Many festivals were celebrated in the months after Srila Gurudeva joined the temple, leading up to the appearance of Caitanya Mahaprabhu on March 7, 1947. Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja held a three-day Vyasa-puja festival for the appearance day of Prabhupada Sarasvati Thakura on February 11, inviting hundreds of devotees from all over Bengal, Odisha, and other regions. All the devotees danced in ecstatic kirtana and prasada was distributed to thousands of guests. Discussions of the glories of the Gaudiya-parampara continued throughout the day. Srila Kesava Gosvami Maharaja's appearance day was three days before that of Srila Prabhupada's, so Gurudeva had an opportunity to hear about his glories and early pastimes from his disciples in the temple.
Srimati Radharani sent Her cherished servitors Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Sarasvati Thakura, Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja-and all Their associates in the Gaudiya lineage descending from Svarupa Damodara and Rupa Gosvami-to revive humankind to their relationship with Krsna. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura appeared in an upper-class family in the village of Vira-nagara, West Bengal, on September 2, 1838. Due to his excellent qualifications, he accepted a prestigious position as magistrate in the British government of India and his expertise brought him wide renown. Bhaktivinoda Thakura tirelessly traveled throughout towns and villages inspiring tens of thousands to sing and hear the glories and holy names of God. In 1866, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura met with Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja in Vrndavana and accepted him as his instructing spiritual master. In the midst of his busy life, Bhaktivinoda Thakura composed over one hundred volumes of spiritual literature in many languages along with hundreds of devotional songs. One day he wrote, "Oh when will that day come when people of all countries gather together, regardless of caste or creed, and dance in the bliss of harinama-sankirtana?"
In the course of his official duties, Bhaktivinoda Thakura was posted in Jagannatha Puri, Odisha. There he earnestly prayed to Bimala-devi, the Potency of Lord Jagannatha, "Alone I cannot spread the message of pure bhakti to the world, please send a servant of Radha-Krsna to help deliver the fallen souls." Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada hence appeared on February 6, 1874, as the fourth son of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Srimati Bhagavati-devi. At birth the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck like a brahmana thread. This and other signs of a transcendental being were present on his body. Bhaktivinoda Thakura recognized him as an emissary of the Potency of the Lord, and duly named him Bimala Prasada.
Signs of Bimala Prasada's extraordinary personality were witnessed from his infancy. Lord Jagannatha stopped before the house of Bhaktivinoda Thakura during His annual chariot festival and would not budge for three days until, finally, Bhagavati-devi came out of the house and offered her six-month-old child at the Lord's lotus feet. Lord Jagannatha's exquisite garland fell around Bimala Prasada's prostrate body and Bhagavati-devi then gave her son his first grains-Jagannatha's maha-prasada.
Bimala Prasada had a prodigious intelligence and an eidetic memory. In boyhood he mastered Sanskrit and he became an expert in many fields including astrology, logic, history, geography, linguistics, and philosophy. He was especially adept in astrology and published commentaries on famous texts such as Surya-siddhanta. Seeing his exceptional intelligence and scholarship, Bimala Prasada was given the name Sri Siddhanta Sarasvati by his professors-meaning one who is a superb master of learning. As a youth he was offered the high seat in Kolkata University's Department of Astrology by Sri Asutosa Mukhopadhyaya, the university's vice chancellor. Srila Sarasvati Thakura politely declined, saying, "I have not come to count the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the Earth."
In October 1887, Bhaktivinoda Thakura decided to visit Vrndavana and practice bhajana there. On the way, he stayed for a night near the temple of Tarakesvara Mahadeva, located in the Birbhum district of Bengal. There he had a vision in which Siva told him, "Don't go to live in Vrndavana. The birthplace of Mahaprabhu has disappeared and the flow of Mahaprabhu's ideology has become contaminated. Return to Navadvipa and discover the appearance site of Mahaprabhu. Then preach the spiritual literature of bhakti and open asramas so that practitioners can safely congregate and lead a life of devotion."
Bhaktivinoda Thakura prayed to Mahadeva, "Please bless me so that I can fulfill your desire. The people of this age worship God and practice sadhana, but they are unrestrained because of attachment to maya and they maintain desire for material enjoyment. How can sincere yet irresolute people follow the path of selfless devotion as exemplified by Mahaprabhu?"
"Continue your preaching with renewed enthusiasm," Lord Siva said. "I will remove the influence of maya and Kali that covers anyone who harbors an earnest desire to follow what you teach."
