WORSHIP THE EXTERNAL MANIFESTATION OF SRI GURU DEVA letter by Srila Dinashyam Prabhu Oct 16, 2006

Hare Krishna! All glories to His Divine Grace Srila Gour Govinda Swami Srila Gurudeva. All glories to His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. All glories to His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Swarup Damodar Sripada Maharaj.

I am very much in pain and suffering after hearing the news of Sripada Maharaja suddenly leaving for the abode of Sri Sri Radha Gopaljiu. Materially when we look at it this is very sad news, and those who are attached to Sripada Maharaja for them it is a great loss. However, if one sees it in spiritual context

then it is spiritually wonderful that Sripada Maharaja
has left this material world to be with Sri Krishna
and His dear friends. Through this passing away of Sripada Maharaja, Sri Krishna showed the compassionate nature and mood of a sadhu, I am talking about Sripada Maharaja. Sri Krishna revealed the pain and sadness

that Sripada Maharaja suffered inside was incomparable to the external injury he received. Even though I saw

him in his picture I saw his heart was bleeding for those devotees who left their body in the Imphal incident. As a result of this incident, Sripada Maharaja was personally feeling responsible for not protecting those devotees. Even though those events were beyond his control, still he felt very great pain and suffering in his heart for those devotees who left their body.

This is how the pure devotees of Sri Krishna (whom we address as sadhus) in this material world behave. Even though things happen according to the will of Sri Krishna, still due to their humble state of mind they feel personally responsible for all the bad events

that occur in this world, and give credit to Sri
Krishna for all the good things that happen in the
world. They feel so wretched and downtrodden that they end up behaving as though their existence in this material world is full of sins and a burden on the
earth. In that humble state of mind they pray to Sri Krishna to rid this earth of personalities like them
so everyone will become happy and joyful. You know and I know very well that we can be and are happy in this material world only because of meeting such wonderful sadhus and associating with them. One more thing, people (including so called devotees) generally are
still fearful of leaving their bodies, despite knowing
“you are not this body.” On the other hand, Vaishnava sadhus, like Sripada Maharaja, joyfully welcome the experience of leaving their bodies because they know they are going to the abode of Sri Krishna.

His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Swarup Damodar Sripada Maharaja is such a sadhu whose childlike smile and simplicity was very much appreciated by Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva. There is a nice photograph of Srila Gurudeva and Sripada Maharaja together laughing with each others arms resting around each others waists. What a wonderful sight. Two personalities with childlike simplicity! Srila

Gurudeva always says that simplicity is vaishnavism. Sripada Maharaja even though he was a scientist by profession still he was very simple in his heart and
in his dealings. I felt great joy in his company
especially during personal talks in his room, and of
course during his kirtans. Sripada Maharaja sings from
his heart and touches the sincere heart of every soul
who is present to hear Sri Krishna bhajan. Sripada Maharaja’s simplicity always attracted me and I was always happy to see him. It was wonderful to see how
he would, like Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, remember the devotees’ names that he had previously met, even though that meeting may have taken place a longtime ago. I don’t know about others, but I
definitely appreciated, and felt always happy that
Sripada Maharaj remembered me even though we had not met for a long time. Another thing was that Sripada Maharaja was extremely witty, and he would use one-liners that would make you laugh. I saw this in

Srila Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada.

I remember, last year in Zurich, when I met Sripada Maharaja after a long time, he remembered me right away and smiling he asked, “dinashyam, are you still on this planet?” I just laughed and laughed at Sripada Maharaja’s witty remark. Sripada Maharaja was always joyful because he was free from fault and

fault-finding, a humble and non-envious personality.
Due to these wonderful qualities, a beautiful charming smile was always on his face. Whenever and wherever he met anyone they would immediately become victim of his charming smile and personality. And if they would hear his bhajan on top of that there was no way for those devotees to forget Sripada Maharaja or his beautiful gandharva voice glorifying Sri Krishna and Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

I feel strongly that Sri Krishna has taken away
Sripada Maharaja because we took him for granted and didn’t appreciate him and his wonderful presence among us. Some of us, including his god brothers, took undue advantage of his simplistic peaceful nature and made fun of his tolerant behavior. His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura Srila Prabhupada always stated in regard to the material world, “This
place is not fit for a gentleman.” My Srila Gurudeva, before departing this material universe, quoted the
same statement that he didn’t feel like staying in
this world anymore. I feel that Sripada Maharaja also
felt the same way like Srila Gurudeva did. Sadhus
think alike. This is one of the things that give me
some solace. At least Sripada Maharaja, like Srila Gurudeva, does not have to listen to any more of the mundane arguments, back-biting, bickering, etc. of immature devotees. Nor does he have to deal any more with some of the envious people in ISKCON who always gave him so much pain in the heart. It is a great
personal loss to us. Still, at least the lotus garland
is not in the hands of monkeys anymore, now it is decorating the lotus neck of Sri Krishna. This is how
I felt when Srila Gurudeva passed away from this
planet, because I personally saw the pain and
suffering so called some of the disciples and god brothers had caused him.

