Many festivals were celebrated in the months after Śrīla Gurudeva joined the temple, leading up to the appearance of Caitanya Mahāprabhu on March 7, 1947. Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja held a three-day Vyāsa-pūjā festival for the appearance day of Prabhupāda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura on February 11, inviting hundreds of devotees from all over Bengal, Odisha, and other regions. All the devotees danced in ecstatic kīrtana and prasāda was distributed to thousands of guests. Discussions of the glories of the Gauḍīya-paramparā continued throughout the day. Śrīla Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s appearance day was three days before that of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s, so Gurudeva had an opportunity to hear about his glories and early pastimes from his disciples in the temple.
Śrīmatī Rādhārānī sent Her cherished servitors Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja—and all Their associates in the Gauḍīya lineage descending from Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rūpa Gosvāmī—to revive humankind to their relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura appeared in an upper-class family in the village of Vīra-nagara, West Bengal, on September 2, 1838. Due to his excellent qualifications, he accepted a prestigious position as magistrate in the British government of India and his expertise brought him wide renown. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura tirelessly traveled throughout towns and villages inspiring tens of thousands to sing and hear the glories and holy names of God. In 1866, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura met with Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana and accepted him as his instructing spiritual master. In the midst of his busy life, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura composed over one hundred volumes of spiritual literature in many languages along with hundreds of devotional songs. One day he wrote, “Oh when will that day come when people of all countries gather together, regardless of caste or creed, and dance in the bliss of harināma-saṅkīrtana?”
In the course of his official duties, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was posted in Jagannātha Purī, Odisha. There he earnestly prayed to Bimalā-devī, the Potency of Lord Jagannātha, “Alone I cannot spread the message of pure bhakti to the world, please send a servant of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa to help deliver the fallen souls.” Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda hence appeared on February 6, 1874, as the fourth son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīmatī Bhagavatī-devī. At birth the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck like a brāhmaṇa thread. This and other signs of a transcendental being were present on his body. Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura recognized him as an emissary of the Potency of the Lord, and duly named him Bimalā Prasāda.
Signs of Bimalā Prasāda’s extraordinary personality were witnessed from his infancy. Lord Jagannātha stopped before the house of Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura during His annual chariot festival and would not budge for three days until, finally, Bhagavatī-devī came out of the house and offered her six-month-old child at the Lord’s lotus feet. Lord Jagannātha’s exquisite garland fell around Bimalā Prasāda’s prostrate body and Bhagavatī-devī then gave her son his first grains—Jagannātha’s mahā-prasāda.
Bimalā Prasāda had a prodigious intelligence and an eidetic memory. In boyhood he mastered Sanskrit and he became an expert in many fields including astrology, logic, history, geography, linguistics, and philosophy. He was especially adept in astrology and published commentaries on famous texts such as Sūrya-siddhānta. Seeing his exceptional intelligence and scholarship, Bimalā Prasāda was given the name Śrī Siddhānta Sarasvatī by his professors—meaning one who is a superb master of learning. As a youth he was offered the high seat in Kolkata University's Department of Astrology by Śrī Āśutoṣa Mukhopādhyāya, the university's vice chancellor. Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura politely declined, saying, “I have not come to count the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the Earth.”
In October 1887, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura decided to visit Vṛndāvana and practice bhajana there. On the way, he stayed for a night near the temple of Tārakeśvara Mahādeva, located in the Birbhum district of Bengal. There he had a vision in which Śiva told him, “Don’t go to live in Vṛndāvana. The birthplace of Mahāprabhu has disappeared and the flow of Mahāprabhu’s ideology has become contaminated. Return to Navadvīpa and discover the appearance site of Mahāprabhu. Then preach the spiritual literature of bhakti and open aśramas so that practitioners can safely congregate and lead a life of devotion.”
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura prayed to Mahādeva, “Please bless me so that I can fulfill your desire. The people of this age worship God and practice sādhana, but they are unrestrained because of attachment to māyā and they maintain desire for material enjoyment. How can sincere yet irresolute people follow the path of selfless devotion as exemplified by Mahāprabhu?”
“Continue your preaching with renewed enthusiasm,” Lord Śiva said. “I will remove the influence of māyā and Kali that covers anyone who harbors an earnest desire to follow what you teach.”
