Acknowledgements
Bowing my head and laying down my full body in the desire to surrender to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga I wish to express my sincere and happy acknowledgements to all those who helped in the preparation of this book, which has been compiled as an offering unto His Divine Grace Om Visnupad Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya-varya Sri Srimad Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj on the occasion of his 62nd Sri Avirbhav Mahotsav. I pray that he and our beloved Srila Guru Maharaj, His Divine Grace Om Visnupad Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya-varya Sri Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, may be satisfied by this humble offering and attempt to chant their glories. I am feeling great happiness receiving the authoritative articles of glorification of Their Divine Graces from Sripad Bhakti Ananda Sagar Maharaj, who is heading the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math’s main overseas branch in London; Dr Dolgobinda Shastri, Srila Govinda Maharaj’s former Sanskrit teacher and present Director of the Jagannath Research Institute, Puri; and from Sripad Dayadhar Gauranga Prabhu Bhakti Prabhakar, who was formerly a professor of neurobiology and whose service activities now include leading this Math’s branch in Malaysia. Their articles make up Part One of this book. I am sure the reader will share my joy in reading these.
Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj’s glories are chanted by Srila Guru Maharaj and by all the devotees of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. In the second and third parts of this book we have the fortune to receive Srila Govinda Maharaj’s association in the form of instructions and guidance compiled from his informal talks and his letters respectively. We can never fully repay the Spiritual Master for even one word of instruction, and so I am confident the devotees will appreciate the greatest value of these, despite the inevitable imperfections in my humble attempt to put them into print.
Above all I am most indebted to my Hari-nam and Diksa-gurudev, His Divine Grace Om Visnupad Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya-varya Sri Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, and to my full Siksa-gurudev, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj, for their grace upon myself and upon everyone everywhere by giving the opportunity to connect with the highest prospect of life by means of engaging in their service. I pray to them and to all the readers that you may enable me to properly utilise this chance.
— Mahananda Das Bhakti Ranjan
4 December 1990
The Holy Appearance Day of
Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj