B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami and the Maha Mandala
Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari
"When I asked Srila Sridhara Maharaja for some seva, he said to me,
'Swami Maharaja (Srila Prabhupada) has given you everything; go and
start a preaching mission on his behalf and I will be in the background
to help you.' "
Q. I appreciate your edition of Bhagavad-gita wherein you acknowledge
Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and Srila B. R. Sridhara
Deva Goswami as your divine guardians. However, another devotee who is
a member of Sri Caitanya Saraswata Matha (SCSM) told me, "Tripurari
Swami was not known to nor does he represent in any way Guru Maharaja
B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami. He visited him for a few hours only, so
how can he claim to be a disciple?" This comment did not sit well with
me, nor does it seem plausible. It is obvious that you have imbibed so
much from Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja. Could you kindly provide me with
some history of your relationship with him?
A. The devotee who made this statement must not be aware of my history
with Pujyapada B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami and my involvement in the
Maha Mandala, which was an association that Srila Sridhara Maharaja
conceived of in 1982 and presided over until his disappearance in 1988.
The important prelude to this history is that while I was massaging
Srila Prabhupada's feet during his illness he said that after he was
gone, his disciples could go to his Godbrother B. R. Sridhara Maharaja
for philosophy (siksa). Initially Iskcon leaders did this, but later
they passed a resolution that forbid members from hearing the
philosophy of Krishna consciousness from B. R. Sridhara Maharaja or any
devotee outside their organization.
I was among those who approached Srila Sridhara Maharaja for philosophy
after Srila Prabhupada's departure. Altogether I spent more than sixty
days at Sri Caitanya Saraswat Math in the presence of Pujyapada B. R.
Sridhara Deva Goswami. In October of 1985 he personally spoke the
sannyasa mantra (that Prabhupada had given me on paper when he gave me
sannyasa but never spoke), Radha Gayatri, and other mantras in my ear.
Present at the Math at that time were Giri Maharaja, Sagara Maharaja,
Sudhira Goswami, Bharati Maharaja, Govinda Maharaja, and others.
Badrinarayana Prabhu, Srila Sridhara Maharaja's secretary, served as
the witness.
I was already thrice initiated by Srila Prabhupada (harinama, mantra
diksa, and sannyasa), so Srila Sridhara Maharaja spoke the sannyasa and
other mantras to myself and other disciples of Srila Prabhupada in the
context of explaining their significance, which Srila Prabhupada did
not typically do when giving diksa. He also did this in the spirit of
formally acknowledging and accepting our desire to embrace him as our
siksa guru. Afterwards, when I asked Srila Sridhara Maharaja for some
seva, he said to me, "Swami Maharaja (Srila Prabhupada) has given you
everything; go and start a preaching mission on his behalf and I will
be in the background to help you."
I was prepared to do whatever Srila Sridhara Maharaja desired, but his
order to me was to start a preaching mission on behalf of Srila
Prabhupada, which I did in San Francisco. This mission, called the
Gaudiya Vaisnava Society, was formed under the umbrella of the Maha
Mandala, which with the exception of the London branch of SCSM was a
confederation of independent preaching centers established by disciples
of Srila Prabhupada who had accepted Srila Sridhara Maharaja as their
siksa guru. It was created for the purpose of mutual cooperation and
support. Srila B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami spoke of the Maha Mandala as
follows:
"The basis of the association (the Maha Mandala) is not a rigid
registered board with rules. It is a voluntary association. Joining is
not compulsory and anyone may withdraw. It is not that when there is a
difference of opinion a member will be expelled and all the acquired
property will be taken over by the committee. It is a voluntary
association, not a very strong law or any fixed program. The point is
to preach according to our capacity with mutual cooperation."
With Srila Sridhara Maharaja's encouragement and blessings, I initiated
disciples and developed my mission in San Francisco. Srila Sridhara
Deva Goswami also personally asked me to try to engage two of his
sannyasa initiates. Serving alongside me in San Francisco at various
times were Giri Maharaja, Ashrama Maharaja, Bharati Maharaja, Narasinga
Maharaja, Aranya Maharaja, Visnu Maharaja, disciples of Janardana
Maharaja, and other sannyasa and siksa followers of Srila Sridhara
Maharaja. Brahma Prabhu, the co-founder (with Sudhira Goswami) of the
first Western center affiliated with Srila Sridhara Maharaja, assisted
me in facilitating these devotees in collecting funds for their
respective Maha Mandala projects and centers. During that period I also
served Srila Sridhara Maharaja on occasion as his officiating (ritvik)
representative, initiating disciples on his behalf. I still have the
tape recording of him reciting the mantra that he gave me to use for
this purpose.