“When will Mahāprabhu’s movement spread all over the world?” Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura asked.
“Everything will happen according to the proper sequence of time,” Śiva said. “The pure devotion taught by Mahāprabhu is a blossoming lotus. Soon the fragrance of that lotus will spread everywhere. In the generations following you in this Gauḍīya-sampradāya, the message of pure bhakti-yoga will rapidly spread. First a foundation must be made, then, in the third generation from you, a liberated soul will come and propagate the teachings of spontaneous attraction and the highest divine love of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa to all corners of the Earth.”
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura joyfully returned to Navadvīpa and began to search for the appearance place of Caitanya Mahāprabhu that had been lost in the passage of time. One night, as he gently chanted in his riverside hermitage in Godruma, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura saw a golden light shining forth across the Gaṅgā. He saw an illluminated straw hut and many effulgent personalities dancing in devotional rapture. Upon beholding a similar vision for several consecutive nights, he one day crossed the Gaṅgā to the island whence the light came. Venturing forth, he arrived at a place abandoned by the local Muslims, for despite their efforts to plant a crop, only the sacred Tulasī flourished there.
Proceeding to the nearby town of Kṛṣṇanagara, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura studied obsolete maps of Navadvīpa in the government archive. He discovered that the Gaṅgā had changed course in the last 500 years, covering and subsequently uncovering Mahāprabhu’s birthplace, and that His real birthplace was in Māyāpura on the Eastern side of the Gaṅgā. This information corresponded with what was written in authentic biographies of Mahāprabhu, and also with what Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura had seen in the visions. To further validate his findings, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura sent a letter to Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, the present leader of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas throughout India, humbly requesting him to come and consider whether this place was the site of Mahāprabhu’s advent. Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī traveled from Vṛndāvana to Māyāpura carried in a basket because of his advanced age of 144 years. Upon arriving in Māyāpura, Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī miraculously jumped out of the basket and danced in ecstasy. Vaiṣṇavas from all over India were also invited for a month-long saṅkīrtana festival held in the location. As district magistrate, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura applied for a large area of the surrounding land and was granted it by the British government. He then began excavating the birth site and found artifacts from the house of Caitanya Mahāprabhu—including a deity of Adhokṣaja Viṣṇu that had been worshiped by Jagannātha Miśra, the father of Mahāprabhu.
Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura helped his father develop the land of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s birthplace and took up residence there. He soon met his spiritual master, Śrīla Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, and received dīkṣā initiation from him in 1898. Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja exemplified the highest standards of severe renunciation, stemming from his constant rapture for his adored Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Inspired by the spiritual ideal of worship exhibited by his Gurudeva, Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura took a vow to chant one billion names of the mahāmantra and immediately commenced chanting 300,000 names daily. During the nine years it would take him to fulfill his oath, he wore only one cloth; bathing in the Gaṅgā and letting it dry on his body, and he ate a saltless meal of rice with boiled vegetables once every evening. Śrīla Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī was pleased to see his disciple’s renunciation and devotional rigor.
On January 24, 1898, in the village of Vanaripada, East Bengal, the beloved eternal associate of Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, Śrī Vinoda, who became renowned as Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, appeared in this world as the son of the religious and aristocratic landlords Śrīyut Śaratcandra Guhaṭhākurtā and Śrīyutā Bhuvanamohinī-devī. His chart was compiled and it was foretold he would be an eminent Vaiṣṇava preceptor. Bhuvana Mohinī took her infant son to her father’s village, Dūdhal. In Bengal, it is the custom for mothers to massage their infants with oil and place them in the warm morning sun. One day, Bhuvana Mohinī left Vinoda in the sunlight of the courtyard after his massage and went about her household chores.
In the meantime, Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was chanting harināma, pondering how he could fulfill the desire of his father Bhaktivinoda to spread the Gauḍīya line of pure bhakti. He thought, “All souls are meant to taste bliss, for they are expansions of Kṛṣṇa’s Divine Potency, who is bliss personified. Despite of their endeavors for happiness, conditioned souls suffer untold miseries rooted in ignorance. How can I give Vinoda, the satisfaction of eternal happiness, to the world? When will Vinoda come?”
