Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji

Introduction

namo gaura-kiśorāya sākṣād-vairāgya-mūrtaye
vipralambha-rasāmbhodhe pādāmbujāya te namaḥ

"I offer my respectful obeisances unto Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji Maharaja, who is renunciation personified. He is always merged in a feeling of separation and intense love of Krishna."

Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji (1838-1915) is remembered as one of the most exalted and least worldly figures in the entire Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. He was a wandering mendicant of Vrindavana and Nabadwip. He owned almost nothing and did not look for followers. Yet he became the initiating spiritual master of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and so he stands as a direct link in the chain that produced ISKCON. Almost everything recorded about him is about his way of life, not about any worldly achievement. He lived in such complete renunciation that even the biographers of his own disciple find it hard to piece together the ordinary details of his life.

Chapter 1

Early Life and Renunciation

The few, partly conflicting records of his birth, his householder years, and how he became a Vaishnava babaji.

Open as a separate page

Very little is reliably recorded about the early life of Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji. What does survive comes from a few short life-sketches written by others. He left no autobiography, and no record from his own time in his own hand. He was born Vamsi Dasa on 17 November 1838 in the village of Vagyana, near Tepakhola, in the Faridpur district of Bengal, in what is now Bangladesh.

A Householder's Life, Barely Recorded #

Sources describe his family as engaged in trade. Wikipedia calls it a "simple mercantile family." The gosai.com website belongs to the Sri Narasingha Chaitanya Ashram, and Wikipedia's own article on him cites it as a source. The biography on that website calls the family "well-to-do." A biographical account at gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com places the family in the Vaishya community. It describes Vamsi Dasa as engaged in agricultural trade, from which he supported his wife and household. Another devotional account gives an even more specific detail. It describes him as working as a broker in the grain business. It also states that his parents arranged his marriage when he was a boy, and that he remained a householder for more than twenty years. None of these accounts agrees fully with the others about how well off the family was. None gives the names of his parents, brothers and sisters, wife, or children, or any description of his village life. Every available biography of Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji really begins with his renunciation. Each one treats his decades as a householder as almost unrecorded.

Death of His Wife, and a Turn Toward Renunciation #

The one point on which the sources agree is the event that ended his householder life. That event was the death of his wife. Wikipedia gives his age at the time as 29. The gosai.com account gives it as 30. Afterward he left his home and his trade and went to Vrindavan, the holy place in northern India connected with Krishna's own pastimes. There he took up the life of a Vaishnava babaji, a renounced devotee who gives his life to bhajan, the chanting and remembrance of the names of Radha and Krishna.

Whose Disciple Was He? Sources at Odds #

The record really does not agree on who received him into this renounced life. This difference is reported here, not resolved. The infobox (the summary box at the top) of Wikipedia's own article states that he "got initiated by Nimaichand Goswami (Uthali, Bangladesh)." The main text of that same article tells a different story. It says that he "accepted the life of a Babaji ... under the tutelage of Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, after meeting the latter's disciple, Bhagavat Dasa Babaji." This means that Bhagavat Dasa Babaji actually gave him his vows, within the spiritual line of Jagannatha Dasa Babaji.

Other sources were checked to see whether either version had outside support. Both the gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com biography and the gosai.com biography describe the same event as Wikipedia's main text, not its infobox. He was "initiated into Vairagi Vesha by Bhagavata dasa babaji, one of the foremost disciples of Jagannatha dasa babaji" (gaudiyahistory), and he "accepted Babaji-vesa from Bhagavata Dasa Babaji, a disciple of Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji Maharaja" (gosai.com). Neither mentions Nimaichand Goswami at all. That does not prove the infobox wrong. It could describe an earlier or different event in his life, or it could simply be a mistake that entered the article at some point in its editing. But no other source checked here supports the claim, so it is given as an open question, not a settled fact.

