Srila Sarasvati Thakura knew that he would soon be going to his Master, and therefore he gave some final instructions to his disciples. Our Guru-Maharaja was there, as were Gosvami Maharaja (a prominent disciple), Kunja Bihari prabhu, Bhakti Vilasa Tirtha Maharaja and others. He told those in attendance, "I am unhappy. I have come for a mission – to give the things that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to give. He has ordered me to give the teachings of vipralambha (the mood of separation for Radha and Krsna) and gopi-prema. He ordered me to teach the reasons He came to this world, and to share His gifts.

"However, most of my time was spent in cutting the 'jungles' of mayavada, sahajiya-vada, sakhi-bheki and all other non-devotional ideas. If there is a mayavada jungle, the seeds of bhakti will not sprout. I therefore had to cut so many jungles, and still there are so many jungles left throughout the world. Most of my time was spent in clarifying philosophical points."

Saying this, his mood changed and his face became reddish. Then he spoke the following verse:

yasyah kadapi vasanancala-khelanottha-
dhanyati-dhanya-pavanena krtartha-mani
yogindra-durgama-gatir madhusudano 'pi
tasya namo 'stu vrsabhanu-bhuvo dise 'pi

["Obeisances to the direction that faces Sri Vrsabhanu's daughter. When the breeze coming from that direction playfully moves the edge of His garment, Lord Krsna, who cannot be attained by even the kings of the yogis, thinks that His life has now become a great success."
(Sri Radha-rasa-suddha-nidhi, text 2)]

smara-vilasita-talpe jalpa-lilam analpam
krama-krti-parihinam bibhrati tena sardham
mitha iva parirambharambha-vrttaika-varsma
ksanam api mama radhe netram anandaya tvam

["O Radha, who without going anywhere else stays on the couch of amorous pastimes, talking for a long time with Lord Krsna and embracing Him so strongly that Your two forms appear to become one, please, for even a moment, delight my eyes."
(Sri Stavavali, Sri Sri Prema-purabhidha-stotra, text 4)]

Srimati Radhika is svadina-bhartrika. This means Sri Krsna is controlled by Her. Svadina bhartrika is of two kinds: maitri and sakhya. Madiya and tadiya are two parts of madhurya-rasa or paramour love, and they are each divided into two parts: maitri-mood and sakhya-mood. When love is slackened by sincerely requesting something, as in a prayer, that is called maitri. When priti (love) becomes prominent and prayer becomes secondary, that type of svadina-bhartrika is called sakhya. Candravali becomes svadina-bhartrika with maitri as the prominent mood (bhava), whereas Radhika becomes svadina-bhartrika with sakhya-bhava. At that time, Srimati Radhika can order anything She likes from Krsna, and He will carry out those orders – He will do so even if He gets a hint of an order. He will always be ready to carry out an order, even if there is only a hint of it. Regarding Candravali's order however, He will only carry out Her prominent orders; she must tell Him what she wants. In this way, Radhika is most prominent among all the gopis."

Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was ordered by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to help all devotees understand that Srimati Radhika is the most powerful among all the gopis, and that in order to become Her dasi (maidservant), we will have to become rupanuga. Without being rupanuga – without the guidance of Sri Rupa-manjari – we cannot serve Radhika.

Sri Krsna's priya-narma sakhas (His most intimate of cowherd friends) like Subala and Sridama are inclined towards Srimati Radhika. They are pleased when Radhika and Krsna meet. There are also some priya-narma-sakhas who facilitate Candravali's relationship with Krsna, but Prabhupada Sarasvati Thakura was greatly inclined to Srimati Radhika, in favor of rupanuga. He was rupanuga. He wanted to distribute this idea of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu: we want to be the servant of Sri Rupa-manjari, so that we can serve Sri Sri Radha and Krsna, not Candravali and others.

Srila Sarasvati Thakura's idea was to preach rupanuga-bhakti. Actually it was not to preach it, for rupanuga is not preached. His idea was to inspire devotees for this service to Srimati Radhika. At the end of his manifest stay in this world, however, he told his followers, "I could not do this, so I am unhappy. You should all gather and come under the shelter of asraya-tattva (the principle of the pure devotee – the reservoir of love for Krsna). Who is asraya-tattva? Guru is asraya-tattva. Living in such shelter, you should serve the Divine Couple Sri Sri Radha and Krsna under the guidance of Sri Rupa-manjari." This was the root motive for all his activities – to give this to the world.

He continued, "For this I have given great suffering to so many persons. I have snatched their educated and very qualified boys and girls, and brought them in this line. Therefore they became furious with me. Also, a certain group (samaja) in Navadvipa and Vrndavana made a movement against me. They could not understand my ideas, and they became opposed to me. The day will come, however, when they will realize that I have done something good, for society and for the individuals in society. I have done something good for everyone's welfare. Later they will regret that they opposed me. They will repent for this.

"So you should serve Radha and Krsna under the shelter of guru-tattva. Don't quarrel. Don't think you will be happy by collecting worldly possessions. You may be lacking so many things, but accumulating worldly possessions and positions will not make you happy. The fruit of having attained a human body is not the fulfillment of useless material ambitions. Besides these desires, we also have various kinds of diseases and our minds are disturbed with many worries. Leave them all.

"Fix an ultimate goal for your life. Decide where you will have to go and what you will have to do, so that your soul will be happy. Don't go towards material enterprises. One day this mundane body will become old and, poisoned by many diseases, it will then be finished. Yet, at that time, if you have given your body to Krsna for His service, your life will be a success. Offer this very wretched body to Krsna."

"Please try to understand my view. Do not quarrel among yourselves over useless worldly values. Always keep in mind what I have told you."

Then he left this world.

