“I do not know Kṛṣṇa at this time, but I do know my gurudeva.”
Over the past ten days, our readings from A Life of Devotion – a biography written by Śrīmatī Devamayī Dīdī depicting the life and teachings of Śrīla Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja – have been a source of great nourishment for me, and for the Ekādaśī posting today, I wanted to share some excerpts from it. (View playlist of the online readings here.) We've covered nearly 70% of the book, but we'll be temporarily pausing this reading to start reading Śrīla Gurudeva's Śrī Dāmodarāṣṭakam in celebration of Kārtika-vrata. The plan is to pick up our reading of A Life of Devotion again at the end of Kārtika, coinciding with the tīrobhāva-tithi of Śrīla Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja.
It looks like we'll be resuming our daily readings from Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata (beginning the Madhya-khaṇḍa) after Kārtika so that we can focus reading about the many special tithis within Kārtika. If you're interested to join in any of our daily readings, you can find the timings and links on the Caitanya-bhāgavata page.
I previously shared some touching childhood anecdotes from the lives of Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja and Śrīla Bhakti Kumuda Santa Gosvāmī Mahārāja in the following posts:
I was very happy to come across more heartwarming childhood pastimes of Śrīla Bhakti Kumuda Santa Gosvāmī Mahārāja in A Life of Devotion, which I can now add to this collection. Below are excerpts from pages 47 and 80 of this book (with some minor adjustments made for this post). [Download original book here.]
Eleven-year-old resident at the maṭha
In 1924, Śrī Nandasūnu Brahmacārī (later Śrīla Bhakti Hṛdaya Vana Gosvāmī Mahārāja) and Śrī Pranavānanda Prabhu (later Śrīla Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja) went to visit a householder Godbrother, Vaikuṇṭha Bābu. He had an eleven-year-old son who was greatly attracted to their association. So Śrī Pranavānanda Prabhu told his Godbrother, who happened to be a rich landholder, a doctor, and a good singer, “Your son is very extraordinary. He is spending all his time with us. Doesn't he go out and play like other eleven-year-olds?”
The father said, “No. From childhood, he has been like this. He is deeply attracted to harikathā.”
While speaking of his son, he became emotional and started crying. He asked, “Why are you asking about my son? Would you like to take him to the mission?”
Śrī Pranavānanda Prabhu replied, “We'd love to have a boy like this in our mission.”
The father said, “Then so be it. You take him with you.”
The parents did not deviate from their word: when it was time for the brahmacārīs to leave, the parents got their son ready to go with them.
Referring to this incident, Śrī Pranavānanda Prabhu said later, “It was very amazing how the parents happily sent their eleven-year-old son to live in the maṭha. This reminded me of Dhruva's mother, who dressed Dhruva with her own hands and sent him away to the forest to meditate on Kṛṣṇa.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda (Bhaktisiddānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura) loved this eleven-year-old boy, who would later be known first as Śrī Rādhā-ramaṇa Brahmacārī and then as Śrīla Bhakti Kumuda Santa Mahārāja.
Rādhā-ramaṇa Prabhu's article
When Śrīla Prabhupāda sent his first representatives outside India to Burma (now Myanmar) in the early 1930s, Śrī Rādhā-ramaṇa Brahmacārī, who was still a young boy, was among them. Śrīla Prabhupāda himself went to the Outram Ghāṭ Port in Calcutta to see them off. He commented, “Rādhā-ramaṇa is going to a foreign country at this tender age.”
While preaching in Burma, one day young Rādhā-ramaṇa Prabhu told Śrīla Bhakti Sudhira Yācaka Mahārāja, “Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja has said, ‘jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya dāsa – The real identity of the living entity is that of an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa.’ But I do not agree with this.”
Śrīla Yācaka Mahārāja became very upset. He said, “Are you crazy? You do not agree with Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī?”
Śrī Rādhā-ramaṇa Prabhu said, “I am going to write an article about this.”
So he wrote an article and sent it to Śrīla Prabhupāda in care of his editors. Śrī Pranavānanda Prabhu saw that article and smilingly gave it to Śrīla Prabhupāda.
In that article, Śrī Rādhā-ramaṇa Prabhu had written:
Yes, it is true, that my real identity is that I am an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. But I do not know Kṛṣṇa at this time. So I have no realization of this. If I say it now, it will only be lip service. But I do know my gurudeva. I can see myself as his eternal servant. By his grace, perhaps one day I will come to know Kṛṣṇa. Then I will realize my position as Kṛṣṇa's eternal servant, not before that. Now I see myself as the eternal servant of my guru. That is my real identity.
Reading this, Śrīla Prabhupāda was very pleased. He said, “Such a young boy wrote such nice things. I will give him my blessings in a letter. Please send it to him.”
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