All Glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga

Sri Bhakti Sundar Divya-vani

Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj's
Divine Message of Devotional Love and Beauty

Issue Number III

The Worship of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur

Compiled from lectures of Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj during his first world tour in 1992, specifically his lectures in San Jose, California regarding the disappearance of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and Gadadhar Pandit Goswami, in which he describes Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and his worship of Sri-Sri Gaura-Gadadhar in Nadiya-lila.

Today is the disappearance day of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and I will try to glorify Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur a little. When Srila Guru Maharaj was in the Gaudiya Math, some years after he took sannyas, he composed a Sanskrit poem in remembrance of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, the Bhaktivinod-viraha Dasakam. Srila Guru Maharaj did not at first compose anything about Srila Saraswati Thakur. He wanted practically to attract Srila Saraswati Thakur, so he first composed something about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. He presented his poem to the hand of Srila Saraswati Thakur and Srila Saraswati Thakur began scrutinizing the poem very closely. But after reading three or four slokas Srila Saraswati Thakur forgot his scrutiny and said, "It is written in a very happy style." After reading the whole poem Srila Saraswati Thakur very happily responded, "After us there will be someone in this world who can perfectly carry Mahaprabhu's flag in the line of the Rupanuga-sampradaya. Seeing this, I am very happy." From that day Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur changed his vision of Srila Guru Maharaj wholesale and later he examined Srila Guru Maharaj many times. Srila Saraswati Thakur was very happy to see that the line of the Guru-parampara would continue.

In the Bhaktivinod-viraha Dasakam Srila Guru Maharaj expressed everything about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur in a very essential way. Later, Srila Guru Maharaj said, "This poem was the reason I was given charge of the Rupanuga-sampradaya." The last sloka is very nice.

"Who am I? I am a very unfortunate conditioned soul. I am a very fallen soul but you are a patita-pavana Vaisnava Thakur, a great Vaisnava who is the savior of the fallen. If I have made any offenses in composing these verses you must forgive me. I pray at your lotus feet for the boon that I will have the strength needed to follow your very dear-most Srila Saraswati Thakur and carry out his orders as his dear associate. In this way I pray that you count me as a member of your sampradaya."

Srila Guru Maharaj said that as Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur was reading this sloka he noticed that Srila Guru Maharaj was asking Bhaktivinod Thakur for a boon in the conclusion of his poem (yache 'ham karuna-nidhe! varam imam). Srila Prabhupad thought, "What kind of boon is he going to ask for? Is he going to make a massacre here at the end?" But when Srila Prabhupad saw his name there, Varsabhanavi Dayita Das (radhika-dayita-dasanam), and understood that Srila Guru Maharaj was praying only to be engaged in his service, he was very happy. He accepted and appreciated Srila Guru Maharaj's prayer.

In this way Srila Guru Maharaj composed many slokas about Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. But a very famous sloka is,

"I offer my obeisance to Srila Sachchidananda Bhaktivinod Thakur. He is Gauranga Mahaprabhu's love divine personified and is the greatest of Vaisnavas in the Rupanuga-sampradaya."

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur did so much seva for the sampradaya of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur appeared when the sampradaya was in a very critical position. He was born in the Nadiya district of West Bengal, in Ula, near Krsna-nagar. His birthplace is near Phuliya where Haridas Thakur's bhajan-kutir was located. Later in his life Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur revealed himself to be a great devotee of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and in the Name of Mahaprabhu Bhaktivinod Thakur tried to express and establish real Krsna consciousness and clean up the sampradaya of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He lived during a very heavy time period.

At that time the apasampradayas, the deviated sects who were so-called followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, were very strong. The aula, baula, and the kartabhaja sampradayas were especially very strong in Ula. From his childhood Bhaktivinod Thakur saw the nature of their activities and was deeply opposed to them. So later when he showed his form as a devotee of Mahaprabhu he first tried to correct the errors of the apasampradayas, and establish the real sampradaya of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Earlier Tota Rama Das Babaji had recognized and rejected those apasampradayas but Bhaktivinod Thakur appeared and exhibited the real position of a perfect devotee in the line of the Rupanuga-sampradaya. He acted in so many ways to remove the activities of the apasampradayas, but he did so in a very sober way, never in an overly combative way.

