Bhakti Brhat Bhagavata Swami Sannyasa Initiation

Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami: Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja, Srila Bhakti Chaitanya Swami Maharaja, Brhat Mridanga Prabhu, and respected ladies and gentlemen of the South African yatra, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, I would like to begin by saying that I am very honored to have the opportunity to be present with all of you today on this very auspicious day of Brhat Mridanga Prabhu’s initiation into and acceptance of the sannyasa order of life.

Before I go any further, I have to be a little honest with you because basically we are all family members here, and I am feeling a little shy today, because I am sitting here in the presence of Srila Giriraj Swami and Srila Bhakti Chaitanya Swami, and I must say something. Many, many years ago, I took one of those types of vows that I would never be audacious enough to speak in front of Giriraj Maharaja, but it seems like my vow is getting kicked today. So we will try to say a few words. It is hard though because Srila Giriraj Maharaja is an outstanding mountain of love. He is a mountain of unwavering devotional service and he is so deep, very, very deep in his comprehension and understanding of the devotional moods of his beloved spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada. And not only Srila Prabhupada, but that of all of our previous acharyas and Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Sri Krishna as well. So therefore I am feeling really like less than a firefly in the presence of the sun. And not only that, I am sitting on the same divan next to Srila Bhakti Chaitanya Swami and he is similarly an unlimited, very deep reservoir of knowledge and devotion. He is devoted and very loving and caring to Vaishnavas all over the world and he is very exclusively fixed in devotional service to Srila Prabhupada, to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and to Sri Krishna. Again, less than a firefly in the presence of another sun, maybe the sun and the moon. Besides that, all of you are learned Vaishnavas, and you all understand the conclusions of Krishna consciousness so nicely.

Approximately five hundred years ago Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu accepted the sannyasa order of life. We know that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was living with His beloved mother, He was living with His wife, He was living with His circle of pure devotees in Navadvipa, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu felt that that family He would have to sacrifice for the benefit of the greater family of the world. Therefore He accepted sannyasa.

The Caitanya-caritāmṛta describes that when Lord Chaitanya did accept sannyasa, He was constantly chanting a particular mantra and He was constantly meditating on a particular mantra, and that mantra is from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and it is a mantra that is spoken by the Avanti brahman. He says:

etāṁ sa āsthāya parātma-niṣṭhām

adhyāsitāṁ pūrvatamair maharṣibhiḥ

ahaṁ tariṣyāmi duranta-pāraṁ

tamo mukundāṅghri-niṣevayaiva

“I shall cross over the insurmountable ocean of nescience by being firmly fixed in the service of the lotus feet of Krishna. This was approved by the previous acharyas, who were fixed in firm devotion to the Lord, Paramātmā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

So again that verse explains that by keeping oneself fully absorbed in the Supreme Personality of Godhead through engaging in His devotional service, a person can cross over the insurmountable ocean of nescience. So Lord Chaitanya was chanting this mantra and chanting this mantra and chanting this mantra. And Lord Chaitanya, His conclusion by chanting and His meditation on this verse is that this is the essential meaning of the acceptance of the sannyasa order of life that, “My life becomes exclusively dedicated to the devotional service of Sri Krishna.” 

The last words in the verse as stated: mukundāṅghri-niṣevayaiva. Srila Prabhupada in one of his talks says that this mukundāṅghri, he explains that Mukunda is Sri Krishna who is the giver of liberation and aṅghri means “the limbs.” I read one lecture where Srila Prabhupada was saying aṅghri is meaning the feet. Srila Prabhupada in one of his lectures he said, “Mukunda. Muk means mukti, liberation.” And then he says, “And also Krishna is ānanda, ‘one who gives joy in life.’” And niṣevayaiva means “exclusive worship”—nothing else in life except the exclusive worship of Sri Krishna.

At the time that Lord Chaitanya accepted sannyasa, there were different sampradāya as are different sampradāyas today. They had different conceptions of what the acceptance of sannyasa meant. Some of the sampradāyas said acceptance of sannyasa means to shave your head in one way or acceptance of sannyasa means to leave the tuft on the back of your head, the śikhā. Some thought that acceptance of sannyasa means to change your clothes this way or to change your clothes that way. But Lord Chaitanya thought, “No.” Lord Chaitanya was purely an essentialist and He said, “The only meaning of sannyasa is that I will take My mind and I will take My words and I will take My senses and I will dedicate My soul 100 percent in the service of Sri Krishna.”

So this is a great day. This is not a small day. This is a terrifically meaningful day. And on this day I know myself and I feel that all the Vaishnavas here, we should commend Brhat Mridanga Prabhu for accepting this most serious decision that he has ever made in his life and that decision is that Brhat Mridanga utterly and willfully accepts that in this life there will be nothing more for himself. He accepts that in this life everything will be for Krishna. Today Brhat, he accepts that the totality of his existence will be dedicated to Krishna’s loving devotional service through the pure process of rendering unalloyed and loving faithful devotional service to the feet of his spiritual master and to the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord.

