Chapter 3
On
the
I s k co n L a n d
in
B h u b a n e s wa r
Mr. Mishra, his colleague, who knew that he had visited many spiritual leaders, introduced him to Çréla Gour Govinda Swami. Mr. Mishra knew what Srutidhar desired; therefore, when Çréla Gour Govinda Swami paid a visit to the D.P.I Office, he introduced them to each other. He knew the great spiritual strength of Çréla Gour Govinda Swami, so he said to Srutidhar, “Since you are so anxious to meet a great saintly person, and since such a person has just come to the D.P.I. office, I will take you to him. He was my former teacher and that is how I know of his greatness.” Çacinandana däsa: “When I first met Gurudeva I was very much inspired at the first sight of him. I found him to be very innocent, and his explanation of Kåñëa consciousness was without any contamination. I was immediately inspired by his expression and his appearance, because he was very straightforward and he spoke directly from çästra. He narrated to me the eternal knowledge given in the scriptures and very much insisted that we should depend on what the Supreme Lord Himself has said (tattva-vicära)* rather than listening to what others had to say, which could be merely speculation (apara-vicära)**. I also remember that he further explained to me that we should accept the path that descends from the Supreme Lord Himself (avaroha-panthä)***. This is what he said to me on the first meeting. Then I tried to find out where this saint was residing. I was told that he was living close to the temple of Ananta Väsudeva. I had a bicycle then and went to the area but I could not find him. Then I was told he was not there and had gone to another place called Brahmeshwar Patna. Hence, I went to this place and there I found Çréla Gurudeva, Gour Govinda Swami.” * The absolute consideration. **The apparent consideration. ***Avaroha-panthä means receiving knowledge from bona fide spiritual authority. Whereas äroha-panthä means “I shall understand God by my own knowledge.”
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