Srila-Govinda-Maharaj-Nabadwip-Nat-Mandir

I Want to Take Him Back

Śrīla Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj explains Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s view of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s sannyās.

Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur and few other devotees are very attached to Nabadwīp-līlā where Gadādhar Paṇḍit and the other members of the Pañcha-Tattva—Nityānanda Prabhu, Advaita Prabhu, and Śrīvās Paṇḍit—are playing with Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Every day there is līlā in the house of Śrīvas Paṇdīt, and all night there is saṅkīrtan. At that time, Śrīman Mahāprabhu shows His supreme bhāva, mahābhāva, to the devotees and gives them all nourishment. They always get to chant in front of Mahāprabhu and dance with Him. Sometimes, Mahāprabhu very happily gives some extra nourishment to the devotees and in the early morning, He goes with all the devotees to bathe in the Ganges as they chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahāmantra. They dance, chant, and walk around, wandering along the Ganges. Generally at noon, after saṅkīrtan—chanting, dancing, and so on—Mahāprabhu comes with the devotees to the garden known as Īśodyan which is full of fruits and flower. There He has līlās of feasting each day at noon with the devotees.

This is Nadia-līlā, Nabadwīp-līlā, and Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur likes this so much. Like Jagadānanda Paṇḍit, Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur cannot tolerate Mahāprabhul[s sannyās-līlā. He likes Mahāprabhu’s Nabadwīp-līlā.

Five years or so after Mahāprabhu went to Nīlāchal, Jagannāth Purī, He came back to Nabadwīp and stayed in the house of Vidyā Vāchaspati Miśra, the elder brother of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭāchārya. He did not return exactly to the Māyāpur, but he came to Kulia, Koladwīp, where our Maṭh, Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh, is present. He did not go to the other side of Ganges where Māyāpur is now present.

Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s expression of seeing Mahāprabhu at that time is,

āmi chāi gaurachandre la-ite māyāpure
yathāya kaiśora-veśe śrī-aṅgete sphure
(Śrī Navadvīpa-bhāva-taraṅga: 70)

I feel very pained to this form of Mahāprabhu who has no hair and no dress like the Mahāprabhu we know. I do not want this Mahāprabhu. He is dressed as a sannyāsī;  I do not like His sannyāsī appearance. I want to take Mahāprabhu back to Māyāpur.”

Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s bhajan was for the Mahāprabhu who is always present in Nabadwīp. We know that Kṛṣṇa is always present in Vṛndāvan.

vṛndāvanaṁ parityajya sa kvachin naiva gachchhati
(Śrī Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta: Pūrva-khaṇḍa 165)

Kṛṣṇa does not go out of Vṛndāvan even for a moment.”

Similarly, there is a hidden līlā of Mahāprabhu always present in  Nabadwīp Dhām, and Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur tried to worship that līlā. He showed that he worshipped all līlās, but his heart’s desire is here:

āmi chāi gaurachandre la-ite māyāpure
yathāya kaiśora-veśe śrī-aṅgete sphure
yathāya chā̐chara keśa tri-kachchha-vasane
īśodyāne līlā kare bhakta-jana sane
(Śrī Navadvīpa-bhāva-taraṅga: 70)

[“I want to bring Gaurachandra back to Māyāpur, where His youthful dress shines on His divine form; where, with His wavy hair and dhotī tucked in three places, He performs Pastimes at Īśodyān with His devotees.”] 

Mahāprabhu’s līlā in the garden of Īśodyan is most preferable and gives the greatest happiness to Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur.

Source

Spoken 1 July 1992.

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