Ācārya Siṁha
The Life of Swami Bhakti Gaurava Narasiṅgha Mahārāja
Chapter 26
No More Controversy!
(Māyāpura – March 1976)
With Brahmānanda and Puṣṭa-Kṛṣṇa withdrawing their recommendations for Narasiṅgha Mahārāja’s sannyāsa, Mahārāja felt he had no choice but to leave the decision to Śrīla Prabhupāda. In the meantime, he was happy enough reading, chanting, attending classes and simply being in the association of Śrīla Prabhupāda and the devotees. In an interview with Yadubara Dāsa for his video series Following Śrīla Prabhupāda, Narasiṅgha Mahārāja shared the following recollection:
Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: There were a lot of plans being made for world preaching, and at that time the first contingency of devotees was assigned to go to China, first attempt at China. So, it was really a big year, and Śrīla Prabhupāda was in very exceptional spirits. And when you came around him, you were brought towards that plane of Kṛṣṇa consciousness where nothing could be better, the days couldn’t better, your life couldn’t be better. And at this particular festival, that experience was at its optimum. Of course, there is the footage of Śrīla Prabhupāda ringing that bell on the side of the Deities and circumambulating with the devotees and raising his hand up for the devotees to jump. And when he would do that, it was such an ecstatic, emotional moment and everyone seemed to become filled with that – what sometimes is described as that indescribable joy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness just due to his association. So, for everybody who came to the festival, it was a most wonderful experience.
During this time, Śrīla Prabhupāda was lecturing from the ninth chapter of the Seventh Canto, wherein Prahlāda pacifies Lord Narasiṁha. Before Prabhupāda began his class, the Bhāgavatam verse was recited by Ananta-rāma Śāstrī. As his name suggests, Ananta-rāma Śāstrī was a young Sanskrit scholar who had left his village in North India to pursue his studies in Vṛndāvana. Along with two other young paṇḍitas, he began visiting the Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple and, being inspired by Prabhupāda’s preaching, decided to stay. However, their association with the angrezis (foreigners) drew criticism from some of the orthodox brāhmaṇas of Vṛndāvana. Facing opposition, the three scholars relocated to Māyāpura, where Pradyumna Dāsa, Prabhupāda’s Sanskrit editor, began teaching them English. Eventually, two of them departed, and only Ananta-rāma remained. Fluent in Sanskrit, Ananta-rāma composed the Śrīla Prabhupāda Stotram – a set of five verses glorifying Śrīla Prabhupāda:
(Prabhupāda with Ananta-rāma Śāstrī)
(1)
kṛṣṇaika-ceta mada-moha-vināśa-kārin
mad-dṛṣṭi-gocara prabho prabhupāda-svāmīn
doṣābhivṛtti-paridūṣita-manda-buddheḥ
sañcintayāmi caraṇau tava bhakti-hetoḥ
O my master, O Śrīla Prabhupāda, may you always be the object of my vision. Only Kṛṣṇa can remove my pride and illusion. I constantly meditate upon your lotus feet with devotion, although my intelligence is dull and polluted by evil intentions.
(2)
vṛndāvane ramaṇa-reti-prasiddha-bhūmau
tatrāpi kṛṣṇa-balarāma-supāda-mūle
jñānaṁ paraṁ parama-kṛṣṇa-sudharmīty uktam
dāntas tu deva prabhupāda namo namaste
O Śrīla Prabhupāda, O master of the senses, I offer my obeisance unto you. In the glorious land of Vṛndāvana, in Ramaṇa Reti, situated at the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, you preach the supreme knowledge of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the source of the highest dharma.
(3)
namaste namaste kṛpā-pūrṇa-dṛṣṭi
namaste namaste mahānanda-dhātrī
namāmo namāmaḥ punar rakṣa rakṣa
prasiddha-prabho pāhi māṁ dakṣa dakṣa
I offer my obeisance unto you, whose glances are full of compassion; I offer my obeisance unto you, who bestows the greatest bliss; I offer my obeisance unto you! Protect me, protect me again and again. O most renowned master, kindly protect me again and again!
