Sri Gaura Kishora dasa Babaji Tirobhava tithi, Utthana Ekadasi

Sri Gaura Kishora dasa Babaji tirobhava tithi (disappearance day), Utthana Ekadasi (fasting day for Ekadasi)

Srila Prabhupada elaborates on the exalted position of Sri Gaura Kishora dasa Babaji

Lectures : Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bg 2: Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 2.13 — Pittsburgh, September 8, 1972 :
So we accept the authorities of Vyasa. And from Vyasa, Madhvacarya; from Madhvacarya, so many disciplic succession, up to Madhavendra Puri. Then Madhavendra Puri to Isvara Puri; from Isvara Puri to Lord Caitanyadeva; from Lord Caitanyadeva to six Gosvamis; from six Gosvamis to Krsnadasa Kaviraja; from him, Srinivasa Acarya; from him, Visvanatha Cakravarti; from him, Jagannatha dasa Babaji; then Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji; Bhaktivinoda Thakura; my spiritual master. The same thing, we are preaching. That is Krsna consciousness movement. It is nothing new. It is coming down from the original speaker, Krsna, by disciplic succession. So we are reading this Bhagavad-gita. Not that I have manufactured some book and I am preaching. No. I am preaching Bhagavad-gita. The same Bhagavad-gita as it was first spoken forty millions of years ago to the sun-god and again it was repeated five thousand years ago to Arjuna. The same thing is coming down by disciplic succession, and the same thing is presented before you. There is no change.

Lectures : Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bg 2: Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 2.17 — London, August 23, 1973 : 730823BG.LON :
So it is very difficult with these rascals. Very, very difficult. Therefore my Guru Maharaja’s Guru Maharaja, Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, they were not preaching. They were disgusted that “I have no power to reform these rascals. Better don’t bother. Let them go to hell. At least… Let them.” But still, my Guru Maharaja preached. He was so kind. And he asked us also to do the same thing. But it is very, very difficult job. People are so rascal, so condemned, so sinful. It is very, very difficult to raise them. Very difficult. Mandah sumanda-matayo manda-bhagya hy upadrutah [SB 1.1.10]. So only those who are very fortunate, they will understand that “I am eternal,” avinasi, “I am imperishable. I am put into this condition of perishable condition due to this my material body.” So how to get out of it? They have no ambition. Just like dogs and cats. Simply sense gratification. Krsna is so kind, how, very clearly explains. You try to understand what is the soul.

Lectures : Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bg 4: Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 4.15 — Bombay, April 4, 1974 : 740404BG.BOM :
It doesn’t require even literacy. There are many great personalities, saintly persons. My Guru Maharaja’s Guru Maharaja, he was illiterate, Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. He could not sign even his name. But my Guru Maharaja was the best scholar of his time. He accepted him as guru. So this is the process, that yei krsna-tattva-vetta sei guru haya [Cc. Madhya 8.128]. That is the business of every Indian.

Lectures : Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bg 4: Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 4.24-34 — New York, August 12, 1966 : 660812BG.NY :
And you will be surprised that my Guru Maharaja’s spiritual master was Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. He was completely illiterate. He did not know how to sign, and my spiritual master was the most learned man of his age. He accepted that guru who was completely illiterate. But when he would speak, that Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, he would speak with all Vedic references.

Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 1: Lectures : SB 1.5: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.4 — Los Angeles, January 12, 1968 : 680112SB.LA :
It is a great science. It is not a bluff, that anybody can manufacture something spiritual. No. It is a great science. One has to study the science from bona fide spiritual master. Study means… It does not mean that one has to be very highly qualified in academic education. Spiritual science does not depend on one’s academic education. You’ll be surprised to know that my grand-spiritual master, my spiritual master’s spiritual master, he was illiterate. And my spiritual master was the learned, greatest learned scholar of his age. Now, how he became the disciple of an illiterate man? So, but that Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja… His name was Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, my spiritual master’s spiritual master, my grand-spiritual master. So he was illiterate, but when you asked him some question, some intricate question of spiritual significance, he’ll answer you immediately very nicely. That is realization.

Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 1: Lectures : SB 1.5: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.11 — New Vrindaban, June 10, 1969 : 690610SB.NV : [O my dear Krsna, ocean of mercy, You are the friend of the distressed and the source of creation. You are the master of the cow :
Actually, you’ll find that our Kirtanananda Swami was in Vrndavana. There are many devotees. There are many devotees; they’re illiterate practically. They do not know what is Vedanta-sutra. But still, by their sincere devotional service they’re very much elevated. What to speak of others, Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, he was illiterate. He could not sign even his name. But he was so spiritually elevated that my spiritual master, who was the topmost scholar of his time, he accepted him as spiritual master. What is the reason? The reason is that this transcendental science does not depend on academic qualification. It is, it is not that because one is very, academically very qualified, he’ll become a devotee. No. The secret is… That is given in the Vedic literatures: [SB 5.18.12] yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akincana

Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 1: Lectures : SB 1.8: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.26 — Mayapura, October 6, 1974 : 741006SB.MAY :
So one may question that “Your Guru Maharaja was sitting on the ground in a municipal lavatory…” Because he did not like that “Anybody should disturb me,” he was sitting by the side of municipal lavatory. Because so many people will come for darsana and asirvada, he did not like it. He did not like to be disturbed by these asirvada. You see? They will not take any spiritual instruction. They are thinking that “Here is a saintly person, and he’ll bless me. So I have got now one thousand. I’ll take ten thousand.” That’s all. Therefore they come. They do not come to take any spiritual instruction. Therefore it is botheration. It is botheration. So Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja did not like this botheration. He was sitting by the side of a municipal lavatory so that “These rascal will not come out of the bad smell and will not disturb me.” You see? So Maharaja Mahindranandi, he was one of the… He had organized one sankirtana festival. So he came to Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja and to invite him. So after many requests, Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja said, “Maharaja, you have got many tenants. You are Maharaja. Why you are trying to make me your tenant? Because you are rich man, you also want… As your tenants carries your order, so you also want me. So why you are…?” “No, sir, no. You are my lord. Whatever you say, I shall carry out.” “Will you carry out?” “Why not?” So he said that “Don’t go home. Sit down here. Chant Hare Krsna.” He fled away. (laughter) You see. So he was very humorous also, Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji, that “If you are so obedient, then I ask you, ‘Don’t go home. Better give up your dress and chant Hare Krsna here.

Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 2: Lectures : SB 2.4: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.4.1 — Los Angeles, June 24, 1972 : 720624SB.LA :
If you want to know positively, what is God, then we should take lesson from a self-realized soul who has understood, who has seen. Jnaninas tattva-darsinah [Bg. 4.34]. Just like here it is tattva-niscayam atmanah. So tattvam, the truth, so one must have seen the truth, realized the truth. Tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet [MU 1.2.12]. That is guru. Means one who has seen the truth. How he has seen the truth? Through the parampara system. Krsna said this, and then Brahma said the same thing, then Narada said the same thing, Vyasadeva said the same thing, and then disciplic succession, Madhvacarya, Madhavendra Puri, Isvara Puri, Lord Caitanya, Sad-gosvami, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, Srinivasa Acarya, Narottama dasa Thakura, Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura. In this way. Jagannatha dasa Babaji, Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. Then we are speaking. The same thing. Not that “Because we are modernized… Your modern science has changed.” Nothing has changed.

Lectures : Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures : Adi-lila: Lectures : Adi 7: Lectures : Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 7.91-2 — Vrndavana, March 13, 1974 : 740313CC.VRN : So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was a great scholar. There is no doubt of it. But in spite of His becoming a great scholar, He is presenting Himself as a great fool. He says, “My Guru Maharaja saw Me a great…” Even one is very great scholar, he has to abide by the decision of his spiritual master. Even one is very great scholar, and if his spiritual master says that “You are a great fool,” he should accept it. This is called full surrender. For example, I’ll give you a practical… My Guru Maharaja was very great scholar, and his Guru Maharaja, from literary point of view, he could not even sign his name, Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. And Bhaktivinoda Thakura asked Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura to accept Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja as his, as his spiritual master, that “You go and take your initiation from Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja.” So he thought that “I am a great scholar, and I am son of a magistrate, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and great Vaisnava. He’ll be very much pleased to accept me.” Of course, he was very much pleased. But in the beginning he refused. He refused. Because… Of course, that is only show. He was not proud. Just to teach us. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati explained that “I was little proud. So I was thrice refused by Guru Maharaja,” although he was the only disciple. So the scholarship is not a qualification of becoming devotee. That is Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s teaching. Scholarship may help, but it is not necessary. Real necessary is that one should be humble and meek and follow the instruction of the spiritual master. This is real qualification.

