Page 30 - Sri Vamsidasa Babaji (English)

2 Çré Vaàç édäsa Bäbäjé

Bhairab would spend his days at the river with his father
and other fishermen. Returning home at sunset, he would
make his way to the äkhòä (ashram) in Jamalpur. There,
in the crude village dialect that was the only language
he knew, he heard from his guru about the temporality
of material life, the pastimes of Kåñëa and Caitanya
Mahäprabhu, and the glories of the holy name. It is quite
probable that at this time he also learned the songs of
Narottama Däsa Öhäkura that would be the succor of his
life. 2

Then, as now, the villages of Bengal were infested with
misrepresentations of Vaiñëavism. Some people took
Vaiñëavism as a license for debauchery, while others
earned money through cheap presentations of Kåñëa-lélä.
Bhairab was never attracted to such pretenders but kept
close to his guru’s lotus feet and carefully heard from him.
Gradually Bhairab began spending most of each night at
his guru’s ashram. Seeing Bhairab’s growing indifference
to worldly affairs, his parents anxiously arranged his
marriage. But Bhairab’s apathy to material life simply
increased, and shortly after marriage he left home,
abandoning his wife and six-month-old son to become

2. Although Bäbäjé Mahäräja was unlettered, the songs of
Narottama Däsa Öhäkura were quite accessible to him, their having
been composed in such simple language that even the uneducated
could avail of the highest Vedic truths revealed therein.
In this book, several citings of Bäbäjé Mahäräja quoting Çréla
Narottama Däsa Öhäkura differ slightly from standard versions.
Bäbäjé Mahäräja often improvised as he sang, and he also might
have quoted from differing extant versions of Narottama Däsa
Öhäkura’s songs.