At this point I believe that a few words on vani and vapu are in order.
Vani refers to hearing and accepting the teachings of the guru, and
vapu refers to being in physical proximity of the guru. The importance
of vani over vapu is well established in Srila Prabhupada's writings,
and his example of sending his disciples out on their own to preach
speaks volumes on this as well. Likewise, with few exceptions, year
after year Srila Sridhara Maharaja sent the banished Iskcon devotees
who came to him for siksa back to their respective preaching fields
after a few weeks in his personal association. As they received Srila
Prabhupada's vani, these devotees also received Srila Sridhara
Maharaja's vani through his books, recordings, and videos (which after
thirty years are still officially banned in Iskcon).
The point is that spiritual advancement cannot be accurately measured
by the amount of time one spends in the physical presence of the guru;
rather advancement is more a matter of how well the guru's teachings
are taken to heart. Srila Sridhara Maharaja put it like this,
"Scripture says, lava matra sadhu sange sarva-siddhi haya: 'One moment
with the agents of Krsna, if properly utilized, is sufficient to solve
the whole problem of our life for which we are eternally wandering
about for millenniums.' We must be wakeful to our interest. We must not
be negligent, but wakeful, to our own self-interest."
Ultimately, the evidence of my devotion to Srila Prabhupada and Srila
Sridhara Maharaja is found in my writings and in my life's dedication
to the cause of Sri Sri Guru and Gauranga. It is superficial in the
least for this devotee or anyone else to refer to me as a
"non-disciple" because in his or her estimation I did not spend enough
time in the physical presence of Srila Sridhara Maharaja. Instead, the
real test would be to examine my writings, recordings, and record of
service to see if the spirit of Srila Sridhara Maharaja is alive there.
This is exactly what Srila Sridhara Maharaja told us to do, placing
emphasis on substance over formality.
"Wherever the truth appears, wherever the nectar of divine ecstasy
descends, I shall offer myself as a slave. Whatever form it takes
doesn't matter much; the form has some value, but if there is any
conflict, the inner spirit of the thing should be given immense value
over its external cover. Otherwise, if the spirit has gone away and the
bodily connection gets the upper hand, our so-called spiritual life
becomes a cheap imitation." (B. R. Sridhara Maharaja, Sri Guru and His
Grace)
Q. To my knowledge Srila Sridhara Maharaja authorized only Srila
Govinda Maharaja to represent him. His order to accept Govinda Maharaja
as acharya of SCSM is in his will, as well as in a recorded
conversation he had with Dr. Asthana where he said that he rejects
anyone who does not accept Govinda Maharaja as acharya of SCSM. How
then can you or anyone else make any claim to be a representative of
Guru Maharaja B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami?
A. My only claim in relation to Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja is that his
siksa nourished my soul to the extent that to pursue it I had to leave
Iskcon at the risk of being labeled a heretic. And since then I have
been preaching based on what I received from him and Srila Prabhupada.
I did this while Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja was amongst us with his
blessing, and I continue to do this today.
The instructions you refer to, which are found in the prelude to Srila
Sridhara Maharaja's will and in his conversation with Dr. Asthana,
pertain to Sri Caitanya Saraswat Math and its branches. They did not
pertain to the missions of the Maha Mandala that had been established
by Srila Prabhupada's disciples and set up independently of SCSM with
the blessings of Srila Sridhara Maharaja. The distinction between these
missions and SCSM is clear in the prelude to his will where Srila
Sridhara Maharaja says that in the Maha Mandala, Sagar Maharaja and
others can continue to initiate but not in SCSM or its branches where
Govinda Maharaja is the sole successor acharya.
"In the Mahamandala, Sagar Maharaj and many others are also ritvik of
Swami Maharaja and also myself. They may do so (initiate), but in this
Math (SCSM) and in any Math under this Math, he (Govinda Maharaja.)
will be the representative."
http://www.scsmath.com/docs/successor.html
In the conversation you mentioned, Dr. Asthana tells Srila Sridhara
Maharaja that there will be challenges to the succession and asks him
about Govinda Maharaja's empowerment. Srila Sridhara Maharaja replies,
"Permanent. Wholesale--both property and the function--transferred. If
anyone has no recognition of this opinion of mine, I do not want them
to live in the mission. I drag them out."
Here, as in the prelude to the will, the property being discussed is
SCSM and its branches, and the function being discussed is acharya of
SCSM and its branches. The message is clear--anyone who does not accept
Govinda Maharaja as the acharya of SCSM cannot live in the Math. Doctor
Asthana then asks about members of SCSM who don't have faith in Govinda
Maharaja as acharya. Srila Sridhara Maharaja says, "According to their
faith--what to think? What to say? Those that do not obey me after my
departure means automatically they will be left by me. Only it is a
transaction of faith. No right but faith. If no faith in my word, they
are automatically rejected."
Here Srila Sridhara Maharaja says that he has faith in Govinda
Maharaja; therefore any member of SCSM who does not accept Govinda
Maharaja as acharya of SCSM has no faith in his word and is therefore
rejected by him. While this conversation was in relation to succession
at SCSM, it was of course understood that all the members of the Maha
Mandala were to accept Govinda Maharaja as the successor acharya of
SCSM as well.
However, it's unreasonable to interpret this statement (as some do) to
be an order requiring all of Srila Prabhupada's disciples within the
Maha Mandala to amalgamate their independent organizations with SCSM
under Govinda Maharaja. Indeed, Srila Sridhara Maharaja never issued
such a directive. By saying, "in the Maha Mandala, Sagar Maharaja and
others can continue to initiate, but not in SCSM or its branches" it is
clear that Srila Sridhara Maharaja expected the distinction between the
independent missions of the Maha Mandala and SCSM and its branches to
continue after his departure.
Furthermore, during this period Srila Prabhupada's initiated disciples
such as Sudhira Maharaja, Paramadvati Maharaja, myself, and other
sannyasis within the Maha Mandala continued to initiate our own
disciples and develop our own missions. This went on even after Srila
Sridhara Maharaja had transferred empowerment to Govinda Maharaja and
he had begun to initiate as the new acharya of SCSM. Far from being
rejected, we banished Iskcon devotees were warmly welcomed by Srila
Sridhara Maharaja as always when we visited SCSM. Never did he tell any
of us that we would be "rejected" if we did not amalgamate our missions
with SCSM after his disappearance.
In 1982 the Iskcon GBC accused Srila Sridhara Maharaja of wanting to
co-opt Srila Prabhupada's disciples for the benefit of SCSM. This
preposterous accusation is so far from Srila Sridhara Maharaja's actual
mood that I can hardly believe that any version of this idea is being
taken seriously. While some of the leading members of the Maha Mandala
did eventually join SCSM, this was not done on any order or even
suggestion from Srila Sridhara Maharaja. Simply put, the initiated
disciples of Srila Prabhupada who became members of SCSM did so because
they were inspired in that direction. As Sridhara Maharaja was fond of
saying, "not by force of law, but by force of love."
In conclusion, I accepted and respected Srila Sridhara Maharaja's
appointment of Govinda Maharaja as successor acharya of SCSM, as well
as the decisions of the individual disciples of Srila Prabhupada who
had been members of the Maha Mandala to join SCSM and serve under him.
I also never in any way supported the intrigue against Govinda Maharaja
that took place in the early days of his succession.
After the departure of Srila Sridhara Maharaja, I continued preaching
and developing my own mission as he had instructed me to do, never
expecting some years later to be criticized by former colleagues from
the Maha Mandala for doing so. Although saddened by this, I remain
hopeful for reconciliation. After all (to quote Shakespeare), "we few,
we happy few, we band of brothers" faced the opposition and risked all
to bathe in the divine current of truth flowing from the lotus lips of
Srila B. R. Sridhara Deva Goswami, the Guardian of Devotion. In his
words, "the point is to preach according to our capacity with mutual
cooperation."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Questions or comments may be submitted at http://swamitripurari.com/ask-a-question/
or email the moderator at sangaeditor@pacific.net.
Back issue archive: http://swamitripurari.com/category/sanga/
Audarya Bookstore: http://swamitripurari.com/shop/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You need to be a member of puredevoteeseva to add comments!
Replies