Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Biography

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was a prominent guru and spiritual reformer of Gaudiya Vaishnavism of British India. He was born Bimala Prasad Datta and also referred to as Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. His father Kedarnath Datta (also referred to as Bhaktivinoda Thakur) was also a prominent figure among the Gaudiya Vaishnavas of Bengal. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the spiritual leader and Founder-Acharya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) was his noted disciple who carried forward his Guru’s teachings.

He was born as Bimala Prasad Datta on February 6, 1874 in Puri of British Empire. His father Kedarnath Datta was a Vaishnava philosopher and teacher. Prasad received both Western and traditional Indian education and thus established as an intellectual fellow who earned the title Siddhanta Sarasvati. Bimala Prasad took initiation into Gaudiya Vaishnavism from the Vaishnava ascetic Gaurakishora Dasa Babaji. He changed his name to Shri Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa as well, which means ‘Servant of Krishna’. After the deaths of his father and his guru, in 1918 Bimala Prasad accepted sanyasa and came to be known as Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami. Same year he opened his first ashram in Kolkata. He also relocated his Kolkata press to Mayapur and then to Krishnanagar in the Nadia district, following his father’s death.

Later his organization changed to a dynamic one with 64 branches spread all over India. He also established three centers abroad in Burma, Germany, and England. They published books and periodicals as well, preaching the principles of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. In 1885 Kedarnath Datta established the Vishva Vaishnava Raj Sabha, association for leading Bengali Vaishnavites. The encounter with and initiation from Gaurakishora Dasa Babaji had a transformational effect on the life of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

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Updated: March 12, 2014