Gopal Chandra Ghosh was a Gaudiya Vaisnava Vrndavanbasi, who served at the Vrindavan Research Institute for almost 40 years and had continuous intimate relationship with Srila Prabhupada since he arrived in the 1950's in Vrndavan as a vanaprasthi. A profound scholar, he was famous for having lucid memory of the details of his researches.The book, “Our Srila Prabhupada, A Friend to All” by Mula Prakrti hosts his association with Srila Prabhupada in 10 pages and on the back cover.
Any devotees or scholars who came in contact with him were always happily impressed with his help in various research matters in which his advices were invaluable. If you didn’t bring your tape recorder in your head or hands then you would miss out a lot. He is also famous for being forthright if asked his opinion of any controversial matters.
Gopal Ghosh compiled five books at the VRI. He was the librarian and head cataloguer. Vrindavan Research Institute was created at a crucial time when the wealth of manuscripts in Vrindavan was in danger of ignorance, neglect and insects. About 30, 000 have been collected till now, 70% being of the Gaudiya Sampradaya.
The following interview is excerpted from Our Srila Prabhupada, A Friend to All, early contemporaries remember him, Chapter Five, “Vanaprastha Years in Vrindavana, Mathura and Delhi From 1954”, by Mulaprakrti dasi.
Sriman Gopala Chandra Ghosh of the Vrndavana Research Institute was born in 1939. He is a Vrajavasi and a disciple of 108 Paramahamsa Vaisnava Sri Pandita Advaita dasaji Maharaja of Govardhana, who is in the line of Srinivasa Acarya.
“I saw and met Srila Prabhupada at the Radha Damodara Temple when he was first living there. When he sat on the veranda by his room in the evenings doing japa there was rarely anybody there. Some small boys would come and ask for prasada. He had one plastic pot with some pera or burfi in it. He offered this to his pictures and distributed it.
“I saw he had pictures of Radha Krsna, Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, and Jagannathaji. There was also a small photograph of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, which he daily worshipped with devotion. When he was alone he had only pictures there. Sometimes he cooked on his small stove and sometimes he took prasada from Radha Damodaraji’s temple.
“Another photograph that he kept in the early days at the Radha Damodara Temple was of Srila Sridhara Maharaja. There was his gurudeva’s photo and also this one. I asked, ‘Who is this devotee? I have not seen him before.’ He told me that this was his godbrother, a very deep scholar of Mahaprabhu’s aim, from whom he had received much knowledge. He said he was a great master, his siksa-guru. I saw that it was a black and white photo of this tridandi-svami standing on an asana. It was a miniature size that he used for his bhajana. There were also photos of Srila Gaurakisora dasa Baba, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and Sri Jagannatha dasa Baba. Sridhara Maharaja’s photo was on the left side.
“He would always offer everything first to his gurudeva and then he would take prasadam. Once I witnessed an incident when the Radha Damodara pujari put a garland from the altar around his neck. He said, ‘No, no, do not put this on my head. I shall offer it first to my guruji.’ I took note that he went and offered it to his gurudeva’s photograph in his room and then only after that would he take it on his head.
“There were several times I recall him telling me about his gurudeva. Once he had a fever and was sitting covered with a cloth and blanket, reading Srimad Bhagavatam. I bowed my head to his feet, and asked, ‘You are not feeling well?’ He said, ‘No, I have a cold, so this little medicinal cure will be helpful.’ The next day when I returned he was happy, healthy, and was writing, maybe a commentary, I did not see. I asked, ‘Today you are feeling better?’ He answered very mysteriously, ‘Oh, yes.’ I asked again and he said, ‘At night my Prabhupada came in my dream. He encouraged me saying, “You do work like Narottama Thakura, like Srinivasa Acarya and like Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura.”’ Swami Maharaja told me joyfully, ‘I have received mercy from my gurudeva. He blessed me and has given me power. I was too much anxious for the Bhagavata commentary. He said, “You just write and all Six Goswamis will help you.”’ He also mentioned then that his gurudeva had come in front of him in sannyasa dress two or three times when he had been sickly.
