His Holiness Tridandi Bhikshu Bhaktiratna
Sadhu
Swami Gaurangapada's Biography
and Pranama Mantra
nama om gaurangapadaya
nitai-presthaya bhutale;
shrimate bhaktiratna sadhu iti namine.
"I
offer my humble obeisances unto His Holiness Tridandi Bhikshu Shrila Bhaktiratna
Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada, who is very dear to Lord Shri Nityananda Prabhu,
having taken shelter at Lord Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu's lotus
feet."
gauranga-nama-dhama-bhakta-lila pracharine;
nityananda-gauranga-nama-sahitya vitarine.
"He is instrumental in
preaching, spreading and distributing the glories of the Holy Names, Pastimes,
Associates and Abodes of the Supreme Lords Nityananda Gauranga and the
distribution of the ebooks and paperbooks of Their glories."
His Holiness
Tridandi Bhikshu Shrila Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada appeared in
Ahemdabad Gujarat, India on the 22nd of November 1971 in a Gujarati
(audicha-sahasra) brahmana family.
From childhood he had an intense
spiritual inclination which was nurtured by his very pious and noble parents by
the regular and daily recitation of kirtans and bhajans of Lord Krishna. He
would go into a blissful devotional trance when his mother would sing the Holy
Names of Lord Krishna daily or when listening to kirtana tapes in the mornings
and evenings while his father would shed tears for the Lord for hours at a
stretch.
From the very childhood, he was very attached to hearing the
eight classic verses of Shri Shikshashtakam personally composed by the Supreme
Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu. In this way he felt great attraction to Lord Gauranga
from the beginning which ultimately fructified and blossomed when he read Shri
Chaitanya Charitamrita of Shrila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami translated by
Shrila Prabhupada in the central library of his University, the Indian Institute
of Technology (IIT).
Internally he would always feel something missing in
the worship of Lord Krishna and chanting of Krishna's Name till he realized
after reading the Bengali version of Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura's classic Shri
Navadvipa Dhama Mahatmya that it was actually the causeless mercy of the Holy
Names of Lord Gauranga and Lord Nityananda that is sorely missing in this
world.
Whenever he used to get some time, he was spontaneously inclined
to hear and sing songs in the glorification of the Lord. Sometimes he used to
feel so blissful while chanting that he used to close the doors and dance
ecstatically in kirtana alone by leaping high in the air while singing "bodo
sukher khobor gai".
The system of offering food to Lord Krishna and
worship of Shri Tulasi Devi was practiced in his home. From his childhood, Swami
Gaurangapada was naturally averse to even touching the slow intoxicants like tea
etc.
Non-vegetarian food was a totally unheard and unseen thing for him.
Once when he was chronically ill, the doctor prescribed egg yoke as a medicine.
His parents very reluctantly seeing no other way out brought egg in the home. He
started crying just by smelling it and when it was touched to his lips, he
developed severe red allergic rashes all over his body. So his parents stopped
immediately and decided never ever to to even consider doing it again.
He
studied in a English Convent school because Lord Gauranga had His own plans for
him and had chosen him to spread the glories of His Name and Gauranga Dharma by
writing books in the English language. He was an exceptional student very quick
at grasping what was being taught and then beautifully expressing it in his own
words which highly impressed his teachers both in school and
college.
Though diligently discharging his duties as a student, he was
all the time internally feeling intense apathy to the exclusive pursuit of only
materialistic knowledge. He felt that material advancement without spiritual
awakening ends up in only making an ass out of the soul and furthur degrading
the soul in the 8.4 million species life.
While studying at school and
university, he used to keep himself totally aloof from various arrangements of
sense-gratification and social programs and was internally determined to remain
celibate throughout his life and dedicate his whole life as an offering to
spread the Holy Names of Nityananda, Gauranga and Hare Krishna for the benefit
of the suffering humanity.
During his school and college days he visited
many hundreds of Holy Places of Vedic pilgrimage in India from Himalayas to
Kanyakumari and Dvaraka to Puri along with his father. Due to these intense
travels, he developed more and more detachment from the material world and
attachment to lead a saintly monastic life of constantly chanting and preaching
the Holy Names of God.
To fully concentrate on chanting and reading
Shrimad Bhagavatam, Swami Gaurangapada used to go to his village of Prempur in
Gujarat, India and spend some weeks in deep contemplation in the three big
estates and farms inherited by his father from the grand parents.
Since
he was exceptionally intelligent, he wrote the exams and got selected to the
most prestigious University of India, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
which accepts the most intelligent [around] 10,000 students in India every year.
It has 5 branches in India and the IIT graduates have great international demand
since they are the cream of India's material knowledge and
intelligence.
