Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj

Back to Godhead article by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami 
Prabhupada, published in March 1952, Vol. 1, Part IX, entitled, 
"Paramahansa Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj"

Om Vishnupada Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami appeared 
in this mortal world in the year 1874 in February on the 6th as the 
third son of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur known as late Kedarnath Dutt in 
His early householder life. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati was known 
as Bimala Prasad Dutt in His early life and from His very boyhood, 
inspired by His devotee father, lived a strict pious and religious 
life. One instance in His early life will prove how much He was rigid 
in His principle of religious way of life. The instance may be cited 
here as a matter of course. Srila Kedar Nath Dutta as an ideal 
Grihastha used to worship Sree Sree Radha Govinda Vigraha at his 
house. As such one day he purchased some good quality mangoes for the 
deity when Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati was a mere child. The 
child Bimala Prasad pretending the childish nature ate up the mangoes 
without the knowledge of his father. The father when he came to know 
that the mangoes purchased for offering to the deities at his house 
were swallowed up by his child Bimala Prasad, he mildly rebuked Him 
and warned Him also not to commit the mistake in the future. The child 
Bimala Prasad took up this matter very seriously and as the proverb 
goes that child is the father of future men, so He proved Himself then 
as the future Acharya of the human community. From that day forward 
till His departure from this mortal world He remembered that mistake 
which He had committed in His early life and as a matter of self 
imposed punishment, He never touched mangoes of any kind for His 
eating purpose. In His later life He was so many times requested by 
His thousands and thousands disciples to accept mangoes but He always 
reminded of His childish so called mistake and always quoted the 
instruction from the Ishopanishad that everything belongs to the 
Almighty God. No body therefore accept anything in this world unless 
the same has first been offered to Him (Almighty God).

Another instance of His early life may be stated here that when Bimala 
Prasada was on the lap of his beloved mother His father Late Kedar 
Nath Dutta was posted as Magistrate of Puri. The Car festival of Sree 
Sree Jagannathji took place at that time. The house was situated just 
near the main road through which the Car used to pass. So when the Car 
was moving it stopped all of a sudden in front of the house where Sri 
Bimala Prasad was on the lap of His mother. The Car of Jagannath 
stopped and did not move with utmost endeavour of the pulling 
devotees. The mother of Bimala Prasad took this opportunity and was 
helped to get up on the Car for Darshan of the Deity with her saintly 
son. The baby Bimala Prasad was then thrown up on the holy feet of 
Sree Sree Jagannathji and at once the baby was blessed by the God as 
some flowers fell down on the baby from the hands of the Deity. After 
this incidence the Car began to move and every intelligent person 
present there could understand that the child Bimala Prasad was not an 
ordinary one. There are many such small but very significant instances 
from His very childhood which indicated Bimala Prasad to be a future 
great personality and it so happened that in His later age, He became 
the most powerful Acharya in the line of Gaudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya 
in the disciplic succession from the Madhvacharya who was in the line 
of Brahma Sampradaya coming down Brahma the Creator of this Universe. 
There are four Sattwata or transcendental spiritual Acharya 
Sampradayas or fundamental schools of Theism such as the Brahma 
Sampradaya beginning with Brahma after his initiation from the 
Personality of Godhead; the Rudra Sampradaya beginning from Sankara or 
Mahadeva; the Shree Sampradaya beginning from Sreemati Luxmi Devi the 
Eternal Consort of Sree Narayana and the Kumar Sampradaya beginning 
from the Kumar namely Sanak Sanat Kumars. Sree Madhvacharya belonged 
to Brahma Sampradaya, Sree Ramanuja to the Sree Sampradaya, Sree 
Vishnuswami to the Rudra Sampradaya and Sree Nimbarka belonged to the 
Kumar Sampradaya. All these four Acharyas are bonafide preachers of 
the pure transcendental philosophy dealing with the problems of this 
world, the living entities and the Almighty God who is the Father of 
creation as well as the living entities who are falsely trying to 
dominate over the creation and the controlling energy known as the 
material Nature.

