A Divine Life

śrī siddhānta-saraswatīti viditau gauḍīya-gurv-anvaye
bhāto bhānur īva prabhāta-gagane yo gaura-saṅkīrtanaiḥ
māyāvāda-timiṅgilodara-gatān uddhṛtya jīvanimān
kṛṣṇa-prema-sudhābdhi gāhana sukhaṁ
prādāt prabhuṁ taṁ bhaje

"In the great Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava teachers’ line,
as Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī he’s renowned.
Like the radiant sun in the morning sky,
he appeared to rescue all souls swallowed by
the all-devouring impersonal philosophy.
By spreading the teaching of Lord Gaurāṅga
to sing the holy name of Lord Kṛṣṇa,
he gave all the chance to dive in the ocean
of love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta, my lord, divine master—
at his feet do I pray to serve him forever.”

—Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev Goswāmī

Divinity can be seen by its own light. The transcendental life of Śrīla Prabhupāda Saraswatī Ṭhākura can be known to us only by his own causeless mercy—for such is the nature of the Supreme Lord and His representatives who come to this world. Śrīla Prabhupāda was an infinite ocean of divine treasure; if we are fortunate enough, perhaps we can touch the waves of that ocean as they lap the shore of our mortal plane. Within that ocean are his innumerable transcendental qualities such as scholarship, genius, spiritual realization, humility, magnanimity, compassion, mercy, and divine love, to name only a few. The essence of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s life cannot be revealed in many volumes—let alone a single chapter—if they are merely a catalog of facts and figures. It takes the dedication of a lifetime to attain a true glimpse of his message, and his life is his message. We are about to stand in front of a divine personality; we are about to catch sight of that reality which is eternal and infinite. Yet in our meeting with the eternal we have to retrace the footsteps of time, because we must begin somewhere.

Childhood, 1874–1892

Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura made his appearance in Puruṣottam Kṣetra (Jagannāth Purī) in the state of Oḍissā, at 3:30 in the afternoon on Friday, the 6th of February, 1874. He was born in his family home, which was next to the holy site called the Nārāyaṇ-chhātā of Śrī Jagannāth Temple, and which always reverberated with the chanting of the holy name. He was the fourth son of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura and Śrīmati Bhāgavati Devī. Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura firmly established the concept of pure Vaiṣṇavism in the hearts of many educated and spiritually inquisitive people of Bengal in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura was a beautiful child with all the bodily symptoms of a great personality that are described in the scriptures. Everyone was amazed to see that the child was born with his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck like a brāhmaṇ’s sacred thread. Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura named his son Śrī Bimalā Prasād, meaning “the mercy of the transcendental potency of Lord Jagannāth, Śrīmatī Bimalā Devī.”

When Śrī Bimalā Prasād was six months old, Lord Jagannāth’s annual chariot festival took place. That year the chariot stopped in front of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura’s house and could not be budged an inch for three days. So while Lord Jagannāth stayed in front of the house, kīrtan was continuously performed there under the leadership of Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśay (“Mahāśay” is an honorific title). On one of these days Śrī Bimalā Prasād, in his mother’s arms, went to see Lord Jagannāth, and extended his hand towards the Deity as if to offer his obeisance. At that moment a garland fell from the neck of Lord Jagannāth and encircled the child. The crowd was jubilant witnessing Lord Jagannāth’s blessing on the child. Amid the tumultuous sound of “Haribol!”, Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura fed Śrī Bimalā Prasād some of Lord Jagannāth’s mahāprasād, and thus observed the child’s annapraśan (“grain ceremony”—first feeding of grains) under the most auspicious circumstances.

Śrī Bimalā Prasād lived in Jagannāth Dhām for ten months with his mother. Then they travelled to Bengal and resided first at Rāṇāghāṭ and then at Śrīrāmpur. Once, when Śrīla Bimalā Prasād was a small boy, he took a mango without first offering it to the Lord. When his father chastised him for this, he became very remorseful and immediately vowed never to eat a mango again—a vow which he observed his whole life. In 1881 Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura had a house built in Calcutta at Rām-bāgān and named it Bhakti Bhavan. As the foundation was being dug, a Deity of Śrī Kurma Dev manifested Himself from the ground. Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura gave this Deity to his son Śrī Bimalā Prasād when he was eight or nine years old, and taught him the mantra and the method of deity worship. The child duly started his deity worship with great care and devotion.

When Śrī Bimalā Prasād was in fifth grade, he invented a new method of shorthand which he called Bicanto (or Vikṛnti). His teachers were always amazed by his mastery of Bengali and Sanskrit, his extraordinary intelligence and memory, and his pure moral and devotional nature. At this time Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura gave him Śrī Chaitanya Śikṣāmṛta to read. Śrī Bimalā Prasād also displayed extraordinary ability in mathematics and astrology. He studied astrology under the tutelage of the famous astrologer Mahesh Chandra Churāmaṇī, and impressed his teacher with his mastery of the subject and his exceptional talent. He also studied astrology with Paṇḍit Sundar Lāl. Seeing his scholarship in many different subjects, including the scriptures, his teachers named him Śrī Siddhānta Saraswatī—“master of scriptural conclusions”. When Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura was a student in the seventh grade in Śrīrāmpur, Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura gave him Harinām (the holy name) on Tulasī-mālā (rosary made of Tulasī beads), as well as Śrī Nṛsiṁha mantra.

In 1885 Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura founded the Vaiṣnava Depository, a press which was housed in his own home. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura learned about the printing press and began assisting his father in proofreading. At this time, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśay’s magazine, Sajjan Toṣaṇī, resumed publication. In that same year Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura accompanied Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya on his pilgrimage to such places as Kulīngrām and Sargrām. At these places he heard extensive discussions on the holy name. Also in 1885, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśāy established his “Viśva-Vaiṣṇava-Rāj-Sabhā” (“great assembly of the Vaiṣṇavas of the world”) in the house of Śrī Rāmgopāl Basu on Bethune Row in Calcutta. Many well-known personalities such as Madangopāl Goswāmī, Nilkānta Goswāmī, Bipiṇ Vihārī Goswāmī, Rādhikānāth Goswāmī, and Shishir Kumār Ghosh attended the meetings of the society and participated in discussions. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura used to carry Bhakti-rasāmṛta Sindhu (The Ocean of the Nectar of Devotion), by Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī, to these meetings, and listen to the discussions there with rapt attention.

Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura was not interested in associating with other boys of his age unless they were interested in spiritual matters. His two favorite books were Prārthanā and Prema-Bhakti Chandrikā by Śrīla Narottam Dās Ṭhākura. As a young boy he published books on astrology, such as Surya Siddhānta and Bhakti Bhavan Pañjikā. In the afternoons he spent hours debating about religion and philosophy with other students in Calcutta’s Beadon Square. Later out of these meetings he founded the August Assembly. All members of the Assembly had to take a vow of lifelong celibacy. Many educated people, both young and old, used to take part in the Assembly.

Sanskrit College and Work in Tripura, 1892–1905

In 1892 Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura finished high school and enrolled in the Sanskrit College. He was more interested in reading many different books in the college library than in reading his own textbooks. He used to study the Vedas under Paṇḍit Prithvidhar Sharmā after college. He also studied the Siddhānta Kaumudi within a very short time. As a student in Sanskrit College he refuted some concepts of Professor Pañchānan Sāhityāchārya. Subsequently no one wanted to debate with Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura, for fear of defeat. But his spiritual interests did not allow him to stay in college for very long. He wrote in his autobiography, “If I keep studying at college with great attention, then I will be under a lot of pressure to enter family life. But if I am seen as a stupid, incompetent person, then no one will try to influence me towards material progress.’ Thinking this, I left the Sanskrit College, and in order to live a life of devotional service, I wanted a pious occupation so I could have a modest income.”

In 1897 Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura established the Sāraswat Chatuṣpāṭhī (The Sāraswat Academy) at Bhakti Bhavan. Many prominent and educated men such as Lalā Haragaurishaṅkar, Dr. Ekendranāth Ghosh, Sātkari Chaṭṭopadhyāya, Shyāmlāl Goswāmī, and Saratchandra Vidyāvinod came to study astrology and mathematics there. From Sāraswat Chatuṣpāṭhī, Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura published astrological magazines such as “Jyotirvid” and “Bṛhaspati”, as well as quite a few ancient astrological texts. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura’s reputation as a very knowledgeable astrologer spread in the educated society of Calcutta. Later Sir Āśutosh Mukhopaddhyāy, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calcutta, said that the chair of astronomy at the University of Calcutta would be reserved for Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura.

In 1895 Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura accepted a job with the independent state of Tripura, as a scholar and tutor for the royal family thereof. After King Virchandra passed away in 1896, his son, King Rādhākiśor Manikya Bāhādur, requested Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura to tutor the princes, and later to supervise the estate in Calcutta. But Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura soon wished to retire from this job, and the King allowed him to do so in 1905 with full pension. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura accepted that pension until 1908.

Bhajan Life and Initiation, 1898–1905

Previously, in 1898, Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura had visited different places of pilgrimage such as Kāśi, Prayāg, and Gayā. At Kāśi (Benares), he had an extensive discussion with Rām Miśra Shāstri about the Rāmānuja sampradaya. During this period the renunciate nature of his devotional life became very apparent. As early as 1897 he was observing the four months of chāturmasya with great austerity and devotion. He would eat only boiled food (habiṣyānna) which he cooked himself, and sleep on the floor without pillows. In 1899 he started writing various articles to preach Vaiṣṇavism in a magazine called “Nivedan”, published in Calcutta. In 1890 his scholarly book Baṅge Samājikata, consisting of research on society and religion, was published in Calcutta.

In 1897 Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura established his own bhajan-kuṭir (cottage for reclusive devotional practice), called Ānanda-sukhada-kuñja, on the Godruma island of Navadwīp on the bank of the river Saraswatī. There, in the winter of 1898, Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura met with an extraordinary, exalted Vaiṣṇava saint, Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji, who captured his heart. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura wanted to take shelter at the lotus feet of Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji, and by the order of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura he surrendered at the lotus feet of Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji and received Bhāgavati Dikṣā (initiation) from him in 1900.

Shortly before this, in March of the same year, Śrīla Saraswatī hākur had gone to Remunā via Bāleśwar to see the Deity of Kṣīrachorā Gopīnāth (Gopīnāth who stole the kṣīra, or milk pudding, for his devotee Śrī Mādhavendra Purī). Then he went to Purī via Bhuvaneśwar. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura became very attached to the holy city of Purī. His great desire was to establish a maṭh in front of the samādhi of Śrīla Haridās Ṭhākura. The subregistrar of Purī, Jagabandhu Paṭṭanayak, and others requested him to take charge of the service of the Deity of Śrī Giridharī at Sātāsan Maṭh. In 1902 Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura started to build his Bhajan-kuṭir called Bhakti Kuthi near the samādhi of Śrīla Haridās Ṭhākura. The King of Kāśim Bāzār, Mahārāja Maṇīndra Chandra Nandi, who was griefstricken due to some personal tragedy, used to live there in a tent and listen to the Hari-kathā of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura. At this time Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura regularly used to read and explain the Chaitanya Charitāmṛta to the audience in Bhakti Kuthi, in front of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura. He was also working very hard to collect material for Vaiṣṇava Mañjuṣā, a Vaiṣṇava encyclopedia.

One Bābāji, Rādhā-ramaṇ-charaṇ dās, who lived in Purī, had concocted a song: “Bhaja Nitāi Gaur Rādhe Śyām/Japa Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Rām”. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura not only protested against this but presented a very strong argument and proved it to be inauthentic and against Vaiṣṇava scriptures. This Bābāji also introduced the “Sakhiveki” concept by dressing one of his followers as Lalitā Sakhi. This was against Mahāprabhu’s teachings since an ordinary jīva was being worshiped as though he were an expansion of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. Thus Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura opposed the Bābāji. Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura was always a fearless and forthright speaker. Therefore those who opposed him, unable to defeat him in argument, tried other ways to suppress his preaching. Although Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura silently tolerated this oppression, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura asked him to go to Māyāpur and practice his bhajan there, without obstacles.

In Sri Mayapur Dham, 1905–1910

In February 1905, Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura went on pilgrimage to various holy places in South India. After visiting Siṁhāchal, Rājmahendri, Mādrās, Peremvedur, Tirupati, Kañjiveram, Kumbhakonam, Śrīraṅgam, Madura, etc., he returned to Calcutta and then went on to Śrī Māyāpur. In Peremvedur he gathered information about the practice of Tridaṇḍa Vaiṣṇava Sannyās from a Tridaṇḍi Swāmī who belonged to the Rāmānuja sampradaya.

In 1905, Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura began preaching Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s message while residing in Śrī Māyāpur. Following in the footsteps of Śrīla Haridās Ṭhākura, he would take the holy name 300,000 times a day. He used to sleep on the floor for only a few hours, eat very simply, and take the holy name day and night. In the afternoon he would speak Harikathā to the assembled devotees. On some days he would go to Kuliyā to have darśan of Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji and receive his instruction. Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji was very pleased to see the great renunciation of Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura. He used to say, “In my Prabhu I see the same kind of renunciation that was seen in Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunāth.” Śrīla Bābāji Mahāśaya used to address his disciple Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura as “my Prabhu” (“my master”). Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura also received the blessings of Śrīla Vaṁśīdās Bābāji Mahārāj in Navadwīp. Seeing Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura, Śrīla Vaṁśidās Bābāji Mahārāj would say, “Someone very close to my Gaura has come to me.”

Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura began his intense preaching of pure devotional principles in a society in which the authority of the brāhmaṇs was unquestioned, and the concept of pure devotion was misinterpreted and misrepresented by the imitators of Vaiṣṇavism (the Sahajiyās). In India in the 19th and early 20th centuries, most brāhmaṇs were more concerned about rules and regulations that were separated from the concept of devotion and not based on the injunctions of authentic scriptures than they were about what was spiritually and morally beneficial for the rest of society. A brāhmaṇ was no longer a person with brahminical qualities, but simply a person born in a family of brāhmaṇs. Since the caste system was rotting at its core, it had become meaningless and was in fact detrimental to the spiritual and moral welfare of society. The brāhmaṇs opposed any ideas that might threaten their preeminence, which was bereft of any moral or spiritual basis. Although many educated people had lost their faith in the beneficial role of the brāhmaṇ class, they did not know who could take their place. The pure Vaiṣṇavas led reclusive lives hidden from the public eye, and the Sahajiyā Vaiṣṇavas aroused more hatred and suspicion than respect. In this context, Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to establish the principles of Daivī-varṇāśrama dharma—the system in which the service of the Lord is placed in the center of society, a Vaiṣṇava is respected by everyone else, and one’s caste is ascertained according to one’s natural tendency, not according to one’s birth.

A Letter from Bhaktivinode

In the meantime Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura was very concerned that pure Vaiṣṇavism was being overshadowed by many other wrong concepts and also by imitators. He felt that among all his sons and disciples Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura was the most qualified person to preach pure Vaiṣṇavism; he had more enthusiasm, courage, and qualification than anyone else. Therefore Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya wrote him a letter:

Saraswati!

People of this world who are proud of their own aristocratic birth cannot attain real aristocracy. Therefore they attack the pure Vaiṣṇavas, saying, “They have taken birth in low-class families because of their sins.” Thus they commit offenses. The solution to this problem is to establish the order of Daivi-Varnāśrama Dharma—something you have started doing; you should know that to be the real service to the Vaiṣṇavas. Because pure devotional conclusions are not being preached, all kinds of superstitions and bad concepts are being called devotion by such pseudo-sampradayas as sahajiyā and atibāḍi. Please always crush these anti-devotional concepts by preaching pure devotional conclusions and by setting an example through your personal conduct.

Please make great effort so you can start the parikrama [circumambulation] of Śrīdhām Navadwīp as soon as possible. It is by those actions that everyone in this world will receive Kṛṣṇa-bhakti [devotional love for the Lord]. Please try very hard to make sure that the service to Śrī Māyāpur will become a permanent thing and will become brighter and brighter every day. The real service to Śrī Māyāpur can be done by acquiring printing presses, distributing devotional books, and preaching congregational chanting (not reclusive bhajan). Please do not neglect to serve Śrī Māyāpur or to preach for the sake of your own reclusive bhajan.

When I am not present any more, please take great care to serve Śrī Māyāpur Dhām which is so dear to you. This is my special instruction to you. People who are like animals can never attain devotion; therefore never take their suggestions. But do not let them know this, directly or indirectly.

I had a special desire to preach the significance of such books as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Ṣaṭ Sandarbha, and Vedānta Darśan. You have to accept that responsibility. Śrī Māyāpur will prosper if you establish an educational institution there. Never make any effort to collect knowledge or money for your own enjoyment. Only to serve the Lord will you collect these things. Never engage in bad association, either for money or for some self-interest.

All the Vaiṣṇava devotees who were in contact with Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura and Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura knew that the relationship between them was not mundane, like that between an ordinary father and son. Their relationship with each other was completely transcendental, like that between Guru and disciple, as is evident in this letter.

Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura became more enthused now to preach pure Vaiṣṇavism. Apart from delivering hari-kathā and leading congregational chanting, he also started collecting facts about the four Vaiṣṇava sampradayas (branches of disciplic lineage). He started writing and publishing articles about Vaiṣṇava āchāryas in Sajjan Toṣaṇī.

