Chapter One

Śikṣā Guru
“Our relationship is very intimate …”

An excerpt from
The Guardian of Devotion
(Californian edition)
compiled by
Śrīpād B. S. Goswāmī Mahārāj

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Prabhupād and Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj first met sometime in the year 1930 in Allahabad, India. In a taped conversation recorded in a 1973 meeting at Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s Maṭh at Nabadwīp Dhām, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj recalls: “So, we are very fortunate to hear His Divine Grace, Om Viṣṇupād Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakāchārya Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj. By age and by experience, in both ways, he is senior to me. I was fortunate to have his association since a very long time, perhaps in 1930, something like that. At that time, he did not accept sannyās; he just left home, and as a vānaprastha, in his white dress, he went to Allahabad.

“[To Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj] Mahārāj, I think you remember the incident when you went to Allahabad? On that auspicious occasion, we were connected. There is a long story. It will take time, but I had the opportunity of associating with Śrīdhar Mahārāj for several years. Kṛṣṇa and Prabhupād liked him to prepare me.

Śrīdhar Mahārāj lived in my house for many years, so naturally, we had very intimate talks and he was my good adviser. I took his advices, instructions, very seriously because from the very beginning I know that he is a pure Vaiṣṇava, a pure devotee, and I wanted to associate with him and tried to help him also. Our relationship is very intimate.”

Herein, we find the history of a transcendental relationship between these two pure devotees of the Lord. Addressing Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj as ‘His Divine Grace’ and ‘Om Viṣṇupād’ — forms of address for one regarded as a spiritual master — Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj has transcended the norms of social etiquette and superficial formality. Intimately associating together for a concentrated period of over five years, often for five to seven hours daily, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj considered that “Kṛṣṇa and Prabhupād liked him to prepare me” for his future expansive missionary activities in the Western world. While remembering their intimate talks, specifically in regard to Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj recalls the depth in penetration of their discussions. “Once while discussing the verse dadāmi buddhi-yogaṁ taṁ yena Mām upayānti te [Bg: 10.10: “I give them the understanding by which they can come to Me.”] I submitted to him that here upayānti is indicative of parakīya-rasa [paramour relationship]. On this point he agreed with me, saying, ‘Yes, at this point there cannot be anything but the parakīya-rasa of Vraja. The conclusion of Bhagavad-gītā must come to this.’”

Recognising Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj as “a pure Vaiṣṇava, a pure devotee” since the beginning of their relationship, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj most highly valued his instructions and advice. He would often consult with him regarding the spiritual significance of his failing business and family relationships.

An example of how Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj tried to help Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj in his preaching work is seen in his appreciating Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s uncanny ability for extracting the essence of the scriptures. He helped to finance the publication of Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s original Sanskrit-Bengali work entitled Śrī Śrī Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam: Life-Nectar of the Surrendered Souls. The book, as well as containing original Sanskrit verses composed by Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj, is a compilation of verses from various Vaiṣṇava scriptures such as Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and includes excerpts from the works of Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī. It is divided according to the six divisions of surrender.

Constantly associating, whether in Allahabad, Kolkata, or other parts of India, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj and Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s relationship continually developed. Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj continues to recall their meeting: “In my householder life I had opened an office in Bombay for our business. The Bombay Gauḍīya Maṭh was established by Śrīdhar Mahārāj and myself. We made two parties for begging, collecting alms. Śrīdhar Mahārāj, myself, and Bhakti Sāraṅga Goswāmī Mahārāj. So, I took them to my chemist friends, and I collected about five hundred rupees. Śrīdhar Mahārāj would speak, I would introduce, and Goswāmī Mahārāj would canvass.”

In the Śrīla Prabhupāda-līlāmṛta, Satsvarūp Dās Goswāmī writes, “Abhay would often accompany Śrīdhar Mahārāj and his assistants at preaching programs, where he would play the mṛdaṅga. And when Śrīdhar Mahārāj fell ill, Abhay led the other devotees on preaching engagements, performing kīrtan, playing mṛdaṅga, and giving lectures on the Bhāgavatam.”