"When will Mahaprabhu's movement spread all over the world?" Bhaktivinoda Thakura asked.
"Everything will happen according to the proper sequence of time," Siva said. "The pure devotion taught by Mahaprabhu is a blossoming lotus. Soon the fragrance of that lotus will spread everywhere. In the generations following you in this Gaudiya-sampradaya, the message of pure bhakti-yoga will rapidly spread. First a foundation must be made, then, in the third generation from you, a liberated soul will come and propagate the teachings of spontaneous attraction and the highest divine love of Radha-Krsna to all corners of the Earth."
Bhaktivinoda Thakura joyfully returned to Navadvipa and began to search for the appearance place of Caitanya Mahaprabhu that had been lost in the passage of time. One night, as he gently chanted in his riverside hermitage in Godruma, Bhaktivinoda Thakura saw a golden light shining forth across the Ganga. He saw an illluminated straw hut and many effulgent personalities dancing in devotional rapture. Upon beholding a similar vision for several consecutive nights, he one day crossed the Ganga to the island whence the light came. Venturing forth, he arrived at a place abandoned by the local Muslims, for despite their efforts to plant a crop, only the sacred Tulasi flourished there.
Proceeding to the nearby town of Krsnanagara, Bhaktivinoda Thakura studied obsolete maps of Navadvipa in the government archive. He discovered that the Ganga had changed course in the last 500 years, covering and subsequently uncovering Mahaprabhu's birthplace, and that His real birthplace was in Mayapura on the Eastern side of the Ganga. This information corresponded with what was written in authentic biographies of Mahaprabhu, and also with what Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura had seen in the visions. To further validate his findings, Bhaktivinoda Thakura sent a letter to Srila Jagannatha dasa Babaji, the present leader of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas throughout India, humbly requesting him to come and consider whether this place was the site of Mahaprabhu's advent. Jagannatha dasa Babaji traveled from Vrndavana to Mayapura carried in a basket because of his advanced age of 144 years. Upon arriving in Mayapura, Jagannatha dasa Babaji miraculously jumped out of the basket and danced in ecstasy. Vaisnavas from all over India were also invited for a month-long sankirtana festival held in the location. As district magistrate, Bhaktivinoda Thakura applied for a large area of the surrounding land and was granted it by the British government. He then began excavating the birth site and found artifacts from the house of Caitanya Mahaprabhu-including a deity of Adhoksaja Visnu that had been worshiped by Jagannatha Misra, the father of Mahaprabhu.
Srila Sarasvati Thakura helped his father develop the land of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's birthplace and took up residence there. He soon met his spiritual master, Srila Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, and received diksa initiation from him in 1898. Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja exemplified the highest standards of severe renunciation, stemming from his constant rapture for his adored Sri Sri Radha-Krsna. Inspired by the spiritual ideal of worship exhibited by his Gurudeva, Srila Sarasvati Thakura took a vow to chant one billion names of the mahamantra and immediately commenced chanting 300,000 names daily. During the nine years it would take him to fulfill his oath, he wore only one cloth; bathing in the Ganga and letting it dry on his body, and he ate a saltless meal of rice with boiled vegetables once every evening. Srila Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji was pleased to see his disciple's renunciation and devotional rigor.
On January 24, 1898, in the village of Vanaripada, East Bengal, the beloved eternal associate of Srila Sarasvati Thakura, Sri Vinoda, who became renowned as Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Gosvami Maharaja, appeared in this world as the son of the religious and aristocratic landlords Sriyut Saratcandra Guhathakurta and Sriyuta Bhuvanamohini-devi.
His chart was compiled and it was foretold he would be an eminent Vaisnava preceptor. Bhuvana Mohini took her infant son to her father's village, Dudhal. In Bengal, it is the custom for mothers to massage their infants with oil and place them in the warm morning sun. One day, Bhuvana Mohini left Vinoda in the sunlight of the courtyard after his massage and went about her household chores.
In the meantime, Srila Sarasvati Thakura was chanting harinama, pon_dering how he could fulfill the desire of his father Bhaktivinoda to spread the Gaudiya line of pure bhakti. He thought, "All souls are meant to taste bliss, for they are expansions of Krsna's Divine Potency, who is bliss personified. Despite of their endeavors for happiness, conditioned souls suffer untold miseries rooted in ignorance. How can I give Vinoda, the satisfaction of eternal happiness, to the world? When will Vinoda come?"
