Śrīla Gurudeva glorifies Śrīla B.V. Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja
Foreword to A True Servant, A True Master
Remembering nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja
[Compiled from nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s lectures on the appearance day of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, given on 29 December, 1991, and 6 January, 1994.]
What is vyāsa-pūjā?
What is vyāsa-pūjā? In a general sense, the full moon day that comes in the month of Āṣāḍha (June–July) is called Guru Pūrṇimā and it is the appearance day of Śrī Vyāsadeva, so everyone offers puṣpāñjalī at his feet on that day. This is observed in our sampradāya and in many other sampradāyas as well.
In our sampradāya, those who sit upon the seat of Śrī Vyāsadeva and preach and practise the message of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are ācāryas. On the ācārya’s appearance day, the worship he himself performs of his own guru and the guru-paramparā is called vyāsa-pūjā. Vyāsa-pūjā does not mean that the guru seeks to accept worship from his disciples and followers. Rather, on his birthday, he worships his own gurudeva as well as the Vaiṣṇavas, the guru-paramparā, and his worshipful deities, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This is called vyāsa-pūjā.
Look at the example of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, or more recently, as you all must have seen, our worshipful nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārājajī. On his appearance day, he would worship all the Vaiṣṇavas and Vrajavāsīs who came. He would give them garlands, tilaka, and fresh clothes. He would even give garlands, and so much honour to those who are on the level of his disciples, the disciples of his god-brothers like myself.
If this manner of conduct is not taught, then as we see today, people just think, “Oh, guru-pūjā, vyāsa-pūjā, means my disciples will worship me.” This is the opposite of pūjā, this is not pūjā. Surely, even if the disciples see this misdirected sort of pūjā, they will at least learn to worship their guru. They should certainly perform pūjā of their guru, otherwise problems will come. But if the guru himself does not set an example of worshipping his own guru and his guru-varga, then what kind of pūjā will his disciple learn to perform?
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.17.27), it has been said, “ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān – know the guru to be Me, My own svarūpa.” Kṛṣṇa Himself is saying this. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī writes in his commentary that even the ordinary fruitive worker (karmī) is advised to see his guru [also a fruitive worker] as the form of Bhagavān, so what then to say of pure Vaiṣṇavas? In regard to them, we have statements like “yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādo” and “śākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ.” They are the āśraya-vigraha. We have two main āśraya-vigrahas: one is Śrī Baladeva Prabhu and the other is Śrīmatī Rādhikājī. Both issue forth from Kṛṣṇa, one in the form of sandhinī-śakti and the other as hlādinī-śakti. Kṛṣṇa Himself is cit-svarūpa, from where both issue forth and then come together. One channel comes from Baladeva Prabhu and the other from Śrīmatījī. One who serves Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa under that guidance and teaches how to attain that service is an ācārya. A guru who does not teach service of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is not really a guru.
If one has bhakti for Bhagavān, it does not even matter if one does not have full knowledge of śāstra. If one is expert in all the scriptures but has no realization of Bhagavān (bhagavad-anubhūti), then he is not an actual guru. Realization of Bhagavān is essential. If Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are not in a person’s own heart, how can that person seat Them in the hearts of others, his disciples? How can he do that? Therefore, to be equipped with realization of Bhagavān is the main characteristic of guru, while knowledge of scripture and other things are secondary characteristics. Many people go in the direction of scriptural knowledge and do not give attention to realization of Bhagavān. In such cases, even though such persons are referred to as guru, there is not much real benefit to be had in becoming their disciple. The primary characteristic of having gurutva is to have realization of Bhagavān. And what sort of bhagavad-anubhūti should that be? This is where the speciality of our sampradāya lies. If a person is fully ripened, matured in his understanding of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s conceptions and if he has that kind of realization of Bhagavān, then he is truly a guru within our sampradāya.
The greatest ambition
Service to guru must be performed in a way that is viśrambha (endowed with perfect intimacy and trust). In order to become viśrambha, we have to rise to the level that our gurudeva is on. In order to perform pūjā of Bhagavān, one must become like Bhagavān, as said in the Tantras: “devo bhūtvā devaṁ yajet[1] – one must obtain divine status to worship that which is divine.” So, to serve guru, we must come very close to his conceptions (vicāra). We will have to understand his conceptions and what he wants. That is why it is said that one cannot worship a deva (godly personality) if one is not a deva himself. Likewise, without comprehending the conceptions of guru, one cannot truly serve guru.