While still in Bombay, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj and Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj were the receiving party for a Gauḍīya Maṭh sannyāsī upon his return from Europe. Although dismayed by his changed appearance which was missing the tridaṇḍa of a Gauḍīya sannyāsī, the śikhā of a Vaiṣṇava, as well as the traditional robes, they still eagerly enquired in regard to the preaching field in the West. The sannyāsī remarked, “They ask questions that cannot be answered.” Concerned, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj enquired further as to the nature of those questions. One after another Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj answered them all. At last, the sannyāsī was left dumbfounded, and Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj boldly declared, “Today, Europe has been defeated by Asia.”

During the lifetime of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj once composed a poem describing the ontological positions of Śrīla Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur and the line of disciplic succession stemming from Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur was so pleased with the poem’s ontological depth and its happy style that he remarked, “Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur has written this through him. Now I am satisfied that although I may go, at least one man remains behind who can represent my conclusions.” In further appreciation of Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s writings, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur informed the editors of the Gauḍīya Maṭh’s periodicals, “If you include articles written by Śrīdhar Mahārāj, the quality of your publications will be greatly improved.”

After the disappearance of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur, the Gauḍīya Maṭh gradually diverged. With full knowledge of the events surrounding the disintegration of the Gauḍīya Maṭh, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj told his disciples in the same 1973 conversation, “Our relationship is very intimate. After the breakdown of the Gauḍīya Maṭh, I wanted to organise another organisation, making Śrīdhar Mahārāj the head.”

Reciprocating the appreciation, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj advised the leaders of the Gauḍīya Saṅgha to confer the title ‘Bhaktivedānta’ upon the then Abhay Charan. Later, his Sannyās-guru, Śrīpād Bhakti Prajñān Keśav Mahārāj, one of the senior-most disciples of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur, and the first sannyās disciple of Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj, gave sannyās to Abhay Charan, retaining the title ‘Bhaktivedānta’, and conferring the sannyās name ‘Swāmī’.

Additionally, when Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj returned to India in October of 1967, after his successful preaching initiative in America, he stayed with Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj in Nabadwīp and observed his Vyāsa Pūjā celebration. At that time, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj wrote a letter to a disciple saying, “Yesterday, we have all come to Nabadwīp Dhām. This place is an establishment of one of my godbrothers. It is a very nice and extensive place, and my godbrother B. R. Śrīdhar Mahārāj has spared one entire house for our stay. He has also agreed to cooperate with our society. We shall observe his birthday celebration, and the brahmacharīs shall learn how to celebrate the spiritual master’s birthday.” Shortly afterwards, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj asked Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj to be the president of his newly formed society — the International Society for Kṛṣṇa Consciousness.

During the Vyāsa Pūjā celebration, one of Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj’s disciples saw Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj and Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj fully absorbed in a deep discussion in Bengali. The disciple enquired from Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj what was the nature of their talk, and he replied, “If I were to tell you, you would faint. Śrīdhar Mahārāj has very high realisations.”

That Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj continually regarded Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj as his adviser throughout his life is clear in the following letter written by him to one of Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s disciples, Śrīpād Govinda Mahārāj. Concerned about his failing health, he had written Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj asking whether he should continue living in the United States or return to India to live his last days in Vṛndāvan. After receiving Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s reply, he wrote, “What Śrīpād Śrīdhar Mahārāj has directed, I take it on my head. He is my always well-wisher. After the departure of Prabhupād, it is appropriate that I should accept his direction. I got direction from him that I shall live in this country forever.”

Sometimes it is said that one’s preaching contribution can be judged according to the number of Temples established, devotees converted, and books published and distributed. Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj travelled and preached extensively all over India, personally accompanying Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur for many years. Nearly fifty years1 ago, he established the Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh on the banks of the Ganges in Nabadwīp Dhām, which is now a thriving institution. His followers have established Temples in major cities throughout the world. His Sanskrit and Bengali writings have been appreciated by both scholars and devotees for their originality, depth of realisation, and happy poetic style. Published and widely distributed throughout the world, they are now available in English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese, German, French2, and are being translated into other languages.

