Page 31 - SBV (English)

Preface xxix

sweetness and fragrance attract my mind. Therefore I stand on its
shore and taste but a drop of it. (Cc 1.12.94–95)

Unfortunately, many instructive pastimes of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta
Sarasvaté Öhäkura are now irrecoverably lost. And not only did he himself
*
perform innumerable wonderful activities, but so also did the transcendental
warriors he recruited, trained, and inducted into the preaching arena. Had all the
adventures of each of his acolytes been recorded, it would have filled countless
volumes. Çré Bhaktisiddhänta Vaibhava comprises just a tiny nugget from the vast
treasure of the pastimes of Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté and his associates,
and a mere glimpse of his teachings, yet it is our humble attempt to conserve and
present at least a fragment of that important legacy. †
Notwithstanding its inevitable faults, I am confident that this book will be
interesting and enlivening to most readers. And more importantly, as Jati Çekhara
Prabhu noted, it will give valuable instructions to practitioners and preachers
of Kåñëa consciousness, by providing edifying anecdotes and realizations as
well as intimate insights into guru-disciple relationships and other crucial
facets of devotional life, all of which could help even mature and experienced
devotees delve further into the intricacies of bhakti-siddhänta and deepen their
understanding of the roots of the current worldwide bhakti movement.
Furthermore, Çré Bhaktisiddhänta Vaibhava should fill a lacuna in knowledge
of our heritage; for instance, prior to its publication, many senior and well-read
members of ISKCON were unfamiliar with even the name of Çré Sundaränanda
Vidyävinoda.
Çréla Bhaktisiddhänta Sarasvaté stated that Sarasvaté-jayaçré was so
abundant in factual examples and anecdotes that reading it would bestow
a result unattainable even by studying many çästras for many years. Hence I
8
pray that this volume, being similarly rich with Bhaktisiddhänta-vaibhava, by

* See vol. 1, p. xxi, fn *, and vol. 1, p. 309, fn *.
† Let us not make the same mistake in this generation. Although His Divine Grace A. C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda was the first äcärya in history about whom extensive
biographical detail has been recorded, still, the remembrances of most of his disciples
remain unrecorded. Devotees are naturally eager for such memoirs, for hearing about the
paramparä-äcäryas gives inspiration, instruction, and hope. Even though in his books His
Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda has given all knowledge required
for going back to Godhead, nevertheless we request all of his disciples to expand the
ocean of nectar by recording and publishing their experiences with him, even if they
be few or apparently insignificant. Let us collect and publish dozens of books on the
pastimes of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupäda.