Rupanuga-sampradaya

That is our paricara, identification, our nature. Bhaktivinoda Thakur says,“I run to get admission under the management, administration of Rupa Goswami.” Who runs? He who has got such aspiration.He runs to become enlisted in the group of Sri Rupa, who has got such sort of prospect.

And that will be the highest attainment of our fortune. He has declared it, Raghunatha Das Goswami.

And still now, that is the point of my achievement for the whole Gaudiya Sampradaya. Raghunatha Das Goswami is the acharya of our highest necessity, our ultimate aim; he is the prayojana acharya. By the grace of all of you, and by the necessity, Prabhupada (Srila Saraswati Thakur) had dragged these things from me, and I cannot but remember that he wanted me to go to the West.

Devotee: To tell everyone about Das Goswami. He wanted you to perhaps deliver this conception that you are carrying, for the benefit of the world. To spread this knowledge about the Goswamis, Prabhupada wanted you to go to the West.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Anyhow, and the credit is to Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj.

Devotee: And Prabhupada wanted to bring everybody here.

Other Devotee: Now your speaking is going to the West.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: That is by the grace of Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj. Kalidas says in the Raghuvamsa when he is approaching to describe about the Raghuvamsa, the dynasty of Raghu, in which Lord Rama appeared: “I am a man of small literary experience; so many stalwarts have sprang from that great Raghu vamsa, and I am going to describe about them with my least wealth of poetry?” He says that, and many slokas are devoted for that purpose. There is one:

athava krtavardhare
granthe ‘sminn purva suribhih
mano vajra samuthena
sutresye vastune gatih

He was so simple; so great and so simple at the same time. Anyhow, Mahaprabhu, our Gurudeva has done through him a tremendous inconceivable thing. Even one Maharaj, who could not tolerate all these things, because he was first in charge to go to the West, and could not get the desired success, but the other day, when coming from Mayapura, that Maharaj said, “It is achintya: inconceivable. He did not want to give recognition, but from his mouth, the word came out. That what Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj did, that is achintya: it is inconceivable. So, it is divine. It is inconceivable what he has done, what Nityananda Prabhu, what Baladeva has done through him, that is inconceivable.

Devotee: Is it possible to have two rasas in the spiritual world?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: It is not seen generally. The permission is possible. In the first stage, it may not be detected and this is a great problem to us, and a great guidance to us. Anyhow, we have come to a group which is exclusively the group of madhurya rasa. The guru-parampara you see, not of vatsalya rasa, but to madhurya rasa. Or the mantram, leading to madhurya rasa. Madhurya rasa is all-accommodating rasa, and that was mainly given by Mahaprabhu, and also Rupa, so Mahaprabhu, and also Rupanuga Sampradaya had the mantram, what we get, all rasa combined, and to help that rasa, the service of that rasa, other paraphernalia has been created.

Adi rasa, and mukhya rasa. Two paricaya: denominations of the work of rasa. They are identical. Adirasa means that is the most original rasa – madhurya arasa. And mukhya rasa, the principle rasa is madhurya rasa. And the zenith of all rasa is found there. Our guru parampara is all in all madhurya rasa, and the mantras that are given to us are all in madhurya rasa, so that is the real work. Anarpita ciram cirat karunaya vartina kalau … Mahaprabhu came to give what was not previously given. That Radha Govinda, they came to jointly give the type of divine love to the public. “If you have such a qualification you can come up to this, the highest quarter.” That was the necessity of Sri Guaranga, to distribute that. All others are subservient, helping that rasa of Krsna. So, in our childhood, when not sufficiently developed, we may run here and there, but ultimately, we shall mostly go there.

Devotee: Different individuals will have their respective rasas, but the original mood, the objective, is to enhance the madhurya rasa, support the madhurya rasa. Say somebody is in sakhya rasa, but he is in Mahaprabhu’s movement, he is trying all the time ….

Srila Sridhar Maharja: That is also an instance. Not only that, but greater than that. Mahaprabhu tried to convert Murari Gupta, but He could not. Then he left. His strong inclination was towards Ramachandra. But still, Murari Gupta had some respect for this. Then, also, perhaps Rupa Goswami and Sanatana tried their best to take the father of Jiva Goswami, Anupama – he was a devotee of Ramachandra – to take him to krsna-lila, but they also failed. So, they tried, and that has got some value, even by Mahaprabhu and Sanatana, that is not a chance coincidence or a flickering or false attempt. So it is possible, and at the same time, there is such a strong and innate nature, that cannot be converted. That faith, that thing, is in the jiva. Both sides have been pleaded here.

Devotee: Maharaj, it has been clear now, in a way, that Prabhupad (Srila Bhaktivedana Swami Maharaj) was in the sakhya rasa?

Srila Sridhar Maharaj: At least temporarily he has showed like that. What he has expressed there in that journey there, it is almost clear that he liked that sort of lila best, but it may be, it might have been suppressed purposely; it also cannot be denied, maybe. That is one thing. There may be such a possibility, and he has given, he has said that Radharani was his gurudeva. His gurudeva was Radharani, but he himself was thinking that perhaps madhurya rasa should not be distributed in the first instalment. That might have been his view.

Because his preaching was mostly helped by Nityanananda Prabhu, Baladeva, so influenced by their tendency, their mood, he might have for the time being had that footing. And another thing: there is another sign that he showed affinity for sakhya rasa. In Vrndavana, he has installed Baladeva, Krsna Balarama, and Nitai Gaura. Sakhya rasa preference. That also may be with the previous idea: that generally, by the influence of Nityananda, Nityananda and Baladeva has helped me to preach the lila of Krsna in such a broad way, so in gratitude, he might have place that vigraha.

But our Guru Maharaj did not place, only in Panca Tattva and other places, otherwise, where the pure madhurya rasa, Mahaprabhu, Radha-Govinda and Mahaprabhu, everywhere: He installed Mahaprabhu, both combined and Radha Govinda, separate. Radha krsna pranaya vikrtir hladini saktir asmad. But Guru Maharaj, through preached exclusively this madhurya rasa, but great precausion. What is not that thing, he perhaps used ninety percent of his energy to preach that “This is not madhurya rasa.” To clear away the negative side, he had to spare in his words, “Gallons of blood” to be spared to teach that this is not madhurya rasa.

Neti neti: this is not that thing, this is not that thing. And whatever he did, pujala ragapatha gaurava bhange. This whole life in a nutshell is expressed in this, his own expression. Pujala ragapatha, the very nature of my sampradaya is this. Pujala ragapatha gaurava bhange matala sadhujana visaya range.