Hence, if one can serve in that viśrambha manner [with intimacy and trust], then guru becomes pleased. And then what happens? What do the members of our guru-varga want? They want to attain the service of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s foot dust. This is the highest aspiration. Others may want to cross over this ocean of material existence. Some want mokṣa (liberation), some want Vaikuṇṭha, some Dvārakā, etc. Some want to follow Subala and Śrīdāma, some want to follow Yaśodā and Nanda Bābā, and some want to follow in the footsteps of the sakhīs. What did Prabhupāda Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura say all the time? “Ādadānas tṛṇaṁ dantair idaṁ yāce punaḥ punaḥ, śrīmad rūpa-padāmbhojau dhuliḥ syāṁ janma-janmani[2] – clutching a straw between my teeth, I repeatedly pray to become but a particle of dust at the lotus feet of Śrīmad Rūpa, birth after birth.”
It is my understanding that for the jīva, this is the most beautiful and topmost desire, and it surpasses even prayers to attain the service of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. There cannot possibly be any greater ambition than this.
What does it mean to be rūpānuga?
Among all sampradāyas, our Brahma-Mādhva-Gauḍīya sampradāya has one speciality, expressed by the words “nikuñja-yunor-rati-keli-siddhyaiḥ, yā yālibhir yukti apekṣanīya, tatrāti-dakṣyād-ati-vallabhasya – śrī guru is very dear [to Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa] because he is very expert among the sakhīs in arranging the pastimes of the Divine Couple in the groves of Vṛndāvana.” There is not such extensive and variegated service of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes in any other sampradāya. The guru’s gurutva (quality of being guru) depends on this alone. Look at earlier verses of Gurvāṣṭaka, like mahāprabhor kīrtana nṛtya-gīta. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura takes us through a steady progression. Guru also personally performs arcana and pūjana of Ṭhākurajī – śrī vigrahārādhana nitya nānā. It starts there and ends up at nikuñja-yunor-rati-keli. This is the gurutva of guru. One who cannot give these teachings cannot be called a rūpānuga Vaiṣṇava or guru.
What does rūpānuga mean? By the inspiration and mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, Vidagdha-mādhava, and Lalita-mādhava. Those who follow what he wrote are not necessarily rūpānuga. They may be rāgānuga. They may be in the moods of dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, and even mādhurya, but what does it mean when we say rūpānuga? Who is Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī internally? Externally, he is the associate of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, and internally, he is Rūpa Mañjarī, the eternal companion of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. What is Rūpa Mañjarī’s personal service? How does she serve the Divine Couple? She serves as a prāṇa-sakhī, a mañjarī, as one who is rādhā-pakṣīya (favouring Śrīmatī Rādhikā). She serves Yugala-kiśora, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa both, but where is her absorption? Where is her inclination? It leans towards Śrī Rādhājī. Kṛṣṇa will also summon Rūpa Mañjarī. Both Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa will be standing there and calling to Rūpa Mañjarī, but who will she go to? Straight to Śrīmatī Rādhikā. This is Rūpa Mañjarī. If Kṛṣṇa loses a game, all the sakhīs clap, but she is the first to clap for Śrīmatī Rādhikā, and she teases Kṛṣṇa. This is why Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī sings praises with verses like “tvaṁ rūpa mañjarī sakhi prathita pure ’smin – O Rūpa Mañjarī, you are well known in the town of Vraja…” (Vilāpa-kusumāñjali, verse 1).
So, what does rūpānuga mean? One who follows Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s ācāra (conduct) and vicāra (conceptions) exclusively, who knows the service he renders in his eternal svarūpa (his svarūpa-gata-sevā), and who grants his disciples the desire, or aspiration, to serve in that same way is a rūpānuga ācārya. This is our sampradāya.
First, long ago, Śrī Nāradajī came and gave service in the mood of dāsya-rasa. Other great ācāryas have also come, even incarnations of Bhagavān have come, but they could not even approach the vicinity of what Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu gave. And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in a natural and spontaneous manner, infused Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s heart with all of what He came to give. Where did He do this? In Prayāga first, and then in Purī. One who can take those moods of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu into his heart and convey them to the hearts of his followers is truly one of our rūpānuga Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava ācāryas.
It is for this reason that Śrīla Prabhupāda referred to Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura as mahā-mahā-vadānya. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is mahā-vadānya, but Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura distributed what He came to give on a brand-new golden platter. What, then, is Śrīla Prabhupāda like? What did he do? He revealed Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, as well as the whole guru-paramparā, Śrīman Mahāprabhu, and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Those who reveal to us a personality such as Śrīla Prabhupāda are truly revered. We are so fortunate to have taken birth close to the time of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s associates. I came not long after, yet it is my misfortune that I could not take what Śrīla Prabhupāda gave. All his associates took that. Pūjyapāda Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Mahārāja is one of those associates. Our fortune is that we could have the association of those who received Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instruction. If we can grasp their conduct and conceptions and enter the realm of bhagavad-bhakti, then we will be greatly fortunate.