A fourth source agrees with the majority. Srila Jagannatha Dasa Babaji's own biography lists Bhagavata Dasa Babaji among his main disciples. It states plainly that "Bhagavata dasa in turn gave the dress of a babaji to Gaura Kishora dasa Babaji." Another devotional account gives a fifth. It says that in Vrindavan, after his wife's death, he approached "Bhagavata dasa Babaji, one of the foremost disciples of Jagannatha dasa Babaji Maharaja," and received from him "the traditional Paramahamsa Vaishnava Babaji dress." That makes five sources to one. But again, this does not by itself prove the infobox wrong.

We can say with more confidence that he came out of this period as a mendicant devoted to Vrindavan and, later, Nabadwip. That part of his life is the subject of Life as a Wandering Mendicant.

Back to top

Chapter 2

Life as a Wandering Mendicant

Decades of homeless bhajan between Vrindavan and Nabadwip, in complete renunciation and with his learning kept hidden.

Open as a separate page

After taking up babaji life, Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji spent the greater part of five decades as a mendicant. He moved mainly between Vrindavan and Nabadwip, absorbed in chanting the names of Radha and Krishna. Wikipedia describes him as having become "famous for his teachings on the process of bhakti yoga and for his unorthodox avadhuta like behaviour as a sadhu." Almost none of that teaching survives as a written text. What survives instead is a collection of stories, recorded by his disciples and by others who watched him. They describe conduct so free of ordinary social and material custom that Vaishnava literature calls it avadhuta. This is a way of life considered to be outside the ordinary labels of caste, status, or possessions.

Decades of Bhajan Between Two Holy Cities #

According to the biography at gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com, he spent about thirty years in Vraja mandala. He lived on madhukari, food gathered by begging from house to house, and slept beneath trees. He offered obeisances to the residents of Vrindavan, and even to its trees and flowers, seeing in them Krishna's presence. During these years he would also travel at times to the holy places of Northern and Western India, and to Gaura-mandala, the circle of Nabadwip. Another devotional account records that on these travels he associated with Srila Svarupa Dasa Babaji in Jagannatha Puri. Bhaktivinoda Thakura later described Svarupa Dasa Babaji's ecstatic devotional activities in his autobiography.

In 1897, in the month of Phalguna, Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji travelled from Vrindavan to Nabadwip Dhama. At that time the Yoga Pitha, the birthplace of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, had just been revealed through the efforts of Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji did not go by his own choice. He went on the direct instruction of Jagannatha Dasa Babaji, the senior Vaishnava in whose line he had taken his babaji vows. He remained in Nabadwip for the rest of his life. There he was given the title "Bhajananandi," a term for a renounced devotee fully absorbed in devotional chanting, not in preaching or scholarship. There he continued the same life. He danced on the banks of the Ganges calling out the name "Gaura," and at times he lay in states that his disciples described as unconscious absorption. He also visited the groves along the river that Gaudiya Vaishnavas identify with the pastimes of Radha and Govinda.

An Avadhuta's Freedom From Convention #

The same source describes his personal habits in some detail. He owned nothing except a strand of tulasi beads and a hand-held chanting bead bag, and sometimes he went without even these. He wound a knotted cloth to use in place of a rosary. He wore a single strip of cloth, or at times none. For clothing he used thrown-away loin-cloths taken from corpses left at the cremation ground on the Ganges bank. At times he lived under an overturned, broken boat. It is said that he deliberately scattered fish bones near a hut he was using for bhajan, so that passers-by would take him for a fish-eater and leave him alone.

He begged only dry, uncooked food from the householders of the Dhama. Sometimes he offered it to the Lord simply by holding it in his own hand. He gathered dry wood from the roadside to cook with. To clothe and equip himself, he would collect and wash pots and cloth that others had thrown away as impure. These included earthen pots left along the Ganges after an eclipse, a time when villagers considered such pots unusable. He kept the Ekadashi fast very strictly, refusing even water. On ordinary days he ate little except dried, cracked rice soaked in water with chilies, or at times simply earth taken from the bank of the Ganges. "One who wants bhojana will spoil his bhajana," he would say. This was a favourite saying of his. It means that eating just to please the tongue destroys any real attempt to worship Krishna. According to this same account, Bhaktivinoda Thakura held him up as an example of "nirapeksha," or indifference to material honor and dishonor alike. Bhaktivinoda Thakura said that his renunciation was "beyond belief."