Now we have all heard the songs of our acharyas and we all know that song of Narottama dasa Thakura and he says Hari, guru, and Vaishnavas. So today we, I. B. B. Govinda Swami and I hope and I am sure all the rest of our family here, we offer our sincere prayers and blessings to Brhat Mridanga Prabhu that his spirit of great devotional service which all of us have personally witnessed throughout the years will continue to grow and grow to full ripeness and perfection and that by Brhat’s unalloyed service to Hari, guru, and Vaishnavas, he will attain that state which is described in the verse that Lord Chaitanya meditated on and that state is called parātma-niṣṭhām, perfect, unwavering devotional service, and worship at the lotus feet of Lord Sri Krishna.

So in conclusion I would like to say that we have all heard the soil that the you find in Africa is very fertile and our Srila Prabhupada, he is a very expert gardener, and I think we should take note today that from the soil of Africa our Srila Prabhupada has grown four sannyasis [applause], our Srila Bhakti Chaitanya Swami Maharaja, Srila Partha Sarathi Goswami Maharaja, Srila Bhakti Nṛsiṁha Swami Maharaja, and our to-be Maharaja. [applause] We should all pray that this very splendid garden of your beautiful nation of South Africa, in this very splendid garden of Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON family in South Africa, continues to grow more and more Vaishnavas that have that quality of parātma-niṣṭhām or exclusive devotion to the lotus feet of Sri Krishna.

In conclusion I would like to say, Brhat, congratulations. I wish you all the best. I want you to know that I am your servant and I pray that at any time I may be needed, I may be of some use to you and your work for spreading the mission of Srila Prabhupada. 

Brhat Mridanga Prabhu ki jaya! [applause]

Bhakti Chaitanya Swami: Such wonderful words from His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami Maharaja. Such beautiful words and so appropriate. In Srila Prabhupada’s movement, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, we do not give or allow devotees to take the sannyasa order of life so easily. It is not impossible, but we try our best to examine the devotees over a period of some time, and evaluate in a way which we feel Srila Prabhupada would be happy with and would feel there is a proper responsible way of dealing with this extremely important part of Krishna consciousness. The sannyasa order of life is very, very important. The sannyasi is the natural spiritual master of all other orders in the varnashrama system. A person in the sannyasa order has a natural type of authority simply by being in that order. Therefore we certainly do not give it cheaply at all.

His Grace Brhat Mridanga Prabhu has been practicing Krishna consciousness for more than twenty years, perhaps approximately twenty-five years or so, and all that time he has remained in the brahmacārī-āśrama, and has very seriously maintained the standards of the brahmacārī-āśrama in terms of renunciation and so on. He has also dedicated himself very seriously and very successfully to preaching this message of Srila Prabhupada, preaching the message of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Lord Nityananda Prabhu of the saṅkīrtana mission. 

Therefore today, after going through all these procedures as mentioned of observing and analyzing and discussing actually, evaluating, the devotees including the Governing Body of this International Society for Krishna Consciousness, the most senior devotees, practically in Srila Prabhupada’s movement, we have felt happy and satisfied that His Grace Brhat Mridanga Prabhu can be given the blessings to accept this sannyasa order of life, this great responsibility of the renounced order of life in Srila Prabhupada’s movement.

Actually to take sannyasa, to be in the sannyasa order of life is a very wonderful thing. One is freed, one is officially freed from various other things which are there in different positions in life. One is freed to absorb oneself cent percent, 108 percent, in devotional service as His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja so nicely expressed that that is the official motto or whatever the concept which is there. And that verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam which Maharaja quoted that the sannyasis in ISKCON, they chant that three times a day every day. So, one is officially freed from various other things which in many cases have the potential at least to distract us from our real business in life, our main business, which is to engage fully, wholeheartedly in the devotional service of the Lord under the supervision of Srila Prabhupada and under the supervision of Srila Prabhupada’s representatives. 

Maharaja particularly focused on the last line, tamo mukundāṅghri-niṣevayaiva, that we will take shelter of those lotus feet of Mukunda. Mukunda is that form of Krishna who is the giver of liberation. So by engaging in service in the sannyasa order of life, one gets that special mercy of the Lord as Mukunda to become free and travel and preach the message of Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the message of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, to preach that, and if the sannyasi absorbs himself completely in that preaching mission, repeating the message which is coming through Srila Prabhupada to us, then to be a sannyasi like that, it is the most wonderful thing.

