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Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Template:Lang-bn
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati editing an article at , ca. 1930s
Personal life
Born	Bimala Prasad Datta (1874-02-06)February 6, 1874 Puri, Indian Empire
Died	January 1, 1937(1937-01-01) (aged 62) Calcutta, Indian Empire
Honors	Expounded Gaudiya Vaishnavism, founded Gaudiya Math
Signature
Religious life
Philosophy	Achintya Bheda Abheda
Senior posting
Guru	Gaurakisora Dasa Babaji

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī; Template:Lang-bn; Template:IPA-bn), (6 February 1874–1 January 1937), born Bimala Prasad Datta (Bimalā Prasād Datta, Template:IPA-bn) was a prominent guru and spiritual reformer of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the early 20th century in India.

Bimala Prasad was born in 1874 in Puri (Orissa) a son of Kedarnath Datta Bhaktivinoda Thakur, a recognized Gaudiya Vaishnava philosopher and teacher. Bimala Prasad received both Western and traditional Indian education and soon established himself as a leading intellectual among the cultured bhadralok, or Westernized middle class Bengali residents of Calcutta of the time, earning the title Siddhanta Sarasvati ("the pinnacle of wisdom"). Under the direction of his father and spiritual preceptor, Bimala Prasad took initiation (diksha) into Gaudiya Vaishnavism from a renowned Vaishnava ascetic Gaurakishora Dasa Babaji, receiving the name Shri Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa (Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayita Dāsa, "servant of Krishna, the beloved of Radha"), and dedicated himself to an arduous spiritual discipline of austerity, chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra on beads (japa), and study.

After the passing of both his father and his guru, in 1918 Bimala Prasad accepted the formal order of renunciation (sannyasa), becoming known as Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami. In the same year in Calcutta Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati inaugurated the first center of his institution, the Gaudiya Math, that soon developed into a dynamic missionary and educational organization with sixty-four branches across India and three centers abroad (in Burma, Germany, and England). The Math propagated the teachings of Gaudiya Vaishnavism by means of daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals, books of the Vaishnava canon, public preaching programs as well as through such innovations as "theistic exhibition" dioramas. Called for his signature intellectually formidable and vehement preaching style the "simha-guru" ("lion-guru"), Bhaktisiddhanta assaulted the monistic interpretation of Hinduism, or advaita, that had emerged as the prevalent strand of Hindu thought in India, seeking to establish traditional personalist Krishna-bhakti as its superior antithesis. At the same time, through lecturing and writing, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati targeted both ritualistic casteism of smarta brahmanas and numerous sensualized spin-off sects of Gaudiya Vaishavism, branding them as apasampradayas – deviations from and distortions of the original Gaudiya Vaishnava teachings and practice inculcated in the 16th century by Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

After the demise of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in 1937, the Gaudiya Math became marred by infighting and litigations, and the united preaching mission in India was effectively fragmented and stalled. His movement gained a new life in 1966 in the form of its scion, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), that was founded by Bhaktisiddhanta's disciple A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami and spearheaded the spread of Gaudiya Vaisnava teachings and practice globally. The Bhaktisiddhanta's branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism presently counts over 500,000 followers around the world.

Early period (1874–1900): Student

Birth and childhood

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was born Bimala Prasad at 3:30pm on Feruary 6, 1874 in Puri – a town in the Indian state of Orissa famous for its ancient temple of Jagannath. The place of his birth was a house his parents rented from a Calcutta businessman Ramacandra Arhya, situated a few hundred meters away from the Jagannath temple on Puri's Grand Road, the traditional venue for the Ratha-yatra festival.

Bimala Prasad was the seventh of fourteen children of his father Kedarnath Datta and mother Bhagavati Devi, devout Vaishnavas of the Bengali kayastha community. At that time Kedarnath Datta worked as a deputy magistrate and deputy collector, and spent most of his off-hours studying Sanskrit and Shrimad Bhagavatam, researching, translating, and publishing Gaudiya Vaishnava literature as well as writing his own works on Vaishnava theology and practice in Bengali, Sanskrit, and English.

The birth of Bimala Prasad concurred with the rising influence of the bhadralok community, literally "gentle or respectable people",a privileged class of Bengalis, largely Hindus, who served the British administration in occupations requiring intelligence, education, and proficiency in English and other languages. Exposed to and influenced by the Western values of the British, including their condescending attitude towards cultural and religious traditions of India, the bhadralok themselves started questioning and reassessing the tenets of their own Vedic religion and customs. Their attempts to rationalize and modernize Hinduism in order to reconcile it with the Western outlook eventually gave rise to Bengali Renaissance, championed by such prominent reformists as Rammohan Roy and Swami Vivekananda. This trend gradually led to a widespread perception, both in India and in the West, of modern Hinduism as identical with Advaita Vedanta, a conception of the divine as devoid of form and individuality that was hailed by its proponents as the "perennial philosophy" and the "the mother of religions". As a result, the other schools of Hinduism, including bhakti, were relegated to obscurity and remained to be seen as a "reactionary and fossilized jumble of empty rituals and idolatrous practices."

At the same time, social and political instability in Bengal, coupled with the influence of Christian and Victorian sensibilities of the British, portrayed the hitherto popular worship of Radha-Krishna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu as irrelevant and immoral. The growing public disapproval of Gaudiya Vaishnavism was aggravated by the prevalently lower social status of Gaudiya Vaishnava followers, as well as by erotic practices of some pseudo-Vaishnava sects such as the sahajiyas who claimed affiliation with the mainstream Gaudiya school. This led to the decline of the Vaishnava pilgrimage sites in Bengal such as Nabadwip, the birthplace of Caitanya.

As an attempt to avert the spread of nondualism among the bhadralok, Vaishnava intellectuals formed a new movement led by Sisir Kumar Ghosh (1840–1911) and his brothers. In 1868 the Ghosh brothers launched the pro-Vaishnava patriotic Amrita Bazar Patrika newspaper that pioneered as one of the most popular English-medium dailies in India and "kept Vaishnavism alive among the middle class".

The father of Bimala Prasad, Kedarnath Datta, also was a prominent member of this circle of Gaudiya Vaishnava intelligentsia and played a significant role in their attempts to revive Vaishnavism as an alternative to Advaita Vedanta. (His literary and spiritual achievements later earned him the honorific title Bhaktivinoda.) After being posted in 1869 to Puri as a deputy magistrate,(sfn|Sardella|2013b|p=62) Kedarnatha Datta felt he needed assistance in his attempts to promote the cause Gaudiya Vaisnavism in India and abroad. His biographers describe that one night in a dream he saw the Deity of Jagannath telling him, "I didn't bring you to Puri to execute legal matters, but to establish Vaishnava siddhanta." Kedarnath responded, "Your teachings have been significantly depreciated, and I lack the power to restore them. Much of my life has passed and I am otherwise engaged, so please send somebody from Your personal staff so that I can start this movement". Jagannath then directed Kedarnath to pray for an assistant to the deity of Bimala Devi worshipped in Jagannath temple.

When the next son was born, Kedarnath took him as an answer to his prayers and named him Bimala Prasad ('"the mercy of Bimala Devi"). Hagiographic accounts mention that at his birth, the child's umbilical cord was looped around his body like a sacred brahmana thread (upavita) that left a permanent mark on the skin, as if foretelling his future mission.

Young Bimala Prasad, often affectionately called simply Bimala, Bimu or Binu, from his early childhood demonstrated a grave moral demeanor, precocious intelligence, and eidetic memory. An avid reader, he could grasp and remember any topic or passage from a book on a single reading, and soon learned Sanskrit enough to compose his own poetry in it. His biographers recount that up until his last days Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati could verbatim recall any part of any book he had read fifty years back, earning the epithet "living encyclopedia".

Education

Bimala Prasad started his formal education at an English school at Ranaghat, and in 1881 was transferred to the Oriental Seminary of Calcutta and in 1883, after Kedarnath was posted as senior deputy magistrate in Serampore of Hooghly, Bimala Prasad was enrolled in the local school there. At the age of nine Bimala Prasad committed the entire seven hundred Sanskrit verses of the Bhagavad Gita to memory.. It was around that time that Kedarnath Datta, out of desire to foster the child's budding interest in spirituality, initiated him into harinama-japa, a traditional Gaudiya Vaishnava practice of meditation on the Hare Krishna mantra recitated softly on tulasi beads.

In 1885 Kedarnath Datta established the Vishva Vaishnava Raj Sabha (Royal World Vaiṣṇava Association); its assembly of leading Vaishnava figures of the time stimulated Bimala's intellectual and spiritual growth and inspired him to undertake an in-depth study of Vaishnava literary works, both classical and contemporary. Bimala's consummate interest in the Vaishnava philosophy was further fueled by the Vaishnava Depository, complete with a library and a printing press, established by Kedarnath Datta (by that time respectfully addressed as Bhaktivinoda Thakur) at his own house for propagating the Gaudiya Vaishnava teachings in masses. When in 1886 Bhaktivinoda began publishing a monthly magazine in Bengali, Sajjana-toshani ("Pleasure for the saintly"), where he published his own writings of the history and philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, along with book reviews, poetry, and novels, twelve-year-old Bimala Prasad assisted his father as a proofreader, thus closely acquainting himself with both the printing affairs and the intellectual discourses of the bhadralok.

