Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Saraswatī Ṭhākur’s praise of his disciple Śrīla Bhakti Sāraṅga Goswāmī Mahārāj.
Translated from a Bengali article in the 25 Māgh 1335 (7 February 1929) issue of the daily Nadia Prakāś.
In the great land of Bhārat, from distant Kashmir near the high peaks of the Himalayas to the banks of the Indian ocean, who does not know Bhakti Sāraṅga Prabhu? …
Śrī Bhakti Sāraṅga Prabhu is the brightest jewel in the lineage of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. His detachment is the full manifestation of the path preached by Śrī Nityānanda. Although he adheres to the scripturally ordained duties of a householder, he is a genuine goswāmī and naturally detached from everything unrelated to Kṛṣṇa. Every quality-appreciating servitor in Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh and the twenty-eight primary Maṭhs of Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh greatly respects him.
Every Gauḍīya preacher and the numerous supporters of the tridaṇḍi preachers from the ocean to the Himalayas throughout the land of the Āryans and the south know of Śrī Bhakti Sāraṅga Prabhu’s eloquence and capability in Sanskrit, English, and Bengali.
Nearly every single fortunate resident of Gauḍa has seen, more or less, His holy character, his pure heart’s ecstasy, his earnestness for Kṛṣṇa, and his profound love for Śrī Gaurasundar.
With his assiduousness, his constant, all-rounded endeavours from dawn until midnight for the benefit of the society of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, his unparalleled spirit of dedication to Kṛṣṇa and His devotees, he is fulfilling his name ‘Atula’ [‘unparalleled’].
He has wiped away the moon’s imperfections and replaced them with the immense light from the moon of Kṛṣṇa-prema’s sole path. Thus, by reproaching even the pleasant, shining moon, his position as the unparalleled moon [‘Atulachandra’] amongst Gaurachandra’s exclusive followers has been realised.
He is the teacher [‘Upādhyāya’] of worshippable [‘Vandya’] Vaiṣṇavas. He is the sole reformer of the ṛṣi’s laws. His heartfelt endeavours are the enlivening energy of Śrī Chaitanya Maṭh’s Institute for Spiritual Education (Paravidyā Pīṭh). He is a genius amongst the goswāmīs, and himself is a genuine goswāmī. The pure devotees have heard that he is renowned to be ‘Bhakti-Sāraṅga’ [‘the embodiment of the essence of devotion’] on account of his expertise and excellence in devotion. Seeing the beauty of the holy lotus feet of this great transcendentalist, the world of pure Vaiṣṇavas is enchanted.
He is the secretary of the Śrī Viśva Vaiṣṇava Rāja Sabhā. He is one of the editors of Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭh’s Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. He is an exemplar in the world of the pure Vaiṣṇavas, a follower of the Śrī Rūpānuga Vaiṣṇavas, and thus worshippable to the world.
Translator’s Note
At the time this article was written in 1929, prior to his accepting sannyās from Śrīla Bhakti Rakṣak Śrīdhar Dev-Goswāmī Mahārāj in 1940, Śrīla Bhakti Sāraṅga Goswāmī Mahārāj’s title, as printed in Gauḍīya, was Śrīpād Atulachandra Bandhyopādhyāya Bhakti Sāraṅga Goswāmī. Throughout this article Śrīla Prabhupād describes how Śrīla Goswāmī Mahārāj personified each part of his title.