Even I remember actually myself in 1994 on Gaura-purnima day, His Holiness Giriraj Swami who is giving Brhat Mridanga Prabhu sannyasa today, he gave me sannyasa also. [applause] And I have here next to me the same tridaṇḍa, sannyasa daṇḍa which Maharaja gave me that day and it was a great day. Of course I had been a brahmachari also. Like Brhat Mridanga Prabhu I had been a brahmachari for more than twenty years, twenty-three years, and in a sense I was used to living that life, but when Maharaja was merciful enough, despite my severe or complete lack of qualification, but I got a great feeling of freedom and release from different things which were not so positive, and it was a new life and really I relish that. I relished it at the time and I relish it today. It is just so wonderful. I am not necessarily recommending it too strongly for all of you men [laughter], but it is a fact that Srila Prabhupada, he really had a desire, a hope that the committed devotees, as they approach the later parts of their lives, as they enter into old age and around fifty or thereabout, Srila Prabhupada really did have a desire that the committed devotees would move in the direction of taking sannyasa and make that commitment and absorb themselves in that way of life and be happy doing that. In this way in ISKCON we could have a big team of sannyasis travelling and preaching all over the world and having a tremendous impact all over the world.

So I think Srila Prabhupada today is very happy that His Grace Brhat Mridanga Prabhu is taking this step and he knows very well because he has had the last five years or so since his name was put on the sannyasa waiting list, he has had that time to think about it and consider and he also knows many sannyasis and is able to discuss with them the implications and what is involved in the sannyasa way of life.

I have known Brhat Mridanga Prabhu basically since the day he joined and we have had so much association over the years and I am extremely happy that he is taking this step under the supervision and by the mercy of Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja who is his initiating spiritual master and great well-wisher. 

So in offering my or expressing my happiness and my best wishes for Brhat Mridanga Prabhu and his success in the sannyasa order of life, I would just request him, please bear this point in mind also, fully engaged in devotional service in preaching devotional service under the direction, under the lotus feet, under the shelter of the lotus feet of Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja. 

There is one verse in the Second Chapter of the First Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and that verse says that nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, we should render devotional service, we should serve the Bhāgavatas. Srila Prabhupada specifically pluralizes the word Bhāgavata—the Bhāgavata. One Bhāgavata is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, one bhāgavata is the person bhāgavata. In this particular case Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja under the shelter of Srila Prabhupada. One devotee asked Srila Prabhupada, “Of these two Bhāgavatas, the book Bhāgavata and the person bhāgavata, which is more important, the book Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or the person bhāgavata, the spiritual master particularly who is directing and guiding and who is the authority spiritually? Which is more important?” The answer was, Srila Prabhupada responded, “The person bhāgavata is more important.” Srila Prabhupada said, “Because he can pull your ear.” [laughter] I think you get the idea. The book Bhāgavata is simply glorious and wonderful, but if you are reading and for any reason you want to put it down, then you can just put it down and walk away. But the person bhāgavata you cannot just put him down and walk away from him so easily. 

This is the role of the spiritual master in Krishna consciousness and in the sannyasa order of life the role of the spiritual master is particularly important. Of course always important in any order of life, but when one takes sannyasa and there is nothing else, there is nowhere else to run for shelter. You cannot run to your family or your old friends or this or that or take a break so to speak. You are just there. You are there. There is nothing else but tamo mukundāṅghri-niṣevayaiva, the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in preaching the mission. So in the sannyasa order of life, to have a strong connection with the spiritual master, is really very vital and very beneficial. 

So Brhat Mridanga Prabhu is very fortunate, he is taking sannyasa directly from his initiating spiritual master who knows him very well for so many years and who has a deep personal interest in his Krishna consciousness. My advice to His Grace Brhat Mridanga Prabhu in his last minutes as His Grace Brhat Mridanga Prabhu before that person departs to wherever [laughter] is really take shelter of Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja. As Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja said, he is very deep. He is a great devotee and not an ordinary devotee at all. So take shelter of Srila Prabhupada under the supervision of Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja. You do that and to whatever degree you do that, and I am confident of course you will do that wholeheartedly, but to whatever degree you do that, you will be successful and your taking of sannyasa today and your ongoing life as a sannyasi in Srila Prabhupada’s ISKCON will simply be a grand success and something we can all be very proud of. [applause]

His Grace Brhat Mridanga Prabhu ki jaya!
His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!
Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Sannyasa dharma ki jaya!

Brhat Mridanga Prabhu: I feel quite small here actually, reason being is that all of you have come to bless me and I need that like anything and at the same time, by your presence, you are making me feel that I belong to all of you, because I realized one time that a sannyasi is above possessiveness, but he belongs to everyone simultaneously. So I feel safe in that way.

