Srila Gurudeva - Holland 1996

On May 5th, 1996, a new Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava era began, as Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Bhakta Bandhav Śrīla Gurudeva, began his first world tour in Holland. Four days prior, in Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya-maṭha, Mathurā, prominent sādhus,scholars, and priests from around Vraja glorified Śrīla Gurudeva in an auspicious...
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On May 5th, 1996, a new Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava era began, as Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Bhakta Bandhav Śrīla Gurudeva, began his first world tour in Holland. Four days prior, in Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya-maṭha, Mathurā, prominent sādhus,scholars, and priests from around Vraja glorified Śrīla Gurudeva in an auspicious ceremony they conducted and prayed for his success in his preaching in the West. To call it a success would be a great understatement. Within a year, the devotee communities Śrīla Gurudeva visited around the world were swept up in the transcendental flood of nectar kathā and vraja-bhakti, and the devotees began to follow behind Śrīla Gurudeva wherever he traveled and preached. Over the next fifteen years, Śrīla Gurudeva went on thirty-two world tours, and thousands of devotees would congregate each year for the annual Vraja-maṇḍala parikramā and Navadvīpa-dhāma parikramā that he led. Śrīla Gurudeva also preached extensively throughout India in the months when he was not traveling in the West. Tens of thousands accepted initiation from Śrīla Gurudeva into the path of pure bhakti in the line of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Upon Srila Gurudeva''s arrival in Holland, he glorified Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. With tear filled eyes he becomes choked with emotion saying how there were absolutely no devotee''s or knowledge of Radha Krsna in the western countries prior to his coming in 1966. He said there was no one to greet him when he got off the cargo freighter that had given him passage from India. Gurudeva said you all have greeted me playing kartalas and mrdanga''s chanting and dancing but when Swamiji arrived there was no one to greet him. There was no kartalas, mrdanga''s or chanting of the transcendental names of Krsna..He was all alone accept having Radha and Krsna in his heart and feeling the presence of his Guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddanta Saravati Prabhupada. Srila Gurudeva then shared his experiences with Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. He told of his coming to Mathura after leaving family life and how he had encouraged him to take sannyasa and the touching heartfelt relations they had among themselves. He emphasized that Swamji didn''t come just to give vaidhi-bhakti, and that he wanted us to progress and enter sadhana-bhakti, then bhava-bhakti and from there to prema-bhakti.
In this volume Srila Gurudeva tells his audience, "In our Indian epics, the Vedas, and especially in the Gītā and Bhāgavata, it explains that everyone wants happiness. Everyone wants to arrange that they will never have to suffer. People don''t want suffering, they only want to be happy. The whole world wants happiness. And they work towards this. Also, in society, all intelligent people are trying to achieve peace. However, we know since long, that we do not achieve pure happiness. So many disturbances and problems come. People may try, "I should not become old," but we are bound to grow old. We want to always be in the age of sixteen, and very beautiful. But we see that we will have to grow old. We will lose our teeth, our eyes will become weak. We will not be able to walk at the age of a hundred. Most people cannot even reach the age of a hundred. At last, we see that everyone has to give up this body. You will have to leave this body and give up everything that you have collected for the gratification of the senses. We are bound to give up everything. So we should ask the question, "Who am I? Who is that person who desires peace and happiness?" Who is that person who desires not to age and experience sorrow. Is it this body? We are so attached to this body.We know that the soul does not die. The soul does not take birth or die. A must read for those looking for inspiration and insight into the higher spiritual realm of Radha and Krsna''s and practical instructions of how to achieve that divine realm.