Bhakti Charu Swami’s Disappearance Day

Giriraj Swami: It is an honor and a privilege to join you all in Deland, Florida. His Grace, Gori dasa from Bhaktivedanta Manor in England, shared something very relevant with me on the departure of His Holiness Tamal Krishna Maharaja, His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja shared his feelings; his shattered composure, and his deep questioning of Krishna, the suddenness and the way Tamal Krishna Goswami tragically passed away, perturbed Bhakti Charu Swami. And he questioned, “why did he have to leave us in this way?” And what came to Maharaja then was a realization; a very important realization, and one that can help us today.

READING

“A realization dawned on me—our existence in this material world is like a dream, and therefore how one comes or departs does not really matter at all. Only those who want to remain in ignorance are concerned about how one is born and how one dies. But for a devotee situated in the absolute truth, it does not really matter at all.

“How one leaves the body is not important. What really matters, is how one leads his life. For one who has lived such an intense life of devotion, always expressing his love for Krishna through dedicated service, how can Krishna ever fail him? For one who has always been seeing Krishna in the core of his heart, with eyes anointed with the mascara of love, at the final moment Krishna comes to him and he sees Krishna face-to-face. Will he not naturally become submerged in an ocean of bliss?

“Therefore, how one leaves the body in not important. What really matters, is how one develops his love for Krishna. 

“Krishna comes to His devotee at the most crucial time in his life—when he is about to leave his body.”

When I think of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja, I think of his prominent quality; he has so many but one is his deep love for Srila Prabhupada. Very soon after Maharaja met Srila Prabhupada, Prabhupada included him in his personal staff and made him his secretary for Bengali and Hindi correspondents. Soon thereafter Srila Prabhupada gave him first and second initiation and then sannyasi. And Maharaja personally served Srila Prabhupada throughout Prabhupada’s last days.

His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja was also devoted to ISKCON. He always considered ISKCON to be a unique creation of Srila Prabhupada and always wanted to serve ISKCON. Both the devotees in ISKCON and ISKCON as an entity a manifestation of Srila Prabhupada. He was really in the mood of service to the devotees especially the devotees of ISKCON, and to IKSCON itself. Maharaja is a very pure-hearted loving person. His love for Srila Prabhupada was seen in his love for the devotees and for people in general whom he wanted to bring to Srila Prabhupada, and in how he encouraged devotees to increase their engagement; take on more responsibility, and become more loving humble servants.

Maharaja once explained to a devotee in Mauritius, the more responsibility one accepts the bigger servant of the devotees one becomes. This reminded me of something Srila Prabhupada once said. A disciple came into Prabhupada’s room in Mayapur one day, and began to complain about the management. Srila Prabhupada said, “If you think you can do better, why don’t you?” Somehow the disciple came out and announced that Srila Prabhupada had made him the temple commander and he began to boss around the other devotees. Some devotees complained to Prabhupada that the devotee had said that Srila Prabhupada had made him the temple commander, and that now he was barking orders at everyone. So Srila Prabhupada probably called for the devotee and instructed him, “First you become the servant of everyone, then you become the temple commander.” Thus Srila Prabhupada expressed the same idea that a bigger position means becoming a bigger servant. 

And Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja in paramparā, had that same understanding. If we listen carefully to all of Maharaja’s instructions, we can understand how closely he followed the disciplic succession. Some of his statements were very close to Srila Prabhupada’s words, and some took the same principles that Srila Prabhupada gave, and sweetened them with personal realization. Another of the many fine qualities exemplified by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja, was his offenselessness. He was very careful not to commit any offense against any devotee or any living entity, and if he felt he had committed an offense, he immediately tried to mitigate the effects by approaching the person, apologizing, and asking forgiveness. Somehow or other he tried to rectify the offense.

From our point of view, he wouldn’t think he had committed an offense, but within his pure heart he may have felt that he had, and immediately he would try to approach and please the person he feared he had offended to remove the effects of the offense. Maharaja’s heart was pure and very sensitive. Full of appreciation for other devotees and sensitive to his own faults, which again, from our point of view, weren’t even false. That’s really the heart of a Vaishnava full of love and appreciation for others, but sensitive to one’s own deficiencies or mistakes.