Sree Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj happened to be the 
tenth generation in the line of disciplic succession from Lord 
Chaitanya who accepted Srila Iswar Puri as His spiritual Master. Srila 
Madhabendra Puri was the spiritual Master of Srila Iswar Puri and He 
(Sri Madhabendra Puri) belonged to be in the disciplic succession from 
Madhvacharya who was direct disciple of Sree Vyasdeva. The Spiritual 
Master of Srila Vyasadeva was Srila Narada Muni who was directly 
initiated by Brahma the originator of the Brahma Sampradaya and 
therefore my spiritual Master Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati 
Goswami Maharaj belonged to the transcendental school of philosophy of 
the Brahma Sampradaya linking Brahma to Vyasadeva; from Him to 
Madhvacharya from Madhvacharya to Lord Chaitanya and from Lord 
Chaitanya to Himself in a systematic principle as stated in Bhagwat 
Geeta:

Ebam Parampara Praptam etc. [Bg. 4.2]

As a bonafide Acharya of the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya the 
mission of Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami was to 
re-establish the pure form of theism as propounded by Lord Chaitanya 
in the line of His predecessors. Lord Chaitanya preached only the 
teachings of Bhagwat Geeta in the most practical way to suit the 
present environment created by the dark age of quarrel and fight. In 
the latter-age calculated to be two hundred years before the advent of 
Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaja many 
pseudo-spiritualistic parties in the name of Lord Chaitanya grew up 
like mushrooms to exploit the noble sentiment of spiritualism of the 
innocent people of Earth. Such pseudo spiritualistic parties deviated 
poles asunder from the preaching of Lord Chaitanya because they were 
unfit to undergo the disciplic regulations and as such they had 
mitigated a via-media principle of rotten materialistic idea with pure 
spiritualism. They misunderstood the highest form of worship 
contemplated by the Gopies of Brindaban in the spiritual process with 
a materialistic idea of erotic principle. As such the highest 
principle Rashlila stated in the Bhagwat to be understood and relished 
at the stage of Parahansas was made a plaything by such pseudo parties 
are known as the Oul, Baoul, Nera, Karta Bhaja, Sain, Darbesa, 
Sakhi-vekhi, Sahajiya, Caste Goswamins, Caste Brahmins and so on. 
These pseudo parties passed as the disciples of Lord Chaitanya with 
their cheap nefarious activities and of all the above parties the 
Sahajiyas and the Caste Gosvamins became the most 
obstinate-obstructors to the onward-progress of the universal movement 
of Lord Chaitanya.

The Philosophy of Lord Chaitanya was that God is One without a second. 
He is known as Sree Krishna but His incarnations such as Rama 
Nrisingha are all identical with Him. The living entities or Jivas are 
qualitatively one with Godhead but quantitatively they are innumerable 
but eternal servitors of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The 
present materialistic activities of the Jivas are to be understood as 
the acts of maya or illusion and therefore they are all waste of 
energy of the human being. The energy of the human being as also of 
other living being should therefore be directed under the bonafide 
regulations of the Acharya in the line of Lord Chaitanya and as such 
He vehemently protested against the principles of those pseudo 
transcendentalists now passed in the name of Lord Chaitanya. Srila 
Thakur Bhaktivinode initiated the reformatory movement by literary 
contributions while he was still engaged as a high Government Officer. 
During his householder life and serving as a Magistrate he wrote books 
of various descriptions in Bengali, English, Sanskrit & etc. to 
present an actual picture of pure devotional activities of Lord 
Chaitanya. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj got 
inspiration from his very Childhood all about Srila Thakur 
Bhaktivinode's movement. As a matter of fact out of all his other 
son's Srila Saraswati Thakur practically worked as the private 
secretary of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur as such Bhaktivinode Thakur 
gave Him (Srila Saraswati Thakur) the transcendental Power of Attorney 
to espouse the cause of Lord Chaitanya and so after Srila Bhaktivinode 
Thakur's departure Srila Saraswati Thakur took up reins of that 
reformatory movement. The first and foremost task of Srila Saraswati 
Thakur was to excavate the holy birth-place of Lord Chaitanya at 
Sreedham Mayapur in the district of Nadia in West Bengal. To 
substantiate this preliminary act of His great future movement Srila 
Saraswati Thakur had to face tremendous difficulties offered by the 
caste goswamins at Nabadwip-because they apprehended a lawyer in the 
initial movement. The caste goswamins were exploiting and still are 
exploiting the religious sentiments of the common people in the name 
of Lord Chaitanya and presented themselves as so called relative and 
descendants of Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda. Factually Lord 
Chaitanya or for the matter of that Lord Nityananda accepted nobody as 
their relative or kinsmen who were not devotee of the Lord. On the 
contrary Lord Chaitanya accepted Thakur Haridas, who happened to come 
out of a Mohammedan family, as the Namacharya or the most powerful 
authority for preaching the samkirtan movement which Lord Chaitanya 
inaugurated so arduously.