(4)
bhaktisiddhānta-śiṣyāya bhaktivedānta-nāmine
prasannāya praśāntāya tasmai śrī-gurave namaḥ
I offer my obeisance unto my spiritual master, who is a disciple of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who is known as Bhaktivedānta Swami and who is always joyful and peaceful.
(5)
śrī-vaṅga-bhūmi-jana-bhūṣaṇa gaura-līlā
gaurāṅga-bhāva parisāraṇa-mātra-śīlā
rādhā-mādhava-pada-padma-mano-vilāsin
ānanda-rāśi prabhupāda namo namas te
The pastimes of Śrī Gaura are the treasure of those who have appeared in the land of Bengal. Śrīla Prabhupāda is always deeply immersed in thoughts of Mahāprabhu’s mood. His mind delights in the lotus feet of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. I offer my obeisance again and again unto Śrīla Prabhupāda, who is imbued with divine bliss.
Narasiṅgha Mahārāja recounts the first time he heard these prayers to Śrīla Prabhupāda:
Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: Śāstrī was quite a learned devotee in Sanskrit and he wrote these five prayers to Śrīla Prabhupāda. I remember that in Māyāpura, before the guru-pūjā would begin, there were sheets passed around and all the devotees used to sing these five prayers in unison when Śrīla Prabhupāda was sitting on the vyāsāsana. Śāstrī would stand next to Prabhupāda and he would lead the chanting. Eventually, these prayers were taught to the children in the gurukula. In the last days of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s life in Vṛndāvana at Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple, at about ten o’clock in the morning or so, the devotees would carry him in a chair from his room to take darśana of Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, and the Vṛndāvana gurukula boys used to line up outside Prabhupāda’s room, and when he would come out, they would chant these prayers. Just after that, I went to Philadelphia and I stayed in the temple for one winter. At that time, I introduced these prayers in Philadelphia, and they kind of went all over the world. I’m told that now they’re almost forgotten, but I’ve heard that they still chant them before Prabhupāda’s vyāsāsana in the Philadelphia temple.
During his first meeting with Śrīla Prabhupāda in Māyāpura, Mahārāja was asked to open a temple in Jagannātha Purī. Naturally, he was excited by the prospect. However, his reputation as an effective collector and preacher had already reached the ears of other devotees. It wasn’t long before some of the managers began making plans to draw him into their own projects.
One morning, as Mahārāja was chanting japa on the temple grounds, he was approached by a bespectacled Indian devotee, impeccably dressed in a pressed white dhotī and kurtā. He introduced himself as Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Dāsa Adhikārī, the GBC for Vṛndāvana and manager of the BBT in India.
“Are you Jagat-Guru Prabhu?”
Mahārāja smiled and replied in the affirmative. Gopāla Kṛṣṇa placed a hand on Mahārāja’s back, and they began walking together.
“Jaya! So, how would you like to help us collect?”
Seeing the confusion on Mahārāja’s face, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa clarified, “Help us collect – for Vṛndāvana!”
Gopāla Kṛṣṇa was silent for a moment. Eventually, he gave a small nod and said, “Okay, I see. Anyhow… Hare Kṛṣṇa, Prabhu.” With that, he turned around and walked away.
The next morning at the same time, as Mahārāja was chanting, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa again walked up to him, wreathed in smiles. “Hare Kṛṣṇa! So, last night I was talking to Śrīla Prabhupāda, and I told him, ‘I heard that Jagat-Guru Dāsa Brahmacārī is a good collector. It would be nice if he can help us collect for Vṛndāvana, but I heard you wanted him to open a temple in Purī.’ Then Prabhupāda said that the Purī project isn’t ready now, and it would be better if you collected for Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma.” Gopāla patted Mahārāja reassuringly on the back, and, with a wide grin, asked, “So, what do you think, Prabhu?”
Narasiṅgha Mahārāja: Prabhupāda had said, “You need to stay in India and open our temple in Jagannātha Purī.” That was the plan. But before I knew it, Gopāla Kṛṣṇa was saying, “I’ve already talked to Śrīla Prabhupāda and he said he will be happy if you collect for Vṛndāvana.” I was thinking that I’d never been to Purī and there was nobody there – but I’d been to Vṛndāvana and the temple had just opened the year before. Gopāla continued rattling on and on about how great it would be and I was just like, “Yeah! That works! Sign me up” I was aware that Gopāla was probably suckering me into that, and that he may not have spoken to Śrīla Pabhupāda at all, just like Bali-mardana and Brahmānanda did when they wanted me to go to Africa, but I just went along with it. Gopāla was just manipulating me for manpower, and in his mind, I was still on the list for sannyāsa. Having a sannyāsī collecting for a project was huge. Anyhow, I thought, “Well, if I can stay in Vṛndāvana and collect for Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, who cares if I’m being cheated?”