There are many examples of this in the life of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. When he was in Jagannath Puri one very big yogi named Bisakisan, a member of the ativadi apasampradaya, declared that he was Krsna himself who had appeared in the form of Bisakisan to fight with the British government. He declared that on one day, the fourteenth day in the month of Chaitra, he would start his own freedom revolution. He was doing many immoral things in rural villages at that time and the British government gave charge to Bhaktivinod Thakur to decide what to do with him. Bhaktivinod Thakur went to see him. Bisakisan was a very big yogi, and after seeing Bhaktivinod Thakur he said, "Oh, I know the purpose for which you have come. But you are my great devotee, I will not do anything against you. You can take shelter at my feet." Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said, "If you know everything, then what is your idea about Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?" Bisakisan said, "Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is my great devotee." After hearing this Bhaktivinod Thakur decided Bisakisan was a cheater. Bhaktivinod Thakur measured his qualification through this question and concluded that he was a great cheater showing a bluff. Bhaktivinod Thakur knew Bisakisan did not have any real consciousness.

Then Bhaktivinod Thakur threatened him, "If you start your revolution I will arrest you." Bisakisan became very angry but Bhaktivinod Thakur continued, "I am giving you twenty four hours, if you do not change your mood within that time, I will arrest you." The next day Bhaktivinod Thakur returned and Bisakisan showed many vibhutis, magical powers, but Bhaktivinod Thakur forcefully arrested him and had him put in jail. The British government gave charge to Bhaktivinod Thakur to decide his case. Bisakisan performed many miracles in the jail and in the courtroom as well. Bhaktivinod Thakur gave him three chances to change his mood or otherwise face punishment but finally Bisakisan gave much trouble to Bhaktivinod Thakur himself.

The day before the final judgement of his case Bisakisan threatened Bhaktivinod Thakur, "Tomorrow you plan to give your judgement, but you will not be able come to the courtroom tomorrow." Bhaktivinod Thakur replied, "I will see you tomorrow." When Bhaktivinod Thakur returned to his house he saw that his sons and daughters, his whole family, was suffering from very heavy diarrhea. He called a doctor who relieved them with some medicine but then he himself began to feel feverish and pained in his body. The next morning he could not walk or even move from his bed. But still he said, "I will go to the courtroom today and give my judgement. I must go. Call a palanquin and carry me." He had a fever of one hundred and six degrees and he felt great pain throughout his whole body but he said, "Today I must give my judgement to that yogi." When he crossed through the doorway of the courtroom his fever and pain completely disappeared. Then he sat in his chair and told Bisakisan, "What are you going to do? Will you change your mood?" Seeing Bhaktivinod Thakur, Bisakisan said, "Oh, you still cannot understand who I am? What happened to you yesterday? And what happened to you today? You still cannot understand who I am?" Bhaktivinod Thakur said, "I can understand who you are. From the day that I asked you about the position of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu I have understood who you are." Then Bisakisan mystically threw fire from his hair in the middle of the courtroom but Bhaktivinod Thakur said, "I am giving six months imprisonment to this man. Now take him to the jail and before that, cut off his hair." He gave this order, but who would cut his hair? No one was willing to touch Bisakisan after they saw him throw fire from his hair. Then Bhaktivinod Thakur called for a sahib, a Western man, and said, "You can touch him, you can cut his hair." When that Westerner went to touch Bisakisan, Bisakisan greatly threaten him but the man did not care. He took Bisakisan's hair and cut it off. Then Bisakisan was put in jail. But Bisakisan fasted while he was in the jail and finally Bhaktivinod Thakur personally went to the jail and requested him, "I will arrange for you to be released within six months, you can leave here and lead a normal life again, if only you will change your conception." But Bisakisan would not listen to him and lastly died of starvation while still in jail. That is the history of Bisakisan.

That time period was a very hard time. The sahajiya sampradaya and the jati-gosani sampradaya had conquered the whole of Bengal, even the whole of India, you could say. When Srila Saraswati Thakur was a twelve year old boy, Charana Das Babaji, a famous "siddha-maha-purusa," a so-called perfected soul, would come to see Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur from time to time. There were two reasons for this. One, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's fame was unlimited. Even Gaura Kisor Das Babaji Maharaj, who was a true siddha-maha-purusa, and who was also very renounced at that time, would come to see Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and hear his explanation of the Srimad Bhagavatam. Secondly, Bhaktivinod Thakur showed himself to be a very faithful deputy magistrate and government officer. In both these ways Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's position was so exalted and because of that Charana Das Babaji would visit Bhaktivinod Thakur for his own benefit. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur would not directly tell him, "Do not come to see me," but he would tell him, "What you are doing is wrong." But even after that Charana Das Babaji would still come to visit Bhaktivinod Thakur.

