by His Holiness Brahmānanda Svāmī
by His Holiness Brahmananda Svami
His Holiness Brahmananda Svami served for many years as the first president of the first ISKCON temple in the United States (while at the same time working as a teacher in the New York City public school system). He later became director of ISKCON Press and in 1970 accepted the renounced order of life. He was the first to introduce Krsna consciousness in Africa. He has recently been preaching in Africa and India.
In Calcutta in 1896, the teachings of Lord Caitanya began their journey to the West. In Bengali-speaking Calcutta on August 20th of that year, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura published a small English treatise entitled Lord Caitanya-His Life and Precepts. Seventy-one years later, in 1967, in Montreal, Canada, a graduate student came across a copy of this book while browsing through the rare-book collection of the McGill University library. The book was a wonderful find for him because he was a dedicated follower of Lord Caitanya's, having been convinced of Lord Caitanya's teachings by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, whom he had accepted as his spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada was born in Calcutta on September 1, 1896, only a few days after Lord Caitanya-His Life and Precepts was published. Thus by a transcendental arrangement this significant book and he who would fulfill the purpose of the book appeared together.
The sastras (authoritative scriptures) and acaryas (authoritative teachers) affirm that Lord Caitanya, who appeared in Bengal 500 years ago, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The great Vedic scripture Srimad-Bhagavatam states that in Kali-yuga (the present Age of Quarrel) the Supreme Lord descends not in His original form as Krsna, but in the garb of a golden-complexioned devotee who constantly sings the name of Krsna. Lord Caitanya, the perfect devotee, descends to teach us how to love Him. Although He is Krsna Himself, He shows us how to love Krsna, like a teacher who takes up a pencil and writes as if learning the ABC's, just to teach his pupils how to write. Lord Caitanya is Krsna Himself, but as one great acarya has declared, He is more kind than Krsna because He teaches pure love of Krsna
Thus in this age if one wants to be an unalloyed devotee of God, practically speaking one need only follow the teachings of Lord Caitanya.
A Trusted Representative The author of Lord Caitanya-His Life and Precepts, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, pioneered in bestowing upon the world the benediction of Krsna consciousness through the instructions of Lord Caitanya. He himself appeared near Lord Caitanya's very birth site, in the district of Nadia in West Bengal, India, in 1834. Bhaktivinoda Thakura is not a conditioned soul born in this temporary world because of the effects of bad deeds performed in previous lives; he is a nitya-siddha, an eternal associate of the Lord, and he is indeed the transcendental energy of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu (gaura-sakti-svarupaya). Sometimes during spiritual peril the Lord empowers a trusted representative to act on His behalf, just as a king may send an ambassador to a foreign land to represent him. Bhaktivinoda Thakura is called sac-cid-ananda because he is a representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, who is also known as sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, the embodiment of eternity, knowledge and bliss. He was sent by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu to revive Mahaprabhu's message of Krsna consciousness and thus redeem the modern world.
While cultivating spiritual consciousness, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was simultaneously a prominent magistrate in the government of Bengal. Thus Bhaktivinoda's life exemplifies what he contributed to spiritual knowledge. He proved that renunciation (vairagya) consists not of ceasing or abolishing any activity, but of adjusting every activity and using every object of the world for the service of the Lord, without thought of personal gain or enjoyment. Thus Bhaktivinoda Thakura, while outwardly a materially successful man, was an ascetic of the highest order (yukta-vairagi). He was completely distinct from the stereotyped Hindu ascetics who renounce everything because they think that everything is mundane, yet he was not among the pseudo-devotees (sahajiyas) who indulge in sensual pleasure on the plea that because they are part of God they should be free to enjoy like Him.
To live in the Himalayas eating roots and berries, shunning all the activities of the world, actually shows one's lack of spiritual knowledge. Everything belongs to God. This is the verdict of the Upanisads. Isavasyam idam sarvam yat kinca jagatyam jagat: "Everything in the world, both animate and inanimate, belongs to the Supreme Lord." Since He is the proprietor, we cannot renounce anything, for one can give up only what one has in the first place. Therefore an enlightened man accepts his quota, what he needs for his maintenance, while at the same time fully aware that God is the proprietor who maintains him.
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