In 1906, one gentleman called Śrī Rohiṇī Kumār Ghosh came to visit Śrīla Prabhupāda. He was the nephew of a High Court judge, Śrī Chandra Mādhav Ghosh of Barishal. Rohiṇī Bābu gave up his home life to have a devotional life in Navadwīp. He found a guru from the Bāul apasampradaya (one of the pseudo-Vaiṣṇava groups) and started residing in his āśram. One afternoon he came to Śrīla Prabhupāda and heard some invaluable devotional instructions from him. Rohiṇī Bābu was deeply touched by this discussion, and when he came back to the āśram that night, it was all he could think about. Without taking his meal, he went to bed. That night, he had a dream in which that Bāul Guru and his female companion came as tigers to attack him, but Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura came to rescue him from this danger. The next morning when Rohiṇī Bābu was awakened by the sunlight streaming through his window, he immediately left that āśram and set off for Māyāpur to beg Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura for shelter at his lotus feet. He was the first disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda (Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura was thus addressed by his disciples).

Bhajan Kutir at Sri Vrajapattan, 1909

In February 1909, Śrīla Prabhupāda built a small Bhajan Kuṭir near the Bhavan, or residence, of Śrī Chandraśekharāchārya, who was the maternal uncle of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Remembering Mahāprabhu’s Vraja-līlā that was performed here, he called this Śrī Vrajapattan. Śrīla Prabhupāda continued his service at Śrī Yogapiṭh (the birthplace of Śrīman Mahāprabhu), but stayed at Śrī Vrajapattan. At this time his mother, Śrīmatī Bhagavatī Devī, was staying at Yogapiṭh and assisting him in his service to Śrī Māyāpur Dhām.

While he was staying there by himself, two very young boys came to him and took shelter at his lotus feet. One of them, Aśvini Haldār, came from nearby Ballaldighi. Even though he was illiterate when he first came, by the grace and guidance of Śrīla Prabhupāda he became a great scholar of scripture. Later when Śrīla Prabhupāda gave him initiation, he named him “Vaiṣṇavadās” (“servant of the Vaiṣṇavas”). Śrīpād Vaiṣṇavadās Prabhu served Śrīla Prabhupāda for the rest of his life. He was known as a very expert kīrtan singer.

The second boy, Śrī Pañchānan Samāddār, came from the village of Vinodnagar, in Jessore district. His father, Śrī Tāriṇīcharan Samāddār, had had the good fortune of associating with Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya had visited their village once as well. The little boy Pañchānan was very attracted to Hari-kathā, and at the age of twelve he left home one night during the predawn hours and set forth in search of his devotional destiny. Somehow he came to Navadwīp and, as if by some unknown attraction, came to Māyāpur and met Śrīla Prabhupāda. Hearing from Śrīla Prabhupāda, he knew his destiny was at the lotus feet of this great personality. So he stayed there with Śrīla Prabhupāda. Later Prabhupāda sent him to different schools, including the Sānagar School in Calcutta and the Hindu School in Navadwīp. But his main teacher was Śrīla Prabhupāda himself. Later he was known as a great scholar and writer, and talented in many arts. In 1913, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave him initiation and named him “Paramānanda Vidyāratna”. Throughout his life, he was always by the side of Śrīla Prabhupāda and he served his spiritual master in every capacity. Śrīla Prabhupāda made him one of the trustees of the Gauḍiya Maṭh.

Brahmins and Vaishnavas, 1911

In the year 1911 the Vaiṣṇava devotees were confronted by a great deal of hostile criticism from the orthodox brāhmaṇas of Bengal, known as the Smārta Samāj. These brāhmaṇas, although bereft of real scriptural knowledge, were very proud of their own birth and social position, and their doctrines of rules and regulations. Because of their elevated social status, it was easy for them to influence the masses, who were ignorant of pure devotional conclusions. Even some Vaiṣṇava devotees supported the brāhmaṇas in order to get some favor from them. At this time Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was ill and bedridden. But he was still very concerned about the situation and wanted someone to confront the brāhmaṇa paṇḍits face to face. By Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s desire, and having been so requested by the famous scholar Śrī Madhusudan Goswāmī of Vṛndāvan, Śrīla Prabhupāda arranged a meeting with the brāhmaṇ paṇḍits at the town of Balighāi, in Medinipur district. Paṇḍit Śrī Viśvambharānanda Dev Goswāmī presided over this meeting.

Śrīla Prabhupāda read there his famous article, “Brāhmaṇ and Vaiṣṇava”. When he arrived, the assembled scholars were sitting in two different groups: those who believed in the superiority of brāhmaṇs over all other classes of people, and those who believed in the superiority of Vaiṣṇavas, irrespective of birth or social position, over all other classes of people. At first Śrīla Prabhupāda quoted from many scriptures glorifying brāhmaṇs. The joy of the assembled brāhmaṇs knew no bounds, because even they did not know that there was so much glorification of brāhmaṇs in so many different scriptures. But then Śrīla Prabhupāda started his glorification of Vaiṣṇavas, again based on scripture, which far exceeded the glorification of brāhmaṇs in quality and quantity. This time the brāhmaṇpaṇḍits were not so pleased. Unable to respond to the evidence presented by Śrīla Prabhupāda, they started shouting and making a lot of noise. One or two of them desperately tried to present new arguments, but Śrīla Prabhupāda crushed those also by dint of his scriptural knowledge and irrefutable logic. He personally answered all questions and refuted all arguments by the brāhmaṇs, and thus established the superiority of pure devotees over all classes of people.

The Gaura Mantra, 1911

In that same year, at a meeting attended by many devotees and scholars of religion, Śrīla Prabhupāda established the truth that the Gaura Mantra is eternal and should be chanted by all devotees. He based his conclusions on the evidence of many scriptures, such as the Chaitanyopaniṣad from the Atharva Veda as well as other Upaniṣads and Purāṇas. Thus he crushed the theory that the name Gaura is not an eternal name of the Supreme Lord and that Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu was not an incarnation of the Supreme Lord. Unbeknownst to Śrīla Prabhupāda, his Gurudeva Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji was also present in the audience and was ecstatic to hear his conclusions.

Kashim Bazar Religious Conference, 1912

In March 1912, Śrīla Prabhupāda was invited by the Mahārāja of Kāśim Bāzār, Calcutta, Śrī Maṇīndra Chandra Nandi, to deliver hari-kathā at the “Kāśim Bāzār Sammilani”, an annual religious conference. But when Śrīla Prabhupāda arrived there, he saw that the organizers were more interested in their mundane concept of religiosity and in pleasing other people than in promoting the concept of pure devotion. To protest against these concepts which were contradictory to pure devotion, Śrīla Prabhupāda fasted during his entire stay there and accepted prasādam (food that has been offered to the Supreme Lord) only after his return to Śrī Māyāpur Dhām.

Pilgrimage and Preaching, 1912

On November 4th, 1912, Śrīla Prabhupāda, in the company of a few devotees, set out to visit the holy places where Śrīman Mahāprabhu and his associates had their pastimes, such as Śrīkhaṇḍa, Yājigrām, Kāṭwā, Jhāmatpur, Chākhandi, Daihāt, and so forth, and preached about pure devotion there. In Śrīdhām Māyāpur and the surrounding areas, and sometimes in other villages of Bengal and in Calcutta, Śrīla Prabhupāda constantly preached and answered spiritual questions.

The Printing Press and the Anubhasya Commentaries, 1913–1915

In 1913, Śrīla Prabhupāda established a press called “Bhāgavat Yantrālaya” at 4 Sānagar Lane, Kālighāṭ, Calcutta, and began publishing and printing such books as Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta with his commentaries called Anubhasya, Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā with the commentaries of Śrī Viśvanāth Chakravartī Ṭhākura, the Gaurakṛṣṇodaya by the Oḍiyan poet Govinda Dās, and so forth. In the evenings he would lead saṅkīrtan and afterwards deliver hari-kathā. Many distinguished gentlemen of Calcutta would come to listen to him. In 1914 Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura disappeared from this world to enter into the transcendental abode of his eternal pastimes. In January 1915, Śrīla Prabhupāda moved the printing press to Śrī Vrajapattan at Māyāpur, and continued publishing and printing books from there. He finished his commentaries on Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta on June 14th, 1915.

Editing Sajjan-Toshani, 1915

After the disappearance of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura, his famous and widely distributed Vaiṣṇava magazine, Sajjan Toṣaṇī, continued publication under the editorship of Śrīla Prabhupāda. In July 1915 he moved the Bhāgavat Yantra press to the town of Kṛṣṇanagar, and began publishing Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura’s books.

Disappearance of His Spiritual Master, 1915

On November 17th, 1915, on the holy day of Utthan Ekādaśi, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s dikṣā guru, Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji Mahārāj, disappeared from this world. Śrīla Prabhupāda immediately set forth for Navadwīp from Māyāpur. Śrīpād Kuñjavihāri Vidyābhūṣan (later Śrīmad Bhakti Vilās Tīrtha Mahārāj) has described this incident in the biography of Śrīla Prabhupāda, Saraswatī Jayaśrī. A few so-called Bābājis of Navadwīp began arguing with each other about who would give samādhi to the transcendental body of Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji. They all had some ulterior motive, namely to own this samādhi temple themselves so they could make money in the future from devotees and pilgrims. Apprehending a breach of the peace, the Inspector of Police, Śrī Barīndra Nāth Siṅgha, arrived there.

After much argument these Bābājis said that Śrīla Prabhupāda was not a sannyāsī and therefore did not have the right to give samādhi to Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji Mahārāj. Śrīla Prabhupāda responded in a thunderous voice, “I am the only disciple of Śrīla Bābāji Mahārāj. Although I am not a sannyāsī, I have observed brahmachārya (celibacy) all my life. By the grace of Śrīla Bābāji Mahārāj, I have not lived a secret life of illicit conduct and debauchery, like some ‘monkey’ renunciates. If there is someone among those present here who has a genuinely pure character and who is a renunciate, then he can give samādhi to Śrīla Bābāji Mahārāj and we have no objection to that. If there is anyone here who, in the last one year, or six months, or three months, or one month, or even in the last three days, did not have any illicit contact with a woman, then he can touch this blissful transcendental body. If anyone else touches this body, he will be ruined.”

Hearing this the inspector asked, “What will be the proof of this?” Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, “I will believe their words.” Everyone present was amazed to see that all the so-called Bābājis left the scene, one by one. The Inspector of Police was dumfounded.

Then by the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda, the Vaiṣṇava devotees with him were fortunate enough to carry the transcendental body of Bābāji Mahārāj. Some people said, “When Śrīla Bābāji Mahārāj was here, he said, ‘My body should be dragged on the ground of Navadwīp so it can be covered by the dust of Navadwīp.’ His instruction should be obeyed.”

Then Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Even though we are stupid, ignorant, and offensive, we should still be able to understand the significance of these humble words of my Gurudeva, which were spoken to destroy the pride and arrogance of materialistic people. Even Lord Kṛṣṇa considers Himself fortunate to carry the body of my Gurudeva on His shoulders or head. After the disappearance of Śrīla Haridās Ṭhākura, Śrī Gaursundar took his blissful body in his own arms and danced; such was the reverence he showed him. Therefore, following in the footsteps of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, we shall also carry Śrīla Bābāji Mahārāj’s blissful body on our heads.”

On November 17th, 1915, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave Samādhi to his Gurudeva, on the Nutan Charā of Navadwīp, on the banks of the Gaṅgā. Sixteen years later, the moving currents of the Gaṅgā arrived at that holy place. By his instruction, on August 21st, 1932, some of his disciples from Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh, including Śrīpād Narahari Prabhu and Śrīpād Vinod Vihārī Prabhu (later Śrīla Bhakti Prajñān Keśav Mahārāj) and others, removed this samādhi by boat across the Gaṅgā from Navadwīp to Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh, Māyāpur.

The Divine Vision of Srila Prabhupada, 1915

After the disappearance of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura and Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji Mahārāj, Śrīla Prabhupāda was grief-stricken and was feeling the pangs of separation. At that time a wonderful incident took place. Śrīpād Paramānanda Vidyāratna has described this in Saraswatī Jayaśrī:

Śrīla Prabhupāda was feeling very discouraged in the absence of Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya and Śrīla Bābāji Mahārāj, seeing the helpless condition of the spiritual section in the country and the propaganda of the sahajiyās (imitators). He was thinking, “How will I fulfill the desire of my spiritual masters? How will I be able to preach the message of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu? I do not have enough money or manpower. Nor do I have any knowledge or talent that would enchant the public. I have no material skill or wealth. How can this grave task be performed by me? Perhaps I won’t be able to preach the message of my spiritual masters.”

Thinking all this, Śrīla Prabhupāda displayed his pastime of gloom and depression. Then one night he saw in a visionary trance that Lord Gaursundar had arrived from the east side of the Yogapiṭh temple with His associates. Amid the sound of saṅkīrtan, He was ascending to His birthsite. With Him were the six goswāmīs. Śrīla Jagannāth Dās Bābāji, Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura, and Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji were also present in their effulgent transcendental forms. Addressing Śrīla Prabhupāda directly, they said, “Why are you in such a state of anxiety? Begin your task of establishing pure religion. Everywhere preach the message of Śrī Gaura and spread the service of the holy name, abode, and desire of Śrī Gaura. We are always ready to help you, being eternally present with you. In your mission of establishing pure devotional service, you will always receive our help. Behind you innumerable people, unlimited wealth, and extraordinary scholarship are waiting to help you. Whatever you need at any time will immediately appear to serve your mission of pure devotion. With full enthusiasm, proceed with your preaching of the message of pure devotion as it was preached by Śrīman Mahāprabhu. No material problems can impede you. We are always with you.” The next morning Śrīla Prabhupāda told us about this visionary trance with great ecstasy.

Sannyas and Founding Sri Chaitanya Math, 1918

Even though Śrīla Prabhupāda was already a great renunciate and an eternally liberated (nitya-siddha) spiritual personality, in order to preach extensively as a travelling mendicant (parivrājak) and to set an example of Daivi-Varnāśrama Dharma, he decided to take sannyās in the year 1918. By accepting the saffron cloth he actually took a humble position below his two gurus, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji, who had both accepted the paramahaṁsa-veśa (the white cloth of a renunciate Vaiṣṇava who has given up varṇāśrama dharma; sannyās, which requires wearing a saffron cloth, is part of varṇāśrama dharma). On the full moon day of March 7th, 1918, on the auspicious occasion of the appearance festival of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Prabhupāda took sannyās in Śrī Māyāpur according to Vedic rites. Early in the morning he shaved his head and then went to bathe in the old Gaṅgā, near Vāman Pukur. Śrī Rāmgopāl Vidyābhūṣan, Śrī Ananta Vāsudev Prabhu, Śrīkānt Dāsadhikārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Prakāś Aranya Mahārāj), and a few other devotees accompanied him. On the way Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke on such topics as the story of Ajāmila, the sannyās pastime of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, and some verses from the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. After bathing he offered his daṇḍavats and returned to Vrajapattan. The devotees had collected and arranged all the necessary paraphernalia there. Śrīla Prabhupāda went inside the temple and, remembering his Gurudeva, he took tridaṇḍi sannyās (the word “tridaṇḍi” signifies the threefold vows of serving the Supreme Lord with body, mind, and soul).

In the meantime all the devotees were waiting outside. Among them were Śrīpād Paramānanda Vidyāratna and Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Vidyābhūṣan. A big crowd had also assembled to celebrate the appearance festival of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. When Śrīla Prabhupāda emerged as a sannyāsī, everyone became very sad, and remembered the sannyās pastime of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Overwhelmed with devotional emotion, they all started crying.

That same day, Śrīla Prabhupāda established Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh and installed the Deities of Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga and Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda there. This Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh in Māyāpur is the Ākar Maṭh (the original or parent maṭh) of all the Gauḍīya Maṭhs all over the world. In the afternoon he delivered a lecture about the appearance of Śrīman Mahāprabhu to the assembled crowd. The next day he initiated some of the surrendered devotees, such as Śrīpād Haripada Vidyāratna, Śrīpād Ananta Vāsudev Prabhu, and Śrīpād Bhakti Prakāś Prabhu.

After taking sannyās, Prabhupāda displayed his extraordinary pastimes of renunciation and austerity. This was described in the memoir of Śrīpād Ananta Vāsudev Prabhu quoted in Saraswatī Jayaśrī:

Before taking sannyās he used to wear a top garment twenty-four hours a day. No one ever saw his upper body. But after sannyās he would wear a chādar most of the time. He gave up wearing sandals. Walking everywhere without sandals made his feet bleed, but he still would walk without sandals. Seeing his example of great renunciation, we were amazed. During chaturmasya (the four months of the rainy season) he would sleep on the floor and would only eat during the day, never after sunset. In the heat of summer in Māyāpur he would close his door and chant night and day.

Later that month Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a very scholarly lecture called “Vaiṣṇava Darśan” (“The Vaiṣṇava Philosophy”) at a literary meeting in the Kṛṣṇanagar town hall. In May he took some of his disciples with him to preach in different places. In Daulatpur he stayed in the house of Vanamāli Poddar and preached continuously for several days. There he initiated quite a few devotees including Śrīpād Yaśodānandan Prabhu and Śrīpād Narahari Prabhu.

At this time his disciple Śrīpād Nayanābhirām Prabhu (later Śrīmad Bhakti Vivek Bhārati Mahārāj) earnestly assisted Śrīla Prabhupāda with his preaching activities. Śrīmad Bhārati Mahārāj would preach in very simple language and present the Vaiṣṇava concept in a simple, but attractive, way. Śrīla Prabhupāda engaged Śrīmad Bhārati Mahārāj to speak to the general public. Śrīmad Bhārati Mahārāj would sometimes make them laugh and sometimes make them cry. His preaching captured their hearts and they would come by the thousands to listen to him. He was an expert kīrtan singer. Śrīla Prabhupāda always knew the greatest strength of each of his disciples, and he would engage them accordingly. Before he left this world, he told Śrīmad Bhārati Mahārāj that he was a hard-working and practical person, and should serve the mission.

