Reflection on the glory of the Sri Gaura Purnima festival.
By Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj
Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Nitai Gauraharibol Gauraharibol. Those days have gone by when I guided the parikrama, singing and dancing in the front. When I guided the parikrama, I was mad. I became almost mad to sing and dance in the Name of Gauranga. I would do so almost without any fatigue. Those days have gone by. Now I cannot go.
Devotee: We can get a palanquin. Then you can come with us.
Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Gauraharibol, Gauraharibol, Gauraharibol. Still, I am pleased to think that so many of you will dance somewhere in Gaura Mandal taking the Name. That makes me more proud. We feel more proud to think that so many souls are adding to the glorious opulence of Gaura Dham as foretold by Bhakti Vinod Thakur: “The day is not far off when the devotees from the Western countries will mix with the Eastern devotees, and they will chant and dance together in the Name of Gaurasundar and Nityananda.”
Once a great scholar of theosophy and Vedanta, Kiran Datta, came to Bag Bazaar Math to preside over a meeting. He said that when he was a young student at City College, Thakur Bhakti Vinod gave a lecture there and mentioned, “The days are not far off when the Western devotees will also come here and along with the Eastern devotees sing the Name of Gaura-Nityananda and dance.” Kiran Datta said that day, “I am pleased to see the beginning of this. I was a witness to Bhakti Vinod Thakur’s prophecy, and I am pleased to see the beginning of it.”