Even after getting entrance into the most reputed
University in India for the Master of Science Integrated Degree in Chemistry
which included comprehensive training in all the engineering fields and which
had very lucrative and promising occupational prospects abroad, Swami
Gaurangapada requested his parents to allow him to retire with some land and a
cow in the village so that he can peacefully practice spiritual life instead of
getting entangled further in the rat race of this material world. But his
parents wanted him to join IIT and so he conceded to their desire.
He
started preaching about God right from the time he entered into IIT. Ultimately
the culmination of his intense spiritual quest from childhood was reached by the
causeless mercy of Their Lordships Nityananda and Gauranga when he came across
the 17 golden volumes of Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita of Shrila Krishnadasa
Kaviraja Goswami translated by Shrila Swami Prabhupada in the philosophical
section of the IIT Central Library.
Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita is the
topmost and deepest spiritual literature in creation and Swami Gaurangapada
immersed himself day and night for two years with the greatest relish and
completed reading it five times simultaneously learning the Bengali alphabet.
His knowledge of Sanskrit is also spontaneous proving that he has been
well-versed with the language for many past lives. While eating or sleeping or
walking or talking, he could only think of Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu's pastimes
which he had read in Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita. He recollects those as very
blissfull and sweet moments of his life when his relationship with Lord Gauranga
Mahaprabhu became more and more fixed and condensed simply by reading Shri
Chaitanya Charitamrita even though he was in the University. At that time he was
chanting the Names of Nityananda and Gauranga along with 32 rounds of the Hare
Krishna Mahamantra.
Thus Swami Gaurangapada effortlessly and
spontaneously accepted Their Lordships Nityananda and Gauranga as the Supreme
Personalities of Godhead, surrendered totally at Their lotus feet and decided to
give himself fully to the topmost mission of spreading Their Names and Pastimes
in this world. This is the real fruit of reading Shri Chaitanya Charitamrita,
Shri Chaitanya Bhagavata and Shri Navadvipa Dhaama Mahaatmya.
After
completing his 5-year course and obtaining his degree, he joined the
International Society of Krsna Consciousness founded by Shrila Swami Prabhupada
and served as a brahmacari leader in book-distribution from the beginning. He
excelled in this service. His most cherished moments were when he could
single-handedly distribute 600 Gujarati Chaitanya Charitamrita sets (of 12
volumes) in a week, 3500 Bhagavad Gita As It Is in Marathi in one day in
Pandharpur etc. He was the number two in bookset distribution in the world for a
few years.
He was later put in charge of publishing, designing, marketing
etc. of Shrila Swami Prabhupada's books as the production manager of the
Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, which is the largest publisher of Vedic books
throughout the world. He served in this position for more than 5 years. Due to
his sincere and untiring efforts, the Vedic book production almost tripled in
three years and BBT India became the largest publisher of Vedic books in the
world in English as well as other languages.
Meanwhile he utilized his
spare time in deeply studying the books and teachings of Shrila Prabhupada and
later those of the previous acharyas, the associates of Lord Gauranga
Mahaprabhu. He is greatly respected as a powerful speaker on the science and
philosophy of Gauranga Krsna consciousness in English, Hindi and Gujarati. He
was also one of the top-rated favorite speakers on the Aatma serial on Sony
Telivision which was being broadcasted all over the world.
He deeply
meditated on Shrila Prabhupada's instructions for accepting the sannyasa order
of life for the purpose of widely preaching Gaura Krishna consciousness. Thus by
the kind and most merciful arrangement of Lord Nityananda and the blessings and
recommendation of his most merciful Gurudeva His Divine Grace Shrila
Bhaktishastri Parampada Maharaja (1902-2004, godbrother of Shrila Swami
Prabhupada and direct disciple of Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura
Prabhupada), he accepted the sannyasa order of life from Shrila Tridandi Swami
Bhakti Kumud Santa Goswami Maharaja, who is more than 80 years in the renounced
order, and a godbrother of his own Gurudeva and Shrila Swami Prabhupada and the
direct disciple of Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura Prabhupada. Shrila
Bhakti Kumuda Santa Goswami gave him the sannyasa name Tridandi Bhikshu
Bhaktiratna Sadhu. He is now known as Swami Gaurangapada in short.
He
received the blessings of both his diksha-guru and sannyasa-guru to preach the
message and pastimes of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as per the instructions of
Shrila A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (his pre-eminent shiksha-guru),
Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada (his parama-guru in his
shiksha as well as diksha connection) and Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura (his most
respectable and worshipable ishta guru).
