The Passing of Haridāsa Ṭhākura

Mahā-prasādam is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, instead of eating mahā-prasādam, one should honor it. It is said here, karilā vandana, “he offered prayers.” When taking mahā-prasādam, one should not consider the food ordinary preparations. Prasāda means favor. One should consider mahā-prasādam a favor of Kṛṣṇa. As stated by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, kṛṣṇa baḍa dayāmaya karibāre jihvā jaya svaprasāda-anna dilā bhāi. Kṛṣṇa is very kind. In this material world we are all very much attached to tasting various types of food. Therefore, Kṛṣṇa eats many nice varieties of food and offers the food back to the devotees, so that not only are one’s demands for various tastes satisfied, but by eating prasādam one makes advancement in spiritual life. Therefore, we should never consider ordinary food on an equal level with mahā-prasādam.

If one cannot complete the fixed number of rounds he is assigned, he should be considered to be in a diseased condition of spiritual life. Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura is called nāmācārya. Of course, we cannot imitate Haridāsa Ṭhākura, but everyone must chant a prescribed number of rounds. In our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we have fixed sixteen rounds as the minimum so that the Westerners will not feel burdened. These sixteen rounds must be chanted, and chanted loudly, so that one can hear himself and others.

Unless one has come to the platform of spontaneous love of God, he must follow the regulative principles. Ṭhākura Haridāsa was the living example of how to follow the regulative principles. Similarly, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī was also such a living example. In the Ṣaḍ-gosvāmy-aṣṭaka it is stated, saṅkhyā-pūrvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-kṛtau. The Gosvāmīs, especially Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, strictly followed all the regulative principles. The first regulative principle is that one must chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra loudly enough so that he can hear himself, and one must vow to chant a fixed number of rounds. Not only was Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī chanting a fixed number of rounds, but he had also taken a vow to bow down many times and offer obeisances to the Lord.

Haridāsa Ṭhākura is known as nāmācārya because it is he who preached the glories of chanting hari-nāma, the holy name of God. By using the words tomāra avatāra (“your incarnation”), Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirms that Haridāsa Ṭhākura is the incarnation of Lord Brahmā. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that advanced devotees help the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His mission and that such devotees or personal associates incarnate by the will of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord incarnates by His own will, and, by His will, competent devotees also incarnate to help Him in His mission. Haridāsa Ṭhākura is thus the incarnation of Lord Brahmā, and other devotees are likewise incarnations who help in the prosecution of the Lord’s mission.

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, in his Anubhāṣya, quotes from the Viṣṇu-smṛti in reference to the śrāddha-pātra.

According to this verse, if one is born in a brāhmaṇa family but does not behave according to brahminical standards, he should not be offered the śrāddha-pātra, which is prasādam offered to the forefathers. Advaita Ācārya offered the śrāddha-pātra to Haridāsa Ṭhākura, not to a brāhmaṇa who had been born in a brāhmaṇa family. Although Haridāsa Ṭhākura was born in the family of meat-eaters, because he was an advanced devotee he was shown more respect than a first-class brāhmaṇa.

At Puruṣottama-kṣetra, or Jagannātha Purī, there is a temple of Ṭoṭā-gopīnātha. If one goes from there to the sea, he can discover the tomb of Haridāsa Ṭhākura still existing. Every year on the date of Ananta-caturdaśī there is a festival to commemorate the passing away of Haridāsa Ṭhākura. At the same place, Deities of Nityānanda Prabhu, Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Advaita Prabhu were established about one hundred years ago. A gentleman named Bhramaravara from Kendrāpāḍā, in the province of Orissa, contributed funds to establish these Deities in the temple. The management of the temple was under the Ṭoṭā-gopīnātha gosvāmīs.

This temple was later sold to someone else, and this party is now maintaining the sevā-pūjā of the temple. Near this temple and the tomb of Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura constructed a small house called the Bhakti-kuṭī. In the Bengali year 1329 (A.D. 1922), the Puruṣottama-maṭha, a branch of the Gauḍīya Maṭha, was established there. In the Bhakti-ratnākara it is stated:

“Śrīnivāsa Ṭhākura quickly ran to the seashore. When he saw the tomb of Haridāsa Ṭhākura, he immediately fell down offering prayers and almost fainted. The devotees present there pacified him with very sweet and affectionate words, and Śrīnivāsa again offered his obeisances to the tomb. Hearing of the separation that Śrīnivāsa expressed in his lamentation at the tomb of Haridāsa Ṭhākura makes one’s heart melt.”

Haridāsa Ṭhākura is mentioned here as the most learned scholar, parama-vidvān. Actually, the most important science to know is the science of getting out of the clutches of material existence. Anyone who knows this science must be considered the greatest learned person. Anyone who knows the temporary situation of this material world and is expert in achieving a permanent situation in the spiritual world, who knows that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is beyond the jurisdiction of our experimental knowledge, is understood to be the most learned scholar. Haridāsa Ṭhākura knew this science perfectly. Therefore, he is described in this connection as parama-vidvān. He personally preached the importance of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, which is approved by the revealed scriptures. As stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.5.24):

There are nine different processes of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, the most important being śravaṇaṁ kīrtanam — hearing and chanting. Haridāsa Ṭhākura knew this science very well, and he can therefore be called, technically, sarva-śāstrādhītī. Anyone who has learned the essence of all the Vedic scriptures is to be known as a first-class educated person, with full knowledge of all śāstra.