Given the history that Ramanujacharya Prabhu spoke about—like a biodata—I served here in powerful positions because a position of president is one of the most powerful positions in ISKCON and I also served in a similar position in the Krishna-Balarama Mandir in Vrindavan. When one serves in such powerful positions, it is almost inevitable that one makes mistakes and commits offenses unknowingly. So I don’t know who I committed offenses to, especially here in Durban, South Africa in general. So I am just begging that you please forgive me if I committed any offenses in the line of duty and in the line of service. And you are free to also come to me and let me know because sometimes we may hear the comment, “Oh, I know him. He gave me a hard time.” [laughter] I am willing to rectify and beg forgiveness and clear that for whatever it is worth from my side. I will try my best.

I was strict in many ways over the years. I remember as a young brahmachari when in these gardens I remember when I walk on one pathway, all the ladies will walk on the other pathway. [laughter] Not that I wanted them to walk that way, but it is just my lower nature, hardheartedness was there. So by your forgiveness for all the offenses that I have committed over the years and I don’t know again. . . if you come to me and let me know, it will help me to make spiritual progress.

Then we heard from His Holiness B. B. Govinda Maharaja about the sannyasa order itself and it is quite an order to enter into. I will refer to one verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it says, prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ. Here it is clear that the effect of the Kali-yuga on the person’s consciousness and the person’s consciousness themselves that [is described] in this verse that they are misguided, unlucky, unfortunate, and so forth. So in this particular verse Srila Prabhupada makes an interesting point in the purport and he says that to the extent that the student or community. . . in Vedic culture is known as brahmacharis, they are no longer being maintained. Because of that the brahmacharis are no longer being maintained and the householders do not observe the rules and regulations of the gṛhastha-āśrama properly. And then Srila Prabhupada further goes on to say that consequently because of that the vanaprasthas and sannyasis who come out of such gṛhastha-āśramas without the presence of a brahmacārī-āśrama which I am adding they become easily deviated from the right path of the vanaprastha and sannyasa order.

So this is an important point because we find that most of our devotees in ISKCON are in the gṛhastha-āśrama. They make up most of the membership. There is very few brahmacharis or for that matter. . . now there are a number of vanaprastha couples coming up and there are even fewer sannyasis. So I meditated on this a lot over the years and we find that the gṛhastha-āśrama, there are in a sense horizontal. And horizontal means it is a base; it is a foundation. So when the gṛhastha-āśrama support by ensuring that there is facility for a healthy brahmacārī-āśrama, then they themselves can progress in the gṛhastha-āśrama themselves. That is what Prabhupada says in the purport and that they support the brahmacārī-āśrama—-the grhasthas—and in that you get wonderful vanaprasthas coming and the topmost sannyasis coming out from the vānaprastha-āśrama. So the brahmacārī-, sannyāsa-, and vānaprastha-āśrama are vertical whereas the gṛhastha-āśrama or householder life is horizontal. Because most of our devotees are in the gṛhastha-āśrama they are the base and foundation that makes this vertical brahmacārī-, vānaprastha-, and sannyāsa-āśrama straight. 

So in that sense I am begging you, especially those in the householder ashrama, you can help me in my sannyāsa-āśrama and how can you help me? You can tell me what it means to be a sannyasi, but for that you also have to be educated in reading the scriptures every day. In this perspective Srila Prabhupada says in Bhagavad-gītā, there is a group of verses in Chapter Thirteen, verses 8 to 12, and there is a particular line, it says: asaktir anabhiṣvaṅgaḥ putra-dāra-gṛhādiṣu. It means that one should be free from the entanglement of being with the children, wife, home, and the rest. It is very clear. If you read the verse and not the purport, you will misunderstand. Prabhupada in the purport very clearly says that family members are natural objects of affection. We cannot really be artificial about that. There is no dry renunciation or artificial renunciation. Prabhupada makes it very clear that if the family members in the gṛhastha-āśrama chant Hare Krishna, they only eat remnants of foodstuffs offered to Krishna which is kṛṣṇa-prasāda, and if they study daily books like Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and if they engage in Deity worship, then there is no need to move from householder life to renounced life. In other words, you can be properly situated. 

At the same time, in that proper situation of consciousness, one can support properly the brahmacārī-āśrama, the vānaprastha-āśrama, and the sannyāsa-āśrama. If you are not properly situated in these four activities, then we can also lose the base, the sannyāsa-āśrama, because it is important that we are supported for the preaching mission all over the world, otherwise as sannyasis we can just go in the dhāma and chant Hare Krishna the whole day. It is no problem. But there is the missionary spirit that Prabhupada has given us. So in this way we find because of the horizontal base and foundation of the gṛhastha-āśrama keeping the brahmacārī-, vānaprastha-, and sannyāsa-āśrama vertically, we can lift up the gṛhastha-āśrama upwards and upwards vertically, by depending on them on the base. There is a great sense of interdependency amongst ashramas and that kicks out fanaticism amongst each other and it actually augers well a greater family spirit amongst ourselves as the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Prabhupada very clearly says that one should be very seriously chanting Hare Krishna even at home. Now recently we entered the japa retreat. Over some time now I used to carry a card like this with the maha-mantra on one side and Sri Sri Radha-Shyamasundara on the other side. This is so valuable for me because if somebody is driving me in the car, there is a lot of distraction when you see through the windscreen and on the side. So this I put on the front. I put some blue tack or Prestik and when I just chant like that, I am not aware of what is happening outside. I don’t even know the driver is driving. And this also helps me so much on airplanes, a very small thing like that. And they even taught us so beautifully also with our facilitators at the japa retreat. So I have many cards like this as gifts, at least a few hundred for you to carry back, because this maha-mantra is most powerful to be attentive by looking at it and then you get absorbed and you don’t have to look at it because you are attentive and look at it again when the mind goes away. So I thought this is the gift only I can give according to Srila Prabhupada. The gift of the holy name is the most sublime and by giving that gift I can also receive the same gift in return. So I have a few hundred with me. I can give out later on.

