The divine life of Srila Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu
We know that purity is synonymous with becoming popular which of course is not the ultimate goal of a pure devotee (Vaisnava). All the disciples of His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Prabhupada (Srila Prabhupada) were pure devotees of Sri Sri Radha Krishna.
Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu was one of the contemporary disciples of Srila Prabhupada. In order to keep us away from popularity and allow us to enter into deep eternal transcendental services, Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu manifested an extraordinary charismatic ‘deception’ pastime in the eyes of Gaudiya Vaisnava history.
Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu was born on the 25th of August 1895 in the family of their father, Rajani Kanta Basu, and mother, Srimati Vidhumukhi Devi at the village of Sandeep Hatia, district Noyakhali. At present, this place is in the territory of Bangladesh. Since childhood, Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu had a spontaneous attachment for reading Srimad Bhagavatam and chanting devotional songs which were written by Srila Narottam Das Thakur & Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur while playing the mridanga (musical drum made of clay). On 30th December 1911, along with his father and elder brother (Yogendranath Basu) at the age of 16, he met Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur and Bimala Prasad (birth name of Srila Prabhupada) at his residence Bhakti Bhavan, Rambagan, Kolkata.
In 1918, Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu again met with Srila Prabhupada at Bhakti Bhavan, Kolkata. Once, during his meeting with Srila Prabhupada, he melodiously sang, ‘Kabe Hobe Bolo Sei Din Amar’ a song written by Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur. On the next day, during the Gaura Purnima festival, he received initiation from Srila Prabhupada and became known as Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu. In a short period of time, Srila Prabhupada was attracted by his extraordinary devotional charisma and therefore appointed, as the chief editor of Bhagavata Press. Ananta Vasudev Prabhu was known to be extremely intelligent and proficient in Sanskrit and an erudite scholar.
In 1924, Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu was the first personality who inaugurated the glorious worship of Sri Guru termed as Vyas puja in the Gaudiya Math, thus, giving the devotees an opportunity to observe this auspicious ceremony. This allowed the devotees to understand the significance of such an important festival. Furthermore, he conducted the 50th Vyas-Puja festival of Srila Prabhupada.
The ultimate truth is that every living being in this mortal world has to die. At 5.30 am on the 1st of January 1937, Srila Prabhupada’s physical departure invoked extreme separation amongst all of his disciples. Nonetheless, on the 26th of March 1937, to continue the divine mission of Srila Prabhupada, Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu was unanimously selected by his godbrothers to be the successor Acharya of Gaudiya Math. In June 1939, he took the sannyasa vow and was ordained with the new name, Srila Bhakti Prasad Puri Das Thakur.
In 1941, Srila Puri Das Thakur felt inspired to change the society’s name from Gaudiya Math into Gaudiya Mission, and in 1943 Srila Puri Das Thakur’s incredible popularity was disturbing him. Therefore, he manifested a ‘deception’ pastime (which laymen cannot understand), abandoning the position of Acharya in preference to performing solitary spiritual practices for relishing the eternal service of the Divine Couple in Vrindavan. In 1954, he appointed his godbrother, Srila Bhakti Kevala Audulomi Goswami Maharaj, to continue the Acharya post of Gaudiya Mission. Later, he printed almost all the rare Goswami books and distributed them freely amongst local schools and libraries.
On the 8th of March 1958, Srila Puri Das Thakur departed from this mortal world. Through his entire life, he taught us that no one is able to realize a pure devotee’s activities for entering the highest destination (Goloka Vrindavan) with their mundane intelligence.
