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An Authentic Life 1.1 for pdf - Universalist Radha-Krishnaism

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Thakur and brother of Bhakti-siddhanta Saraswati,<br />

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s guru, who Dr. Kapoor<br />

said was my best hope <strong>for</strong> learning the process of becoming<br />

<strong>Radha</strong>’s girlfriend.<br />

We surreptitiously took a boat and train to Birnagar,<br />

Bhaktivinode’s birthplace. Birnagar was famous<br />

in Bengal as the wealthy village Ula at the time of<br />

Bhaktivinode’s birth. However, the village was devastated<br />

by cholera in 1857. Many died and others like<br />

young Bhaktivinode and his surviving family members<br />

fled. The village became a ghost town taken over<br />

by jungle and wild animals.<br />

Lalita Prasad told us how after retiring, he<br />

went to his father’s birthplace to live. He cleared the<br />

jungle and faced down wild tigers and snakes. The<br />

walled compound contained a number of small Shiva<br />

temples and a Durga temple that were mostly neglected.<br />

Lalita Prasad worshipped his father’s Gaur-<br />

Gadadhar deities in a temple on the roof until he<br />

could no longer climb the stairs. Then, his disciples<br />

continued their worship.<br />

Lalita Prasad was in his nineties when I met<br />

him. He walked only with assistance and spent the<br />

day sitting on his wooden cot in a small room where<br />

he also slept. He was a bit hunched over, and he read<br />

using a small magnifying glass. His clothing might<br />

include the simple white cloth worn by contempla-<br />

❡<br />

143

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