
Sripad Bhaktivedanta Bhagavat Maharaja
LIVING STILL IN SOUND
by Bhagavat Maharaja
Yesterday was Srila Haridasa Thakuras Disappearance day in USA. So I thought I would discuss the Poem that Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura wrote regarding his disappearance.
I am in the process of writing my thesis on transcendental sound vibration, its difference from material sound and how transcendental sound manifests in the material world. Recently I was focusing on a statement by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura concerning the continuation of the manifest presence of the transcendental sound vibration within this world. I would like to present to you some of the realizations I had in this regard.

He reasons ill who tells that Vaishnavas die
When thou art living still in sound.
The Vaishnavas die to live and living
Try to spread the holy life around!
This is part of poem written by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura while contemplating on Srila Hari Das Thakura’s Samadhi. There are a number of devotees who like to quote this verse as evidence that the tape recordings of the pure devotee are the continuation of and manifest presence of the transcendental sound vibration of the pure devotee. Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura wrote this poem in 1871. Therefore this verse was written six years before the Gramophone was invented by Thomas Alva Edison. Furthermore it was written about someone who most certainly was manifest and left this world in an era when no such recording device existed. If we consider this carefully an intelligent person would inquire what the intention of the author was when he said that the person is living still in sound. What sound? From where will the sound of the personality Srila Hari Das Thakura come from since there are no tape recordings of him speaking? How will we hear this sound?