1 Since then the Maṭh’s Golden Jubilee was gloriously celebrated in 1991.

2 By now, the culmination of Śrīla Guru Mahārāj’s centenary year, his books are available in: Gujurati, English, Dutch, German, Italian, Russian, Swedish, Farsi, Malay, Tamil, Orian, Bengali, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, and Hungarian.

Throughout his life, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj always maintained the highest respect and confidence in Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj. He considered that whenever it was not possible for his disciples to proceed directly under his guidance, that they should take direction from Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj. He once wrote in a letter to one of his students, “Because you are my disciple, and I think, a sincere soul, it is my duty to refer you to someone who is competent to act as a Śikṣā-guru. For spiritual advancement of life, we must go to someone who is actually practising spiritual life. So, if you are actually serious to take instructions from a Śikṣā-guru, I can refer you to the one who is the most highly competent of all my godbrothers. This is B. R. Śrīdhar Mahārāj, whom I consider to be even my Śikṣā-guru, so what to speak of the benefit that you can have by his association. So, if you are serious about the advancement of your spiritual life, I will advise you to go to Śrīdhar Mahārāj. It will be very good for your spiritual benefit, and I will feel that you are safe. When I was in India with the others, we lived with Śrīdhar Mahārāj. You can also make arrangements for your other godbrothers to go there in the future. So, live peacefully with Śrīdhar Mahārāj, and thereby you will be spiritually enlightened.”

In this passage, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj describes Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj as “the most competent of all my godbrothers”, “someone competent to act as Śikṣā-guru”, and in an astounding statement he declares, “I consider Śrīdhar Mahārāj to be my Śikṣā-guru, so what to speak of the benefit that you can have from his association!”

What Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj means by Śikṣā-guru is best explained in his own words. In his purports to the Ādi-līlā of Chaitanya-charitāmṛta, he states: “One should know the instructing spiritual master to be the personality of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇadās Kavirāj Goswāmī states that there are two kinds of instructing spiritual masters. One is the liberated person fully absorbed in meditation in devotional service and the other is he who invokes the disciple’s spiritual consciousness by means of relevant instructions. There is no difference between the shelter-giving Supreme Lord and the initiating and instructing spiritual masters. If one foolishly discriminates between them, he commits an offence in the discharge of devotional service” (Cc: 1.1.47).

Although it may be said that Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj encouraged his godbrothers in general, no one anywhere can produce a similar statement of endorsement. The fact is that Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj possessed the highest respect and appreciation for Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj, and Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj is unparalleled in his understanding and admiration of Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj, as evinced in the following eulogy:

“So our Swāmī Mahārāj has done a miracle! Ṭhākur Bhakti Vinod conceived and Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur began to translate this conception into action. And we find that through Swāmī Mahārāj, in his last days, it has been fulfilled to such a great extent. We are happy, we are glad, we are proud!”

In response to this, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj with great humility, his voice choked with emotion, tearfully replied, “So, by Guru and Vaiṣṇava, whatever position I have got, it is by Guru’s mercy and the blessings of the Vaiṣṇavas. Otherwise, how I may have? So, I wish that Śrīdhar Mahārāj may bestow his blessings as he was doing always, and may Guru Mahārāj help me so I can do some service. By his grace it has become successful. I have no credit. I do not know how things are happening because I am not at all qualified: chhāḍiyā Vaiṣṇava-sevā nistāra pāyechhe kebā. [Without serving an ideal Vaiṣṇava, who can be delivered from the clutches of māyā?]”