Pūjyapāda Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Mahārāja’s early life in the maṭha
Śrīla Prabhupāda was in this rūpānuga guru-paramparā and he had many associates. In a very short time, they preached throughout the whole world the message that was practised and preached by Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Of them, my gurudeva, nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja was foremost, and he [Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja] is his foremost disciple. Some identify with their families, with their mothers and fathers, but his identity was as a disciple of our guru mahārāja. His mother was a disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Her name was Śrīmatī Bhagavatī-devī. His father was a disciple of our guru mahārāja. Almost everyone else in his family – his brothers, his father, and most of his uncles – was a disciple of Guru Mahārāja. His mother, however, had taken shelter of Śrīla Prabhupāda before any of them. She entrusted pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja into the care of our guru mahārāja at a very young age.
Guru Mahārāja was like his father, and Śrī Narahari Prabhu, known as the mother of the Gauḍīya Maṭha, raised and nurtured him. Even if some of the boys wet their beds at night, Narahari Prabhu would clean it up. He would make sure they all got to bed on time, and then he would wake them up in the morning and bring them to maṅgala-ārati. He fed them and taught them how to read and write. He took care of everyone very lovingly. That is why there were so many people in the maṭha back then. People will only be attracted to guru if he gives them more love than they receive from their families and the rest of the world. Therefore, guru has to be loving like this. Then he can attract everyone.
Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja’s childhood name was Santoṣa. He was originally from the Khulna district, but he was raised here in the Gauḍīya Maṭha. Guru Mahārāja enrolled him in the Bhaktivinoda Institute. Guru Mahārāja taught him everything. He would give Santoṣa a “lemon juice” (candy) for every verse he memorized, so he would memorize up to a dozen verses or more a day. He lived in the āśrama [at Śrī Caitanya Maṭha] and went to school there [at the Bhaktivinoda Institute next to Yogapīṭha]. There were many other boys who went to school with him, but none of them remained brahmacārīs or took sannyāsa. Most of them left. A few remained.
From childhood, pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja had a profound love of learning, but he also served. He would set plates for everyone, set their āsanas, put salt and lemon on their plates, sweep and clean up after prasāda, bring everyone drinking water for the day, and also cut and prepare the vegetables for cooking. This is one of the main services in a Vaiṣṇava temple – cutting vegetables. He was so quick at cutting vegetables, you cannot imagine. You would look away for a moment, and chop, chop, chop, he would be done, and every piece would be the exact same size, none too big or small.
Accepting dīkṣā
After Śrīla Prabhupāda entered his unmanifest pastimes, conflicts ensued amongst the devotees of the Gauḍīya Maṭha. The opposing party filed false charges against our most worshipable śrīla gurudeva and forty of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s senior, respectable disciples, including Śrī Narahari Sevā-vigraha Prabhu, Śrī Kṛṣṇadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, pūjyapāda Bhakti Kuśala Narasiṁha Mahārāja, pūjyapāda Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja, and pūjyapāda Hṛṣīkeśa Mahārāja, and had them all thrown in prison. It was Śrī Santoṣa who would bring the case files to the lawyer and go to court, as well as cook prasāda and bring it to the jail for all forty devotees.
Guru Mahārāja imparted dīkṣā-mantras to him at that time and gave him the name Sajjana-sevaka Brahmacārī, but he could not perform his upanayana-saṁskāra, or sacred thread ceremony. Pūjyapāda Yāyāvara Mahārāja performed Śrī Sajjana-sevaka Brahmacārī’s upanayana-saṁskāra some time later at Śrī Śyāmānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha in Medinipur. Some say that Śrī Sajjana-sevaka Brahmacārī accepted harināma and dīkṣā from pūjyapāda Bhakti Vicāra Yāyāvara Mahārāja, but the truth is that he received harināma from jagad-guru nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda aṣṭottara-śata-śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī and dīkṣā from my guru-pādapadma, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja.
Refuting misconceptions about the sampradāya
Śrī Sajjana-sevaka Brahmacārī also lived for some time in Śrī Śyāmānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha. Śrī Ananta-rāma Brahmacārī (later pūjyapāda Śrīla Bhakti Jīvana Janārdana Gosvāmī Mahārāja) was also there. Around that time, some serious controversy arose in Vṛndāvana, as some so-called Gosvāmīs and Bābājīs were saying that there are more than four sampradāyas, that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is not in the line of Madhvācārya, and that He established the Gauḍīya sampradāya Himself.
