Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Appearance Day

Fasting times

We fast till noon on the appearance of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and break our fast with grain prasādam.

Praṇām mantra

nama om viṣṇu-pādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhū-tale

śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine

śrī-vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛpābdhaye

kṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ

mādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-bhaktida

śrī-gaura-karuṇā-śakti-vigrahāya namo 'stu te

namas te gaura-vāṇī-śrī-mūrtaye dīna-tāriṇe

rūpānuga-viruddhāpasiddhānta-dhvānta-hāriṇe

I offer my respectful obeisances unto His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, who is very dear to Lord Kṛṣṇa, having taken shelter at His lotus feet.

I offer my respectful obeisances to Srī Vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayita dāsa [another name of Srīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī], who is favored by Srīmatī Rādhārāṇī and who is the ocean of transcendental mercy and the deliverer of the science of Kṛṣṇa.

I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, the personified energy of Srī Caitanya's mercy, who deliver devotional service which is enriched with conjugal love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, coming exactly in the line of revelation of Srīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

I offer my respectful obeisances unto you, who are the personified teachings of Lord Caitanya. You are the deliverer of the fallen souls. You do not tolerate any statement which is against the teachings of devotional service enunciated by Srīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

Temples to visit

1. Sri Caitanya Math, Mayapur, has the Samādhi and bhajan kutir of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.

2. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura spent his last days in Gaudiya Math, Bagh Bazaar, Kolkota.

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s life

Excerpt from Śrī Caitanya: His life & associates

Born on 6th February 1874, Bimala Prasād (later known as Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura) is the ‘Ray of Vishnu’ Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, prayed Lord Jagannātha for, wanting an able assistant to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. At the time of his birth, Bimala Prasad’s umbilical cord was wrapped around his shoulder, just like a Brāhmaṇa’s thread. He was six months old when Lord Jagannātha had His Ratha-yātrā festival in Jagannātha Puri. Lord Jagannātha’s chariot was outside of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s house for three days and Srimati Bhagavati Devi, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s wife, took this opportunity to go up onto the chariot and present her new son to Lord Jagannātha. Immediately upon placing the child in front of Lord Jagannātha, the child grabbed Lord Jagannātha’s feet and a garland also fell from Lord Lord Jagannātha onto the child. Upon hearing this, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura knew this was the child he had prayed for, and so he gave him the name Bimala Prasād, the mercy of Bimala Devi. [In Jagannatha Temple in Puri, Lord Jagannātha’s Mahā-prasādam is offered first to Bimala Devi and then she gives it for public distribution. In the same way, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura considered his son to be her mercy coming originally from Lord Jagannātha.]

One day, when Bimala Prasād was still a child of no more than four years, his father mildly rebuked him for eating a mango not yet duly offered to Lord Kṛṣṇa. Bimala Prasād, although only a child, considered himself an offender to the Lord and vowed never to eat mangoes again. (This was a vow that he would follow throughout his life).

In his earlier days Bimala Prasād was noted for his scholarship. In his later days, he was known as inimitable Vaiṣṇava, who was absorbed in bhajan. For ten years, he made a vow that he will sit in one place and chant 192 rounds (300,000 names) every day. From that bhajan, he had the revelation that he should bring out the teachings of Lord Caitanya to the whole world, which was also in line with desire of his father, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and guru Gaurakiśora Dāsa Bābājī Maharaj. He assumed editorship of Sajjana-toṣaṇī, which was flagship magazine started by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and renamed it as ‘The Harmonist’.

Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī was dedicated to using the printing press as the best medium for large-scale distribution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He thought of the printing press as a bṛhad-mṛdaṅga, a big mṛdaṅga. Although the mṛdaṅga drum had traditionally been used to accompany kīrtana, even during the time of Lord Caitanya, and although Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī himself led kīrtana parties and sent groups of devotees chanting in the streets and playing on the mṛdaṅgas, such kīrtanas could be heard only for a block or two. But with the bṛhad-mṛdaṅga, the big mṛdaṅga drum of the printing press, the message of Lord Caitanya could be spread all over the world.

In 1935, Srila Prabhupada glorified Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura on his sixty-second birthday at a Vyāsa-pūjā ceremony in Bombay. It can be read at the below link.

https://vedabase.io/en/library/spl/1/4/#:~:text=February%2025%2C%201935,at%20my%20command.

On 31st December 1936, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura left his body in Kolkata surrounded by his disciples singing bhajans. His life-size murti is worshiped at Sri Caitanya Math in Mayapur.

Lessons from life and teachings of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura

1. We should be merciful. Go out to meet people where they live. They might not come looking for us. They may not know to do that. Knowing the importance of hearing Kṛṣṇa kathā, it is important for devotees to go out and meet people and give them an opportunity to come in contact with Kṛṣṇa in the form of holy name, Bhagavad-gītā and prasādam. It was Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s spiritual ambition to see this go all over the world. Take all kinds of risk to go out in to the unknown and consistently present Kṛṣṇa consciousness for the betterment of others.

2. Be non-critical. Look inwardly and find one’s own faults. Make it your religion to find fault within myself. My own faults should be more than enough for me to focus on how to deal with them. Do not be anxious to find faults with others.

3. One should not try to see Kṛṣṇa, but one should work in such a way that Kṛṣṇa would want to see you. This is the definition of darśana.

4. Enlivened service is awakened when we follow the paramparā. We are being supported by the great ācāryas and guru paramparā, so that we can follow in their footsteps. This gives great encouragement.

5. We have to introspect and see how I am connected to Supreme Personality of Godhead and what’s blocking me. I am standing on one side of river and other side is pure bhakti. There is a river of impurities that’s dividing me from there. It is very important to work on oneself in order to cross that river of impurity.

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