On Monday, 4th February 1894 (Bengali calendar – 19 Chaitra 1302, shukla saptami 7th day of the waxing moon cycle), a spiritual descendant of Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur appeared in Chanchuri Purulia village in Narail district, Jessore, Bangladesh in a vaishnava family. His father’s name was Ramacharan Das. According to the choice of his father, the baby’s name became Umapati. After six months, during the grain ceremony in which the baby is first fed grains (annaprasana) and is tested for its natural inclination (ruci-pariksa), Umapati picked up the Srimad Bhagavatam which indicated his future spiritual pursuits that manifested in him closely assisting Srila Prabhupada. Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur was a pioneer in spreading the message of pure loving devotion around the world as taught by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
In 1911, Umapati passed his secondary school exams. Due to his father’s physical departure and the poor financial condition of the family, Umapati was unable to continue his higher education. He found a job at Kolkata General Post Office through which he could financially help his family. During the time that he used to work in Kolkata, he met with a great spiritual personality (phakir-veshi). After meeting this person, Umapati became inspired to find a genuine spiritual master. He visited so many spiritual institutions in order to find a genuine spiritual master. In 1915, on the day of Srila Gaurakishore Das Babaji Maharaj’s disappearance at the bank of the Ganga river, Umapati heard glories of Lord Hari from Bimala Prasad (who would later be known as Srila Prabhupada Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur). In the same year, Umapati took shelter of Bimala Prasad along with his family.
Umapati received the name Kunjabihari Das. After initiation, Kunjabihari Prabhu used to offer all of the income that he would earn to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Prabhupada used to maintain Kunjabihari Prabhu’s family. According to the direction of Srila Prabhupada, Kunjabihari Prabhu began to study various Vedic philosophies (darshan-sastra). Srila Prabhupada gave him the title Acharyatrik Mahamahopadeshak Sri Kunjabihari Vidyabhushan Bhagavataratna which means he was the super great spiritual advisor jewel amongst the pure devotees and the ornament of divine knowledge. In 1918, Srila Prabhupada completed his vow of chanting one billion holy names (sata-koti-nama-yajna) and established Sri Caitanya Math at Mayapur. After that , Sri Kunjabihari Vidyabhushan requested Srila Prabhupada to come to Kolkata for spreading the loving message of Lord Caitanya at the Bhaktivinoda-asana located at Ultadanga Junction Road; this was the first preaching center in the city of Kolkata.
During this time, while trying to maintain the services of guru and vaishnavas, Kunjabihari Prabhu was put into so much financial debt. Kunjabihari Prabhu went out of Bengal to make money in order to pay back his debt. On the order of Srila Prabhupada, Kunjabihari Prabhu came back and engaged his life in spreading the loving message of Lord Caitanya. In a short period of time, many pious, intelligent people from various places came and took shelter of Srila Prabhupada. Even the extremely miserly Jagadish Babu took shelter of Srila Prabhupada and sponsored the entire construction of the Bag Bazar Gaudiya Math. At that time, all of the sannyasis and brahmacharis of the Gaudiya Math used to address Kunjabihari Vidyabhushan as Kunja Da. He was the administrator of the Gaudiya Math. Once, Srila Prabhupada expressed, “All glories to Sriman Kunjabihari Vidyabhushan! If his assistants can follow in his footsteps, then they will attain great auspiciousness.” In brief, we can say that Kunja Da was the embodiment of guru-seva and was one who was most dear to his guru.
I would like to mention one incident for understanding Srila Prabhupada’s intimate relation with Kunja Da. Once, Srila Prabhupada got severe stomach pain. The assistants surrounding Srila Prabhupada were applying a hot pack on his stomach but there was no benefit. Srila Bhakti Hridoy Bon Goswami Maharaja decided to call Kunja Babu. As soon as Kunja Babu arrived in Srila Prabhupada’s room, Srila Prabhupada embraced Kunja Babu and miraculously became cured from the severe pain. Also, in the Gaudiya magazine, there is much glorification of Kunja Babu by Bhakti Hrdoy Bon Goswami Maharaja, Bhakti Pradipa Tirtha Goswami Maharaja, Sripad Sundarananda Prabhu, Sripad Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu, Sripad Pranavananda Prabhu, Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Goswami Maharaja and others. Srila Kunjabihari Vidyabhushan followed in the footsteps of Srila Prabhupada at every step in life.
12 years after Srila Prabhupada’s physical disappearance, Kunjabihari Vidyabhushan took sannyasa initiation from Bhakti Vijnana Ashrama Goswami Maharaja through the inspiration and in the presence of many of his sannyasi and brahmachari godbrothers at Srila Prabhupada’s samadhi mandir. He got the name Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Goswami Maharaja and eventually became acharya of Sri Caitanya Math and its branches. Srila Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Goswami Maharaja tried to continue all of the initiatives that Srila Prabhupada had started and also made various temples like Purusottama Gaudiya Math in Puri, Madanmohan Gaudiya Math in Vrindavan, Caitanya Research Institute in Kolkata, Gaudiya Math at Diamond Harbor and so on. He also established Ray Ramananda’s deity and the lotus footprints of Lord Caitanya at Kavvur along the banks of the Godavari River. With his best ability, he established many temples in India. He installed deities and lotus footprints of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu in many parts of India. He also made exhibitions of Lord Caitanya in various cities such as Kolkata, Dhaka, Patna, Kashi and so on.
On Friday, 10th September 1976 at 3:20 pm, Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Goswami Maharaja physically passed away and left behind his visible transcendental body at Srila Prabhupada’s bhajan kutir in the presence of many Gaudiya Math brahmacharis and sannyasis. Srila Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Goswami Maharaja’s entire spiritual life gives us the example of gurudevatma – in other words, dedicating one’s life completely to the desire of the spiritual master. We know Srila Prabhupada’s eternal form is Nayanamani Manjari. Srila Prabhupada revealed Bhakti Vilas Tirtha Goswami Maharaja’s spiritual identity as Bimala Manjari.