In 1887 Bimala Prasad joined the Calcutta Metropolitan Institution (from 1917 – Vidyasagar College) that provided substantial modern education to the bhadralok youth; there, alongside with the obligatory subjects, he pursued extracurricular studies of Sanskrit, mathematics, abstract rational thinking, and jyotisha (traditional Indian astronomy). His proficiency in the latter soon was recognized by his tutors with an honorary title "Siddhanta Sarasvati", which he adopted as his pen name from then on. Sarasvati then entered Sanskrit College, one of Calcutta's finest schools for classical Hindu learning, where he added Indian philosophy and ancient history to his study list.

Teaching

In 1895 Siddhanta Sarasvati decided to discontinue his studies at Sanskrit College due to a scholarly dispute with the principal, Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna. A good friend of his father, the King of Tripura Bir Chandra Manikya, offered Sarasvati a teaching position in the royal court, which afforded him enough financial independence for pursuing his studies independently. Taking advantage of his access to the royal library, he poured over both Indian and Western works of history, philosophy, and religion, and started his own astronomy school in Calcutta. After the king died in 1896, his heir Radha Kishore Manikya requested Sarasvati to tutor the princes at the palace and offered him full pension, which Siddhanta Sarsvati accepted till 1908.

With a brilliant and comprehensive modern and traditional education, and with academic and social acclaim among the intellectual and political elite of Calcutta and Tripura and with sufficient resources it had brought, Siddhanta Sarasvati felt the urge to go beyond what many would consider the epitomy of sucess in life. His soul-searching prodded him toward quitting the comforts of his bhadralok lifestyle and searching for an ascetic spiritual teacher. On Bhaktivinoda's direction, he approached Gaurakishora Dasa Babaji, a Gaudiya Vaishnava who regularly visited Bhaktivinoda's house and was renowned for his asceticism, detachment, and spiritual enlightment. In January 1901 Siddhanta Sarasvati accepted the Babaji as his guru, and, according to the Vaishnava tradition, along with his initiation (diksha) he received a new name, Shri Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa (Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayita Dāsa, "servant of Krishna, the beloved of Radha"), which he adopted until more formal titles were conferred upon him.

Middle period (1901-1918): Ascetic

Religious practice

The encounter with and initiation from Gaurakishora Dasa Babaji, an illiterate yet enlightened personality, had a transformational effect on Siddhanta Sarasvati. Later, reflecting on his first meeting with spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati recalled:

It was by providential dispensation that I was able fully to understand the language and practical side of devotion after I had met the practicing master ....No education could have prepared me for the good fortune of understanding my master’s attitude....Before I met him my impression was that the writings of the devotional school could not be fully realised in a practical life in this world. My study of my master, and then the study of the books, along with the explanations by Thakura Bhaktivinoda , gave me ample facility to advance toward true spiritual life. Before I met my master, I had not written anything about real religion. Up to that time, my idea of religion was confined to books and to a strict ethical life, but that sort of life was found imperfect unless I came in touch with the practical side of things.

After receiving initiation, Siddhanta Sarasvati went on a pilgrimage around India's holy places, first staying for a year in Puri, and next travelling in 1904 to South India, where he explored Hinduism and in particular, the spiritual legacy of the ancient and vibrant Shri and Madhva sampradayas collecting materials for a Vaishnava encyclopedia. He finally settled in Mayapur some 100 km north of Calcutta, where Bhaktivinoda acquired a plot of land at the place where, according to his research, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in 1486. At that time, Bhaktivinoda added the prefix "bhakti" (meaning "devotion") to Siddhanta Sarasvati, acknowledging his proficiency in Vaishnava philosophy.

Starting from 1905, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati began public discourses on the philosophy and practice of Chaitanya Vaishnavism, gathering a following of educated young Bengalis of Mayapur, some of whom gradually became his students. At the same time, while assisting Bhaktivinoda in his developong his projects in Mayapur, Bhaktisiddhanta vowed to chant one billion names of Radha (Hara) and Krishna – which would take nearly ten years to complete – dedicating his life to the intense practice of meditation on the Hare Krishna mantra as taught first by his father and then by his guru. This meditation on the sound of Krishna's name, both individually (japa) and in a group (kirtana) would become a pivotal theme in Bhaktisiddhanta's personal spiritual practice and his teachings thereof.

