I will just speak a few words. I was the last sanyasi made sanyas in this world. So Prabhupad, he once said you sanyasis have to travel and preach. Just like I have, you have to travel and preach. Just like the parents cursed Narada muni so I had to take the curse. So I looked around and I saw I was the only sanyasi in the room! He told that instruction one other time. At that time there were several sanyasis present but I took it that I have to travel and preach. As one of my duties. So someone recently said that we should have multiple responsibilities. But Srila Prabhupad he had sent one of the co-directors of Mayapur to New York and he spent half his time in New York and half in Mayapur. So I never saw that particular instruction given.
I was going on sankirtan and saw whenever both co directors were in Mayapur one of us would go on sankirtan and one would be in Mayapur. At that time Srila Prabhupad gave me the instruction that I should distribute 100 thousand small books and 10 thousand big books. So that is still keeping me busy. It was very enlightening to leave Mayapur and go on sankirtan. When we went over the railway tracks there was a certain feeling that we would be leaving Mayapur Dham and that we had to distribute Prabhupad’s message. We had to distribute Lord Caitanya’s message.
There were some things special things that we discovered near by Mayapur Dham, The place where Jahnava devi and Vasudha devi grew up and there Suryadas Sarkar had a dream that he was instructed to marry his daughters to Nitai. But he said no, Nitai is an avadoot. I won’t marry my daughters to him. I won’t marry my daughters to him but he saw that his daughters Reivata and Varuni were the consorts of Nityananda, so he called an associate of Nityananda and agreed to give his daughters. At that time Nityananda prabhu was taking Bhagavatam class in Navadvip and in the middle of the class his associate came and whispered something in his ear. He did not even wink. He was just like, alright. So that place was known as Shaligram. I would like to show someone that place, the Ganges used to flow there. But the Ganges shifted. So Lord Vasudha and Nitai moved near the Ganges. So like this we have many placed dedicated to Nitai Gaur’s pastimes. There is a temple behind Shaligram and there the deities are like very old. On the bottom of the deity there is a date written. 46 or something like that. So I took some devotees and showed them this place. And then the place where they moved to was Rukumpur. But the place where they were married was Shaligram.This is given in the Bhakti Ratnakar. But in some place it is written that Nitai was supposed to have gotten married in Kalna. But that does not make sense, because Kalna is near to Gauridas Pandit’s place. So it does not make sense that Nitai would have been married there. Like this we saw different places.
There was once a brahmana called Gopal Chakravarty and he was ex-communicated by the son of Nitai. Since he committed some offense an ex-communication letter was written. Like this there are many places in Burdhman district. I went and researched the different places.
Prabhupad made me the life time chairman of the Bhaktivedanta Charity Trust and one of the purposes was to unite and take care of the Saraswat Gaudiya family.
Someone wanted to set up a counter society but the devotees said charity begins at home. So Prabhupad wanted the glories of Navadvip Dham to be spread. He also wanted the Gaur mandala bhumi glories to be spread. So in Bhaktivedanta Charity Trust Prabhupad had two members from the Gaudiya matth and the others from Iskcon. So like this I had lots to do. I still have a lot to do. But it depends on the Lord how much I can do and I am trying to satisfy Prabhupad. So these are some of the activities Prabhupad established the Bhaktivedanta Charity Trust 5 or 7 days in November before his departure.
Are there any questions?
Question: Guru maharaj, myself and my husband, we are serving Iskcon Chennai full time. We don’t have any children also. So do you think in this situation, what would be considering vaanaprastha?
Guru maharaj: One should not take vaanaprastha cheaply or early. I have some stories of a couple having difficulties after having prematurely taken vaanaprastha and it could be offensive. What is more important is to engage in devotional service. We were reading the glories of Purushottam month and then and how one should engage fully in devotional service. If one engages most of the time in devotional service and rest in varnashrama they are called parinishthitha. And those who spend most of their time in varnashrama and some of their time in devotional service are called svanishtha. And if one is able to engage all of their time in devotional service they are known as nirapeksha. So that is more important. Taking vaanaprasatha externally you may get a nice seat in heaven but it is more important to be fully engaged in Krishna’s devotional service which you are doing.
Last question.
Question: Dear guru maharaj, please accept my humble obeisances. Regarding responsibility, I have a question. Which is better? One responsibility nicely executed or multiple responsibilities not nicely executed?
Guru maharaj: But it doesn’t say what responsibility. If it is for Krishna that is better, even if there is some defect. It is also about how one is trying. Krishna spoke about this in the Bhagavad Gita that one should not do anything that is not meant for Krishna. So the month of Purushottam is especially dedicated to pleasing Krishna. It is not for karma. It is for pleasing Krishna. So one should try to please guru and Gauranga.
Hare Krishna!
Transcribed on 5 May 2018
JRDD