Depend on Kṛṣṇa

Preface

väïchä-kalpa-tarubhyaç ca kåpä-sindhubhya eva ca patitänäà pävanebhyo vaiñëavebhyo namo namaù

“I offer my respectful obeisances unto all the Vaiñëava devotees of the Lord. They are just like desire trees who can fulfill the desires of everyone, and they are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.”1

vande çré-kåñëa-caitanyapremämara-taroù priyän çäkhä-rüpän bhakta-gaëän kåñëa-prema-phala-pradän

“I offer my obeisances to all the dear devotees of Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu, the eternal tree of love of Godhead. I offer my respects to all the branches of the tree, the devotees of the Lord who distribute the fruit of love of Kåñëa.”2

When I first met Çréla Äcärya Öhäkura Gour Govinda Mahäräja face to face, in March 1989 [we had previously corresponded for over a year], Bhubaneswar, India, I felt inspired to record his biography*

* Svayambhü Mahäräja [06.12.1935 - 11.08.2010]: His name prior to meeting and taking initiation from Çréla Gurudeva was Subash Biswal. He had written an account of Çréla Gurudeva’s life, but it was in Oriya and at the time I did not know of that book. Svayambhü Mahäräja wrote two books: the first Püta jévana-carita – The Sacred Life History, which is the Biography of Çréla Gour Govinda Swami in Oriya. His second book was: Kåpä-patraväli – Merciful Letters; a compilation of the letters that Çréla Gour Govinda Swami wrote to him. When Svayambhü prabhu [Cont. on next page ]

A lwAys E mbr A c E d by K åñë A

as reading this would be greatly beneficial to the family of Vaiñëava devotees and countless aspirants. My experiences in Bhubaneswar on that first visit, were enough for me to understand that this was no ordinary devotee of the Lord, nor an ordinary svämé, nor just another guru. His whole body glowed which is a symptom of one who has not committed any sinful activity and we observed this during our first visit to his hut.

After reading this first Volume of his divine life, one will appreciate that it is not possible to over glorify a personality and sädhu such as Çréla Gurudeva. As conditioned souls, we are not even able to comprehend the exalted position of such a transcendental personality. We cannot grasp it. As described in the topmost of all scriptures Çrémad-Bhägavatam:

rahügaëaitat tapasä na yäti na cejyayä nirvapaëäd gåhäd vä na cchandasä naiva jalägni-süryair vinä mahat-päda-rajo-‘bhiñekam

“My dear King Rahügaëa, unless one has the opportunity to smear his entire body with the dust of the lotus feet of great devotees, one cannot realise the Absolute Truth. One cannot realise the Absolute Truth simply by observing celibacy [brahmacarya], strictly following the rules and regulations of householder life, leaving home as a vänaprastha, accepting sannyäsa, or undergoing severe penances in winter by keeping oneself submerged in water or surrounding oneself in summer by fire and the scorching heat of the sun. There are many other processes to understand the Absolute Truth, but the Absolute Truth is only revealed to one who has attained the mercy of a great devotee.”3

took sannyäsa on 01.03.2004, he stipulated that his name would stay the same as the name his beloved Gurudeva gave him. Thus, his sannyäsa name became His Holiness Svayambhü Mahäräja.

P reface

When so many amazing facts about Çréla Gour Govinda Swami Mahäräja are compiled, it will lead the reader to his extraordinary personality. This publication is our humble presentation of this extraordinary and remarkable personality, born in a family of great Vaiñëavas.

In his Çré Hari-bhakti-viläsa, Çréla Sanätana Gosvämé quotes the following verses:

prathamaà tu guruà püjya tataç caiva mamärcanam kurvan siddhim aväpnoti hy anyathä niñphalaà bhavet

“If anyone worships his guru first and then worships Me [Çré Kåñëa], he certainly achieves perfection. If he does not do so, his worship bears no fruit.”4

bhaktir yathä harau me’sti tadvan niñöhä gurau yadi mamästi tena satyena svaà darçayatu me hariù

“If my devotion to my guru is even stronger than my devotion for Çré Kåñëa, then may this fact cause Çré Kåñëa to reveal Himself to me.”5

After all, it is the duty of the disciple to glorify the spiritual master,

hä hä prabhu koro doyä, deho more pada-chäyä, ebe jaça ghuñuk tribhuvana

“O spiritual master, ... Be merciful unto me and give me the shade of your lotus feet. May your glories now be proclaimed throughout the three worlds.”6

A lwAys E mbr A c E d by K åñë A

Also it is written in Bhaktivinoda-väëé-vaibhava:

“…it is the duty of the disciple to glorify the spiritual master for one hour everyday…”7

If we did this, “...glorify the spiritual master for one hour everyday...” how much information would we need to collect about him? So the glorification I am presenting here is miniscule, actually, only touching the tip of the top of the iceberg of his glories.

When Çréla Gurudeva came to Australia in October 1990, I asked him if he would consider conducting interviews about his life and he consented. The idea was that at some point in time, someone would write a book about him. At that time, it was not determined who that person would be. I never thought that I would actually write a book about his divine life. But, after conducting certain interviews, I spoke with Gurudeva and asked who should author the book, since I did not think it would be me. He said to me, “You will author it.”

My experience in writing was limited to letters, and I felt I lacked scholarly ability, but by prayers and feeling deeply inspired, I undertook this task. After that first encounter with my spiritual preceptor and subsequently collecting information on his divine life by the way of the interviews I had conducted on his first tour of Australia, I became truly amazed that such a personality existed. Such interviews validated my first impressions of him during that first visit to Bhubaneswar in 1989.

I started conducting interviews and researching the life of our beloved Çréla Gurudeva from 1989, to obtain the information in this volume. The original volume of Gurudeva’s life story was published many years ago and was titled Kåñëäliìgita-vigraha “One who is Always Embraced by Kåñëa”, however, this is a revised and expanded edition, presented in two parts.