Meditation on Bhaktivinoda Thakura pranama mantra

namo bhaktivinodaya sac-cid-ananda namine

gaura shakti svarupaya rupanuga varaya te

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Thank you Namo Bhakti Vinodaya Satchitananda Namine Gauri Shakti Swaroopaya Gopalangu Varayate This pranam mantra of Bhaktanath Thakur succinctly encapsulates most important characteristics of this great Acharya Namo Bhakti Vinodaya we want to develop a personal intimate relationship with Krishna and in that mood we chant the name of Krishna without any Namo as Hare Krishna directly we chant but we use the word Namo for by offering respects to all the Acharyas because these are our spiritual teachers and cultivating a Dasya Bhava towards them is very important because only by that we will eventually come to an authentic Dasya Bhava in relationship with Krishna and thereafter we can rise to more intimate Bhavas in relationship with Krishna so Namo Namo He is our master, we are his servants and we offer obeisances to Bhaktanath Thakur Bhakti Vinodaya Now Bhaktanath Thakur was born Kedarnath Dutta but he got many epithets so Bhaktanath was appellate resignation that he got because of his delineation of Bhakti Rasa Thakur was a general resignation of respect So Chidanand and Amideva Chidanand Thakur was the initiated name that he got from the time he was Swami Bhaktanath Thakur had already started writing his Gaya Vaishnava literature writing books of Shatrik, Shambharath and even talks even before he got initiation but he still desired initiation and when he got it he gratefully accepted it and eagerly started the propagation of Kaulya Vaishnavism at even more vigorous level Bhaktanath Thakur is the manifestation of the special energy of Chidanand Mahaprabhu that Kaulya Vaishnavism which was lost was recovered and rejuvenated and then eagerly propagated by his empowered associate of Bhaktanath Thakur associate of Lord Chaitanya it is not associated with contemporary it is associated in the sense that he was carrying on the mission of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Bhaktanath Thakur was born in a Shakta family he studied humanitarian Christianity associated with members of the Brahma Samaj of Raja Ram Mohan Roy eventually he discovered Kaulya Vaishnavism and through that he discovered Krishna Bhakti initially as per the prevailing critique of Vaishnavism that came from both the Christian missionaries and the western rationalists and which was reiterated by many of the Bhadraloka at his times and that critique said that Krishna was an immoral person but Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was worshipping Krishna Bhaktanath Thakur could not reconcile the ethical purity of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu with the sinning purity of Krishna eventually he reconciled it by prayer, by revelation by the understanding that actually Krishna’s pastimes are at a transcendental level so it was he who was blessed by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by the grasp of the true understanding of Krishna and then share that Bhaktanath Thakur focused primarily on the teachings of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and presented them through various books like Chaitanya Shiksha Angata and Jaya Dharma Premapadeep many other books like that he also wrote songs composed songs which could be sung in vernacular and through them also he attracted a large number of people to Krishna to Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and to Krishna so the mission of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was fulfilled by Bhaktanath Thakur one of the most important of those missions was rediscovering the lost holy place of the yogapeetha so it was one of the most resourceful tasks done by Bhaktanath Thakur where he used cartography study of maps he used the description given in scripture of the locations of the various places Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes he utilized history and finally he through his logical systematic rational presentation he was able to persuade the intelligent the educated and those who were devoted more loosely inclined they were won over by Bhaktanath Thakur’s utilization of the mystical devotional vision of his primary spiritual inspiration Jagannath Swamiji when Bhaktanath Thakur requested Jagannath Swamiji he brought at the place which he felt as an instigation was the yogapeetha there Jagannath Swamiji there despite being very old so big that he could practically not even lift his eyelids to look out he started jumping up high in the sky as he this is the birth place of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and despite he made available for all generations of the recovered holy place of Lord Chaitanya and he is Rupanuga Varayate he is the greatest among the followers of Rupa Goswami in Rupanuga so actually the whole vision of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in one sense was entrusted by him to Shri Rupa Goswami of course there were languages that came from Chaitanya Prabhu like Adhar Pandit, Madhved Acharya but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave philosophical instructions primarily to the Goswamis and theological and philosophical foundation of his vision he entrusted to them and it was through that really that the three the tribe of Shama and Pandit Shri Mahasacharya and later came back from Vrindavan and flooded Bengal and Odisha with Krishna Bhakti with Gaurav Dev so Shri Rupa Goswami was the primary responsible for laying the theological and intellectual foundation and for subsequent spreading of Gaudiya Vaishnavism similarly Bhaktivinoda Thakur laid the theological philosophical and intellectual overall foundation for the spreading of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the modern times Shaka Bhopal created Bhaktivinoda Thakur as the actual founder of the modern day Krishna Consciousness movement Goswamis were given four missions in Vrindavan to write books about glory and supremacy of pure devotion service to write books about how to practice devotion service to establish temples in Vrindavan and to rediscover the lost holy places of Vrindavan so what the Goswamis did for Vrindavan Shri Bhaktivinoda Thakur did for Navadvip for and in Navadvip they rediscovered the lost holy place in Vrindavan the beautiful temple that came to be known as the Adbhut Mandir thereafter he also wrote books he wrote books of both kinds those which talked about how to practice devotion service practically Bhagavad Gita and other books combined tattva as well as Sadhacharya he also wrote books like Jiva Dharmanish to talk about Tattva quite elaborately and this way he during his generation fulfilled the mission of Rupa Goswami Rupa Anuradha and he also prayed that let this mission go on at least send me an assistant so Lord Jagannath came in his room and told him that I have brought you to Puri not to do political work or financial work for devotional purpose and then Bhaktivinoda Thakur said that I am caught up in so many responsibilities we have 14 children responsible social position as a devotee magistrate he said how much can I do please send me an assistant please send me Ayodhya Krishna and that Ayodhya Krishna was his son who became Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and who also carried on the mission vigorously from whom came our neighbor Sri Prabhupada A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami who took that same legacy that Bhaktivinoda Thakur had recovered and preserved and propagated he took Sri Prabhupada’s part of it all over the world so Namah Bhaktivinoda for always such a great person who has preserved and presented the treasure of Krishna Bhakti in the Kauravas tradition to all of us thank you