Lectures : Festival Lectures : Sri Vyasa-puja — New Vrindaban, September 2, 1972 : 720902VP.NV :
So we are not interested now about calculation the perfect knowledge. This perfect knowledge comes from God, or Krsna, and it is distributed by parampara system, by disciplic succession. The example is just there, a mango tree. On the top of the mango tree there is a very ripened fruit, and that fruit has to be tasted. So if I drop the fruit from up, it will be lost. Therefore it is handed over, after one, after one, after… Then it comes down. So all Vedic process of knowledge is taking from the authority. And it comes down through disciplic succession. Just like I have already explained, Krsna gives the knowledge, perfect knowledge, to Brahma, and Brahma gives the knowledge to Narada. Narada gives the knowledge to Vyasa. Vyasa gives the knowledge to Madhvacarya. Madhvacarya gives the knowledge to his disciplic succession, later on, to Madhavendra Puri. Madhavendra Puri gives that knowledge to Isvara Puri. Isvara Puri gives that knowledge to Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Caitanya. He delivers that knowledge to His immediate disciples, six Gosvamis. The six Gosvamis delivers the knowledge to Srinivasa Acarya, Jiva Gosvami. Then Kaviraja Gosvami, then Visvanatha Cakravarti, then Jagannatha dasa Babaji, then Bhaktivinoda Thakura, then Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, then my spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. Then we are distributing the same knowledge.

Conversations : 1974 Conversations : June, 1974 : Room Conversation with Professor Oliver La Combe Director of the Sorbonne University — June 14, 1974, Paris : 740614rc.par :
Prabhupada: From Caitanya Mahaprabhu? Yes. The Six Gosvamis: Rupa, Sanatana, Bhatta Raghunatha, Sri Jiva, Gopala Bhatta, Dasa Raghunatha. The Six Gosvamis. Then from the Gosvamis there is Srinivasacarya. Then from him, I think, this Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, and then Narottama dasa Thakura. Then Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura, then Jagannatha dasa Babaji, then Bhaktivinoda Thakura, then Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, then my Guru Maharaja. Next we are. I am the tenth or eleventh, eleventh from Caitanya Mahaprabhu
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Morning Walk
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February 11, 1976, Mayapura
Hrdayananda: There’s a very famous lecture you gave, Srila Prabhupada, one day on a Varaha-dvadasi, where you sang Jaya Jagadisa and then you explained it. A very wonderful lecture.
Jayapataka: And the day after is Nityananda’s avirbhava.
Srila Prabhupada: Oh, then half-day fasting.
Tamala Krsna: Wow.
Hrdayananda: Auspicious alignment.
Tamala Krsna: [break] …on your appearance day and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s and Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Gaura Kisora’s we should observe half-day fast. I have a question that on all the other auspicious days, just like Narottama dasa Thakura and others, should we also observe half-day fas
Srila Prabhupada: It is… But if you cannot, that is another…
Tamala Krsna: Sometimes because of the sankirtana…
Prabhupada: No, no. If you cannot, you can take.

Letters : 1969 Correspondence : May : Letter to: Dayananda — Allston, Mass 1 May, 1969 : 69-05-01 :
Regarding your questions, the swami order is certainly introduced by Sankaracarya, because almost all sannyasis of impersonal philosophy take this name, Swami. But the Swami title offered to me is equivalent to Goswami. Swami and Goswami are actually the same, synonomous. Swami means the master, and master means the master of the senses. Goswami directly explains master of senses. Go means senses. So this name, Goswami, is not the Sankaracarya’s order. So far as your second question, Thakura Bhaktivinode was not official Spiritual Master of Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja. Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja was already renounced order, Paramahamsa, but Thakura Bhaktivinode, while He was even playing the part of a householder, was treated by Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja as Preceptor, on account of His highly elevated spiritual understanding, and thus He was always treating Him as His Spiritual Master. The Spiritual Master is divided into two parts; namely, siksa guru and diksa guru. So officially Bhaktivinode Thakura was like siksa guru of Gaura Kisora das Babaji Maharaja