Śrī Garuḍa, the eagle carrier of Lord Viṣṇu, heard this prayer and determined, “For the pleasure of Viṣṇu, I must deliver Vinoda to Bimalā Prasāda.” Garuḍa descended to the village of Dūdhal, carefully picked up baby Vinoda, and soared off into the sky.
Just then, Bhuvana Mohinī went to check on her son and saw her soft boy in the talons of a far off golden eagle. She screamed in anxiety and ran after the eagle, praying, “O God, please save my son! If you bring him back, I vow to offer him in Your service.” Hundreds of villagers came out of their houses hearing the commotion. Brāhmaṇa priests were summoned and they began chanting protective mantras. Feeling compassion for the child’s mother, and knowing that in time Vinoda would be united with Bimalā Prasāda, Garuḍa gently placed Vinoda on top of floating betel nut bark in the middle of a nearby pond and departed. Bhuvana Mohinī had been running behind the eagle and, from a distance, saw her son placed in the pond. She sprinted to its waters and swiftly swam to retrieve her son, fearing he may have been lost. Upon returning to shore she examined the baby and, finding him unscathed, praised God with supreme joy.
In Māyāpura, Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura continued his strict daily vows, all the while assisting Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura with his periodical, preaching, and maintaining Mahāprabhu’s birthplace. In 1911, the orthodox brāhmaṇas of Bengal polemicized the Vaiṣṇava community saying those born of other castes are forbidden to receive brāhmaṇa initiation and must be denied the privilege of studying the Vedas. An assembly was arranged in the Medinapura district of Bengal to discuss the issue. There, on Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s order, Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura spoke on the Vaiṣṇavas’ behalf. He first praised the brāhmaṇas substantially with many quotations, and then provided evidence from the Vedas that all conditioned souls are part and parcel of Parabrahma, the Supreme Soul, and are thereby all brāhmaṇas in essence. However, because of separate interest, the living entities have fallen into this material world and become classified as śūdras, or those absorbed in lamentation. Vaiṣṇavas are the real brāhmaṇas because they have a direct relation with Parabrahma and are always blissfully engaged in His service.
Later that year, during a scholarly convention, Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura established firm faith in the Divinity of Caitanya Mahāprabhu by giving scriptural evidence that the Gaura-mantra is eternal, according to the Caitanya Upaniṣad section of the Atharva Veda, as well as other Upaniṣads and Purāṇas.
Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura gave all his mercy and blessings to his son Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. In his later days, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura resided in Godruma absorbed in bhajana and pondering how to help all souls. He had written over one hundred books for the spiritual upliftment of mankind in Sanskrit, Bengali, Oriya, Hindi, Urdu, and English—but how would these teachings be propagated and where could people practice them in a favorable environment? Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura instructed Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, “Now that the birthplace of Mahāprabhu has been rediscovered, open bhakti centers and there inculcate the pure moods of the Vraja-devīs. Preach the glories of Māyāpura through spiritual literature; inaugurate an annual pilgrimage of Navadvīpa-dhāma; and establish temples.
First build Caitanya Maṭha in Māyāpura and then establish Gauḍīya Maṭha centers all over the world. I have gone all over India spreading the holy names, but without sanctuaries people remain affected by the material disease. Hence, open centers where people are cured of lamentation, fear, and illusion, and given the nectar of vraja-rasa (divine love found only in Vraja).”
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura faithfully accepted the directives. On June 23, 1914, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura departed from this world. In separation from his spiritual guardian, Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura remained in Māyāpura, incessantly chanting harināma and earnestly praying, “O Rādhe, please send Your followers to inculcate love for Kṛṣṇa in this world.”
After years of intense austerity, Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu revealed Himself, along with His prominent associates, before Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in a vision. Mahāprabhu instructed Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura: “Now establish the Gauḍīya Maṭha and spread harināma-saṅkīrtana for the benefit of all. I have sent My associates to assist you. They will soon join your efforts to preach the message of divine love.”
Mahāprabhu blessed Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and then disappeared. At that time Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura did not have wealth or numerous followers, but the potency with which he was invested was beyond even the opulence of Vaikuṇṭha. Along with his devoted followers, he would soon convey and distribute mādhurya (the sweetness of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes) and audārya (the magnanimous pastimes of Caitanya Mahāprabhu) throughout the world.
[Excerpted from the Bhakta Bandhav Publication “Sri Guru Darsana“]