Then both speakers, His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Maharaja and His Holiness Bhakti Chaitanya Swami expressed and I am also aware of it, but limitedly—they may be aware of it with greater realization, of the deep and grave mood of Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja. 

Here I recall in the last few days coming up to the sannyasa ceremony that after Bhagavān Prabhu left in 1986 I was internally very rebellious, but I took a vow, “I will never leave ISKCON and Srila Prabhupada no matter what happens.” But I was extremely rebellious. I don’t know if he recalls but he had to really tolerate me like anything because he was coming to salvage a situation of a spiritual crisis. And I was going through a lot of. . . it is like a spiritual traumatic experience and I was internally very rebellious, not to accept guru again, just to accept Srila Prabhupada and ISKCON.

And gradually he healed me and healed me. I won’t go much into detail—there is a lot of detail that I can recall. It will take many hours. In late 1989—this is twenty years ago—I will say the name just for the history, His Holiness IDS was looking for a brahmachari partner to travel with. Somehow he chose me and in December of 1989 (this is twenty years ago and I was just a few years in the movement at that time) he said, “I am going to Australia and you are coming with me.” Nanda Kumara Prabhu was the temple president. And then I said, “My guru maharaja is in Mauritius and you have to speak to him first before we make these arrangements.” So somehow he convinced Nanda Kumara and then he convinced me and he said, “Don’t worry. I will speak to His Holiness Giriraj Swami.” But I didn’t know whether he spoke or not. He bought my tickets and he had his tickets. The visas were worked out. We were about to fly on the first of January in 1990.

Before that Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja came before I could leave, but I think he already heard about it from Nanda Kumara Prabhu or from some other sources that I already had my ticket and I was about to fly out with His Holiness Indradyumna Swami. So we met at the airport and Srila Giriraj Swami came to the temple and he was staying in Prabhupada’s quarters at that time. The first person he asked to see was me. So he called me in and I offered my obeisances and I thought I could tell him, “I have my ticket and I am leaving on the first.” I was thinking like that. And, “Did His Holiness Indradyumna Swami speak to you?” He asked me just one question. He was so softhearted in the hardest way [laughter]. That is how I felt. In spiritual life there are apparent contradictions, but it is like that, but it cannot be explained more than that. He was so softhearted in the hardest way. He gave me a look that was like an open heart surgery without anesthesia [laughter]. It is true. I just felt that way. This was twenty years ago. He asked me one question, “Who is your spiritual master?” Every iota of my body was. . . I was shivering and I was completely dumbfounded. I couldn’t speak and I just paid full daṇḍavats. I don’t know how long I was down there. [laughter] Just those words completely purified me. This was twenty years ago.

Then later on he was not going to India so much. Then he came in 1991 and I was studying in Vrindavan for about over a year and then I came to meet him in Bombay. At the airport we met. After I came he was leaving and I was gone very thin, extremely thin, because I had all sorts of diseases—typhoid, malaria, and so forth. Then at the airport he told me, “You look like a Gosvami because they were always sickly and thin and so forth.” [laughter] 

Then the other thing was that I was keeping some grudge inside. Maybe it happened after that. He went to Dallas and he was with Tamal Krishna Goswami and then he came back to Juhu. That time he was free to come back again. I was keeping something inside against Bhagavān Prabhu, “How could he let me down.” It actually was there for almost fifteen or sixteen years. So I was keeping that and he didn’t know that it was inside me. He knew it was there, but I didn’t express it in a way. So one day in his office in Juhu I walked in and then suddenly he started speaking. It was about other things. I was doing some personal service and then he said, “Do you know that the number of books that were distributed when Bhagavān Prabhu was a GBC and he was in charge of so many zones in Europe including Mauritius and South Africa, the number of books that were distributed under his inspiration and guidance and he himself sometimes went out. . .” Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja said that, “Even if I take birth a few lifetimes I will not match that.” And I thought, Wow. And I am keeping a grudge for this man, for this person.

