Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja never said directly that Srila Prabhupada is a manjari. In response to devotees claiming that he did, we are presenting the prayer A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada wrote in Jaladuta ship while crossing Atlantic Ocean when he was alone with no audience. What he says is evidence as expressed by Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja in "It Must Be, Who Told?".
kṛṣṇa taba puṇya habe bhāi
e-puṇya koribe jabe rādhārāṇī khusī habe
dhruva ati boli tomā tāiRefrain) I emphatically say to you, O brothers (brother), you will obtain your good fortune from the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa only when Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī becomes pleased with you.
śrī-siddhānta saraswatī śacī-suta priya ati
kṛṣṇa-sebāya jāra tula nāi
sei se mohānta-guru jagater madhe uru
kṛṣṇa-bhakti dey ṭhāi ṭhāi1.) Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, who is very dear to Lord Gaurāṅga, the son of mother Śacī, is unparalleled in his service to the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. He is that great saintly spiritual master who bestows intense devotion to Kṛṣṇa at different places throughout the world.
tāra icchā balavān pāścātyete ṭhān ṭhān
hoy jāte gaurāṅger nām
pṛthivīte nagarādi āsamudra nada nadī
sakalei loy kṛṣṇa nām2.) By his strong desire, the holy name of Lord Gaurāṅga will spread throughout all the countries of the Western world. In all the cities, towns, and villages on the earth, from all the oceans, seas, rivers, and streams, everyone will chant the holy name of Kṛṣṇa.
tāhale ānanda hoy tabe hoy digvijay
caitanyer kṛpā atiśay
māyā duṣṭa jata duḥkhī jagate sabāi sukhī
vaiṣṇaver icchā pūrṇa hoy3.) As the vast mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu conquers all directions, a flood of transcendental ecstasy will certainly cover the land. When all the sinful, miserable living entities become happy, the Vaiṣṇavas' desire is then fulfilled.
se kārja je koribāre ājñā jadi dilo more
jogya nahi an dīna hīna
tāi se tomāra kṛpā māgitechi anurūpā
āji numi sabār pravīṇa4.) Although my Guru Mahārāja ordered me to accomplish this mission, I am not worthy or fit to do it. I am very fallen and insignificant. Therefore, O Lord, now I am begging for Your mercy so that I may become worthy, for You are the wisest and most experienced of all.
tomāra se śakti pele guru-sebāya bastu mile
jībana sārthak jadi hoy
sei se sevā pāile tāhale sukhī hale
taba saṅga bhāgyate miloy5.) If You bestow Your power, by serving the spiritual master one attains the Absolute Truth-one's life becomes successful. If that service is obtained, then one becomes happy and gets Your association due to good fortune.
evaṁ janaṁ nipatitaṁ prabhavāhikūpe
kāmābhikāmam anu yaḥ prapatan prasaṅgāt
kṛtvātmasāt surarṣiṇā bhagavan gṛhītaḥ
so 'haṁ kathaṁ nu visṛje tava bhṛtya-sevām6.) My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace. But Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How could I leave his service? (Prahlāda Mahārāja to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, Bhāg. 7.9.28)
tumi mor cira sāthī bhuliyā māyār lāthi
khāiyāchi janma-janmāntare
āji punaḥ e sujoga jadi hoy jogāyoga
tabe pāri tuhe milibāre7.) O Lord Kṛṣṇa, You are my eternal companion. Forgetting You, I have suffered the kicks of māyā birth after birth. If today the chance to meet You occurs again, then I will surely be able to rejoin You.
tomāra milane bhāi ābār se sukha pāi
gocārane ghuri din bhor
kata bane chuṭāchuṭi bane khāi luṭāpuṭi
sei din kabe habe mor8.) O dear friend, in Your company I will experience great joy once again. In the early morning I will wander about the cowherd pastures and fields. Running and frolicking in the many forests of Vraja, I will roll on the ground in spiritual ecstasy. Oh when will that day be mine?
āji se subidhāne tomāra smaraṇa bhela
baro āśā ḍākilām tāi
āmi tomāra nitya-dāsa tāi kori eta āśa
tumi binā anya gati nāi9.) Today that remembrance of You came to me in a very nice way. Because I have a great longing I called to You. I am Your eternal servant and therefore I desire Your association so much. O Lord Kṛṣṇa, except for You there is no other means of success.
- In the refrain, Srila Prabhupada address Kṛṣṇa, "Oh my Brother, Kṛṣṇa". A mañjarī will never address Kṛṣṇa as brother.