Sri Kshetra-Mandal Parikrama, 1918

To celebrate the fourth disappearance anniversary of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura, Śrīla Prabhupāda set forth for Purī Dhām on June 2nd, 1918, along with twenty-three other devotees. Before going to Purī Dhām, Śrīla Prabhupāda accepted the invitation of Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Vidyābhūṣan and went to his residence in Gauribāḍi Lane, Calcutta, with all the devotees to take prasādam for two days. Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Prabhu was an ordinary impoverished postal employee. But he arranged for a sumptuous feast of many courses for Śrīla Prabhupāda and his entourage. On his way to Purī Dhām Śrīla Prabhupāda also preached at different places such as Sāuri, Kuāmārā, and so forth. Then he went to Remuna to see the Deity of Kṣīrachorā Gopīnāth. At a meeting in Bāleśwar, he gave a lecture on the Śikṣāṣṭak verses of Mahāprabhu. On his way to Purī he became overwhelmed with the mood of separation of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Many distinguished government officers and citizens came to listen to his lectures, and some of them invited him to lecture in their homes.

After celebrating the disappearance festival of Śrīla BhaktivinodṬhākura with extensive preaching and saṅkīrtan in Purī, Śrīla Prabhupāda came back to Calcutta. For a little while he stayed at No. 3 British Indian Street. He delivered lectures there and his disciples used to visit him daily. Sometimes Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Vidyābhūṣan would cook for Śrīla Prabhupāda there. During August and September 1918, a representative of a group of opponents of Vaiṣṇavism presented Śrīla Prabhupāda with twenty-nine questions. He answered all of them on the basis of scripture and logic and thus silenced his opponents. These questions and answers were subsequently published in an article called “The Answers to the Questions of the Critics”. Later Śrīla Prabhupāda came back to Bhakti Bhavan.

Sri Bhaktivinod Asan and the Visva-Vaisnava-Raj-Sabha, 1918–1919

In the next few months and years something unprecedented took place. The big city of Calcutta, previously thought by Vaiṣṇavas to be a very unfavorable place, became the center of preaching for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission of pure devotion. It started when his disciple Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Prabhu, who was always burning with fervent enthusiasm to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda, submitted a new proposal at his lotus feet. One day in Māyāpur, he said, “Prabhupāda, how many people can come here and listen to your glorious, powerful, and unparalleled message about Śrīman Mahāprabhu? On the other hand, people from all over the world come to Calcutta or pass through that city. If we can arrange for a residence for you in Calcutta, faithful people from many places will have the good fortune of listening to you.” Śrīla Prabhupāda granted this request. Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Prabhu rented a two-story house in November 1918 on No. 1 Ulṭoḍiṅgi Junction Road, next to the famous temple of Pareśnāth.

That same month Śrīla Prabhupāda established the spiritual institution called Bhaktivinod Āsan there. The temple room and Śrīla Prabhupāda’s room were upstairs, and three or four devotees, including Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Prabhu, lived downstairs. The rent was Rs. 50 per month. This was beyond the means of an impoverished postal employee. Other devotees staying there tried to help Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Prabhu, but most of the time they also found it difficult to come up with that money. But Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Prabhu always went out of his way to supply whatever was necessary to serve his Gurudeva, even if he had to incur a substantial debt in order to do so.

Śrīla Prabhupāda now started his regular preaching program in the newly established Bhaktivinod Āsan. More and more people came to listen to him. On February 5th, 1919, on the auspicious appearance day of Śrīmatī Viṣṇupriyā Devī, Śrīla Prabhupāda re-established the Viśva-Vaiṣṇava-Rāj-Sabhā. He gave a scholarly lecture on the ancient history of this assembly. On June 27th, in Svānanda-sukhada-kuñja (the Bhajan Kuṭir of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura), the worshipable deity form of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura was installed.

Preaching in East Bengal, 1919

On October 4th, 1919, Śrīla Prabhupāda set forth to preach in East Bengal (now Bāṅglādesh) and north Bengal. Right before this natural disasters, a strong hurricane and flood, had hit East Bengal. Thousands of people became homeless and many people died. Usually autumn is a season of festivity in Bengal, since during this time of year Bengalis celebrate their Durgā Pūjā festival. But this year grief and loss took the place of festivity in many places. Śrīla Prabhupāda chose this time to preach his message of pure devotion. He decided that this was the proper time to sing the verse:

tatte ‘nukampāṁ susamīkṣamāṇo
bhuñjāna evātmakṛbhaṁ vipākam
hṛdvāg vapubhir vidadhan namaste
jīveta yo muktipade sa dāyabhāk
Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.14.8

"My dear Lord, one who earnestly waits for You to bestow Your causeless mercy upon him, all the while patiently suffering the reaction of his past misdeeds and offering you respectful obeisances with his heart, words, and body, is surely eligible for liberation, for it has become his rightful claim.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda preached in many different towns and villages in East Bengal. Wherever he went, many people came to listen to his lectures. In many places special meetings were arranged where Śrīla Prabhupāda was requested to speak. Many distinguished gentlemen invited Śrīla Prabhupāda to their homes to deliver Hari-kathā. He led saṅkīrtan processions in different towns and villages. Śrīla Prabhupāda visited such places as Dāmurhudā, Kusthia, Pāvnā, Sātberia, Sāgarkāndi, Belgāchi, Rājbāḍi, Lauhajaṅg, Domsar, Nārāyangañj, Ḍāccā, Sirājdighā, Kotchandpur, Śrīpāt Maheśpur, and so forth.

Questionnaire for the Kashim Bazar Conference

In April 1920 the religious conference, the “Kāśim Bāzār Sammilani”, took place in Kummilā, East Bengal. The members of the Viśva-Vaiṣṇava-Rāj-Sabhā were invited to participate in that conference. But when they saw the agenda of that conference, which included the discussion and singing of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s very intimate pastimes with the gopīs, by the order of Śrīla Prabhupāda they sent a questionnaire to that conference, care of the gentle and humble Mahārāja of Kāśim Bāzār, Śrī Maṇīndra Chandra Nandi. Seven questions were posed regarding the propriety of such discussions of the intimate pastimes of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa among conditioned souls. The Mahārāja duly presented the questionnaire to the assembled paṇḍits. But no one dared to answer those questions.

Disappearance of Srimati Bhagavati Devi, 1920

In June 1920 Śrīla Prabhupāda’s worshipable mother, Śrīmatī Bhagavati Devī, left this world to enter the abode of her eternal pastimes. Six years earlier on that very day Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura had left this world. For many years, Śrīmati Bhagavati Devī had dedicated herself to assist the divine mission of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Before she left this world, she called Śrīla Prabhupāda to her bedside and expressed her last desire, that the message and the holy name of Śrīman Mahāprabhu be preached all over the world.

Sri Gaudiya Math, 1920

On September 6th, 1920, Śrīla Prabhupāda founded Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh at Bhaktivinod Āsan and installed the Deities of Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga and Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda. Śrīla Prabhupāda s movement gained great momentum immediately after he chartered the Gauḍīya Maṭh. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to start a great mission which would propagate Śrīman Mahāprabhu s teachings in their purest form. He wanted to preach that the goal of life is to love and serve Kṛṣṇa, and that the only way for the fallen souls of Kali-yuga to be delivered is to chant the holy name and render unconditional devotional service. He wanted to preach his concept of pure devotion to all classes of people the educated and the uneducated, the rich and the poor, the orthodox brāhmaṇs and the young people influenced by Western ideas. He wanted hundreds of people to come to his lectures and thousands of people to read the books and magazines published by the Gauḍīya Maṭh. In short, he wanted to start a spiritual revolution a seemingly ambitious goal for someone who only had a handful of men to help him and hardly any money to spend. But the Gauḍīya Maṭh grew at an amazing speed. People came from all fields of life, and most of them were highly educated. Many people came to join his mission with many different talents and skills to contribute scholars, writers, editors, administrators, doctors, engineers, lawyers. Śrīla Prabhupāda s unique personality and his powerful speeches touched many people s hearts and changed their lives forever. A spiritual revolution was indeed taking place in Bengal.

The devotees of the Gauḍīya Maṭh worked very hard to propagate Śrīla Prabhupāda’s preaching mission. They begged from door to door, worshiped the Deities, performed kīrtan inside the temple, and went on nagar-saṅkīrtan on the streets of Calcutta. They also preached at various places, being so instructed by Śrīla Prabhupāda. In 1920, Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Vidyābhūṣan Prabhu suddenly left for Basra (in present-day Iraq) to take a temporary position, so that he could pay off the huge debt he had incurred in trying to serve the Gauḍīya Maṭh.

On November 1st, 1920, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave sannyās to Śrīpād Jagadīś Bhaktipradīp, who was a disciple of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura. He was the first devotee to receive sannyās from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Now he was called Śrīla Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj.

On March 14th, 1921, Śrīla Prabhupāda revived Navadwīp Dhām Parikramā. At the end of March he once more went to preach in Purī Dhām. At this time Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj published a book called Āchār O Āchārya (The Spiritual Master and His Conduct), by Śrīla Prabhupāda. This book introduced revolutionary ideas by criticizing the contemporary practices of those gurus who had turned religion into a money-making profession.

From the 1920’s onward, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s movement started spreading steadily. Preaching went on continuously not only in Bengal, but in other parts of India. Scholars of every field came to listen to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lectures and ask him spiritual questions.

Sri Chaitanya Math, Mayapur, 1920

As Śrīla Prabhupāda was spending more and more time away from Māyāpur while preaching at the Bāgbāzār Gauḍīya Maṭh or going on preaching tours of different places in Bengal, Bihār, and Oḍissā, in 1920 he decided to establish some of his disciples at Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh in Māyāpur. He directed two devotees, Śrīpād Narahari Dās Brahmachārī and Śrīpād Vinod-vihārī Brahmachārī, to take charge of that maṭh.

Gaudiya Math in East Bengal, 1921

In 1921, Śrīla Prabhupāda preached at different places in Bihār, including Dhanbād, and then returned to East Bengal to preach extensively there. Some of his disciples who were influential speakers, such as Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj, also delivered many lectures and answered question. In the beginning considerable opposition to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s outspoken preaching arose. The professional speakers of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam did their best to launch a powerful campaign to mislead the common people against Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission. Initially it worked, when some people refused to open their doors to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples. But being empowered by his blessings, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples were very determined to preach. They decided that if there was no food and shelter for them then they would just go hungry and drink the water of the Burigaṅgā river. But they would go on preaching tirelessly. Such determination was rewarded by a renewed interest in Gauḍiya Vaiṣṇavism among the spiritually inquisitive. The ground for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s preaching in East Bengal was made fertile by the advance work of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples.

When Śrīla Prabhupāda went to East Bengal, he gave realizations to the inquiring public that were beyond their dreams. For example, Śrīla Prabhupāda resided in the city of Dacca for one month and gave thirty different interpretations of the following verse from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam:

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
janmādy asya yato ‘nvayād itarataś
chārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ
tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye
muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ
tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo
yatra tri-sargo ‘mṛṣā
dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ
satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi

"O my Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, son of Vasudeva, O all-pervading Personality of Godhead, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I meditate upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa because He is the Absolute Truth and the primeval cause of all causes of the creation, sustenance, and destruction of the manifested universes. He is directly and indirectly conscious of all manifestations, and He is independent because there is no other cause beyond Him. It is only He who first imparted the Vedic knowledge unto the heart of Brahmāji, the original living being. By Him even the great sages and demigods are placed into illusion, as one is bewildered by the illusory representations of water seen in fire, or land seen on water. Only because of Him do the material universes, temporarily manifested by the reactions of the three modes of nature, appear factual, although they are unreal. I therefore meditate upon Him, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is eternally existent in the transcendental abode, which is forever free from the illusory representations of the material world. I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.” —Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.1.1

Even great scholars were amazed to hear these interpretations. Many sincere souls took initiation then from Śrīla Prabhupāda. One of the disciples who came from Dacca was Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod, who later became one of the main writers in the preaching mission of the Gauḍīya Maṭh.

That same year, Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Vidyābhūṣan Prabhu returned from Basra and joined Śrīla Prabhupāda’s preaching mission in Dacca. Śrīla Prabhupāda had been missing him greatly, and had already made plans to take Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Vidyābhūṣan Prabhu with him to different places.

On October 13th, 1921, Śrīla Prabhupāda established the Śrī Madhva Gauḍīya Maṭh in Dacca, and on October 31st he installed the Deities there. In Faridabād Śrīla Prabhupāda delivered Harikathā in the house of Śrī Saratchandra Bandopadhyāy, who was grief-stricken by his son’s death. Hearing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s hari-kathā, he felt relieved and took initiation from him. Later his two daughters, Śrīmatī Āparaṇā Devī and Suṣamā Devī, also took initiation from Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīmati Āparaṇā Devī was a poet and a writer. She subsequently wrote quite a few articles in the Gauḍīya magazine. Much later she translated Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī’s Stavamālā and Śrī Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī’s Stavavali into Bengali poetry, which was much appreciated by the Vaiṣṇava devotees.

On his return from Dacca, Śrīla Prabhupāda renovated some ruined temples and places of pilgrimage from the time of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s pastimes, and reestablished regular worship there. Among them were the famous Gaur-Gadādhar temple in Champāhaṭi, the birthsite of Śrī Vṛndāvan Dās Ṭhākura, the guesthouse in Modadruma-dwīp, etc. In 1933, Śrīla Prabhupād put Śrīpād Satīś Prabhu (Śrīpād Satprasaṅgānanda Brahmachārī, later Śrīmad Nayanānanda Bābāji Mahārāj) in charge of the Gaura-Gadādhar temple in Champāhaṭi.

Purusottam Math in Puri, 1922

"Hyutkale Puruṣottamāt”—“From Utkal (Oḍissā) the concept of pure devotion will spread to the whole world.” To honor this prediction of the scriptures, Śrīla Prabhupāda founded the Puruṣottam Maṭh in Purī in June 1922. Following in the footsteps of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, he participated in the pastime of cleansing the Guṇḍichā temple and in parikramā of Purī Dhām along with his disciples. He sent his disciples to preach in various parts of Oḍissā.

Publication of the Gaudiya Magazine, 1922

On August 19th, 1922, Śrīla Prabhupāda began publishing a magazine called Gauḍīya from the Krishnanagar Bhagavat Press, which would become the most famous and widely distributed spiritual Bengali magazine and one of the chief instruments of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s preaching mission. In its first year the magazine was jointly edited by Śrīpād Atulchandra Bandopadhyāy Bhaktisaraṅga (Śrīpād Aprākṛta Prabhu—later Śrīmad Bhakti Saraṅga Goswāmī Mahārāj) and Śrīpād Haripada Vidyāratna(later Śrīmad Bhakti Sādhak Niṣkiñchan Mahārāj). In its second year Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod became assistant editor. Subsequently Śrīpād Bhaktisaraṅga was editor-in-chief, Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod was editor, and Śrīpād Haripada Vidyāratna was assistant editor. From 1930 onward, Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Pramod Purī Mahārāj) became joint editor of Gauḍīya.

In each issue of Gauḍīya there was an editorial; sometimes there would be an article by Śrīla Prabhupāda or an article based on his lectures. All together each issue would comprise three or four articles, short paragraphs on current topics and recent events or information on upcoming events, and a column of questions and answers. Sometimes there would be a poem, or a story of Mahāprabhu’s childhood pastimes written for children.

For a few years, Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod was posted in Dacca as a teacher in a high school there. But he used to send one or two articles every week. Śrīpād Pranavānanda Prabhu also used to write articles, and would proofread the whole magazine. Śrīla Prabhupāda trusted him with the proofreading because he would work very hard and frequently stay up all night to make the text free from errors. The result was a perfect production every week. Devotees used to distribute Gauḍīya with great enthusiasm. One devotee from Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh in Māyāpur, Śrīpād Satyen Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Nilaya Giri Mahārāj) used to take the first train to Calcutta every morning to sell and distribute Gauḍīya. The philosophical and literary standard of Gauḍīya was unsurpassed.

Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen, Professor of Bengali literature at the University of Calcutta, was a well-known scholar and writer. Some of his books, such as Rāmāyaṇī Kathā (Topics of the Rāmāyaṇ) were prescribed textbooks for the students of Bengali literature. The editor of Gauḍīya wrote an article criticizing some of his ideas. When Dr. Dinesh Sen read that article, he was so impressed by its literary standard that he wrote a letter of praise to the writer. That letter was kept in the archives of the Gauḍīya Maṭh. But more importantly, Gauḍīya helped to keep the fire of devotional inspiration burning in the hearts of many Bengalis, when another big fire was burning in the heart of Bengal and the rest of India.

Gaudiya Math and the Freedom Movement of the 1920’s

That other fire that was burning in the hearts of the masses of India was the desire for freedom. On one hand was Mahātmā Gāndhi’s nonviolent movement for freedom. On the other hand was the more radical guerrilla group. There were little pockets of guerrilla resistance everywhere in India. The British government, which was very reluctant to give up India, “the jewel of the crown of the British empire”, was equally intimidated by both groups.

In Bengal one of the groups of guerilla freedom fighters was called the “Anuśilan Samiti” (Organization for the Cultivation of Freedom). Actually, “anuśilan” means cultivation, but what was to be cultivated was not specified, for obvious reasons. Hundreds and thousands of young, educated and talented men, with the support of their mothers, sisters, and wives, gave up their education, family life, and profession, and risked their lives to join one of these two movements: Mahātmā Gāndhi’s nonviolent movement or the guerrilla movement. If there was one desire that was shared by the whole nation, it was the desire for freedom from the British.

But Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to preach about another kind of freedom which transcends any freedom of the mundane world: the freedom of the soul. While nationalistic leaders were preaching that it is the birthright of a nation to have freedom and sovereignty, Śrīla Prabhupāda was preaching that it is the birthright of every soul to seek freedom from material bondage and find its rightful place in the realm of eternity. The nationalistic leaders would argue that that could wait, but Śrīla Prabhupāda insisted that one should not waste one minute while reaching for the supreme goal of human life, because it can end at any moment.

Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “First of all we have to know who we are. After that it will become very easy to find out what is our foremost duty. The only path to our eternal welfare is to serve the Lord and have His grace. The human birth is the root of devotional service. It is not possible to render devotional service in animal life.…We all have to become free. But the state of freedom is nothing other than the state of cultivating Kṛṣṇa consciousness with the support of all our senses, being fixed in our real identity.” (Upadeśāmṛta pp. 462–463)

As one can imagine, it is easier to arouse the oppressed masses to seek political freedom than to arouse the soul to look for its eternal prospect. Yet many young men gave up the nationalistic movement and came to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s spiritual movement.

Śrīpād Vinod Vihārī Prabhu was formerly a member of the secret organization called the Anuśilan Samiti. He gave up his affiliation with it and joined Śrīla Prabhupāda’s movement, and so did a few others. But the British police remained very suspicious of their activities. So they sent undercover agents to the Gauḍīya Maṭh to spy on the activities of its members. One such undercover agent listened to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lectures with rapt attention, and gave up his profession to become Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciple. Before begging for Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mercy, he disclosed that he had come as a spy. He became Śrīpād Gaurendu Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Vardhan Sāgar Mahārāj).

After this incident, in 1924 or 1925, another very learned gentleman, Śrī Rāmendra Chandra Bhaṭṭāchārya, who was not known to any of the devotees, began coming to the maṭh regularly. He would silently listen to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lectures with rapt attention. One day Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī was giving a lecture when he arrived. One devotee, Śrīpād Kīrtanānanda Brahmachārī, cautioned Śrīpād Pranavānanda Prabhu about this gentleman. He said, “I have noticed that he does not ask anything, but listens to every word with rapt attention. He must be an undercover spy.”

Śrīpād Kīrtanānanda Prabhu started keeping an eye on this gentleman. But it so happened that very soon Śrī Rāmendra Chandra Bhaṭṭāchārya attracted Śrīla Prabhupāda’s attention. It was discovered that he was no spy, but in fact was formerly in Mahātmā Gāndhi’s freedom movement. Śrīla Prabhupāda gave him initiation, and later named him Śrī Rāmānanda Dās Brahmachārī. Within a few years he gave him sannyās, naming him Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev Goswāmī Mahārāj. Śrīla Prabhupāda was very fond of him, and so were his other disciples. Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj was known for his extraordinary scholarship, his poetic talent, his powerful preaching, his saintly character, and his wholehearted dedication to serving his Gurudeva.

Many distinguished citizens of Calcutta admired Śrīla Prabhupāda’s unprecedented and extraordinary contribution to the Vaiṣṇava movement of Bengal. But not everyone shared their sentiment. The famous Bengali leader of the freedom movement, Netāji Subhāsh Chandra Bose, complained to Śrīla Prabhupāda that he was diverting the attention of the youth from the freedom movement to his devotional mission. Śrīla Prabhupāda appeased him by saying, “These men are not so physically strong. They will not be of much use to you.” Of course, he did not think that Netāji would be interested in the concept of spiritual freedom at that moment.

The Acharya Who Could Inspire And Engage

Freedom fighters or not, intelligent and spiritually inquisitive young men were coming to Śrīla Prabhupāda, giving up their family ties and material prospects. To cite only one example: Before he took initiation, Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī used to go to Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh every day after work. One day, just as he was about to leave for Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh, he was stung by a scorpion hidden in his shoe. Two days previously a man had died from a scorpion’s sting. Although Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī was bleeding profusely, and the blood was blackish with venom, he told his weeping mother he was all right and set forth for Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh as if nothing had happened. There he listened to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lecture, and although the intense pain continued throughout that evening and the rest of the night, his mind was on Śrīla Prabhupāda’s words, not on his pain. When his Godbrothers refer to this incident, he says, “That was my time of navānurāg [the first stage of love, when any separation seems risky and unbearable].”

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s transcendental personality was extremely attractive, and his powerful preaching could plant the seed of divine love in one’s heart—with tangible results. The proof of this was to be found in the atmosphere of the Gauḍīya Maṭh, which was always lively with the sights and sounds of uninterrupted, wholehearted devotional service. Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj said in his memoir, “When I went there again, I saw many things that touched me. Śrīla Prabhupāda was delivering a lecture to so many gentlemen—educated persons. In another place the elderly Śrīpād Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj was giving a lecture. Elsewhere Śrīpād Bhakti Swarūp Parvat Mahārāj was found writing receipts, collecting funds from the people. It was a hive of activity. I felt a transcendental happy atmosphere there.”

At the center of this transcendentally happy hive of activity was the Āchārya who was known to be “softer than a flower and harder than a thunderbolt”. Nothing escaped Śrīla Prabhupāda’s keen eyes. His affection for his disciples was also all-encompassing. Śrīla Prabhupāda would personally supervise the distribution of prasādam to his disciples; he would stand there and make sure everyone ate well. When his disciples’ family members came to visit, he would personally welcome them, make them comfortable, and spend considerable time with them.

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s deep humility was reflected in his thoughts, words, and actions. He called his disciples “Prabhu” (“master”). He never asked any of them to do anything for him, personally. Yet each of them was eager to render some service to him, for he was their supremely worshipable lord (“Paramārādhya Śrīla Prabhupāda”). Not only was he worshipable to them, but so was anyone who served him with total dedication. Because Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Vidyābhūṣan had a long history of selfless dedicated service to Śrīla Prabhupāda, the brahmachārīs staying at the maṭh would stand in line to eat his remnants (a traditional Vaiṣṇava devotional practice), in the hope that it would give them Guru-sevā-kuñja (the grove of devotional service to Gurudeva—kuñja means “grove”).

Sri Vraja-Mandal, Sri Chaitanya Math, and Puri Dham, 1922–1923

On September 28th, 1922, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Vraja-maṇḍal (Mathurā and Vṛndāvan) with the goal of establishing centers for preaching the pure devotional concept of Śrīman Mahāprabhu as preached by Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji and Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura. Later he went back to Dacca, East Bengal, to preach there again. Then he went to Kuliyā, Navadwīp, and Sāotāl Pargaṇā (in Bihār).

On March 2nd, 1923, on Gaura-Purṇīmā day, construction of the new temple of Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh in Māyāpur began. As per Śrīla Prabhupāda’s plan, the Deities on the main altar were Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga and Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda, and outside on the four sides were altars to Śrī, Brahma, Rudra, and Chatuḥ-Sana, as well as the four āchāryas of the four Vaiṣṇava sampradayas, Śrī Rāmānujāchārya, Śrī Madhvāchārya, Śrī Viṣṇuswāmī, and Śrī Nimbarkāchārya.

Later Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Purī Dhām with many devotees for Śrī Jagannath’s Ratha-yatra (chariot festival), and following in the footsteps of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, he sang and danced in front of the chariot of Śrī Jagannāth in the mood of separation. Later he lectured to a huge crowd consisting of many distinguished gentlemen from Calcutta. He also sent some disciples to preach in Oḍissā and Mādrās.

Publication of Scriptural Texts, 1923

In 1923 Śrīla Prabhupāda started printing Śrīmad Bhāgavatam at the Calcutta Gauḍīya Printing Works. Eventually all twelve cantos were published, with summaries of each chapter and various commentaries.

The First Vyasa-Puja, 1924

On February 24th, 1924, the fiftieth birth anniversary of Śrīla Prabhupāda, his disciples celebrated his Vyāsa-pūjā for the first time. In response to their homage, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a speech. That speech is regarded as a jewel in Vaiṣṇava literature. In it he addressed his disciples as “āmār vipad-tāraṇ bandhu-gaṇ” (“my friends who rescue me from danger”).

Preaching, 1924

The same year, during Gaura-Purṇīmā, the first edition of Śrī Chaitanya Bhāgavat, by Śrī Vṛndāvan Dās Ṭhākura, was edited by Śrīla Prabhupāda and published by Śrī Mādhva-Gauḍīya Maṭh, Dacca. In July, Śrīla Prabhupāda established Tridaṇḍi Maṭh in Oḍissā. Later he established the Sāraswat-Āsan in Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh, a devotional school in which the devotees could study scripture and study and distribute Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura’s books. In October, he went to Dacca for the fifth time. There he gave an erudite lecture about Śrī Mādhva-Gauḍīya sampradaya and its concept of Vaiṣṇavism. On December 16th, he gave a lecture at the Benares Hindu University on “The Place of Vaiṣṇavism in the World of Religion”. This lecture was very much appreciated by such distinguished professors of Oriental Studies as Prof. Pramathnāth Tarkabhuṣaṇ and Prof. Phanībhuṣaṇ Adhikārī. He searched for the places in Benares that were visited by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. Later he indicated to his disciples the location of the Dasāśvamedha Ghāṭ in Prayāg where Śrīman Mahāprabhu instructed Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī. He went to preach in the village of Āḍāil, which had previously been visited by Śrīman Mahāprabhu.

Two of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s brahmachārī disciples, Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Pramod Purī Mahārāj) and Śrīpād Nandasunu Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Hṛday Ban Mahārāj), visited one of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s gṛhastha disciples, Śrīpād Vaikuṇṭhanāth Dāsādhikārī, for a few days, to attend a preaching program in his house. During this time, Śrīpād Vaikuṇṭhanāth Prabhu’s eleven-year-old son would always stay close to the brahmachārīs, listening avidly to their spiritual discussions. He seemed to have a voracious appetite for devotional topics. So the brahmachārīs told his father, “Your son is very extraordinary. Unlike other children of his age, he is not so interested in playing as in listening to hari-kathā.” Śrīpād Vaikuṇṭhanāth Prabhu said, “This is how he has always been. Would you like to take my son to the maṭh?” The brahmachārīs answered, “We would love to have a boy like this in our mission.”

So the parents decided to send their son to the maṭh with the brahmachārīs. Even though the boy was the beloved child of a wealthy landholder, he was very happy at the prospect of a life in the maṭh. When the time came for the brahmachārīs to leave, the parents did not deviate from their decision. Referring to this incident, later the brahmachārīs said it reminded them of how little Dhruva Mahārāj was dressed by his own mother as she bade him go to the forest to meditate on Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Prabhupāda became very fond of this boy (who later became Śrīmad Bhakti Kumud Santa Mahārāj). He sent him to school, but he himself also tutored him. Later Śrīmad Santa Mahārāj became known for his powerful preaching.

Devotees Attacked: Gaura-mandal Parikrama, 1925

On January 29th, 1925, Śrīla Prabhupāda took many devotees and went on a parikramā of the whole Gaura-maṇḍal to visit and preach at the various places where the pastimes of Śrīman Mahāprabhu and his associates took place. Everywhere Śrīla Prabhupāda preached about the pure devotional concept of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism. The imitators of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism (the Sahajiyās) and the commercial exploiters of the Vaiṣṇava concept were intimidated by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s powerful preaching and his ever-increasing following. That year, in Navadwīp, they made plans to launch a vicious attack on the saṅkīrtan party.

Hundreds and thousands of devotees assembled at Poḍāmātalā, Navadwīp, for preaching and saṅkīrtan. Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda were placed on the back of a decorated elephant and were guarded by two devotees. Sannyāsīs were giving lectures and many people assembled to listen to the Hari-kathā. Unbeknownst to them, some carriages which had been filled with broken bricks and draped with cloth were waiting nearby.

Suddenly the thugs started throwing these broken bricks at the assembled devotees. Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod, who was on the elephant, immediately guided the elephant away from the scene, to protect Their Lordships. The devotees first tried to appease the thugs by reasoning with them, but this didn’t work. Many of the devotees were wounded and began bleeding. All of them tried to look for shelter in the nearby homes, especially for Śrīla Prabhupāda. But all the nearby homeowners had been ordered beforehand not to open their doors. They were also afraid that they too would be attacked by the thugs. Amidst the shock and confusion, somehow Śrīpād Vinod Vihārī Brahmachārī managed to take Śrīla Prabhupāda inside a house. There he exchanged his white clothes with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s saffron clothes so Śrīla Prabhupāda wouldn’t be recognized. Then he very quickly took Śrīla Prabhupāda away to a safer place. Thus Śrīpād Vinod Vihārī Prabhu managed to protect his spiritual master by his extraordinary dexterity and presence of mind. He risked his own life in order to do so.

Some of those present were completely shocked, and one local resident wrote in the Ānanda Bāzār Patrikā of Calcutta, “I witnessed the reenaction of what Jagāi and Mādhāi did to Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu more than four hundred years ago.” All over Bengal, many distinguished people protested in magazines and newspapers against this incident. As a result the Chief Inspector of Police of Navadwīp was fired, and the next year the police department sent 36 police officers to escort the devotees on parikramā in Navadwīp.

Srila Prabhupada’s Concern for Women Devotees

On September 21st, 1925, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a long lecture to the devotees assembled at the Gauḍīya Maṭh about how to lead an exemplary devotional life. An excerpt from that lecture follows:

All of you please perceive everything of this world as ingredients for serving Kṛṣṇa; everything of this world is actually meant for Kṛṣṇa’s service. Please see the whole race of women as beloved consorts of Kṛṣṇa, and help them to always engage themselves in the service of Kṛṣṇa. Please do not consider them as objects of your sense enjoyment. They are to be enjoyed by Kṛṣṇa; they are never to be enjoyed by the living entities. Please do not see your fathers and mothers as a means to your own sense gratification, but see them as Kṛṣṇa’s fathers and mothers. Please do not see your sons as a means to your own sense gratification, but see them as belonging to the group of servitors of Bāla-Gopāl. With your eyes please see the kadamba tree, the river Yamunā and its sandy bank, and the beauty of the full moon. You won’t have any more mundane feelings; you will see Goloka, and the beauty of Goloka will be manifest in your home. Then you won’t have any material feelings for your home. You will be relieved from the propensities of householder life.

Our maṭhs are being built at many places, and many sannyāsīs, vānaprasthas, gṛhasthas, and brahmachārīs are living there all the time and receiving the opportunity to learn spiritual conduct. But we have been trying for a long time to also give the mothers [women] the opportunity for devotional service. Of course, those who have the facility and opportunity for devotional service in their own homes do not need a separate residence. But very often we hear that many of them get impeded in their devotional service due to bad association. It will be very beneficial for them if we can build Śrī Viṣṇupriyā-pallī [”pallī” means “neighborhood”] in Śrīdhām Māyāpur near the residence of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, and if they can live there separately from their families and render devotional service. They actually belong to the group of Śrī Viṣṇupriyā Devī [the wife of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, who was left behind in Navadwīp when He took sannyās]. Therefore it is proper for them to live in the house of Śrīman Mahāprabhu and to serve Him under the shelter of Śrī Viṣṇupriyā Devī. There should not be any bad association or mundane male association for them there. Only a few devotees like Īśān [the old devotee servant who took care of Śrī Śachīdevī and Śrī Viṣṇupriyā Devī after Śrīman Mahāprabhu left] would stay at a distance and take care of them. It is necessary to have such an exemplary neighborhood so that the mothers [women] can read scripture every day, discuss devotional topics with each other, and have iṣṭa-goṣṭhī about devotional topics, so they can give up all luxury and live an exemplary, saintly life and always chant the holy name and take care of the ingredients of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s service and serve him in every way.

Saraswatī Jayaśrī, p. 339

Festival of Sri Nityananda, Preaching,and Publication of Nadiya Prakash, 1926

In 1926, Śrīla Prabhupāda held nāma-saṅkīrtan for three days to celebrate the appearance day of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. Thereafter this became an annual tradition.

One of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s dear disciples, Śrīpād Bhāgavat Janānanda Dās Brahmachārī, had disappeared the year before. In April 1926, Śrīla Prabhupāda established a maṭh in Chiruliyā in his memory and named it “Bhāgavat Janānanda Maṭh”. Then he preached at different places in Bengal and sent his sannyāsī preachers to different places in Bengal, Bihār, Oḍissā, and northern and western India. He himself also travelled all over India to preach the message of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, to have discussions with scholars of religion, and to collect facts about the religious traditions of India.

Śrīla Prabhupāda also established the Paramahaṁsa Maṭh in Naimiṣāranya, and he established Paravidyāpīṭ in Śrī Māyāpur. He installed the Deities of the Āchārya and Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda in the newly built temple of Śrī Chaitanya Maṭḥ.

In October 1926, Śrīla Prabhupāda began publishing a new weekly spiritual magazine, Nadiyā Prakāś, in both Bengali and English, at Śrī Bhāgavat Press, Krishnanagar. The joint editors of Nadiyā Prakās were Paṇḍit Śrīpād Pramod Bhūṣan Chakravartī (Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī) and Paṇḍit Śrīyukta Chaṇḍīcharaṇ Mukhopādhyāy. In its second year, Śrīla Prabhupāda turned it into a daily spiritual newspaper. From this time to its fourth year, Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī was its editor. Then in 1930 Śrīla Prabhupāda made Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī joint editor of Gauḍīya, so Śrīpād Atīndanāth Bandyopādhyāy and Śrī Kṛṣṇakānti Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Kusum Sramaṇ Mahārāj) became joint editors of Nadiyā Prakāś.

Travelling All Over India and Publishing The Harmonist Magazine, 1927

On June 15th, 1927, Śrīla Prabhupāda started publishing Sajjan Toṣaṇī in English, Sanskrit, and Hindi. The English version was called The Harmonist. Its editor, Professor Niśikānta Sānnyāl (Śrīpād Nārāyaṇdās Bhaktisudhākar) of Ravenshaw College, Cuttack was a learned scholar and a talented writer. Śrīla Prabhupāda was extremely fond of him. Śrīpād Bhaktisudhākar Prabhu used to offer his entire salary to Śrīla Prabhupāda each month. Śrīla Prabhupāda would then give it to Śrīpād Narahari Prabhu and tell him, “Now you manage your household [Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh, Māyāpur] with this.”

