All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga: Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math Header
Srila B.S. Govinda Maharaj, Sevaite-President-Acharyya
Founder-President-Acharyya, Srila B.R. Sridhar Maharaj


Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur

   

 


 

 

sri siddhanta-sarasvatiti viditau gaudiya-gurv-anvaye
  bhato bhanur iva prabhata-gagane yo gaura-sankirtanaih
mayavada-timingilodara-gatan uddhrtya jivaniman
  krsna-prema-sudhabdhi gahana sukham pradat prabhum tam bhaje

"In the great Gaudiya Vaishnava teachers' line, as Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati he is 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 Gauranga to sing the holy name of Lord Krishna, he gave all the chance to dive in the ocean of love for Sri Krishna, the Supreme Person. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta, my lord, divine master, at his feet do I pray to serve him forever."
 [Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj]


Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Prabhupad
  Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad, the disciple of Srila Gaura Kisora Das Babaji Maharaj, was the Guru of both Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj and Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad.

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Prabhupad preached that the Gaudiya Math stood for the dignity of the entire human race, by teaching wholesale surrender to the Absolute Good. Especially active in the field of publishing transcendental literature, his erudition was profoundly commanding and elaborate. He revolutionized Krishna conscious preaching by giving preference to pure devotional qualifications over lineage, and it was he who set the precedent of Vaishnava Tridanda-Sannyas [the renounced order of devotional life] in accordance with the injunctions of the revealed scriptures.

In a poem describing the descending divine succession of the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur Prabhupad wrote: sri krsna caitanya -- radha-krsna nahe anya, rupanuga janera jivana. "Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is none other than Sri Sri Radha and Krishna, the life and soul of the true followers of Srila Rupa Goswami."

To exemplify this sublime ideal, Srila Bhakti Siddhanta established sixty-four Gaudiya Maths in India in the 1930's, and all through he embraced the line of worship of Lord Chaitanya as nondifferent from Sri Sri Radha and Krishna.

The deep sense of urgency he felt to propagate the divine teachings of Lord Chaitanya for the benefit of the suffering world of misconception is exemplified in the indomitable conviction of his statement: "If fire burns the whole world, do not waste time trying to put it out. All necessities can be met only by serving Krishna."


Glorification by Srila Sridhar Maharaj
  Although outwardly he was like a lion, inwardly he was very, very sweet -- yet it could be traced only in his internal sweetness. Outwardly, the way of love was worshipped by him with grandeur, awe, and reverence, but his object was the simple and beautiful Divine Love of Vrindavan, and his temperament in establishing that in the world was just like a lion's. After his departure I described his life in one sloka:

nikhila-bhuvana-maya-chinnavicchinna-karttri
   vibudha-bahula-mrgya-mukti-mohanta-dhattri
sithilita-vidhi-ragaradhya-radhesa-dhani
   vilasatu hrdi nityam bhaktisiddhanta-vani

"With his first step, he vigorously cut asunder the whole plane of exploitation, and with his second, he put a stop to all the calculations of the different scholars with their different conceptions of salvation, liberated stages. With his third step, he minimized the hardness and stiffness of the rules and regulations of calculative devotional service, by a touch of the Divine Love: crossing Vaikuntha, he gave us the worship of Sri Sri Radha and Govinda."

Calculation, the rules and regulations, awe, reverence, all these things are minimized, checked, slackened with the softness of Vrindavan within, and with the hardness of a devastator without, he created havoc in the materialistic world, fighting with one and all. Single-handedly fighting against the whole world, and cutting asunder everything -- that was his external attitude. And his second attitude was to put a stop to all scholarly researchers and doctorates of different departments, and to stop their boasting research; and third, to minimize, to slacken the grandeur of the worship of Narayan.

He caused the domain of love to descend into this plane with the service of Radha-Govinda, establishing the flow of Divine Love from the heart as all in all. With that we come to serve our object of worship, and he represented the service of Radha Govinda as the highest attainment. That was his history.

The real existence of Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad is in bhaktisiddhanta-vani, his divine teachings. May that bhaktisiddhanta-vani dance eternally within the core of your heart.

 

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Founder-Acharyya: Srila B. R. Sridhar Maharaj
President-Acharyya: Srila B. S. Govinda Maharaj
www.scsmath.com - online since 1995. Updated regularly.