Tamal Krishna Goswami Video Archive: Sri Vyasa Puja 2005

HG Sarvabhauma Prabhu

Kalachandji Dham, Dallas, USA

HH Giriraj Swami spoke about His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami, (Srila Gurudeva) during the Srimad Bhagavatam class period and did not discuss the verse. He recalled, "The first time I met His Holiness Tamal Krishna Goswami was in Boston in the early days... Goswami Maharaja was already a legend, and we'd heard so much about him before he even arrived. Brahmananda Prabhu, who was the biggest leader of the east coast of America came to Boston, and Goswami Maharaja, the leader on the west coast came. What was particularly striking is how, with great love, they spoke for hours and hours about Srila Prabhupada. Then Goswami continued on to Europe. The next time we met was in Bombay. Goswami Maharaja was the GBC for India, and at the giant pandal program at Cross Maidan he was my immediate authority. Then Srila Prabhupada asked us to go to Calcutta to organize the pandal program there. At that time Goswami Maharaja really "opened up" to me. I thought everything was important: chanting, studying, book distribution, prasadam distribution, etc. But one night, at the Albert Road temple, Goswami Maharaja told me that Srila Prabhupada had several intimate disciples, and that he was one of them. And he glorified Syamasundara Prabhu as one of them, as one of the biggest preachers in the movement. Syamasundara had organized the Bombay pandal program. But I said, "What do you mean he's one of the biggest preachers?" I hadn't even seen him give Bhagavatam class. Goswami said, "He has engaged so many devotees in Krishna's service in programs like the pandal program, Life Membership, etc. That is preaching, engaging others in Krishna's service."

Giriraj Maharaja recalled how there was a period in which some leaders in America were pushing laxsmi collection so much that the sadhana of the devotees was suffering. At that time Goswami Maharaja gave suggestions to Srila Prabhupada which allowed the devotees to have a better schedule for sadhana, which included having enough time to chant in the morning before going on sankirtan, and coming back early enough in the evening for an evening program and proper prasadam. "Goswami Maharaja told me, 'The essence of spiritual life is service to the spiritual master.' I had never thought of that. I knew we had to do all the various aspects of Krishna consciousness, but I didn't see how all the processes relate to each other. After that, my approach changed."

Giriraj M. described how the Calcutta pandal was even a bigger success than the Bombay one, and how they made a good team. Srila Gurudeva told him, "You collect the money and I'll spend it." Maharaja said that when they would cultivate Life Members, Giriraja Swami was the soft one, and Srila Gurudeva was the heavy one, and he gave some examples. Giriraja concluded by explaining that although Srila Gurudeva did so much outstanding practical or external service for Srila Prabhupada, at the same time he was very intense in regard to his internal spiritual practices and development.

After the class the Godbrothers took prasadam and the program began with a very sweet kirtan led by Amala Kirtan Prabhu, a disciple of Hrdayananda dasa Goswami, who resides now in Dallas.

Bir Krishna Maharaja spoke about how in Mayapur at the Samadhi of Srila Gurudeva he meditated and prayed for strength, thinking, "Where will I go for advice and shelter now? He recalled a recent joyful visit he had with HH Bhakti Tirtha Maharaja at Gita Nagari, Bir Krishna M. concluded, "When these great souls leave, it's not due to a disease or a car accident: Srila Prabhupada is calling them." He compared Srila Prabhupada's taking such great devotees to the way the famous Radha-Damodar sankirtan party collected powerful devotees out of the material world for a special mission.