“During these months when I would visit him in his rooms at Radha Damodara he occasionally told me some special things that I understood as secrets in his bhajana. Once I came early in the morning in wintertime. He was chanting hari-nama very deeply and I saw tears coming from his eyes. When I inquired several times for him to tell me anything, he said that he had received a visit last night. In the courtyard by Srila Rupa Goswami’s samadhi, he saw some very beautiful persons. One was wearing only kaupina and was chanting on large tulasi mala around his neck. His eyes were large like lotus flowers and he was extremely effulgent. Also coming there was another personality, dressed similarly, but older and taller, very kindly to him. Behind them was a much younger sadhu, whose beauty and sweetness were captivating. Swami Maharaja told me they were Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami and their nephew, Srila Jiva Goswami. He said they spoke to him and gave him mercy and guidance for his writing and for his future preaching. I tried to ask more but this was all he would tell me.
“On another morning, we were speaking and he told me an amazing thing. He explained how he is often chanting in his room at midnight. He said, ‘I could hear some dogs barking. But sometimes I have also heard some very melodious flute sounds coming from near Seva Kunja. I heard this two or three times. It was not any ordinary human being because I have never heard such a beautiful sound. I am thinking this may be Lord Krsna, no doubt.’ He said that it couldn’t have been a dream or imagination because he could also hear the dogs barking in the background as usual.
“I once heard him say to one person nearby, ‘Come here. Why have you not cleaned your worshipping pots? This is your duty. First of all you do these necessary things, Lord Krsna’s service, not my service, not your godbrother’s service; this is Lord Krsna’s service. You are living in His shelter so you perform His service.’
During that time, I saw Srila Kesava Maharaja and Srila Narayana Maharaja come there to visit him. He always asked Srila Kesava Maharaja questions and consulted him about many things. He always respected Kesava Maharaja. Prabhu did not take any seat in front of Kesava Maharaja. Narayana Maharaja was his friend, in devotional friendship. Narayana Maharaja would come to visit two or three times a week and he used to listen to Prabhu practice his English.
“I saw Prabhu going to Mathura several times, although Kesava Maharaja was usually in Navadvipa. Srila Bhakti Saranga Goswami Maharaja, his godbrother who was in charge of Imli Tala, told me they had a good relationship and that Swami Maharaja was a Nityananda vamsa. [Srila Prabhupada’s family was related to the Nityananda vamsa.]
“I was not there in Mathura when he took sannyasa initiation. He came one evening wearing red cloth. I said, ‘Maharaja, today you have changed your dress!’ ‘Yes,’ he said very gravely, ‘today I have accepted the sannyasa order from Srila Kesava Maharaja.’ That night he stayed with Krsna dasa Babaji Maharaja, who was a tyagi-vaisnava of Vrndavana. I often saw them consulting together. He has written about all of this in a letter I have seen that he wrote to Srila Narayana Maharaja.
“Swami Maharaja inaugurated his first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam at the Radha Damodara Temple. He organized a program that included the governor; Govinda dasa Brahmacari, a disciple of the senior Puri Maharaja from the Gaudiya Mission; and many other respectable persons. Swami Maharaja organized the program by himself, and he requested me to help. He had collected money from some devotees in Delhi to put on the festival. Then he gave me some rupees and told me to preach all through Vrndavana’s streets on a loudspeaker. We rented a rickshaw with a few boys and announced, ‘Today this Janmastami function will be going on. Our respected U.P. governor is coming and everyone is welcome. Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami will give a very nice lecture. All come to hear and see the small children dance.’ He told me in Bengali what to say and I translated and announced it in Hindi and in some English. Many people came.
“It was Janmastami day. He served just fruit, drinking curd (yogurt), and mahaprasada sweets. He encouraged me to take prasada from his own hand. Some local girls danced svagat-nrtya. I asked him, ‘You are distributing the first canto of your book to so many people, so why I cannot get one?’ At that time my English was not so good, so he replied, ‘It is hard English. You cannot understand. Afterwards this will be translated into all other languages. Then I will give you this canto in Bengali or Hindi.’