Bhahmanas vs. Vaishnavas

While not feeling in any way socially "inferior" due to his birth in a relatively lower kayastha family, Bhaktisiddhanta soon faced an opposition from the traditional brahmana class of Nabadwip, who maintained that birth in a brahminical family was a necessary eligibility threshold for Vishnu worship. Bhaktisiddhanta, on the contrary, seeked to establish religious qualifications according to personal merit rather than caste alone and challenged their purely hereditary eligibility claims.

A defining moment of this brewing confrontation came on September 8, 1911, when Bhaktisiddhanta was invited in an assembly in Balighai, Midnapore, that summoned Vaishnavas from all over Bengal to debate aspects of the brahmana vs. Vaishnava controversy. The debate was centered around two issues: whether those born as non-brahmanas but initiated into Vaishnavism were eligible to worship shalagram shila (a sacred stone form of Vishnu or Krishna), and whether such people were authorized to give others initiations into Vedic mantras.

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati accepted the invitation and presented a paper, Brāhmaṇa o Vaiṣṇava (Brahmana and Vaishnava), later published in an extended format as the first detailed exposition of Bhaktisiddhanta's ideas that would lay the foundation of his future Gaudiya Math mission. In his presentation, first glorifying the exalted position of brahmans, Bhaktisiddhanta then used his formidable logic and scriptural knowledge to prove that the superior position of Vaiṣshnava based on practice, knowledge, and merit against the claims to the contrary of hereditary brahmanas. He also declared traditional varnashrama and its concomitant rituals (samskara) to be beneficial for the spiritual health of the individual, but plagued by corrupt practices in present.

Although the debate at Balighai turned into Bhaktisiddhanta's triumph, it sowed the seeds of a bitter feud between the caste brahmanas and the Gaudiya Math mission that not only lasted Bhaktisiddhanta's entire life, but would at times endanger it.

Publishing

Although, reportedly, Gaurakishora Dasa babaji strongly dissuaded Bhaktisiddhanta from visiting Calcutta, referring to the city as "the universe of Kali" (kalira brahmanda) – a standard directive for a Vaishnava renunciate – in 1913 Bhaktisiddhanta established a printing press in Calcutta, dubbed by him bhagavat-yantra ("God's machine"), and began publishing medieval Vaishnava texts in Bengali, such as the Chaitanya Charitamrita by Krishnadasa Kaviraja, supplemented with Bhaktisiddhanta's own commentary. This signaled Bhaktisiddhanta's commitment to leave no modern facilities unused in the propagation of Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy and practice, primarily via the printing and distribution of religious literature. This determination was stemming from an earlier instruction by Bhaktivinoda in his 1910 letter to Bhaktisiddhanta:

Saraswati! ...Because pure devotional conclusions are not being preached, all kinds of superstitions and bad concepts are being called devotion by such pseudo-sampradayas as sahajiya and atibari. Please always crush these anti-devotional concepts by preaching pure devotional conclusions and by setting an example through your personal conduct. ...Please try very hard to make sure that the service to Sri Mayapur will become a permanent thing and will become brighter and brighter every day. The real service to Sri Mayapur can be done by acquiring printing presses, distributing devotional books, and sankirtan - preaching. Please do not neglect to serve Sri Mayapur or to preach for the sake of your own reclusive bhajan. ...I had a special desire to preach the significance of such books as Srimad Bhagavatam, Sat Sandarbha, and Vedanta Darshan. You have to accept that responsibility. Sri Mayapur 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.

After the demise of his father Bhaktivinoda on June 23, 1914, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati relocated his Calcutta press to Mayapur and then on to nearby Krishnanagar of the Nadia district. From there he continued publishing Bhaktivinoda’s Sajjana-toshani, and completed the publication of Chaitanya Charitamrita.

Soon after the departure of Baktivinoda, his guru Gaurakishora Dasa Babaji also passed away. With the two main sources of his inspiration now gone, and with the majority of Bhaktivinoda’s followers too preoccupied with married life for a strong missionary movement, Bhaktisiddhanta was left alone with a mission seemingly far beyond his means. When a disciple suggested that Bhaktisiddhanta relocate to Calcutta to establish a center there, he was inspired by the suggestion and started working on its implementation.

