Q. In “Srila Prabhupada: Sakhya or Srngara-rasa?” Swami B. V. Tripurari said it was the opinion of Swami B. R. Sridhara Maharaja that it was reasonable to conjecture that Srila Prabhupada may be situated in sakhya-rasa (like Subala). What were Srila Sridhara Maharaja’s exact words?
A. Although it is the expressed wish of Swami B. V. Tripurari not to further discuss this topic here, the beauty, depth, and devotion of Srila Sridhara Maharaja’s words on this subject compel us to reproduce it here for the pleasure and edification of our readers. [The editors]
Om Visnupada Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Goswami Maharaja speaks about his beloved Godbrother Om Visnupada Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The following is from a room conversation recorded at the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Nabadvipa, India.
I think he has given the hint—his own “autobiography.” When he was going to America, on the journey he expressed his feeling to play with Krishna in sakhya-rasa.
kata bane chutachuti bane khai lutaputi sei din kabe habe mor
“Running and frolicking in the many forests of Vraja I will roll on the ground in spiritual ecstasy. O when will that day be mine.”
This was his “Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Krishna.”
When he was passing through the Atlantic he gave vent to feelings that may be the salient points in his Vraja-lila. It struck me like that—Vrindavana sakhya-rasa.
When he departed from this consciousness of worldly preaching propaganda, then he is there. It is clearly expressed in these sayings there in the Atlantic. He discovered the unmanifest, aprakat pastimes in Vrindavan, and in Vrindavan he established Krishna-Balarama and Gaura-Nitai. That is indicative of sakhya-rasa. From this we can conclude that he is in sakhya-rasa and he has entered into those pastimes. This is my understanding about his present position.
He has expressed himself, his eternal position, the acme of his aspiration. In Vrindavan he has established Balarama and Krishna and Nitai Gaura, and he is saying like that, Nitai Gaura are Krishna and Balarama. It’s almost clear that he comes from that group. And now he’s again there. Hare Krishna.
He expressed his own position in eternal lila in his poem. I conjecture like that. Hare Krishna! In his diary in Bengali he wrote, “Today I cooked some bati-caccari. It was quite delicious. So I ate something. Today I expressed my inner feelings to my friend and wrote a poem about that.”
And that friend came to his aid. He was so earnest in his prayer to Krishna that he might be able discharge the duty that had been given to him by his Guru Maharaja that Krishna came down to help him—his friend helped him in this propaganda work. So saktyavesa-avatara. I take him; I cannot but take him to be so.
Addressing Krishna he wrote, “You are my eternal friend. Forgetting You, I have come to this world and I have been suffering the kicking of Maya, the goddess of misconception. If You come to help me in this campaign, then after finishing this I can again join You. When I shall be united with You again I shall wander along with You the whole day in keeping the cows in the forest. Running this side and that side in the jungle, in the forest. And then, lutaputi, to fall on the ground in different shows of play. I aspire after that day. I have got this good chance to serve my Gurudeva. For that reason my heartfelt appeal to You is that You please come to help me. I am Your eternal servitor, therefore so much aspiration I have got for You. You, no other, are my only resort.”
So after performing this service he aspires after a life in the cow-keeping lila of Krishna, and he is appreciating that sort of friendly service of Krishna very much from the core of his heart, his aspiration after finishing his worldly preaching campaign.
I take it that Nityananda Prabhu has given some special recognition to the section of the Suvarna varnik community from which Swami Maharaja has come. He has special grace for that particular section and the preaching about Gauranga, and this is mentioned in the scriptures. The Suvarna varnik are the most favorite section of Nityananda Prabhu. It is mentioned in the sastra, Caitanya Bhagavata. I thought that Nityananda Prabhu is also in charge of preaching about Mahaprabhu’s glory. So I took it that Nityananda Prabhu must have awakened some special dedication in him in his last days which helped him to inundate, with such an inconceivable magnitude, the whole of the world.
But that does not mean that he was nothing before such delegated power came in him. That delegation may only come in a proper place, just as in other saktyavesa avatars, the sakti accepts a particular place and that is not an ordinary thing. One must be a proper receptacle to receive that. Saktyavesa. Does it mean that when the delegation comes it will enter some bad thing? This supposition is mischievous, and those that will make this mischief out of my statement regarding the delegation of Nityananda entering him will diminish faith. They will prepare the field for becoming atheists. This is suicidal, to propagate in that line.
And the sakhya rasa is also not to be neglected. Dasa Gossami who is thought to hold the highest position of madhurya rasa, our prayojana acarya himself says, sakhayam me namasta nityam. What does it mean? Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Is it an intellectual field that we can pass resolutions, pass remarks in any way we like in our fashion? No. Dasa Goswami who is posted in the highest position of the prayojana tattva, the acarya of prayojana in madhurya rasa of Radha dasyam, he says that “I will try to show my reverence to sakhya.”
It is not a play thing. This is very rarely to be found. We must go to that plane and then we should deal with these things. Sakhya rasa is a very small thing? What is this? From a distance I want to show my respect to sakhya rasa. That should be tendency of a real devotee, and not to disregard all these things.
Om Visnupada Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Deva Goswami Maharaja
