On 14 May 1954, Srila Acaryadeva set out for Assam to preach suddha-bhakti together with tridandi-svamis Sri Narasimha Maharaja, Sri Trivikrama Maharaja, Sri Vamana Maharaja, Sri Narayana Maharaja [the author], Sri Paramarthi Maharaja, Sri Paramdharmesvara Brahmacari, Sri Ananda Brahmacari, Sri Gajendra-mocana Brahmacari and some ten to twelve residents of the matha. On 16 May they reached Goloka-ganja station. Sri Sanata Kumara Bhakti-sastri Bhagavat-bhusana and other leading devotees then brought them with nagara-sankirtana to Sri Divyajnana dasa Adhikari’s home, where Srila Gurudeva’s puja-arcana was performed. For several days, at large religious assemblies, Srila Gurudeva spoke on suddha-bhakti and the glories of sri harinama. After that, he went with his party to Dhuvadi. There he stayed at the Prapannasrama of his godbrother, Sripada Nimananda Seva-tirtha Prabhu, and lectured continuously for seven days on Srimad-Bhagavatam. He used logic and sastric evidence to establish that Vedanta philosophy (vedanta-darsana) stands supreme amongst the six philosophical systems [associated with the Vedic scriptures] and that bhakti is the ultimate subject matter of Vedanta-sutra.
After this, Srila Gurudeva preached bhakti in Kacaharihata, Khakasiyali and other places, and then accepted the hospitality of Sri Prakrtisacandra Barua Bahadura, the prince of the Gauripura kingdom. Srila Guru Maharaja stayed there for some days and extensively preached sanatana-dharma. Every day he lectured on the Eleventh Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam at the Sanskrit school run by the local king. The principal of the school came there regularly to hear Bhagavatam, along with other teachers and many students. The minister Bahadura of Gauripura state and many officials came as well. After that Srila Gurudeva preached in Kumari village and other places and arrived at the famous village Capara. There, on the excellent premises of the local higher secondary English medium school, an extensive religious assembly was organized with an audience of some ten to twelve thousand people. Srila Guru Maharaja gave a deep and probing lecture on sanatana-dharma, which very much impressed the educated, respected and faithful listeners.
In those days, a so-called guru called Ksetra-mohana Cakravarti was living in Capara. Posing as a Vaisnava, he preached many doctrines that were opposed to vaisnava-dharma, and his moral character was also not very pure. The locals invited him and his followers to a debate with Acarya Kesari. Srila Gurudeva asked him some questions regarding suddha-bhakti, but Cakravarti could not answer them. Srila Gurudeva proved in front of the audience that Cakravarti’s doctrines were against sastra and were not in accordance with any sampradaya. Cakravarti became ashamed. Begging for forgiveness at Srila Guruji’s lotus feet, he left the assembly.
After this, at the request of the honourable minister Bahadura of the Abhayapuri state, Srila Gurudeva and his preaching party visited Abhyapuri. They stayed there for three days and Srila Gurudeva gave very impressive lectures on sanatana-dharma on the premises of the local girls’ school. Maharaja Bahadura of Abhayapuri was very impressed by his lectures and with great faith offered prayers at Srila Acaryadeva’s lotus feet. Maharaja Bahadura’s meek and humble behaviour, his unpretentious way of life, his truthfulness, generosity, and his sincere faith in religion and in the Lord are all very praiseworthy. After preaching in Cokapada and Bongai village, Srila Gurudeva returned to Uddharana Gaudiya Matha in Chunchura.
Establishing Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha in Mathura and publishing Sri Bhagavata-patrika
The eighty-four kosa Vraja-mandala parikrama in 1954 took place with great festivities in the month of Kartika under the guidance of Srila Guru Maharaja. After the pilgrims left, Srila Gurudeva along with Sripada Sanatana dasa Adhikari, Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja [the author] and other disciples, stayed in Mathura for some days. Srila Gurudeva wanted to establish a preaching centre of Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti in Sri Mathura-dhama and from there spread Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s pure bhakti to the whole of North India. Srila Gurudeva was a perfect niskincana Vaisnava with no financial means whatsoever.
