Tattva-viveka
Disapearance of Krsna dasa Babaji
Swami - April 25, 2005 2:01 pm
Today is the tirobhava of Krsna dasa Babaji Maharaja. Here are some words from Pujyapada Sridhara Maharaja about Akinicana Krsnadasa Babaji on hearing of his passing.
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About 1926 or so I met him. I joined Gaudiya Matha and shortly afterwards met him. He returned from a preaching tour with Bharati Maharaja at that time. He was young and smart, beautitul, jolly, and very firm in his principles, especially towards nama bhajana. High family he came from, respectable high family from Dacca. Next I saw him, he came with a preaching party from western parts of India with Bon Maharaja he came.
Anyhow a natural friendship grew between us perhaps of similar high social rank and similar education, similar simplicity and earnestness or Krsna consciousness took us together, intimately, gradually.
Closer connection with him I had about later part of '27 in New Delhi. For a few weeks we were allowed to work together there in New Delhi and intimacy grew. Then next '29 or so he was in Bengal in a village matha going on his nama bhajana. I requested Prabhupada, that he is educated young man. His service may be very useful in present New Delhi preaching. If you allow I may ask him to come and join me in my activity. I was then matha commander of New Delhi and through me the matha was founded there in New Delhi. Prabhupada gladly gave his consent that if you can take him, engage him in preaching service of Mahaprabhu then you will do the work of a great, real friend to him. And then Krsna Dasa Babaji Maharaja, then Radhika Ramanda Brahmacari came to me in New Delhi. Long time we had very intimate friendship, friendly connection we worked together.
He had much appreciation for me and I also had appreciation for him. In his sincere search after Krsna consciousness . But his nature was more of a sastric nature, scriptural nature. What he found to be the advice of the scriptures he tried his best to adhere to that. But about the application of scriptural advices into practical life (preaching), as our Guru Maharaja wanted us to do, there he was little miserly. It is clear scriptural advice of Mahaprabhu he tried his best to stick to that and all most ways to the last days pure character, moral, social, educational, in different directions was a very good man and a very strict, firm in his practice, very sincere and very jolly. And satisfied under any circumstances he tried to be.
When there was differences amongst the trustees in some way or other and we could not stay in the mission, I left the mission, he also did at the same time. I went to Vrndavana and after staying there for a long time I came back here to live here permanently by the grace of Nityananda Prabhu, and he finally decided to live in Nandagram. At that very time both retired from the missionary life, and I chose this place for the last days of my life and he chose Nandagram.
There is one place little far off from Nandagram towards Nandavagicar. He wrote a letter from there to me. I found in his language that he is very much satisfied, fully satisfaction he has attained in his present life. It was very conspicuous to me that he is now very happy, fully surrendered. What he searched after he has got that and is fully satisfied I found from his letter. I was then also here in a rented house for two rupees a month, and living alone That is not much. But after a long time, only a few days ago, two or three years ago, suddenly he told that in my whole life I had the greatest satisfaction, eager satisfaction when I lived in Nandavagicar. That was 1940, 40 or 41 beginning. So after so many years of his bhajana, he appreciated that life of highest satisfaction in Nandavagicar. And I could detect from here that how he is in full satisfaction in his life. I could feel suddha-sattva, completely surrendered, detached from, and dependent on Krsna the life, wholly dependent on Krsna's will. No worry, no aims and objects of life, fully vacant, only for Krsna to approach to come to approach fully prepared for that. No prejudice even the prejudice and thoughts and suggestions for the design of ones own to acquire Krsna consciousness, even not that. Fully surrendered. Whatever He likes you may do, I am prepared for that. Such attitude. Generally we find in scripture the saranagati, surrender, is the basis, the foundation on which so many variagated structures may be constructed for the service of Krsna. It is also mentioned in my Prapanna-jivanamrta. Saranagati can give us the highest desire result. Without sravana, kirtana, smarana, vandana and so other forms mere saranagati. Saranagati means surrender. There are different types of surrender. The very quality of surrender - if we can examine closely we may find the element there even of rasa, different rasa. Highest type of saranagati is possible in the highest type of rasa service, that is madhurya rasa. Madhurya rasa has been accepted to be the, to open up fullest saranagati. Every atom upon spiritual body cries for the corresponding atoms of the spiritual body of the Lord which is not possible in any other rasa. In bengali verse of the greatest devotees every part of my limb, every limb is crying for the corresponding part of the limb of the Lord. The saranagati preparedness for any sort of autocratic service of the Lord no time no reason no room for any aspiration, good, bad, saranagati. So mere saranagati proper can satisfy our desire. So Babaji Maharaja that idea of surrendered life beginning in Nandagram, Nandavagicar, and he expressed in that letter, I feel very much happy that I have taken the right course and right position in my life exclusively given, surrendered at the sweet will of the Lord".
And so many years passed, so many nights of Ekadasi he has kept awake and went on with his nama bhajana, sastric , all these things. He deeply engaged himself in only religious forms of bhajana. But his remark that "I felt highest blissfulness in my life when I was in Nandavagicar at that time at the beginning of 1941."
Saranagati. He was fond of sakhya though he used to read all types of sastra, rasa of all types and he used to hear the kirtana, the representation, even including those of sahajiya kirtana. But they could not make him sahajiya though he attended sahajiya school. So firm his faith was in Krsna consciousness proper. Mahaprabhu says Whose aim is firmly established, whose earnest is very sincere for the realization of Krsna consciousness, his associations with objectionable things in our consideration cannot attract him in the black way but if some contribution towards his own direction. Mahaprabhu says about Nityananda Prabhu, if Nityananda Prabhu is seen to visit the house of a wine shop keeper and seen to enter the house of a prostitute still you must know for certain that He is to be, is worshipable of Brahma and Siva himself. If He goes there not to take anything but to give those fallen souls, to deliver them from their position. He is going not to take anything trom them.