One day Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur saw that Charana Das Babaji came to see Bhaktivinod Thakur and that they were talking together. Then from very far away Srila Saraswati Thakur made his dandavat pranam to Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. He did not go near Bhaktivinod Thakur to offer his dandavat, but offered it from far away. At that time he was only a twelve year old boy. Charana Das Babaji saw Srila Prabhupad do this and said to Bhaktivinod Thakur, "Who is that boy? He is a very nice looking boy. Why isn't he coming over to us? Why is he offering his dandavat from so far away?" Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur said, "Oh, this boy is my son, but he is very firmly established in the line of Krsna consciousness and he always very carefully avoids sahajiyaism. He has made a vow to stay fifty meters away from any sahajiya and you are a pukka (exemplary) sahajiya." Hearing that, Charana Das Babaji was shy. Bhaktivinod Thakur continued, "Everyday he comes here to offer his dandavat to me. But today you are here so he is now avoiding a sahajiya in this way. He is a very young boy." Charana Das Babaji was the head of the sahajiya sampradaya and from that day he, and the whole sahajiya sampradaya, knew that in the future Srila Saraswati Thakur would become a great Acharyya in the Rupanuga-sampradaya.

Later Srila Saraswati Thakur very strictly followed Srila Jiva Goswami and tried to smash sahajiyaism and the other apasampradayas. Srila Prabhupad wanted to establish the real Krsna conception, Krsna consciousness in the line of Srila Rupa Goswami. He hated sahajiyaism very rigidly. Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur taught that Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was Gauranga Mahaprabhu's parsad-devotee (eternal associate) and that no one can estimate how exalted the conception that he gave is.

Bhaktivinod Thakur composed many books: Krsna-samhita, Bhagavatarka-marichi-mala, Chaitanya-Siksamrta, Jaiva-Dharma, Datta-Kausthubha, etc.. But we can say that his special gift is in his songs. He composed many songs in his collections Saranagati, Gitavali, Kalyana-kalpa-taru, Giti-mala, Jamuna-bhavavali, etc.. Through his songs we will get the gist of all the Scriptures. If all the Scriptures disappeared from this mundane world but Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's songs remained, we would still get everything. We can get everything through his songs.

Fortunately, at the time that I joined Srila Guru Maharaj, he gave me thirty-two songs from Saranagati to memorize. Srila Guru Maharaj always wanted to hear Bhaktivinod Thakur's songs. In Chaitanya Saraswat Math only a few songs of Srila Narottam Thakur, one or two songs of other Vaisnavas, and one song of Vidyapati, are sung. But all the songs of Bhaktivinod Thakur are chanted in Chaitanya Saraswat Math, because everything is there within his songs. Srila Guru Maharaj said that you will get everything from the songs of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur.

Devotee: Srila Maharaj, the other day you mentioned that Srila Saraswati Thakur established the worship of Nimai Pandit but not the worship of the yuga-avatar Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I have also heard of a Gaura-Narayana avatar. What is the difference between these forms of the Lord and why do we worship in this way?

Srila Govinda Maharaj: It is not Gaura-Narayana actually. This type of question is only coming from the Western devotees' circle. For that I praise the Western devotees because they are inquiring in so many ways. But it is also a very high question, too much high.