Nonetheless, for seven days he and his followers kept searching for a suitable place. On the seventh day they saw an old dharmasala on the south side of the famous Kamsa-tila and in front of the big hospital in Mathura. It was a dilapidated building but the location was excellent – central to Holi Gate, the Imperial Bank, the State Bank of India, the Head Post Office, the State bus stand and the main market. It was a solid building made of bricks and stone, and it had thirty-six rooms. The party discussed the price with the owner of the dharmasala, but Guruji did not have even one paisa, so what could be done? Guruji returned to his residence with his party.
The next day, Srila Gurudeva was ready to see another place, but Sri Sanatana Prabhu declared, “Today I am very tired. I like the place we saw yesterday. I don’t want to see anything else.” Guruji said, “It is not possible to collect forty to fifty thousand rupees at once. At least we would have to put down some money as an advance payment and I don’t even have enough for that.” Sri Sanatana Prabhu then took seven thousand rupees from the belt around his waist and gave the money to Sri Gurudeva. Everyone stared at Sanatana Prabhu’s face in amazement, their eyes open wide. “I have known your desire for a long time,” Sri Sanatana Prabhu told Guruji. “That is why I have been roaming about with this money around my waist for a month or a month-and-a-half. Now I do not want to see anything else. Please arrange to buy the dharmasala we saw yesterday.” Guruji said, “We need at least twelve thousand rupees as an advance payment to get the written agreement on this place.” On hearing this, Sri Sanatana Prabhu sent a telegram to his son Sri Narayana dasa, to quickly send the rest of the money. The deed was registered in the Mathura Registration Office.
Sri Acaryadeva established Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha on the disappearance day of jagad-guru om visnupada Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Prabhupada, 13 December 1954. In accordance with Srila Acaryadeva’s desire, preaching of pure bhakti-dharma throughout the whole of North India started from there. Besides this, also according to his desire, the publication of Sri Bhagavata-patrika, the Samiti’s transcendental monthly Hindi magazine, was inaugurated there. Srila Gurudeva appointed me [the author] as the editor of this magazine. It quickly became very popular in the local educated community, because of its sentiments, language and its philosophy, which was full of siddhanta. Sri Bhagavata-patrika introduced eminent Mathura scholars to the supremacy of the philosophical views of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas’ bhakti-dharma, and they lavishly glorified it.
In 1955, kartika-vrata niyama-seva was organized at Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha under the guidance of paramaradhyatama Srila Gurudeva. Under the auspices of Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti, the pilgrimage began from Howrah station on the auspicious day 29 October. The parikrama party reached Mathura via Kasi and Prayaga, and arrived at Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha on 2 November. From there they started Vraja-mandala parikrama. Srimad Bhakti Bhudeva Srauti Maharaja, Srimad Bhakti Vijnana Asrama Maharaja, Srimad Bhakti Jivana Janardana Maharaja, Srimad Bhaktivedanta Trivikrama Maharaja and Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja [the author] glorified the dhama, performed kirtana and spoke hari-katha. Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja (editor of Sri Bhagavat-patrika), Rasaraja Vrajavasi (publisher and manager of the Patrika), Sri Sudama Sakha Brahmacari and Sri Prabuddha Krsna Brahmacari were especially active in arranging suitable transportation, lodging and so on for the pilgrims.
At the time of govardhana-puja, the annakuta festival was completed with great celebration. The large assembly hall (natya-mandira) was filled with preparations for offering. The Mathuravasis had never before seen such a big annakuta festival. Ordinarily in Vraja, chappan bhoga (an offering of fifty-six preparations) is outstanding, but Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti offered three hundred and sixty-five different preparations at this huge annakuta. All around Sri Giriraja Maharaja were pyramids of rice as well as large and small plates of khicri, sweet rice, different kinds of sweets, vegetables, pickles, chutneys, halvah, laddus, puris, fruits, roots, green leafy vegetables, etc., all with tulasi-manjaris on top. Faithful people came from great distances to have darsana, and about five thousand people accepted maha-prasada. When kartika-vrata was completed, all the pilgrims returned to their respective places.
[CC-by-ND GVP]