Now, it is time for us to become serious and to
realize that the father is not here physically, and everyone is watching us and how we behave during his absence. We should become serious in our spiritual pursuit and behave in such a way that everyone should say, “Sripada Maharaja’s disciples are wonderful just like him.” Sripada Maharaja is already wonderful, but we have to make sure that any stupid behavior on our part doesn’t put blemish on his glorious character.
Sri Krishna Paramatma sitting in our heart is
watching. If we claim to be a follower of Sripada Maharaja and at the same time if our behavior doesn’t fit with the mood of Sripada Maharaja, then Sri
Krishna will take severe action to protect the glory
of his devotee. When it comes to protecting the legacy and glory of His dear most devotees Sri Krishna doesn’t show any mercy to anyone.

If we really want to please Sri Krishna and make our lives successful in the pursuit of Krishna Consciousness then we should follow in the footsteps of Sripada Maharaja and develop those wonderful qualities that he possessed. Only then we will be able to do our bhajan in this material world without any problem. Sripada Maharaja is a wonderful example of how a devotee should be living his life in this

material world. Even though he worked as a scientist externally still he is Sri Krishna’s devotee at heart.
We should also imbibe the faith and dedication that Sripada Maharaja had for his spiritual master, His
Divine Grace Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada. He followed his spiritual master’s instructions to the last letter, despite so many
setbacks and non-cooperation from those members of the society who were ordered to cooperate with Sripada Maharaja by Srila Prabhupada. You are very well aware how he struggled to organize the first international meeting on world religion, and other projects and conferences. No one came forward except the well-wishers and disciples of Sripada Maharaja to help him out. I remember Srila Gurudeva going through the same struggle in following Srila Prabhupada’s

instruction to build Sri Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir.

Even in ordinary life a dog after getting kicked by a
bad master several times still when the master calls
the dog and throws a piece of bread the dog wags his
tail and accept the bread and shows his gratitude. Sripada Maharaja is a wonderful master who always loved his disciples very much, although sometimes he was criticized for being lenient with them. I remember whenever I met him personally when I offered my obeisances to him he would call me by name “dinashyam”, and always pat me on my back and touch the top of my head with his mercy filled palms. This action by Sripada Maharaja always reminded me of Srila Gurudeva who used to do the same thing to me when His Divine Grace was present on this planet. All Sadhus

are manifestation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and Sri Guru conducts His activities through personalities like him. That is why I could feel Srila Gurudeva’s affection through Sripada Maharaja during those times. Let us become like that dog that is etched on HMV (His Master’s Voice) records and hear only our spiritual masters’ voice and no one else. We respond to only to our master’s voice and obey his command. Let us be grateful like that dog who constantly feels great happiness sitting at the feet
of his master. When the master gets up he (dog) also gets up and walks along with him in a proud manner because he (dog) has got a great master. Master has great qualities and similarly we should also become that excellent pedigree that the master is proud of, meaning we should also cultivate qualities of
spiritual masters so the masters can be proud of us.

When I say ‘Masters’, I mean the entire predecessor Spiritual Masters/Acaryas. They are all our Masters

including, Sripada Maharaja. One thing we should remember also, father is father and uncle is uncle. An
uncle cannot take the place of the father. Similarly, someone may come along and act very friendly. They may be a god brother or someone who knows Sripada Maharaja and will try to take his place by giving advice. The

one thing you must remember is if the advice leads you away from the lotus feet and service of your spiritual master directing you towards that other person you should reject that advice and that person. Some of my so called god brothers had bad experiences when someone pretended to be their well-wisher and lead them away from Srila Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada’s mission. Let us not fall into that pit, nor allow

others to take that path. Remember, Sri Krishna will
not tolerate ungrateful attitudes towards His dear devotees. He will not tolerate that, and there is no atonement in the sastras for ungrateful behavior.
There is a song written by Acharya Thakura Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura Srila Prabhupada instructing how to become a dog of a Vaisnava. The reason is that the dog is the most grateful in his qualities towards his master. We should imbibe those qualities. (The song is in Saranagati section of Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s bhajan collections).