(Śrīla Prabhupāda with Gopāla Kṛṣṇa Dāsa [Left])
Mahārāja also received news about his old friend, Cyavana Swami. After experiencing a mental breakdown and being repatriated to the United States, Cyavana had been living with his father in Florida. While there, he was suddenly inspired to write to Gerald Ford, the then-President of the United States, claiming that only ISKCON, if supported by the government, could stop the spread of communism in Africa. When Śrīla Prabhupāda heard about the letter, he said that Cyavana was crazy. Cyavana later came to Vṛndāvana to recuperate and wrote to Prabhupāda expressing a desire to remain there and serve the Deities. Due to concerns about his mental health, Prabhupāda advised that he go to Māyāpura and spend time with his sannyāsī godbrothers for support and stability. However, while in Māyāpura, word came that Cyavana had left the Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple and gone to live at Rādhā-kuṇḍa. The last anyone heard, he had been seen smoking biḍis and behaving unusually before eventually being arrested by the police for an immigration violation. Mahārāja felt a deep sadness hearing how his once-close friend had fallen into such a troubled and erratic state.
Mahārāja’s acceptance of sannyāsa was still a moot point. To make matters worse, some of the leaders were concerned that several candidates scheduled to take sannyāsa on Gaura Pūrṇimā were unqualified. One evening, Śrīla Prabhupāda called a meeting with some of his leading sannyāsīs and managers to discuss the issue. As it happened, Mahārāja was sitting on Prabhupāda’s verandah, his back against the wall, facing Prabhupāda’s room. He was reading The Nectar of Instruction, a new book that had just been published by the BBT. Meanwhile, inside Prabhupāda’s room, a debate was unfolding among the assembled devotees about who would – or would not – be given sannyāsa that year. Jayapatākā Swami, the main manager in Māyāpura, voiced his concern that many brahmacārīs simply wanted to take sannyāsa to remain independent – they didn’t want to take instructions from senior devotees. Prabhupāda responded that if that was the case, then the renounced order should not be given so easily. He explained that the problem was they wanted to become sevyā instead of sevaka – to be served rather than to serve. He concluded that, ultimately, such individuals desired to become God. “When everything is failure, then – to become God. Everyone, if he wants to become a master – that is materialism.”
Some of the leaders were particularly concerned about one of the candidates – Mahāvīra Dāsa, an American devotee preaching in Brazil. Although he was a capable manager, they felt he was still somewhat immature to accept the renounced order. After hearing various opinions about Mahāvīra, Śrīla Prabhupāda said that he would speak with him personally. Everyone in the room was already aware that both Brahmānanda Swami and Puṣṭa-Kṛṣṇa Swami had withdrawn their recommendations for Mahārāja’s sannyāsa, so it was only a matter of time before someone brought it up. Eventually, Yaśodānandana Swami asked, “Prabhupāda, what about that brahmacārī, Jagat Guru Dāsa from South Africa? Will he take sannyāsa?”
Prabhupāda smiled, “Oh yes! He is very sincere. He will take sannyāsa!”
(Śrīla Prabhupāda’s room in Māyāpura)
Outside, Mahārāja sat on the verandah, absorbed in his reading, unaware of the discussions taking place inside Prabhupāda’s room. Suddenly, the door to the room swung open and all the sannyāsīs, temple presidents and GBC men came pouring out. One of them, Guru-Kṛpā Swami, strode up to Mahārāja and loudly announced, “Hey! Ain’t no more controversy! Prabhupāda said you’re taking sannyāsa – so that means you’re taking sannyāsa!”
As the devotees dispersed in various directions, Mahārāja remained seated, stunned, holding The Nectar of Instruction in his hands.
“Wow,” he whispered.
