Gaurangapada

Q. Please explain about Gaurangapada?

Answer by BRS Swami Gaurangapada:

Gaurangapada is not a title in my case even though it looks like a pada title. It is a name. When I was brahmachari, my Gurudeva used to lovingly call me Gaurangapada dasa as one of his favorite songs was "gaurangera duti pada" by Shrila Narottama Dasa Thakura. I do not consider myself even a dust particle at the lotus feet of all greats Acharya Prabhupadas. I am the aspiring servant of their servants.

I knew that some devotees would develop doubts and think I am after cheap name and fame when I accepted this name "Gaurangapada" after Swami and they may maintain a distance from me or be critical of me because of this. But my intense desire was that everyone should chant the Holy Name of Gauranga when they speak my name so that I can give them the highest spiritual benefit of attaining Krishna Prema. ..gaurangera naam laya, taara haya premodaya. If my Sannyasa Gurudeva would have given a name of Gauranga or Nityananda in my sannyasa name, I would not have accepted this brahmachari name of Gaurangapada after Swami. But since I did not receive a name of Gaura or Nitaai in my sannyasa name, I desired to keep my brahmachari name Gaurangapada given by my Diksha Gurudeva added to my sannyasa name.

I knew that some devotees may think I have a big ego in accepting a title of Gaurangapada. But I myself never think that it is a title for me or anything like that. It is just my brahmachari name and it also reminds of the "pada" lotus feet of Lord Gauranga and it reminds everyone who speaks it of the lotus feet of Lord Gauranga. This is all what I desire. I am not Gaurangapada. I am Gauranga-pada-dasa. I am a servant of the lotus feet of Lord Gauranga. This is what I always meditate on.

By accepting the name of Gaurangapada, my only intense desire was to make everyone chant the Holy Name of Lord Gauranga somehow or the other and if it involves other devotees misunderstanding me and being critical of me, I was ready to even accept even that because it gave me a chance to become more and more humble. I thank all the devotees for their mercy upon me in different ways. I pray that Saragrahi Vaishnavas will see my consciousness and understand. I have written this from the bottom of my heart and I can assure you with great humility that there is no duplicity in what I have written. I wanted to write about this for a long time but it is only now I could do so. Thank you.

Daaso'smi, Swami Gaurangapada.

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Orignal From: Gaurangapada