Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Thakur is a very dear disciple of Srila Prabhupada Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur. During Bengal’s autumn celebrations of Navaratri Durga Puja, the clouds in the sky were blissfully moving here and there. Indradeva, out of great happiness, was sprinkling rain from time to time, creating a cooling atmosphere. The penetrating sound of the traditional Bengali drums (dhaak) was resounding everywhere, contributing to the festive mood of Durga Puja. It was as if the personification of the autumn season, Durga Devi, and the king of heaven, Indradeva, were happy to see that a very spiritually significant baby was born. The baby boy was born on the fourth day of the waxing moon cycle of the Navaratri festival (Gaura Chaturthi) in the early morning hours of Wednesday, 19th of October 1898, on the banks of the Kapotaksha River in Ganganandapur village, Jessore District, Bangladesh. The father, TarinicharanChakravarti, and the mother, Ramrangini Devi, who were members of a respectable Chakravarti Brahmin family, named their baby Pramode Bhushan Chakravarti.
Tarinicharan was a school teacher. He was not so successful financially, so his wife, Ramrangini Devi, began to run a goshala, taking care of cows and selling milk. One day, when Pramode Bhushan was around six or seven years old, he was assisting his mother in the goshala. He saw that his mother was discriminating between the cows. She was giving straw, mustard cakes, sesame cakes, jaggery, and other nutritious foods to certain cows, and only mediocre food to the other cows. Out of curiosity, he asked his mother why she was doing so. His mother said, “I am giving nutritious food to the cows who are providing us with milk, but not to the rest of the cows who do not give milk.” Immediately, the young Pramode Bhushan said, “I am not benefiting you in any way. Rather, you are forced to spend lots of money on me. So why are you giving me good food? From today onward, please treat me the same as the cows who don’t give milk.”
One day, Ramrangini Devi was preparing to cook a fish, which was still alive and writhing in severe pain. At that time, Pramode Bhushan arrived home from school and witnessed the agony of the fish, which brought tears to his eyes. His mother thought, “My son must have quarreled with his classmates at school today.” To pacify him, she began to speak to him affectionately. “Has anything happened to you today? Did someone scold you? Tell me, what did they say? Speak to me, my dear child.” With tears in his eyes, Pramode Bhushan replied, “Mother, why are you not chopping me into pieces and cooking me? I am also helpless like that fish. How can you clean this bloody fish, cook it, and then eat it? If you ever bring fish into this kitchen, I will never again eat anything cooked here. This is my final resolution.” Hearing these intelligent words from the small boy, Mother Ramrangini Devi became struck with wonder. From that day onward, no fish were ever brought into the kitchen and cooked. Pramode Bhushan had sympathy for all living beings since his childhood.
While living in Ganganandapur, Pramode Bhushan had the association of his neighbor, Bhaktiratna Thakur, who was a godbrother of Bhaktivinode Thakur. Due to his sympathetic nature toward all living beings, Pramode Bhushan received much affection from Bhaktiratna Thakur. Pramode Bhushan was engaged in the service of Bhaktiratna Thakur’s personal deities, Sri Sri Radha Madanamohana. During the course of his service to Sri Sri Radha Madanamohana, Pramode Bhushan would sometimes see Bhaktivinoda Thakur when Bhaktivinode Thakur visited Bhaktiratna Thakur’s home. In 1915, Bhaktiratna Thakurinspired Pramode Bhushan to make his first visit to Mayapur to meetBimala Prasad.
One winter night, while engaged in his service to Sri Sri Radha Madanamohana, Pramode Bhushan accidentally forgot to offer Madanamohana a blanket before putting Him to rest. Pramode Bhushan suffered the entire night from the cold weather in his own house and was afflicted by a fever. That very night, Madanamohana complained to Bhaktiratna Thakur, “I am suffering so much from the cold right now.” Early the next morning, Pramode Bhushan went to the Madanamohana temple, still in a feverish state. There he met Bhaktiratna Thakur who, without paying any attention to his physical distress, immediately told him, “Take a bath in the cold pond and offer a blanket to Madanamohana. That will relieve you of your ailment.” Pramode Bhushan followed the instructions, and as a result, he was relieved of the distress born from the fever and cold, and he felt genuine bliss. Even before his initiation, Pramode Bhushan was already experiencing direct reciprocations with the deities of the Lord.
Pramode Bhushan began his education in his village school. He completed his high school in Baruipur, located in 24-Parganas near Kolkata. He later received his honors degree in Chemistry from Bangavasi College in Kolkata and was hired as a port officer.
Pramode Bhushan used to regularly attend Bimala Prasad’s spiritual discourses in the evening after work at the Ultadingi Junction Gaudiya Math. One day, Pramode Bhushan returned home from his office to his rented room and changed his clothes. He was about to put on his shoes to leave for the evening lecture when suddenly, he was stung by a scorpion hidden inside his shoes. Pramode Bhushan’s attraction for hearing Srila Prabhupada’s discourses was so great that even in such a state he rushed to the Math; the severe pain could not keep him confined at home. The transcendental mellows of Srila Prabhupada’s lecture made him forget about the pain of the scorpion bite, but the moment the discourse was over, he began to feel acute pain. At the end of his recitation, Srila Prabhupada, being omniscient, said to Pramode Bhushan, “It seems that something has happened to you.” Pramode Bhushan narrated the whole incident to Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada replied, “Your eagerness to hear the discourses while ignoring the scorpion sting has certainly amazed me. From today onward, you should try to go to work at your office while living in the Math.” Pramode Bhushan took these words to heart and happily returned to his rented room, paying no heed to the severe pain he was experiencing.