Kesava Bharati Goswami said that not so many specific memories came to his mind, although many impressions from his time with S. Gurudeva were there from their time together in the Radha-Damodara party, Bombay, Fiji and Govardhana. Maharaja realized, "In all the different times and places, my relationship with Goswami Maharaja was that I was always giving him a report." So Maharaja gave a spontaneous report on the Bhaktivedanta Ashrama at Govardhana, how the renovations and gardens are complete, how Srila Gurudeva's puspa Samadhi is very nice and is and well cared for, how Gurudeva's disciple Gaurav Narayana Maharaja has been given sannyasa by HH Sivarama Swami, how Asita Krishna Prabhu is serving very nicely, how the translation and editing work on Brhat Bhagavatamrta has been going forward, how in Houston a little more Western preaching is taking place, as Srila Gurudeva wanted; and how the Dallas temple is going in the direction he wanted.

After HH Guru Prasada Swami chanted some bhajans, Nityananda Prabhu, the temple president in Dallas, shared an important comment that Guna Avatara Prabhu, Srila Gurudeva's Godbrother from Israel had made: "We can reminisce about the past, but what are we going to do in the future?" Nityananda then told a fascinating story about how Srila Gurudeva once told him to stop the controversial guru, Rajneesh, from coming into Fiji. With Gurudeva's inspiration, Nityananda visited all the religious leaders of Fiji and they quickly signed a petition to bar Rajneesh from entering Fiji-and the Fijian immigration department actually banned Rajneesh from coming in.

Rasajna Mataji, a senior disciple of Prabhupada who now lives in Austin, Texas, praised Srila Gurudeva for never being afraid to do what needed to be done in Prabhupada's service. She explained that he wasn't just trying to please others, but that he was always doing the needful, what needed most to be done. She said, "He sometimes reminded me of Srila Prabhupada, even looking at him!" She was impressed with Gurudeva's intense eagerness to "suck in" Krishna consciousness, devotee association, etc.

Yudhisthira Prabhu, the former temple president in Dallas who previously worked for Peter Burwash, the devotee and tennis professional, stressed how Srila Gurudeva understood that Krishna consciousness was for everyone, not just for those who could live fulltime in a temple. By eliciting a show of hands, Yudhisthira revealed that over 90% of those attending the program were working or studying in school, and yet they were making advancement in Krishna consciousness. He pointed out that Tamal Krishna Maharaja was always a visionary who saw everyone as a potential devotee and fanned the spark.

HH Danavira Maharaja, who has established a Krishna conscious educational seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, spoke about how Srila Gurudeva's amazing service on behalf of Prabhupada had enabled so many to take part in the Krishna consciousness movement all over the world. Danavir M. said that when he began his very successful bhakta program in 1974, "I based the bhakta program on which I had seen Tamal Krishna Maharaja do." Danavir M. told how he was acting temple president at the Laguna Beach temple when the Radha-Damodara party showed up suddenly with 2 or 3 buses and 60 or 70 ecstatic brahmacaris led by Srila Gurudeva and Visnujana Swami. Radha-Damodara was a bit controversial at the time, and Danavir M. was confused what to do. After getting chastized by Srila Gurudeva, Danavir M. extended the temple's hospitality to the devotees. Danavir M. was a vanaprashta for 21 years and noted that Srila Gurudeva was not eager for him to quickly become a sannyasi, although he had originally sought to be trained in sannyasa by Gurudeva. He praised Srila Gurudeva's wonderful service in China.

HH Guru Prasada Swami commented, "I never saw any personal motivation in Tamal Krishna Goswami; everything he did was for Srila Prabhupada." When Guru Prasada Swami's service in Mexico was over, Gurudeva called him to Dallas. At that time the two sannyasis agreed that some reform to allow more devotees to be involved in leadership was necessary in ISKCON, and they worked together to help it happen. Maharaja recalls, "Because at that time Goswami Maharaja changed his mind on that issue, many people criticized him, but finally his desire for change became manifest in ISKCON."

Brahma Tirtha Prabhu read a short offering from HH Hrdayananda Maharaja. He commented, "Tamal Krishna Maharaja was an affectionate, caring brother for me."