That is how his heart is. It is so soft and very compassionate. The one thing that actually I see in him most of all which is above the rest, completely above the rest of what I described about his person is that it is just my realization which I didn’t tell anybody but I am saying, I just see Prabhupada in him. I can’t see anything else. It is just the nature of my realization about him. I just see Prabhupada. That is what keeps me because after Bhagavān Prabhu left I said, “I have to see Prabhupada in somebody.” And I see that even up to today.

He saved me twenty years ago by saying, “Who is your spiritual master?” and again he is saving me today and I hope he will continue to save me in the future and even if I ignore and neglect him in any way, given my lower nature. I pray that he will not ignore and neglect me even if I do so, that he can take me under the shelter of his feet even if I am not willing to. And I am sure he is going to do that because he did that so many times in the past. Even if I try to go away, but he will still come after me, and I pray that he never ever leaves me.

Finally about his depth and his deepness himself, there is one verse in Caitanya-caritāmṛta about Dhananjaya Pandita. I gave a class in Vrindavan about different acharyas, Srinivasa Acharya, Dhananjaya Pandita, they come on the same day of appearance and disappearance. It is said about Dhananjaya Pandita that he is a prema-mayi. So mayi means “not knowing.” In other words you don’t know that you are in prema. If someone knows that they are in prema, he is not in prema. Prema-mayi means he is full of love for Krishna and he doesn’t know it. 

So, at the japa retreat, after we finished our sixty-four rounds—and most devotees did more than sixty-four, the chanting was so wonderful that even I did more but I won’t say. The chanting was so wonderful that we just wanted to continue to chant. Sixty-four rounds are not enough—he was giving his realizations and somehow I knew in my heart that he is going to speak about it. I said, “Is he going to speak about that that I was always seeing him in the end before we resumed again at seven o’clock in the evening? Is he going to speak about it?” And it is true, he spoke about it in a so natural way. He mentioned that his last few rounds he went to Giriraj Govardhana and when he went to Giriraj Govardhana, Giriraj Govardhana told him to go to Tulasi-devi and circumambulate her. Now for me, here’s a personality amongst our midst that Giriraj Govardhana speaks to him, and gives him an instruction saying, “Go to Tulasi Maharani.” And when we say the translation to Tulasi Maharani every morning. If you look carefully at the translation, the translation is full of rāgānugā-bhakti. The translation is actually rāgānugā-bhakti, every word in the translation of Tulasi Maharani. “Go to Tulasi Maharani.” Like, “Please give me service to Sri Sri Radha-Govinda. Make me your maidservant.” It is full of that. It is bewildering to me because I was asking myself the question, “Who is this? I know him as Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja, but who is he?” It is very bewildering for me and very mysterious. For days after that I was praying to Srila Prabhupada, “Who is this person? Who is this person that Giriraj Govardhana speaks to him to go to Tulasi Maharani and circumambulate? Who is this person?” Although I don’t know who he is, but I know he will continue to give me shelter eternally under his lotus feet. [applause]

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Srila Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!
His Holiness Bhakti Chaitanya Swami Maharaja ki jaya!
His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami Maharaja ki jaya!
Ramanujacharya Prabhu ki jaya!
Syamalal Prabhu ki jaya!
Nanda Kumara Prabhu ki jaya!
His Holiness Bhakti Nṛsiṁha Swami Maharaja ki jaya!
Ananta koti vaiṣṇava-vṛnda ki jaya!
Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol! [applause]

Giriraj Swami: I feel very humbled to be here in this assembly of devotees at the feet of Sri Sri Radha-Radhanath, Sri Gaura Hari, Sri Giri-Govardhana, and the paramparā.

In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Lord Brahma prays to Lord Krishna for the power to create. Srila Prabhupada explains that fortunate is he who has been entrusted with responsible service for the Lord. If one prays to the Lord feeling very humble for the successful execution of the responsible task that has been given to him, he will be successful by the grace of the Lord. But if one tries to succeed by his own power or strength or tries to take the credit for success for himself, there will be so many problems. 

So this responsibility that Brhat Mridanga Prabhu is accepting requires tremendous mercy from superior authorities and good wishes from all the devotees. The higher authorities are willing and eager to give their mercy to their humble servant so that he can serve them, serve their mission. They want to give their mercy and we will be able to accept their mercy and receive their mercy and hold their mercy as long as we feel that we are helpless and unqualified and dependent on their mercy.

Today I think of my own sannyasa. Next Gaura-purnima it will be thirty-two years [applause]. Although very early in my Krishna consciousness Srila Prabhupada advised me that it would be better for me to take sannyasa, the actual acceptance of sannyasa was executed some months after Srila Prabhupada left through the agency of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami. 