In the heart of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur Mahaprabhu's full lila appeared and he always remembered the full lila of Mahaprabhu. Still, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was very much attached to Mahaprabhu's Nadiya-lila. He especially liked that. He liked all the lilas of Mahaprabhu but his favorite form of worship was Mahaprabhu's Nadiya-lila. We are differentiating between three forms of Krsna: the Krsna who plays in Dwaraka, the Krsna who plays in Mathura and the Krsna who plays in Vrndavan. We are worshippers of Vrndavan Krsna, not Mathura or Dwaraka Krsna. Why? There are different rasas and different behaviors with the different forms of Krsna.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has different forms within His lila just as Lord Krsna does. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in this mundane world and enacted the Pastimes of rescuing the jiva-souls and distributing Krsna-prema. That is the yuga-avatara lila of Mahaprabhu. Actually Mahaprabhu is the non-different form of Sri-Sri Radha-Krsna. Krsna took the bhava and kanti of Srimati Radharani and appeared in form of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He tasted the service mood of the supreme servitor, Srimati Radharani. So when Mahaprabhu performed His Nadiya-lila we can see another form of the Lord. Up to the age of twenty four Mahaprabhu exhibited His grhastha-lila in Nabadwip. That Nadiya-lila of Mahaprabhu is expressed as the gupta-vrndavan-lila of Krsna. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur very happily loved and worshipped that lila.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and a few other devotees are very much attached to the Pancha-Tattva's Nabadwip-lila. There Nityananda Prabhu, Adwaita Prabhu, Gadadhar Pandit, Srivas Pandit and all the devotees are all playing along with Mahaprabhu Himself. Sometimes early in the morning Mahaprabhu would go to bathe in the Ganges with all the devotees. They would walk along the banks of the Ganges, very happily wandering about, dancing and chanting the Hare Krsna Mahamantra. Then the Lord would go to Isodyan with His devotees and perform sankirttan in the garden. Everyday there would be new flowers and fruits in the garden and a feast at noontime. The Lord would eat in the garden with all His devotees. Every evening the Lord would go to Srivas Pandit's house for kirttan. The devotees would perform kirttan all night and Mahaprabhu would dance amidst them showing them His mahabhava. In this way the Lord showed many lilas in Nabadwip.

When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was twenty four He took sannyas and left Mayapur. In Mayapur everyone could happily serve the Lord. Before He took sannyas His exclusive devotees were always getting His exclusive and very very intimate association. After He took sannyas the devotees of Nadiya no longer got His close association. They could not associate with Him intimately as they did during His grhastha-lila. The devotees of Mayapur were always serving the Lord and offering Him food. Even very poor men could serve Him. In Nadiya-lila the Lord was in a very very happy mood, He was always full of joy while chanting the Hare Krsna Mahamantra with His devotees.

But Mahaprabhu's sannyas-lila is filled with austerity. He showed this austerity to His devotees and to the world. He followed fully the courtesy and customs of a sannyasi of that time period. He did not use a bed, He never used oil, etc.. His devotees were always very unhappy to see Him observing such austerities. Jagadananda Pandit especially could not tolerate Mahaprabhu's sannyas-lila. Like Jagadananda Pandit, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur also could not tolerate seeing the Lord observing such austerities during His sannyas-lila.

When Mahaprabhu returned from Nilachala to Koladwip in Nabadwip after five years of sannyas He stayed in the house of Vidya-vachaspati Misra, the elder brother of Sarvvabhauma Bhattacharyya. Mahaprabhu did not go to His home village of Mayapur. He went to Kuliya in Koladwip where our Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math is at present. He did not go to the other side of the Ganges to visit Mayapur. The residents and people of Mayapur came to see Him in Koladwip, but they did not actually get His association at that time. Mahaprabhu stayed there for only two or three days and thousands and thousands of people gathered there to see Him at that time. To protect Him, Mahaprabhu was highly guarded while He stayed there. Everyone who came wanted to enter the house of Vidya-vachaspati to see Him and if everyone had been allowed to enter freely they would have easily destroyed the house because there were so many people. So the residents of Mayapur could only get the Lord's darsan from a great distance. From very far back they offered their dandavats to the Lord and returned home.

Remembering this Pastime and Mahaprabhu's Pastimes in Mayapur, Bhaktivinod Thakur composed one sloka expressing his heart's desire to take Mahaprabhu back to Mayapur. I engraved this sloka on the Samadhi Mandir of Srila Guru Maharaj.

"Mahaprabhu may be so great, or Mahaprabhu may be Bhagavan Himself, or Mahaprabhu may be the yuga-avatara, Mahaprabhu may be anything, but what will I do if I do not first get the service of Mahaprabhu? First, I need His service. I am feeling great pain to see Mahaprabhu with no hair dressed as a sannyasi. I do not like to see His sannyas-vesa. I need to worship Mahaprabhu in His form of Nabadwip-chandra, the Moon of Sri Nabadwip Dham, not Sri Chaitanyadev the sampradaya sannyasi. I want to bring Mahaprabhu back to Mayapur where His devotees could see His long curly hair and divine form shining in His beautiful garments during their Pastimes in the garden of Isodyan."