And after the disappearance of Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj declared, “I consider him to be Śaktyāveś-avatār, and it is confirmed in his writings on his spiritual journey through the Atlantic. How he landed there in America, and the nature of his beginning the movement, his intense degree of dedication to Kṛṣṇa and dependence, and how much he made himself empty of any other desire than the order of his Gurudev — quite empty that Kṛṣṇa came down to help him, and it is corroborated that Kṛṣṇa worked on his behalf. In his poem, Prayer to the Lotus Feet of Kṛṣṇa, we find him pleading with Kṛṣṇa, ‘My dear Brother, Your good fortune will come to You only when Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī becomes pleased with You.’ Seeing his Gurudev Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī as Rādhārāṇī’s delegation and his order as Her divine service, he humbly submitted that he did not feel himself worthy or fit to discharge the divine service, so he enlisted Kṛṣṇa in the service of his Guru. He had completely dedicated himself to the purpose, he was so earnest in his prayer to Kṛṣṇa that he may discharge the duty that he has been given by his Guru Maharaj, that divine force, power, came down to help him. Otherwise, it is impossible. It is not a thing of the ordinary level that anyone will do, but the highest thing has been taken down to the lowest position so extensively. It cannot but be the divine power, embodied and in a great intensity and magnitude! So, Śaktyāveś-avatār, I cannot but take him to be so.”

With such appreciation, there should be little doubt why Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj had implicit faith in Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj. He had even heard directly from Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur of the exceptional qualifications of Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj. In their last known recorded meeting in 1977, just prior to Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj’s leaving this mortal world, we find him imploring Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj to take up residence at his Temple in Śrīdhām Māyāpur.

The conversation that ensues is a transcript of their taped conversation of March 1977.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj: I do not know for how long I will be able to carry on. So, I came to see Śrīdhar Mahārāj.

Devotee: If you all go away, then the world will become dark.

Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: [to Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj] It is so wonderful that the will of the Lord becomes manifest through someone.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj: I want very much, Mahārāj, that you come and stay at Māyāpur. Because Prabhupād always desired that you preach. He told me quite a few times, “Why don’t you pull him out?” [They both laugh.] You know, I also tried to some extent before, but somehow or other it did not work out. Now, why don’t you come and stay at Māyāpur? Śrīla Prabhupād told me also, “Śrīdhar Mahārāj is one of the finest preachers.” I want to take you everywhere. At least at the place we have in Māyāpur, people are coming from all over the world. Why don’t you come and stay there? If you just agree, then whatever kind of building you want, I will arrange it for you. They are trying to build a house for me. So both of us will stay there. And whenever you want, you can come here to your Maṭh.

Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: Yes, as long as I am alive to fulfil Prabhupād’s desire.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj: This is my earnest desire. Since you could not go around the world and preach, at least stay there and people will come to you. I shall make that arrangement. If you stay, then it will be helpful to me also. Sometimes I need to consult with someone but there is no one. There is no one that I can consult. I feel this deficiency very greatly.

Devotee: If he stays in Māyāpur, then, all kinds of people will get to hear from him.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj: Yes, that’s right.

Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj: Yes, people from all kinds of cultural backgrounds will come there.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj: Yes, and they are already coming. And in that house I will make arrangements for an elevator so that you won’t have to go through the difficulty of walking up and down the stairs. You won’t even have to move a step yourself. I’ll make arrangements for a car and a lift. My disciples are telling me that they will build a house for me. So, both of us will stay in that house. Most of the time I am travelling around, so if you are there, then they can get some guidance. So, Mahārāj, please, give me the order and I will make all the arrangements for you. That planetarium [The Temple of Understanding] also will be built under your direction. My idea is to combine the Indian culture and the American money — the lame man and the blind man policy. I tell them also that this will be very beneficial for the world.

Here, in their final meeting, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj prophetically refers to his imminent disappearance and reveals that it is in this connection that he has come to see Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj. In friendly jesting, they discuss Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s reticence regarding large-scale preaching work. Of himself, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj has remarked, “I did not want to become a big person. That is not my nature. I did not want to move around with many people. I am just satisfied with whatever I have. My spiritual thinking is my life. The conclusions of the scriptures, the advices of the mahājanas, to relish them and practise them and to discuss them in a small confidential circle, that is the main goal of my life.” In the Ninth Canto of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj, quoting Dhruva Mahārāj, writes: “‘My dear Lord, I am fully satisfied with whatever You have given me. I have nothing else to ask from You, for I am fully satisfied to be engaged in Your service.’ This is the mentality of a pure devotee who does not want anything material or spiritual from the Personality of Godhead. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is therefore called ‘Kṛṣna-bhāvanāmṛta-saṅgha’, the association of persons who are simply interested in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa.”

