Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī - Part 2 of 2

The satisfaction of remaining under guidance

When Guru Mahārāja would go on preaching missions, there would often be several events scheduled concurrently, and so the preaching party would split into different groups to honor all the invitations. I noticed that Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmācārī would travel only with Guru Mahārāja and remain under his guidance; he never preached with anyone else. He used to say, “I consider it a matter of great fortune to carry out my life under the guidance of an exalted personality while remaining insignificant. In that alone, I find joy, contentment and satisfaction. I never want to go anywhere I may be forced to act superior to others.”

Hearing means following

Once, Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Prabhu and his senior sannyāsī godbrothers were preaching at a university, where highly intellectual professors and students had assembled to hear about the philosophy of the Gauḍīya Maṭha. Yet, each time the sannyāsīs delivered their speeches, several professors and students would insist, “You are reiterating ancient ideas. We have heard these concepts many times before.” Although, the various sannyāsīs tried to help them understand the specialty of the Gauḍīya Maṭha, the objectors maintained their philosophy was simply old wine in a new bottle.

Finally, Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmcārī asked Guru Mahārāja for a chance to speak. When Guru Mahārāja consented, Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī stood up and said, “I am not an intellectual like you learned academics. I concluded my efforts to accrue worldly knowledge when I came to the Gauḍīya Maṭha in the seventh grade. Today, I will speak a few points before you all, based on what I have learned from my spiritual teachers. Although my presentation may contain errors, you will be able to infer the essence if you listen patiently.

“You yourselves have readily admitted you have already heard, understood and memorized well the views my godbrothers discussed before you here today. You have asked us many questions in response, but I request you to please ask yourselves this one question: ‘Do I live my life according to these teachings?’ If the answer is yes, then very well. Otherwise, your knowledge of those teachings will be of no true benefit. Merely memorizing them will do you no lasting good. Although your education allows you to read, understand and memorize a doctor’s prescription, your illness will not be cured unless you follow the prescription’s instructions to take a particular medicine. On the other hand, an illiterate person will be cured if he, after taking that prescription to a qualified, educated person who can explain its contents, consumes the medicine prescribed therein. This is the specialty of the Gauḍīya Maṭha: we practice what we preach, and what we preach is ‘uṭho re, uṭho re bhāi, āra to’ samaya nāi—get up, get up, brother! There is no time left.’ ”

The professors unanimously conceded. “You have spoken the truth,” they said. “The trouble with society nowadays is that despite having vast knowledge, people seldom follow any of what they know.”

The great impact of a simple explanation

Once, Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī and an entourage of devotees accompanied Guru Mahārāja on a preaching mission to Guwahati, Assam. Being Assamese, Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī and my godbrother, Śrī Cintāharaṇa Pāṭagiri Prabhu, knew the local language. As per the instruction of Guru Mahārāja, the two met with deśa-priya Śrī Gopīnātha Bordoloi, the then Chief Minister of Assam who was an object of affection for the country’s citizens, to invite him to hear bhāgavata-kathā at Guru Mahārāja’s program.

At the meeting, Śrī Bordoloi first asked them to introduce themselves, their organization and the reason for their visit. After their introduction, he asked, “You are both Assamese. Why then have you not accepted the principles of śrī bhagavata-dharma as preached in Assam by Śrī Śaṅkara-deva, Śrī Dāmodaradeva and other renowned Assamese bhaktas? Why have you instead accepted the teachings of Śrīman Caitanyadeva, a Bengali?”

Śrīpāda Cintāharaṇa Prabhu requested Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī to kindly answer Śrī Bordoloi, and Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī obliged: “Respected Mr. Bordoloi, if I may, I would like to preface my reply to your question with a brief question of my own. You, too, are Assamese, and you belong to a brāhmaṇa family. Why, then, did you consider it appropriate to attend Oxford University in England, accept Englishmen as your teachers, your gurus, and follow their teachings, when they use paper to clean themselves after passing stool instead of following the proper practice of using water? What more should I speak about their lack of etiquette? “Śrī Navadvīpa-dhāma has long been famous as the Oxford of India, and scholars from even Assam have regularly gone there for higher education. We therefore fail to understand the inherent fault in our following Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.”

Śrī Gopinātha Bordoloi was rendered speechless. Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī and Śrīpāda Cintāharaṇa Pāṭagiri Prabhu left his office and returned to Guru Mahārāja. When they arrived back at Guru Mahārāja’s quarters, they were greatly surprised to see Śrī Bordoloi sitting next to Guru Mahārāja. They realized he had come by car while they travelled by rikśaw.

