THE LION ACARYA
A Brief Biography of Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja.
(The first sannyasa disciple of Srila Bhaktisidhanta Prabhupada.
Co-founder in 1943 (with Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada)
of the Gaudiya Vedanta Samhiti.
Most widely known as the diksa guru of Srila Bhaktivedanta
Narayan Maharaja and as the sannyasa-guru of
Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja).
Nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada 108 Sri Srimad Bhakti
Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja appeared on
January 1, 1898 (Krsna-tritiya-tithi) in the village of
Banari Para within Sri Gaura-mandala in West Bengal.
He was born into a very respectable Zamindar family.
His father, Sri Sarat Candar Guha, was a great devotee
of the Lord and his mother, Bhavan Mohini-devi was a
reservoir of chastity. He was their second child and they
named him Vinoda-bihari.
He was a beautiful baby and the women in his village used
to call him Jonah, which comes from the word jyotsna,
meaning 'effulgent', because of his beautiul golden
complexion. His father passed away when Vinoda-bihari
was an infant. Although heart-broken, his mother worked
hard to give her children everything they needed.
Vinoda-bihari was a reservoir of all good qualities. He
was intelligent, fearless, strong, compassionate, and always
serving people and the Lord. Everyone loved him because
of these qualities. At the age of twelve, he began to manage
his family's property. He was such an expert that he would
very often instruct his superiors about which course of action
to take when problems arose.
He read and studied Bhagavad-gita, Sri Caitanya-
caritamrta, Srimad-Bhagavatam and other transcendental
literature before he entered university. He excelled in his
studies at university and his teachers would come everyday,
between classes, to hear his beautiful discourses on these books.
Sri Vinoda-bihari met his beloved gurudeva, jagad-guru
nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasavati Prabhupada on Gaura-purnima, March 1, 1915
at Sridhama Mayapura and recieved first initiation from him.
At this time Srila Prabhupada had just completed his
phenomenal vow, which he began in 1905, of chanting
the maha-mantra 17,123 times every day. This equates to
267 rounds daily for ten years, totalling 1,000,000,000
(one billion) Holy Names of the Lord.
Four years later on Gaura-purnima, March 16, 1919,
Vinoda-bihari received Vaisnava-diksa from Srila
Prabhupada, who immediately after initiating him appointed
him as the managing editor of the periodical Jnani Nadia
in Krsnanagar, West Bengal. His articles on devotional
service were regularly published in this magazine.
Srila Prabhupada was so pleased with Vinoda-bihari's
lectures and preaching abilities that he placed all of his
Vaisnava literature in the care of his disciple. On Gaura-
purnima, March 21, 1932, Srila Prabhupada, again
being pleased with Vinoda-bihari's selfless service,
awarded his beloved disciple the title "Krti-ratna".
Following the order of Srila Prabhupada, Vinoda-bihari
preached the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri,
Cuttack, Allahabad, Assam, Meghalaya, Mathura and
many other places in India. On the request of the
residents of Chinsura, he established Sri Uddharan
Gaudiya Matha.
In 1920, Srila Prabhupada introduced massive
circumambulations of Sri Navadvipa-dhama. He
would lead huge parikrama parties around the places
where Caitanya Mahaprabhu performed His many
pastimes. The deities would be mounted on elephants
in full pomp and slendour amidst tens of thousands of
pilgrims in grand and royal style. The victorious sounds
of conchshells, mrdangas (clay drums), karatalas
(hand-cymbals) and horns could be heard resounding
throughout the land.
On one particular parikrama of Sri Navadvipa-dhama,
March 9, 1925, on the island Koladvipa, some
malicious and evil minded people attacked the
parikrama party with such an onslaught of bricks
that Srila Prabupada's very life was in jeopardy. All
of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada's intimate
associates and confidential servitors immediately
fled for their own lives in great fear and haste, seeking
their own safety. Only the lion-like acarya Srila
Kesava Maharaja, who was still Sri Vinoda-bihari
Brahmacari, stayed steadfastly and courageously
by Srila Prabhupada's side. Realising the dire need
and perilous nature of the situation, Vinoda-bihari
responded swiftly and resourcefully by exchanging
his brahmacari cloth for Srila Prabhupada's sannyasa
garments. He protected Srila Prabhupada to the
point of using his own body to shield his gurudeva
until he led him to safety. By swapping his sannaysa
garments for Sri Vinoda-bihari's brahmacari cloth,
Srila Prabhupada was in fact awarding his beloved
disciple initiation into the sannyasa order. Srila
Kesava Maharaja was therefore the first sannyasa
disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada had been vigorously refuting
the concocted conclusions of the thirteen deviant
Vaisnava sects - the Aulas, the Baulas, the
Kartabhajas, etc. He had also condemned
compulsory monetary remuneration for darsana
of the Deities in the temples. In addition, he
strongly objected to the abominable practice of
charging fees for recitation of Srimad-Bhagavatam
and Bhagavata-gita. He was preaching that
Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared on the eastern
bank of the Ganges in Sridhama Mayapura, not on
the western bank of the Ganges at present day
Navadvipa as was falsely claimed. For all of these
reasons, all the smarta-brahmanas, panditas and
other sects attacked Srila Prabhupada.
Fortunately, our courageous and venerable Vinoda-
bihari was close by Srila Prabhupada's side, just as
Kuresh was at the side of Ramanuja Acarya and
protected Ramanuja Acarya by exchanging his
grhastha dress with his guru's sannyasa dress, at the
cost of his own eyesight.
After that horrendous incident, Srila Prabhupada became
determined to redeem these people. He gathered his
disciples and explained that it was his desire that a
temple be established in Koladvipa. He then asked who
would volunteer to lead this project. There was a long
moment of silence and not a single devotee stepped
forward. Finally, after looking around and seeing that no
one was going to respond, Vinoda-bihari accepted this
service. He stated that he would establish a temple for
the fulfilment of his gurudeva's desire. This service
manifested itself fully when he established Sri Devananda
Gaudiya Matha in Koladvipa just after he accepted sannyasa.
Srila Kesava Maharaja always used to mourn the
disappearance of his beloved gurudeva, and many times
when recollecting a particular pastime they had shared,
or just by hearing his gurudeva's name, tears would flow
profusely from his lotus eyes. He also avidly promulgated
book publication, as evidenced by the many books he
personally wrote as well as the translations of previous
acaryas' compositions which he published.
In 1941 at Katva, the place where Caitanya Mahaprabhu
accepted sannayasa, Vinoda-bihari accepted the
renounced order from Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja.
He was given the name Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami.
On December 13, 1954, Srila Kesava Maharaja established
Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha in Mathura and two years later,
during the month of Karttika, he installed the deities Sri Sri
Radha Vinoda-bihari. Srila Kesava Maharaja was a powerful
acarya who had eternal and unshakable faith in his own guru.
He was an extraordinary writer and speaker. He was great
thinker and organiser, and he was extremely knowledgeable
on law. Following in his gurudeva's footsteps he was a
naisthika brahmacari.
On purnima night October 6, 1968, during Karttika, in his own
bed at Devananda Gaudiya Matha and surrounded by his
disciples, Srila Kesava Gosvami Maharaja entered into
aprakrta-lila or the eternal pastimes. In his original svarupa
as Vinoda Manjari, he returned to Goloka Vrndavana and
joined his beloved gurudeva Srila Prabhupada in the
service of the Divine Couple, Sri Sri Radha Vinoda-bihari.
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