In this way Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur worshipped Mahaprabhu's eternal lila hidden in Sri Nabadwip Dham. Just as it is said that Krsna never takes a step outside of Vrndavan, that Krsna eternally lives in Vrndavan, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur worships the Nabadwip-lila of Mahaprabhu which is like the Vrndavan-lila of Krsna. Mahaprabhu's sannyas-lila is compared to the Kuruksetra-lila of Krsna. The heart of Bhaktivinod Thakur was attracted to the Lord's Pastimes in this way. This is very high siddhanta.

Srila Saraswati Thakur exclusively followed the line of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. Srila Saraswati Thakur never manifested a Deity form of Mahaprabhu as a sannyasi. In every one of the sixty-four maths Srila Saraswati Thakur founded, Mahaprabhu's Deity form was always revealed as His grhastha form of Nabadwip-lila. This was for the satisfaction of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. In his first math, Sri Chaitanya Math of Mayapur, Srila Saraswati Thakur installed the Deities Sri-Sri Guru-Gauranga Gandharvika-Giridhari. In maybe fifty of his other maths Srila Saraswati Thakur gave the Deities Names related with the word vinoda, Sri Gaura Vinoda-prana, Gaura Vinodananda, etc.. So Prabhupad Saraswati Thakur was enlightened with the conception of Bhaktivinod Thakur and he organized Mahaprabhu's Deity forms in his mission in this way.

For many years in Deity shops you would never see a sannyas form of Mahaprabhu. You would see many different forms of Mahaprabhu but never the sannyas form. However, now the artists are making some sannyas forms of Mahaprabhu, ten or fifteen years ago you would not see this anywhere. Maybe fifteen years ago I first saw Mahaprabhu's sannyas form in a medicine shop in Parama-tala. All my life I had never seen any Deity of Mahaprabhu in His sannyas form. Now the idea seems to be spreading and the artists are making Mahaprabhu's forms in many ways but they do not know the meaning of their work on the plane of devotion.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur was a very exclusive devotee of Mahaprabhu and he is a very special kind of devotee. He specifically worshipped Deities of Sri-Sri Gaura-Gadadhar. Everyone praises the worship of Gaura-Gadadhar but almost nowhere do you see such worship. Always you see Nitai-Gaura or Gauranga Mahaprabhu alone. Only in two or three places can you see Gaura-Gadadhar Deities. One is in Champahatti in the temple of Dvija Vaninath and another is in Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's temple in Godrumadwip. The worship of Gaura-Gadadhar involves a very hidden and deep conception. It is the deepest conception of Gauranga-lila which is worshipped only by deeply attached, exclusive devotees.

Gadadhar Pandit Goswami was always very peacefully and quietly present in Nabadwip-lila with Mahaprabhu and His devotees. He stayed like a shadow of the Lord, silently present in the distance. But he had full hearted affection for Mahaprabhu. All of the Lord's devotees knew he was fully devoted to Mahaprabhu. When Mahaprabhu returned from Gaya Dham after taking initiation from Iswara Puri, His mood had changed and He was desperately searching for Krsna. He cried before the devotees showing His full mahabhava, "Where is Krsna?! Where is Krsna?!" Once Mahaprabhu was crying in this way at the house of Srivas Pandit in the company of Mukunda, Sanjaya and all the devotees. Mahaprabhu heard someone else crying inside another room of the house, He asked, "Who is crying inside of that room?" The devotees said, "Your Gadadhar is crying." Then Mahaprabhu praised Gadadhar, "Gadadhar, you are so fortunate! You have been a great devotee of Krsna since childhood. I have never had the Krsna-prema that you have!" In this way Mahaprabhu praised Gadadhar and gave much affection to him like he was His own brother. Even at times when all the devotees would be very confused, Gadadhar would have a very steady mood and silently try to serve and nourish Mahaprabhu. Sometimes he would give Sachimata advice, "Oh, Mahaprabhu wants this," or, "this is the Mahaprabhu's heart desire."

Srila Guru Maharaj composed one very nice sloka explaining the real activity of Srila Gadadhar Pandit Goswami.