So Krsna dasa Babaji though he mixed apparently with the so-called sahajiya section but he did not deviate from the real conception of Krsna consciousness of the acarya of the Gaudiya Matha but came to lastly also with firmness he, we see him to stick to his firm faith. And that Nandagram and there bhajana kutir of Sanatana Goswami he made his shelter there, final selection. And from the visible world to the invisible he entered surely in the invisible aspect of Vrndavana. And he told plainly that he had much attraction for sakhya rasa. Subal, he is leader, he is considered leader, his guide as Subal who has some connection with madhurya rasa. Amongst all the friends of Krsna Subal is considered to be the highest for his intimate connection with madhurya rasa. So he considered his guide in the form of Subal. Very liberal heart and he used to mix with all the contending parties of Gaudiya Matha . He almost went everywhere. And with his smiling face he used to make .
But still he had some special attraction for some special quarter. He was an intimate friend of mine as I told already. And he had much appreciation specially for my poems, sanskrit poems. I asked him once why you have got such special affection for me with your as they called for that. He said I am captured by the ideas, by the language, by the style of your poems. He was very strict and not a man who will by the pressure of the circumstances who will submit to anyone and everyone, not of that type. That was also one of his characteristics, of his nature. So he used to sing the poems of the Goswamins about Krsna lila, not ordinary, selected. But his affection was so much towards me that he used to chant in the night of Ekadasi and there, everywhere. He preferred to chant the most _ sloka of mine. So in the heart-to-heart relation he was very intimate to me. Anyhow todays function is also showing something like that. It was not predesigned. But anyhow I am entangled with some such function in his connection by divine arrangement, divine arrangement. So our connection was something above the conscious area of our experience which causeless connection. In many other ways also we had many common things. Sometimes I might have dealt with him in a rough way also. But he did not mind that. His friendship for me was so deep he did not care. Such happenings also took place here. So today I pray to him whatever wrong I might have done about him he may forgive them all and accept me as his sincere friend, with the help of you all. It has been broadly advertised that if we can sing in praise of the Vaisnava them we can have higher promotion in the line of devotion. It is easy to praise the songs' or poems written about the Supreme Lord. But it is difficult to praise, to be able to praise really the servitors of the absolute. The possibility of jealousy, matsarata, comes to interfere. He is a man, I am of similar, same status. Why should I submit to him? This sort of pratistha, egoism, opposes, hinders us. To call a spade a spade, so nirmatsaranam satam. The Lord also says, "If you are My devotee you are not real devotee of Mine. But if you are devotee of my devotee, you are my real devotee." The jealousy has got a test there, nirmatsaranam satam. We may not any competitive position in comparison with the Supreme Lord; but a competitive superiority complex possibly comes in the case of a Vaisnava. I can't submit to them. It is difticult. But when we are really captured and conquered by the swarupa-sakti Yoga-maya of Krsna, then this realistic view comes within us. And so much so with the improvement of his own purification, own progress...
Vrindaranya Dasi - April 25, 2005 6:50 pm
Wow! So deep, so many valuable insights, and what inspiration for saranagati! Srila Krsnadasa Babaji Maharaja ki jaya! Srila Sridhara Maharaja ki jaya!
I really liked what he said about saranagati that Babaji Maharaja was such a high platform of surrender that in Nandavagicar he didn't even have designs on how to acquire Krsna consciousness. I could see how the tendency to try to control the environment can even contaminates our saranagati. Full surrender--yes! This was wonderful too:
saranagati, surrender, is the basis, the foundation on which so many variagated structures may be constructed for the service of Krsna. It is also mentioned in my Prapanna-jivanamrta. Saranagati can give us the highest desire result. Without sravana, kirtana, smarana, vandana and so other forms mere saranagati.
Srila Sridhara Maharaja has such a rare combination of poetic language and deep import. It is no wonder that Babaji Maharaja liked to chant Srila Sridhara Maharaja's slokas the most. The points about nirmatsaranam satam were of great consequence as well. They really need to be circulated widely!
Bhrigu - April 26, 2005 6:34 am
Krishnadasa Babaji would yearly spend some time at Bon Maharaja's Matha in Vrindavan, so the older devotees there remember him well and sometimes speak about him. I once asked the acharya, Sripad Gopananda Bon Maharaja whether it is really true that Babaji Maharaja never slept but chanted harinama through the nights, as one sometimes hears. "No," Maharaja replied, "he did sleep -- but I never saw him do so!" 
Babhru Das - April 26, 2005 7:32 am
I met Babaji Maharaja briefly a few times in 1980 in Vrindavan and Puri. I spent a little time listening to him chant bhajans in Sarasvati Thakura's room in Puri one wonderful afternoon.
Haridas.bts - April 27, 2005 10:57 am
years ago i picked up Bhakti Bringa Govinda Maharaja up from Gatwick airport
in england. I knew he had association with Krsna Dasa Babaji Maharaja so i tried to get some nectar from him.
the only thing he would reveal is that he was always chanting, also he said that one day he invited some Prabhupada disciples for kirtan, they sat down at his feet and he didnt grab mrndanga-he just carried on with japa for hours and hours and hours!