THE RAINS CAME The Second Miracle
Artwork by RasaManjaridd
“Late at night, when everyone else was asleep, was a nice time to be with Prabhupada. He was usually in a very mellow mood, so if I wanted to have his precious darshan I would sometimes stand outside his door and make slight noises so he would come out to see what the noise was and invite me in. We were staying in the new quarters in Mayapur, in the first of the four, large residence buildings.
The sky was overcast; I was yearning for Prabhupada’s association, so I went near his rooms and made walking and chanting sounds. No servants were around, so Prabhupada came out himself saying, “Who is that?” He saw me chanting, smiled, and came all the way out of his quarters.
Srila Prabhupada walked up and down the balcony with me, Then turned towards the fields and walked to the balcony railing. He looked out and said “The farmers beg Krishna for rainwater.” He paused briefly, “All right, take it!” As Prabhupada swept his hand down as if dispensing rain, a lightning bolt crashed; suddenly the sky opened and rain came down furiously.
“Take it,” he said quietly, and walked into his rooms.
This pastime of Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja was related to me by Raghava Pandit Prabhu who was in Spain when it happened. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja was visiting the ISKCON Temple in Spain during what was considered one of the worst droughts in history in that area.
No rain had fallen in over a year and every Church, Temple, and Mosque had held prayer vigils with their congregants in order to beseech the Lord for rain. The ISKCON Temple also performed Sankirtan in the hopes that by following the instructions of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and performing the Yajna for this age, then as Lord Sri Krishna said in the Bhagavad Gita rain produce grain and rains are produced by Yajna. Unfortunately the ISKCON devotees did not have much success either.
Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja did not know about the drought when he came. When he arrived with his party they were told to be very careful with how much water they used and that they should buy their own drinking water. So when he inquired they told about the situation as described above. When he was told about it he responded by asking if the devotees had done Kirtan.
They informed him that they had. He said if all of you have strong faith in Krsna and do Kirtan for this purpose with such faith then it will rain. Of course there is a vast difference between one who chants Nama Aparadha and Nam Abhasa and one who chants Shuddha Nam. Shuddha nam is not lip deep it is heart deep coming directly from the heart of the pure devotee. Shuddha Nama carries the aroma of the saffron particles from the Lotus Feet of the Lord with in the heart of the pure devotee. Some of the devotees who did not recognize the transcendental position of Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja thought that their Nama Aparadha and Nam Abhasa Kirtan was as good as his Kirtan.
These devotees did not recognize that Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja was displaying his Vaishnava compassion for the suffering jivas who needed rain the way Srila Prabhupada had done. Although Srila Gaur Govinda Maharaja was trying to help the devotees to have strong faith and share the glory with them some of the devotees thought that this was some kind of false ego trip on Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja’s part.
Therefore some of the devotees left the temple room during his Kirtan. Their cynicism was soon removed after Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja began one of his brimming with ecstasy kirtans and very soon clouds began to appear in the vast clear blue sky. As the clouds gathered the sky became dark and overcast. Gradually as Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja continued with his powerful kirtan of Shudda Nama the rains began to pour and pour and the drought was officially over.
Some devotees who read these stories may try to make foolish distinctions. Someone may falsely try to say, "Well, the sky was surely already overcast when Srila Prabhupada said “take it” so the chances of rain when the sky is already overcast is high!", but to bring clouds and rain to a cloudless sky is really a miracle. The actual witnesses to these activities are our real treasure; the skies were clear or had been for a long time before the pure devotees spoke, the rains occurring within a short span relatively, when our Masters brought Krsna's Mercy.
A devotee who is properly educated in the scriptures never makes foolish distinctions between the Lord and His Devotee, or says that one advanced pure devotee is distinct and better than another, whether one is siksa and one diksa, or not. Such a mature devotee understands the teachings of Srila Prabhupada in the Caitanya Caritamrta:
“The first manifestation described is the spiritual master, who appears in two plenary parts called the initiating spiritual master and instructing spiritual master. They are identical because both of them are phenomenal manifestations of the Supreme Truth.” CC Adi 1 Introduction.
“The initiating and instructing spiritual masters are equal and identical manifestations of Krsna, although they have different dealings. Their function is to guide the conditioned souls back home, back to Godhead.” CC Adi 1.34 Purport
“There is no difference between the shelter-giving Supreme Lord and the initiating and instructing spiritual masters. If one foolishly discriminates between them, he commits an offense in the discharge of devotional service.” CC Adi 1.47 Purport
Sarva Deva Maya Guru: The guru is the sum total of all the Demigods. The activities of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja in these pastimes provide us with concrete proof of this statement. All sincere and mature devotees should celebrate the pastimes of the pure devotees and offer respect and glorify them lest one run the risk of Vaishnava aparadha.
Editor; We actually have two perfect nitya siddha masters qualified to accept disciples, Gour Govinda being a well qualified disciple of Srila Prabhupada, so the siksa diksa distinction does not occurr except in GG 's earliest interactions with Iskcon, wherein he accepted a humble disciple and servant's role.
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