In order to compose a proper essay refuting these claims, the references for two particular verses were needed. One of these verses was “sampradāya vihīna ye mantras te niṣphalā matāḥ, ataḥ kalau bhaviṣyanti catvaraḥ sampradāyinaḥ – unless one has been initiated in a sampradāya by a bona fide guru, the mantra received will have no effect, and in the age of Kali, there will only be four bona fide sampradāyas.” This is found in Prameya-ratnāvalī (1.5), quoted from Padma Purāṇa. The other verse, “janmanā jāyate śudraḥ saṁskarād hi bhaved dvijaḥ, veda-pāṭhāt bhavet vipraḥ brahma jānātī brāhmaṇaḥ – By birth, everyone is a śudra. One becomes a dvija (twice-born) upon receiving spiritual purification (saṁskāra) from a spiritual master. By studying the Vedas, one becomes a vipra. The real brāhmaṇa, however, is one who knows brahma.” This verse is originally from the Atreya-saṁhitā but is also found in the Skanda Purāṇa.
In order to find the proper references for these two verses and write that crucial rebuttal, the two brahmacārīs, Śrī Sajjana-sevaka and Śrī Ananta-rāma, went to the local king’s impressive library in Mahishadal near the town of Medinipur. They stayed there for several days combing through many books until they found the required references. While there, they took the opportunity to also read a great many Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava scriptures, as well as various Upaniṣads and Purāṇas that were available in that library.
His exceptional life as a brahmacārī
In 1940, some years after the disappearance of Śrīla Prabhupāda, my guru-pādapadma established Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti at Bosapada Lane, Kolkata. Śrī Sajjana-sevaka Brahmacārī was there at that time, as was Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja. And in 1943, when Guru Mahārāja established Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha in Śrī Navadvīpa-dhāma, Śrī Sajjana-sevaka Brahmacārī was with him there also. He performed all types of service for Guru Mahārāja, including cooking for him. And when Guru Mahārāja would leave to preach in the cities and towns on either side of the Gaṅgā, Śrī Sajjana-sevaka Brahmacārī would accompany him as his prominent assistant and servant.
Once, some Vaiṣṇava guests arrived at the Samiti centre in Kolkata. Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja had a fever of 104º, but there was no one else to cook for them. Guru Mahārāja woke him up. “What? You are sleeping? You have a fever? Get up quickly!” Vāmana Mahārājajī came and cooked with a fever of 104º. Guru Mahārāja told him, “Do everything you have to do here first, then rest.”
If some guests arrived here, right now, would anyone [who was ill with high fever] do this? No one else would have been able to get on his feet in that condition.
During our guru mahārāja’s time, Vāmana Mahārājajī and I stayed with each other a lot. We and one or two others used to go preaching together with Guru Mahārāja, in Medinipur, Chaubis Pargana, and so many other places, so we had time to get to know many things about each other. Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja told us how he got stuck in the flood in Māyāpura. He had taken a boat out into the river, when suddenly, a strong current came and swept his boat and him away. It was a very precarious situation. Somehow or other, he caught hold of a tree and brought the boat over to it. But then he noticed that the tree was full of snakes. They had no place to go, so they had sought refuge in the tree. There were snakes everywhere. It was very risky, especially since one could have fallen on him. Nevertheless, he said he had to just cling to the tree, chanting Bhagavān’s names, and after a while, some people spotted him and rescued him.
He used to wear wooden shoes. If he had to pick flowers from a tree, he would climb the tree wearing his wooden shoes. He could even climb bael trees in them. I used to wear wooden shoes too when I first came and would walk four or five miles in them, but he was more accustomed to it than I. He would go back and forth to Kolkata in those shoes.
People nowadays cannot imagine how austerely we lived then. We would be engaged in service day and night. And all the responsibility for the maṭha was on pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja. Guru Mahārāja would be out preaching. Vāmana Mahārājajī was put in charge of the press in Chunchura and started printing Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā (Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti’s monthly magazine). On Guru Mahārāja’s order, he printed many books, like Jaiva-dharma, Navadvīpa-bhāva-taraṅga, Gauḍīya-gīti-guccha, Navadvīpa-śatakam, Navadvīpa-dhāma Parikramā, and Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
As I mentioned, pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja came to the maṭha at a very young age, during Śrīla Prabhupāda’s time, in 1930. I came at the end of 1946, when Vāmana Mahārājajī had already been serving Guru Mahārāja for sixteen years and hearing his teachings. Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja is very senior. He is like Kākabhuśuṇḍi[3].