Sri Garuda, the eagle carrier of Lord Visnu, heard this prayer and determined, "For the pleasure of Visnu, I must deliver Vinoda to Bimala Prasada." Garuda descended to the village of Dudhal, carefully picked up baby Vinoda, and soared off into the sky.
Just then, Bhuvana Mohini went to check on her son and saw her soft boy in the talons of a far off golden eagle. She screamed in anxiety and ran after the eagle, praying, "O God, please save my son! If you bring him back, I vow to offer him in Your service." Hundreds of villagers came out of their houses hearing the commotion. Brahmana priests were summoned and they began chanting protective mantras. Feeling compassion for the child's mother, and knowing that in time Vinoda would be united with Bimala Prasada, Garuda gently placed Vinoda on top of floating betel nut bark in the middle of a nearby pond and departed. Bhuvana Mohini had been running behind the eagle and, from a distance, saw her son placed in the pond. She sprinted to its waters and swiftly swam to retrieve her son, fearing he may have been lost. Upon returning to shore she examined the baby and, finding him unscathed, praised God with supreme joy.
In Mayapura, Srila Sarasvati Thakura continued his strict daily vows, all the while assisting Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura with his periodical, preaching, and maintaining Mahaprabhu's birthplace. In 1911, the orthodox brahmanas of Bengal polemicized the Vaisnava community saying those born of other castes are forbidden to receive brahmana initiation and must be denied the privilege of studying the Vedas. An assembly was arranged in the Medinapura district of Bengal to discuss the issue. There, on Bhaktivinoda Thakura's order, Srila Sarasvati Thakura spoke on the Vaisnavas' behalf. He first praised the brahmanas substantially with many quotations, and then provided evidence from the Vedas that all conditioned souls are part and parcel of Parabrahma, the Supreme Soul, and are thereby all brahmanas in essence. However, because of separate interest, the living entities have fallen into this material world and become classified as sudras, or those absorbed in lamentation. Vaisnavas are the real brahmanas because they have a direct relation with Parabrahma and are always blissfully engaged in His service.
Later that year, during a scholarly convention, Srila Sarasvati Thakura established firm faith in the Divinity of Caitanya Mahaprabhu by giving scriptural evidence that the Gaura-mantra is eternal, according to the Caitanya Upanisad section of the Atharva Veda, as well as other Upanisads and Puranas.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura gave all his mercy and blessings to his son Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. In his later days, Bhaktivinoda Thakura resided in Godruma absorbed in bhajana and pondering how to help all souls. He had written over one hundred books for the spiritual upliftment of mankind in Sanskrit, Bengali, Oriya, Hindi, Urdu, and English-but how would these teachings be propagated and where could people practice them in a favorable environment? Bhaktivinoda Thakura instructed Srila Sarasvati Thakura, "Now that the birthplace of Mahaprabhu has been rediscovered, open bhakti centers and there inculcate the pure moods of the Vraja-devis. Preach the glories of Mayapura through spiritual literature; inaugurate an annual pilgrimage of Navadvipa-dhama; and establish temples.
First build Caitanya Matha in Mayapura and then establish Gaudiya Matha centers all over the world. I have gone all over India spreading the holy names, but without sanctuaries people remain affected by the material disease. Hence, open centers where people are cured of lamentation, fear, and illusion, and given the nectar of vraja-rasa (divine love found only in Vraja)."
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura faithfully accepted the directives. On June 23, 1914, Bhaktivinoda Thakura departed from this world. In separation from his spiritual guardian, Srila Sarasvati Thakura remained in Mayapura, incessantly chanting harinama and earnestly praying, "O Radhe, please send Your followers to inculcate love for Krsna in this world."
After years of intense austerity, Gauranga Mahaprabhu revealed Himself, along with His prominent associates, before Srila Sarasvati Thakura in a vision. Mahaprabhu instructed Srila Sarasvati Thakura: "Now establish the Gaudiya Matha and spread harinama-sankirtana for the benefit of all. I have sent My associates to assist you. They will soon join your efforts to preach the message of divine love."
Mahaprabhu blessed Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and then disappeared. At that time Srila Sarasvati Thakura did not have wealth or numerous followers, but the potency with which he was invested was beyond even the opulence of Vaikuntha. Along with his devoted followers, he would soon convey and distribute madhurya (the sweetness of Radha-Krsna's pastimes) and audarya (the magnanimous pastimes of Caitanya Mahaprabhu) throughout the world.
[Excerpted from the Bhakta Bandhav Publication "Sri Guru Darsana"]