Katha spoken by Sri Prem Prayojan Prabhu,

online class, 2nd May 2021

By the causeless mercy of Sri Guru and Gauranga, we are observing the tirobhava mahotsava, disappearance festival, of our most dearly beloved bhagavata vaisnava acarya Srila Visnuji Sastriji Maharaja.

Perhaps you know that our prayojana acarya Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami has said:

gurau gostshe gosthalayisu sujane bhusura-gane

sva-mantre sri-namni vraja-nava-yuva-dvandva-sarane

sada dambham hitva kuru ratim apurvam atitaram

aye svantar bhratas catubhir abhiyace dhrta-padah

Sri Manah-siksa, verse 1

“O my dear mind! You are my brother because we are both born on the same day. So my mind, you are like my brother. So, please don’t quarrel with me. I am falling at your feet and begging you, ‘Give up all duplicity and develop intense, unprecedented love for your
gurudeva, your spiritual master, have one-pointed attachment to the beautiful gosthe, Vraja mandala, the holy dhama of Sri Krsna. Gosthalayisu - and to all the associates of Sri Krsna in His lila and also when They come in this world, in their sadhaka forms, in the form of our acaryas. Sujane means ‘you should have love for the vaisnavas of the other sampradayas’.”

In Vraja mandala there are many rasika vaisnava sampradayas, and especially our Gaudiya-sampradaya and the sampradaya of Sri Vallabha Acarya are very close and have a loving relationship historically. In Sri Caitanya Caritamrta it is mentioned, in
Bhakti-ratnakara also when Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami became sick, then Vitthala Acarya, the son of Vallabha Acarya, said, “Bring a doctor and take care of him.”

And also, gurau gosthe gosthalayisu sujane bhusura-gane – one should have love for brahmanas of the dhama. The brahmanas are bhusura that means like devatas on earth. My Gurudeva used to say, “And of all the brahmanas, the top-most are the Caturvedi brahmanas of Mathura. No one can compare with them in their vidya, in their profound knowledge of sastra.”

Sastriji used to come every day and visit Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha to have darsana of Radha-Vinoda-bihari there in Mathura and see my Srila Gurudeva. And whenever my Gurudeva had a sabha, a meeting of dharma-sabha, to discuss the siddhanta of the
Srimad Bhagavatam or the poetry of our gosvamis, he used to invite many sadhus, and especially he used to invite Sri Visnu Sastriji to come and speak there.

Once there was a pandita there at the meeting in Govardhana and he explained Srimad Bhagavatam in an impersonal way:

sarva-vedanta-saram yad

brahmatmaikatva-laksanam

vastv advitiyam tan-nistham

kaivalyaika-prayojanam

SB 12.13.12

He explained that the goal of Srimad Bhagavatam is kaivalya, liberation, and that atma and brahma are one. Hearing this, my Gurudeva didn’t give a reply but he knew that Sastriji is very learned in siddhanta and he would refute his arguments, so he asked Sastriji to speak.

So Sastriji said: brahmatmaikatva that brahma is Krsna and His atma is Radha. So sakti-saktimator abheda – sakti and saktiman are non-different. So, brahmatmaikatva-laksanam, the Srimad Bhagavatam describes the essence of Vedanta that is that sakti and saktiman, Krsna and Radha, are One. And the goal of life kaivalyaika-prayojanam – here kaivalya doesn’t mean brahma sayuja, here kaivalya means ‘kevala-prema that love which is not mixed with karma, not mixed with jnana, not mixed with yoga, not even mixed with the aisvarya-bhava but with the suddha-madhurya-prema’ - that is called kaivalya-prema, kevala-prema.

So, my Gurudeva and Sastriji would often remember this day and laugh, celebrating the victory of suddha-vaisnava-dharma.

Transcription by Vrinda dd