COMMENT

In Bhagavad-gītā 12.13 and 14, Lord Krishna describes a devotee who is very dear to Him, and this description to me fits His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja exactly.

READING (continued)

One who is not envious but is a kind friend to all living entities, who does not think himself a proprietor and is free from false ego, who is equal in both happiness and distress, who is tolerant, always satisfied, self-controlled, and engaged in devotional service with determination, his mind and intelligence fixed on Me – such a devotee of Mine is very dear to Me.

COMMENT

As Maharaja always reminded us, we have the wonderful association of the devotees and ISKCON, and through their association we can experience Srila Prabhupada’s presence. And along with Srila Prabhupada’s presence, the presence of Srila Prabhupada’s dear and beloved associate His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja. Now we have to serve Maharaja in separation. 

As Srila Prabhupada wrote in his dedication to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam: “To Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Gosvami Maharaja, my spiritual master, he lives forever by his divine instructions and the follower lives with him.” So in the same way, Srila Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja also lives forever by his divine instructions and the follower can live with him. 

So I could go on speaking about His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja, and I intend to do so as long as my allotted time remains. I don’t know if we want to open the floor for devotees to ask questions or offer comments, or if I should just keep speaking. 

Devotee: If you would continue, I think we would all enjoy that.

Giriraj Swami: Okay. One or two qualities of His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja, that strike me are: he was a wonderful host and he was a fantastic cook. I have a niece just like a regular American girl who spent some time in India, and went to Mayapur. And she was invited for prasādam in His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami’s quarters upstairs, it is a beautiful facility in Mayapur. And she said that she had the best meal of her life ever, in his quarters. And I also heard from other devotees who were with her at that meal. That was the best prasāda that they ever had. 

And Bhakti Charu Swami understood the importance of cooking and serving prasāda. And one of the devotees in our community here, Kandarpa Manjari devi dasi who is Maharaja’s disciple, he arranged for her to stay with his disciples Chaitanya dasa in Calcutta, along with Chaitanya dasa’s wife and mother, both of whom were who were expert cooks. And Maharaja wanted her to learn cooking from them, because as he said, if you cook nicely you can serve the Vaishnavas and please them and get their mercy. So even now she cooks for me once a week and she does cook very well and I take it as His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja’s mercy, that he arranged for her to be trained as such a good cook.

Another thing that comes to mind now is, it may sound like a small thing but it is not, how he would say one’s name with so much love and affection. And I mentioned this once in a program some time ago, or maybe it was in something I wrote, but another disciple had the same experience of feeling very touched by the way Guru Maharaja uttered his name. The context is that His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja had come to San Diego to initiate a disciple who lives in Santa Barbara, and associated with me. And after the initiation, this is the same Kandarpa Manjari said to Bhakti Charu Swami, “Well now you have a disciple in Santa Barbara, so you will have to come more often. And Bhakti Charu Swami looked at me with such love and affection and he said, “I will come to Santa Barbara to visit Giriraj Maharaja.” And somehow the way he said Giriraj Maharaja, with so much love and affection, it just touched my heart, and I still remember it. 

And he did come many times and stayed with us here. Once he came when His Holiness Indradyumna Swami Maharaja was also here and the three of us spent time together. And Bhakti Charu Swami was very fond of a verse by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati and it goes: 

yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde

vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta-puṇya-rāśiḥ |

tathā tathotsarpati hṛdy akasmāt

rādhā-padāmbhoja-sudhāṁśu-rāśiḥ

And as I mentioned, it is by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati and it appears in Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛta. And the translation of the verse is—To the degree that we surrender to Lord Chaitanya’s service, yathā yathā gaura-padāravinde, the lotus feet of Lord Chaitanya, to that degree we acquire qualification for the service of Srimati Radharani’s lotus feet—in Vraja.

