Ananda Sambada

ŚRĪ BADRI NĀRĀYAṆA RĀMĀNUJA DĀSA

Prior to going to Māyāpura in 1996, for the GBC meetings there, Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja went to his home village of Gadāi-Giri on 30 January 1996, where he spoke on the topic of The Wise Old Monkey. Thereafter he returned to Bhubaneswar where he celebrated Śrī Nityānanda Ṭhākura’s appearance on 2 February 1996 and from there he went on to the Māyāpura meetings. During this time, he was visited by a Śrī Rāmānuja sampradāya brāhmaṇa, who was a noted astrologer and mystic, Śrī Badri Nārāyaṇa Rāmānuja dāsa. Śrī Badri Nārāyaṇa prabhu had intuitively foreseen that Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja would leave this world prematurely at the Māyāpura meetings of that year (9 February 1996). He approached Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja, and pleaded with him not to leave his body and not to go to Māyāpura. His actual words to Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja were; “Do not go to Māyāpura, do not leave your body and please stay in Bhubaneswar.”

In response however Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja said to him, “...Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and my Gurudeva are very powerful, they can deal with this situation; however, I cannot...”

Śrī Badri Nārāyaṇa prabhu left the room of Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja with tears in his eyes, knowing all too well that Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja would depart from this world in an untimely way in Māyāpura 1996! Thus, the scene was set; only the shock-wave was yet to come.

UP TO NINETY YEARS ON THIS PLANET

In Śrīdhāma Māyāpura, on 9 February 1996, the holy appearance day of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda, two aspiring Vaiṣṇavīs, Vaijayantī-mālā dāsī and Candrikā dāsī, came to see Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja and then enquired from him about the significance of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s stay in Purī. [This is described in chapter fifteen of this publication]. While deeply absorbed in narrating the intimate pastimes of the Lord, Śrīla Gour Govinda Mahārāja, of his own volition gave up his physical presence. [Taken from - Envy the Competitor of Divine Love -  Chapter Eighteen, by Tattva Vicara Publications]