Srila Prabhupada was once asked in a letter about the relationship between the two men. In his reply he explained that this respect went both ways, even though their formal positions were different: "Thakur Bhaktivinode was not official Spiritual Master of Gour Kishore das Babaji Maharaj. Gour Kishore das Babaji Maharaj was already renounced order, Paramhamsa, but Thakur Bhaktivinode, while He was even playing the part of a householder, was treated by Gour Kishore das Babaji Maharaj as Preceptor, on account of His highly elevated spiritual understanding, and thus He was always treating Him as His Spiritual Master. The Spiritual Master is divided into two parts, namely, siksha guru and diksha guru. So officially Bhaktivinode Thakur was like siksha guru of Gour Kishore das Babaji Maharaj" (Srila Prabhupada, Letter, 1 May 1969).

A Bhajana-Kutira Like No Other #

For a time Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji stayed in rooms that the owners of a dharmashala at Kuliya kept aside for him. But he remarked to those nearby that "it is not possible to properly worship the Supreme Lord in an outhouse," explaining that "a house where persons always indulge in eating and sensual pleasure is not a place for sadhus," however much it might look like an ashrama or temple. Some days later the owner of the dharmashala, a Mr. Girish, came with his wife. They were worried about his hardship in the rains and cold, so they offered to build him a proper bhajana-kutira, a small cottage for worship. Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji answered that he suffered no hardship at all, except one: "Many people come to me with selfish motives. They do not desire their real welfare, and they simply create a disturbance to my bhajana. If you can give me your latrine, it will serve as a favorable place for my chanting the Holy Name of the Lord. There I shall be able to worship the Holy Name without disturbance. People will hate to go there." Girish's wife protested that it would be a sin to let a saint live in a privy. He replied, "I am not a saint... I am unable to worship the Lord in a proper way, so a privy is the right place for me." The couple had no other choice, so they agreed. The outside was repaired and the inside cleaned, but otherwise it was left as it was. Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji then lived out this pastime in the public latrine of a dharmashala. By his own example he taught that attachment to material affairs, carried on under a false show of devotion, smells worse than stool.

How Krishna Conceals a Pure Vaishnava #

Someone once asked Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji why the character of the topmost Vaishnavas does not always seem to match the descriptions of saintly behaviour found in scripture. He explained two things. First, a great Vaishnava is moved by compassion for fallen souls. So he sometimes appears at a particular time and place, out of his own free will and by Krishna's inspiration. Second, Krishna fears that He will be unable to repay the debt owed to those who surrender to such a Vaishnava. So, by the power of His own maya, Krishna sometimes hides that Vaishnava's spiritual qualities from the public eye. Then materialistic people see in him only an ordinary or even a bad character. "Without the exercise of the independent will of a Vaishnava," he said, "no one can know him even after seeing in him all of the characteristics described by the scriptures." He illustrated this with something he said he had seen himself. There was a bhajananandi in Vraja, north of Radha-kunda. This bhajananandi had become so famous for kindly fulfilling the desires of distressed visitors that he was overwhelmed by crowds. To protect his bhajana, he arranged a monthly allowance from a wealthy supporter. He also engaged a young sweeper woman as an attendant, who sat in front of his cottage. People then concluded that he must be a womanizer attached to wealth, and they stopped coming. "In fact, he was a real Vaishnava," Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji said. He explained that only those who surrender fully and pray sincerely at the feet of Gaura-Nityananda are shown a Vaishnava's true identity in their own heart.

