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Singapore: January 13, 2001
Today is the disappearance day of Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja, who was a very bold and pure devotee. He was so bold. He met with me and he liked all my books. That is why he told his devotees, "You can associate with Narayana Maharaja if you want bhakti." That is why many of his disciples came to me and I am helping them. I must help them.
He was very brave. I heard him say on one of his cassette tapes that even if a guru or any other devotee is chanting on a big, big five-kilo mala, it will not do. If he is duplicitous, hypocritical, and political, and if he is criticizing Vaisnavas, he is not even a Vaisnava, what to speak of a guru. He has boldly said everywhere that you should not follow so-called gurus and Vaisnavas. You should be in the association of Vaisnavas and gurus who are self-realized souls, who exemplify the qualifications of guru as given in Srimad Bhagavatam. In order to give this understanding he used to tell the truth, following our guru-parampara line.
For this reason almost all became against him. They warned him not to go here and there, to England or France or Australia they banned him. They wanted to ban his tongue, but he was not such a cowardly person that he could be controlled by anyone. Also, what I have written, and what Srila Jiva Gosvami and others have written, he accepted: the spirit soul has not fallen from Goloka Vrndavana. This can never be possible. This idea is absurd. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja made a booklet, with so many references from the books of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja and other acaryas, proving that it is absurd to think that any living entity can fall down from that realm and forget Krsna. Those who think so are wrong, and he used to tell this very boldly everywhere. They wanted to ban him from speaking about Srimati Radhika, the gopis, vraja-prema and the sweet pastimes of Lord Sri Krsna in Vraja, but he was not controlled. He wrote down so many pastimes of Sri Krsna, and he used to cite examples from Rasa-pancadyayee and other important scriptural references.
He did this because he was a Vaisnava from birth, and he practiced the principles of bhakti from his boyhood. He was totally in my line, or I may be in his line. Not only this; he was in the rupanuga Vaisnava line. I also very boldly relate hari-katha, the pastimes of Krsna. Otherwise, if we do not do this, hari-katha may leave the entire world, and the world will then be like zero. Vaidhi-bhakti cannot control Krsna. We should know what is raganuga-bhakti, and what is the love and affection exhibited by the Vrajabasis for Krsna.
In the Caitanya Caritamrta, Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami has written: "If I do not tell the confidential pastimes and truths about Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, then no one will understand them." He also wrote, "I am not writing for those who have no taste in these topics. And they will also not read this. On the other hand, those who have taste are like cuckoo birds. They will come, they will read, and they will taste all these things."
In this way, Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja has explained so many truths. He has especially said that we should always associate with elevated Vaisnavas, who are not criticizing any other Vaisnavas, who are not committing offences to any Vaisnavas, and who are not engaged in politics and duplicity. We should try to follow all these things, and then we can have Krsna-prema.
Gaura premanande, Hari Hari bol.
We will glorify Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura tonight, at the home of Taruni. Now we will offer puspanjali.
Editorial Advisors: Sripad Madhava Maharaja and Sripad Brajanatha dasa
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