Shrila Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami
Gaurangapada is presently working on the translation of many books establishing
the glories of the Holy Names and Pastimes of Lord Nityananda Gauranga and the
Hare Krsna Mahamantra. He is also an initiating spiritual master and teacher of
NITAAI Yoga i.e. Nityaananda Gauraanga Hare Krishna Naam Bhakti
Yoga.
Along with these preaching activities, his main service and
contribution to spreading the glories of Lord Nityananda-Gauranga will remain
specifically through the profuse writing and publication of spiritual literature
and videos on Their glories. Swami Gaurangapada considers his writing and video
production service as his main service to Guru and Gauranga.
Bhaktiratna
Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada feels pain and anxiety when he sees that the common
people do not even have a slightest bit of information about the crest-jewel of
all incarnations of God known as Shri Shri Nityananda Gauranga, Who advented
specifically to deliver the most fallen people in this age of Kali. He feels his
life is useless if he is not able to educate the people about the glories of
chanting the Names and Pastimes of Lords Nityaananda Gauraanga along with the
Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
This miserable condition of the conditioned
souls arising out of ignorance about the most merciful incarnation Lord
Nityaananda Gauraanga is intolerable to him. As Shrila Prabodhananda Sarasvati
states: achaitanyam idam vishvam, yadi chaitanyam ishvaram. "As long as the
whole world does not accept Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the Supreme Personality
of Godhead Lord Krishna Himself, it will remain simply as dead matter bereft of
any consciousness (chaitanya)." Thus Swami Gaurangapada will be extremely
grateful to those who will help him to spread the glories of Shri Shri
Nityananda-Gauranga specifically by distributing the Holy Names of Nityananda
and Gauranga alongwith the Mahamantra, Shri Navadvipa Dhaama Mahaatmya and Shri
Chaitanya-Bhagavata (in various languages), Shri Chaitanya-Charitamrita and
other books glorifying Lords Nityananda Gauranga along with Shrila Swami
Prabhupada's books. This will be the greatest service one can render to Swami
Gaurangapada's cause of spreading the glories of the Supreme Personalities of
Godhead Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Shri Nityananda Prabhu and establishing
Them as God in this world.
Bhaktiratna Sadhu Swami Gaurangapada is
constantly writing, translating ebooks or producing videos about the Name, Form,
Glories, Pastimes, Abode and Associates of Lord Nityananda-Gauranga so that Lord
Nityananda-Gauranga (hitherto unknown incarnation) will become famous in this
world. He also travels widely to deliver NITAAI Yoga discourses, seminars,
multimedia presentations, question answer sessions etc.
By the direct
inspiration of Shrila Swami Prabhupada and the Acharyas, by the instructions,
order and permission of his own Diksha Guru and by the direct inspiration from
great chanters of the Gauraanga Mantra like Shrila Shivananda Sena and the Guru
of all Gurus, Adi-Guru, Sakshat Mula-Sankarshana, origin of the spiritual and
material worlds Lord Shri Nityananda Prabhu, Swami Gaurangapada has launched the
widescale propogation of the process of the chanting of the five-syllable
Haladhara Balarama Mantra 'Nityaananda' and the four-syllable Gaura Gopala
Mantra 'Gauraanga' along with the Hare Krishna Mahamantra through the process of
Nityananda Gauranga Mantra Ashraya and Diksha along with Hari Naama
Diksha.
Due to the extreme mercy and compassion of Their Lordships Shri
Shri Nityananda Gauranga,Their Lordships Shri Shri Shri Jagannatha Baladeva and
Subhadra and Their devotees, Swami Gaurangapada now has his NITAAI Yoga Ashram
in Shri Jagannatha Puri Dhama where the Supreme Personality of Godhead and all
His Associates resided for 24 years. From the most auspicious Shri Puri Dhaama,
he is now blissfully carrying out his primary service of composing and
translating literature and publishing videos pertaining to the glories of the
Holy Names and Pastimes of Their Lordships Shri Shri Nityananda
Gauranga.
In his preaching activities, Swami Gaurangapada is basically
interested in spreading the glories of Lords Nitaai Gaura's Holy Names far and
wide not in constructing huge temples or properties or collecting funds etc.
Thus, Swami Gaurangapada accepts only voluntary donations for maintainence and
expansion of NITAAI Yoga preaching activities but tries to never ask personally
any of his followers or disciples for funds as he is more interested in helping
them in spiritual advancement. He is not interested in material opulence as that
is anyway attained by our karma. He is peronsally always dependant on the Lord
while remaining fully satisfied in chanting the Holy Names in Shri Jagannatha
Puri Dhaama.
Always chant Nityananda; Gauranga; and Hare Krishna Hare
Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare
Hare.