Many years passed, things took place in South Africa and Mauritius, and even in other places in the movement that shook the devotees, shook the structure of the movement, and I spent almost all of my time in Mauritius and South Africa. But the demands of the society were so great all over the world that my godbrothers were unable to come to Mauritius and South Africa because they were so preoccupied with matters in their own zones and places of service. 

Finally when I got the chance I travelled to the United States to Dallas and met Tamal Krishna Goswami there. The first night we were sitting on the floor in his bedroom and he said to me, speaking of himself, that with all of his association with Srila Prabhupada and his three initiations from Srila Prabhupada—first, second, and sannyasa—he still felt that he needed help, that his relationship with Srila Prabhupada alone was not enough. 

Now I should mention that I was in a somewhat similar mood to the mood that Brhat Mridanga Prabhu described within himself after Bhagavān Prabhu left. I was thinking, “I am never going to place my faith in anyone else, only Srila Prabhupada.” So when Tamal Krishna Goswami spoke the way he did, I heard him, but there was a little doubt or resistance to what he said next. He said that, “I don’t feel that even with all of my association with Srila Prabhupada and all of my three initiations from Srila Prabhupada that I can survive just on my relationship with Srila Prabhupada, but I need śikṣā-gurus.” And then he began to list different godbrothers of his whom he considered to be his śikṣā-gurus. He included me in the list amongst others.

I heard him. I said, “I am almost all the time in Mauritius and South Africa and because there is so much chaos in the movement in different places. My main friends, godbrothers, are just busy in their own zones and places of service and they can’t come to Mauritius or South Africa, but I feel I need more association.” And he replied, “You have to go out of your way to get it.”

So we more or less concluded. Then the next morning we were in the temple room and very intense japa. The temple room was full and it was very intense japa. Somehow it came to mind what he had said the night before and it came in my heart, “Yes, what he said is true, we need śikṣā-gurus.” And it also came to me that he was meant to be my śikṣā-guru or I was meant to approach him in the mood of śikṣā-guru.

As Srila Prabhupada said, initiation means beginning. Sannyasa initiation is also a beginning. In a way it is a graduation from brahmacārī-āśrama, but it is also a beginning in sannyāsa-āśrama. We can gain so much if we are open to the guidance and instruction that can come to us and will come to us if we are open from so many sides—from above and just all different ways Krishna helps His devotee, His responsible servants. 

I was also very happy with Brhat Mridanga Prabhu’s introspective mood and openness, not just openness, willingness, eagerness to rectify any relationships that need to be rectified from the past, remove any obstacles in his relationships with others or obstacles within his own heart. Often when there is some tension or some bad feelings, that creates an obstacle in the hearts of both parties and it is really beneficial to both parties to become relieved of the tension or the offense. 

I often say this, but I am thinking of it again, the first disciple whoever spoke to me, Bharadvaja Prabhu, he said the first time that he saw Srila Prabhupada sitting in his room with devotees, he just had the realization that Krishna consciousness is just love masquerading as a philosophy. It is really the true feature of Krishna consciousness, the true essence of Krishna consciousness. That is our goal. That is certainly our goal: prema pum-artho mahān.

As I got into the car to come here tonight, it started to rain. It seemed to me that the raindrops were very big. Each one that was landing on the windshield really made an impression. I thought of Srila Prabhupada’s statement which I heard when I first joined that when it rains, it means that the gopīs are crying tears of separation from Krishna. So I was sitting in the car rapt in thought about what Srila Prabhupada had said, on my way to Brhat Mridanga Prabhu’s sannyasa ceremony, and I was thinking of the gopīs, thinking of Brhat Mridanga Prabhu, thinking of sannyasa. And the gopīs really embody the true spirit of sannyasa. They were ready to give up anything and everything for the service of Krishna. They gave up their families. They didn’t care for worldly opinion. They gave up everything for the service of Krishna. 

I thought of another statement of Srila Prabhupada’s that I heard soon after I joined that the way to develop the love for Krishna of the gopīs is to spread Krishna consciousness all over the world. So that is the mood of the preacher, he is ready to sacrifice anything and everything to please Krishna, but what pleases Krishna the most? When we preach His message and bring other souls to Him.

Once Ramesvara Prabhu, he was the BBT trustee, the main BBT trustee in Los Angeles, and he wrote in a BBT newsletter that the mood of the book distributor is like the mood of the gopīs because the gopīs want to bring others to Krishna. They are not eager to be with Krishna themselves, but they want to bring others to be with Krishna. So the book distributor, he also wants to bring others to Krishna and therefore he gives them transcendental knowledge. So some devotees questioned what Ramesvara Prabhu had written. They were not sure that it was appropriate and they asked Srila Prabhupada. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, what he wrote is correct.” 