Shortly thereafter, Pramode Bhushan began to stay at the Math while continuing with his job. After two years, in 1923 on the day of Janmashtami at the age of 25, Pramode Bhushan received harinama first initiation, Diksha second initiation, and saffron clothes from Srila Prabhupada. He was thereafter known as PranavanandaBrahmachari and became a full-time member of the Gaudiya Math. Srila Prabhupada gave a pen to Pranavananda and instructed him to take dictation of his lectures and serve as editor of the daily spiritual newsletter, Dainik Nadiya Prakash. Pranavananda was so dedicated to Srila Prabhupada and was engaged as a kirtaniya, pujari, and Srila Prabhupada’s personal servant. From 1923 to 1936, Srila Prabhupada used to keep Pranavananda, whom he lovingly called Pranava, near him as much as possible.
After Srila Prabhupada’s physical departure on the 1st of January 1937, Pranavananda left Bag Bazar Gaudiya Math and stayed with his godbrothers, Bhakti Hridoy Bon Goswami Maharaj and Akinchan Krishna DasBabaji Maharaj, in a rented apartment in Tollygunge, Kolkata. One day before sunrise, a widow appeared at the doorstep of the apartment and asked for Pranavananda. Pranavananda had opened the door himself and was surprised to see this widow looking for him, as he did not even know who she was. The widow explained, “I had these deities of Radha Krishna at home but I was not worshiping Them. Last night, Radha Krishna came into my dream and told me to bring Them to you at this very address. Please accept these deities from me. Otherwise, like I was told in my dream, my whole family will be destroyed.” Pranavananda happily accepted the deities. His mother used to worship Sri Sri Radha Gopinath deities at her home. Due to his attachment to his mother and her deities, he named these newly received deities as Sri Sri Radha Gopinath.
Soon after, according to the request of his senior godbrother, KunjabihariVidyabhushan (also known as Srila Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Goswami Maharaj), Pranavananda became the pujari and in charge of the temple at Lord Chaitanya’s birthplace, the Yogapitha temple in Mayapur. He also served as the editor of the Gaudiyamagazine.
One night, Srila Prabhupada appeared in Pranavananda’s dream and initiated him with the sannyasa mantra. The next morning, he wrote down the mantra in his diary. On the 3rd of March 1947, on the Ekadashi tithi preceding Gaura Purnima, Pranavananda formally took sannyasa from his very dear godbrother, Srila Bhakti Gaurav Vaikhanas Goswami Maharaj, and received the name Srila Bhakti Pramode Puri Goswami Maharaj (SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj). SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj served at the Yogapitha temple for more than eight years until 1955.
Due to some unforeseen circumstances, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj moved to the banks of the Ganga at Kalna (Khati-Ganga) in April 1955 (1stVaishakh 1362) where he lived for three years performing intense spiritual practice. In 1958, on the day of Radhashtami, the king of Burdwan district gave SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj the ancient temple of Ananta Vasudeva located in Kalna. In 1961, Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhav Goswami Maharaj requested SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj to look after the publication department of Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. In accordance with his godbrother’s request, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj handed over the responsibilities of the Ananta Basudeva temple to his brother, Nanigopal, and shifted to Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math to serve as the chief editor of the Chaitanya Vani magazine and as the head of all publications of the institution.
According to the desire of the Lord, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj established Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math in Mayapur in the year 1987. In just a short period of time, many centers manifested by the will of the Lord throughout India in Medinipur, Kolkata, Jagannath Puri, and Vrindavan. Although he was at a very advanced age, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj established perfect deity worship, goshalas, spiritual publications, and various other services in the different branches of Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math. In this way, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj gave shelter to many spiritual seekers.
SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj was very much attached to Gadadhara Pandit and he, therefore, established the deities of Sri SriGauraGadadhara in the Mayapur temple. One hot summer afternoon, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj suddenly told the temple manager to immediately call for the pujari who was serving the deities in the temple room. When the pujari entered his bhajan kutir, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj gravely exclaimed, “Why did you hit Gadadhara with your left elbow? You better beg for forgiveness; otherwise, you will be entangled in material life very, very soon.” As soon as the pujari left the room, the temple manager, who was standing by the side of SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj, spoke, “Guru Maharaj, how did you know that the pujari hit Gadadhara Pandit? The temple room has no windows and the doors were completely closed.” SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj replied, “Baba, Gadadhara Pandit personally came here to me in my room and complained to me, saying that the pujari had hit Him and misbehaved with Him.” Such was the intense meditation and perfection in deity worship exhibited bySrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj.
In 1997, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj wrote his will and appointed one of his favorite disciples, Srila Bhakti BibudhaBodhayan Goswami Maharaj, as the successor of the mission. Following in the footsteps of his dearmostGauraGadadhara, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj expressed his desire to take kshetra-sannyasa in Jagannath Puri Dham and live there permanently until the end of his manifest life.
At 2:10 am on Monday, the 22nd of November 1999, in his bhajan kutir at Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math’s branch located in Jagannath Puri Dham, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj physically departed from this world. Prior to leaving, SrilaPuri Goswami Maharaj had said, “Since my Gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Thakur, my parama-Gurudeva, SrilaGaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaj, and my godbrothers are all in samadhi in Mayapur, I would also like to be put into samadhi there.” According to his desire, his body was brought to Mayapur and put into samadhi in the premises of his temple.
Srila Puri Goswami Maharaj’s entire life shows the example of serving the guru parampara with full sincerity, purity, humility, and tolerance. He was the embodiment of the third verse of the-
Siksastakam –
trinad api sunicena taroriva sahisnuna aminanamanadena kirtaniyasadaharih.
His eternal identity in Goloka Vrindavan is
Sri Palash Manjari, who picks flowers for the service of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath.