I have been under the shade of his feet for the last forty-five years. Everything I needed, he provided. He was the bhāṇḍārī (storehouse manager) then. He cared for me in every respect, supplying me with cloth and whatever else I needed. He always showed me much affection and I came to regard him as my śikṣā-guru.
Taking sannyāsa
Later, in 1952, pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja took sannyāsa, along with pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārājajī and me. At the time, all three of us expressed that we did not feel qualified to take sannyāsa. First, Vāmana Mahārāja was asked, or perhaps it was Trivikrama Mahārāja, as he was the eldest. Trivikrama Mahārāja was asked if he would take sannyāsa and he said no. When asked why, his reply was: “Look how learned Śrīla Prabhupāda was and also his disciples, what a great scholar Nemi Mahārāja is, how learned Śrauti Mahārāja is, and Guru Mahārāja is. We see them all, what exalted, learned scholars they are.” When Vāmana Mahārāja was asked, he too said he would not accept, so when I was asked, I also said I would not take. Then Śrīla Narasiṁha Mahārāja [Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s uncle] came to me and asked, “You will not take sannyāsa?”
“No,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because I am not qualified.”
“Are you going to decide whether or not you are qualified or is your gurudeva going to decide that?” he asked. “Is your not wanting to take sannyāsa for your own sake or will you take it to serve your gurudeva? What should happen – what your gurudeva wants or what you want? If it’s what you want, then why didn’t you stay in family life?”
He was very persuasive. He got it into my head, so I said, “Fine, I will take, whatever happens. If Gurudeva wants me to be naked, I will be naked. If he gives me sannyāsa, then I will take sannyāsa. If he gives me red cloth, I will take that. Whatever he says, I will do. I will not do anything of my own accord.”
So, then it was decided that just I, Gaura-nārāyaṇa, would take sannyāsa. Guru Mahārāja said, “Yes, it will just be him. No one else is ready to take.”
Later, as the sannyāsa preparations were being made, pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja and Trivikrama Mahārāja also agreed that if Guru Mahārāja wanted them to take sannyāsa, then they should also take. This is how the three of us were the first to take sannyāsa [in Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti]. The kind of sannyāsa I am seeing nowadays shows the standard has fallen. People who have no knowledge of siddhānta and no comprehension of Bhāgavatam are taking sannyāsa. The real qualification for sannyāsa is a willingness to serve śrī guru, as exemplified by the service pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja rendered from such an early age.
His shy nature
Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja is of a very shy disposition. He hardly speaks to anyone and when he does, he speaks very little. Once, I remember we went preaching somewhere, and Guru Mahārāja told Vāmana Mahārāja to give class. He was so anxious about how he was going to do so. He took a volume of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and started reading a verse. His pronunciation was very beautiful. He then read the translation and went on to read another verse and that verse’s translation. Somehow, like this, he got through the class.
Guru Mahārāja saw this shy nature of his and tried to change him gradually. Vāmana Mahārāja was then in charge of publishing Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā and did whatever was required to get it published. Then Guru Mahārāja told him to go preaching and the responsibility for publication work was given to someone else. Vāmana Mahārāja was very sad. He felt he was being sent away from the maṭha, from Chunchura. Although rather unhappy to go preaching, when he came back, he had changed completely.
After that he started giving lectures and explanations of śāstra that would go on for hours and hours. We can manage half an hour, three quarters of an hour, maybe an hour, but he carries on explaining complex tattva-siddhānta for hours, and in simple, understandable language, because he has such masterful command of the Bengali language and Gauḍīya siddhānta.
Also, he has his own unique way of refuting the misconceptions of others. He does not refute people in a way that is so apparent to them. In very polite and humble language, he lays out every aspect of the issue, but people do not understand that he is refuting them.
Expertise in relating to everyone
However people approach him, he reciprocates accordingly. I saw him in Chunchura one time, sitting with the neighbourhood children, telling them a ghost story, an experience he had once travelling late at night in a remote region of the Chaubis Pargana. He had encountered a marriage party of ghosts in the middle of the night in a desolate cremation ground. He told the children that the only way he had escaped the macabre festivities that night was because he had tulasī beads on his neck and his japa-māla with him and was chanting harināma loudly. The children would then come every day to hear stories like this.
Another time, while out preaching somewhere, I saw pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja sitting with some children. This was after he had taken sannyāsa. They were asking him, “Can you read palms?”
“Yes,” he said, and they started showing him their hands. He said, “Look, your mind is restless and you have stomach problems.” You can actually tell this just by looking at a person, especially if they are really skinny. “Your health is not good, you have a stomach problem, and you cannot focus on your studies. Your mind is restless.” Just by looking at them, he could tell something about them. People would be impressed and say, “He has mystic powers.” In this way, he interacts with everyone on their level, and if true spiritual seekers come, he deals accordingly with them.
