Epilogue

His Divine Grace Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj was born in 1894 in a highly respected Brāhmaṇa family of the Bhatāchārya order, at Hāpānīya, District Burdwan, West Bengal. He received his education at Baharampur University. Having taken his pious birth in Śrī Gauda-mandala, the holy lands where Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu exhibited His divine pastimes on the earth, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj, from his very childhood, had natural affinity for the mission of Śrī Chaitanyadeva — Saṅkirttana, the Grand Congregational Chanting of the Holy Names of the Supreme Lord.

In 1926, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj joined the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh, and became an initiated disciple of its founder, the illustrious Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura Goswāmī Prabhupāda (1874-1937). He later accepted the holy order of sannyāsa (monkhood) in 1930. Recognising him as a faithful stalwart preacher of the perfect precepts of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Prabhupāda conferred upon him the name ‘Śrī Bhakti Rakṣaka’, meaning, ‘Guardian of Devotion’; and further, echoing the statement of the great Vaiṣṇava Preceptor Śrīla Jīva Goswāmī (who referred in his Sanskrit writings to the renowned Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam commentator, Śri Śrīdhara Swāmīpāda, as bhakti-eka-rakṣaka, ‘Supreme Guardian of Devotion’), Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Prabhupāda gave him the Tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa title of ‘Śrīdhara.’ Thus, he became Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Mahārāj. As a prominent preacher in the Śrī Gauḍiya Math mission, he travelled extensively throughout India and preached fluently in Bengali, Hindi, Sanskrit, and English, spreading the teachings of Śrī Chaitanya Mahāprabhu on mass levels in universities, public seminars and Saṇkīrttana festivals.

Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Prabhupāda also expressed high appreciation for Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s Sanskrit composition ‘Śrī Bhaktivinoda Viraha-daśakam, considering it an omen of assurance that the grand ideals and dignity of the Śrī Gauḍīya Divine Succession (Sampradāya) would be perfectly upheld and preached by such a learned and sensitive devotee as Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj. And practically, as a testimony to this fact, just prior to Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda’s departure from this mortal world, Śrīla Prabhupāda had Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj sing in his presence the holy prayer most venerated by the entire Śrī Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community — Śrī Rūpa-mañjarī-pada, sei mora sampada.

After the passing of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākura Goswāmī Prabhupāda, Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj’s Godbrothers, associates, and the public, naturally revered him as the seniormost representative of the Śrī Gauḍīya Sampradāya, although Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj himself was more inclined to anonymity as a humble Vaiṣṇava. Nonetheless, by the call of divine duty and divine inspiration, he established the Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Math at Śrī Nabadwīp Dhām, hinting in a short Sanskrit poem that the Maṭh — as a sanctuary where the holy message of his Gurudeva, Śrī Rūpa, and Śrī Chaitanyadeva was preached — would inevitably become renowned throughout the world amongst the sincere and pious seekers of unalloyed truth and divinity.

Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj is the composer of numerous classical prayers and commentaries in Sanskrit and Bengali. His works are hailed as gems of pure Vaiṣṇavism by scholars, philosophers, and devotees world-wide. He authored Śrī Śrī Prapanna-jīvanāmṛtam, a Sanskrit devotional treatise on the subject of divine surrender, which has become a standard text-book for devotees everywhere.

Upon reaching his eighties, not only Indians but persons from America, Europe, and the world over, became attracted by his teachings and personality. He was known as a pure saint of the most simple habits of living. He was respected and loved for his saintly simplicity, his affectionate nature and dealings; and he was revered by all, whether Godbrothers, disciples, other devotees, or the general public, being unanimously venerated for his formidable encyclopaedic command of the revealed scriptures, and further for his unique and unprecedented style of casting newer and newer light upon the most internal philosophical and revelatory purports of pure Śrī Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇava-Siddhānta.

A vast library of his taped discourses has been compiled by his disciples, and from such recordings have been published the exquisite English books « Search for Śri Kṛṣṇa — Reality the Beautiful,» « Srī Guru and His Grace,» « The Golden Volcano of Divine Love,» « Loving Search for the Lost Servant, « as well as his unique commentary and interpretation of Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā, « The Hidden Treasure of the Sweet Absolute,» and many others. Many more publications are also anticipated.

On 12th August, 1988, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj departed from this world, to enter into the eternal pastimes. His departure did not herald the departure of one of the great stars of the Śrī Gauḍiya firmament, but that of the moon itself. Even the earth herself trembled on two occasions, forecasting and punctuating the event. A divine temple, named « The Temple of Union in Separation,» will be erected at his holy shrine at Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Math, Nabadwīp, and worship will continue throughout the generations.

Śrīla Śrīdhar Mahārāj selected his most intimate and senior Sannyāsī disciple, Śrīmad Swāmī Bhakti Sundar Govinda Mahārāj, as his successor, blessing him with the position of Āchārya-President of Śrī Chaitanya Sāraswat Maṭh and all its affiliated branches. His Holiness Śrīmad Bhakti Sundar Govinda Mahārāj penned the preceding Praṇati-daśakam as an offering to his Gurudeva. All over the world it is sung with devotion by the devotees of Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhar DevGoswāmī Mahārāj. Śrīmad Bhakti Sundar Govinda Mahārāj is a distinguished and talented Sanskrit scholar and illustrious preacher of the Precepts of Śrī Chaitanyadeva, qualities that were prominent in his glorious Gurudeva, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Aṣṭottara-śata-śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj.

Abbreviations

B.r.s. — Srī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhuḥ

Bg. — Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā

Bhā: — Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam

C.c. — Srī Chaitanya-charitāmṛta

C.Bhā: — Śrī Chaitanya-Bhāgavata