The Story of my Vrindavan 7 years Diksha and Shiksha Gurudev

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Paramahansa Sad-guru

Tridandi Swami Bhakti Hridaya Bon (Vana) Maharaj

1901-1982

 

HIS EARLY LIFE:

 

His Holiness was born Narendra Nath Mukherji in 1901 in East Bengal, the Gaudiya

Vaishnava Brahman son of Brahmarishi Rajanikanta, who was a renowned Vedic

scholar and devotee. Vana Maharaj was a life-long celibate and as a brahmacari

he joined and took initiation from the early 1900s

 

Later, in 1924, at the age of 23, he was the third disciple to accept life-long

Tridanda Sannyasa from Srila Saraswati Prabhupada and quickly became one of his

leading preachers. He was the most bright and educated among his godbrothers and

under his Gurudeva's order he preached the message of Lord Chaitanya delivering

literally thousands of lectures all over India, including at the Royal Albert

Hall in Calcutta. He also established new Gaudiya Math's for his Gurudeva (such

as in Madras) and he organized theistic exhibitions in Calcutta and Dacca which

drew 100,000 visitors daily.

 

Young Swami Bon Maharaj --- SEE ATTACHED PIC

 

He was so successful and aggressive a preacher, introducing the message of Srila

Sarasvati Prabhupada and Lord Chaitanya up to the highest levels of social and

intellectual society of that time (during the British Raj) that he soon became

famous all over India.

 

Because of his good breeding and high education he was sent by his Gurudeva,

Srimad Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada, to UK and Germany to preach.

Unfortunately the 1930's were not like America during the mid-1960's prosperity

and " counter-culture " revolution, and although he took Lord Chaitanya's

teachings to the very top of mletccha society (He was even received in audience

by H.M. The King of England) and gave many lectures throughout England and

Europe, still it was (to quote Lord Zetland) almost " impossible " to make beef

eaters of that time and place turn into Brahmin-Vaishnavas. Vana Maharaj, being

born a Bengali brahmin and living as a celibate Tridandi sannyasi, suffering in

the bitter cold and damp London during the British Raj AND the Great Depression.

 

One lakh of people greet Sripad B.H. Bon Maharaj (3rd from right with

tridanda)on his return from Europe with two mlettcha converts.

AC Bhaktivedanta Swami, then A.C. De, is seated at far right

 

Still, Vana Maharaj influenced many souls and converted two German gentlemen

(Dr. E.G. Schulze and Baron Koeth) whom he brought back to India and offered at

the feet of Srila Sarasvati Prabhupada, his Gurudeva, for initiation.

 

---SEE ATTACHED ARRIVAL PICTURE (Bhaktivedanta Swami is seated at far right)

 

Upon his return to Calcutta he received a grand reception by one lakh of people.

Later so he went away to stay at another Gaudiya Matha outside Bengal.

 

In 1942, after the disappearance of his Gurudeva, Srila Sarasvati Prabhupada,

and the breakup of the Gaudiya-Matha into factions, Vana Maharaj voted for Srila

B.V. Tirtha Maharaj to be the next Acharya.

 

And (it is known) that Srila Vana Maharaj spent one month living on a raft in

the middle of the Ganga to atone for any unresolved misunderstanding with his

great spiritual master, Srila Sarasvati Prabhupada.

 

Later, when the disputes within Gaudiya Math became legal, Srila Vana Maharaj

went by foot on a solitary pilgrimage into the Himalayas for many years of

severe tapasya (only chanting Hare Krishna!).

 

His vows were (1) not speaking to anyone, (2) eating only fruits and nuts off of

trees, (3) sleeping bare bodied on the ground, and (4) not taking a single step

without chanting the Maha-mantra. He journeyed 650 miles on foot and lived at

the source of the Yamuna River under very severe circumstances. During these

years alone Vana Maharaj describes in his Bengali book, Vaikunther-pathe, how he

had vision darshan of his Gurudeva, who revealed to him his

siddha-bhajan-pranali, and ordered him to go serve Sri Vrindavana-dhama.

 

Thereafter he retired in Vrindavana where he constructed a small bhajan-kutir on

land donated to him. He also excavated an under-ground cave-room where he spent

many years performing secluded bhajan (chanting in meditation).

 

HIS LATER LIFE: --- SEE ATTACHED PICTURE

 

By the age of 70 Vana Maharaj had many thousands of initiated Bengali and other

Indian born disciples. I personally went on a tour of several East and West

Bengali villages where the entire populations were his disciples. And all Vana

Maharaja's bona fide disciples worship, respect and serve Lord Krishna through

him. He is known as a siddha-purusa by all his disciples.

