Written for the occasion of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupadas Disappearance day on 21 December 1957O Merciful Srila Prabhupada...by Srila Bhaktivedanta Trivikrama Gosvami MaharajaYou Are Compassionate to All SoulsIn Bhagavad-gita (4.11), Sri Krishna affirms: yatha mam prapadyanteYou have properly safe-guarded the integrity of this verse. Through your exemplary behaviour you have preserved the veracity of Sri Krishnas statement in Bhagavad-gita (9.29), samo ham sarva-bhuteshu I am equal to all beings. Without being perturbed, you would appropriately punish even those who prided themselves in being your especially intimate servants. That chastisement is actually nothing but your mercy and demonstrates your magnanimity.
You Embody the Mood of SeparationSri Krishna allowed the gopis to taste the bliss of union and then revealed His limitless mercy by drowning them in an ocean of separation from Him. Your behaviour is identical to Krishnas, for it displays the same unbounded mercy. If Sri Krishna had remained with the gopis forever, the conditioned souls would surely have been delighted, but the most merciful Sri Krishna said: yat tv aham bhavatinam vaiThe actual reason why I, the treasured object of your sight, have stayed far away from you is that I wanted to capture your minds and draw them closer to Me. When a womans lover is far away, she thinks of him more than when he is present before her. Your minds are fully absorbed in Me, forsaking all else, and you always remember Me. Therefore, you will be reunited with Me very soon. O Srila Prabhupada, your devotees, who are absorbed in constantly remembering you with feelings of separation, attain the state of mam upaishyatha, reunion with you. This is an example of your immense mercy. A meeting that does not culminate in separation is not truly a meeting at all. Union ends with separation, and separation with union. Love and rupture have the same import: this teaching has come from your own lotus lips. As such, you are bestowing your grace upon your devotees today by revealing yourself as an embodiment of the mood of separation. O merciful Srila Prabhupada, your form is composed of sac-cid-ananda spiritual existence, knowledge and bliss. Your disciples have heard from your own lotus mouth that the materially conditioned souls can never glimpse your transcendental form; only liberated souls receive your darsana. In trying to see you, conditioned souls merely perceive an image of you reflected in the material mode of goodness. Nonetheless, you have showered your endless mercy upon those who were attracted by this image. You have made it known to them that all the followers of Srila Rupa Gosvami (rupanugas) are grieving in separation from their worshipable deity. Your sole objective is service in that same mood. You embody the nectarean ocean of vipralambha, feelings of separation from Sri Krishna, and you have shown your compassion by propagating service in separation (vipralambha-seva).
You Are Uncompromising in Upholding the TruthO generous Srila Prabhupada, no desire other than to serve Sri Krishna was ever present in your character. You were a brahmacari, unmarried celibate, since childhood and later manifested the pastime of accepting sannyasa, the renounced order. Thus, you have firmly established the principle that it is extremely difficult to achieve the ultimate goal of life if one is fond of associating with women. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes: ramani-jana-sanga-sukham ca sakheO friend, the pleasure to be had in the company of beautiful young women ultimately turns to fearfulness, and distracts one from the true goal of human life. You have shown limitless mercy by living up to the ideal portrayed in these words of your spiritual master. O merciful lord, your conceptions are forever divine. In the religious conventions convened to discuss various pertinent issues you invalidated the concept of demoniac varnasrama and established divine varnasrama. By your transcendental power, you overcame the fierce opposition. As a result, your sincere servants have been following that system of divine varnasrama to this day. This divine triumph of yours displays your great compassion. O merciful Srila Prabhupada, you have condemned the concept that matter and spirit are identical, as well as the ideas of the prakritasahajiyas1, and thereby illuminated the nature of supremely pure devotional service. Had you not appeared on this earth, who would have cleansed the heaps of impurities that had entered the premadharma, religion of unadulterated love, propagated by Sriman Mahaprabhu and who would have revealed its pure message? Who would have distributed the beauty of devotional service in the mood of separation, given by Sriman Mahaprabhu to the world? O Prabhu, there is no end to your mercy. 1 A pseudosect of so-called Vaishnavas who variously misinterpret the original teachings of Srila Rupa Gosvami. Some even indulge in debauchery in the name of bhakti, by trying to imitate the transcendental loving affairs of Sri Radha and Sri Krishna.
I Humbly Pray at Your Lotus Feet
![[Return to BVML Home Page]](../grfx/bml_logo.gif){kind=logo}
 Srila Bhaktivedanta Trikakrama Maharaja Page |