“In his speech that day he explained how much illumination will come from these translations because many people, both Eastern and Western, will chant hari-nama-sankirtana and worship this hari-nama with puja and seva. He announced to all, ‘I want daily chanting of hari-nama, daily chanting of the Srimad-Bhagavatam and the Goswami’s books. My first canto is now published and other cantos will be published. Sri Caitanya-caritamrta will also be translated gradually, and other books as well.’ He told me how he believed this would be a great work because his guru ordered him to preach all over the world. ‘I have no courage to do such a task,’ he said, ‘but now my gurudeva has shown me the light, so I am enlightened by him.’
“One day, when I visited him I was feeling very thirsty but I did not want to disturb him. We were chanting Sridhara Svami’s commentary in Bengali. Two or three old men were seated there on the veranda. He had only a small water pot and I was afraid to interrupt him in case he had to go search for water. He was a sadhu, a sannyasi, and I was not a sannyasi, so I didn’t say anything. Srila Prabhupada then spoke up, ‘Oh, you are feeling thirsty. I know this in my heart. First of all you take the water and then you listen to krsna-katha.’ He very lovingly gave me one glass of water there by his room. That is a special memory for me.
“Another incident occurred when I was walking by Kesi Ghata one day in the heat of summer. There I saw him alone on one of the islands in the middle of the Yamuna. He had prepared the sand like a small hill and had stuck his sannyasa -danda in the middle. Then he was circumambulating that hill chanting Hare Krsna and Hari bol, joyfully like a child. I could plainly see that he was absorbed in spiritual ecstacy. Another time I also saw him performing sankirtana, chanting and dancing near that same place, along with three or four persons. When I called greetings to him, he said, ‘We are wandering in great happiness on the bank of the Yamuna.’
“He always told me, ‘Depend on Lord Krsna. Love Lord Krsna, your istadeva. Chant the maha-mantra-kirtana at all times. Even when you go to sleep, chant hari-nama kirtana, and when you arise you keep offering prayers. Take shelter of Nama Prabhu, then all evil things will run away and you will get peace in your mind.’ Now since that time, when I take rest, the Hare Krsna Nama is written in candana on a leaf under my pillow. I remember how he instructed me this way and Nama Prabhu has always saved me.
“Once Srila Prabhupada recollected something of his childhood to me. ‘When I was busy in business life, I had very little extra time, but always I chanted krsna-nama. This was because my father was a great devotee of Lord Krsna, Nityananda Prabhu and Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In my childhood, he performed the Rathayatra celebration and I would play the mrdanga. Our home was set up with mrdanga playing and bhajanas daily every evening. My father always told me to daily chant and perform kirtana with the mrdanga and then Mahaprabhu would surely bless me.’
“In 1960 or ‘61, Krsna’s birth ceremony abhisekha was performed at the Radha Damodara Temple at midnight. The next day all temples celebrate Nandotsava, Nanda Baba’s festival honoring Lord Krsna’s birth. They throw rupees, offer fruits and wear new clothes in the temple. Curd and turmeric are mixed up and thrown on the visitors. They sing of how the son of Nanda appeared here in Gokula. This service is performed with kirtana, dancing, and chanting of hari-nama. Later, I learned that this was Srila Prabhupada’s own appearance anniversary day. At that time, I saw him very playfully dancing in the Radha Damodara Temple’s open courtyard. He was covered with this yellow-colored pauri, the prasada from the Dieties. He was dancing in Braja style, singing ‘Nanda ke ananda bhaiyo jai kanaiya lala ki.’ I also saw him throwing some cini (sugar candies), annas and paisas to the local small boys.
“There was an old lady who daily came from the Yamuna after taking bath. She was very old and her walking stick was beaten and broken. Once Srila Prabhupada said to her, ‘Oh Guru Ma. You please take my stick and give me your stick.’ Srila Prabhupada used a nice cane, so he told her, ‘You take this one and give me your old one. I want your blessings.’ The old lady began to weep. ‘Oh, Baba,’ she said, ‘you are joking with me. I am not able to take your cane. It will be stolen; someone will snatch it from me. You please keep it yourself.’ Srila Prabhupada then very affectionately gave her some rupees.