Guru Mahārāja’s biographer and flawless scribe
Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja’s power of memory is extraordinary, and he is a very eloquent speaker and writer. What a prolific writer he is! After Guru Mahārāja’s disappearance, Vāmana Mahārājajī compiled the history of Guru Mahārāja’s transcendental life. He had regularly noted down Guru Mahārāja’s activities and pastimes and so he compiled this information into a biography covering Guru Mahārāja’s entire life, from his appearance to his disappearance. It includes accounts of Guru Mahārāja’s accepting the shelter of Śrīla Prabhupāda, serving the Gauḍīya Maṭha, his niṣṭhā in Prabhupāda, his developing Māyāpura, his establishing Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti, and then preaching all over India, his parikramās of various dhāmas and tīrthas. The book also describes the pilgrimages we went on with Guru Mahārāja to places like Śrī Jagannātha Purī, Kāśī-dhāma, Ayodhyā-dhāma, Vasūkīnātha, Naimiṣāraṇya, Vaidyānātha-dhāma, Bhadrācalam, Prayāga, Mathurā-maṇḍala, Vraja-maṇḍala, Dvārakā, Raṇa-choḍajī, Kurmācala, Panna Narasiṁha, Jiyaḍa Nṛsiṁha, Rameśvaram, Kanyā-kumārīu, Ahovalam, Trivandrum, Uḍūpi, Venkaṭeśvaram, Śrī Raṅgam, and so many other places. Most importantly, the book presents Guru Mahārāja’s conceptions in a truly marvellous way.
For the articles in Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā and various books that Guru Mahārāja wrote, he would give dictation just once and not have to review it, because pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārājajī would take care of everything else. Vāmana Mahārāja would compile the Patrikā, collecting material from various sources. Guru Mahārāja would provide one essay, while Vāmana Mahārājajī would see to everything else, and in those days, there were no cassettes or recorders.
When Guru Mahārāja would give lectures, pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja would take notes. He could write very fast. Once, in a single month, in thirty days, Guru Mahārāja gave lectures at over forty different places. Whenever Guru Mahārāja spoke, Vāmana Mahārāja would quickly note down what he was saying. All of those lectures were published in the Gauḍīya Patrikā. He would travel everywhere with Guru Mahārāja. It would be the middle of parikramā, and Guru Mahārāja would be dictating to him, nonstop, without pausing. There would be so many people around, but Vāmana Mahārājajī would not miss a thing.
When I came, I did not know him or anyone else. I only knew pūjyapāda Madhusūdana Mahārājajī, whose name then was Narottamānanda Brahmacārī, so, I would write to him, and he would give my letters to Guru Mahārāja to respond to. Guru Mahārāja would then have Vāmana Mahārāja write the responses. That is when Guru Mahārāja started addressing me as Tiwarijī; it was first by letter. When I came [to the maṭha], I did not know Vāmana Mahārājajī, but I had received many letters from him on Guru Mahārāja’s behalf, so I knew only his handwriting. When I left everything and came to the maṭha in December of 1946, I arrived at the station in Navadvīpa and saw someone carrying a lantern looking for me. He came up to me and asked, “Are you Tiwarijī?”
I said, “Yes. Who are you?”
“I am the one who has been writing you letters on behalf of Guru Mahārāja.”
“But how did you know I was coming?” I asked.
“Guru Mahārāja said you would be coming tonight,” he said. I had not, however, written anything about coming. I had just left suddenly, arriving there in the middle of the night, around eleven, via Katwa and Bardhaman. When I got there, I did not know where to go. That’s when I saw him, and he took me to the maṭha.
Guru Mahārāja’s deep affection for him
One time, in Chunchura, when he was entering some corrections after proofreading, his hand was badly injured in the press. There was no one else there to enter the corrections. He was by himself. He had started up the press and began feeding the paper into it when somehow the press crushed his hand. His finger was badly injured. Guru Mahārāja, with tears in his eyes, took him straight to Kolkata, to the medical college there. Guru Mahārāja kept him there for two or three days for treatment and did not leave his side till he was better. Guru Mahārāja was visibly shaken, disturbed. He was crying for him. Normally, Guru Mahārāja was a very grave and composed person. He was never seen to be in such an emotional state. Another time, also, when pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja fell ill, Guru Mahārāja dropped everything he was doing to take him to Shimla for treatment.
