A Response to Bhagavat Das Concerning Srila BP Puri Maharaj
BY: KANG TEH
Apr 22, USA (SUN) — By
A Disciple of Srila BP Puri Maharaj.
I read Sriman Bhagavat Das's article with some concern as he has given some information about our beloved Gurudeva Sri Srimad
Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj which may be misleading to some devotees.
Much has been made by the followers of HH Narayan Maharaj about the article of Bhakti Vidagdha Bhagavat Maharaj in which
he made many statements against ISKCON and especially against Srila Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada. This article can still be found on websites that are connected
to Narayan Maharaj. However, what Narayan Maharaj's followers fail to mention is that it was this article of Bhagavat Maharaj that marked the death-knell for his relationship with his Gurudeva.
Srila Puri Maharaj considered this article so
offensive to his dear
godbrother Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, that
he immediately
called for all his senior disciples and dictated a
letter stating that
he
did not agree with any of Bhagavat Maharaj's offensive
statements and
henceforward rejected Bhagavat Maharaj as his
disciple. The letter by
our
Gurudeva can be found below.
Prior to this Bhagavat Maharaj had offended his own
Gurudeva in many
ways and tried to force him to make him his successor
on the grounds
that he was a brahmin by birth. He even tried to force
Gurudeva once by
threatening to swallow poison if he did not appoint
him. His caste
pride
and arrogant dealings with the devotees made him a
constant problem in
the math. Finally his offences to Srila Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada
was the last straw for our Gurudeva and all his
faithful disciples.
After this incident Bhagavat Maharaj tried to force
his way into our
Puri
Math to harass our Gurudeva again, but was promptly
removed from the
premises by HH Nrsingha Maharaj and others. Bhagavat
Maharaj then left
India and independently created his own math and
initiated disciples in
South America without any authorization.
Therefore we find it somewhat curious that Narayan
Maharaj's followers
continue to wield this article of Bhagavat Maharaj as
some sort of
evidence whenever the occasion arises, when they know
full well that it
contains offensive and inaccurrate contents that
ultimately destroyed
the
devotional creeper of Bhagavat Maharaj.
In Bhagavat Das's article he quotes Bhagavat Maharaja
thus -
"Our Gurudeva Om Visnupada 108 Sri Srimad Bhakti
Pramode Puri Goswami
Maharaja considers him (Srila Narayana Maharaja) to be
the best weapon
to resist the misconceptions of the so-called babajis
of Radha-Kunda
and
it is a proven fact that when he goes to Radha-Kunda
he openly
challenges them to come forward and have a debate with
him if they do
not
accept the mission of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati
as bonafide.
Nobody
dares to come near him.”
The above is not only innaccurate in that it claims
that Narayan
Maharaj openly challenges the Radha-kunda babajis
whenever he goes
there (if
you ask the Radha-kunda Babajis, most of them have
never even heard of
Narayan Maharaj), but it is also false that our
Gurudeva considered
Narayan Maharaj to be the 'best weapon' against the
Sahajiyas. This
statement is simply Bhagavat Maharaj's personal
opinion. None of Srila
Gurudeva's intimate disciples ever heard him make such
a statement.
BV Bhagavat Maharaj also stated in his article that in
the Bengali
Gaudiya magazine, on the occassion of the cornerstone
laying of Bagh
Bazaar
Gaudiya Math, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur
said that he
wanted to print authentic copies of the rasa-shastras
in order to
perform
real krishnanusilanam. BV Bhagavat then claims that
Narayan Maharaj is
fulfilling this desire of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Prabhupada. However, it
just so happens that we have a copy of The Gaudiya
magazine from that
time (September 1928) and have read Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada's
lecture on that day. Nowhere does he mention anything
remotely about
printing authentic rasa-shastras. This implies that
either Bhagavat
Maharaj
is mistaken, or he is fabricating evidence.
Our Gurudeva was a strict follower of Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati
Thakur and was totally against the unqualified study
of these works.
