Bhakti Prajnana Keshava Gosvami Maharaja
( 1898 - 1968 )

 

A Brief Biography

(The first sannyasa disciple of Srila Bhaktisidhanta Prabhupada. Co-founder in 1943 - with Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaja - 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 Prabhupada).

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 beautiful golden complexion. His father passed away when Vinoda-bihari was an infant. Although heartbroken, 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 Bhakitsiddhanta 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 Bhaktisiddhanta, 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 Bhaktisiddhanta 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 Bhaktisiddhanta, 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 Bhaktisiddhanta 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 Bhaktisiddhanta'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 Bhaktisiddhanta'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 Bhaktisiddhanta's  sannyasa garments. He protected Srila Bhaktisiddhanta's  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 Bhaktisiddhanta's 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 Bhaktisiddhanta's 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 Bhaktisiddhanta.

Fortunately, our courageous and venerable Vinoda- bihari was close by  Srila Bhaktisiddhanta'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 Bhaktisiddhanta's  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 Math in Koladvipa just after he accepted sannyasa.

Nowadays the annual Navadvipa parikrama organised from Sri Devananda Gaudiya Math attracts 10,000 Gaudiya Vaishnava pilgrims from all over the world, the largest event and gathering of it's kind in the world, led by Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayan Gosvami Maharaja of Mathura, one of Srila Keshava Maharaja's foremost mahabhagavata disciples.

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 Sri 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 Bhaktisiddhanta in the service of the Divine Couple, Sri Sri Radha Vinoda-bihari.