Later period (1918-1937): Missionary

Sannyasa and Gaudiya Math

The passing of Bhaktivinoda and Gaurakishora Dasa Babaji left Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati with the burden of responsibility for their mission of reviving and safeguarding the Chaitanya tradition asthey envisioned it. In his deliberation on how to best conduct the mission in the future, he felt that the example similar to the South Indian orders of sannyasa (monasticism), the most prestigious spiritual status in Hinduism, was still needed in the Chaitanya tradition as well, as a proof that mature and active renunciation was viable through bhakti. On March 27, 1918, before leaving for Calcutta, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati resolved to become the first sannyasi of his mission, inaugurating a new Gaudiya Vaishnava monastic order. Since there was no other sannyasi to take his sannyasa initiation from, he controversially sat down before a picture of his guru Gaurakishora Dasa Babaji and conferred the order upon himself. From that day on, he adopted both the dress and the life of a Vaishnava renunciant, with the name Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami.

In December 1918 Bhaktisiddhanta inaugurated his first center that he named "Calcutta Bhaktivinoda Asana" at 1, Ultadinghee Junction Road in North Calcutta, renamed in 1920 as "Shri Gaudiya Math". Amrita Bazar Patrika's coverage of the center opening said, "ere ardent seekers after truth are received and listened to and solutions to their questions are advanced from a most reasonable and liberal standpoint of view." Bhaktivinoda Asana provided its students with accommodation, training in self-discipling and serious spiritual practice, and systematic long-term education in various Vaishnava texts such as Shrimad Bhagavatam, Vedanta, and Smriti. It would become a template for the future sixty-four Gaudiya Math centers in India and three abroad, in London (England), Berlin (Germany), and Rangoon (Burma), that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati established during his lifetime..

Registered on February 5, 1919, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's institution was initially called Vishva Vaishnava Raj Sabha, in the name of the society founded by Bhaktivinoda. However, it soon became eponymously known as the Gaudiya Math after the Calcutta branch and his weekly Bengali magazine Gaudiya. The Gaudiya Math rapidly gained a reputation as an outspoken voice on religious, philosophical and social issues via its wide range of periodical publications, targeting educated audiences in English, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, and Hindi languages. These publications included a daily Bengali newspaper Nadiya Prakash, a weekly magazine Gaudiya, and a monthly magazine in English and Sanskrit The Harmonist (Shri Sajjana-toshani). The intellectual and philosophical appeal of the Gaudiya Math outreach programs garnered particularly eager response in urban areas, where wealthy supporters started contributing generously towards the construction of new temples and large "theistic exhibitions" – public expositions on the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy by means of displays and dioramas.

Caste and untouchability

The Gaudiya Math core leadership consisted mainly of educated Bengalis and around twenty sannyasis who were sent off to pioneer the movement in new places of India, and later, in Europe. Its quickly growing temple-dwelling hub, however, represented a cross-section of the entire Indian society, with disciples from both educated urban and simple rural milieus. While householder followers supported the temples with funds, food, and volunteer labor, Gaudiya Math temples paid serious attention to the individual spiritual discipline of their residents, including mandatory ascetic vows and daily practice of devotion (bhakti) centered around individual recitation (japa) and public singing (kirtan) of Krishna's names, regular study of philosophical and devotional scriptures (svadhyaya), traditional worship of temple images of Krishna and Chaitanya (archana) as well as attendance of lectures and seminars (shravanam).

This deliberate disregard of one's social background as a spiritual eligibility marked a sharp departure of Bhaktisiddhanta from the customary Hindu perceptions on caste restrictions. Bhaktisiddhanta spelled out his view, revolutionary yet firmly rooted in Chaitanya's teachings, in his essay “Gandhiji’s Ten Questions” published in The Harmonist in January 1933. In the essay he replied to Mahatma Gandhi, who in December 1932 publicly questioned the practice of untouchability and challenged leading orthodox Hindu organizations on its scriptural backing. In his reply article, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati defined untouchables as those who were inimical to the concept of serving God in general, rather than a social or hereditary status. He showed that Vishnu temple were to be open to anyone, but more specifically to those who possessed a favorable attitude toward the divine and were willing to undergo a process of spiritual training. He further stated that untouchability had cultural and historical rather than religious underpinning, and as such, was a secular rather than religious issue. As an alternative to the secular concept of "Hindu" and its social applications, Bhaktisiddhanta suggested an ethics of “unconditional reverence for all entities by the realization and exclusive practice of the whole-time service of the Absolute”. By this he maintained that the practice of bhakti, or divine love, and service to God as the supreme person implied moral responsibility toward all persons, who according to the Caitanya school were minute in their ultimate spiritual identity but qualitatively equal to one another.

