[Excerpted from “My Beloved Masters” by Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Vijñāna Bhāratī Gosvāmī Mahārāja]
Serving both grantha-bhāgavata and bhakta-bhāgavata
Prior to accepting sannyāsa, Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktyāloka Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja was known as Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī. While Śrīla Prabhupāda was still present in this world, Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī managed Bhāgavata Press in Kṛṣṇanagara, which was dedicated to printing Śrīla Prabhupāda’s editions of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Actually, the title ‘manager’ does not befit devotees, because a devotee understands his position is always that of a servant. But as Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī’s duties were exactly like those of a manager, we are referring to him as such. He arranged everything for the in-house printing of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other publications of Śrīla Prabhupāda.
For the service of these publications, Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī employed a stenographer and a typist. Once, the king of Nadīyā was in need of printing a publication, but had no one in his service capable of typing or taking dictation. In response to the king’s need, Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī offered the services of Bhāgavata Press’s stenographer and typist, and even offered to print the publication, as Bhāgavata Press often took outside clients.
They presented the king with a flawless publication; not even a single mistake was made. Impressed by the high quality of his publication and the care with which the devotees of Bhāgavata Press produced it, the king decided that he would no longer send his future publications to Kolkata for printing, but would instead use Bhāgavata Pressexclusively. In this way, the press eventually gained a favorable reputation due in part to the efforts of Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī. Everyone in the area knew they could put their full trust in the abilities of the devotees of Bhāgavata Press, and if by chance some mistake were made, the press would immediately rectify it.
Another service Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī used to perform was to acquire properties for the maṭha. Because his services generally required him to collect various items for the Gauḍīya Maṭha, he was given the title ‘Kenārāma,’ which means ‘a person who purchases everything.’ In this case, the title applies to one who purchases everything not for one’s own enjoyment, but for the service of bhakta-bhāgavata, Bhagavān’s devotee.
Subtle indication, big service
The villagers of Campaka-haṭṭa in Navadvīpa possessed a deep sense of reverence for Śrīla Prabhupāda, and some of them even became his initiated disciples. Out of their regard for him, they donated him the property that encompassed the previous residence of Jayadeva Gosvāmī. This is the present site of Śrī Gaura-Gadādhara Gauḍīya Maṭha. There was one esteemed local in that village who had two recently widowed daughters. Unfortunately, the daughters’ in-laws were unwilling to hand over their respective inheritances, and so the two women were unable to maintain their lives.
When Śrīla Prabhupāda learned about the predicament these women faced, he simply said, “How will they maintain themselves?” Taking his gurudeva’s seemingly light inquiry as an order, Mahānanda Brahmacārī visited the local courts in Rāṇāghāṭa and filed a court case against the ladies’ in-laws, and eventually managed to secure their respective inheritances for them.
Intelligent service
Śrīla Prabhupāda had a disciple named Śrī Niśikānta Sanyāla, a professor at Ravensā College in Kaṭaka. Although Śrī Niśikānta Sanyāl had an entire family to maintain, he would offer all his salary to Śrīla Prabhupāda, even after Śrīla Prabhupāda had told him, “If you keep donating your salary to me, then how will your family survive? It would be better if you were to keep something for their maintenance.”
Out of concern for the family, Śrīla Prabhupāda told Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī, “Because Niśikānta Sanyāla is donating his entire earnings to us, it is our responsibility to take care of his family. I want you to arrange for their complete maintenance.” On this order, Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī took care of the family’s necessities for many years. He arranged whatever they were in need of—the education and marriages of their children,and everything else.
Externally, it seems as though such an arrangement would be improper; a renounced person generally has no business seeing to the needs of a gṛhastha family, and should instead be engaged in the service of Śrī Hari, guru and Vaiṣṇavas. However, there are two considerations in this situation. Firstly, Śrīla Prabhupāda had given him the direct order to maintain the family, and there is never any fault in carrying out the instructions of śrī guru; quite the opposite, śrī guru’s order is the disciple’s duty. Secondly, Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī intelligently arranged everything in such a way that he was never required to be physically present for these services. Through delegating responsibilities to various people, he never had to visit the family even once.
My service to him
Sometime after Śrīla Prabhupāda’s departure, Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī acquired some land a short walk from Gaṅgā-ghāṭa in Māyāpura, near Kṣetra-pāla Śiva. Eventually, refugees from Bangladesh began to occupy that land and refused to leave. Acting as his army, a number of devotees and I drove the refugees from that land.
Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī’s godbrother Śrīla Bhakti Saurabha Bhaktisāra Gosvāmī Mahārāja eventually came to Māyāpura and desired to have some place to stay, and so Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī gave him half of his land.
Accepting sannyāsa
Another disciple of Śrīla Prabhupāda, Śrīla Bhakti Svarūpa Parvata Gosvāmī Mahārāja, originally from Svarūpa Gañj, had a maṭha called Vārṣabhānāvī-dayita Gauḍīya Maṭha in Udālā, Orissa, near the Kṣīra-corā Gopīnātha temple. After his disappearance, many devotees wanted that maṭha to be given to my Guru Mahārāja, Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and come under the banner of Śrī Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭha.