- In the refrain, Srila Prabhupada says "Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī becomes pleased with you (Kṛṣṇa will get auspiciousness.)" A mañjarī does not put any condition for Radhika's seva.
- A mañjarī never tells Kṛṣṇa, “You are my eternal companion.” (verse 7)
- Even in her dreams, a mañjarī never desires to go cow-grazing all day with Kṛṣṇa (verse 8)
- A mañjarī will never want to roam from forest to forest alone with Kṛṣṇa.
- It is not a mañjarī’s nature to want to steal from Kṛṣṇa’s lunch pack and He from theirs.
- It is not a mañjarī’s mood to frolic with Kṛṣṇa in the pastures.
- A mañjarī will never say, “I am Kṛṣṇa’s eternal servant.” She is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s eternal servant.
- "I will become fortunate to attain Your association."
This means Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is yearning to have Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s association. A mañjarī never desires this and will never speak this to Śrī Kṛṣṇa (verse 6). - Even in her dreams, a mañjarī never desires to experience great joy with Śrī Kṛṣṇa (verse 8).
- A mañjarī never yearns for this day to come, to do all these things with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This is not a general prayer but a very personal aspiration. It is Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja’s desire and mood. Therefore he is lamenting in lālasā, “When will that day be mine.” A mañjarī will never aspire to that.
1. A mañjarī has one mood not two. Some devotees have said that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is a mañjarī but that he is writing this poem while he was in nityānanda- āveśa. All sad-gurus are nityānanda-prakāśa, but if Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is a mañjarī, then why is it that not once in his life mañjarī-āveśa came in him? And why has he never said, “I am Rādhārāṇī’s dāsī”?
2. Why did his commentaries on the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam stop after Brahmā-vimohana-līlā? Why didn’t he give commentaries on Veṇu-gīta, Gopī-gīta, Yugala-gīta, Praṇaya-gīta, Bhramara-gīta and Rāsa-pañcādhyāya of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, which are the life and soul of the mañjarīs ? He only wrote a summary study of the Tenth Canto in the “Kṛṣṇa Book”. When he mentioned these subjects in his Caitanya-caritamrta, he was simply translating our guru-varga’s words, not giving his own commentaries.
3. If Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is a mañjarī then why is he calling Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī “my mother”(Rādhāṣṭamī 1973). A mañjarī always addresses Her as “my Swāminī”.
4. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja said that he wanted to offer a flower to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī for Her to offer to Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in this way Śrī Kṛṣṇa will be happy and “then my business will be successful”. [1974 Rādhāṣṭamī lecture]. But a mañjarī’s sevā is unconditional, she is not negotiating like this.
5. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja in explaining the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is saying that Rāma means Balarāma. (Calcutta lecture, September 23, 1974). This is again indicating the sakhya mood of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja. However the Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa states that the “Rāma” in the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra is “Rādhā-rāmaṇa Kṛṣṇa». And Śrīla Gurudeva also explains the meaning of Rāma is “Rādhā-rāmaṇa Kṛṣṇa, and is not Dāśarathi Rāma, or Balarāma, or Paraśurāma”.
6. We have never ever heard Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja sing songs or prayers for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s sevā, like Rādhikā-caraṇa-padma, Rādhikā-caraṇa-renu, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-prāna-mora, Jaya jaya rādhā-kṛṣṇa- yugala-milana, Hā devi! kāku-bara-gadgadayādya vācā, Tavaivasmi tavaivāsmi na jīvāmi tvayā vinā, etc.
One of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja’s favourite songs was Jaya rādhā-mādhava jaya kuñja-bihārī. However, this song is for every rasa, like Gopa-kumāra (sakhya-rasa) was singing:
śrī-kṛṣṇa gopāla hare mukunda, govinda he nanda-kiśora kṛṣṇa
hā śrī-yasodā-tanaya prasīda, śrī-ballavī-jīvana rādhikeśa
This song is also for all rasas.
7. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja established Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma Temple and installed Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma in the center, and put Rādhā-Śyāmasundara to one side. A mañjarī’s life and soul is Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. She must put Them in the center because ‘Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa prāna mora yugala kiśora’.
8. Some devotees are saying that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja established Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma in the center of his temple in Ramaṇa Reti because it is the place of cow grazing. This is not the real reason. Our parama-gurudeva Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Goswāmī Mahārāja established Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha in Koladvīpa, the place of Varāha Bhagavān. Why then did he not install Varāhadeva in the center? Instead, he established his own ārādhyadeva Śrī Rādhā-Vinoda-vihārī in the center. Srila Gurudeva also installed Śrī Rādhā-Vinoda vihārī in the center of his temple at Koladvīpa, and Śrī Lakṣmī-Varāhadeva to the side. A devotee can never do anything against his own internal mood. In the same way Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja established his own ārādhyadeva, Śrī Śrī Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, in the center of his temple. A mañjarī could never do this in Vṛndāvana, the place where she is doing sevā in her own eternal svarūpa.
9. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is staying in Śrī Kṛṣṇa- Balarāma Mandira and all the paintings on the walls are of cowherd boys with Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. There is one painting of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa on a swing and one other of Mother Yaśodā with baby Kṛṣṇa. If he is a mañjarī, there would be many paintings of pastimes of Rādhā- Kṛṣṇa.
10. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja did not establish, in any of his temples, the tradition of singing niśānta-līlā at Maṅgala-ārati or Yugala-ārati during Sandhya-arati. A mañjarī has no life without the singing of niśānta-līlā at Maṅgala-ārati and Yugala-ārati at Sandhya-ārati. “Vibhāvarī-śeṣa” is only glorifying Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s names and pastimes. This is not mañjarī mood.
This subject of Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja’s rasa is not a subject to be debated upon by passionate arguments. For instance, it is said that Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s eyes are like the lotus. But some devotees will start to argue about this, “No, a lotus is not like that.” But this example is only for giving some understanding to us, for actually Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s eyes are far more beautiful than any lotus. Similarly, Śrīla Viśvanātha Chakravatī Ṭhākura in Śrī Kṛṣṇa-bhavanāmṛta and Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī in Śrī Govinda-līlāmṛta, described all these līlās while in samādhi. These descriptions of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s madhurya-rasa līlās are only for giving some understanding and enthusiasm for bhajana. Actually these līlās are so deep and so high that most devotees in this world cannot understand them. To understand all līlās, one needs Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, sad-guru, and the Vaiṣṇavas’ special mercy, and at all times to stay faithfully and obediently in the dust of their lotus feet. It is necessary to fully respect and heartily do praṇāma to all these deep transcendental moods. Don’t destroy them by argument or misuse them for your own personal self-interest, or sell them in a cheap way in the market. This is not a material lotus, this is really Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s beautiful eyes.
Some devotees say that one verse of the Jaladuta poem is not proof that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is in sakhya-rasa. In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam there are 18,000 verses, but in only one line [one quarter of just one verse] it is said, “kṛṣṇastu-bhagavāna svayaṁ.” This is the undisputable definition that Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself is Svayaṁ Bhagavān. Whenever proof is necessary, then this verse will stand up and declare for eternal time, kṛṣṇastu-bhagavan svayaṁ (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.3.28). “Śrī Kṛṣṇa, He is Svayam Bhagavān.”
In Jaiva-dharma (2nd Division, Ch 21), Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura has written:
Bābāji:Which service do you like?
Vrajanātha:When the cows wander far off to graze, I would very much like to bring them back in the company of Subala. When Kṛṣṇa sits in a place to play upon his flute, I will take the permission of Subala to let the cows drink water, and then I will bring then to Bhāi [Brother] Kṛṣṇa. This is my heart’s desire.
Bābāji:I will give you the benediction that you will attain Kṛṣṇa’s service as a follower of Subala. You are eligible to cultivate the sentiment of friendship (sakhya-rasa).
Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja has shown his svarūpa from different angles. He has written about it in his personal diary while on the Jaladuta. His Jaladuta poem is proof that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja has two desires. He wants Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s pleasure and at the same time he also wants to go cow grazing with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. This is his desire and pleasure. For that Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is lamenting, “When will that day be mine?” This type of mood is not possible in a mañjarī, because a mañjarī never wants to go cow grazing with Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
So by this, the conclusion is coming. Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja is Subala-anugatya priya-narma-sakhā, because this type of double role is only possible for a priya-narma-sakhā.
Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja has also declared his svarūpa name as Abhaya Caraṇa. It is for this reason that he is keeping the “A.C.” before his name. Abhaya Caraṇa is the very nearest and dearest friend of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and this relationship with Śrī Kṛṣṇa is very rare.
Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāja carried this mood to the whole world. One of his favorite bhajans is “bhajahū re mana, śrī nanda- nandana, abhaya-caraṇāravinda re.” Because of his mood he named his saṇga The International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and spread this Kṛṣṇa Consciousness to every town and village in the entire world. This was Mahāprabhu’s prediction – pṛthivī te āche jata nagarādi grāma.
Jagat Guru Śrīla A.C. [Abhaya Caraṇa] Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāja Ki Jaya!