This pastime illustrates the convincing effect Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī’s simple explanations had on not only Śrī Gopinātha Bordoloi, but many people around the world.

His sister’s tenacity

Once, Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī brought Guru Mahārāja and a preaching party to his sister Śrī Saheśvarī devī’s home in Sārabhoga, Assam. At that time, the people of Sārabhoga were not cordial with the Gauḍīya Maṭha. Not long before, an ignorant maṭhavāsī, a newcomer, killed Śrī Erāma Pāṭhaka, the benefactor who had donated the land for the Sārabhoga maṭha, by striking him on the head with a hammer.

When the people of the village heard that the Gauḍīya Maṭha sannyāsīs and brahmacārīs had come to preach, they fervently objected. “We refuse to let them preach here!” they exclaimed. “We will not make their stay in this village easy.”

Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī told Guru Mahārāja, “She is Keśava’s sisterand her father’s daughter. You must trust her resolve. Please stay here a few days and perform kathā and kīrtana.”

Guru Mahārāja heeded Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī’s advice and stayed for a few days, during which, an amazing thing happened: Śrī Kamalā- kānta, the person who had instigated the opposition, took initiation from Guru Mahārāja along with his two wives.

During their future visits to Sārabhoga after Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disappearance, Guru Mahārāja and his preaching party did not stay in the branch of Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha there, as the management had unfavorably changed. Instead, they stayed in the home of Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī’s family, and Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī’s mother, a staunchly service-inclined devotee, happily prepared delicious prasāda for all the devotees during their visits.

Pleasure and nourishment: two aspects of service

I once cooked under Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī’s guidance at the Śrī Ananta-vāsudeva temple in Kālnā. At that time, the temple was under the care of Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja. In the course of cooking, I had forgotten whether I had added salt to one of the vegetable preparations. When I told Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī about this, he said, “I can tell from the steam rising from the pot whether or not you have added salt.” Sure enough, when he saw the steam from a distance, he said, “No, you haven’t added salt yet.”

He then gave me the following cooking advise: “If you ever happen to add too much turmeric, put a few pumpkin or gourd leaves into the pot and they will soak up the excess turmeric. And if you happen to add too much salt, a ball of dough will absorb it.” He went on to tell me many more things about cooking, including how to cook large quantities in only a short time.

During our conversation, he said, “Cooking is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s service, and She always presents new dishes to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Although Śrī Durvāsā Ṛṣi gave Her a boon by which everything She cooked would be like nectar, She still fully absorbs Herself in cooking, as She does with whatever other services She may perform. Moreover, She reflects on what is best for Kṛṣṇa. She considers not only whether Kṛṣṇa will find a dish tasty, but also whether it will nourish Him. It was with a similar mood that Śrī Rāghava Paṇḍita’s sister, Śrī Damayantī, would send medicinal preparations to Purī for Śrīman Mahāprabhu, so that He could find relief from any acidity or stomach pain He may have experienced.

“In our conditioned state, we do not know Śrī Kṛṣṇa or Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s tastes, nor have we any idea which dishes nourish Them. Still, we have heard that Bhagavān accepts food through the mouths of His devotees. Keeping this in mind, we should be especially careful to consider what is most beneficial for them when preparing their meals. When cooking for them, we must dedicate our full attention to that service."

Worrying for the welfare of others

Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī once chastised a person he had inspired to join the maṭha. That person responded by saying, “If you weren’t such an old man, I would have grabbed you and forcibly thrown you out of the maṭha.” Śrīpāda Keśava Prabhu made no rebuttal, but rather remained silent.

After I repeatedly asked him about the incident, he finally said, “There is a difference of heaven and earth between the era we live in today and that of bygone times. Previously, people felt forever indebted to those who helped them even slightly. But nowadays, not to speak of a scent of gratitude, people feel no shame in arguing with and falsely accusing those who have helped them. Their only motivation for such quarrels is to receive recognition and fulfill their selfish desires. There was a time when, what to speak of those in positions of authority, everyone in the maṭha desired to increase the maṭha’s number of sevakas. But now we see that many of those holding high posts do not object to expelling devotees from the maṭha.

“This reminds me of an old story,” he continued. “Once, a man put what he thought was a turtle egg in a pond, because turtles help protect water by eating many polluting entities. But when the egg hatched, he discovered it was actually a crocodile egg. He now had a pond with a crocodile that wanted to eat him, the same person who had put the egg in the pond.”

