.png)
SRILA BHAKTI VILASA TIRTHA GOSVAMI MAHARAJ (KUNJA DA)
%2016_15_24_af8c0d8c.jpg)
01
The Prabhupāda
"The secretary of the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha, Acaryatrika Sripada Kunja Bihari Vidyabhusana, is:
The main pillar in the grand temple of the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha;
The prime cause of the flourishing of the life and service of the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha institution of service;
The original architect in creating the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha;
The principal minister for the waking and development of Srila Jagabandhu’s service attitude;
The central jewel in the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha's jewelled necklace of devotees;
The very form of service to sri-guru, and the dearest to sri-guru;
The most distinguished assistant in fulfilling the mano-’bhista of sri-guru;
The foremost teacher of service to sri-guru, and the crest-jewel of tolerant service;
The person dedicated to the service of the servitors of sri-guru and who invites the world to the service of Hari and guru;
And the topmost friend of the Gauḍīyas."
-------------------
"I am inferior to you in simplicity and renunciation of material objects. Your love for me is the subject of my constant remembrance. If in any future birth I can become a renunciant like you, then certainly Krsna will be able to bestow mercy upon me."
.png){kind=small}
02
ISKCON Prabhupāda
"Our Kunja Babu also planned like that. He thought, “By cheating all the God-brothers, I have got now Caitanya Matha. And people will come to see Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s birthplace, and I will get good income. And it will be distributed amongst my brothers and sons and myself. That’s all.” That is his scheme. [...] Guru Maharaja took that “Oh, this man is helping me.” But he had no such plan, to help Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. He had the plan, “Keep Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in front, earn money, and put it in my pocket.” That was his very beginning. He was taking money like anything."
"This Kunja Babu, this Tirtha Maharaja’s party, he wanted to enjoy senses through guru".
"Bhakti Vilas Tirtha is very much antagonistic to our society and he has no clear conception of devotional service. He is contaminated."
"Prabhupāda: Kava dava adakanam. As all our Godbrothers are doing. They have got a little temple, and a few devotees go and beg rice and cook it, and eat and sleep, that's all.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: It's like being dead almost.
Prabhupāda: No fighting spirit. Ṭhākura dekhiya . . . (indistinct)
Pradyumna: Ṭhākura dekhiya . . .?
Prabhupāda: . . . (indistinct) . . . just make a Deity, show. Our Tīrtha Mahārāja is doing that. His whole idea was that "I have now captured the birthplace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu by high-court favor. Now I have got everything. People will come, and they'll pay something, and that will be my income for my family," as the caste gosvāmīs do in Navadvīpa and other . . . a means of livelihood. He has no devotion. He wanted as a means of income."
03
Śrī Śhyām Das Bābā
In this video, Śrīla Śhyām Dās Bābājī Mahārāja is sharing with us incredible insights about the life and glories of Śrīla Bhakti Vilāsa Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja, also known as Kunja Da.
The great parṣad of Śrīla Prabhupāda Kunja Da was working as a post officer and it was his natural habit to hand over all the salary he was getting to the Mission of Srila Prabhupāda which just started to get more and more popularity. Kunja Da was taking care of Śrīla Prabhupāda in all possible ways helping him, so that he could mainly stay focused on giving Harikathā and writing. It was he who "forced" Śrīla Prabhupāda to go to Calcutta and start preaching there. Slowly-slowly all our Guruvarga (Śrīla Bhakti Pramode Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Dev-Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Hṛdaya Vana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Saranga Gosvami Maharaj, Śrīla Bhakti Pradip Tīrtha Gosvāmī Mahārāja etc.) joined Prabhupada.
The śaraṇāgati kirtan of Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura starting with “mānasa, deho, geho, jo kichu mor…” was really seen in applied form in the life of Kunja Da.
Gauḍīya Maṭha is eternally present in the eternal world. Here, in this material world, we can say that the cause of the Gauḍīya Maṭha is Śrīla Prabhupāda and Śrīla Saccidānanda Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, but the cause of Gauḍīya Maṭha pracāra (preaching) was Kunja Da.
The relationship between Śrīla Prabhupāda and Kunja Da is divine. To give us a glimpse of this, Bābājī Mahārāja tells us about their wonderful pastimes. Furthermore, we have the chance to know about the intimate revelations that Śrīla Prabhupāda made in his letters to his dearest disciple.
We also find out an interesting fact: Śrīla Prabhupāda appointed Kunja Da as a manager of the Gaudiya Math; his will was, "So long as Śrīla Kunjabihari Vidyabhusana is going to live in this material world, he is the manager, he can control everything."
Śrīla Śhyām Dās Bābājī Mahārāja also said:
"Kunja Da always wanted to help in the preaching of Gaura Vāṇī. If I'm not going to confess it, then I'm going to get punishment."
"All over the world people should know who is Kunja Da. I put a challenge in front of you to search in the whole world – who has information about Kunja Da? Always everybody likes to hide the glories of exalted personalities – they like to project themselves. "They should know me, I'm a great preacher!" – this is called "demoniac character." It is the nature of those pure Vaiṣṇavas to always glorify other great-great Vaiṣṇavas. But unfortunately, we can see just the opposite.
Śrīla Prabhupāda used to say that “He – who wants to identify himself as a great Vaishnava (sādhu), be sure that he is a branded avaiṣṇava.”
