The Glories of Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja
- vanamadhuryamofficial
- Dec 12, 2021
- 7 min read
On this auspicious occasion, I want to glorify Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja, his life history and his philosophy. Similar to the process of a touchstone transforming iron to gold by simply touching it— those fortunate souls who have taken shelter of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada have all become great personalities by associating with him. What else is left for one to do after taking shelter of such a personality like Srila Prabhupada?
All of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples were great personalities, like Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Gosvami Maharaja, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja, Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja and Srila Bhakti Rakshaka Sridhara Gosvami Maharaja. And they have all spread so much love around the world. A bona fide Guru like Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada does not make disciples, he makes Gurus. Thus, a Guru always creates Gurus. When someone completely surrenders to the lotus feet of a bona fide Guru, that spiritual master makes him a Guru, not a disciple. Meaning, Guru transfers the wealth contained within his own heart into the heart of his disciple.
The Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti will always be grateful to nitya-lila pravishta om vishnupada-ashtottara shata Sri Srimad Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Gosvami Maharaja. When one goes preaching— what should be the result of that preaching? One should be collecting flowers. Preaching means to collect the flowers, not money. Collecting the money is perhaps, a secondary result of preaching. However, it should never be the main reason for our preaching. Rather, the aim of preaching is to collect more flowers— just collect whichever beautiful flowers are found in the garden of the Lord and offer them to our guru-parampara (disciplic succession of spiritual masters) and they will offer them onto the lotus feet of Sri Sri Radha-Govinda.
Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja, who at the time was named Narottamananda Brahmachari, was such a great preacher. I myself, have directly heard from Srila Gurudeva, Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja, how he first came to our Matha because of Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Gosvami Maharaja’s preaching. Gurudeva would say, “I took birth in Bihar. And one day, I heard the beautiful katha (speech) of Sri Narottamananda Brahmachari and became instantly attracted.”
Srila Gurudeva would always tell us how his family, according to their lineage, would worship Lord Rama. Gurudeva was always so enthusiastic when speaking rama-katha (narrations of Lord Rama). In 2009, He said, “I want to see the birth place of Sitaji,” which is in Nepal. And while in Nepal, Gurudeva commented on his own life history by saying, “I was always encouraged to perform bhajana (devotional service) to Lord Rama. However, by hearing Sri Narottamananda Brahmachari’s pravachana (speech), his katha, I understood the superiority of Krishna and I became so attracted. And when I especially heard Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's contributions and specialities, my heart melted. Afterwards, I abandoned everything and took shelter onto the lotus feet of my Gurudeva, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja.”
Thus, our Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti will always be greatly indebted to Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja as he has given us such great personalities like Srila Gurudeva and also Srila Trivikrama Gosvami Maharaja. Srila Trivikrama Gosvami Maharaja also came to our Gaudiya Matha after hearing his powerful hari-katha. Srila Trivikrama Gosvami Maharaja once told me, “I was reading the Bhagavatam…”:
labdhvā su-durlabham idaṁ bahu-sambhavānte
mānuṣyam artha-dam anityam apīha dhīraḥ
tūrṇaṁ yateta na pated anu-mṛtyu yāvan
niḥśreyasāya viṣayaḥ khalu sarvataḥ syāt
Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.9.29)
[After many, many births and deaths one achieves the rare human form of life, which, although temporary, affords one the opportunity to attain the highest perfection. Thus a sober human being should quickly endeavour for the ultimate perfection of life as long as his body, which is always subject to death, has not fallen down and died. After all, sense gratification is available even in the most abominable species of life, whereas Krishna consciousness is possible only for a human being.]
“After reading this shloka (verse) in the Bhagavatam, my heart melted, and I left everything and took shelter at the lotus feet of my Gurudeva. I abandoned my wife and my family just by reading this shloka from the Bhagavatam.” What beautiful pastimes of Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja and Srila Trivikrama Gosvami Maharaja.
Through hearing the life history of such great devotees, we receive so much encouragement to perform bhakti (devotional service) in our lives. These previous acharyas (teachers)— how they carried out their bhajana, their lives and ideals, are all exemplary to others as they are mahajanas (great personalities). One becomes very motivated simply by observing their ideals and bhajana-pranali, the speciality of the process of their bhajana, which they have preserved for us.
Srila Rupa Gosvamipada, Srila Sanatana Gosvamipada, Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvamipada, Srila Jiva Gosvamipada, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura, Srila Gaura-kishora dasa Babaji Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada and all of his associates including Srila Gurudeva and many others— all of these great personalities, have mercifully appeared in this material world, and through their exemplary behaviour, have revealed their bhajana-pranali and ideals to us.