Stella Herzig, the devotee wife of Srila Gurudeva's brother Carl explained that Gurudeva didn't advise them to stop their lives in a small college town in Iowa, when they thought of possibly moving to a temple community somewhere else. He advised them to stay in Davenport, Iowa, and now they are able to share Krishna consciousness in direct or indirect ways with many people. They see the wisdom in Gurudeva's advice.

HH Gunagrahi Goswami began by saying, "Srila Gurudeva trained his disciples so nicely-it is a nourishing experience to associate with them." Gunagrahi M. praised how Gurudeva could develop not just temples, but devotee communities. "He was such a great visionary: the Radha-Damodara Party was one of the greatest phenomena in ISKCON history." He recalled how he was the president of the San Diego temple when the Radha-Damodara Party visited there. "Srila Gurudeva and Visnujana Swami gave a combined Srimad Bhagavatam class: each read and spoke for ten minutes and alternated. We had never seen anything like that before." Gunagrahi M. explained how Gurudeva was always a trend-setter: he got behind the VIHE which Bhurijan Prabhu had begun, and suddenly it became very popular. Gurudeva got into the Navadwipa Parikrama, and suddenly it grew from a handful of devotees to hundreds. He got into the challenge of academic preaching, saying, "I always like to do something new, to accept a new challenge." Gunagrahi M. observed that, "Under that heavy surface, he was a humble devotee who saw himself as a menial servant of Srila Prabhupada." Maharaja pointed out that Gurudeva was a perfectionist, and that "The Dallas temple room is the perfection of a temple room. He had such perfect taste, and he could bring it to reality." Maharaja also concluded that "He knew prasadam serve-out etiquette so perfectly."

Carl, Srila Gurudeva's devoted devotee-brother, described how his illustrious brother suddenly gave him editing work on his devotional writings. But Carl protested, "I have no knowledge of the subject, so I" But for some reason Gurudeva wanted to engage Carl in that service, which Carl described as "trial-by-fire" or on-the-job training. Then Carl gave an inspiring report on how he teaches at a Catholic University in Iowa, and how just this last semester-for the first time-he taught a 15-week course on the Bhagavad-gita, which was approved for credit and was extremely well-received. In fact, at the end of the course Carl described how just about every student was in tears, sorry that the wonderful experience had to come to an end. After this,Carl and all the devotees understood that Srila Gurudeva had certainly blessed Carl and his family, even though they were far from any temple and had very little association most of the time.

Rtadhvaja Swami explained how he first "met" Srila Gurudeva in reading Servant of the Servant, when he noticed that the Radha-Damodara Party had visited Minot, North Dakota, where Rtadhvaja Swami is from. Maharaja told a fascinating story of how the devotees woke him up and asked if they could pick some flowers from his garden, and finally they had picked all the flowers in the garden. Although he didn't meet them at the time, Srila Gurudeva and Visnujana Swami had made plans in Minot right where he used to go for a walk. When he told this to Gurudeva, he said, "I take credit for you becoming a devotee, then." Maharaja said, "I learned how to appreciate devotees from him." Gurudeva told him, "I feel I can tell you what I could have told no one else." They became very close in the last years. Once when Rtadhvaja Swami saw Gurudeva chastise a servant for mistakes with prasadam, he said, "I couldn't chastise someone like that." Gurudeva replied, "You just be who you are, and I'll be who I am." Maharaja concluded, "When he got an idea he thought was right, he fought to the end. This is why we feel so loyal to him. He made me a devotee without even meeting me."

Syamasundara Prabhu, the temple president of Houston, said that Gurudeva was always transcendental: he wasn't stopped by the material limitations or circumstances. He told Syamasundara, "I'm a Prabhupada man." In 1992 he invited Syamasundara to come to India. He called and said, "Please come to Vrndavana; I'm missing you." He had Syamasundara sleep in his room for ten days, and Gurudeva would rise at 1 a.m.

SRILA TAMAL KRISHNA GOSWAMI GURUDEVA KI JAI!!