Maharaja was very fond of that verse and it is meaningful for us, especially as Gaudiya Vaishnavas, and he wrote out the translation of that verse in his own handwriting and gave it to His Holiness Indradyumna Swami. But Maharaja lived his life, according to that verse, serving the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu of faith that ultimately, he would attain the lotus feet of Srimati Radharani, which is the goal of us Gaudiya Vaishnavas.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura said that one who one who is a Vaishnava, worships Vishnu; one who is a Krishnaite, worships Krishna; and one who is a Gaudiya worships Srimati Radharani. So her lotus feet are our goal and we can, like Srila Prabhupada, and the mercy of the paramparā we can attain those lotus feet by serving the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

The last time that Maharaja came and stayed with me, here at my ashram in Carpinteria, California, was a little before the Los Angeles Ratha-yatra two years ago, I believe. And we went to the Ratha-yatra together and I just remember at one stage, there are various tents at the Ratha-yatra site with different exhibits and activities, so devotees set up a table behind one of the tents and Maharaja and I honored prasāda together and it was a real treat. I had cooks who cooked for me, he had cooks who cooked for him, and we were sharing our prasāda and it was it was a real feast, just near the ocean. Of course you know very well in Deland, how important the cows were to Maharaja. And it just so happened that at the Ratha-yatra, Kalakantha Prabhu the Minister for cow protection, there is another Kalakantha Prabhu, who is Prabhupada’s disciple. But this Kalakantha Prabhu was the minister of cow protection and he was there. And he came up to our table and he was expressing his appreciation for Maharaja in relation to his work with the cows, and I understood that today, either before my coming on or after maybe before, that he did hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana around the site and gave names to two new cows. 

Practically any cause that was favorable for Krishna consciousness was taken up enthusiastically by His Holiness Bhakti Charu Swami Maharaja. Our birthdays are quite close together on the calendar; my birthday on the western calendar is September 13th, and he would always observe his Vyasa-puja on September 17th, the date on which Srila Prabhupada arrived in America. And quite often, we would have Vyasa-puja very close together and especially at Durban, we were Co-BCs together in South Africa and then in Mauritius as well. And we used to really relish attending each other’s Vyasa-pujas and glorifying each other and this was a common theme that I would be stuffing birthday cake into his mouth, and he would be stuffing birthday cake into my mouth. So there are many photos of us doing that, feeding each other birthday cake. And there is even a photo of us putting cake into each other’s mouths in Mauritius. 

I remember at one time he was very enthusiastic about observing Nirjala-ekādaśī—means he would observe every Ekādaśī as Nirjala  absent from even even water during the Ekādaśī and then he had a breakfast drink, forgot the exact formula but it was maybe one quarter milk and three quarters water with rock candy dissolved in it. But I remember observing those Nirjala-ekādaśīs with him, and breaking the fast with him. He just made everything so enjoyable, everything was so much fun transcendentally, in his association. Now we are left to serve him in separation, and one way in which I tried to do that, I am sure others also, is to support and encourage those who were attached to him, who are suffering in his separation.

Earlier today I had a program in his honor and one of the devotees was really expressing the pain she was feeling in his separation, and I thought of a letter that Srila Prabhupada wrote. I know it almost my heart but I would rather read it. Srila Prabhupada wrote in a letter dated May 3rd 1968:

READING (continued)

“Please be happy in separation. I am separated from my guru Maharaja since 1936, but I am always with him so long I work according to his direction. So we should all work together for satisfying Lord Krishna and the feeling of separation will transform into transcendental bliss.” 

COMMENT

I will read another letter by Srila Prabhupada in relation to association through vāṇī. As we know vāṇī means transcendental sound or words, and vapuḥ means physical association or body. So, this was an exchange between our dear godsister Rukmini dasi and Srila Prabhupada. She told him, “I feel so far away from you when you are not here.” And Srila Prabhupada replied: 

READING (continued)

“Oh, that you should not think. There are two conceptions; the physical conception and the vibration conception.”

So physical conception is temporary the vibration conception is eternal, just like we are enjoying relishing the vibration of Krishna’s teachings. So by vibration he is present as soon as we chant Hare Krishna or chant Bhagavad-gītā or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he is present immediately by his vibration. He is absolute therefore vibration is more important than physical presence. When you feel separation from your spiritual master you just try to remember his words of instructions. You will not feel separation; you will feel that he is with you. 