Love and renunciation

At the same time, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati strongly objected to sensual depictions in erotic images and folk Bengali songs of loving pastimes between Radha and Krishna described in the ancient Vedic scriptures and seminal Gaudiya Vaishnava texts. He maintained that the highest ideal of divine love for Gaudiya Vaishnavas was being profaned due to lack of philosophical understanding and proper spiritual guidance, and repeatedly denounced the abundant pseudo-Vaishnava sects in Bengal, such as the sahajiyas who presented their unrestrained sexual practices as a path to divine love. Instead, Bhaktisiddhanta argued that the path to the spiritual growth was not through what he described as sensual gratification, but through the practice of chastity, humility, and service. Even though these qualities were often perceived as effeminate, Bhaktisiddhanta's persona combined strikingly “masculine” traits such as intensity, firmness, and boldness with kindness and compassion.

At the same time, Bhaktisiddhanta’s approach to interactions with the "sensual" world was far from being escapist. Rather than shunning all connections with it, he adopted yukta-vairagya – a term coined by Chaitanya's associate Rupa Gosvami meaning “renunciation by engagement”. This implied utilizing any required material object in the service of the divine by renouncing the propensity to enjoy it. On the basis of this principle, Bhaktisiddhanta used the latest technologies and advances in institutional building, communication, printing, and transportation, while striving to carefully keep intact the philosophical core of his personalist tradition. This hermeneutical dynamism and spirit of adaptation was an important element in the growth of the Gaudiya Math and to some degree explains the present global spreading of his movement.

The Gaudiya Math in Europe

Back in 1982, Bhaktivinoda wrote in his Sajjana-toshani magazine:

When in England, France, Russia, Prussia, and America all fortunate persons by taking up kholas and karatalas will take the name of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu again and again in their own countries, and raise the waves of sankirtana, when will that day come! Oh! When will the day come when the white-skinned British people will speak the glory of Shri Shachinandana on one side and on the other and with this call spread their arms to embrace devotees from other countries in brotherhood, when will that day come! The day when they will say “Oh, Aryan Brothers! We have taken refuge at the feet of Chaitanya Deva in an ocean of love, now kindly embrace us,” when will that day come!

Bhaktivinoda did not stop short of making practical efforts to implement his inspired yet unrequited vision. In 1896 he published and sent to the West a book entitled Srimad-Gaurangalila- Smaranamangala, or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, His life and precepts that portrayed Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as a champion of "universal brotherhood and intellectual freedom":

Caitanya preaches equality of men ...universal fraternity amongst men and special brotherhood amongst Vaishnavas, who are according to him, the best pioneers of spiritual improvement. He preaches that human thought should never be allowed to be shackled with sectarian views....The religion preached by Mahaprabhu is universal and not exclusive. The most learned and the most ignorant are both entitled to embrace it. . . . The principle of kirtana invites, as the future church of the world, all classes of men without distinction of caste or clan to the highest cultivation of the spirit.

Bhaktivinoda deliberately adapted his message for the Western mind by borrowing and removing from their original context such popular Christian expressions as “universal fraternity”, “cultivation of the spirit”, “preach”, and “church”, removing them from their original contexts. Copies of Shri Chaitanya, His Life and Precepts that Bhaktivinoda had sent to Western scholars across the British Empire, landed in many academic libraries such as McGill University in Montreal, the University of Sydney in Australia and the Royal Asiatic Society of London]], made their way to prominent scholars such as the Oxford Sanskritist Monier Monier-Williams and even earned a favorable review in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Inheriting the importance of spreading the message of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in the West from his father Bhaktivinoda as well as receiving it as the last will of his mother Bhagavati Devi prior to her passing in 1920, Bhaktisiddhanta from early 1920s started planning a mission to Europe.

In 1927 he began printing a periodical in English, and requested British officers to increasingly patronize his movement, which they gradually did, culminating in an official visit of the Governor of Bengal John Anderson to Bhaktisiddhanta's headquarters in Mayapur on January 15, 1935.

After careful preparations, he decided to send a few senior disciples such as Swami Bhakti Hridaya Bon to London. As a result of their efforts abroad, on April 24, 1934, Lord Zetland, the British secretary of state for India, inaugurated the Gaudiya Mission Society in London and became its president, followed a few months later by a center established in Berlin, where Swami Bon met the academic and political elite of Germany. On September 18, 1935, the Gaudiya Math, along with distinguished citizens of Calcutta, offered a reception (pictured)) to two German sympathizers, Ernst Georg Schulze and Baron H.E. von Queth, who arrived in Calcutta along with Swami Bon.

However, the success of the Gaudiya Mission in the West was meager compared to the resources spent. This prompted Bhaktisiddhanta to make preaching in the West the main theme of his final address at a gathering of thousands of his disciples and followers at Champahati, Bengal, in 1936. In this address Bhaktisiddhanta restated the urgency and importance of preaching Chaitanya's teachings in the Western countries, despite the failures, and added, looking at his disciple Abhay Babu, "But I have a prediction. However long in the future it may be, one of my disciples will cross the ocean and bring back the entire world".

Shortly thereafter, on January 1, 1937, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati passed away at the age of 63.

Crises of succession

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati deliberately did not appoint a successor, instead instructing his leading disciples to jointly and cooperatively run the mission in his absence and expecting that qualified leaders would naturally emerge on the strength of their personal merit. However, weeks after his departure a crisis of succession brokу out, resulting in factions and legal infightin between them. Soon the united and dynamic mission was stalled, being first split into two separate institutions and later on was fragmented into several other units that started functioning independently pushed on the movement.

The Gaudiya Math movement, however, slowly regained its strength, when A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, a disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta, founded in New York in 1966, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON). Modeled after the original Gaudiya Math and emulating its emphasis on dynamic preaching and spiritual practice, ISKCON soon popularized Chaitanya Vaishnavism on a global scale. Today Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s movement includes hundreds of centers and around 500,000 followers globally.

Notes

1. According to the upper-class Hindu customs, in 1850 Kedarnath Datta, 11, was married with Sayamani, 5. In 1860 Sayamani gave birth to Kedarnath's first son, Annada Prasad, and died of illness shortly thereafter. Kedarnath soon married Bhagavati Devi and had thirteen children with her: (1) Saudamani, daughter (1864); (2) Kadambani, daughter (1867); (3) son died early, name unknown (1868); (4) Radhika Prasad, son (1870); (5) Kamala Prasad (1872); (6) Bimala Prasad, son (1874); (7) Barada Prasad (1877); (8) Biraja, daughter, (1878); (9) Lalita Prasad, son (1880); (10) Krishna Vinodini, daughter (1884); (11) Shyam Sarojini, daughter (1886); (12) Hari Pramodini, daughter (1888); (13) Shailaja Prasad, son (1891). This makes Bimala Prasad the seventh child of Kedarnath and the sixth of Bhagavati.
2. While it is still being debated what kind of diksha – pancaratrika (into a mantra) or bhagavata (into the name of Krishna) – did Bhaktisiddhanta receive from Gaurakishora Dasa Bababji, there are indications in his own writings that he received the Hare Krishna mantra along with an instruction to chant it a certain number of times a day.
3. There have been a few documented attempts on Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's life by the caste brahmanas or their mercenaries. On one such incident in 1925, when the attackers ambushed Bhaktisiddhanta's party, his disciple Vinoda Vihari volunteered to exchange clothes with him, allowing Bhaktisiddhanta a safe escape..
4. The original letter was never recovered; however, Bhaktisiddhnata quoted these instructions by Bhaktivinoda, apparently considering them as seminal for his mission, in a 1926 letter thus:
   
   1. Persons who claim worldly prestige and futile glory fail to attain the true position of nobleness, because they argue that Vaishnavas are born in a low position as a result of sinful actions, which means that they commit offenses (aparadha). You should know that, as a remedy, the practice of varnashrama, which you have recently taken up, is a genuine Vaishnava service (seva).
   2. It is because of lack of promulgation of the pure conclusions of bhakti (shuddha bhaktisiddhanta) that . . . among men and women of the sahajiya groups, ativadis, and other lines (sampradaya) devious practices are welcomed as bhakti. You should always critique those views, which are opposed to the conclusions of the sacred texts, by missionary work and sincere practice of the conclusions of bhakti.
      
   3. Arrange to begin a pilgrimage (parikrama) in and around Nabadwip as soon as possible. Through this activity alone, anyone in the world may attain Krishna bhakti. Take adequate care so that service in Mayapur continues, and grows brighter day by day. Real seva in Mayapur will be possible by setting up a printing press, distributing bhakti literature (bhakti-grantha), and nama-hatta (devotional centers for the recitation of the sacred names of God), not by solitary practice (bhajana). You should not hamper seva in Mayapur and the mission (pracara) by indulging in solitary bhajana.
      
   4. When I shall not be here anymore... seva in Mayapur is a highly revered service. Take special care of it; this is my special instruction to you.
      
   5. I had a sincere desire to draw attention to the significance of pure (shuddha) bhakti through books such as Shrimad Bhagavatam, Sat-sandarbha, Vedanta-darshana, etc. You should go on and take charge of that task. Mayapur will develop if a center of devotional learning (vidyapitha) is created there.
      