 

During his life Vana Maharaj wrote and translated some excellent books including

his master-piece translation and commentary of Sri Rupa Goswami's classic,

Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. Other books by Swami Vana which have also been published

include the Gita As a Chaitanyite Reads It, Sri Chaitanya, Viraha-vedana, On the

Way to Vaikuntha (Hindi & Bengali), and seven more books in German, English,

Hindi and Bengali.

 

Vana Maharaj also served Vraja-dhama by offering the Vraja-vasi's local

accredited education...

 

1) He built the Vaishnava Theological University (later became affiliated with

the University of Agra as the Institute of Oriental Philosophy), in Vrindavana,

where many Vraja-vasi's received BA, MA and Ph.D. degrees without leaving the

Dhama;

 

2) He also constructed the Sri Krishna Chaitanya Primary School next to Sanatana

Goswami's bhajan-kutir in Nandagrama which is the first school there in 5,000

years; the local kids used to take a bus to Kosi in order to even begin studies;

 

3) He also maintains Sri Sanatana Goswami's bhajan kutir in Nandagrama where

many of his Godbrothers would stay, and even now this sacred tirtha is still

under the care of his babaji disciples. It is also the sacred spot where

Akinchan Krishnadas Babaji Maharaj left his old body. If anyone takes darshan of

the Nandagrama bhajan kutir altar they will see the Guru Parampara descending to

Srila Vana Maharaj.

 

4) His personal Math is called " bhajan kutir " in Vrindavana where he lived a

quiet life with brahmacari and sannyasi disciples. Vana Maharaj was always very

strict with the four regulative principles, and he never acted or spoke sahajiya

or fallen in any way; he was a fixed-up, life-long celibate sannyasi disciple of

Srila Sarasvati Prabhupada who mostly performed private bhajan after returning

from his tapasya. He was very concerned about the Nitya-lila pastimes of the

Divine Couple and his own service therein.

 

Many of Bhakti Siddhanta's disciples who would often come to visit Vana Maharaj

in Vraja; he also went to visit his Godbrothers in Bengal every couple years.

Vana Maharaj was a clearly dear friend with his many Godbrothers, and both the

exalted Srila Krishnadas Babaji Maharaj and Srila B.S. Ashram Maharaj would come

to live with Vana Maharaj every year for many months at a time.

 

HIS PASSING:

 

After an entire life of intense unbroken devotional service (preaching, tapasya,

bhajan, and Vraja seva) Srila Vana Maharaj departed this material world at 9:04

PM on July 7, 1982 at his Bhajan kutir in Vrindavan, U.P. India.

 

Here are the facts about the disappearance of HDG Srila Vana Maharaja as

reported in the book " Supreme Divinity and Sad-guru " by Dr. Tapodhir Krishna

Dastidar.

 

" Our hearts, laden with anguish and anxiety, we spent all day taking part by

rotation in the kirtan which somehow continued even after the expiry of the

midday of July 7. In the evening when a few of us were singing sadly kirtan

before the ashram Deities, we were hastily summoned from the Natmandir by Swami

Rasikananda Maharaj and requested to gather round Gurudev's bedside.

 

" While ceaselessly chanting the " Hare Krishna " Mahamantra over and over again,

we watched helplessly as Gurudev's chest slowly heaved up and down with every

intake and exhalation of breath. All the while, even in his semi comatose

condition, his tongue was rhythmically chanting the Holy Name of Krishna. Swami

Keshavananda Maharaj was feeling Gurudev's pulse all the time. The end, as

already stated, came at 9.04 PM on July 7, 1982. The last giant amongst the best

exponents of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, His Holiness Swami Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj

left his mortal coils to join the company of the Supreme Godhead's Eternal

Associates who are ever engaged in offering esoteric and supra-mundane

devotional service to Sri Krishna and His Counter whole projection Sri Radha in

their transcendental love-sports. We shall never see the like of him again. "

(SDASG, 83-84)

 

Afterwards, when his corpse was taken out for a parikrama of Vrindavan, his eyes

opened when the palanquin left the Bhajan Kutir, and they closed when it

returned. Also, Lalit Krishna Brahmacari reported that there was a distinct

smell of sandalwood coming from his transcendental body.

 

Please accord full respect to the sacred memory of H.D.G. Tridandi Swami Srila

Bhakti Hridaya Vana Maharaj and ALL his devoted and blessed disciples. His

vapu-samadhi temple is located on Madan-mohan Ghera in Sridham Vrindavana, and

the murti is a very good likeness of Srila Vana Maharaj at about 72 years of

age. Some of what is known about Srila Vana Maharaj is his siddha-pranali

realization and his eternal service in Radha-Krishna's Vrindavan nitya lila.

 

 

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