“Once one of his Godbrothers expired in Navadvipa, Mayapura. I saw him sitting with misery, chanting on his mala, and tears were coming down his face. He said, ‘Oh, one bhajananandi mahatma, one of my godbrothers, has left me. I am no longer able to touch his holy feet. He was a great scholar and disciple of our Srila Prabhupada. He was very nama-premi. I feel such separation and cannot follow him.’ I saw so many tears on his cheeks. A few days later one local person came with some printed books by that godbrother and said, ‘Do you want this book, Maharaja?’ And he said, ‘Oh, yes, yes!’
“One Bengali devotee, Kiran Bhalla devi, his godsister, lived in Vrndavana. She had been at Bagh Bazaar and Mayapura and had sold all her ornaments and given all she owned for their gurudeva. She had been a widow for sixteen years and lived outside of the old Gopinatha district in a small broken hut and begged on the steps of the Govindaji Temple. I noticed Srila Prabhupada would always give her some laksmi, fruits and grains. He would gently ask her, ‘You are quite well? Your bhajana is good?’ She would say, ‘Brother, you please bless me so I shall leave my body in Vrndavana.’ In May of 1978, we admitted her in the Ram Krishna Hospital and she expired, always chanting hari-nama and not dependent on any rich persons.
“When Srila Prabhupada came back to Vrndavana in 1971, many disciples came with him. They had a big kirtana procession around the town. First he gave a welcome address in Vrndavana town hall. The chairman was Ramesh Chandra, who, along with other famous people, welcomed and garlanded him. They asked him, ‘You have told us that we can get everything from chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Does that mean we do not need to worship and do puja-seva?’ Srila Prabhupada told everyone, ‘These are needed, but hari-nama is the seed. The plower gives the seeds, and then these seeds will make a big tree. By chanting hari-nama-sankirtana the heart will change. Just like the example of Hari dasa Thakura and the prostitute. Her heart changed, and she and offered everything to Hari dasa Thakura, becoming like a beggar, always chanting Hare Krsna. So the divine Name can give all things.’
“He had already been garlanded in the Sriji Mandira, the Nimbarka sampradaya’s temple, and at the Hari Nama Press with the Bihar Vaisnava Samaj. Then Srila Prabhupada went to the Radha Ramana Temple and Vishvambhar Goswami and all the Goswamis and Acaryas garlanded him and gave prasada. I noticed when he saw the samadhi of Gopala Bhatta Goswami he was experiencing deep emotions and he began to chant with bhava. He gave a lecture about Gopala Bhatta’s life, then performed parikrama. The Goswamis distributed daliya-prasada.
“During this time, he brought his disciples on hari-nama through the streets. I saw him in a beautiful dancing pose while chanting, holding his danda in the air. He stood in front of the procession while the disciples were playing mrdangas. Sometimes he gave his danda to someone else to hold and he played the kartalas very energetically. Banwari Lal Pathak, a famous person of Vrndavana, invited him and his students to his house for prasadam several times.
“That Kartika month he daily chanted Jaya Radha Madhava Kunjabihari. His lectures were from Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu (Nectar of Devotion). I complimented him that it was very nice, that which he was realizing and preaching. He responded, saying, ’No, this is not my own thinking. This is Srila Rupa Goswami’s krpa.’
“Madhava Maharaja along with some disciples met with him there at the Radha Damodara Temple and Srila Prabhupada was dancing in kirtana with them. Also Laksmi Narayana Bhattacarya was friendly with Srila Prabhupada. Laksmi Narayana Bhattacarya was a very old man who was a disciple of Sri Dinabandhu dasa Babaji, who was a servant of Srila Gaura Kisora dasa Babaji. Twice I saw them meet and talk very intimately in Bengali for a long time. They spoke about the servitorship of Srimati Radharani. I don’t know if it was taped. Sri Bhattacarya discussed how our aim is radha-dasyam, Radhika’s service and manjari-seva. Without Radha’s service we cannot get Lord Krsnacandra. I remember Srila Prabhupada laughed and said, ‘Yes, yes. All of you are Vrajavasi. This is the way and the goal.’ I saw Srila Prabhupada seated on his asana reading from many big books, but he would stand up from his seat and offer pranamas when any Vaisnava guest arrived. I saw him always give great regard to all other Vaisnavas. Particular persons criticized him, saying that his Western disciples were CIA, but he did not take offense and behaved with humility.
