How to protect and defend the honor of the Spiritual Master

December 4, 2003

This is an article from Bhagavat dasa(ACBSP):

Here is a pastime of Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja that emphasizes a

disciples pure devotion to his Guru and the order of the Guru. It

also demonstrates to what lengths the purely devoted disciple is

willing to go to defend the order and the honor of his Guru

Maharaja. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja was a perfect example of how

to live the order of the Guru and this pastime illustrates it

beautifully. It was first published on Adi-Vani.com.

Now to Let us see how a purely devoted disciple of His Divine Grace

approached the translating and editing process.

After Srila Prabhupada's departure there is a little known pastime,

that will not remain so after this letter goes on your website,

where Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj helped to reveal the unrivalled

perfection of Srila Prabhupada's masterful translation of Bhagavad

Gita. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj was given the service by Srila

Prabhupada of translating all of His books into the Orissan

language. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj was a great scholar who could

write and speak in five languages, Orissan, Hindi, Bengali, English,

and Sanskrit. He got his degree in English from the University with

a minor in Sanskrit. I lived with Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj in the

same room for nearly 3 years. He translated Srila Prabhupadas

Bhagavad Gita with the greatest love and devotion and attention for

detail. Because of His vast command of languages He was able to

notice little details that others may have overlooked. One thing

that was a cause of great transcendental concern for Him was the

fact that when Srila Prabhupada translated a word from Sanskrit to

English it would not be the same if Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj

translated the Sanskrit word directly to Oriya. In other words the

English word that Srila Prbhupada used to explain the Sanskrit word

had an entirely different meaning than the Oriya word that would

normally be used as a translation of this same Sanskrit word. Srila

Gour Govinda Maharaj was concerned that in translating the literal

English into Oriya that many Pandits and Scholars would complain

that this was not an accurate translation.

Since Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj did not want to change one single

word of His beloved Spiritual Masters books but at the same time be

able to defend the scholarships of His Guru Maharaj beyond the

shadow of a doubt, He devised a plan for writing down all of the so

called contradictions in a list until he completed the entire work.

Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj then went to a little village to see the

now retired Sanskrit professor who had taught Him Sanskrit in

college. This man was considered one of the foremost authorities on

the Sanskrit Language in India having one of the largest personal

libraries on the subject, including one of the best collections of

Sanskrit to English Dictionaries. Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj knew

that this scholars grasp of Sanskrit to English translation would

provide him with the evidence he needed to prove the authority of

Srila Prabhupada's work.

After about ten days Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj returned to the

little mud hut that we lived in with the Sanskrit professor in tow.

The Sanskrit professor introduced himself (I apologize but

unfortunately I cannot remember his name) and began glorifying His

Divine Grace Srila Prabhupada's masterful translation work. The

Professor told me that he started studying Sanskrit when he was five

years old, now in his late 70's he had been studying the language

for over 70 years. He told me how on the first review of his

dictionaries he could not find the translations that Srila Prbhupada

had made from Sanskrit to English, but he said that Srila Gour

Govinda Maharaj kept encouraging him to keep looking, assuring him

that he would find the translation if he looked long and hard

enough. The professor said he would have given up if it were not for

Srila Gour Govinda Maharajs insistence that His Guru Maharaj had

been accurate and that if he looked hard enough he would find it.

Then the professor told me that he found each and every translation

that Srila Prbhupada had made. The professor told me that these

translations that your Guru has made are the most obscure and

brilliant explanations of these words from Sanskrit to English that

he had ever seen. The professor admitted that with all of his

education and training he could not have thought of these obscure

and brilliant meanings that so perfectly expressed the inner truths

of the mysteries of the Bhagavad Gita. The professor then said

having seen this translation work of His Divine Grace Srila

Prabhupada he was convinced that Srila Prabhupada was the greatest

Sanskrit scholar in the history of civilization and must have been

directly enlightened by the Supreme Lord Krishna to accomplish this

work.

Now some may say how do we know he is not and the answer to that is

the second important lesson that we learn from this pastime. Unlike

some devotees who like to change the words in their Spiritual

masters books in order to meet with the approval of scholars and

professors. The pure devotional attitude of Srila Gour Govinda

Maharaj was to elevate the professor by engaging him in devotional

service and then bring him up to a spiritual platform so that he

could get the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. Instead of acting like and

editor and scholar Srila Gour Govinda Maharaj teaches us how to

protect and defend the honor of the Spiritual Master through His

Pure Devotional mood.

anadi · December 4, 2003

To blaspheme Sri Gurudeva, Sri Bhagavan or the devotees is an

offence. Similarly to hear blasphemy of them is also a great

offence. If one is capable he should give suitable punishment to

such offenders. If one is unable, he should cover his ears, leave that

place and take bath with his clothes on. By hearing blasphemy the

active principle ( vRtti) of bhakti becomes withered. Those who

blaspheme KRSNa or the VaiSNavas are offenders who are averse to

Sri KRSNa.

Your are not a vaiSnava just because you post here and there some articles, and than you say these lies:

Some time ago I happened upon the Gaudiya Samiti website. Thinking it would be full of stunning philosophical realizations, I very naively opened that webpage.

Instead, the entire front page was full of articles by people and their problems with ISKCON. There was not even one percent Krishna-conscious philosophy on that page. Not surprisingly, I never visited it again.

No, you are not a VaiSnava! Be afraid for your nose

Here is the proof that you are a liar

http://www.purebhakti.com/lectures/index.shtml

Audarya I beg you don’t delete the proof oh his cheating people.

December 4, 2003

there was a negative response to your above post, the first time you put it up, so we felt it best to remove it as well as yours, so as not to let things get out of hand.

Plus it was a guest, not gopaldas (he never posts as a guest) that made the statement you quote:

"Some time ago I happened upon the Gaudiya Samiti website. Thinking it would be full of stunning philosophical realizations, I very naively opened that webpage.

Instead, the entire front page was full of articles by people and their problems with ISKCON. There was not even one percent Krishna-conscious philosophy on that page. Not surprisingly, I never visited it again."

So better not to put this as a reply to him. Better to make a seperate thread of your statement with link to Pure Bhakti if you want to prove your point.