His Divine Grace Srila Saccidananda Bhaktivinoda Thakura (1838-1914)
"The pioneer of the program for benedicting the entire world with Krishna consciousness by the instructions of Lord Chaitanya."
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A lecture by
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(September 23, 1969, London, England)
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So today is a very auspicious day, Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s birthday. Here is the picture of Thakura Sac-cid-ananda Bhaktivinoda. He was one of the acaryas of this disciplic succession from Krishna. We have got a succession table from Krishna, genealogical table. There are two kinds of genealogical tables, one by the semina -- father, his son, his son, like that. That is material genealogical table. And there is one spiritual genealogical table, disciplic succession. Just like Krishna. Krishna, the original father, Supreme Personality of Godhead, He spoke the Vedic knowledge to Brahma, Lord Brahma. He spoke to Narada. Narada spoke to Vyasa. Vyasa spoke to Madhvacarya. So in this disciplic succession, Lord Caitanya, from Lord Caitanya, the six Gosvamis, and similarly, coming down, down, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, then Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji Maharaja, then my spiritual master, then we are next generation, my disciples.
So there is a disciplic succession. And the acaryas, they’re authorities. Our process of knowledge is very simple. We take it from the authority. We don’t speculate. Speculation will not help us to come to the real knowledge. Just like when we are in difficulty, in legal implication, we go to some authority, lawyer. When we are diseased we go to a physician, the authority. There is no use, speculation. Suppose I am in difficulty in some legal implication. I simply speculate, “I shall be free in this way and that way.” That will not help. We have to go to the lawyer who knows things, and he gives us instruction that “You do not do this, then you’ll be free.” Similarly, when we are diseased, if I speculate at home that “My disease will be cured in this way and that way,” no. That is useless. You go to an authorized physician, and he will give you a nice prescription, and you’ll be cured. That is the process of knowledge. But in the modern age people think that “I am free, I am independent, and I can make my own solution.” That is rascaldom. That’s not good. So Arjuna, when he was talking with Krishna as friend, but when he saw that there was no solution talking like this, he surrendered to Krishna. He said, sisyas te ’ham, aham: “Myself, I surrender unto You as Your disciple.” Sisyas te' ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam. Prapannam means surrender. So that is the Vedic injunction, that if you want to know transcendental knowledge or science. Transcendental means beyond the scope of your direct perception.
So spiritual knowledge is beyond the scope of our sense speculation. Beyond the scope. Just like when a soul, a spiritual spark only, leaves this body, you cannot see. Therefore, atheistic class of men, they speculate, “There may be a soul, there may not be soul.” Or, “The bodily function was going like this, now it stopped. The blood corpuscles now cease. It is no more red, it is white, therefore life.” These are speculation. This is not actual knowledge. Actual knowledge you get from the authority, Krishna. He says, tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati. Just like the soul is passing through different stages. Dehino ’smin yatha dehe. Deha, deha means this body. Asmin dehe, in this body, there is dehi. Dehi means who is the owner of this body. That is soul. That is passing through childhood, boyhood, babyhood, youthhood, old age. Everyone, you can perceive that you were a child, you were a baby, you were a boy. Now you are young or old man. So you are there. So as you are passing through different types of bodies, similarly, when you give up this body you accept another body. What is the difficulty? Tatha dehantara-praptir dhiras tatra na muhyati. There is no question of becoming astonished, how transmigration of the self, soul, takes place. The vivid example is there. Simply you require little intelligence. That intelligence is developed through the instruction of acarya. Therefore, Vedic injunction is not to acquire knowledge by speculation. That is useless. Athapi te deva padambuja-dvayam janati tattva prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi, na canya eko ’pi ciram vicinvan. Ciram vicinvan. Ciram means for thousands of years you can speculate; you cannot understand what is God. That is not possible. But if you receive knowledge from the devotee, he can deliver you. Therefore Vedic injunction is that tad-vijnana... In order to understand tad-vijnana... Vijnana means science. If you want to know the transcendental science, then you must approach a guru. Tad-vijnartham. In order to, if you are at all interested to understand the spiritual science. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum eva abhigacchet. You must approach guru. Guru means this disciplic succession, as I have explained.
So Bhaktivinoda Thaura is an ideal guru. He was not a sannyasi. He was grhastha, householder, living with family, wife, children. Still, he was guru. So anyone can become guru. Not that a sannyasi can become guru. A householder also can become guru, provided he knows the science. Caitanya Mahaprabhu, when He was talking with Ramananda Raya... Caitanya Mahaprabhu was a sannyasi, very highly born in brahmana family, very learned scholar. So He was talking with Ramananda Raya, a grhastha, governor of Madras. And He was questioning, and Ramananda Raya was answering. That means he was taking the part of guru, and Caitanya Mahaprabhu was taking the part of a disciple. So he was hesitating, Ramananda Raya. He thought himself that “I am a grhastha. I’m not even a brahmana. Besides that, I am dealing in material affairs. I am governor, politics. And Caitanya Mahaprabhu is a sannyasi, born of a high-class brahmana family. So it does not look well that I shall teach Him.” So he was hesitating. Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “Oh, why you are hesitating?” He said, kiba vipra, kiba sudra, nyasi kene naya,
yei krsna-tattva-vetta, sei guru haya. He said, “Don’t hesitate. Either one may become a brahmana or one may become a sudra.” Kiba vipra, kiba sudra. Vipra means brahmana, and sudra. Sudra is the fourth-grade human being. Brahmanas the first-grade. So kiba vipra, kiba sudra. He may be a first-grade human being or the lowest grade human being, or he may become a sannyasi or a grhastha. It does not matter. Anyone who knows the science of Krishna, he can become a guru. This is the verdict. Because spiritual science does not belong to the bodily platform, it is on the spiritual platform. It is very nice. Just like when you go to a lawyer or to an engineer or to a physician. You do not inquire whether he’s a brahmana or sudra. Simply you have to know whether he’s a lawyer. That’s all. Whether he’s a physician actually. If he knows the medical science, he may be a brahmana, he may be a sudra, he may be a sannyasi, he may be a householder. It doesn’t matter. Your business is with a physician, with a lawyer. Similarly, your business is to understand Krishna. So anyone who knows Krishna perfectly, you have to go there. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet. It is Vedic injunction. It is not that you have to approach a sannyasi or a grhastha or an Indian or American. No. Gurum. And guru means who knows the science of Krishna.