Under the expert editorship of Śrīpād Bhaktisudhākar Prabhu, The Harmonist enjoyed the same fame and popularity as Gauḍīya. Śrīla Prabhupāda considered Śrīpād Bhaktisudhākar Prabhu a strong pillar of his preaching mission, and before he left this world he expressed his gratitude to him. Many devotees who were proficient in English, such as Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj, Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj, Śrīmad Bhakti Hṛday Ban Mahārāj, and Śrīmad Bhakti Saraṅga Goswāmī Mahārāj, regularly contributed to The Harmonist. The British editor of a British-run newspaper of Calcutta sent a letter of appreciation to the editor of The Harmonist.

The following letter appeared in Gauḍīya, Vol. 14, No. 24, p. 383:

The Biosophical Institute
250 West 100th Street
New York City
December 10, 1935

Dear Sir,
Since we have been receiving your magazine The Harmonist, each issue has given us new joy and inspiration. The spirit pervading the whole magazine is a most unusual one.

Sincerely yours
Sd/ Sylvia Goodwin,
Secretary to Dr. F. Kettner

In September 1927, Śrīla Prabhupāda set forth to preach in North India in different places. Among them were Kāśī, Kānpur, Lucknow, Jaipur, Galatāparvat, Salimābād, Puṣkar, Ajmīḍ, Dwārkā, Sudāmāpurī, Girṇār Parvat, Prabhās, Avantī, Mathurā-maṇḍal, Indraprastha, Kurukṣetra, and Naimiṣāranya.

Preaching, Kurukshetra, Sri Chaitanya Padapith, 1928–1929

In 1928, Śrīla Prabhupāda edited the fourth edition of Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta. He went to preach in different places of Āssām. On November 4th, during the solar eclipse, he went to Kurukṣetra and, following the mood of separation of the gopīs and Śrīman Mahāprabhu, he preached the message of Śrīman Mahāprabhu to millions of devotees who assembled there. At that time he installed a Deity of Śrīman Mahāprabhu at Śrī Vyāsa Gauḍīya Maṭh in Kurukṣetra and opened a spiritual exhibition (“Bhāgavat Pradarśanī”) there. He gave Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj responsibility for the Kurukṣetra maṭh.

In 1929, Śrīla Prabhupāda established the Ekāyan Maṭh in Krishnanagar. In January he discussed Vaiṣṇava religion extensively with Professor Albert E. Suthers of Ohio State University. Śrīla Prabhupāda presented the concept of Vaiṣṇavism as extended and perfect Christianity. At first Professor Suthers was very skeptical and argumentative, but after long discussions he was very impressed by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s deep, scholarly, and logical presentation. As a result he decided to visit Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s birthsite before he left. Later Śrīla Prabhupāda established a Gauḍīya Maṭh in Delhi.

Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to establish all the sites which Śrīman Mahāprabhu had visited as places of pilgrimage. He called them “Śrī Chaitanya Pādapīṭh” and selected 108 such places. He began this task in October 1929 and established the first two sites at Kānāir Nāṭśālā and Mandar. Later that year he preached extensively in Bihār, in such places as Bhāgalpur, Nālandā, and Rājgiri. Subsequently he went to Benares and interpreted Śrī Sanātan-Śikṣa (Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu’s instruction to Śrī Sanātan Goswāmī). Then Śrīla Prabhupāda set forth once more on his North Indian preaching mission, and visited such places as Faijābād, Ayodhyā, Naimiṣāraṇya, Karauṇā, Miśrik, Sītāpur, and Lucknow. Throughout North India, many people took initiation from him.

On June 1st, 1929, the first post office had opened in Māyāpur. At this time, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples had arranged to have electricity at Iśodyān and electric lights on the domes of Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh.

The Mayapur Exhibition, 1930

On February 3rd, 1930, Śrīla Prabhupāda arranged a spectacular spiritual exhibition at Māyāpur, which went on until March 17th. The famous chemist, Sir Prafulla Chandra Rāy, opened the exhibition. Thousands flocked to see the exhibition, which contained many stalls depicting stories and lessons from Śrīmad Bhāgavatam through dioramas and paintings.

Śrī Jagabandhu Datta, a rich businessman of Calcutta (originally from Bānarīpāḍā, Bariśāl), had the good fortune of associating with some of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples. He was an experienced and prudent man in many ways, and he watched the activities and conduct of the devotees at the Gauḍīya Maṭh with a keen eye. Previously he had seen and heard so-called devotees concocting their own philosophy to gratify their senses. Within a short time, he realized this was not the case here. Even though he was wealthy and successful, in the late 1920’s he was overwhelmed with physical and emotional problems. He wanted some relief from his material miseries, and he came to visit Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was very merciful to him and spent many hours with him, speaking hari-kathā and explaining many things. Śrī Jagabandhu Datta was extremely impressed by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s explanations. He began to have a clear concept of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s message of pure devotion. He said of Śrīla Prabhupāda, “What I have heard from him, I have not heard from anyone else.” Sometimes he would invite Śrīla Prabhupāda to his home to deliver Hari-kathā to his friends and relatives. Following is an excerpt from one of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lectures at Śrī Jagabandhu Datta’s house:

Śrī Gaursundar lived in his own house in Navadwīp only to arouse the devotional consciousness of the people who were attached to their family life. Again when he displayed his pastime of leaving home, that was also to enlighten the ignorant souls. He told his mother and his wife, ‘Know Kṛṣṇa as your only son and husband.’ Leaving his mother grieving for her son, and his helpless young wife grieving for her husband, he set forth for the eternal welfare of the poor, miserable, and fallen souls of the world. Giving up all his material duty and the vows he had taken at his wedding, he went for kṛṣṇa-kīrtan.

Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s sannyās-līlā, departing from his household life, was not the same as Śākyasiṁha’s [Gautama Buddha’s] departure from his house, as Śākyasiṁha was motivated by the selfish desire to attain liberation for himself. Śrīman Mahāprabhu displayed his pastime of sannyās only to eradicate the eternal poverty of all created beings and to give them an eternal and unequalled gift. He himself was not lacking in anything. He is the only husband of the eternal race of women; He is the only son of the eternal mothers and fathers; He is the eternal friend and master of His servants.

It is not that Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s magnanimous gift will remain confined within the perimeters of Bengal; nor is it due only to those who are born in brāhmaṇ families. People of all races—irrespective of whether they are sinful or pious, Hindus or non-Hindus; indeed, all the living entities of the whole world—can accept this magnanimous gift, which was never offered before, if they can give up their pride.

Saraswatī Jayaśrī, p. 356

The Bagbazar Gaudiya Math, 1930

Śrī Jagabandhu Datta begged Śrīla Prabhupāda to give him initiation, and Śrīla Prabhupāda granted his request, giving him the name “Jagabandhu Bhaktirañjan”. Śrīpād Bhaktirañjan Prabhu had no children to inherit his wealth, and he wanted to offer his wealth to serve Śrīla Prabhupāda’s mission. He wanted a specific service in which his wealth could be utilized, and he begged Śrīla Prabhupāda to give him that service. Śrīla Prabhupāda had been thinking of having a bigger building in Calcutta, where more devotees could stay and more people could come to attend lectures and saṅkīrtan. He also wanted to have a printing press on the premises. So he expressed this desire to Śrīpād Bhaktirañjan Prabhu.

Śrīpād Bhaktirañjan Prabhu was ecstatic to have the opportunity to finance the new Gauḍīya Maṭh temple. This service became his life and soul. He bought a sizeable piece of land in the heart of Calcutta. It was located near the Gaṅgā, on Kāliprasād Chakravartī Street in Bāgbāzār. Within two years construction of the new temple was finished. It was a beautiful, palatial marble temple, with many rooms, a conference hall, a library, large kitchens, and a hall for the printing press.

On October 5th, 1930, Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Guru Gaurāṅga Gāndhārvikā Giridhāri were taken on a chariot from the Gauḍīya Maṭh at No. 1 Ulṭodiṅgī Junction Road to the new Bāgbāzār Gauḍīya Maṭh. A big saṅkīrtan procession escorted Their Lordships all the way. A large crowd followed the procession. It was a major event in Calcutta. It was described thus in Gauḍīya:

The city of Calcutta has been overwhelmed with joy today. Everyone forgot their daily tasks of earning their livelihood. When the tumultuous sound of kīrtan was heard on the streets of Calcutta, all the people, attracted by that sound, left whatever they were doing and came running into the street. The devotees following the chariot, headed by the sannyāsīs, were singing a special song composed [by Śrīla Prabhupāda] for this occasion, “pujala raga patha gorava bhange, mātala harijana viṣaya raṅge”. —Gauḍīya, Volume 9, No. 8

The gist of the song was as follows: “Today, the servants of Hari have become intoxicated by the joy of his divine pastime. They worshiped with great reverence the street on which He rode His chariot.”

So many people came to the Gauḍīya Maṭh that day that as people went up the stairs, the iron banister was bent by the pressure of the crowd. Great festivities took place following the Deity installation, ārati, Hari-kathā, and prasādam. Thousands of destitute people were also fed sumptuous prasādam that day. Śrīla Prabhupāda said in his hari-kathā:

Now we have only procured a seat [for Hari-kathā]. We have built a castle to preach about the Lord by spending someone’s entire savings of a lifetime. But we have to protect ourselves in this castle from the association of materialistic people; we have to defend ourselves from the confusion of this age of Kali (the age of quarrel and hypocrisy). So we have to publish and distribute many more books. Only if we can construct the temple in the form of books and in the form of ideal lives can the idea of devotional service remain permanently in this world.

In the Bāgbāzār Gauḍīya Maṭh, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s preaching mission gained new momentum. More devotees were staying at the maṭh now, and more people were coming to listen to hari-kathā. The professors and students from prestigious nearby colleges, such as Scottish Church College and Presidency College, were coming to listen to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lectures. Śrīla Prabhupāda had a core group of eighteen sannyāsīs for preaching and organizing. The sannyāsīs were always travelling and preaching, and they only stayed at the maṭh for a few days at a time while en route to their next destination.

Shortly after the construction of the Gauḍīya Maṭh temple, on November 19th, Śrīpād Jagabandhu Bhaktirañjan left this material world. Śrīla Prabhupāda was deeply saddened by the departure of his dear disciple. By his instruction, every year the Gauḍīya Maṭh would celebrate the disappearance day of Śrīpād Jagabandhu Bhaktirañjan Prabhu, and the Gauḍīya would publish a special issue dedicated to his memory. As long as Śrīla Prabhupāda lived in this mortal world, he glorified Śrīpād Jagabandhu Prabhu with great affection in many of his letters, speeches, and articles.

Before he left this world, Śrīpad Jagabandhu Prabhu wrote a poem to Śrīla Prabhupāda. The translation of that poem is as follows: “What can I give you Gurudeva? The wealth I can give you is yours. You are my treasure and I belong to you. By giving you your property I have nothing to lose. You knew about the sadness in my heart, who else could I talk to? By giving you what belongs to you, I become yours. Jagabandhu dāsa says, ‘O you who are the land of nectar personified, you have everything. All I have is you.’”

South India, 1930

In December 1930, Śrīla Prabhupāda went on a preaching mission in South India. Among the places he visited were Kurmakṣetra, Siṁhāchal, Kabhur, and Maṅgalgiri. He established Śrī Chaitanya Pāda-pīṭh at Maṅgalgiri. Many distinguished high offiicials, scholars, and professionals were attracted to the message of Śrīman Mahāprabhu as preached by Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Emphasis On Book Publication

Śrīla Prabhupāda called his printing press Bṛhat Mṛdāṅga (the big clay drum). During saṅkīrtan the sound of the ordinary clay drum (mṛdāṅga) can be heard only in the immediate vicinity. But the divine message of Śrīman Mahāprabhu can be spread all over the world through the publication of books.

At the opening ceremony of the Bāgbāzār Gauḍīya Maṭh, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “…to establish internal hari-bhajan in this world quite a few books have to be written and published. The temple which is within the books and the temple which is within the devotees are more important than the temple built with bricks and stones, because by constructing such temples hari-kathā can be preached in this world much longer.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda had among his disciples a very talented team of writers and editors, who dedicated their lives to his publication mission. Among them were: Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod, Śrīpād Paramānanda Vidyāratna, Śrīpād Bhaktisudhākar Prabhu (Professor Niṣikānt Sannyāl), Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj, Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj, and Śrīpād Pranavānanda Pratnavidyālaṅkār (later Śrīmad Bhakti Pramod Purī Mahārāj).

After the disappearance of Śrīla Prabhupāda another name would be added to this list, that of Śrīla A.C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj, who published beautifully designed English translations of Bhagavad-gītā (as Bhagavad-gītā As It Is), Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta sindhu (as Nectar of Devotion), and Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta. These books would capture the hearts of thousands of people all over the world.

The printing presses of the Gauḍīya Maṭh were busy night and day printing books, magazines, and pamphlets. It is not possible within the narrow scope of this chapter to list all the books published by the Gauḍīya Maṭh.

The Bhaktivinod Institute and the Sat-Shiksha Exhibition, 1931

On April 3rd, 1931, Śrīla Prabhupāda opened a new high school in Śrīdhām Māyāpur, called the Bhaktivinod Institute. At a large assembly there he gave a lecture about material education and spiritual knowledge. Later he went to preach at the resort of Dārjeeliṅg in north Bengal, in the foothills of the Himālayas. On September 6th, during the celebration of the Gauḍīya Maṭh’s anniversary, Śrīla Prabhupāda opened a big exhibition in Calcutta, the Sat-Śikṣā exhibition.

Rejection of Sahajiya Imitationists

Śrīla Prabhupāda preached against the abominable practices and concepts of the pseudo-Vaiṣṇava sampradayas (sahajiyās). Inside the Gauḍīya Maṭh as well, he kept a vigilant eye out against any potential for imitation in the path of devotion. Śrīla Prabhupāda preached in very forceful language against any false external display of devotion. He made it very clear in his lectures that devotion for the Supreme Lord is not some cheap sentiment. Devotion means submission to Gurudeva, self-discipline, self-sacrifice, and wholehearted effort to render devotional service. Unless one is an eternally liberated soul, one cannot attain the platform of spontaneous love (rāgānugā bhakti) without first going through all the stages of regulated practice (vaidhi bhakti).

Even though Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted his disciples to become knowledgeable about scripture, so they could become expert preachers, he did not encourage new devotees to read the intimate pastimes of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. He made it clear that if a devotee prematurely enters that realm of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes which can be understood only by advanced devotees, then such an act of trespassing will do more harm than good to his bhajan life. If one with a propensity for sense-gratification reads about Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s intimate pastimes, then his enjoying propensity will only increase, because he will not realize their transcendental nature. This will be very detrimental to his devotional life. Śrīla Prabhupāda did not even encourage new disciples to read the tenth canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. He also disapproved of indiscriminate displays of paintings of rādhā-kṛṣṇa-līlā. An article on this subject, entitled “Ālekhya”, appeared in Gauḍīya, Volume 13, No. 41. Śrīla Prabhupāda made it very clear that Kṛṣṇa consciousness is not an object of sense enjoyment, but the object of worship and service.

Every spring a festival called “Vasanta-gān” (“Songs of Spring”) or dhulaṭ used to take place in the town of Navadwīp. In different public places of Navadwīp, music concerts would be held in which professional singers would sing songs about the intimate pastimes of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. These concerts were attended by many local people as well as people from East Bengal. During the concerts, members of the audience would become emotionally aroused and start to dance, roll on the ground, and so forth. Every year some scandals would arise in connection with these concerts. When the festival first started, the audience consisted mostly of uneducated women. Subsequently some educated people, such as writers, also started attending these concerts. They tried to rationalize listening to these songs with the excuse that Śrīman Mahāprabhu used to like the songs of Jayadev, Chaṇḍidās, Vidyāpati, Bilvamaṅgal Ṭhākura, and Rāya Rāmānanda. But Śrīla Prabhupāda quoted from the scriptures written by the Goswāmīs, and cited the examples of the conduct of Śrīman Mahāprabhu and his associates, to establish that if one who is in an illusioned state listens to these songs composed by liberated souls, it is only sense gratification in the name of śravan-kīrtan. He particularly mentioned the history over the previous few hundred years of the community of sahajiyās, which confirmed this fact. For some people these music concerts were a means to develop reputations as bhaktas (devotees) or rasiks (connoisseurs of rasa), and for others they were a means for commercial exploitation of ignorant people. But by indulging in these practices, one can be deviated from the path of bhakti, which is the supreme goal of life. This was discussed in detail in an article called vasanta-gān which appeared in Gauḍīya, Volume 1, No. 22.

Just as Śrīla Prabhupāda was opposed to the enjoying mentality, he also rejected the idea of renunciation for its own sake—without consideration of whether it is favorable for one’s devotional service. Instead, he propagated the principle of yukta-vairāgya (positive renunciation), according to which one gives up his enjoying propensity but accepts everything that is favorable for devotional service.

North India and Publishing in Hindi, 1931

In October, Śrīla Prabhupāda was invited to preach in Benares at the Mint Palace. Later he went to Lucknow and introduced a new Hindi magazine, Bhāgavat. In November he sent one of his sannyāsī preachers to the Viceroy of India, Lord Willingdon, in New Delhi. On November 17th, he celebrated the anniversary festival of the Delhi Gauḍīya Maṭh for the first time. On December 6th, he installed Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Rādhā Govinda there.

Vehement Opposition to Impersonalism

Following in the footsteps of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura, Śrīla Prabhupāda spoke out against impersonalism through his preaching mission. The impersonalist religious sect of Bengal, called the “Brahma Samāj”, which was founded by Rājā Rāmmohan Rāy in the 19th century, was the greatest opponent of Vaiṣṇavism and the idea of a personal God.