At that time, Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples deliberated and decided that since Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī did not yet have any place of his own, Śrī Vārṣabhānāvī-dayita Gauḍīya Maṭha should be given to him, and that he should take sannyāsa from Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Gosvāmī Mahārāja. He accepted his godbrothers’ proposal, and was henceforth known as Śrī Bhaktyāloka Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja, the ācārya of Vārṣabhānāvī-dayita Gauḍīya Maṭha in Udālā.
His service attitude
When Guru Mahārāja accepted the responsibility of acquiring Śrīla Prabhupāda’s appearance place in Purī, many of the required documents were in the Oriya language. At that time, there was an Oriya devotee, Śrī Bhakti Sundara Sāgara Mahāraja, residing in Śrī Vārṣabhānāvī-dayita Gauḍīya Maṭha. Guru Mahārāja asked Śrīla Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja, “Maharāja if it is not a problem for you, we would like to request that Sāgara Maharāja can stay with us for some time and help us in acquiring Śrīla Prabhupāda’s appearance place.”
Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja replied, “I am not so selfish as to hinder this important service. I will certainly send Śrī Sāgara Maharāja with you, even at the cost of my own inconvenience. It would be a matter of great happiness and honor to perform even the most menial of services for Śrīla Prabhupāda.”
We have personally experienced that the specialty of Śrīla Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja was that he was incredibly affectionate and simple. Whenever I would meet with him, I would offer full aṣṭāṅga daṇḍavat-praṇāma. But even though I was like his disciple, he would always embrace me. His nature was that he never considered anyone his junior, but rather respected all devotees simply because they were on the path of bhakti.
Śrī Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja Enters Nitya-līlā
Composed under the editorship of Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja
His appearance
Pujyapāda Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja appeared in 1893 on Śukla Pratipadā (the first day of the waxing moon) in the month of Vaiśākha, a Sunday, under the constellation of Aśvinī. In other words, he appeared during the first constellation in the first month of the year on the first solar day of the week and during the first lunar day of the month.
The earth’s invaluable jewel
Mahārāja was a Vaiṣṇava always absorbed in nāma-bhajana. He embodied all Vaiṣṇava qualities. All Vaiṣṇavas are truly the Earth’s invaluable jewels, because each one is capable of delivering the entire universe. “Tāhā binā ratna-śunyā hôilô medinī—Medinī (the Earth) has become bereft of jewels without him.”
Illuminated by the effulgence of devotion
Prior to accepting the shelter of the most worshipful Śrī Śrīla Prabhupāda, Mahārāja’s name was ‘Mahendra.’ Once he received dīkṣa, he became known as ‘Śrī Mahānanda Brahmacārī.’ Later, Śrīla Prabhupāda awarded him the devotional title ‘Bhaktyāloka,’ which means ‘illuminated by the effulgence of devotion.’ After the disappearance of Śrīla Prabhupāda, he accepted sannyāsa from Śrīmad Bhakti Rakṣaka Śrīdhara Gosvāmī Mahārāja, and his sannyāsa name became Śrīmad Bhaktyāloka Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja.
A recipient of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s profuse mercy
When Mahārāja was a brahmacārī, the supremely worshipful Prabhupāda entrusted him with looking after Bhāgavata Press in Kṛṣṇanagara, and later, with managing Śrī Caitanya Maṭha in Śrīdhāma Māyāpura. By accomplishing all of these services with great expertise, he became the special recipient of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s profuse mercy. It is impossible to fill the void created by the absence of such an exemplary Vaiṣṇava dedicated to pure bhajana.
His induction as an ācārya
After the disappearance of Śrī ŚrīlaBhakti Svarūpa Parvata Gosvāmī Mahārāja, the founder of Śrī Vārṣabhānavī-dayita Gauḍīya Maṭha in the suburban Udala development of the Mayura-Bhañja district in Orissa, Śrīmad Mahānanda Brahmacārī was inducted as the ācāryaof that maṭha at the proposal of pūjyapāda tridaṇḍi-svāmī Śrīmad Bhakti Gaurava Vaikhānasa Mahārāja and in the presence of øpūjyapāda tridaṇḍi-svāmī Śrīmad Bhakti Vicāra Yāyāvara Mahārāja, pūjyapāda tridaṇḍi-svāmī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Mahārāja and other godbrothers, all of whom expressed their approval, as well as Śrīla Bhakti Svarūpa Parvata Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s disciples and patrons. The next year, 1958, he accepted sannyāsa and became known as tridaṇḍi-svāmī Śrīmat Paramahaṁsa Mahārāja.
His last words
The night before Śrīla Mahārāja left his body and entered nitya-līlā, he frequently and loudly called out the names of nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Dayita Mādhava Mahārāja—the Founder-ācārya of Śrī Caitanya Gauḍīya Maṭha—and Śrī Mādhāva Mahārāja’s disciple and current President-ācārya, Śrīmad Bhakti Vallabha Tīrtha Mahārāja. Their names were often heard from his lotus mouth earlier, also, for he nurtured profound affection for them both.
Excerpts from articles published in
Śrī Caitanya-Vāṇī (Year 23, Volume 10 and Year 24, Volume 1)