So, this Bhaktivinoda Thakura was grhastha, very responsible officer, magistrate. And he was so exalted that he would come from his office generally at five o’clock, then take his supper and immediately go to bed. Immediately. Say at seven o’clock in the evening he goes to bed, and he wakes up at twelve o’clock. So suppose he goes to bed at seven o’clock in the evening and wakes up at twelve o’clock at night. It is sufficient sleep, five hours. One should not sleep more than five to six hours. Minimize as far as possible. The Gosvamis used to sleep not more than one and a half hour, or two hours. Sleeping is not very important thing. Even big politicians, they used to sleep for two hours. So especially in spiritual line, they should minimize as far as possible eating, sleeping, mating, defending. Minimize. Gradually it comes to nil. Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami, he was eating only a little piece of butter every alternate days, not daily. So this Bhaktivinoda Thakura, regularly he was coming from his office, and after taking his supper immediately he goes to bed, and wake up at twelve o’clock, and he used to write books. He wrote. He left behind him about one hundred books. And he excavated the birthplace of Lord Caitanya, organized how to develop that birth site, Mayapur. He had so many business. He used to go to preach about Caitanya’s philosophy. He used to sell books to foreign countries. In 1896 he attempted to sell Life and Precepts of Caitanya in the McGill University in Montreal. So he was busy, acarya. So one has to adjust things. Not that “Because I am grhastha, householder, I cannot become a preacher. “It is the business of the sannyasi or brahmacari.” No. It is the business of everyone. The whole world is suffering for want of knowledge. The present civilization is animal civilization. They do not know anything beyond eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That’s all. This is animal civilization. Animal does not know beyond these four principles of life: eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That’s all. No. Human life is meant for something else: “What I am? What is God? What is my relation with God? What is this material world? Why I am here? Where I have to go next?” So many things one has to learn. Athato brahma-jijnasa. This is human life. Not that eat and sleep and have sex life and die someday like cats and dogs. Therefore, there is need of acaryas, teachers, for propagating spiritual knowledge, Krishna consciousness. Bhaktivinoda Thakura, although he was a grhastha, householder, a government officer, magistrate, but he was acarya. So from his dealings, from his life, we should learn how one can become a preacher in any stage of life. It doesn’t matter what he is.
When he was magistrate in Jagannatha Puri. The system is, Jagannatha temple is a very big establishment. In the temple fifty-six times daily, bhoga is offered. And you’ll find in the temple always at least five hundred to one thousand people gathered. And they come from outside, and prasada is ready. If you go and ask in the Jagannatha temple that “We are one hundred men come from outside. We want prasada,” yes, immediately ready. So it is a huge temple. This is one temple, but there are many other thousands of temple in India where prasada is distributed. Now it is minimized by our present government. They think that it is unnecessary expenditure. They are minimizing. But not unnecessary expenditure. They do not understand. Formerly, in India there was no necessity of hotel. Anyone goes anywhere, even in a village, he goes to a temple, prasada is ready. There is no need of going to a hotel. You pay or don’t pay. If you say that “I want little prasada,” “Yes, take it.” That is the system still. There is the Nathadvara temple in Rajasthan. You pay two annas only. Two annas means one cent. You get sumptuous prasada for two mens, all very nice prasada, still. So prasada distribution in temple is longstanding usage. So Bhaktivinoda Thakura... The Jagannatha temple is managed by a body, and it is the custom that the local magistrate of the district, he becomes the president, or manager.
The Krishna consciousness, or God consciousness, is there already. It is developed in human form of life. But it is now covered because due to our association with this material world for unlimited years background. We are coming through different species of life. Millions and millions of years passed away. Suppose I was a tree sometimes. I was standing up for ten thousand years in one place. We have passed through. That’s a fact. That is evolution. Now we have the opportunity of light. If you don’t use this opportune moment and again go back to the cycle of evolutionary process, jalaja nava-laksani sthavara. So this is a great science. Unfortunately, there is no opportunity for the people to study this science in school, colleges, or universities. They are simply teaching people that “You work hard and gratify your senses.” That’s all. Therefore a section, younger section, they have been disgusted. They have refused to cooperate with this society on account of this disappointing education. And it will increase. Because this sort of education cannot give peace or prosperity to the people. Problems are increasing. Therefore, our request is that if you want to decrease or completely finish all the problems of life, take to Krishna consciousness in the process of disciplic succession and you’ll be all happy.