Once the instructor of the Sādhāraṇ Brahma Samāj of Calcutta, Śrī Hemchandra Sarkār, came to the Gauḍīya Maṭh to find out about Śrī Chaitanya Deva and His successor āchāryas from Śrīla Prabhupāda. During the discussion that followed, Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “It is the concept of the Brahma’s that is based on idolatry. They have opposed gross idolatry but they have accepted subtle idolatry. The idol that is made by the material mind on the basis of a material concept of the formless Brahma is more dangerous than the idolatry of demigod worshippers. Real Vaiṣṇavas are not such idolaters. Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism is clearly different from the two kinds of idolatry: iconolatry and iconomachy. The pure Vaiṣṇavas never worship some doll made of wood or clay or a doll fabricated by the material mind. The worshipable Lord of the Vaiṣṇavas is not some imaginary temporary thing.”

Hearing this, Śrī Hemchandra Sarkār said, “Then don’t you worship idols?” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “We do not worship any imaginary form or doll whom we are going to break later. We worship the eternal deity form that is manifested by the transcendental knowledge potency of the Supreme Lord, whose potencies are inconceivable.”

Then Śrīla Prabhupāda made Śrī Hemchandra Sarkār understand the difference between idolatry and deity worship through a logical presentation. Finally Śrī Hemchandra Sarkār said, “But we see that the Vaiṣṇavas in our village worship many demigods.” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Considering them to be real Vaiṣṇavas, you criticize us, but they cannot touch the real Vaiṣṇavas or real Vaiṣṇavism. To ascertain the real form of Vaiṣṇavism on the basis of its degenerated form is not an intelligent act. Vaiṣṇavas never become gross or subtle idolaters by worshipping some imagined gross temporary form, as the demigod worshippers do, or some imagined and temporary subtle form or idea, as the impersonalists do. One imagines the absence of God’s embodiment of eternity, knowledge, and bliss and of His inconceivable potency by giving him an imagined form based on a material concept or making him formless. This is against the injunctions of the Vedas. Humans have no right to expand their imaginations by thinking that just because God does not have material senses or form, He cannot have transcendental senses or form. Just because the Vedas have denied the material form of Brahma, some people have thought the Supreme Lord cannot have a transcendental form which is an embodiment of eternity, knowledge, and bliss either. On one hand they are saying ‘Brahma’, indicating that this worshipable truth is greater than themselves, but on the other hand they are trying to measure that great reality. Rājā Rāmmohan Rāy has protested against the ignorant concepts of someone with the title of ‘Goswāmī’. But he did not hear about Vaiṣṇavism from a real Vaiṣṇava āchārya—this we can prove with hundreds of logical statements.” (Saraswatī Jayaśrī, pp. 348–350)

Preaching in South India, 1932

Śrīla Prabhupāda went on an extensive preaching mission in South India in 1932. He had already sent some of his disciples to preach in South India. Among them were Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj and Śrīpād Hayagrīva Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhav Mahārāj).

On January 10th, 1932, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Mādrās with twenty disciples. A large party of high government officials were waiting to receive him there. Among them was the mayor of Mādrās, Mr. T. S. Rāmaswāmī Āyar. A large saṅkīrtan procession accompanied Śrīla Prabhupāda to the Mādrās Gauḍīya Maṭh in Gopālpuram, and there some of the officials gave speeches honoring Śrīla Prabhupāda. On January 23rd, Śrīla Prabhupāda installed deities at the Mādrās Gauḍīya Maṭh. He also laid the cornerstone of the new temple at Rayāpeṭṭā. On January 27th, the governor of Mādrās, Sir George Frederick Stanley, came to the Mādrās Gauḍīya Maṭh to lay the cornerstone of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Kīrtan Hall.

Śrīla Prabhupāda preached with great success in Mādrās and surrounding areas of South India. Many people took initiation from him. Then he went back to Māyāpur in time for Śrī Navadwīp parikramā. This year, his disciples took such examinations as the Bhakti-śāstri. The purpose of these examinations was to make Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples familiar with the intimate details of all aspects of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism.

On May 23rd, Śrīla Prabhupāda returned to Mādrās. This time he met with the āchāryas of different sampradayas and explained Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism to them. Later he also preached at Uṭkāmand, Mysore, and Kabhur.

Glorification of Srimati Radharani

When asked “Who are the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas?”, Śrīla Prabhupāda replied that they are the devotees of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī (Śrī Upadeśāmṛta, p. 236). He called himself Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-dayita dāsa (the servant of the beloved of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī).

He said that Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, who is the transcendental energy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the personification of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency (Hlādinī-svarupā Parā Śakti), is the spiritual master of all devotees. Indeed, She is even Kṛṣṇa’s Guru: Kṛṣṇa learns to be an actor and dancer as Her disciple. All the pure devotees who are not worshipping Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the mellow of conjugal relationship (madhura rasa) know Lord Nityānanda to be their original spiritual master. But the original spiritual master of those who worship Śrī Kṛṣṇa in madhura rasa is Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. (Śrī Upadeśāmṛta p. 27)

Śrīla Prabhupāda said that Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s eternal consort; She is the crest jewel of the gopīs. No one is more dear to Kṛṣṇa than Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is not inferior to Śrī Kṛṣṇa in any way. It is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself who enjoys Himself in two separate forms, as the enjoyer and the enjoyed. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s beauty is so stunning that He Himself becomes enchanted by His own beauty. But if the beauty of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī were not greater than that of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, She could not enchant Kṛṣṇa, who can enchant the whole universe. That is why She is called Bhuvan-mohan-mohinī. She is the effulgence of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is like the full moon (Kṛṣṇachandra). Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the sum total of all ecstasy, all beauty. He is the original reservoir of all wealth, prowess, and knowledge. So the greatness of Rādhārāṇī, who is the āśraya and viśaya of this most perfect Person, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is beyond the limit of human knowledge—even beyond the limit of understanding of many liberated souls. (Śrī Upadeśāmṛta pp. 330–1)

Whenever Śrīla Prabhupāda talked about Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, he would become overwhelmed with the symptoms of deep loving ecstasy. Śrīla Raghunāth Dās Goswāmī’s famous composition Vilāp-Kusumāñjali consists of verses addressed to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in the mood of intense separation, as Śrīla Dāsa Goswāmī is an intimate servitor of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in his eternal identity as Śrī Rati-mañjari. (The mañjaris are young pre-teen girls who serve Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.) Śrīla Prabhupāda could quote from memory all 104 verses of Vilāp-Kusumāñjali, and tears would flow from his eyes. He was always in a mood of separation from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

Every Rādhāṣṭamī day (the appearance day of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī), Śrīla Prabhupāda would display the symptoms of deep ecstasy while talking about Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Following is an excerpt from a lecture given by Śrīla Prabhupāda on the day of Rādhāṣṭamī in 1931 at the Sāraswat Nāṭmandir of Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh.

Let that personification of supreme magnanimity, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, who is always eager to collect the mercy of the Supreme Lord on behalf of all living entities, appear in our hearts and make Her presence known. Let Her appearance be our object of worship. Without submission to the one whom Govinda considers to be everything to Him (sarvasva), we do not realize the meaning of the word “sarva”. “Govinda sarvasva”—“sva” means “one’s own”, “sva” means “wealth”. If we have the one who is Govinda’s own wealth—the one who makes Him wealthy; that wealth is everything to Govinda—if She becomes the object of our worship, then we will understand what worship is. If after reading the 18,000 verses of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam we do not come to know about Her, then our reading was in vain.

If by some unknown sukṛti we get the association of those who are close to Śrī Vṛṣabhānunandinī (Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī), if we are are fortunate enough to hear about Her, then we can get the inspiration to proceed towards our supremely beneficial goal. She is everything to the son of Nanda who is the reservoir of all ecstasy, and we will never attain devotional service to Govinda without serving Her and Her servitors.

Prabhupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī, pp. 99–100

Sri Vraja-Mandal Parikrama, 1932

It is in this mood of separation from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī that Śrīla Prabhupāda went on Vraja-maṇḍal praikramā. In October, Śrīla Prabhupāda started his Vraja-maṇḍal parikramā with many devotees. He circumambulated the Vraja-maṇḍal along its 32-mile perimeter. At each place of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, he gave Hari-kathā. For the benefit of people who spoke other languages, he himself and many of his followers gave hari-kathā in different languages. Śrīla Prabhupāda explained Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī’s Upadeśāmṛta to the assembled Vrajavāsīs and scholars.

On November 4th, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Haridwār to lay the cornerstone of the Sāraswat Gauḍīya Maṭh. By his request, the governor of Yukta Pradesh, Sir William Malcolm Haley, laid the cornerstone of Śrī Rūpa Gauḍīya Maṭh.

Preaching Mission to the West, 1933

In 1933, the English book Śrī Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya, by Professor Niśikānt Sānnyāl, was published in a beautifully bound edition. It was Śrīla Prabhupāda’s desire to send a preaching mission to Europe now. Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted to preach Mahāprabhu’s message all over the world. He used to tell his disciples, “We’ll go on our preaching mission, riding horses, elephants, trains, boats, and airplanes.” His dream of preaching all over the West was later greatly fulfilled by his disciple, Śrīmad Abhay Charaṇāravinda Bhaktivedānta Swāmī, who took initiation from Śrīla Prabupāda in 1933 in Āllāhābād.

Bon Maharaja with Lord Zetland

On March 18th, 1933, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave instruction to Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj, Śrīmad Bhakti Hṛday Bon Mahārāj, and Śrīpād Samvidānanda Dās Bhakti-śāstri as they were departing to preach in Europe. At a meeting that was arranged to see them off, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a farewell address entitled Āmār Kathā (“My Message”).

In the beginning of May, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples established a preaching center in Kensington, London. At the end of that month, Śrīla Prabhupāda got letters inquiring into spiritual matters from Lord Zetland, who had formerly been the governor of Bengal, and the Marquis of Ludian, to which he replied. In June he got letters of appreciation from Lord Irwin’s secretary, the Marquis of Ludian, the editor of the London Times, and Sir Stanley Jackson. In July, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples met with King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace, and also with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In November, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples went to preach in Germany and France. At the end of December they returned to London. As one can imagine, this was not a very favorable time to preach Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s mission in Europe. Traumatized by the First World War, the West was plagued by the Great Depression, international tension, and the rise of totalitarianism. Furthermore, all of these factors had combined to create a deep cynicism about God and spirituality, which was manifest in the popularity of thinkers such as Nietzsche and Freud. The atmosphere, particularly in Germany, was one of extreme anxiety, due to the recent collapse of many aspects of the predominant worldview, from the way war was waged to the workings of the universe.

Contribution of the Gaudiya Math

In the meantime, preaching in India was going on in full swing, in the midst of the great national current of the freedom movement. In the same year the Bāgbāzār Gauḍīya Maṭh was opened (1930), throughout India Mahātmā Gāndhi’s followers took an uncompromising stand upholding his nonviolent noncooperation with the British Government. That year Gāndhi went on his famous Salt March, which was a decisive turn in the march towards freedom. In Bengal, the guerilla groups also carried on their subversive activities. That same year three young Bengali freedom fighters—Binay, Bādal, and Dinesh—launched an open attack on British officials at the Writers’ Building in Calcutta. In the chaos that followed, two of them were captured (and later executed) and one shot himself to death. In the heart of Bengal emotions were running high against the British. It might be considered amazing that at a time like this, the Gauḍīya Maṭh managed to win such a favorable position among the educated people of Bengal—that so many people came forward to somehow participate in this mission of pure devotion. Śrīla Prabhupāda hoisted the flag of the Gauḍīya Maṭh to a great height, and he upheld its goal as the most sublime destination of human birth.

Regarding the contribution of the Gauḍīya Maṭh, Śrīla Prabhupāda said:

In the history of spirituality, how many other historical events of great revolution, like the preaching of the Gauḍīya Maṭh, have taken place, the historians of spirituality will determine. What a great revolution this is, that everyone in the Gauḍīya Maṭh is dedicating themselves to preach something that at first sight seems completely unique in the history of the human race. They [the devotees] are not afraid of thousands of people who are proud of their knowledge. Nor are they ready to indulge the deceitfulness and debauchery of the lecherous. The Gauḍīya Maṭh is ready to put to death the mentality of the innumerable living entities of the world who are averse to Kṛṣṇa and who are devising many plans to steal the property of the Supreme Sovereign. They [the devotees] do not want one penny from this world [for themselves]; they want to give the world that which is complete. They want to completely give them Chaitanya Deva, who is the full transcendental consciousness.

Preaching in India, 1933

That year, Śrīla Prabhupāda preached extensively in Bombay, and the Bombay Gauḍīya Maṭh preaching center was established on Bābulnāth Road. In August, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave a lecture about one of his books, The Vedānta: Its Morphology and Ontology. Later he preached in Navadwīp. In November he preached extensively in Bihār and Oḍissā. At the same time, preaching went on in Karāchi, in present-day Pākistān.

Building a New Temple At Yogapith and Preaching All Over India, 1934

In January 1934, the King of Tripurā, Mahārāja Vīrvikramkiśor Devavarma Māṇikya Bāhādur, came to the Gauḍīya Maṭh with his retinue and gave a lecture in appreciation of the Gauḍīya Maṭh’s preaching mission. On February 4th, on the occasion of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Vyāsa-pūjā, a seminar took place in London, over which Lord Zetland presided. On March 18th, Śrīla Prabhupāda laid the cornerstone of the new Yogapīṭh temple in Māyāpur. On April 24th, Lord Zetland opened the Gauḍīya Mission Society in London. On May 6th, the well-known archeologist, Sir Ramāprasād Chanda, gave a lecture at the Gauḍīya Maṭh called “Navadwīp At the Time of Śrī Chaitanya”.

One of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples, Śrīyukta Sakhicharaṇ Rāy Bhaktivijay, financed the construction of the Yogapīṭh temple in Māyāpur. Śrīla Prabhupāda greatly appreciated this service. Before he left this world, Śrīla Prabhupāda told Śrīpād Sakhicharaṇ Rāy Bhaktivijay that his life was successful, as he had done a great service to Śrīdhām Māyāpur.

On June 13th, while the foundation was being excavated, a four-handed Deity of Lord Viṣṇu manifested Himself from the ground. Śrīla Prabhupāda expressed his opinion that this deity was worshiped by Śrī Jagannāth Miśra. The archeologist Ramāprasād Chanda declared the Deity to be quite ancient.

On August 14th, deities were installed at the Pāṭnā Gauḍīya Maṭh. On September 1st, on the day of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī, Saraswatī Jayaśrī, a biography of Śrīla Prabhupāda, was published. Different sections of the book were written by different disciples, and the descriptions of many incidents were quoted from the memoirs of other disciples and from Gauḍīya. The principal writers of Saraswatī Jayaśrī were Śrīpād Paramānanda Vidyāratna, Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Vidyābhūṣan, Śrīpād Ananta Vāsudeva Prabhu, Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod, and Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj.

In October, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Mathurā with many devotees to observe Kārtik-vrata, and he established the practice of śravan-kīrtan of aṣṭa-kālīya līlā (hearing and chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes during the eight periods of the day). On December 6th, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciple from Andhra Pradesh, Śrīyukta Y. Jagannātham, published Śrī Chaitanya Śikṣāmṛta in Telegu.

Extraordinary Preaching Organization

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s unique and unprecedented contribution to the world of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism did not consist solely of his own greatness, but also included the extraordinary preaching organization that he envisioned, built, and nurtured. He alone could bring a spiritual revolution to Bengal and to India—indeed, to the world—but he wanted to leave behind a magnificent spiritual legacy, in the form of a group of dedicated souls who would carry on his mission in his absence in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties. He attracted these pure hearts, taught and trained them, and left them behind him to spread his movement throughout the inevitable advancement of Kali-yuga in future decades. Even under the shelter of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lotus feet, they had to face many tests and trials, but with Śrīla Prabhupāda’s divine guidance, ultimately fate always favored them.

Anyone coming to the Gauḍīya Maṭh would be awed by the divine personality of Śrīla Prabhupāda, and then impressed by his team of dedicated disciples. The disciples of a guru are known as his vaibhav (wealth), and Śrīla Prabhupāda was certainly a very wealthy spiritual master. This wealth of his was “in the form of ideal characters”. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples were known for their unending enthusiasm for preaching, their undefeatable scholarship, their sincere humility, their strong moral character, and their total dedication to serve the mission of Gurudeva. All Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples who stayed at the different maṭhs were intelligent, talented, hardworking, and knowledgeable about scripture.

The core of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s preaching mission consisted of eighteen sannyāsīs:

Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Hṛday Ban Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Sarvasya Giri Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Sambandha Turyāśramī Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Vivek Bharatī Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Śrīrūp Purī Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Prakāś Araṇya Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Vilās Gabhastinemi Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Bhūdev Śrautī Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Svarūp Parvat Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Prasun Bodhāyan Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Gaurav Vaikhānas Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Sambal Bhāgavat Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Vijñān Āśram Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Sudhīr Yāchak Mahārāj
Śrīmad Bhakti Vaibhav Sāgar Mahārāj
and Śrīmad Bhakti Vardhan Sāgar Mahārāj.

They were all expert preachers, and some of them were great scholars, such as Śrīmad Bhakti Gaurav Vaikhānas Mahārāj, who had been the court paṇḍit of Oḍissā and whom Śrīla Prabhupād sent to speak with the Viceroy of India.

