nama om vishnupadayakrishnapresthayabhutale srimatebhaktisiddhantasarasvatiitinamine

WORD FOR WORD

namah–obeisances; om-address; visnu-padaya–unto him who is at the feet of Lord Visnu; krsna-presthaya–who is very dear to Lord Krsna; bhu-tale–on the earth; srimate–all-beautiful; bhaktisiddhantasarasvati–SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati; iti–thus; namine– who is named.

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who is very dear to Lord Krishna, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.

srivarsabhanavidevidayitayakrpadhaye krishnasambandhavijnanadayineprabhavenamah

WORD FOR WORD

sri-varsabhanavi-devi-dayitaya–unto Sri Varsabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa, the servant of the lover of SrimatiRadharani; krpa-abdhaye–who is an ocean of mercy; krsna-sambandha–(of) the relationship with Krsna; vijnana–(of) the science; dayine–who is the deliverer; prabhave–unto the master; namah–obeisances.

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances to Sri Varsabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa [another name of SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati], who is favoured by SrimatiRadharani and who is the ocean of transcendental mercy and the deliverer of the science of Krishna.

madhuryojjvalapremadhyasrirupanugabhaktida srigaurakarunasakti-vigrahayanamo ‘stute

WORD FOR WORD

madhurya–conjugal; ujjvala–brilliant; prema–love; adhya–enriched with; sri-rupa-anuga–following SrilaRupaGosvami; bhakti-da–delivering devotional service; sri-gaura–(of) Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu; karuna–(of) the mercy, sakti–energy; vigrahaya–unto the personified; namah–obeisances; astu–let there be; to–unto you.

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, the personified energy of Sri Chaitanya’s mercy, who deliver devotional service which is enriched with conjugal love of Sri SriRadha and Krishna, coming exactly in the line of revelation of SrilaRupaGosvami.

namastegauravanisrimurtayedinatarine rupanugaviruddhapasiddhantadhvantaharine

WORD FOR WORD

namah–obeisances; to–unto you; gaura-vani–teachings of Lord Caitanya; sri-murtaye–unto the personified; dina–(of) the fallen; tarine–unto the deliverer; rupa-anuga–the philosophy which follows the teachings of SrilaRupaGosvami; viruddha–against; apasiddhanta–(of) unauthorized statements; dhvanta–the darkness; harine–unto you who are removing.

TRANSLATION

I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, who are the personified teachings of Lord Chaitanya. You are the deliverer of the fallen souls. You do not tolerate any statement which is against the teachings of devotional service enunciated by SrilaRupaGosvami.

SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura is the spiritual master of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati ThakuraPrabhupada was born on 6 February 1874 at Jagannatha Puri. His childhood name was Bimala Prasad Dutta. His father, Kedarnath Dutta (BhaktivinodaThakura), was magistrate of the city and superintendent of Jagannatha temple.

His eminence was proven in his babyhood. Once, during the Rathayatra festival, the car stopped in front of the family’s house. Taking the opportunity, SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura’s mother came out with the baby and put him on the Lotus Feet of Jagannatha. A garland from Lord Jagannatha’s hand fell on the baby signifying the Lord’s special blessing on the newborn.

In his childhood he once took a mango which was meant as an offering for the Deity. When his father rebuked him, saying that he should not have taken the fruit which was meant for the Lord, the child took it very seriously and thought himself a great offender, promising not to take mango again throughout his whole life. This could be done only by a man of great sense control and complete dedication to the Lord. In his childhood he quickly mastered the Vedas, memorized the Bhagavad-gita and relished his father’s philosophical works.

Bimla Prasad was educated in Calcutta and became learned in Mathematics and Astronomy. On account of his writing a book on astronomy known as Surya Siddhanta, he received the title Siddhanta Sarasvati.Bimla Prasad took initiation into Gaudiya Vaishnavism from the Vaishnava ascetic Gaur kishorDās Bābājī, receiving the name Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa (Vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitaDāsa), “servant of Krishna, the beloved of Radha”), and dedicated himself to arduous ascetic discipline, recitation of the Hare Krishna mantra on beads (japa), and study of classical Vaishnava literature.

And, when he took sannyasa, preaching the gospel of Lord Chaitanya, he received the nameSrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. He was acclaimed a great scholar in Calcutta, and the celebrated Dr.Kalidas Nag used to call him ‘a living encyclopedia’.

ThakuraBhaktivinoda trained his son in childhood for preaching, and, after taking sannyasa, SrilaBhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura started the Gaudiya Mission Institution.

BhaktisiddhantaSaraswati inaugurated in Calcutta the first center of his institution, which soon developed into a dynamic missionary and educational institution with sixty-four branches across India and three centres abroad (in Burma, Germany, and England). The Math propagated the teachings of Gaudiya Vaishnavism by means of daily, weekly, and monthly periodicals, books of the Vaishnava canon, and public programs as well as through such innovations as “theistic exhibitions” with dioramas. Known for his intense and outspoken oratory and writing style he was also called as the “acharya-keshari” or”lion guru”. Bhaktisiddhanta opposed the monistic interpretation of Hinduism, or advaita, that had emerged as the prevalent strand of Hindu thought in India, seeking to establish traditional personalist krishna-bhakti as its fulfilment and higher synthesis. At the same time, through lecturing and writing, BhaktisiddhantaSaraswatiPrabhupāda targeted both the ritualistic casteism of brahmanas and sensualised practices of numerous Gaudiya Vaishnavism spin-offs, branding them as apasampradayas – deviations from the original Gaudiya Vaishnavism taught in the 16th century by Caitanya Mahaprabhu and his close successors.

Being an eternally liberated soul, Srila Sarasvati Thakura knew how to perfectly engage Maya (the illusory energy) in the service of Lord Krishna.Breaking tradition, he let his sannyasis wear tailored kurtas and overcoats, ride in cars and motor-boats, and carry Mahaprabhu’s message across the sea to Europe.

His three “Brhat-mrdangas”(printing presses) in Madras, Calcutta, Krishna-nagara used to pump out books, magazines and newspapers to spread the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. When he was asked why he printed a daily spiritual newspaper entitled Nadia Prakash, SrilaBhaktisiddhantaSaravatiThakura replied, “If an insignificant city can produce five daily newspapers, then why can’t we publish a newspaper every second about the eternal, ever-fresh transcendental activities of the Supreme personality of Godhead in His unlimited spiritual planet, Goloka Vrindavana?”

The mission initiated by Bhaktivinoda Thakur and developed by BhaktisiddhantaSaraswati Goswami Prabhupāda emerged as “the most powerful reformist movement” of Vaishnavism in Bengal of the 19th and early 20th century. However, after the demise of SrilaBhaktisiddhantaSaraswatiThakurain 1937, the Gaudiya Math became tangled by internal dissent, and the united mission in India was effectively fragmented. Over decades, the movement regained its momentum. In 1966 its offshoot, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), was founded by SrilaBhaktisiddhantaSaraswatiThakura’s disciple Bhaktivedanta Swami in New York City and spearheaded the spread of Gaudiya Vaisnava teachings and practice globally. Gaudiya Vaishnavism presently counts over 500,000 adherents worldwide, with its public profile far exceeding the size of its constituency.