I told Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī, “You have served both Śrīla Prabhupāda and Guru Mahārāja so much. You should never have to endure any sort of inconvenience. When government employees retire, they receive a pension. Bhagavān’s is the biggest government. How could those who have served Him not possibly receive a pension? In this world, a pensioner must go to the bank and prove his identity before he receives any funds. But Bhagavān’s devotees receive their pension automatically, without having to go anywhere. You have never collected any money for yourself; you have lived your whole life as a totally renounced Vaiṣṇava. Although they have never met you, devotees both here and abroad joyfully exclaim ‘All glories to Prabhupāda’s cook!’ whenever they hear about you. There are plenty of people who would happily donate to serve you. Do not concern yourself with the actions or words of others. You have nothing to worry about.”

“I know all this very well,” he told me. “I am not worried for my maintenance. I worry only for those who, though residing with sādhus, are unable to take full advantage of their association. These persons are unable to realize that they must taste the fruits of their actions. Where, then, must they go to experience a change of heart? Anyway, I can only pray for Bhagavān to bring them auspiciousness. May Śrīla Prabhupāda rest his auspicious gaze on all of us.”

Avoiding duplicity

Various godbrothers of Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī would repeatedly ask him to accept sannyāsa, but he would always say, “It is duplicitous for a person to superficially accept someone as his dīkṣā-, śikṣā- or sannyāsa-guru. Even a sannyāsa disciple must readily accept his sannyāsa guru’s instructions, including chastisement, with great pleasure and eagerness, for the scriptures declare it improper to not regard one’s gurus as being on the same level. Śrīla Prabhupāda is my dīkṣā-guru, and I simply cannot put anyone else on the same seat he occupies in my heart. He has taught that it is better to live as an animal, bird, worm, insect or any other of the millions of species than to resort to duplicity, so how could I accept sannyāsa if I am unable to give my heart to anyone else but him?

“Śrīla Prabhupāda has also taught that the servants of paramahaṁsa Vaiṣṇavas are simple-hearted. I therefore pray that you may encourage and help me in cultivating simplicity, so that I may become a true disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda in this lifetime and thereby become satisfied. This would be an expression of your true mercy upon me.”

Protecting his godbrothers’ and godsisters’ japa-mālās

When Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī’s godbrothers or godsisters would leave this material world, he would acquire and carefully store the japamālā (chanting beads) Śrīla Prabhupāda had given them. Whenever any of his fellow godbrothers or godsisters happened to lose or misplace their japamālā, he would provide them one of the mālās he had saved. Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇakeśava Brahmacārī was so pleased after the construction of Śrī Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭha’s branch at Śrīla Prabhupāda’s appearance place in Purī that he blessed the person who funded the maṭha’s construction, Śrī Banavārī Lāla Siṁhāniyā, by giving him one of the mālās on which Śrīla Prabhupāda chanted.

Reading for the pleasure of Bhagavān and His devotees

Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī would study Bengali translations of many books. I noted he especially liked reading the Bengali versions of various Purāṇas. He always avoided using his reading light at night, instead opting to read by candlelight, so as not to inconvenience the other devotees sleeping in his room.

He used to say, “I read only to please Bhagavān and His devotees. If my reading light disturbs a devotee of Bhagavān, then of what benefit will my reading be?”

Wasted time is a wasted opportunity to serve

Someone once notified Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī, “There is a person from our village who, after living in the Himalayas for ten years, claims to have gained the mystic ability to walk on water. Today, he is returning to our village to show his extraordinary new ability. I can arrange for you to come and see if you would like.”

Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī told that person, “I am not a fool. I will not waste my invaluable time to see a crazy person who spent ten years of his life just to attain the ability to walk on water. You can take a boat for a couple paisā, and an airplane ticket to the furthest possible country costs at most a month’s salary. What, then, is the need to spend ten years mastering such a pointless feat? Those who pursue such attainments simply crave mundane prestige, and nothing more. An intelligent person should understand the true value of his time. Knowing that one’s time should be used to pursue that which cannot be attained by money, affluence, knowledge or ritual practice, what intelligent per-son would ever endeavor for material prestige?”

Essence over externalities

Once, an initiated devotee petitioned Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī, saying, “Prabhu, I have not been chanting my gāyatri-mantras for quite some time. I have heard that the mantras are rendered ineffective after three days of neglect. I am unable to hear them again from my dīkṣā-guru, for he has left this world to join Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s eternal pastimes. I implore you to mercifully recite the gāyatrī-mantras to me.”

Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī asked the devotee, “Do you still remember the mantras your gurudeva gave you?”

“Yes,” he said. “I remember all the mantras.”

Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī told him, “Then you need not hear mantras from anyone else. It is true that neglecting to chant the mantras given by śrī guru is a form of gurur-avajña, disobeying one’s spiritual master. Nevertheless, you must beg forgiveness at the lotus feet of your gurudeva and again start chanting your mantras according to the proper regulations. Everything will be rectified by his mercy.”

The devotee then raised another question: “I have heard that I should at least change my upavīta (sacred thread) before beginning to chant my mantras again. Is this true?”

Śrī Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī replied, “If that were the case, then wouldn’t ladies, who are never given a sacred thread, be doomed? Do not invest your attention and energy only in external activities. Instead, always seek and give greater value to the essence. When traveling, retaining your ticket is the most important concern. Stations, co-passengers and conductors may come and go with little or no consequence. In the same way, your ticket to Goloka Vṛndāvana is the mahā-mantra, and to some extent, your gāyatrī-mantras, which indirectly assist the mahā-mantra. Concern yourself with nothing else. No obstacle can harm you if you take full shelter of śrī harināma and your gāyatrī-mantras under proper guidance.”

The transcendental clerk

Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Prabhu lived in Śrī Jagannātha Purī for approximately ten years before leaving this world. Whenever I would visit Purī, he would open up his trunk, place it in front of me and say, “Count how much money is there.” After I would count the money and tell him the amount, he would often say, “I must definitely provide Jagannātha prasāda to the residents of the maṭha. Also, I want you to invite as many paṇḍās from Śrī Jagannātha Mandira as we can host so that they may partake as well.”

Accordingly, I would procure Jagannātha prasāda and invite the paṇḍās. Seeing this, Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Prabhu would become very pleased and say, “Bhakata sevā parama siddhi prema-latikāra mūla—Serving devotees is the greatest perfection and the root of the creeper of divine love.”

He would also explain, “When devotees offer me donations, they do so with the intention of serving Vaiṣṇavas. If I properly fulfill my responsibility to utilize their donations in service, I will become a recipient of Bhagavān’s mercy,and the donors will be spiritually benefited. I am a like bank teller or a railway enquiry clerk who deals with the public’s money, but does not receive a direct payment from them. It is the bank or railway management that pays his salary for fulfilling his responsibility of providing customers with the convenience of depositing or withdrawing their money or inquiring about train timings.”

Preparing for his disappearance pastime

In the year leading up to his disappearance, Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī would continually cry out the following verses at the top of his voice:

labdhvā sudurlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte

mānuṣyam arthadam anityam apīha dhīraḥ

tūrṇaṁ yateta na pated anumṛtyu yāvan

niḥśreyasāya viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.9.29)

We have attained this rare human life after countless births, and though it is temporary, it affords one purpose in this world. Therefore, as long as he has not dropped dead, a wise person must swiftly strive to attain ultimate liberation, for pleasures can always be had in all forms of life.

kṛṣṇa tvadīya-pada-pańkaja-pañjarāntam

adyaiva me viśatu mānasa-rāja-haṁsaḥ

prāṇa-prayāṇa-samaye kapha-vāta-pittaiḥ

kaṇṭhāvarodhana-vidhau smaraṇaṁ kutas te

Mukunda-mālā-stotra (33)

O Kṛṣṇa, may the royal swan that is my mind submerge itself this instant at the stems of Your lotus-flower-like feet. How else will I be able to remember You during my last breath, when my throat is constricted by air, bile and phlegm?

An ācārya in the truest sense

Śrīpāda Kṛṣṇa-keśava Brahmacārī lead such a simple and modest life that the only items he left behind after his disappearance were a few books, two sets of clothes and a trivial amount of money, all of which were kept in one small box, the only box he owned. Although he never externally accepted the role of ācārya nor gave mantra-dīkṣā, he abided by the following words of the scriptures, and thereby fortified many devotees to do the same:

ācinoti yaḥ śāstrārthaṁ

ācare sthāpayatya ‘pi

svayaṁ ācarati yasmad

ācāryas tena kīrtitaḥ

Vayu Purāṇa

A person who grasps the import of the scriptures and, through his words and conduct, establishes others in such standards gains renown as an ācārya.

Although he never accumulated anything for himself, he never lacked anything in his service. When he disappeared from this world on the day of Yoginī Ekādaśī, many devotees gave me donations to organize his virahamahotsava. Just as it had satisfied him so much to feed Jagannātha-deva’s prasāda to the maṭhavāsīs and the paṇḍās in the past, I invited all the Gauḍīya Maṭha devotees in Śrī Jagannātha Purī and numerous paṇḍās on the day of his viraha-mahotsava and distributed Jagannātha prasāda to them.