The slayer of a Brahmana, a drunkard,
An impotent man, a breaker of vows
A traitor – for all these the wise prescribe Rites of atonement – for the ungrateful, none

My request during this period of mourning is to
remember Sripada Maharaja’s great qualities,and never forget them. We should all make it a daily practice to remember his interaction with us. We should remember what we were before meeting Sripada Maharaja, and what we are now after having met him. When we realize that whatever we are today, and will become in future is
only due to the mercy of our Spiritual Master, and in
your case, Sripada Maharaja. This realization will
definitely make us humble and in that humble state of mind only we can do bhajan and become blissful and joyful like Sripada Maharaja.

Gurudeva
Krpa-bindu diya, koro ei dase trnapekha ati hina Sakala-sahane, bala diya koro, Nija-mane sprha-hina
Sakale sammana, korite sakati, Deho’ natha! Jathajatha

Tabe to gaibo, hari-nama-sukhe, Aparadha ha ‘be hata
Kabe heno krpa, labhiya e jana Krtartha hoibe, natha! Sakti-buddhi-hina, ami ati dina, Koro’ more atma-satha Jogyata-vicare, kichu nahi pai, Tomara karuna – sara

Karuna na hoile, kandiya kandiya Prana na rakhibo ara

“O Gurudeva! By a drop of your mercy make this servant of yours more humble than a blade of grass. Give me strength to bear all trials and troubles, and free me
from all desires for personal honor.”

“O Lord and Master, Invest me with the power to properly honor all living beings. Only then will I sing holy name in great ecstasy and will all my offenses cease.”

“O Lord and Master, when will this devotee blessed by obtaining your mercy? I am low, fallen, and devoid of all strength and intelligence. Please make me your beloved servant.”

“O Lord and Master, when I examine myself I find nothing of good value. Your mercy is therefore essential to me. If you are not merciful, I will constantly weep, and I will not maintain my life any longer.”

Excerpt from Sri Guru Vandana

“So, this is our prayer. This weeping, or crying, is required. And unless the child cries the mother will not run and the child will not get mother’s breast. Similarly, unless you cry, how can you have the darshan of Sri Guru? So this crying is required. And when the child cries mother runs to him. So, when the disciple cries the guru also runs there. He may be in any part of the world. Sri Guru karunamaya, he is very merciful, causelessly merciful, and thus he gives darshan to his disciple. Whether he is manifest or unmanifest, and he also comes in one’s dream to give his darshan. This is guru tattva and it is

nitya-tattva - eternal transcendental tattva. This guru-tattva is eternally prakata (manifest), it is not aprakata (unmanifest). There is no question of this guru-tattva unmanifesting, it is eternally manifest. This is inconceivable – Sri Guru Carana. It cannot be

understood through one’s material knowledge, intelligence and merit.” (Sri Guru Vandana by His
Divine Grace Srila Gour Govinda Swami Srila Gurudeva)

If you get a chance please read Srila Prabhupada’s ‘Spiritual Master and Disciple’ book (page 218-220).
It will greatly enlighten you and at this time. You
should pay attention to the section where Srila Prabhupada discusses what a disciple must do when his spiritual master depart this physical world.

Remember that your spiritual master Sripada Maharaja is a dear devotee of Sri Krishna. All his life he only worshipped Sri Krishna, and glorified Sri Krishna, and because of this he is automatically a spiritual

master. Only these persons are recognized by the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, who resides within the heart of all living entities. When these persons act as
guru, and give out the mantras to properly qualified candidates, Sri Krishna’s expansion Sri Guru Paramatma Lord Vishnu, residing in the heart of all living
entities, sanctions the results that is due to the
chanting of those mantras, and thereby the disciple develops faith to his devoted guru.

There is a nice example from Srimad Bhagavad Gita where the Supreme Lord Sri Hari Mukunda Murari Sri Krishna says:

Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah Sraddhayarcitum icchati
Tasya tasyacalam sraddham Tam eva vidadhamy aham

“I am in everyone’s heart as the Supersoul. As soon as one desires to worship the demigods, I make his faith steady so that he can devote himself to some particular deity.” (BG 7.21)

Sa taya sradhaya yuktas Tasyaradhanam ihate Labhate ca tatah Kaman Mayaiva vihitan hi tan

“Endowed with such a faith, he seeks favors of a particular demigod and obtains his desires. But in actuality these benefits are bestowed by Me alone.” (BG 7.22)

“mac-citta mad-gata-prana bodha yantah parasparam kathayantas ca mam nityam

tusyanti ca ramanti ca”