Lord Chaitanya, as it is stated in the Bhagwat Geeta or in other 
authentic scriptures, wanted to re-establish the Vaishnava Dharma on 
the real basis of spiritualism. He never deprecated the natural caste 
system but neither He approved of the birth-right caste system, which 
has degenerated into slut of anachronism. Lord Chaitanya opined that 
anyone who is well conversant with the philosophy of the Absolute 
Truth Shree Krishna, never mind what he is either a born Brahmin or 
Sudra or in the Ashram of a Sanyasi or Grihastha is perfectly 
competent to act in the role of Spiritual Master. And He practically 
demonstrated this fact during His preaching work.

The caste gosvamins assisted by the other pseudo-transcendentalists 
made a clique to check up the universal movement of Lord Chaitanya and 
made a business of despatching those foolish followers to the kingdom 
heaven after having drawing a lumpsum amount for this priestcraft 
hooliganism. Sree Sreemad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaj 
wanted to check up this pseudo-spiritualistic activities of the so 
called followers of Lord Chaitanya and present the actual thing for 
acceptance by the general public religionists and modern philosophers 
for a critical study of the sublime gift of Lord Chaitanya. It is the 
honest belief of Srila Saraswati Thakur that people in general, modern 
philosophers and thinkers as also the religionists will be struck with 
wonder when they seriously make a study of the gift of Lord Chaitanya.

What was thought by modern leaders like Gandhi and Rabindranath was 
long before thought by Lord Chaitanya not as a public leader of 
political aspiration but as the Father of all living entities. The 
movement of Lord Chaitanya is generally known as the Samkirtan 
movement which is a transcendental process of self-realisation by 
removing the dust of materialism on the mirror of human intelligence. 
The present problem confronting the human civilization is due to lack 
of a proper introspection of the goal of human knowledge.


My Lord and Master, His Divine Grace.

Poem written by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 
On Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur's Vyasa puja.

From Srila Prabhupada's Lilamrita by HH Satsvarupa das Goswami

February 25, 1935

It was the sixty-second birthday of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. 
At Jagannatha Puri, where Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was 
residing, the devotees observed the day with ceremony. At the small 
Bombay center, the few disciples planned an evening observance and 
invited local people. For the occasion, Abhay wrote a poem.

Adore adore ye all the happy day,
Blessed than heaven, Sweeter than May,
When he appeared at Puri, the holy place,
My Lord and Master, His Divine Grace.

Oh! my Master, the evangelic angel,
Give us Thy light, light up the candle.
Struggle for existence a human race
The only hope, His Divine Grace.

Misled we are all going astray,
Save us Lord, our fervent pray,
Wonder Thy ways to turn our face.
Adore Thy feet, Your Divine Grace.

Forgotten Krishna, we fallen souls,
Paying most heavy, the illusion's toll.
Darkness around all untrace,
The only hope, His Divine Grace.

Message of service thou hast brought.
A healthful life as Chaitanya wrought,
Unknown to all, it's full of brace,
That's your gift, Your Divine Grace.

Absolute is sentient thou hast proved,
Impersonal calamity thou hast moved.
This gives us a life - Anew and fresh.
Worship Thy feet, Your Divine Grace.

Had you not come, Who had told
The message of Krishna, forceful and bold,
That's your right, you have the mace.
Save me a fallen, Your Divine Grace.

