Vrindavana Mahimamrita in Hindi by Malook Peethadhish Rajendra Dasji Maharaj

Rajendra Dasji is a talented musician and singer, like many of the leading Bhagavata speakers of Vrindavan.

Spent my Janmashtami at the Hindu temple in Dollard des Ormeaux. Was really made to feel at home by Dharampal Sharma, the priest. I really enjoyed the family atmosphere with the children dressed up as gopas and gopis and having a lot of fun with their dancing program.

I am a bit sorry that I did not go there earlier as I feel much more in the spirit with the Indian bhaktas. Muraliika Devi and Pundrik Goswami have both given Bhagavata at this temple in the recent past, so the Braj Bhava is a stronger there than where Western neo-Vaishnavas dominate.

I visited an old Iskcon friend the other day and gave him a hard copy of Vrindavan Today magazine. He appreciated it but felt in that he did not recognize or know anybody whose picture was in it, since there were no Iskcon devotees there. So he felt alienated, as though I had left Iskcon behind. I told him to read my editorial in the first edition wherein I said that Vrindavan is bigger than any institution or even parampara. I have said these things many times on my blog.

That is why I like speakers like Malook Peethadhish Rajendra Dasji. I started writing a series about his Bhagavata saptaha on Vrindavan Today a few years ago. One of my ideas back then was to have a series on the Bhagavata speakers in Vrindavan, since it is really a growth industry that I felt VT should cover critically and appreciatively. I did manage a few but did not succeed in making it a permanent feature.

I cannot praise Rajendra Dasji and his nectarean Harikatha enough. He is first of all an amazing scholar. He has written lengthy poems in Sanskrit. I don't know his life story, but it is evident that he came to Braj and took shelter of his guru from a very young age. He was educated by the famous Jagannath Das Bhaktamali, to whom he refers often, and thus belongs to the Ramanandi Bhakta Mala tradition of speakers. But that does not mean he does not know the Bhagavatam like the back of his hand. Nevertheless, this background means that he has a seemingly unlimited arsenal of stories about the saints of every age, up to and including the modern period.

There is an immense Braj folklore, some of which can be found in Braj ke Bhakat of Dr. OBL Kapoor. In the lecture I have linked to here he tells numerous stories of the great saints of Braj, many of whom he himself knew and associated with. There is a whole history of the last century, people like Gaya Prasad, Prabhu Datta Brahmachari, etc., and other lesser know bhaktas, including one Hariram Das, whose story he tells at length and one of whose songs he sings. It is the familiarity of direct association that lends the spark of life to these illustrative accounts.

All this really puts newcomers like us to shame when we recognize just how little access we have had to the Dham and its foremost bhajananandis.

Rajendra Dasji, like many of the great speakers of the Dham, are familiar with all the sampradayas. He is regularly invited to speak at the Radha Vallabhi Rasa Mandal and other venues. He sings the songs of all the great Vanikaras and tells their stories. He also knows many verses of Rupa Goswami and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu -- and often seems to expect his audience to know them also. He does not neglect to glorify any of them. They are all a part of the Braj tradition and they all belong to Braj and the Divine Couple

He recognizes that Prabodhananda Saraswati comes in the line of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but in the Mahimamrita, it is Braj Dham that is preeminent in his devotion. It is the dust, it is the cows, it is the Divine Couple, It is the Brijbasis.

In this talk at around the 2:30 mark he says, "Sometimes people get irritated by the Pandas at Barsana and Nandgaon for asking for donations. But you should know that in every Brajbasi household they give madhukari to many bhajananandi saints. There are devotees that you will never see, but if you give money to the Brijbasis, a part of that will surely end up in the bellies of Vaishnava saints that you would otherwise never be able to serve. So don't criticize any Brajbasi. Even the ants that have taken birth in the Braj dust are the most fortunate beings and so much greater than us." (paraphrase, of course)

For me, this lecture is really Rajendra Dasji at his best, especially as I am feeling a bit of nostalgia for the Dham and will soon be returning. He oozes love for the Dham and for the saints and for the Brajabasis and for the scriptures and for the Vanis of the great Vanikars of Braj. Jai Jai Radhe Jai Jai Shyam, Jai Jai Sri Vrindavana Dham.

I can only try to encourage my international friends to try to learn Bengali, Brijbhasha, Hindi and Sanskrit so that they can get more direct access to speakers like Rajendra Dasji as well as the original texts. Whatever you do, don't ever think of them in any way as inferior. One day, in this life or the next, you will have to pass through them to get to Sri Sri Radha Shyam.