Letters : 1968 Correspondence : February : Letter to: Upendra — Los Angeles 13 February, 1968 : 68-02-13 :
My Guru Maharaja was in the 10th generation from Lord Caitanya. We are 11th from Lord Caitanya. The disciplic succession is as follows: 1. Sri Krishna, 2. Brahma, 3. Narada, 4. Vyasa, 5. Madhva, 6. Padmanabha, 7. Nrihari, 8. Madhava, 9. Akshobhya, 10. Jayatirtha, 11. Jnanasindhu, 12. Purusottama, 13. Vidyanidhi, 14. Rajendra, 15. Jayadharma, 16. Purusottama, 17. Vyasatirtha, 18. Laksmipati, 19. Madhavendra Puri, 20. Isvara Puri (Advaita, Nityananda) 21. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, 22. (Svarupa, Sanatana) Rupa, 23.(Jiva) Raghunath, 24. Krishna dasa, 25. Narottama, 26. Visvanatha, 27. (Baladeva.) Jagannatha, 28. (Bhaktivinode) Gaura-kisora, 29. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Sri Barshabhanavidayitadas, 30. Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta.

Srila Prabhupada praise His Guru Maharaja, the exalted Srila Gaura Kishora dasa babaji

Indian: Because if we go wholeheartedly to God without proper understanding, there is also a flaw.
Prabhupāda: No. There is no question of understanding. Suppose this process… Just like Kṛṣṇa says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate: [Bg. 7.19] “After many, many births of culture of knowledge, the person who has come to the highest point of knowledge, he surrenders unto Me.” So similarly, if any person without any knowledge, if he surrenders only to Kṛṣṇa, he acquires all the knowledge. He has surpassed all stages. He has surpassed all stages. And that is also confirmed. If you say, “How he has gone, surpassed all stage?” That answer in Bhagavad-gītā you find,

teṣām evānukampārtham
aham ajñāna-jaṁ tamaḥ
nāśayāmy ātma-bhāva-stho
jñāna-dīpena bhāsvatā
[Bg. 10.11]

Teṣām: “Because he is a devotee, just to give, just to show him a special favor,” teṣām evānukampārtham, “simply for showing a special favor, I Myself, from within, I light up the knowledge, I mean to say, searchlight, and he becomes…”
And you will be surprised that my Guru Mahārāja’s spiritual master was Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. He was completely illiterate. He did not know how to sign, and my spiritual master was the most learned man of his age. He accepted that guru who was completely illiterate. But when he would speak, that Gaura Kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, he would speak with all Vedic references. And you will find in the Veda that

yasya deve parā bhaktir
yathā deve tathā gurau
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ
prakāśante mahātmanaḥ
[ŚU 6.23]

So the spiritual knowledge becomes revealed. It is not subjected to any material acquisition. It is not subjected to any material acquisition of knowledge. It becomes revealed. How? Yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau. One who has a staunch faith in the Supreme Lord and staunch faith in the personality of his spiritual master, bona fide, then he gets all the things revealed in himself. Spiritual things are not just like material things.
So according to Bhagavad-gītā, sarva-guhyatamam, the Lord says that “The most confidential part of knowledge I am speaking to you, my dear Arjuna, because you are My very dear friend, that sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja [Bg. 18.66].” So one who has the conception of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and has surrendered unto Him, he is considered to be highest, topmost spiritualist.
Indian: What is the importance of prasādam? Importance of prasādam?
Prabhupāda: Prasāda? Prasāda means mercy. Mercy. Prasāda means prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṇa sīdati. That is prasāda means completely satisfied.
Indian: At the end of this, you will give us some prasāda. What is the importance of that prasāda?
Prabhupāda: Oh, that. Yes. Prasāda. Very good. That prasāda is Kṛṣṇa’s favor. Kṛṣṇa’s special favor. That is prasāda. Prasāde sarva-duḥkhānāṁ hānir asyopajāyate. If we simply eat Kṛṣṇa prasāda, without any culture, we can get spiritual knowledge. All right. Let us have saṅkīrtana. (end)
Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 4.24-34 — New York, August 12, 1966