The line of service as drawn by you
Is pleasing and healthy like morning dew.
The oldest of all but in new dress.
Miracle done, Your Divine Grace.

Abhay Charan Das


The Upadesavali Of Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada

"Param vijayate sri-krsna-sankirtanam - supreme victory to the 
congregational chanting of Krsna's names" - this is Sri Gaudiya Math's 
sole object of worship.

Sri Krsna, who is the visaya-vigraha or the object of the devotee's 
prema, is the sole enjoyer, and all others are to be enjoyed by Him.

Those who don't perform Hari-bhajana are ignorant and murderers of 
their own soul.

The acceptance of Harinama and direct realization of Bhagavan are one 
and the same.

Those who equate the demigods with Visnu are unable to serve Bhagavan.

Establishing a printing press to print devotional books and preaching 
by organizing Nama Hatta programs constitutes genuine service to Sri 
Mayapur.

We are not doers of good or bad deeds, nor are we scholars or 
illiterate. Carrying the shoes of Hari's pure devotees as our duty, we 
are initiates into the mantra "kirtaniya sada hari".

Preaching without following proper conduct falls within the category 
of karma, mundane activity. Without criticizing the nature of other, 
one should correct one's self - this is my personal instruction.

Serving the Vrajavasis who felt great separation from Krsna when He 
left Vraja to reside in Mathura is our supreme constitutional 
occupation.

If we desire to follow an auspicious course in life, then disregarding 
the theories of even countless people we should hear instructions only 
from a transcendental source.

Life as an animal, bird, insect, or any other of the countless 
thousands of species is acceptable, but taking shelter of deceit is 
thoroughly improper. Only an honest person possesses real 
auspiciousness.

Simple heartedness is synonymous with Vaisnavism. Servants of 
paramahamsa Vaisnava should be simple-hearted, a quality which makes 
them the topmost brahmanas.

Helping to draw conditioned souls away from their perverted attachment 
to this material energy is the greatest compassion. If even one soul 
is rescued from maha-maya's fortress, that compassionate act is 
infinitely more benevolent than the construction of unlimited 
hospitals.

We have not come to this world to be construction workers; we are the 
bearers of Sri Caitanyadeva's instructions.

We will not remain in this world for long, and by profusely performing 
Hari-kirtan, upon relinquishing these material bodies we will 
experience the ultimate reward of embodied life.

The foot-dust of Sri Rupa Goswami, the fulfiller of Sri Caitanyadeva's 
inner desires is our life's sole desired object.

If I were to desist from lecturing about the Absolute Truth due to 
being fearful that some listeners may be displeased, I would be 
deviating from the path of Vedic truth and accepting the path of 
untruth. I would become one who is inimical to the Vedas, an atheist, 
and would no longer possess faith in Bhagavan, the very embodiment of 
Truth.

Krsna's darsan can only be attained through the medium of the ear as 
one hears Hari-katha from pure Vaisnavas; there is no other way.

Wherever Hari-katha is being spoken is a holy place.

Proper sravana, hearing, is accomplished through the medium of kirtan, 
and this will give one the good opportunity to practice smarana, 
remembrance. Then internal experience of rendering direct service to 
the astakaliya-lila, Sri Radha-Krsna's pastimes in each of the eight 
parts of the day, becomes possible.

We should understand that the loud calling out of Krsna's names is 
bhakti.

Bhagavan will not accept anything, that is offered by a person who 
doesn't chant Harinam one-hundred thousand times daily (1 lakh of 
names).

By sincerely endeavoring to chant Harinam without offences and 
remaining fixed in chanting constantly, one's offences will fade and 
pure Harinam will arise on the tongue.

As mundane thoughts arise while taking Harinam, one should not become 
discouraged. A secondary consequence of taking Harinam is that these 
useless mundane thoughts will gradually dissipate; therefore one 
should not worry about this. By dedicating one's mind, body, and words 
to serving Sri Nama and continuing to chant with great persistence, 
Sri Nama Prabhu will grant one darsan of His supremely auspicious 
transcendental form. And by continuing to chant until one's anarthas 
are fully eradicated by the power of Sri Nama realization of His form, 
qualities and pastimes will automatically arise.