The encyclopedia of Gauḍīya siddhānta
Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja is very much a śruti-dhara (one who remembers everything he hears). He only has to hear something once to remember it, even big, long verses. The rest of us will recite a verse repeatedly, trying to memorize it, trying to grind it in and make it stick, and still we forget half the verse. I see that he is like the encyclopedia of the Gauḍīya Maṭha siddhānta. He can produce references from everywhere. He can recite Bhagavad-gītā all the way through, without pause. He can do the same with Vedānta-sūtra and all the main verses of Bhāgavatam.
Guru Mahārāja once took five sannyāsīs and ten to twelve brahmacārīs preaching in Assam. We came to the village of Baripada, which was largely populated by the disciples of Śaṅkaradeva, who had written the so-called “Thirteenth Canto” of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. His followers worshipped Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa, but they also ate meat, fish, and other such foodstuffs. In a large gathering, Guru Mahārāja declared that the mouths of those who perform bhajana of Śrī Kṛṣṇa while eating meat and fish and drinking alcohol are like sewers full of stool and urine. Upon hearing this, Śaṅkaradeva’s many followers began to attack the devotees on stage with sticks and stones. It was chaos and people were scattering. But Guru Mahārāja remained still and calm. “If you want to fight,” he said gravely, “We too can take up sticks and stones. You should calm down and listen. Those with questions or doubts are welcome to present them.”
In the course of the following discussion, the followers of Śaṅkaradeva declared Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to be an ordinary person, not an incarnation of Bhagavān, and requested evidence of His supreme position. Guru Mahārāja then motioned to pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja, who promptly stood up and quoted around thirty-five verses, one after another, starting with kṛṣṇa varṇam tviṣākṛṣṇam and channa-avatāra, to prove that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is indeed Bhagavān. The audience was astonished and silenced. In this way, the preaching programme turned out to be quite a success.
Special qualities
Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārājajī has one very special quality, which is that he never praises himself. We, somehow or other, find a way to praise ourselves, but I have never seen this in him. If I am present, he will not speak. He will just keep telling me, “You speak, you speak.” And I will say, “No, please, you speak.” The audience has to just sit there for ten minutes, watching us go back and forth like this. If I say something wrong when I speak, he will not correct me. Even after the class is over, he will not say anything. Once, when we were at the Śyāmasundara temple in Vṛndāvana, I said that Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa had established the temple, but it’s Śrī Śyāmānanda Prabhu’s temple. Several days later, he finally mentioned that the temple had actually been established by Śyāmānanda Prabhu, not Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa. He will never directly correct or contradict me, and whenever I am with him, he will always ask me to speak. He has this manner of giving respect to me and to everyone. This is the nature of a Vaiṣṇava, to always give honour to others.
Although pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja is the ācārya, he is completely devoid of the pride of being an ācārya and throughout his life he has always remained under the guidance of his god-brothers. During Navadvīpa parikramā, before he gives initiations, he comes to Śrīla Trivikrama Mahārāja and me and says, “O Mahārāja, please give me permission to give initiations.”
I once sent pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja a letter requesting him to come to Mathurā, because many people there wanted to take harināma and dīkṣā initiation. He wrote back, saying, “I told you long ago, and I am telling you again, that you yourself should, without hesitation, give harināma and dīkṣā intitiation. My health is not good. If you do this, it will save me from having to travel, and the preaching there will not be hindered.”
How rare it is to find a Vaiṣṇava ācārya like him who, with trust and magnanimity, instructs his god-brother to give harināma and dīkṣā. These days, so many quarrels take place over this issue.
Pūjyapāda Mahārāja is also very discrete in how he gives money to people. No one knows what or how much he gives or to whom. After Guru Mahārāja’s disappearance, I was doing some renovation work in Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha. We were not receiving many donations as we were not really acquainted with anyone in Mathurā at that time. I did not how I was going to manage. Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja found out and without telling anyone, very discretely, gave 5,000 rupees towards the project. That was how the renovations started, and slowly, we were able to do all this. Praṇāmī comes to him, but he does not advertise what he gives and to whom. You should give with one hand in such a way that your other hand does not know.
And do not even ask about his affection for his disciples. He has so much affection for them. He speaks so affectionately with each of them that each disciple feels he loves him or her the most. He loves them so much. I do not know how to love so much. He really knows how to love. And though he has this affection for his disciples, he is still very detached.
[The following is from a written glorification on the first anniversary of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s disappearance, presented in Rays of The Harmonist, Kārtika, 2005.]