   6. Never bother to acquire knowledge or funds for your personal consumption; collect them only for the purpose of serving the divine; avoid bad company for the sake of money or self-interest.
5. The book was also published under slightly varied titles, such as Shri Chaitanya, His Life and Precepts.

Footnotes

1. Dasa 1999, p. 84.
2. ^ Sardella 2013b, p. 55.
3. ^ Swami 2009, p. 1.
4. ^ Sardella 2013a, p. 416.
5. Dasa 1999, p. 300.
6. Swami 2009, p. 6.
7. Dasa 1999, pp. 77, 298.
8. Dasa 1999, p. 78.
9. Sardella2013b, p. 17.
10. Sardella2013b, pp. 17–18.
11. Sardella 2013b, p. 19.
12. Sardella 2013b, p. 6.
13. ^ Sardella 2013a, p. 415.
14. Ward 1999, pp. 35–36. sfn error: no target: CITEREFWard1999 (help)
15. ^ Ward 1999, p. 10. sfn error: no target: CITEREFWard1999 (help)
16. Sardella 2013a, pp. 415–416.
17. ^ Dasa 1999, p. 97.
18. Dasa 1999, p. 95.
19. Sardella 2013b, p. 56.
20. Swami 2009, p. 5.
21. Bryant & Ekstrand 2004, p. 81.
22. Swami 2009, p. 9.
23. Swami 2009, p. 10.
24. ^ Sardella 2013b, p. 65.
25. ^ Sardella 2013b, pp. 64–65.
26. Swami 2009, pp. 9–10.
27. ^ Sardella 2013b, p. 64.
28. Sardella 2013b, p. 66.
29. Sardella 2013b, pp. 66–67.
30. Sardella 2013b, p. 67.
31. Sardella 2013b, p. 68-69.
32. Sardella 2013b, p. 71.
33. ^ Sardella 2013a, p. 417.
34. ^ Bryant & Ekstrand 2004, p. 85.
35. ^ Sardella 2013b, p. 75.
36. ^ Sardella 2013b, p. 79.
37. Sardella 2013b, p. 80.
38. ^ Sardella 2013b, p. 81.
39. ^ Sardella 2013b, p. 82.
40. ^ Bryant & Ekstrand 2004, p. 83.
41. ^ Sardella 2013b, pp. 82–86.
42. Sardella 2013b, p. 82-86.
43. Sardella 2013b, p. 99.
44. Murphy & Goff 1997, p. 32.
45. Bryant & Ekstrand 2004, p. 88.
46. Sardella 2013b, p. 86.
47. ^ Sardella 2013a, p. 418.
48. Murphy & Goff 1997, p. 18.
49. Sardella 2013b, p. 87.
50. Swami 2009, pp. 62–63.
51. ^ Sardella 2013b, pp. 90–91.
52. Sardella 2013b, pp. 92–93.
53. ^ Sardella 2013b, pp. 92.
54. Sardella 2013b, pp. 92, 98.
55. Sardella 2013b, pp. 92–93, 98.
56. ^ Sardella 2013a, pp. 418–419.
57. ^ Sardella 2013b, pp. 121–123.
58. ^ Sardella 2013a, p. 419.
59. Sardella 2013b, pp. 213–214.
60. Sardella 2013b, pp. 203–208.
61. ^ Sardella 2013a, p. 420.
62. Sardella 2013b, p. 105.
63. ^ Sardella 2013b, pp. 94–96.
64. Dasa 1999, p. 91-92.
65. ^ Swami 2009b, pp. 392–393.
66. Sardella 2013b, pp. 156–157.
67. ^ Sardella 2013b, pp. 129–132.
68. ^ Sardella 2013b, pp. 246–249.

References

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• Dasa, Shukavak N. (1999), Hindu Encounter with Modernity: Kedarnath Datta Bhaktivinoda, Vaiṣṇava Theologian (revised, illustrated ed.), Los Angeles, CA: Sanskrit Religions Institute, ISBN 1-889756-30-X, retrieved 31 January 2014 {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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Further reading

External links

• The Life of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada
• Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati - life overview
• Srila Bhaktisiddhanta and Raganuga Sadhana Bhakti
• The Greatest Hero of Divine Love

Category:Indian religious leaders Category:Gaudiya religious figures Category:Prabhupada Category:1874 births Category:Hindu missionaries Category:Indian missionaries Category:Hindu gurus Category:Hindu monks Category:Krishna Category:Bengali people Category:Indian Hare Krishnas Category:People from Puri district Category:Vedanta Category:1937 deaths

• People with eidetic memory