Under this same lineage, great personalities appear and disappear, and we always celebrate these auspicious days by glorifying and hearing about their histories and contributions. Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Gosvami Maharaja took birth in Bengal, in a wealthy, high-caste brahmana (priest) family. Among his many accomplishments, he was the editor of Amrita-bazar patrika (magazine).
You have already heard how Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja came to Srila Prabhupada's lotus feet. And we become so inspired when we hear these kinds of stories— of how he met with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada and when he heard hari-katha from him, how he began thinking the true meaning of the life is to perform bhagavad-bhajana (service to the Lord). If one has not done any bhajana in his life, then his life is useless. And if we do not take shelter on such a great personality, our lives will be cheated.
Taking darshana (auspicious sight) of one who is very dear to Sri Krishna is very rare. Darshana of the eternal associates of the Lord is actually very, very rare. Thus, Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja abandoned everything and took shelter on the lotus feet of Srila Prabhupada. Then, Prabhupada gave him the name Narottamananda Brahmachari. After, Narottamananda Brahmachari went to Mumbai and began preaching. He was such a nice speaker, very clear in his speech, and even in Bengali language also. Even his elder Godbrothers became surprised and even amazed by hearing his katha. He would always speak very nice hari-kathas.
One special qualification of Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja is that he has shown us the standards and ideals for vaishnava-seva (service to Vaishnavas). Most of Madhusudana Maharaja’s time was utilised in serving Vaishnavas. When any Vaishnavas would visit our Matha, he would always serve them very nicely. There are many beautiful stories in his life. We should always consider Vaishnavas like him as our saviours, they are our worshipable deities as they are the ones who show us the right path. However, one should be very careful to never disobey his Guru and also one should never criticise saints.
There is one pastime which shows an important ideal of vaishnava-seva which Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja mercifully showed us. Once, a few Vaishnavas arrived in our Matha to honour prasada (food offered to the Deity), and at the time, the bhoga-arati (ceremonial offering food to the Diety) had not even started. In response, Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja prepared a separate plate for Thakuraji and one for the Vaishnavas. As a result, the pujari (priest) could now offer this plate to the Lord at the proper time, and the Vaishnavas could be served and not have to wait.
You see, in some mathas (temples) the preparations of many foods like pakoras (fried vegetable snack), jalebi (fried sweet snack) and puris (fried bread) can be rather time consuming. Then, the process of offering it to the Lord can also be lengthy, at the end it can easily be past 1 or 2pm— then comes bhaja bhakata-vatsala śrī-gaurahari (vaishnava song) and finally after is bhoga-arati.
On some occasions many Vaishnavas have to wait for some time for the prasada— so we ask, what should be done in these cases? Through his exemplary actions, Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja has shown us the proper thing to do would be to keep the first part for Thakuraji's bhoga (food) and prior to arati, you must begin to distribute it to the Vaishnavas. Bhagavan clearly says in our shastra (scriptures):
ama haite amara bhaktera seva bada
Chaitanya-bhagavata (Adi-khanda 1.8)
The Lord stated, “In comparison to Me, service of My devotees is superior.” Thus, serving Vaishnavas first will please Bhagavan. And Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja, who was always under the guidance of Guru and Vaishnavas, considered this and correctly decided the pujari may offer it to the Lord at a later time— however, the Vaishnavas should not wait and must be served first. Never forget one must always serve under the guidance of Guru and Vaishnavas as Bhagavan does not accept the service from those who serve independently.
āśraya laiyā bhaje
kṛṣṇa nāhi tare tyāge
āra saba mare akāraṇa
Prarthana (17)
by Srila Narottama dasa Thakura
[Krishna never leaves those who have taken shelter in Him. All others simply die in vain.]
Thus, Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja performed many wonderful services to Vaishnavas under the guidance of other Vaishnavas like Srila Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja. And under guidance of Srila Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja, he preached in many places and also constructed his own Mathas— there are two famous Mathas, one located in Mayapura. The love towards Vaishnavas and nishtha (steadiness) towards Guru— both were present in his transcendental life. And he always showed respect towards all his Godbrothers. Srila Gurudeva would say, “If one cannot respect his parents, how can he respect Guru?” How can one respect Guru and Vaishnavas if one does not know how to respect his own parents?
Hence, Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Maharaja always associated with Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada and his elder Godbrothers, and under their guidance, he performed his bhajana and sadhana, preached beautifully and even established renowned Mathas.
Gaura-premanande! Hari Hari Bol!
Jaya jaya Sri Radhe!
Jaya Srila Bhakti Kamala Madhusudana Gosvami Maharaja ki jaya!
Date: 30 June 2020 Location: Vrindavana, India
Translator: Taruni Gopi dasi (Brazil) Transcriber: Chandrika dasi (US) Editor: Sanatana dasa (USA) Proofreading: Chandrika dasi (UK) Integrity check: Divya-premamayi dasi (Slovakia) Image: Navina-Krishna dasa (Holland)