Page 22 - SBV (English)

xx Preface

Whatever a pure devotee of Kåñëa does and says is invaluable for
conditioned souls trying to follow in his footsteps. This is especially true
*
of those special äcäryas who come to this plane specifically to uplift fallen
souls. Thus in the course of preaching duties in Bengal during the late 1970s
and throughout the 1980s, I relished several opportunities to hear stories and
teachings of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura from some of his direct
disciples and granddisciples. Gleaning here and there gems of information about
our parama-guru, my heart filled with wonder and pride at being connected to
such a towering transcendental luminary, and my eagerness to learn more about
him increased. Realizing that numerous valuable pastimes and instructions
of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura could be systematically collected
from his remaining disciples, I sometimes contemplated doing so. But as an
insignificant member of the devotee community, I felt it would be presumptuous
to attempt such an important endeavor that would entail approaching many
senior Vaiñëavas.

Yet toward the end of 1985, having gradually built up courage and
considering that no one else was likely to undertake this task, I set out to meet
the few disciples of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté still present in the world.
(Unfortunately, before I was able to meet Çrémad B. R. Çrédhara Mahäräja, who
might have revealed oceans of nectarean events, he had become indisposed
and was hardly speaking; and then he passed away.) Initially I visited different
ashrams of the Gauòéya Maöha diaspora and met a few elderly sannyasis and
brahmacärés. The quest for Çréla Sarasvaté Öhäkura’s householder disciples led
me to many places in Bengal, Orissa, and Våndävana, including some remote
spots and dead ends. Although eventually I found the whereabouts of most of the
few remaining disciples, many of them either did not take me seriously, or having
had minimal association with Çréla Sarasvaté Öhäkura, had little to say. Others
were happy to meet me but seemed unable to focus on the topic for which I had
approached them.
Having gathered smatters of information, by good fortune I was advised
by a devotee to meet Çrépäda Jati Çekhara Prabhu, who had joined the Gauòéya
Maöha in 1926 as a brahmacäré and who frequently saw and heard much from Çréla
Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté Öhäkura. After the breakup of his guru’s institution,
Jati Çekhara Prabhu withdrew to live as a householder.
During several visits of a few days each, as we sat together on the floor of
the tiny thatched-roof temple at his home in Cuttack, Orissa, Jati Çekhara Prabhu

* For an explanation of conditioned soul, see vol. 1, p. 327.