In Puri, Mahaprabhu was heavily intoxicated with Radharani's mood of separation from Krsna. Mahaprabhu was like a madman searching everywhere for Krsna, "Where is Krsna?!" He was always in the mood of extreme separation, tasting the mahabhava of Radharani. Gadadhar Pandit was always following Mahaprabhu but also always remaining at a distance from Him. Gadadhar Pandit would invite the Lord to his Tota Gopinath temple. Gadadhar Pandit lived there in a garden and worshipped his Deity of Gopinath. Everyday Mahaprabhu would come there with His devotees to hear Srimad Bhagavatam. In Jagannath Puri Gadadhar Pandit's only real activity was giving nourishment to Mahaprabhu as much as possible by reading Srimad Bhagavatam for Him. Sometimes wine or intoxication is supplied to a someone who cannot tolerate their feelings of being very deeply separated from a dear friend. Mahaprabhu could not tolerate the deep separation He felt from Krsna and Gadadhar Pandit Goswami gave nourishment to Mahaprabhu through reading the Bhagavatam. He supplied the Bhagavatam to Him like an intoxicant. Mahaprabhu tasted the Bhagavatam like wine and in this way got much nourishment from Gadadhar Pandit. Supplying ecstasy to Mahaprabhu in this way Gadadhar Pandit himself was also always crying. Gadadhar Pandit cried to see the mood of Mahaprabhu and worshipped Mahaprabhu with his explanation of the Srimad Bhagavatam and his own tears.

Krsna took Radharani's bhava and kanti (heart and halo) and appeared as Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to taste Radharani's ecstatic service mood. Radharani then became like an empty vessel, Her bhava taken by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and She showed Her form in Gaura-lila as Gadadhar Pandit. Gadadhar Das, who was an associate of Nityananda Prabhu, further represented Her kanti. But Gadadhar Pandit represented Her main form for he was like an empty vessel. He was quiet and seldom spoke anything about Krsna, but his heart was always full of Krsna. Internally Mahaprabhu is Krsna and Gadadhar was always feeling separation from Mahaprabhu as well as Krsna. Not everyone could understand the position of Gadadhar. Only the very close and intimate devotees could understand the bhava of Gadadhar. The closest and most intimate devotees knew that Gadadhar Pandit was the incarnation of Srimati Radharani.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's worship of Gaura-Gadadhar manifested in Sri Godruma Dham. There he would worship Gaura-Gadadhar and meditate on the Pastimes of Radha-Krsna. In one song he wrote,

"As I gaze upon Sri-Sri Gaura-Gadadhar of audaryya-lila, before my eyes They have manifested as Sri-Sri Radha-Madhava of Vrndavan-lila." He would not have guessed that while he was meditating Gaura-Gadadhar would transform themselves into Sri-Sri Radha-Krsna. Seeing the movements of Gaura-Gadadhar appearing as Radha-Madhava, he fainted. When he regained consciousness everything was just as before.

Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur chose to disappear on the same amavasya, dark moon day, as Gadadhar Pandit, gadadhara dina dhari' paiyachchhe gaurahari. Today is that day, Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur's tirobhav tithi. Many things happened in life of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. Maybe you have read how Mahaprabhu's birthplace was discovered, how Nabadwip Dham parikrama began or how Mahaprabhu's mission was established. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur tried to do many things in many ways. Lastly, his supreme gift was Srila Saraswati Thakur. He perfectly established Srila Saraswati Thakur in his line so that in the future he would carry the sampradaya of Mahaprabhu. Finally, Srila Saraswati Thakur succeeded in this and fulfilled the desires and wishes of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. Srila Guru Maharaj composed many slokas about the glories of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur. In general he prayed, "I bow down to the lotus feet of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and pray that his desires may be fulfilled by his dear-most associate Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and his disciples."

One hundred years ago Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote in one of his books that within a short time 50,000 devotees from all over the world would make the world mad with love of Krsna and come to India and dance and chant with the Indian devotees, embracing them with tears in their eyes. This was the prediction of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and already it is happening. Many of the devotees from the Western world are joining in the mission of Mahaprabhu, chanting the glories of Mahaprabhu and dancing in the Name of Mahaprabhu. And many of them are attached to our Math and this Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Seva Asram. We are very happy that we are here, so far away from India, making a festival in the name of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur, a viraha-mahotsav. By the mercy of Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur we must get the mercy of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. We have no doubt about this.

Srila Sachchidananda Bhaktivinod Thakur ki jaya!