Śrīla Prabhupāda called Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj “Śāstranipun [expert on scripture] Śrīdhar Mahārāj”. Śrīmad Śrīdhar Mahārāj was a talented writer of Bengali, English, and Sanskrit. When he wrote his glorification of Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura, Śrīla Prabhupāda described his style as “happy style”. Śrīla Prabhupāda also said of this verse to Śrīpād Aprākṛta Prabhu, “I am satisfied that what I came to say will remain after me; I find in this verse the siddhānta (perfect theological conclusion).” Śrīla Prabhupāda noted the highly philosophical content of Śrīmad Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s lectures, and when he himself delivered Hari-kathā it would always give him great satisfaction to see Śrīmad Śrīdhar Mahārāj in the audience.

Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj was also noted for his scholarship. He translated the Bhagavad-gītā into English, and wrote quite a few other books in English. His powerful lectures in Dacca became legendary. Śrīla Prabhupāda sent him to preach in the West, along with Śrīmad Bhakti Hṛday Ban Mahārāj. Śrīmad Ban Mahārāj’s English lectures were so well-reputed that the mere mention of his name would attract high government officials to attend Hari-kathā.

Śrīmad Bhakti Saraṅga Goswāmī Mahārāj was also famous for his scholarship and his lectures. Śrīmad Yāyāvar Mahārāj was known for his ability to quote scripture. Among the brahmachārī preachers, Śrīpād Hayagrīva Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhav Mahārāj) and Śrīpād Siddhasvarūp Brahmachārī were known for their preaching ability. Śrīpād Hayagrīva Brahmachārī was instrumental, along with Śrīmad Śrīdhar Mahārāj, in opening maṭhs in Āssām and Mādrās.

Śrīpād Svādhīkārānanda Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Kṛṣṇadās Bābāji Mahārāj) was also an expert preacher. He was known for his extreme simplicity, incomparable humility, and very austere lifestyle. He was always chanting and singing, and was always in an extremely happy mood. It was impossible to offend him in any way. Pride and anger could not come anywhere near him. Everybody loved him and he loved everybody. He used to make small, cheap pamphlets of Śrīla Prabhupāda's lectures and so forth, and distribute them widely during his preaching trips. He was very dear to Śrīla Prabhupāda. He was a very expert singer, and knew many songs and verses by heart. Śrīla Prabhupāda said in one poem, "kanaka kāminī, pratiṣṭhā bāghinī, chhāḍiyāchhe yāre sei ta' vaiṣṇava"—"one who has been released from the clutches of the three tigers representing money, women, and personal ambition is a Vaiṣṇava". By the light of this statement, every devotee who met Śrīpād Svādhīkārānanda Brahmachārī thought of him as a Vaiṣṇava.

Śrīla Prabhupāda always stressed the importance of preaching. Once Śrīpād Hayagrīva Brahmachārī asked Śrīla Prabhupāda whether they should learn the local language while preaching in South India. Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, “You have to preach in the language you know [in common with the South Indians, e.g., English and Hindi]. I cannot let you waste your precious time learning a new language.” Śrīla Prabhupāda sent his preachers all over India and Burma, and to England, France, Germany, and the United States.

Śrīla Prabhupāda told his disciples:

Please preach the kīrtan of the Supreme Lord, even if in doing so you have to incur debt; then in order to pay off that debt, you will have to be even more engaged in sevā. When your creditors put pressure on you, you will be forced to beg more for alms. Again, as the pious householders will not give you alms unless your character and conduct are pure, you will be forced to preserve a pure lifestyle with great determination and care. I will not leave one penny for you, so that in future you won’t indulge in laziness and you won’t be able to give up your devotional lives full of Hari-kīrtan and Hari-sevā.

The maṭh is the center of Hari-kīrtan, and Hari-kīrtan is life and consciousness. To ensure that there is no place for laziness, bad conduct, trivial thought, gossip, or vulgar desire in the maṭh, you have to go from door to door, where your Hari-kīrtan will be tested by the public. When the public will think that they are the givers of alms and you are the receivers of alms—in other words, that their status is higher than yours—they will criticize you in many ways, thinking you are objects of their mercy. Perhaps some of them will also be ready to kick you out. Then, on one hand, you will be able to become “tṛnād api sunīcha” (“humbler than a blade of grass”) and “mānada” (“respectful to others”), and on the other hand, you will take great care to make your lives and characters pure and exemplary. Furthermore, what will be beneficial for you is this: as you will correct the mistakes of the common people by citing the message of sādhu, śāstra, and guru-varga, you will not make those same mistakes.

Please do not be upset if someone criticizes you personally. But your guru-varga, śāstra, and mahājans are completely faultless, supremely liberated, and eternal associates of the Lord. If, due to ignorance, someone criticizes them, then you should correct that person’s mistakes by telling them the real truth. This will be very beneficial for both you and the ignorant people. If you become lazy about begging for alms from door to door to collect ingredients for Hari-kīrtan, and if you indulge in laziness and bad habits, preferring reclusive bhajan so you can escape others’ criticism, then your character will not be purified. You will not have the life of devotional practice. I will never give you any opportunity to become deceitful in the path of devotion in the privacy of your own home; I will never give you any opportunity to live in a reclusive place so that you can become undisciplined in your heart, thinking no one will come to see or hear you there. You are my dearmost friends. I will never allow you to get into trouble. I will never allow you to give up the path of pleasing the senses of the Lord so you can please the senses of the people of the world, as well as your own, because you received some temporary position or you could not tolerate some temporary criticism.

Preaching on the Radio and Welcoming German Devotees, 1935

On January 15th, 1935, the Governor of Bengal, Sir John Anderson, came to Śrīdhām Māyāpur, visited the holy places of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s pastimes, and gave a speech. On February 23rd, on the occasion of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s 61st appearance anniversary, a big gathering was arranged in Śrī Puruṣottam Maṭh, Purī. The King of Oḍissā, Gajapati Śrī Rāmachandra Dev himself, presided over the gathering. Before Gaura-purṇīmā that year, Śrīpād Sakhicharaṇ Bhaktivijay brought electricity to the Yogapīṭh temple. On March 20th, on the auspicious occasion of Śrī Gaura-purṇīmā, the King of Tripurā came and opened the newly built temple at Yogapīṭh. In April, Śrīla Prabhupāda established the Gayā Gauḍīya Maṭh. On April 13, he sent a few preachers to Burma to spread the message of Mahāprabhu. On June 9th, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples preached Mahāprabhu’s message on the radio for the first time, at the Indian Broadcasting Service, Calcutta. Among those who delivered hari-kathā on the radio were Śrīmad Bhakti Hṛday Ban Mahārāj and Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod Prabhu. Śrīpad Pranavānanda Pratnavidyālaṅkār (later Śrīmad Bhakti Pramod Purī Mahārāj) sang the collection of verses entitled "Gopīnāth-vij–apti" by Śrīla Bhaktivinod hākur. At this time, Śrīla Prabhupāda was in Darjeeling, North Bengal. But he and his other disciples heard the broadcast from there. When Śrīla Prabhupāda returned, he requested Śrīpād Pranavānanda Prabhu to sing "Gopīnāth-vij–apti" again for him.

On July 8th, he installed deities at the Bombay Gauḍīya Maṭh. At this time, Śrīman Samvidānanda Dās, M.A., received a Ph.D from London University in Vaiṣṇava history and literature.

On September 12th, the twelve cantos of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam with the commentaries of Śrīla Prabhupāda were completed and published. The summaries of each canto up to the ninth canto was written by Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī, the summary of the tenth canto was written by Śrīpād Navīn Kṛṣṇa Vidyālaṅkār, and the summaries of the eleventh and twelfth cantos were written by Śrīmad Bhakti Bhūdev Śrauti Mahārāj.

On September 18th, the devotees in Gauḍīya Maṭh and many distinguished citizens of Calcutta welcomed two German devotees, Ernst George Schulge and H. E. von Queth, who came to Calcutta with Śrīmad Bhakti Hṛday Ban Mahārāj to see Śrīla Prabhupāda. They were each given a decorated cloth scroll welcoming them at a lavish reception in their honor. In October Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Mathurā and observed Kārtik-vrata at Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa. On November 7th, he went to Delhi, and from there he went to Gayā. At this time, preaching in Burma was going on very successfully.

Preaching in the West, Burma, and India, 1936

On February 12th, on his 62nd appearance anniversary, Śrīla Prabhupāda established the Bhaktivinod Research Institute. In London his appearance anniversary was also celebrated at a special gathering. In the meantime, Śrīmad Bhakti Sarvasya Giri Mahārāj and Śrīmad Bhakti Vilās Gabhastinemi Mahārāj were preaching in Burma with great success, and on March 8th, a Gauḍīya Maṭh preaching center was established there with the help of the education minister, Dr. Bame, on 29 Brookings Street, Rangoon. On March 15th, Śrīla Prabhupāda installed deities in Sarbhog Gauḍīya Maṭh, Āssām. On March 29th, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Purī, where a saṅkīrtan festival was held for seven days. In June and July, Śrīla Prabhupāda preached at different places in Bengal. Among them were Bāliyāṭi, Godruma, Dārjeeliṅg, and Baguḍā. On June 13th and 14th, at Dacca University and the Bar (law) Library of Dacca, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s sannyāsī disciples and the two German devotees preached hari-kathā. In August, Śrīla Prabhupāda went to Mathurā to observe Puruṣottam-vrata. On September 9th, he came back to Calcutta Gauḍīya Maṭh.

Meetings with Scholars and Indologists

Throughout his preaching mission, Śrīla Prabhupāda met with many scholars, national leaders, and Indologists from abroad who were visiting India. At one time or another, Śrīla Prabhupāda met with all the most famous men of Bengal. He also met with high government offiicials and scholars of religion from all over India. They listened to Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Hari-kathā for hours, took part in discussions, and asked him spiritual questions. All of them left him with a sense of reverence for his divine personality and a favorable impression of Vaiṣṇavism. This should not surprise anyone, as Śrīla Prabhupāda’s scholarship was unquestionable, his logic was razor-sharp, his concepts were deep and sublime, and his expressions were strikingly beautiful.

It is not possible to mention here all those he met, but following are the names of some of them:

Rāut Rāy Sāheb, His Excellency General Puṇya Samaser Rāṇā Jaṁbāhādur of Nepāl, Manmathanāth Mukhopaddhyāy (Calcutta High Court Justice), September 1924, Paṇḍit Pramath Nāth Tarkabhūṣan, Professor Phanibhūṣan Adhikārī, December 1924, Paṇḍit Madan-mohan Mālavya, April 1925, The Mahanta Mahārāj of Śrī Nāthdwār, Gokulnāth Goswāmī Mahārāj of Bombay, the Āchārya of Madhvāchārya Maṭh of Uḍupi, the Āchārya of Gādir Maṭh of Salimābād, 1926, Professor Albert E. Suthers (University of Ohio) 1929, A.P. Sen, Professor Rādhākumud MukhopaddhyṚy, Dr. RṚdhṚkamal Mukhopaddhyāy, Dr. A.N. Sengupta 1929, Sir P.C. Roy (famous chemist) 1930, Dr. Kālidās Nāg (famous historian and professor at the University of Calcutta), Śrī Jatīndra Nāth Basu, Dr. Dinesh Chandra Sen (famous writer and professor at the University of Calcutta), Śrī Birajmohan Mukhopaddhyāy (Vice Principal of the Law College of the University of Calcutta), Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (German scholar and world traveller), Dr. Stella Kremrich, A.J. Jacob (American world traveller), Col. Dwārakā Prasād Goel (Principal of Calcutta Medical College), Dr. Gaṅgānāth Jhā (Vice Chancellor of Āllāhābād University), Vasanta Kumār Chatterjee, 1931, Justice Sundaram Cheṭṭiyār of Mādrās High Court, Sir P.S. Shiva Swāmī Aiyar, Sir George Frederick Stanley (Governor of Mādrās), Professor K. Pañchapagesan of Purukote College in Mādrās, Dr. Suniti Chatterjee of the University of Calcutta, Sir William Malcolm Haily (Governor of United Provinces), Dr. Sudhindu Kumār Dās (Professor of Krishnagar College), Śrī Viśwambhar Vyākāraṇ Tīrtha Vedānta Śāstri of Rādhākānta Maṭh of Purī, 1932, Śrī Satiś Chandra De (Principal of Howrah Narsiṅgha College), Professor Ranada Charaṇ Chakravartī, Śrī Sanjīv Kumār Choudhury (professor from Nepāl), Śrī Ganeś Chandra Chanda (Superintendent of the Archaeological Division of Bihār), 1933, Rāi Bāhādur Rāmprasād Chanda, Śrī Ānanda Mahāpatra (Senior Professor in the Āyurveda Department of the Sanskrit College in Purī), Mr. Junakar (Professor at Dacca University), Khagendra Nāth Mitra (Professor at Presidency College, Calcutta), 1934, Sir Jadunāth Sarkār, Dr. Henry Hand and Mr. S.V. Rosetto of California, Mr. S.N. Rudra Bar-at-law, Indirā Devī (Queen of Cochbihār), Mme. M. Potters (French scholar), 1935

Correspondence With Western Representatives

Śrīla Prabhupāda maintained a steady correspondence with his representatives in Europe. Following are excerpts from some of his letters to Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj.

April 4, 1933

"Your conversation with the cultured people of the west following the words of the Divine Lord will surely be appreciated by all sincere souls amidst their busy life. I don’t know any body who was more delighted than myself to hear that at last the Gauḍīya Maṭh Offiice has been opened in the British Isles.”

May 5, 1933

"By delivering Hari-kathā to many people, maybe one or two good people will become interested in devotional topics—this is my expectation.”

June 27, 1933

"The esoteric representation need not be placed on the table at the sacrifice of the exoteric code and exposition, as the people are found to be very hasty to judge a person by his external appearance.”

July 26, 1933

"We are no mediators, but on the other hand solicitors of congregational meetings. So shifting from the centre of London is now out of the question.”

August 21, 1933

"I have much enjoyed learning that the senior Tridaṇḍi Swāmī has been honored and received by Her Majesty, the Queen of England. This unforeseen chance is really a very rare opportunity that hardly falls to the lot of a monk with his triple staff and bowl in his hand.

…

"We take pride that you are acting as our proxy in a distant land, which our crippled movements have not yet approached.”

August 28, 1933

"I learn with great delight that the City of London has found you keeping the fast on Janmāṣṭamī day and am more glad to learn that you could make ‘pārāyaṇ’ (completion) of Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta on that day.”

February 23, 1934

"Though we are distantly placed by the will of Providence, still the symbolic sounds in letters will not keep us at such a distance.

"One does not receive a letter from the Supreme Lord. We hear about Him only from His devotees, and our news also can be sent to Him through His devotees. Such communication took place long before telegrams, air-mail, or radio.

"The benign hand of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is a better judge than our silly selves. We should ever be in the service of the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, whatever troubles we meet in our journey of life.”

The Final Days, 1936

On October 24th, 1936, Śrīla Prabhupāda bade farewell to Śrīmad Bhakti Śāraṅga Goswāmī Mahārāj and sent him to preach in England and then in America. At this time Śrīla Prabhupāda blessed him and gave him śālagrāma-śīlā, gomatī-śīlā, and govardhan-śīlā. That same day Śrīla Prabhupāda set forth from Calcutta for Purī Dhām. He arrived the following day with many of his disciples accompanying him. Among them were Śrīpād Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj, Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Prabhu, Śrīpād Hayagrīva Dās Brahmachārī (later Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhav Mahārāj), Śrīpād Paramānanda Vidyāratna, and Śrīpād Sajjanānda Brahmachārī.

Many devotees came to the train station to welcome Śrīla Prabhupāda, and they brought a decorated car for him. When Śrīla Prabhupād arrived at the Puruṣottam Maṭh, a big crowd was assembled there to have his darśan.

Śrīla Prabhupāda seemed to be in a meditative mood of deep devotion in Purī. He showed transcendental symptoms of divine ecstasy. From time to time he would tell the devotees, “It is in this life that we have to serve our Lord, so we can gain eternal service at the lotus feet of our eternal Lord. We should not waste any time!”

People started coming from all directions to hear Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda expressed his desire to celebrate the Annakuta festival at Chāṭak Pravat. There was not much time left before the festival, but his dedicated disciples made all the arrangements very quickly. The following description was printed in the Gauḍīya, 15th Canto, No. 16:

Tridaṇḍi Swāmī Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj, Śrīpād Hayagrīva Brahmachārī, Śrīmad Sajjanānanda Brahmachārī, and others took great care to bring sumptuous foodstuffs for the festival and to decorate the place. Sādhunivās was beautifully decorated with fruit, flowers, mango leaves, banana trees, coconuts, and waterpots. On the altar was a very beautiful embroidered canopy. All of the way from the street to Chāṭak Parvat was decorated with flags, banana trees, waterpots, and arches. Different foodstuffs, such as white rice, yellow rice, sweet rice, khichuri, rice pudding, chāpāṭis, puris, and so forth were arranged in the shape of a mountain. There were other mountains of foodstuffs, such as the Bengali delicacies described in Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, the delicacies of Vraja described in Śrī Govinda Līlā, and all the favorite offerings of Lord Jagannāth. Also an immeasurable amount of mahāprasād, consisting of many vegetable and grain preparations and sweets, came from the Jagannāth temple. Tulasī mañjaris were placed on all the offerings, and Śrīla Prabhupāda, singing the songs of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunāth, worshiped Śrī Govardhan. The festival opened with saṅkīrtan. Then, by Śrīla Prabhupāda’s instruction, Śrīpād Sundarānanda Vidyāvinod read about Śrīpād Mādhavendra Purī’s Annakut Festival from the fourth chapter of Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya-līlā.

Hundreds of people were fed mahāprasād that night, and the next morning hundreds of beggars and destitute people were fed.