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj testifies to his having personally heard Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur mark the high qualifications of Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj, whom he had once requested to go to the West. In this regard, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj once remarked, “My Guru Mahārāj wanted me to go to the West for preaching, but I don’t consider myself a fit person to preach in the West. Because, you see, I can’t follow your intonation. So, [laughing] I must listen clearly, then I shall tell. So, in this way, I told that if you order, I must go, but I don’t think that I am fit to preach in the West. Anyhow, it was stopped, and Goswāmī Mahārāj was sent to the West.” When Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj had been selected, one of his godbrothers came to him and revealed the reason why Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur had chosen him to preach in the West. This Godbrother explained, “Do you know why Prabhupād wanted you to be sent to the West? He said, ‘Because he can’t be converted.’”

And just twenty-four hours before his departure from this mortal world, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur called for his beloved disciple Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj and asked him to sing the song of Narottam Dās Ṭhākur: Śrī-Rūpa-Mañjarī-pada (the lotus feet of Rūpa Mañjarī are my treasure). Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj recalls: “So I did, hesitatingly. My nature is always hesitating, pushing back. Then, Kuñja Bābu asked me to stop. I was not a good singer, so as soon as he suggested, I stopped. Then, Kuñja Bābu asked Purī Mahārāj of Kalna, ‘You sing.’ So he began. Then, Śrīla Prabhupād was a little disturbed. ‘I don’t like to hear the sweet tune of the song’, he said. Then, he stopped, and I had to begin again with Śrī-Rūpa-Mañjarī-pada, sei mora saṁpada. He wanted me to sing that song. That is the fulfilment of life of everyone of us, to be Rūpānuga — followers of Śrī Rūpa.”

Senior godbrothers who witnessed this exchange have described it as a ‘mystic transmission’ in which Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj was given admittance into the eternal entourage of Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī. Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s humble vision, however, is that he was posted as the gatekeeper, the guardian of devotion (bhakti-rakṣak), to protect the storehouse of conclusive truths about the full-fledged theistic conception of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, as given by Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu.

Further expressing his appreciation for Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s ‘high realisations’ in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj says, “I want to take you everywhere. At least at the place we have in Māyāpur, people are coming from all over the world. Why don’t you stay there?” Sometimes it is wondered why Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj apparently did not take up Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj’s offer. Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj explains, “I said, ‘Of course I shall try to help you. Sometimes I shall go and stay there with you.’ But I really did not think at the time that I shall survive him.”

Finally, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj refers to ‘that planetarium’. Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj is very fond of Sanātan Goswāmī’s most famous work, the Bṛhad-bhāgavatāmṛtam, in which devotees, devotional service, and Kṛṣṇa are described very scientifically. On the basis of this transcendental literature, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj had contemplated an elaborate preaching exhibition, showing graphically, with the use of dioramas depicting the varieties of material and spiritual planetary systems, how the ultimate spiritual destination is Kṛṣṇa’s own abode, Goloka Vṛndāvan. Due to insufficient funds, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj humbly submitted his idea to Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj, who approved saying, “It will be built under your direction.”

And just prior to his departure from this mortal world, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj advised his senior disciples that in his absence, when the necessity arose to consult higher authority, that they should consult Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj.

In conclusion, we humbly submit that the transcendental relationship between Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj and Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj be viewed and respected in terms of their eternal spiritual positions and long-standing appreciation and affection for one another.

Since the departure of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedānta Swāmī Mahārāj Prabhupād, the ‘Guardian of Devotion’, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīla Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj, has repeatedly protected the teachings of the disciplic succession from perversion and misrepresentation as he has done for more than half a century, and has come to be recognised as a Jagad-guru or world Āchārya.