And we establish that god consciousness then all of our relationship become real. Relationship with our wife, friends, with our family members with the whole society it becomes real relationship based on truth not on illusion. So real spiritual life is practical and dynamic. On this holy day of the birthday of BVT we could meditate and contemplate on his example of how a spiritual life is really something very practical , very practical and very dynamic and very exciting and most of all supremely fulfilling and joyful. And to share that joy with others is the greatest charity is the greatest act of love. How to do so? By properly associating with people who inspire us truly and deeply in spiritual life. By practicing in our home by putting very very special time aside to chant god’s name, to read the scriptures, to pray and to offer puja to the lord. To live a pure and moral life in harmony with the will of god. By simply establishing these principles in our life our whole consciousness is transformed. Being this world becomes only an extension of that love, devotion and worship of the lord of our heart. Thankyou very much!!
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 05:24:53 +0000
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