“When newcomers came, he advised them to go to all the temples and offer some bhoga there. ‘You can offer rupees, but don’t come empty-handed. Give respect to Vrajavasis and Vaisnavas at these places and you can get the mercy of Srimati Radharani and Vrndavana dhama.’ He told them some history how he had collected madhukari from door to door. I had seen this, and I had also given madhukari to him them. He came to my house when he was living in the Brahma-kunda area on Gwalior Temple’s backside. In-between Vamsi Gopala and Radha Damodara he lived at Brahma kunda. Living alone, he went door-to-door, saying, ‘Jaya Radhe, Radha Madhava, Jaya Gaurahari,’ and some Vrajavasis gave him one rupee, capatis, some sabji. He collected madhukari from door-to-door and then offered everything to his gurudeva and took prasada.
“One time in the early 1970’s, some of the young western chaps came here and began to snatch things from the sweetwallas (the small shopkeepers). While riding rikshaws they grabbed sweetmeats. Some local people gathered and went to Vishvambhar Goswami. ‘Maharaja, we are very poor persons and by selling we are maintaining our families. Please you tell Srila Swami Maharaja in the Radha Damodara temple that they are snatching. If they want we will give them some sweets but they should not snatch.’ Vishvambhar Goswami said to Srila Prabhupada, ‘Maharaja, you are performing a circus? You have brought with you some lions and left them in the market.’ Prabhupada said, ‘Oh, you are joking?’ He said, ‘I am joking, but they are snatching from the locals hither and thither.’
“What happened I do not know, but in the evening in public he asked, ‘Who has taken these sweets and things from the market?’ So two or three persons admitted they did it, but said, ‘Lord Krsna stole curd and butter.’ Srila Prabhupada said to them, ‘Lord Krsna has lifted Giri Govardhana on His small finger, so can you do this? Are you a yogi? Are you Yogesvara, with all mystical power? Then don’t do anything like this. If you need something and have no paisa you can request them and they will give. The Vrajavasis are so kind they will give you things to eat; but better you should purchase it. Don’t take it in your pockets like a looter.’
“I heard him say to his disciples, ‘All of you, it seems the Vrajavasis may dislike you but you should offer them pranamas. Because they are Vaisnava, if you do this you can get their mercy. If you want to get any of Radharani or Lord Krsna’s mercy, then do seva of the Vaisnavas.’
“Several times he told me, ‘You can come to my mission and preach in America and all over the world. I shall take you everywhere in India and while chanting sankirtana you can take darsana.’ But I answered, ‘I respect you so much but I cannot leave my Srinivasa Acarya’s parampara. I believe in all the things you are doing, but although today you are present, perhaps after you leave your followers might beat me.’ He said, ‘No, no, they are not demoniac persons; they are Vaisnavas. They will change.’ But still considering what I had seen then, I was afraid. I said, ‘I am sorry but my mind is not giving witness yet.’
“Srila Prabhupada was so soft and such a great person. In his final days he got Ayurvedic treatment from Banamali Kaviraja in Gopinatha Bazaar. Sri Kavirajaji told me, “Srila Prabhupada is getting happiness from my medicines, and I do not even want to sell them to him.”
“He was always so kind. Small boys could talk with him and old men could talk with him. English persons and Indian persons; he did not differentiate between anyone. When he was at the Radha Damodara Temple, a few people knew that he was great, but not many people knew about him. Nowadays so many know of him. Even rickshawallas and beggars know his glories and all over Vrndavana the houses and shops have his photo. Even small children recognize his picture. He was the hero of our Vrndavana and will always remain so in so many of our hearts.”
