The Guardian of Devotion and His Divine Servitor

gurvābhīṣṭa-supūrakaṁ guru-gaṇair āśīṣa-saṁbhūṣitaṁ
chintyāchintya-samasta-veda-nipuṇaṁ śrī-rūpa-panthānugam
govindābhidham ujjvalaṁ vara-tanuṁ bhakty-anvitaṁ sundaraṁ
vande viśva-guruñ cha divya-bhagavat- premṇo hi bīja-pradam

naumi śrī-guru-pādābjaṁ yati-rājeśvareśvaram
śrī-bhakti-rakṣakaṁ śrīla-śrīdhara-svāminaṁ sadā

Bhakti means ‘devotion’, and Raksak means ‘guardian’. Situated within the holy province known by the devotees as Gauda Mandal, the humble village of Hapaniya has now become a cherished place of pilgrimage for theistic scholars and pilgrims the world over. Small wonder, since it is the holy place of advent of Om Visnupad Astottara-sata-sri Srimad Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, the great grandfather of all the faithful Vaisnava Tridandi-sannyasis, the grand preceptor of the divine nectarean message of Sri Gaurangadev. This great saintly personage made his glorious advent at Sripat Hapaniya of Radha Des in 1895 of the Christian calendar. The formidable scholar Sriyukta Upendra Chandra Bhattacharya Vidyaratna Mahodoy and Srimati Gauri Devi, were both unalloyed pure souls imbued with righteousness and devotion for the Supreme Lord Hari. At the fitting auspicious moment, Srila Guru Maharaj made his advent, choosing them as his father and mother, and revealing the advent of his Divine Pastimes to the world. They named their beloved son Sri Ramendra Chandra Bhattacharya.

In 1923, he was attracted by the grace of Sri Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami, and at the Sri Gaudiya Math situated at No. 1 Ultadingi Junction Road, Calcutta, he heard Sri Srila Prabhupad’s holy talks of the Supreme Lord. Not long after that, in December of 1926, with full surrender he joined Sri Gaudiya Math. The natural attraction for the Nam-sankirtan of Sri Chaitanyadev that Srila Guru Maharaj had felt since his very childhood now bloomed into the resplendent personality of Tridandi-sannyasi Sri Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Maharaj, at the behest of Sri Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami. Srila Prabhupad conferred this holy order, name, and title upon Srila Sridhar Maharaj in the year 1930, having marked his profound expertise and depth of divine realisation in the holy scriptural theistic conclusions, thus recognising him as a veritable ‘guardian of devotion’. Srila Prabhupad further solidified this recognition upon hearing Srila Sridhar Maharaj’s Sanskrit composition Sri-Bhakti-vinoda-viraha-dasakam, when he endorsed the holy poem as a direct inspiration of Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur.

Srila Sridhar Maharaj took a prominent part in the founding, organising, and preaching of many of the Sri Gaudiya Maths of Srila Prabhupad Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami all over India. As a climax to his divine affection and blessings to Srila Sridhar Maharaj, during the last days of Srila Prabhupad’s manifest Divine Pastimes in this world, he especially selected Srila Sridhar Maharaj to sing Sri Rupa-manjari-pada for him, which is well known as the most venerated and adored prayer of the entire Gaudiya sampradaya; by this action we can know Srila Prabhupad’s indomitable confidence in his ‘guardian of devotion’ as the future captain of the Sri Rupanuga sampradaya or divines succession of faithful followers of Sri Chaitanyadev in the line of Srila Rupa Goswami. And who could doubt this? The nectarean river of Sanskrit and Bengali compositions that flowed from his pen stand as great monuments in the line of Sri Chaitanyadev. In his latter years, some hundreds of disciples of the late world preacher Srila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj flocked to Sri Nabadwip Dham to hear the holy informal talks and advices of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, and from tape-recordings of those talks many English publications reached to the Western public, scholars, and devotees. The wholehearted acceptance of his divine delivery and those transcendental works by the genuine devotees is irrevocable, not only by dint of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj’s openly avowed acceptance of Srila Sridhar Maharaj as his Siksa-guru, but simply by the strength of their own spiritual merit. Therefore, great numbers of sincere seekers from all over the world also flocked to the lotus feet of Srila Sridhar Maharaj to become surrendered disciples of the guardian of devotion.

His Divine Servitor

Om Visnupad Astottara-sata-sri Srimad Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj made his appearance in this world on 17 December 1929, at Bamunpara, district Burdwan, only about six miles from Sripat Hapaniya where his beloved Gurudev made his advent, also situated in the holy area of Gauda Mandal. Revealing his Pastimes to the conditioned souls of this worldly plane, at the tender age of only seventeen years Srila Govinda Maharaj manifest his coming to the lotus feet of his Gurudev Sri Srila Sridhar Maharaj in April 1947 on the holy appearance day of Sri Nrsimhadev (Nrsimha Chaturdasi).

If any of the dear readers of this short account may have, or have had, the opportunity of hearing directly from other stalwart veteran disciples of Srila Sridhar Maharaj (an opportunity the humble writer has fortunately had on many occasions), such as Sripad Bhakti Prasun Aranya Maharaj, Sripad Hari Charan Brahmachari Seva Ketan Prabhu, Sriyukta Krishnamayi Devi, Sriyukta Ramarani Devi, and Srila Guru Maharaj’s own revered brothers and disciples Sriyukta Satyendra Chandra Bhattacharya, Sriyukta Amarendranath Bhattacharya and others — any fortunate soul will be able to trace the unbroken line of continuous unalloyed divine affection that Srila Guru Maharaj bestowed upon Srila Govinda Maharaj and continues to eternally bestow from his holy abode in the nitya-lila (eternal Divine Pastimes).

