Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj reflects on the glory of the Śrī Gaura Pūrṇimā festival.
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: Nitāi Gauraharibol Gauraharibol. Those days have gone by when I guided the parikramā, singing and dancing in the front. When I guided the parikramā, I was mad. I became almost mad to sing and dance in the Name of Gaurāṅga. 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.
Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: Gauraharibol, Gauraharibol, Gauraharibol. Still, I am pleased to think that so many of you will dance somewhere in Gaura Maṇḍal 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 Dhām as foretold by Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur: “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 Nityānanda.”
Once a great scholar of theosophy and Vedānta, Kiraṇ Datta, came to Bag Bazaar Maṭh to preside over a meeting. He said that when he was a young student at City College, Ṭhākur 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-Nityānanda and dance.” Kiraṇ Datta said that day, “I am pleased to see the beginning of this. I was a witness to Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur’s prophecy, and I am pleased to see the beginning of it.”