“The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.” (BG 10.9)

“tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam dadami buddhi-yogam
tam yena mam upayanti te”

“To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (BG 10.10)

“tesam evanukampartham aham ajnana-jam tamah nasayamy atma-bhava-stho jnana-dipena bhasvata”

“To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.” (BG 10.11)

While Sri Krishna is encouraging the jivas to take shelter of Him and He is assuring them He will take care of them if they will follow their spiritual
master’s instructions and His instructions from within inside still He is also issuing a warning statement in the following verse:

“mac-cittah sarva-durgani mat-prasadat tarisyasi atha cet tvam ahankaran na srosyasi vinanksyasi”

“If you become conscious of Me, you will pass over all the obstacles of conditioned life by My grace. If, however, you do not work in such consciousness but act through false ego, not hearing Me, you will be lost.”

(BG 18.58)

Due to Sripada Maharaja’s physical presence in this world we may not have taken advantage of his association seriously and worshipped him as a spiritual master should have been, and also due to his humble nature he didn’t encouraged it either. Yet, because he is a servant of Sri Krishna, and a

spiritual master for all of us, Sripada Maharaja

should have been offered that worship. Since the disciples didn’t practice it during his presence,
there is no better time than now to start that worship because if you don’t, the memory of Sripada Maharaja will end up being erased from the mind and then from the heart and then it will be barren land where

nothing will grow. Out of sight, out of mind and then out of heart. Srila Prabhupada’s disciples have experienced that, and some of us also experienced that, and as a result they lost the mercy and end up leaving the shelter of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva in the name of so called spiritual advancement.

Understand by all these events that your Sripada Maharaja is a pure devotee of Sri Krishna, and a bonafide spiritual master. If you all want continuous spiritual support in your spiritual life, from Sri

Guru from within the heart, then you will have to worship His external manifestation... that is your spiritual master, Sripada Maharaja. You must find a
way to remember your spiritual master everyday. Before you embark on your daily activities of taking care of

the family and other activities, you should start your everyday by offering gurupuja, also chant those Sri
Guru Vandana daily and other prayers whenever
possible. When Sri Guru Paramatma sees this and is convinced that you really love and have attachement to the lotus feet of your spiritual master Sripada
Maharaja... only then He will shower mercy upon you. So please catch hold of the two lotus feet of His Divine
Grace Srila Bhakti Swarup Damodar Sripada Maharaja and never let go of them.

I offer my sincere humble obeisances again and again at the lotus feet of His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti
Swarup Damodar Sripada Maharaja on his divine departure to the abode of Lord Krishna and take great solace in the fact that Sripada Maharaja is with his beloved Lord Sri Krishna Gopaljiu in His divine abode. At the same time my sincere heartfelt condolences to his dear disciples and well wishers who at this unfortunate moment are experiencing pain and suffering at the sudden departure of Sripada Maharaja. Sri Krishna left Vrindavan suddenly and plunged the whole Vraja dham into great depression and separation. He did this only to increase the Vrajavasis love for Him. Some of us felt the same way when our beloved Srila Gurudeva left the planet suddenly. We still live in separation and take shelter in the following verses

from Srimad Bhagavad Gita:

“mac-citta mad-gata-prana bodha yantah parasparam kathayantas ca mam nityam tusyanti ca ramanti ca”

“The thoughts of My pure devotees dwell in Me, their lives are fully devoted to My service, and they derive great satisfaction and bliss from always enlightening one another and conversing about Me.” (BG 10.9)

“tesam satata-yuktanam bhajatam priti-purvakam dadami buddhi-yogam
tam yena mam upayanti te”

“To those who are constantly devoted to serving Me with love, I give the understanding by which they can come to Me.” (BG 10.10)

“tesam evanukampartham aham ajnana-jam tamah nasayamy atma-bhava-stho jnana-dipena bhasvata”

“To show them special mercy, I, dwelling in their hearts, destroy with the shining lamp of knowledge the darkness born of ignorance.” (BG 10.11)

The disciples of Sripada Maharaja are no exception either. And finally always remember the famous verse of Acarya Thakura Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura:

"He reasons ill who tells that Vaishnavas die When thou art living still in sound!
The Vaishnavas die to live, and living try
To spread the holy name around!"

Lowly servant in the service of Srila Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada,

Dinashyam das

PS: please remember that Sripada Maharaja had special affection for you and he considered you as his representative in Zurich. So now you have got the big responsibility of maintaining that responsibility. If

there is anything else I can do for you in your

worship and remembrance of Sripada Maharaja please feel free to contact me at my e-mail address.