On the Amavasya (dark-moon day) of 12 August 1988, when Srila Guru Maharaj silently took his form of holy samadhi at his beloved place of bhajan, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Nabadwip Dham, at that time all the devotees felt that the exalted moon had disappeared from their vision; yet, by his divine grace, Srila Guru Maharaj had already foreseen the devotees’ need for uninterrupted light, for the smooth continuation of their devotional services; and therefore three years before he conferred the holy order of Tridanda-sannyas upon Srila Govinda Maharaj, naming him as his illustrious successor, as the guiding light to perfectly ensure that no darkness could enter into his sampradaya (divine succession).

The illustrious Acharyas or divine preceptors have often been described to be as brilliant as the sun. Their divine dispensation of Hari-katha and Hari-kirtan are as the life-giving rays of the supreme sun, giving life and warmth to all creatures, moving and stationary. They are the merciful bestowers of the very kernel of love divine for the Supreme Lord which is the absolute life of all that lives (divya-bhagavat-premno hi bija-pradam). In this way, it was no surprise that the faithful loving devotees of Srila Guru Maharaj could only receive with great transcendental joy the appearance in the Gaudiya firmament of Jagad-guru Gaudiya-bhaskaracharya Srila Sri Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaj. In the personage of his dearmost divine servitor, Srila Guru Maharaj had long before selected our future guardian.

No doubt, Srila Sridhar Maharaj named Srila Govinda Maharaj as his Successor-President-Acharya in his last will and testament in the year of 1985. Perhaps a lesser known fact is that he made his first will in 1964, and there also he hinted that he would name Srila Govinda Maharaj as his Successor-President-Acharya. In every subsequent will he made, the last one being the fourth, his choice of his successor never changed. And even above and beyond the legal aspect of his choice, in the plane of transcendental service we find — again a fact confirmed by the above mentioned most revered faithful veteran devotees of Srila Sridhar Maharaj — within only a matter of a few days after Srila Govinda Maharaj’s initial approach to the lotus feet of Srila Sridhar Maharaj in 1947, Srila Sridhar Maharaj remarked, «He will be my successor.» This is also a fact which was witnessed by many of the venerable veteran sannyasi godbrothers of Srila Sridhar Maharaj, all of whom held Srila Sridhar Maharaj in the highest transcendental regard without exception. Thus, they also showered their unreserved blessings (Guru-ganair asisa-sambhusitam) upon his selected successor.

Highly learned in Sanskrit and Bengali, Srila Govinda Maharaj has, as did his illustrious Gurudev, given us many divine prayers and songs most valuable for the cultivation of our spiritual life; his valuable natural talent coupled with his fine delivery of Hari-katha (holy talks of the Supreme Lord and His Pastimes), and, on the practical side of devotional life, his untiring services to his Srila Guru Maharaj in nurturing and upholding Srila Guru Maharaj’s India-wide and world-wide Mission from the very beginning to the present  — it was none other than he who designed and supervised the building of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math — have, as we have seen with our own eyes, ever fulfilled the divine desires of Sri Gurudev (Gurvabhista-supurakam).

It is my prayer, and I am also justly confident, that in the future we shall see more and more important publications such as this Sermons of the Guardian of Devotion IV by his grace embodying the Hari-katha of both Srila Guru Maharaj and Srila Govinda Maharaj in all languages of the world. With this prayer, I beg to offer my humble dandavat pranams unto the lotus feet of the guardian of devotion Om Visnupad Astottara-sata-sri Srimad Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj and his divine servitor Om Visnupad Astottara-sata-sri Srimad Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj.

śrīmach-chaitanya-sārasvata-maṭha-vara udgīta-kīrtir jayaśrīṁ
bibhrat saṁbhāti gaṅgā-taṭa-nikaṭa-navadvīpa-kolādrirāje
yatra śrī-gaura-sārasvata-mata-niratā gaura-gāthā gṛṇanti
nityaṁ rūpānuga-śrī-kṛtamati-guru-gaurāṅga-rādhājitāśā

In the Holy Abode of transcendental touchstone
Sri Nabadwip Dham — the selfsame Sri Vrndavan,
in the land of Koladwip, whose inner identity
is the King of mountains Sri Govarddhan,
near the charming shores of the holy River Bhagirathi
who delivers all the fallen souls
stands that grand and glorious King of all Temples —
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

In that beautiful retreat, the surrendered devotees
whose lives are the message of Sri Gaura,
are eternally absorbed in the loving service
of the Divine Master, the Golden Lord Gauranga
and the Loving Lord Sri Govindasundar
with His consort Srimati Gandharva,
accompanied by all Their beloved associates.

With hearts always filled with good hope
to attain the grace of the Lord,
following faithfully in the line
of Sri Sri Rupa and Raghunath —
the storekeepers of the unlimited treasure
of pure, sweet love divine,
those surrendered souls ever sing the unending glories
of the transcendental name and qualities
of the most magnanimous, original Supreme Lord
Sri Sri Gaurangasundar.

Indeed the hearts of all beings, moving and still,
marvel in the glory of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math
as they take shelter in the soothing, affectionate shade
of the victory flag that flies aloft
and sings wholeheartedly to the world the ever-expanding
renown of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math;
bearing that banner of all transcendental benedictions,
Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math ever shines resplendent
in all its divine magnificence.