At that time our Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, was present. Bhakti-vilasa Tirtha Maharaja was also present there, and at that time he had not yet taken sannyasa. He was managing all the affairs in all the Mathas at that time. He proposed that our Prabhupada should be cremated in Calcutta, at the burning ghata (crematorium place) at Karatala. Our Guru-Maharaja opposed this and said, "I request you not to take him. We will take the transcendental body of our Prabhupada to Mayapura, where he used to do his bhajana. And he will continue to do his bhajana, for he is still alive. He will be in samadhi. [*See endnote 1] We will erect a Samadhi-mandira there. Then, living there with his Lord, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he will guide us forever."

When those who had the idea that Srila Prabhupada's transcendental body should be cremated opposed again, Guru Maharaja became furious. Standing by his divine body, He very boldly said, "You cannot take him to Karatala. I will personally stop whoever is doing so." He then arranged a train from Calcutta, (from where Prabhupada left the world) to Krsna-nagara. Around the first of January, in the morning, several thousand persons went with his transcendental body to Mayapura. Then, in the evening they carried his body to the area where the Samadhi is now situated, and they performed kirtana throughout the night. With the assistance of many young boys, our Guru-maharaja dug that Samadhi. He managed the entire separation festival, just as I did for your Prabhupada Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja here in Vrndavana. He anointed the body with fragrant oils and put his Gurudeva in samadhi there.

Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura preached the teachings of Lord Caitanya throughout India in no time. He also sent Bon Maharaja, Tirtha Maharaja and Gosvami Maharaja to the Western countries. Preaching did not advance as he wanted, however. He called for Bon Maharaja to return from England and told him, "We do not want to take anything from the Western countries. We have no need to take anything from them. Simply give them what I have told to you – we only want to give the same bhakti-bhava that Caitanya Mahaprabhu has given. Do not follow the habits of the Western civilization of eat, drink and be merry, as Vivekananda did."

He became somewhat apprehensive. Then he sent Gosvami Maharaja, and after that he ordered Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja to do it. Srila Swami Maharaja then performed a miracle. Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was so pleased to know that he has performed this task, and all of you are completing his task.

May Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada be merciful to all of us today. May he inspire pure bhakti in our hearts, so that we can practice and distribute this to others.
      Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada (right)
      and Sri Vinoda-bihari Brahmacari (second from left).

*ENDNOTE 1:
"At the time of his divine departure from this world, Parama-pujyapada Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja ordered me, “You should serve me in my taking samadhi.” He knew the meaning and significance of entering samadhi, and what should be done at that time. Samadhi is a Sanskrit word consisting of the two syllables: sama-dhi. Sama means “the same” and dhi means “intelligence”. It means that the pure devotee who is departing from this world is entering the same level, same position and same mood as the personal associates of his worshipful deity – with equal intelligence, equal beauty and equal qualities. He is serving properly according to his own svarupa (constitutional form). Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja’s worshipful deity is Srimati Radhika, and he is serving Her under the guidance of Her personal associates, the manjaris, headed by Sri Rupa Manjari."
(Srila Narayana Maharaja; ISKCON's Juhu Beach Temple in Bombay –1993)

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was born in the holy pilgrimage place of Jagannatha Puri to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, a great Vaisnava acarya in the line of succession coming from Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Although employed as a government magistrate, Srila Bhaktivinoda worked tirelessly to establish the teachings of Lord Chaitanya in India. He envisioned a worldwide spiritual movement and prayed for a son to help him achieve his dream.
 
On February 6, 1874, in the sacred pilgrimage town of Jagannath Puri, where Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura served as superintendent of the famous Jagannatha temple, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta appeared in this world. He was given the name Bimala Prasada. At the age of seven, Bimala Prasada had memorized the more than seven hundred Sanskrit verses of the Bhagavad-gita and could speak illuminating commentaries upon them. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the author of many important books and other writings on Gaudiya Vaisnava philosophy, trained his son in printing and proofreading.
 
By the time he was twenty-five years old, Bimala Prasada had acquired an impressive reputation as a scholar of Sanskrit, mathematics, and astronomy. His astronomical treatise, Surya-siddhanta, won him the title Siddhanta Sarasvati in recognition of his immense learning. In 1905, following the advice of his father, Siddhanta Sarasvati accepted spiritual initiation from Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji. Although Srila Gaurakishora dasa Babaji was illiterate, he was renowned throughout the continent as a great saint and Vaisnava acarya. Siddhanta Sarasvati, although a great scholar, exhibited humility and dedication in the presence of Srila Gaurakishora. Satisfied with such humility and dedication of his highly educated disciple, Srila Gaurakishora gave Siddhanta Sarasvati his full blessings and requested him to "preach the Absolute Truth and keep aside all other work." Upon the disappearance of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in 1914, Siddhanta Sarasvati became editor of his father's journal, Sajjana-tosani, and founded the Bhagawat Press for the publication of Gaudiya Vaisnava literature. In 1918 Siddhanta Sarasvati accepted the renounced order of spiritual life, assuming the title Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Maharaja. For purposes of propagating Gaudiya Vaisnavism throughout India, he organized the Gaudiya Math, with sixty-four branches throughout the country. The headquarters of his mission, the Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, is located in Sridhama Mayapura, the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
 
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta adjusted ancient traditions to conform with technological and social conditions of the twentieth century. He considered the printing press a most effective means of spreading this message throughout the world and was himself the author of many important translations, commentaries, and philosophical essays. He was the first spiritual teacher in this line to allow his renounced preachers (sannyasis) to wear Western clothes and travel in modern conveyances rather that on foot. Throughout the 1930s, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta expanded and increased his missionary work and succeeded in reestablishing Gaudiya Vaisnavism as the leading force in Indian spiritual life.
 
On January 1, 1937, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura passed from this world.

Return to