Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar

Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar (IAST: Bhakti-rakṣaka Śrīdhara; 10 October 1895 – 12 August 1988) was an Indian guru, writer, sannyasi and spiritual leader in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Śrīla

Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami

Mahārāja
Personal
Born
Ramendra Chandra Bhattacarya

(1895-10-10)10 October 1895
Hapaniya, Burdwan, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died12 August 1988(1988-08-12) (aged 92)
Nabadwip, West Bengal, India
Resting placeTemple of Union in Separation, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Nabadwip
23.390573°N 88.363274°E / 23.390573; 88.363274
ReligionHinduism
NationalityIndian
DenominationVaishnavism
LineageBrahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya
SectGaudiya Vaishnavism
Notable work(s)The Search for Sri Krishna, Sri Guru and His Grace, The Golden Volcano of Divine Love
Alma materKrishnath College (BA), Berhampore, Bengal Presidency
TempleGaudiya Math, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math
Religious career
PredecessorBhaktisiddhanta Saraswati
InitiationDiksha (as Ramendra Sundara), 1926
Sannyasa (as Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar), 1930
PostGaudiya Vaishnava guru, acharya
WebsiteSri Chaitanya Saraswat Math

Recognised as a "profound thinker" and "learned representative of the theistic conception of Gaudiya Vaishnavism",[1] Sridhar was a senior disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and elder godbrother to A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami,[2][3] founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the ‘Hare Krishnas’), to whose young disciples he provided spiritual guidance after Swami's passing in 1977.

Early life

Born Ramendra Chandra (Rāmendra Candra) into a family of a high-class Bengali brahmins (his family bore the aristocratic title, or upādhi, of Bhattacharya), Sridhar joined his guru's mission, the Gaudiya Math, in 1926, taking diksha initiation from Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati as Ramendra Sundara (Rāmendra Sundara).

On the meaning of his first spiritual name, Sridhar recalled: “My original name was Ramendra Candra. When I was given initiation, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura gave me the name Ramendra Sundara. I asked him, “What is the meaning of Ramendra?” He told me, “In our consideration, Rama does not mean Dasarathi Rama or Lord Ramacandra, the son of King Dasaratha. It means Radha-ramana Rama – Krsna, the lover of Radharani.”[4]

Before being sent by Saraswati to locate the site where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spoke with Ramananda Ray on the banks of the Godavari (Rāmānanda Saṁvāda), his guru gave him the new name Ramananda Das (Rāmānanda dāsa),[5] meaning servant of Ramananda. He finally became Bhakti Rakshak, meaning 'Guardian of Devotion', after taking sannyasa in 1930.

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math

In 1941, after the death of his guru, Sridhar founded his own mission, becoming acharya of Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, in Nabadwip, now in West Bengal.

His chosen successor was his disciple, Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami, who led the math until his death in 2010. The current acharya is Bhakti Nirmal Acharya, Govinda's disciple.

Relationship with Bhaktivedanta Swami

Though "something of an outsider in his spiritual master's original movement", A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, ISKCON's founder-acharya, had "strong friendships with two prominent sannyasi godbrothers, Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar (1895–1983) [sic], founder of the Chaitanya Saraswata Math, and Bhakti Prajnan Keshava (1898–1968), founder of the Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti."[6]

After Swami's passing in 1977, both Sridhar and Bhaktivedanta Narayan, a disciple of Keshava, gave instruction to the late guru's disciples,[7] with Americans Bhaktivedanta Tripurari[6] and Jayatirtha Swami and Hungarian devotee Dvarakesa Swami (Bhakti Abhay Narayan)[8] among the most prominent ex-ISKCON members to take shiksha or sannyasa initiation from Sridhar.

Swami and Sridhar were particularly close, having a "long and intimate relationship" over almost five decades.[1] The former, who described Sridhar as the "most highly competent of all my godbrothers" and "even my shiksha-guru", had previously asked Sridhar to be president of the new institution he planned to set up following the disintegration of the original Gaudiya Math.[1] He later described how Sridhar had agreed to "cooperate with our society" (ISKCON), and had his disciples honour Sridhar's Vyasa-puja (birthday), in order than ISKCON's young brahmacharis “shall learn how to celebrate the spiritual master's birthday.”[9]

Honorifics

In a Gaudiya Vaishnava context, Sridhar's full title is Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, or Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Deva-Gosvāmī Mahārāja (where Śrīla, an adjectival form of Śrī, is a respectful honorific akin to 'Reverend', and Mahārāja means 'Great King', while Gosvāmī reflects his status as a sannyasi).

He is known simply as Srila Guru Maharaj within Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.[10]

References
  1. Vishnu, Bhakti Bhavana (2004). The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant. Columbia University Press. pp. 170–187.
  2. Melton, J. Gordon (1999). Religious Leaders of America: A Biographical Guide to Founders and Leaders of Religious Bodies, Churches, and Spiritual Groups in North America. Gale Research. pp. 534–535.
  3. Goswami, Satsvarupa dasa. Srila Prabhupada-lilamrta, volume 1: A Biography of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. ISBN 9789171496768.
  4. Giri, Bhakti Kanan. "Srila Bhakti Rakshaka Sridhara-Deva Goswami Maharaja: The Complete Transcripts 1973–1983". Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  5. "Om Vishnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj". Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math International. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  6. Brzezinski, Jan (2010). Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices (Second ed.). ABC-Clio. p. 1180.
  7. Rochford Jnr, Prof. E. Burke (2013). Hare Krishna in the Modern World: Reflections by Distinguished Academics and Scholarly Devotees. Arktos Media. p. 21.
  8. Farkas, Judit (2020). Handbook of Hinduism in Europe. Brill. p. 1061. ISBN 9789004432284.
  9. Goswami, Satsvarupa dasa (1987). Prabhupāda-līlā Around the World 1967-1969 & 1972-1975. Gītā-Nāgarī Press. p. 321. ISBN 9780911233360.
  10. Sagar, Bhakti Ananda. "Srila Guru Maharaj Remembers". Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, Nabadwip. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
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