So that is the mood of the preacher, the sannyasi, ready to sacrifice anything and everything to deliver the message of Krishna to others and bring them to Krishna. In that effort one can face much opposition. As Srila Prabhupada said, to preach one must take risks. That is the mood of sannyasa. Sannyasi is fearless. In the traditional sense the sannyasi wanders through forests and jungles or lives in mountains and caves and there are so many wild animals, ferocious creatures, but he is fearless. He knows that Krishna is there, Krishna is in the heart of every living entity, Krishna is in control. So in our own way when we preach we take risks. We have to take risks. Unless you take risks, you can’t preach. And in that process we depend on Krishna and Krishna’s devotees and depend on Him and them and their mercy. One has to be prepared to leave one’s comforts, not just physical comforts, but as they say, comfort zone, the area in which one feels comfortable. We have to be prepared to go beyond our comfort zone which in a way means taking risks, going beyond what comes easily for us, and that is the mood of sannyasa.

It is a very great responsibility that Brhat Mridanga Prabhu is accepting today. I had initially planned to read the section from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta in which Lord Chaitanya takes sannyasa and wanders in ecstasy, chanting the verse that His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami quoted, and in essence Maharaja summarized that whole verse and purport and entire section of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, so I thought, “This is Krishna’s mercy. Now I have been freed. By Maharaja’s mercy I have been freed. I don’t have to even mention that verse or that pastime.” And His Holiness Bhakti Chaitanya Swami spoke with such depth and gravity I thought, “I could never speak like that.” [laughter] It was so powerful, so clear, so fearless. And I was feeling smaller and smaller. And then Brhat Mridanga Prabhu spoke and he saved me. [laughter; applause] He saved me by talking about the heart. So I thought, “Okay, I can do that. I can talk about the heart.” He spoke about my heart. I could also speak about my heart, but it would be in very different terms than the terms he used, but I won’t do that now. But I know and Krishna knows.

We really depend on each other. It is one of my favorite quotations from Srila Prabhupada, he wrote to one disciple—it is obvious from the way Prabhupada wrote that the disciple had said to Srila Prabhupada that he was dependent on Srila Prabhupada’s mercy—and Srila Prabhupada wrote back, “You are dependent on my mercy and I am dependent on your mercy. It is reciprocal. This mutual dependence is based on love—Krishna consciousness.” 

I guess I will leave it at that. I still feel very small. I feel like I am next to these two elephants. I am just like some little. . . I haven’t realized my actual identity [laughter], but somewhere between an insect and a small rodent. But that is okay [laughter], that is okay. If Krishna has ordained that there are elephants and that I am whatever—an ant or mouse or a squirrel—that is okay. We all have our little parts to play in the great caravan of Krishna’s servants and entourage. So that is okay. I am glad that I am sitting beside two great elephants who can carry such a great burden of responsibility. I will be at their feet, scampering around, trying to keep pace with them.

Brhat Mridanga Prabhu, you are very fortunate to have these devotees here as your well-wishers and guides, all the devotees. I was thinking first and foremost of His Holiness Bhakti Chaitanya Swami and His Holiness Bhakti Bhrnga Govinda Swami Maharaja, but all the devotees. Once Srila Prabhupada asked one of his disciples to pray for him and the disciple responded, “Srila Prabhupada, how can I pray for you.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “No, you are also a Vaishnava. Krishna listens to the prayers of Vaishnavas.” So you all are Vaishnavas. Brhat Mridanga Prabhu, you are fortunate to have all these Vaishnavas as your well-wishers, praying for you, and I am sure for all of us. 

We are a big family. Srila Prabhupada is the head of the family, but we have so many older brothers. They can also in different ways fulfill the function of the father in the mood of service to the father. We have the frogs [laughter]. The frogs are there to remind us of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Whenever I hear the frogs croaking, I think of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, how any talk which is devoid of Krishna consciousness is just like the frogs croaking, calling death. So they are also among my śikṣā-gurus [laughter]. I need a lot of help.

I think that we will move to the next part of the ceremony which is the awarding of your sannyasa daṇḍa and name. So thank you all very much. Hare Krishna. [applause]

Your name is Bhakti Brhat Bhāgavata Swami Maharaja. [applause] 

So while His Holiness Bhakti Brhat Bhāgavata Maharaja offers his humble, prostrated obeisances to Srila Prabhupada, I might say that I share the sentiment expressed by others that Srila Prabhupada is pleased. As we saw in the DVDs last night, Srila Prabhupada came to Mauritius when there was almost nothing there—just a few devotees—and he came to South African when there was very little here. And now so many temples, so many devotees, so many preaching programs, so much book distribution, so many nāma-haṭṭas. So the movement he began and inspired is spreading by his mercy. And Bhakti Brhat Bhāgavata Maharaja’s sannyasa is another milestone in the advance of the Krishna consciousness movement in South Africa and throughout the world. It is a great thing when someone takes sannyasa, takes up the divine command, and I believe Srila Prabhupada is pleased and that is our pleasure, that is our success, that is our reason for living. Hare Krishna. [applause]