Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshava Goswami Maharaj appeared on the auspicious day of Tritiya tithi on January 1, 1898, in the village of Banari Para in the district of Barisal in present-day Bangladesh. He was born in the famous Guha dynasty in a wealthy and prominent landlord (zamindar) family. His fathers was Sri Sarat Candra Guha, who was a Vaisnava, and his mother was BhuvanMohini-devi. His name at birth was “Bhim” or “Jona”.
In his childhood, he was brilliant, and introspective, possessed an excellent character, and above all, was naturally spiritually minded. He was educated in Sanskrit and Vedanta at an early age and had read Bhagavad-Gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and Sri Caitanya Caritamrita from his father’s library even before he entered university where he excelled in his studies.
In 1915, he met Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada and at the age of 17 was given his first initiation of harinama. Four years later, in 1919, Srila Prabhupada awarded him a second initiation of Vaisnava diksa and gave him the responsibility of becoming the managing editor of the Gaudiya periodical Krishnanagar, Nadia. He regularly contributed many articles on Vaisnava philosophy.
Srila Bhakti Prajnan Kesava preached extensively the message of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu all over India from Jagannatha Puri to Mathura on his guru’s order. As is well known, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada introduced massive circumambulation and parikrama of the nine islands of Sri Navadwip Dham annually from 1920 onwards. The deities were mounted upon trained elephants in a magnificent and grand style amidst 30,000 devotees and pilgrims all performing kirtan with mrdangas, whompers, horns, kettledrums, and karatals. The thunderous sound of kirtana could be heard for miles. In March in the year 1925, while performing parikrama on the island of Sri Koladwip, the parikrama party was viciously attacked by an organized assault of malicious and evil-minded miscreants. All the pilgrims and devotees had to flee for their lives. There was such a flurry of bricks and stones that Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada’s life was in great danger and jeopardy.
Everyone had quickly fled to save their lives and secure their safety and security except Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshava Goswami Maharaj who was Vinode Bihari Brahmacari at the time. Understanding the utmost gravity of the situation, he quickly took his guru into a doorway and resourcefully interchanged his brahmachari garments with Srila Prabhupada’s sannyasa cloth and disguised himself.
Not knowing whether or not they would live or die, at the time of Vinode Bihari Brahmacari putting on his guru’s sannyasa cloth, Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur spontaneously gave Vinode Bihari Brahmacari the sannyasa mantra and initiated him into the ashram of sannyasa. Then, the disciple protecting his guru took Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati courageously to safely free him from harm. After this, Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshava Goswami Maharaj slept on the floor in his guru’s room every night until Srila Prabhupada’s disappearance and was the only disciple allowed to do so.
In the year 1929, being extremely pleased by his lectures on devotion, his preaching and his writing of the famous book “Vaisnava Vijaya Mayavadi Jivani, The Life History of Mayavadism” Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Pabhupada gave him all the 1000s of Vedic books in his library into his care. Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshava Goswami Maharaj used to teach that the Supreme Lord Krishna is attained through harinama of His transcendental name which reaches our hearts exclusively through the purified ear and not through the defective and deceptive organ of the eye. He would always mourn the disappearance of his Gurudeva, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada after his departure in 1937; but resolute with great faith, he would powerfully preach sanatan dharma, Bhagavad dharma, and the message of Mahaprabhu everywhere he went.
In 1941, he established Sri Devananda Gaudiya Math in Koladwip in Sri Navadwipa Dham and also established 37 temples in India. On September 17, 1959, at Sri Keshavaji Gaudiya Math in Mathura he initiated Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami into the ashram of Sannyasa who would later go to America and establish the International Society of Krishna Consciousness which fulfilled Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s prophecy that the holy names of Krishna would be sung all over the Earth.
During caturmasya vrata in 1968, Srila Bhakti Prajnan Keshava announced to his disciples that they should all join him as he would be leaving his body in the month of Kartik. On Kartik Purnima night, October 6, 1968 at Sri Devananda Gaudiya Math in Sri Koladwip in Sri Navadwip Dham, he entered into aprakata-lila in his original svarupa as Vinode Manjari joining his gurudeva, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Prabhupada in his original svarupa as Nayanamani Manjari, both eternal servitors of Sri Sri Radha Krishna in Goloka Vrindavan. Srila Bhakti Vedanta Vaman was appointed by Srila Keshava Goswami Maharaj as his successor and acarya.