COMMENT

And again, I think of Srila Prabhupada’s dedication to his Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dedicated to his Guru Maharaja. “He lives forever by his divine instruction and his follower lives with him.” 

So, coming back to what Srila Prabhupada said to Rukmini dasi:

READING (continued)

When you feel separation from your spiritual master, you just try to remember his words of instruction, you will not feel separation. You will feel that he is with you. So we should associate by the vibration and not by the physical presence, that is real association. śabdād anāvṛtti, Vedānta-sūtra 4.4.22—by sound—just like we are touching Krishna immediately by sound vibration, so we should give more stress on the sound vibration; either of Krishna or of the spiritual master, then we’ll feel happy and no separation.

When Krishna departed from this world at that time Arjuna was overwhelmed with sorrow and he began to remember the instructions of Bhagavad-gītā, you will find in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Then he was pacified, he began to remember the teachings that were taught to him in the battlefield of Kurukshetra and he was pacified. Krishna was his constant friend or he was Krishna’s constant friend. So when Krishna went to his abode he was feeling overwhelmed but he began to remember Krishna’s teachings. So whenever we feel separation the best thing is to remember the teachings, then it will be very nice.

COMMENT

So this is how we feel the presence of the spiritual master as a Vaishnava. Of course we do feel separation. In Lord Chaitanya’s conversation with Ramananda Rai in which Lord Chaitanya took the position of a student and was asking questions and Ramananda Rai was taking the position of the teacher and answering, Lord Chaitanya asked, “What is the most painful experience?” And Ramananda Rai replied, “Apart from separation from a devotee of the Lord, I know of no other unbearable unhappiness.” So that is there for sure, but still we can feel the departed Vaishnavas’ presence through vāṇī—through transcendental sound, through remembering and following his instructions.

So again, I don’t know how we are doing as far as time goes. I think I have gone over what was my initial quota but I am here at your service. I am happy to speak more; I am happy to hear from others.

Devotee: Maharaja, thank you very much. We would love to go on hearing for you all night long. We do have Vaisesika Prabhu on deck and we certainly want to hear from him and not keep him waiting too long. What you shared was so wonderful and practical for us in our experience right now. And we also want you to know someone here in Deland also commented about the way our Guru Maharaja spoke his name.  We will  hear from Vaisesika Prabu now.

Giriraj Swami: I will stay and hear Vaisesika Prabu.

Vaisesika Prabu’s talk.

Devotee: I was just requested if Giriraj Maharaja would show us the beautiful photograph of the two of you which is behind you. Could you bring it up to the camera, Is that possible?

Giriraj Swami: This photo was taken that time when His Holiness Indradyumna Swami was visiting and in my lap is that book Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛta by Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati. And I cherish this photo. I always keep it close to my vision. Hare Krishna. I could try to make it closer but there is some reflection of the Zoom.

Devotee: You can make it out and it is a snapshot of love that’s how I am seeing it right now. So thank you for sharing that. In the Vedic conception, there is this idea of high, higher and highest and then there is but higher than that. So it always goes one more right so this is a great way to end it but yet for those of us gathered here today, there is still dinner prasādam coming up.

So we are going to close out with dinner prasādam. We will thank our guests one more time. I also want to let you know about tomorrow morning. Just to give you the schedule so you are up on it.

Maṅgala-ārati begins at 4 30 it goes till 5:00 o’clock.

Darshan ārati is at 6 30; Guru-puja is at 6 35; 

Bhāgavatam class will be given by His Grace Govinda Prabhu at 7:00 o’clock; 

And then breakfast will be at 8:00 o’clock.

Tomorrow we will hear from many more exalted speakers. We will hear from more disciples there may be hari-nāma if the weather allows. Lots of good things coming again tomorrow.

So thank you all gathered here. Thank you all in Zoomland and Facebookville and hopefully we will see a lot of you tomorrow.

Hare Krishna.