Many times he told us that it was not ordained by his
Guru Maharaj to
read
these books. "First deserve, then desire!" he would
say. However, we
now find the followers of Narayan Maharaj distributing
Sri Jayadev
Goswami's 'Gita Govinda' (translated from Narayan
Maharaj's Hindi
translation
by Prem Prayojan Das, an ex-sannyasi of their sanga)
to one and all,
with no discrimination of qualification.
Srila Gurudeva always instructed his disciples to be
careful of
committing Vaishnava aparadha. He was always kind and
humble in dealing
with
all Vaishnavas on all levels and was the
personification of the 'trinad
api sunichena' verse of Sri Shiksastakam. However, he
was also
concerned about his disciples hearing the Gaudiya
siddhanta from
proper
sources.Therefore I find it hard to believe that the
quote from Madhava
Priya
Das is accurate since our Gurudeva had warned some of
us in private not
to associate with Narayan Maharaj and his followers.
He respected
Narayan Maharaj's scholarly abilities but did not
approve of speaking
on
higher topics in public. He preferred that we spend
our valuable time
in
cultivating that chanting of the holy name. By doing
so, we would
become
qualified to enter into these esoteric matters. He
told us that it was
not a matter of how long one had been in his guru's
mission - it was a
matter of purity, sincerity and complete attachment to
nam-prabhu.
Madhava Priya Das was present during our Gurudeva's
antya-lila when
Narayan Maharaj came to visit him. At that time
Gurudeva was in bed
using
an oxygen mask and could not speak to anyone. When
Narayan Maharaj came
in his presence he was somewhat disturbed at this
sight, offered his
pranams and left the room. He then went downstairs and
spoke to some of
us. However, after Gurudeva's disappearance during the
first
disappearance festival at Dauji Temple in Vrindavan,
Narayan Maharaj
had a
completely different story to tell - according to his
version, he came
and
spent many hours conversing with our Gurudeva on many
intimate rasika
topics!
How does Madhava Priya account for this when he knows
that it is
untrue?
Madhava Priya was also present at a public function in
Delhi in 1998
when one of Narayan Maharaj's senior disciples stood
up and stated that
"Srila Puri Maharaj is too old and invalid to give his
disciples
sambandha-jnana. It is better that he not make any
more disciples!"
This was
said in front of Narayan Maharaj who remained silent.
When this was
related to our Gurudeva he simply replied
indifferently, "Let them go
their
own way. We have our bhajana given to us by Srila
Prabhupada
(Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur)."
Narayan Maharaj and his followers claim to have
respect for our
Gurudeva (and other disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati Thakur
(such
as Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srila BR
Sridhar Maharaj,
Srila Krishna Das Babaji Maharaj etc), but the type of
respect they
exhibit
seems quite superficial considering the statements
they make in private
about such exalted personalities.
I have no desire to enter into a debate about these
things, but I feel
obliged out of duty to Gurudeva to set the record
straight.
Letter by Srila BP Puri Goswami Maharaj
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Regarding: A letter of B. V. Bhagavat Maharaj to
Sriman Ravindra
Swarupa's letter on Sriman Bhakti Vedanta Narayan
Maharaj entitled
"TAKING
SRILA PRABHUPADA STRAIGHT."
This is to inform that I have not appointed any of my
disciples to
write any kind of letter which is to criticize any
person or society.
Recently one letter came to my attention, written by a
disciple of me
named B. V. Bhagavat, who recently has been expelled
from my society
due
to misconduct. The letter is addressed to the Iskcon
society in my
name, but I never approved this letter to be written,
and hereby state
not
to take any responsibility regarding the contents of
the letter.
I regret the offensive insinuation about my dear
Godbrother Srila
Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj in the following statement
of this letter:
"The
preaching and delivering system of your Prabhupada
comes from different
places rather than just the mission of Srila
Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati Thakura." I would feel very saddened if
anyone is directly or
indirectly connected to support this kind of statement
in this letter
as mentioned above.
Any letter of this kind to be written in the future
which has no clear
approval on my side should be considered as
unauthorized.
Sincerely yours in the service of Sri Sri Guru
Gouranga and Radha
Gopinath Jiu,
(signed B P Puri)
Bhakti Pramode Puri
