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A Brief Biography of Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami

Maharaja

The first sannyasa disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada.

Founder in 1943 of the Gaudiya Vedanta Samhiti

Nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada 108 Sri Srimad Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja appeared
on January 1, 1898 (Krsna-tritiya-tithi) in the village of Banari Para within Sri Gaura-mandala in West
Bengal.

He was born into a very respectable Zamindar family. His father, Sri Sarat Candar Guha, was a great
devotee of the Lord and his mother, Bhavan Mohini-devi was a reservoir of chastity. He was their
second child and they named him Vinoda-bihari.

He was a beautiful baby and the women in his village used to call him Jonah, which comes from the
word jyotsna, meaning 'effulgent', because of his beautiul golden complexion. His father passed away
when Vinoda-bihari was an infant. Although heart-broken, his mother worked hard to give her children
everything they needed. Vinoda-bihari was a reservoir of all good qualities. He was intelligent, fearless,
strong, compassionate, and always serving people and the Lord. Everyone loved him because of these
qualities.

At the age of twelve, he began to manage his family's property. He was such an expert that he would
very often instruct his superiors about which course of action to take when problems arose. He read
and studied Bhagavad-gita, Sri Caitanya- caritamrta, Srimad-Bhagavatam and other transcendental
literature before he entered university. He excelled in his studies at university and his teachers would
come everyday, between classes, to hear his beautiful discourses on these books. Sri Vinoda-bihari met
his beloved gurudeva, jagad-guru nitya-lila-pravista om visnupada Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasavati Prabhupada on Gaura-purnima, March 1, 1915 at Sridhama Mayapura and recieved first
initiation from him. At this time Srila Prabhupada had just completed his phenomenal vow, which he
began in 1905, of chanting the maha-mantra 17,123 times every day. This equates to 267 rounds daily
for ten years, totalling 1,000,000,000 (one billion) Holy Names of the Lord.

Four years later on Gaura-purnima, March 16, 1919, Vinoda-bihari received vaisnava-diksa from Srila
Prabhupada, who immediately after initiating him appointed him as the managing editor of the
periodical Jnani Nadia in Krsnanagar, West Bengal. His articles on devotional service were regularly
published in this magazine. Srila Prabhupada was so pleased with Vinoda-bihari's lectures and
preaching abilities that he placed all of his Vaisnava literature in the care of his disciple. On Gaura-
purnima, March 21, 1932, Srila Prabhupada, again being pleased with Vinoda-bihari's selfless service,
awarded his beloved disciple the title "Krti-ratna". Following the order of Srila Prabhupada, Vinoda-
bihari preached the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri, Cuttack, Allahabad, Assam, Meghalaya,
Mathura and many other places in India. On the request of the residents of Chinsura, he established Sri
Uddharan Gaudiya Matha. In 1920, Srila Prabhupada introduced massive circumambulations of Sri
Navadvipa-dhama. He would lead huge parikrama parties around the places where Caitanya
Mahaprabhu performed His many pastimes. The deities would be mounted on elephants in full pomp
and slendour amidst tens of thousands of pilgrims in grand and royal style.
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The victorious sounds of conchshells, mrdangas (clay drums), karatalas (hand-cymbals) and horns could
be heard resounding throughout the land. On one particular parikrama of Sri Navadvipa-dhama, March
9, 1925, on the island Koladvipa, some malicious and evil minded people attacked the parikrama party
with such an onslaught of bricks that Srila Prabupada's very life was in jeopardy. All of Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada's intimate associates and confidential servitors immeadiately fled for their
own lives in great fear and haste, seeking their own safety. Only the lion-like acarya Srila Kesava
Maharaja, who was still Sri Vinoda-bihari Brahmacari, stayed steadfastly and courageously by Srila
Prabhupada's side. Realising the dire need and perilous nature of the situation, Vinoda-bihari responded
swiftly and resourcefully by exchanging his brahmacari cloth for Srila Prabhupada's sannyasa garments.
He protected Srila Prabhupada to the point of using his own body to shield his gurudeva until he led
him to safety. By swapping his sannaysa garments for Sri Vinoda-bihari's brahmacari cloth, Srila
Prabhupada was in fact awarding his beloved disciple initiation into the sannyasa order.

Srila Kesava Maharaja was therefore the first sannyasa disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada.
Srila Prabhupada had been vigorously refuting the concocted conclusions of the thirteen deviant
Vaisnava sects - the Aulas, the Baulas, the Kartabhajas, etc. He had also condemned compulsory
monetary remuneration for darsana of the Deities in the temples. In addition, he strongly objected to
the abominable practice of charging fees for recitation of Srimad-Bhagavatam and Bhagavata-gita.

He was preaching that Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared on the eastern bank of the Ganges in Sridhama
Mayapura, not on the western bank of the Ganges at present day Navadvipa as was falsely claimed. For
all of these reasons, all the smarta-brahmanas, panditas and other sects attacked Srila Prabhupada.
Fortunately, our courageous and venerable Vinoda- bihari was close by Srila Prabhupada's side, just as
Kuresh was at the side of Ramanuja Acarya and protected Ramanuja Acarya by exchanging his
grhastha dress with his guru's sannyasa dress, at the cost of his own eyesight.

After that horrendous incident, Srila Prabhupada became determined to redeem these people. He
gathered his disciples and explained that it was his desire that a temple be established in Koladvipa. He
then asked who would volunteer to lead this project. There was a long moment of silence and not a
single devotee stepped forward. Finally, after looking around and seeing that no one was going to
respond, Vinoda-bihari accepted this service. He stated that he would establish a temple for the
fulfilment of his gurudeva's desire. This service manifested itself fully when he established Sri
Devananda Gaudiya Matha in Koladvipa just after he accepted sannyasa. Srila Kesava Maharaja always
used to mourn the disappearance of his beloved gurudeva, and many times when recollecting a
particular pastime they had shared, or just by hearing his gurudeva's name, tears would flow profusely
from his lotus eyes. He also avidly promulgated book publication, as evidenced by the many books he
personally wrote as well as the translations of previous acaryas' compositions which he published. In
1941 at Katva, the place where Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted sannayasa, Vinoda-bihari accepted the
renounced order from Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja. He was given the name Srila Bhakti
Prajnana Kesava Gosvami. On December 13, 1954, Srila Kesava Maharaja established Sri Kesavaji
Gaudiya Matha in Mathura and two years later, during the month of Karttika, he installed the deities Sri
Sri Radha Vinoda-bihari.

Srila Kesava Maharaja was a powerful acarya who had eternal and unshakable faith in his own guru. He
was an extraordinary writer and speaker. He was great thinker and organiser, and he was extremely
knowledgeable on law. Following in his gurudeva's footsteps he was a naisthika brahmacari.

On purnima night October 6, 1968, during Karttika, in his own bed at Devananda Gaudiya Matha and
surrounded by his disciples, Srila Kesava Gosvami Maharaja entered into aprakrta-lila or the eternal
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pastimes. In his original svarupa as Vinoda Manjari, he returned to Goloka Vrndavana and joined his
beloved gurudeva Srila Prabhupada in the service of the Divine Couple, Sri Sri Radha Vinoda-bihari.