Śrīla Narahari Sevāvigraha Prabhu's practice at night

Haribol. Please accept my praṇāma. We just now finished our daily morning Bhāgavatam reading. At the end of it, we read something for the appearance day of Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja and the disappearance day of Śrīla Narahari Sevāvigraha Prabhu. You can watch/listen to reading here.

Śrīla Bhakti Kumuda Santa Gosvāmī Mahārāja's remembrance of Śrīla Narahari Sevāvigraha Prabhu was so beautiful, I'm feeling inspired to share it here with you on this auspicious day.

It was translated by Rays of The Harmonist team for the book Kṛti-ratna (page 97).

Vinoda Dā and Narahari Dā’s ideal character, guru-niṣṭhā, guru-sevā and bhajana

by Śrīla Bhakti Kumuda Santa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

I was fortunate to have received the full shelter of Śrī Gurudeva’s [Śrīla Bhaktisiddānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda’s] lotus feet at the age of eleven. At that time, I was living in the rented Kolkata maṭha at No. 1 Ultadanga Junction Road and studying at primary school. Later, I stayed in the maṭha in Māyāpura and studied Harināmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa. At the time, the present ācārya of Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti, Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Mahārāja, was my classmate. We lived together, studying, serving and so on. Since then, I had the good fortune to be extremely close to parama-pūjyapāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja.

In those days, all the residents of the maṭha affectionately addressed him as Vinoda Dā. I also called him Vinoda Dā. He had not yet taken sannyāsa. As the property manager in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpura, he took full charge of overseeing the estate. He was rather debonair and would ride a horse to tend to estate affairs. Vinoda Dā naturally commanded so much authority that we were somewhat intimidated by the very sight of him. Although he was a brahmacārī, all the sannyāsīs and senior godbrothers treated him with particular respect.

At the time, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s dear servant pūjyapāda Śrīpāda Narahari Prabhu looked after the maṭha in Māyāpura. He was, in a way, the mother of the maṭha. We all addressed him as “Prabhu”. He had a very accommodating nature and cared for all the youngsters in the maṭha with great affection. We therefore spoke with him openly and without inhibition. The grave and sombre Vinoda Dā and the simple and straightforward Śrī Narahari Prabhu made an astonishing, transcendental combination. Together, they enlivened us all with their ideal character and their exemplary faith in guru, service to guru, and practice of bhajana, so much so that till today we have not deviated from the realm of bhajana. Theirs was a great friendship.

Śrīpāda Narahari Dā was always loudly chanting the names of Hari throughout the day, wherever he went, busy with various tasks in service to the maṭha, but we did not know what he did at night. One evening, I woke unexpectedly and saw that he was rapt in chanting japa of the mahā-mantra – “hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare” – in a gentle yet stricken tone. I then saw, to my surprise, that his śikhā was tied by rope to a peg in the wall. I knew it was not appropriate to disturb his harināma, so I went back to sleep. In the morning, I offered obeisances at his lotus feet with great sincerity and inquired, “Prabhu, why did you have your śikhā tied to a peg in the wall last night while you were performing bhajana?” He dismissed me affectionately, saying: “Go and study, you won’t understand all this just yet.”

Then he continued. “You see, I’m busy all day with various services in the maṭha, so I don’t get any time to chant harināma. At night when chanting, I tie my śikhā to the peg in the wall so that laziness and sleep do not overcome me.” Such was his astonishing conviction in performing sādhana and bhajana.

One more remembrance I'd like to share with you is an excerpt from my Gurudeva's glorification of Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, which I included in the recent VoD post Śrī Vinoda-bihārī Prabhu's Santoṣa:

❝Guru Mahārāja [Śrīla B.P. Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja] was like his [Śrīla Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja's] 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.❞

From the book A True Servant, A True Master (page xxvii)