Day 2, The Qualities of a Pure Devotee

February 13th — Tota Gopinath, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarawati Thakura’s Bhajan Kutir

The ISV Yatra entered the Tota Gopinath temple from the Puri streets as a roaring Sankirtan party.

This temple was home to Gadadhara Pundita’s eternal pastimes with Lord Caitanya. Mahaprabhu discovered the principal Deity of this temple and eventually asked His dear associate to take Ksetra Sanyasa to stay and care for Them. While Gadadhara was initially displeased with the order that would separate Him from His beloved Lord Caitanya, He inevitably took up these orders until the day His earthly pastimes would end and Gadadhara Pundita would enter the Deity without leaving a trace.

The Gaudiya Matha temple just down the street became the lecture hall. The walls rang with the glories of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura and his father, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and his disciple, our esteemed Founder Acarya Srila Prabhupada. The main message: to use everything in the service of the Lord. There is nothing too small in the service of Srila Prabhupada, any action on this path puts one in the same line as Sri Caitanya.

Lesson after lesson, the topics of the day crescendoed into understanding the qualities of the pure devotee.

It is said a single pur devotee can deliver the whole world on the strength of their devotional service. Utter humility, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura says, is a foundational principle to devotional service. This can be developed by “regularly and always” hearing Bhagavatam.

We seek connection like a phone seeks a signal. Thus the jiva attaches himself either to material or transcendental sense objects, falling either under material control or into the shade of Krsna’s lotus feet. Good Japa is akin to going into the phone’s settings and choosing to forget harmful networks and connecting our focus only to Krsna.

This is, however, Kali Yuga, and we will all come into circumstances of being offended or being the offender.

Great devotees like Kings Citraketu and Pariksit accepted the results of their offenses, using them to the benefit of their spiritual growth. This humility leads to their inevitable purification and eventual return back home, back to Godhead.

Despite their blunders leading them to face their respective curses, they relied on Krsna always. They chose to process their emotions in relation to the Lord. Emotions are inversely proportional to reason, yet, in the transcendental position, these devotees were able to recognize Krsna’s hand and chose to accept their circumstances.

Even Srila Prabhupada’s material life was dismantled by Krsna. How Srila Prabhupada chose to move forward was guided by the power of Krsna’s voice through the shastras. All three of these devotees were on a path back to Godhead.

This beautiful Dhama connects us to the mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu whose guiding hand can give us the strength to accept our circumstances for our betterment. When we surrender to Krsna, we become able to see everything is His doing and that there is only benefit to accepting even the curses of life as a Divine gift.