Advocating bhajana in the mood of rādhā-dāsyam
Sometimes, especially during Navadvīpa parikramā, pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja and I would have loving quarrels. They would even take place on the stage, in public. He would cut my arguments and I would cut his. Once, in the course of one such quarrel, I presented mādhurya-rasa according to the conception of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. My point was that on the strength of their service to Śrī Rādhā, Her maidservants do not even care to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa. I quoted the śloka “na pāraye ’ham niravadya-saṁyujāṁ” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.32.22) wherein Śrī Kṛṣṇa is saying, “O gopīs, even if I lived as long as Lord Brahmā or any other demigod, I would not be able to repay My debt to you.” I also quoted Gīta-govinda (10.19.8), where Śrī Kṛṣṇa says, “smara-garala-khaṇḍanaṁ mama śirasi maṇḍanaṁ dehi pada-pallavaṁ udāraṁ – My beloved! Offer the fresh buds of Your enchanting feet as an ornament upon My head.”
From the perspective of tattva, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is Svayam Bhagavān, but due to the excellence of āśraya-jātīya-prema (the prema experienced by devotees), He becomes indebted to Śrīmatī Rādhikā and begs for Her forgiveness.
Pūjyapāda Trivikrama Mahārāja then refuted my statements and established the bhagavattā (Godliness) and importance of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In this way, there ensued sweet debates between us. Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja, the chairman of the assembly, witnessed our loving quarrels and spoke his conclusion: “ ‘rādhā-pakṣa chāḓi’, je-jana se-jana, je-bhābe se bhābe thāke, āmi to rādhikā pakṣa-pāti sadā[4] – I am forever in the group of Śrī Rādhājī. Whoever is not a part of Rādhā’s group can be and do as they like.’ This is the conception of the followers of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.
“Performing bhajana with the inclination to serve Śrīmatī Rādhikā is the best type of bhajana. It cannot be said that no one is qualified to perform this kind of bhajana. In this world, there is always a rūpānuga Vaiṣṇava who is capable of doing such bhajana. Past, present, and future – there will always be someone with this qualification. To say otherwise is incorrect, because the world would face destruction if it lacked the presence of such a qualified person.” His philosophical perspective made a substantial impression on the audience.
Absorption in vipralambha-bhajana
After the disappearance of our guru mahārāja, pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja was always absorbed in performing bhajana in a mood of deep separation (vipralambha), so much so that when disciples came to him to discuss any issue, especially in relation to management, he would say, “Go to Śrīpāda Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja and he will address your problem.”
For two or three years before his disappearance, he completely withdrew from the external world, absorbing himself internally in nāma-bhajana. Sometimes, he was overwhelmed with ecstasy and would call out, “O Ṭhākurāṇī, have mercy on me! Ṭhākurāṇī! Have mercy, have mercy!” He would even cry this out as he slept.
Disappearance and samādhi
In 2004, some days before his disappearance from this world, pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja was staying on the bank of the River Gaṅgā at a place called Baidyabati, a short distance from Kolkata. Even though his health was poor, he journeyed to Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha in Śrī Navadvīpa-dhāma to observe kārtika-vrata. And in that month of Kārtika, on the day of gaura-tṛtīyā, he entered into Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s eternal pastimes.
On this day, I was at Śrī Govardhana performing our annual Śrī Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā with a thousand or so participants. When I heard the news, I went to Navadvīpa-dhāma. I had been informed of a scheduled time for his samādhi ceremony, but it was performed ahead of schedule, before I arrived. This was quite disconcerting for me and for some of my god-brothers. Nonetheless, I went there and, accompanied by kīrtana, performed worship and parikramā of his samādhi.
I lived with pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja for almost sixty years and had the opportunity to closely observe and understand him. He possessed all the qualities that are inherent in a Vaiṣṇava. By nature, he was simple, grave, humble, tolerant, overflowing with guru-niṣṭhā and inclined to serve the Vaiṣṇavas. This situated him on the highest level of bhakti. His guru-niṣṭhā was astounding. With his life in his hands, he would step forward and offer himself in the service of Guru Mahārāja. Guru-niṣṭhā is the backbone of bhakti. I have seen many guru-sevakas, but pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja’s service to Guru Mahārāja with his body, mind, words, and sentiments was extraordinary. In this world, such a guru-sevaka is rare. We pray to him that while engaged in the eternal service of Śrī Gurudeva and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, he be merciful upon us all so that we can also perform guru-sevā with niṣṭhā like him and thus dedicate our lives to śrī guru and his mission.
[1] Gandharva-tantra (9.2): “nyāsas tadātmako bhūtvā devo bhūtvā tu taṁ yajet.”
[2] Śrī Dāna-keli-cintāmaṇi (175) and Muktā-carita by Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī
[3] An immortal sage and devotee of Śrī Rāmacandra who accepted the form of a crow and witnesses Bhagavān’s pastimes across infinite eons.
[4] Śaraṇāgati and Gītamālā, Vṛṣabhānu-sutā (4) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura