(No. 4, Vol. XXV, September 1927)
THE transcendental nature of Thakur Bhaktivinode as realized by shuddha-bhaktas finds expressions in the following shloka which is repeated by all his followers in making their daily obeisance to him: —
namo bhaktivinodaya sach-chid-ananda-namine
gaura-shakti-svarupaya rupanuga-varaya te
“Obeisance to Thee, Bhaktivinode,
by name Sachchidananda,
The Embodiment of Gaur's Love,
the great follower of Rupa”.
The mercy of Gaurasundar has the power of establishing jivas in their true nature and thereby enabling them to realize the bliss of eternal service to God. Thakur Bhaktivinode is the embodiment of this shakti (Attribute) of Divine Love, Gaurasundar is Godhead Himself. His Attributes are not separate from Himself. There is no difference between the Attributes of Gaurasundar and Gaurasundar Himself. The bhakta (‘devotee of God’) is the inseparably associated counter part of Godhead. The Attributes of God and the devotee of God are Divine. His relation to God is one of inconceivable simultaneous difference and identity. The difference consists in this that the shakti and the devotee are worshippers (ashraya) and not the object of worship (vishaya). Godhead with all His transcendental paraphernalia ever indwells His shakti and His devotee. They are His own. Out of pity for the apostate jivas, God sends His own Messenger into this world in every age for establishing the pure (shuddha) and eternal (sanatana) religion in the form of constant service of Krishna. Either Krishna or Krishna's own messenger establishes the true and eternal religion in this world. This task is beyond the capacity of those who are not helped by the Grace of God Himself. It will not be possible for us to understand the true meaning of the career of Thakur Bhaktivinode if we do not keep constantly in our mind this all-important fact that Thakur is the embodiment of Divine Love, — a savior of the fallen beings, sent by God Himself into this world for the purpose of establishing the eternal religion of all jivas (sanatana-dharma), which consists in the eternal and incessant service of Krishna; He taught sanatana-dharma to the world by way of propaganda and by practicing it himself in every act of his earthly life. “All (good) qualities of Krishna manifest themselves in His devotee and not at ail in those who are given to selfish enjoyments”. So says the Bhagabatam: —
yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akinchana
sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah
harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna
manorathenasati dhavato bahih 2
He was an ideal father, erudite scholar, practical reformer, and distinguished author. This was realized by everyone who had the good fortune of coming into close personal contact with him. It is realized by an increasing number of people in this country who have devoted their serious attention to the subject. His practice is exemplified by the conduct of everyone of his followers. They exist at the present moment in our very midst; and it is quite practicable for any of us to observe closely their mode of life. Everyone who has really taken the trouble of watching their daily life is bound to be convinced of the transcendental purity of the minutest acts of their lives. Those shuddha-bhaktas fully realize that it is by following the path chalked out by Thakur Bhaktivinode that they have been enabled to attain such perfect purity of body, mind and speech. The purity of the stream is the conclusive proof of the purity of the source.
Thakur Bhaktivinode, in the midst of the multifarious duties of a most active official, found time to propagate the teachings of Shree Gaurasundar and firmly re-establish the practice of sanatana-dharma in this country. His activity was many-sided. A main item was the identification and restoration of forgotten and uncared-for holy sites.
His epoch-making and most momentous discovery in this field was that of the actual site of Shreedham Mayapur, the place of the Advent of Mahaprabhu Shree Chaitanya Deva, which was completely lost sight of for many years. The actual site of the residence of pandit Jagannath Mishra, the father of Shri Gaurasundar, was found out and arrangements were made for the preservation of this Holy Site and for the construction of a permanent shrine on the spot in which Holy Images of Shree Shree Mahaprabhu and Vishnupriya Devi were solemnly installed. Many of the old sites connected with Mahaprabhu in the region of Gauda were discovered and identified and arrangement made for the proper maintenance of the shrines connected therewith. Propaganda-centers were opened at different places of Gauda- desha. Thakur Bhaktivinode established nama-hattas (propaganda-centers of the Holy Name) at different places in the districts of Nadia, Burdwan, Midnapur etc. He also worked hard for the revival of the religion of unalloyed transcendental love of Godhead in the Muttra-quarters. For this purpose Thakur Bhaktivinode constantly traveled from place to place often on foot, begging at every door and always delighting in Hari- sankirtan in the company of a large number of devotees. The closing years of his life were spent at Puri where he built a small house for the purpose of bhajan (‘practice of devotion’) on the sea-beach. He cut himself off from the world during the last four years till his disappearance in 1914. During these years he was visited in his bhajan-kutir by many people of every description and was ever ready to help them with advice and necessary instructions.
It will thus appear that Thakur Bhaktivinode was in his own life indefatigable in the practice of shuddha-sanatana-dharma, taught by Mahaprabhu and was no less strenuously occupied in the work of restoration of the worship of God at holy sites and the establishment of congregational and individual religious life in the country. But at the same time he was aware that his mission was also to expound to the whole world the teachings of Shri Mahaprabhu which had been and is still misunderstood by people in this country and elsewhere He directed his attention in the first instance to Bengal. He found that the people had practically no knowledge of the monumental works of the associates and the most illustrious followers, of Mahaprabhu. The very existence of many of those works was unknown. Those who gave themselves out to be the followers of Mahaprabhu mistook ignorance of the scriptures for devotion and selfish enjoyment (kama) for love of God (prema). The educated people had very little practice of religion in any form. The mass and especially women were addicted to smarta ritualistic practices, the object of which was the attainment of selfish enjoyments. The pandits were mostly either supporters of such fruitive ceremonies or believers in an abstract form of God devoid of all spiritual pastimes, this latter being the bequest of Godless Buddhism and the teaching of Shankaracharyya. Skepticism among the educated classes coupled with the prevalence of polytheistic or neutralists and negative attitudes on the part of the learned among the pandits left the country without a lead on the path of the eternal religion of jiva viz. the incessant service of Godhead who is the Absolute Truth, the Eternal Existence and the Ocean of all transcendental Bliss (rasa).
The embodiment of God's love in the form of Thakur Bhaktivinode out of pity for jiva in his distress and perplexity took up at this stage the task of enlightening him again about the only duty of all jivas which has been proclaimed by all the different scriptures and which was made clearly manifest to the people of this country four hundred years ago by the Supreme Lord Himself, Who playing the role of a devotee taught jiva his duty in its concrete form that there might be no room for misunderstanding.
apani achari dharma jivere shikhaya
apani na kaile dharme shikhana na yaya
“Himself practicing the dharma, The Lord teaches jiva that if one does not practice dharma himself, he cannot teach it to others”.
The career of Mahaprabhu embodying the teachings of all the scriptures was the subject that Thakur Bhaktivinode placed before the people of Bengal in clear and simple language and with a wealth of learning and depth of spiritual insight that make his numerous works a part and parcel of the scriptures of all countries, explaining in minutest detail, in unambiguous language, the only true religion of all jivas. They deserve to, rank with the immortal works of Thakur Brindabandas and of Kaviraj Goswami as scriptures of the shuddha-sanatana-dharma.
We have not obtained any comprehensive work on the shuddha-sanatana-dharma directly from the pen of Sri Chaitanyadeva Himself. His teachings were, however, recorded with the most zealous care by His Associates and Followers during the period that He remained manifest in the world and in that immediately following His disappearance. The monumental works of the six Goswamis were composed in Sanskrit under His own direction. The account of His career was recorded systematically in verse in their great works Shri Chaitanya Bhagabat and Shri Chaitanya-charitamrita by Thakur Brindabandas and Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami respectively, both of whom were disciples of Lord Nityananda, the Greatest Associated Counterpart of Shriman Mahaprabhu.
In Bengal, at the time of the appearance of Thakur Bhaktivinode, the works of the six Goswamis were practically unknown. The works of Thakur Brindabandas and Kaviraj Goswami were little known and were almost utterly misunderstood. The so-called vaishnavas of Bengal were then, as a rule, looked down upon by the orthodox Hindu society. But the name of Mahaprabhu was universally venerated. The esoteric meaning of His teachings had been completely forgotten and even the most highly gifted intellects of the country admired vaishnava devotional literature as merely satisfying their poetic fancies. The divinity was con-founded with humanity. This philanthropic attitude was general and was partly responsible for the prevalence of immoralities in so-called many religious practices that ate into the vitals of society.
With the object of dispelling this general ignorance of the principles of shuddha-sanatana-dharma, Thakur Bhaktivinode applied himself to publish systematically important authoritative works dealing with the teachings of Mahaprabhu, with exhaustive explanatory notes in Bengali. A few of these publications may be mentioned here. In 1880 he published Shree Krishna-samhita in Sanskrit with the most learned introduction, appendix and translation in Bengali. In 1886 he published the Gita with commentaries of Shrila Biswanath Chakravarti Thakur and his own annotation ‘ Rasik Ranjan ’ in Bengali; in 1891, Shrimad Bhagabat Gita with commentaries of Shrila Baladeva Vidyabhushan and his Bengali annotation ‘ Bidvad Ranjan ’. In 1894, Ishopanishad with his Bengali annotation ‘ Vedarkadidhiti ’. In 1895, Shri Chaitanya-charitamrita with his ‘ Amritaprabaha Vashya ’ in Bengali. In 1897, Shri Brahma-samhita with his Bengali annotation ‘ Prahashini ’. In 1898, Shri Krishna-karnamrita with his Bengali annotation. In the same year Shri Upadeshamritam by Shri Rupa Goswami with his Bengali annotation ‘ Piyusbarshini Virtti ’ and Shri Brihat-bhagabatamritam by Shri Sanatana Goswami with his annotations in Sanskrit and Bengali. In 1901, Shri Bhagabatarka-marichimala. In 1904, edited Sathriasaradipika — a vaishnava smriti by Shrila Gopal Bhatta Goswami.
This was supplemented by the publication of a series of original works in Bengali prose and verse. Some of the most important of them are — in 1881, Kalyan Kalpataru; in 1886, Shri Chaitanya-shikshamrita; in 1890 Shri Navadwipadhama Mahatmya; in 1892, Shri Mahaprabhu and His Shiksha; in 1893, Shri Sharanagati, Shokashatan, Jaiva-dharma; in 1900, Shri Harinama Chintamani; in 1902, Bhajan Rahasya. The Bengali religious monthly ‘ The Sajjana-Toshani ’ was started by him in 1879 and he continued to edit the paper for seventeen years when it was made over to the present editor who published it for seven years till the appearance of the weekly Gaudiya — the only Bengali organ of the shuddha-bhakti movement ‘ The Sajjana-Toshani ’, re-appeared this year bearing also the alternative name of ‘ The Harmonist ’ and has been given by her editor a tri-lingual garb of English, Sanskrit and Hindi. Besides these Thakur Bhaktivinode also wrote a number of works in English, Sanskrit, Persian, Urdu and Hindi.
Thakur Bhaktivinode possessed a style that is easy; invigorating, cheerful, lucid and uniform and enriched with the fresh wealth of an ample vocabulary culled from the inexhaustible store-house of Sanskrit and adapted into Bengali in a natural way. The Bengali language in the hands of Thakur Bhaktivinode has thus been transformed into a powerful vehicle for the conveyance of the sublimes and the most highly philosophical truths of religion with an ease and precision that makes his works highly interesting and at the same time perfectly intelligible to the most ordinary reader including women and children.
Thakur Bhaktivinode is the Pioneer of the shuddha-bhakti movement that is at present sweeping over the country. In his numerous literary works he has supplied the golden key that unlocks 'the region of Eternal bliss' to all jivas. The teachings of Mahaprabhu give in the real meaning of the scriptures, reconciling all differences of opinion that trouble the world. In Mahaprabhu centers the only hope of the future and present of all jivas. But the teachings of Mahaprabhu were not grasped by people of this country and their real significance passed long ago clean out of the memory of the nation. Thakur Bhaktivinode has made the eternal religion live again in his pages. Without his help no body at the present day can understand the teachings of Mahaprabhu or the Absolute Truth. With his help the Absolute Truth can be easily understood. The Absolute Truth alone can reconcile the otherwise irreconcilable differences and discords of this world. It is universally recognized that the Truth is bound to prevail over untruth in the long run. But even the Truth can only be grasped by those whose minds are perfectly free and prepared to receive it when it actually makes its appearance. But most of us are not ready to welcome the Truth for its own sake. Thakur Bhaktivinode tells us that a perfectly pure mind alone is fit to receive the Truth. Perfect purity is not to be found in the world. It belongs to Divinity alone and is imparted by Divine Grace; and God often sends His own beloved to convey His Grace to fallen jivas if only they submit to receive it from him.
The utsabas (religious celebrations) of the vaishnavas are the concrete realization of this Divine Truth. They are the practical recognition of the necessity of honoring God by the method of honoring His beloved; because it is the only way of serving God and obtaining His Grace.
The author is unknown
Notes:
1. Part 1 of this article.
2. “All the demigods and their exalted qualities, such as religion, knowledge and renunciation, become manifest in the body of one who has developed unalloyed devotion for the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vasudeva. On the other hand, a person devoid of devotional service and engaged in material activities has no good qualities. Even if he is adept at the practice of mystic yoga or the honest endeavor of maintaining his family and relatives, he must be driven by his own mental speculations and must engage in the service of the Lord's external energy. How can there be any good qualities in such a man?” (SB, 5.18.12).