One day Śrīla Prabhupāda, sitting in his bhajan kuṭir, told the devotees,

“All the residents of the maṭh should always be engaged in the service of Śrī Hari, Guru, and Vaiṣṇava. They should always be engaged in hearing Hari-kathā and discussing Hari-kathā. If one becomes averse to hari-kathā and hari-sevā then one will again be entangled by one’s material desires. Then one’s time will be spent in gossiping, criticizing others, fighting with others and gratifying one’s senses. If the residents of the maṭh do not understand that Vaiṣṇava-sevā is the most beneficial thing, then they will not make progress in the realm of devotion. One has to cultivate one’s Kṛṣṇa-consciousness by sincerely serving the Vaiṣṇavas and by endeavoring to please the Vaiṣṇavas with body, mind, and soul.

"’By the petition of a Vaiṣṇava, merciful Kṛṣṇa will give His mercy to this sinful soul.’ This we have to remember all the time.

"If a Godbrother falls from the platform of service to Hari, Guru, and Vaiṣṇava, then you should think that your own brother is falling down. Then you have to openly advise him about hari-bhajan and nicely make him understand the situation. Sing the beneficial message of Guru and Gaurāṅga to him. If you merely comment on his downfall, then you are not his well-wisher. You have to be merciful to him by talking to him about the Lord. By doing this you will benefit yourself as well as him, and your goal of living in the maṭh will be accomplished. We are living together to help each other serve the Lord.

"We will not live in this world very long. If we can die while continuously doing hari-kīrtan, then our birth will be successful. We have not come to this world to be carpenters, to deal with wood and stone. We are only the carries of the message of Śrī Chaitanyadeva.”

On December 7th, 1936, Śrīla Prabhupāda left Purī for Calcutta. The next day a huge crowd of devotees was waiting at Howrah Station to welcome Śrīla Prabhupāda. Śrīla Prabhupāda’s car was decorated with flowers, and it went to the Gauḍīya Maṭh amid a saṅkīrtan procession. While in Purī, Śrīla Prabhupāda had displayed his pastime of illness. So his disciples had engaged the most famous physicians in Calcutta, such as Sir Nīlratan Sarkār, Dr. Shivapada Bhattāchārya, Dr. Indubhushan Basu, Dr. P. Brahmachārī, and Dr. Nagendra Gopāl Biśwās, to take care of Śrīla Prabhupāda full-time. As instructed by the doctors, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples requested him not to speak for very long at a stretch. When asked how he was, Śrīla Prabhupāda would say that his only problem was that he was not allowed to do Hari-kīrtan.

Śrīla Prabhupāda told the assembled devotees, “One should not make many disciples. I have not made any disciples. They are all my Gurus. I learn something from all of them. May they give me the opportunity to follow the example of their pure devotion. This is my prayer.”

His Final Instructions

On December 23rd, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave his final instruction to the assembled devotees: “I have caused anxiety for many people. Perhaps many people have considered me their enemy, because I was compelled to tell the unadulterated truth. I asked them to serve the Lord with all sincerity. I have given much anxiety to many people only because I wanted to inspire them to serve Kṛṣṇa sincerely without material desire and duplicity. One day they will understand this.

Preach about Sri Rupa and Sri Raghunath

"All of you please preach about Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunāth with great enthusiasm. The supreme goal of all our desire is to become specks of dust at the lotus feet of the followers of Śrī Rūpa Goswāmī. All of you remain united in the shelter of the āśraya-vigraha in order to satisfy the transcendental senses of the Supreme Entity of non-dual knowledge. All of you somehow live simply in this temporary world with the single goal of serving the Lord. Please do not give up your devotional service in spite of hundreds of dangers, insults, or persecutions. Please do not be discouraged by seeing that most people of the world are not listening to the transcendental topics of devotional service. Please do not give up śravan-kīrtan of kṛṣṇa-kathā, which is your own bhajan and your sole property. Please always chant the name of the Lord, being humbler than a blade of grass and more tolerant than a tree.

The Fire of Sankirtan

"We only cherish one desire in our hearts: to sacrifice this body, which is only a lump of matter, in the fire of the saṅkīrtan yajña of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Chaitanya and his associates. We do not wish to be heroes by dint of our action, bravery or religiosity. But let this be our real identity life after life: that we are specks of dust under the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa. Let that mean everything to us. The Bhaktivinod current will never be stemmed. Please take up the mission of preaching the desire of Bhaktivinod with greater enthusiasm. There are many qualified and accomplished people among you. We have no other desire; our only message is this:

‘Taking a blade of grass between my teeth, I fall down and pray again and again that I may become the dust at the feet of Śrī Rūpa birth after birth.’

"Living in this world, one has to face many kinds of difficulties. It is not our job to try to remove those difficulties. Nor should we become depressed by them. After these difficulties are gone, what shall we gain? What will our eternal lives be? While staying here we should have some idea of that. All the things that attract us or repel us, what we want and what we do not want—we have to resolve these things in our minds. The more we distance ourselves from the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, the more these things will draw us in. The joy of Kṛṣṇa-sevā can be realized when one is attracted to His divine name after transcending the happiness and misery of this world. At present, the topic of Kṛṣṇa is startling and perplexing to us. The continuing events of our lives pose obstacles to the realization of our eternal fulfillment. Knowingly or unknowingly, all human beings are struggling to eliminate these. Our only need is to enter that realm of eternal fulfillment, transcending all duality.

"We have no attachment or hostility towards anyone in this world. All arrangements of this world are temporary. Everyone has an indispensable need for the Absolute Truth. May all of you with one goal, and in harmony with each other, attain the right to serve the original āśraya-vigraha. Let the currents of thought of the followers of Śrī Rūpa flow in this world. May we never under any circumstances show antipathy towards the seven-tongued fire of Śrī Kṛṣṇa sañkīrtan-yajña. If we have an increasing attachment for it, then all our goals will be fulfilled. All of you please preach fearlessly about Śri Rūpa and Śrī Raghunāth with great enthusiasm, under the guidance of their followers.”

Then Śrīla Prabhupāda displayed his pastime of illness. At the same time he was incessantly chanting and meditating. Śrīpād Kuñjavihārī Prabhu made up a duty roster for some of the devotees who were present, so one of them would be with Śrīla Prabhupāda every hour of the day and night. Among those who had this service were Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj, Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī, and Śrīpād Kṛṣṇānanda Brahmāchārī.

Requests Song Sri Rupa Manjari Pada

In the morning of December 31, 1936, Śrīla Prabhupāda requested Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj to sing the song śrī rūpa-mañjari-pada sei mora sampada by Śrīla Narottam Dās Ṭhākura. He also asked Śrīpād Navīn Kṛṣṇa Vidyālaṅkār to sing the song tuhu dayā sāgar tārayite prāṇī by Śrīla Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda expressed his appreciation to some of his disciples for their service, and gave some instructions for the future. Finally he said, “Love and rupture both should have the same end in view. Śrīla Narottam Dās Ṭhākura lived by the concept of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunāth. We should also live our lives according to that concept.” Then Śrīla Prabhupāda told everyone, “All of you who are present here, as well as those who are not present, please accept my blessings. Please remember that our only duty and religion is to propagate the service of the Lord and His devotees.”

Divine Disappearance

At about 5:20 the next morning, Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī was at Śrīla Prabhupāda’s bedside. Suddenly Śrīla Prabhupāda came out of his deep meditation and said, “Who is here?” Śrīpād Pranavānanda Prabhu said, “It’s me, Pranavānanda, Prabhupāda.” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “Oh, Pranavānanda Prabhu?” Śrīpād Pranavānanda Prabhu asked him, “How are you feeling, Prabhupāda?” Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “What can I say? Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa!” These were his last words. As it was time for the next devotee, Śrīpād Kṛṣṇānanda Prabhu, to take up his post at Śrīla Prabhupāda’s bedside, Śrīpād Pranavānanda Prabhu went back to his room. He sat there thinking, “Is Śrīla Prabhupāda going to leave us now? What will happen if he leaves us now, what shall we do?” His thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of footsteps. It was Śrīpād Kṛṣṇānanda Prabhu. He said, “Come quickly! I think the great disaster has happened to us.” Then there was the tumultuous sound of crying all over the Gauḍīya Maṭh, and amazingly enough, all the clocks in the maṭh stopped.

At 5:30 AM, on Thursday, January 1st, 1937, Śrīla Prabhupāda left this material world to enter Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda’s niśānta-līlā. At the pre-dawn hour when Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda are united as One, when the divine pastime of Śrī Gaursundar is eternally manifest, the most worshipable lord of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, Śrīla Prabhupāda, who called himself Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-dayita dāsa (the servant of the beloved of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī), entered the abode of his eternal pastime. The grief and lamentation of the devotees at the Gauḍīya Maṭh were beyond description. Some were sobbing as if their hearts would break, some were chanting loudly with eyes flooded with tears, some were falling at Śrīla Prabhupāda’s lotus feet, some were falling on the ground and chanting with their heads bowed down, and some were hitting their foreheads and saying “Oh Prabhupāda! Oh Prabhupāda!” Even though the sun had just risen, it seemed that in the sky of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas the sun had just set.

The devotees started performing the Vedic rites with great care, in spite of the intolerable burning pain of separation. First of all they bathed Śrīla Prabhupāda with sandalwood water. Then they dressed him in new clothes and decorated him with flowers, garlands, and sandalwood. Crying incessantly, they put tilak on twelve parts of his body. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda was laid on a new bed in front of the Deities. The devotees circumambulated him and performed pūjā, bhoga, and ārati to him amid tumultuous saṅkīrtan. Thousands of people started coming to have their last darśan of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Flowers and tears were everywhere. Then Śrīla Prabhupāda was taken to Śeāldāḥ Station amid a saṅkīrtan procession of thousands of people. A devotee of Śrīla Prabhupāda called Śrī Yāmiṇī Mukhopadhyāy arranged for a special train for Śrīla Prabhupāda. The train was fully occupied with thousands of devotees, both men and women. The destination was Krishnanagar, but all the way from Calcutta to Krishnanagar, thousands of people were waiting at every station to see Śrīla Prabhupāda. The devotees were displaying photos of Śrīla Prabhupāda from the windows of the train, and the crowds were offering flowers to those pictures. At Krishnanagar Station, all the high government officials were waiting to offer their obeisances to him. Then he was taken to Navadwīp Ghāṭ by car, and then they crossed the Gaṅgā on boats to arrive at Māyāpur. A big crowd was already waiting at Māyāpur. When the Calcutta devotees met the Māyāpur devotees, another wave of grief engulfed them.

First Śrīla Prabhupāda was taken to Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s birthplace in Yogapiṭh. More devotees were waiting there. Then they laid him down in front of the Deities and offered him pūjā and ārati. Both the Hindus and the Muslims of Māyāpur were singing his glories with tears in their eyes. Śrīla Prabhupāda was given the garland which had been offered to Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Next he was taken to Śrīvās Aṅgan, Śrī Adwaita Bhavan, Śrī Bhakti Vijay Bhavan, the samādhi mandir of Śrīla Gaurkiśor Dās Bābāji Mahārāj, and finally Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh; at each stop he was offered pūjā and ārati. When he came to his own Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh, the devotees’ hearts broke with unbearable pain.

They decided that the place of his samādhi would be in between Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh and Śrī Bhakti Vijay Bhavan. Singing saṅkīrtan, sannyāsī, brahmachārī, and gṛhastha devotees together began digging the foundation of the samādhi mandir. Śrīla Prabhupāda was bathed in Gaṅgā water, dressed in new clothes, and decorated with sandalwood. Śrīmad Bhakti Pradīp Tīrtha Mahārāj wrote the samādhi mantra with sandalwood, following the injunction of Śrī Gopāl Bhaṭṭa Goswāmī. Now Śrīla Prabhupāda was brought to the place of samādhi, and amid obeisances, prayer, glorification, and offering of flowers, he was seated on a marble throne covered with delicate cloth. The tumultuous sound of glorification and saṅkīrtan resounded as sandalwood, flowers, garlands, and ārati were offered at his lotus feet. Devotees were rolling on the ground, crying “Jaya Prabhupāda!” and singing his favorite songs, śrī rūpa-mañjari-pada, svānanda-sukhada-kuñja manohara, and yaśomati nandana.

Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj and Śrīpād Pranavānanda Brahmachārī offered a fire sacrifice. Śrīla Bhārati Mahārāj read the disappearance pastime of Śrīla Haridās Ṭhākura from Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, and the devotees circumambulated the samādhi, singing yei ānilo prema-dhana and gurudev kṛpā bindu diyā. Then they sang Śrīla Prabhupāda’s pranām mantra (nama oṁ viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-saraswatīti nāmine):

"I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Saraswatī, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.

"I offer my respectful obeisances to Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayita Dās, who is favored by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and who is the ocean of transcendental mercy and the deliverer of the science of Kṛṣṇa.

"I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, the personified energy of Śrī Chaitanya’s mercy, who deliver devotional service which is enriched with conjugal love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, coming exactly in the line of revelation of Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī.

"I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, who are the personified teachings of Lord Chaitanya. You are the deliverer of the fallen souls. You do not tolerate any statement which is against the teachings of devotional service enunciated by Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī.”

Epilogue

Śrīla Prabhupāda is the most magnanimous giver of the message of Mahāprabhu in this age. He took the treasure which had been safeguarded by a few and gave it to many. He revived the saṅkīrtan movement of Mahāprabhu by enabling devotees to joyfully assemble together in a modern institution. Now that Vaiṣṇavism was no longer in constant danger from oppressive regimes and reactionary brāhmaṇs, and now that the permanence of printing could protect the sanctity of the true and pure Vaiṣṇavism of Mahāprabhu from the corruption of Sahajiyā interpretation, it could be given out again, freely.

Before Śrīla Prabhupāda began the Gauḍīya Maṭh, the general public had come to regard sannyāsīs with contempt or, at best, apathy, for their personal conduct and spiritual backgrounds were considered questionable. But Śrīla Prabhupāda conquered the public’s apathy towards sādhus and religion. He defeated the sahajiyās, who wrongly imitated the pastimes of the Lord, and the impersonalists, who belittled the path of pure devotion. He protected Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s mission from those who would dilute and distemper it in the name of adaptation.

Śrīla Prabhupāda knew that while the mundane world had changed greatly since Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s time, the path of Vaiṣṇavism was eternal and required no modernization. Instead he modernized its institutions: devotees could assemble freely, to do saṅkīrtan in the halls of the Gauḍīya Maṭh and Hari-kathā in the pages of Gauḍīya.

Śrīla Prabhupāda saw and appreciated the contraptions of the modern world the way he appreciated anything—as items to be utilized in Mahāprabhu’s mission, for devotional service. He preached through the printing press, while simultaneously using it to protect the sanctity and authority of pure Vaiṣṇavism from corruption and misinterpretation. He himself wrote more than 108 essays and books; published the magazines Sajjan Toṣaṇī, Gauḍīya, Nadiyā Prakāś, Bhāgavat, Paramārthi, and Kīrtan; and established the presses Bhāgavat Yantra, Gauḍīya Printing Works, Nadiyā Prakāś Printing Press, and Paramārthi Printing Works. He published Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrī Chaitanya-charitāmṛtaŚrī Chaitanya Bhāgavat, and Śrī Brahma-saṁhitā with commentaries.

Śrīla Prabhupāda established 64 temples, introduced devotional exhibitions, conducted radio broadcasts, and established organized parikramās of the holy Dhāmas. He was the first āchārya to research and compile information on the four Vaiṣṇava sampradayas and emphasize their common ground.

Śrīla Prabhupāda won the respect and admiration of all by inspiring excellence in every spiritual endeavor: the scholarship, integrity, and refinement of the Gauḍīya Maṭh were unquestionable. His standards were unassailable. He was so formidable in debate that he was never defeated. The strength of his conviction and fierce determination earned him the title of siṁha guru, or “lion guru”.

Śrīla Prabhupāda was not, however, merely a teacher of strict austerity. He spread compassion and devotion around him like a fountain; he nurtured his disciples with divine affection. As Śrīla Bhakti Kusum Śramaṇ Mahārāj wrote in his biography of Śrīla Prabhupāda, Prabhupāda Śrīla Saraswatī Ṭhākura, “Wherever he appeared, many people had come there before him in order to see him, and as soon as he arrived the sound of saṅkīrtan would reverberate in all directions. Even when he was walking, he was absorbed in the ecstasy of hari-kathā kīrtan. An unearthly, indescribable current of joy would follow Śrīla Prabhupāda everywhere.”

The greatest gift of Śrīla Prabhupāda was that he gave the highest concept of devotion to thousands of surrendered souls who took shelter at his lotus feet. Those who came to inquire from him about kṛṣṇa-prema, the ultimate goal of their lives, were overjoyed to find out that whatever concept of pure devotion they might have had before, Śrīla Prabhupāda's concept was infinitely higher than that. His disciples saw him as their supreme source of the highest devotion. Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj has expressed this very beautifully in his “Śrī Śrī Dayita Dāsa Daśakam" verses:

"From his lotus feet, the nectarine river of divine love flows throughout the universe; his servitors, like bees, maintain their lives drinking the honey that falls from his lotus feet; and the pure devotees in the shelter of the confidential mellows of Vraja revel in the bliss of singing the glories of his lotus feet.

"Parental affection, so highly esteemed in the world, is a colossal hoax. And without a doubt the reciprocation of conjugal affection shared in matrimony is legal dacoity. And worldly friendship and family relationships are simply cheating in disguise. I have gleaned these thoughts from the rays of light that emanate from the toenails of the holy feet of that great personality, the embodiment of supramundane affection.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda said, “The Bhaktivinod current will never be stemmed”, and indeed his movement has flowed all over the world, brought and carried on by his disciples. Śrīla Prabhupāda is the personification of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s causeless and perfect mercy. He is the desire tree (kalpa-vṛkṣa) of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas. Not only has he attracted them to Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s movement—through his own preaching or the preaching of his followers—but, through his message and the example of his personal conduct, he is also able to provide them with everything they need for devotional service, eternally.

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