We celebrated the disappearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura on 19th Dec 2024. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura played a pivotal role in reviving and spreading the teachings of Lord Chaitanya to the masses. The great acharya gave many important instructions which if applied in life can help us to attain Krishna.
HH Radhanath Swami Maharaj in one of his lectures talks about the 8 instructions of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.
Below article is based on Maharaj’s lecture.
1. Preach the teaching of Rupa & Raghunath with all your energy and resources
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would say that each devotee should utilize their energy and resources in spreading the teachings of Rupa Goswami and Raghunath Das Goswami. He further said that the ultimate goal of our life is to become dust at the lotus feet of Rupa and Raghunath.
And this is what we see Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura did throughout his life. He dedicated his life in spreading the message of Lord Chaitanya as per the guidelines of Rupa & Raghunath.
In fact, he was the one who conclusively defeated the caste Goswamis and caste Brahmanas who were misinterpreting Vedic literatures for their benefit. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura tried his best to convince devotees to practice pure bhakti.
2. Work conjointly to serve the Lord
As per the great acharya, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, we all should come together to serve the Lord. In fact, this was also one of the important last instructions of our Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada would say, “You can show your love for me by how you cooperate in fulfilling this mission of Krishna Consciousness.”
One time while addressing the devotees, he said, “You should somehow live without quarrel.” This becomes possible when we keep Krishna always in the centre. In this world, people have different opinions, so we should not be surprised if devotees have different viewpoints.
There is a beautiful verse in Srimad Bhagavatam 7.13.42 which says,
nāhaṁ ninde na ca staumi
sva-bhāva-viṣamaṁ janam
eteṣāṁ śreya āśāse
utaikātmyaṁ mahātmani
Translation
“Different people are of different mentalities. Therefore it is not my business either to praise them or to blaspheme them. I only desire their welfare, hoping that they will agree to become one with the Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa.”
But in spite of different opinions, we should come together to serve the Lord. For example, we see monkeys came together to build a bridge for Lord Rama. And by rendering this service they got the mercy of Lord Rama and became glorious.
Even in the spiritual world, there are different opinions. Lord Krishna has two sets of gopis- one led by Radharani and another by Chandravali. And both the groups have different viewpoints, but their purpose is to always serve Krishna and please Krishna.
3. Do not give up your service in spite of danger, difficulties and criticism
Many times we think that because we are serving Krishna everyone is going to love me, praise me and think good about me. But if we study the life of devotees, we see that great devotees did not have happy-go-lucky life.
Arjuna had to fight most difficult Mahabharat war. Prahlad was continuously tortured by his own father. Maharaj Ambaraish was criticized severely by Durvasa Muni who wanted to punish him. And Gajendra was fighting for survival as he was caught by a crocodile.
In recent times, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was criticized by caste conscious people. When Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura had gone to Vrindavan with group of devotees, then he found that all the doors of the temples were closed and shops too were shut.
One time during Nabadwip Parikrama, he and his disciples were attacked by caste brahmanas and caste goswamis. They had even tried to bribe a policeman so that they can kill Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. But they never succeeded in their nefarious agendas.
Similarly, Srila Prabhupada suffered two massive heart attacks on Jaladutta, the cargo ship, when we was travelling to west. Once in the west, under the influence of drug, one young man with whom he was sharing flat tried to attack him violently. And Srila Prabhupada had to run for his life.
We have also seen how devotees were tortured in Communist Russia or how devotees are being attacked in Bangladesh.
4. Obstacles on the path of service are friends of a devotee
Obstacles come in our life to test our sincerity towards devotional life. If we respond to these obstacles, then we will make great advancement in our spiritual life. Even in this world, we see that people who do not give up and persevere are considered great.
We hear stories of sports personalities, business magnets, scientists, artists who continued working hard in spite of so many challenging circumstances. And by dint of their hard work they finally reached their goal. In our spiritual life too, we all come across challenges. But if we persist, we will succeed.
And there are so many examples of devotees who never gave up and finally attained Krishna.
Many times great souls, are also put into difficulties to show the world how great they are. And also to teach us an important lesson that “we should never became disheartened during difficult times.” Prahlad Maharaj, Pandavas, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, Srila Prabhupada all went through struggles.
5. Do not be disappointed when because things are not going your way
We may have our plans, but Krishna has best plan for us and he knows what to give us and what not to give us. So, we should not be disappointed when things are not going the way we want it to go.
For example, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would send devotees to preach. And when they would return they would feel disappointed. Upon inquiry, they would say to Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura that in the program just 2-3 people came to hear lecture.
Hearing this Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would be so happy. He would say, “You are speaking the message of Lord Chaitanya for Krishna’s pleasure and satisfaction. And even if no one comes, do not worry, preach to the four walls of the room.”
6. Always hear and chant the names and glories of Krishna
Whatever may be the situations and circumstances we should not give up chanting the names and glories of Krishna. The nature of this world is that sometimes here we get success, sometimes failure, sometimes disappointment, sometimes joy.
Our spiritual life, especially chanting the names of Krishna, should not get affected by it.
Chanting keeps us connected to Krishna and should be never given up. Chanting purifies our heart from all the impurities and sins and give us love of Krishna. So, we should always try our best to sincerely chant the names of Krishna.
7. How to always chant the holy names
And to chant sincerely, we should have the patience and forbearance of a tree and the humbleness of a piece of straw. This is what Lord Chaitanya asks us to do.
trinad api sunichena
taror api sahishnuna
amanina manadena
kirtaniyah sada harih
“One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and should be ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.”
We should never try to harm anyway.
Just like when one hits a mango tree with a stone then in return the tree gifts the person a mango. Similarly, although someone may try to harm us, but we should never think of harming others but try to do something good for them. And best thing to do is to give them Krishna.
8. Greatest need of society
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakuraa taught us that the greatest need of the world is Krishna Consciousness, and we should try our best to spread this Krishna Consciousness movement.
Srila Prabhupada would say to his disciples that I am not actually doing it but you are doing . He would appeal to the devotees to carry on with the mission of his Guru Maharaj, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Srila Prabhupada dedicated his entire life in carrying out the message of his spiritual master.
The first instruction which Srila Prabhupada got from Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was to preach the message of Lord Chaitanya all over the world and this is what Srila Prabhupada did.
We should also try our best as per our capacity to spread this Krishna Conscious movement. This becomes easy to do when we always keep Krishna in the centre.
It is worth meditating upon these instructions of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and applying it in our spiritual life.