The Dress of a Gentleman #

In Kuliya there was a scholarly babaji who outwardly dressed only in a loincloth and was much respected for it. But Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji knew that in private this man was immoral, and the hypocrisy hurt him. In response, Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji set aside his own renunciate's dress for a day. He put on a fine dhoti and shawl like a well-to-do gentleman, and in these unexpected clothes he went to see Bhaktivinoda Thakura at Svananda-sukhada-kunja. When asked why he had dressed this way, he answered, "We have adopted the dress of Sri Chaitanya, but privately we do not hesitate to commit adultery. Hence it is better for us to dress like the husband of a prostitute than to assume the guise of Sri Chaitanya and commit adultery secretly. In this way we will at least be free from hypocrisy." Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura would later say that Bhaktivinoda Thakura was amazed to see "the crest-jewel of possessionless saints" appear this way. He also said that Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji had made his point by showing, through his own example, how much better an honest gentleman's dress was than a loincloth worn to hide secret immorality.

Refusing to Leave the Dhama #

When his eyesight began to fail around 1908, both Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati repeatedly urged him to go to Calcutta for medical treatment. "I will never go to the illusory universe, Calcutta," he would answer. Once Bhaktivinoda Thakura proposed that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati himself should stay with the babaji in Calcutta, so that the arrangement would trouble Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji as little as possible. Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji replied, "I will never accept service from Prabhu; rather I shall die by drowning. If I drown myself in the Ganges, I will become a ghost, so I will drown myself in the Sarasvati." He immediately ran toward the Sarasvati river near the entrance to Svananda-kunja. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati followed him, pleading with him to return. Then Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji disappeared from view for forty-five days. He suddenly reappeared at Svananda-kunja and announced, "I can't achieve Sri Krishna by killing myself. Nevertheless, I cannot tolerate anyone serving me." No one could ever persuade him to accept medical treatment. In 1908 he lost his physical vision entirely. After that he lived mainly at Pradyumna-kunja in Nabadwip, and sometimes at Godruma with Bhaktivinoda Thakura.

Maya Takes Many Forms #

Once, during the rains, he was sheltering under the porch of a dharmashala, with rice prasada kept on a hanging shelf nearby. A poisonous snake slid down toward the food and then moved away again. An old woman who saw it ran to warn him, but by the time he groped for it with his hand, the snake had already gone. She insisted that the prasada must now be impure and that he could not stay there any longer. He told her gently that she should not trouble herself further. But she still refused to leave until he ate fresh food that she would bring instead. At last he said, "My dear Mother, if you do not leave this place, I shall not listen to anything else you have to say." After she had gone, he spoke to his attendant about how maya works through exactly this kind of interference that seems kind. Maya always finds some new excuse to draw a devotee's attention away from the Lord.

No Association With a Hypocrite #

A man named Damodara Dasa had been living with him, and because of this the local people respected Damodara Dasa. He was allowed to collect donations from visiting pilgrims. Without informing Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji, Damodara Dasa passed part of the collection on to his own father-in-law. Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji missed nothing. When he learned of it, he stopped speaking to Damodara Dasa and after that refused to eat anything the man had touched. He went back to his practice of eating only rice soaked in water. Damodara Dasa was terrified at being found out, and he began fasting himself. Then Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji declared that if the man did not leave his association at once, he would give up his own life in the Ganges. He carried out the threat by wading into the river, until onlookers pulled him out. "Why did you take me from the Ganges?" he demanded of his rescuers. "This Orissan has given away all that I have to his father." The people offered to replace many times over whatever had been given away. But he told them plainly, "I don't need the money, but I refuse to keep this Orissan in my association. If I live with a hypocrite, then my bhajana will be hindered." So it was not attachment to money that had driven him into the river. It was his unwillingness to tolerate hypocrisy in the name of devotional service.

Concealing His Own Learning #

His disciples often recalled that Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji outwardly appeared unable to read or write. Yet those close to him regarded him as deeply learned and self-realized. Vaishnava tradition holds that this was deliberate humility, not real illiteracy. In this view, he refused to let his own scholarship become a cause of pride or public attention. But no available source gives independent proof either way. So it is presented here as his disciples' understanding, not as an established fact about his life.

Documented Glimpses of His Character #

Some specific incidents appear again and again in the biographies written about him by others. Once he reached the Yogapitha, Lord Chaitanya's birthplace, alone in the middle of the night. When his disciple asked how, he would say only, "One person brought me across the river, that's all," so Bhaktisiddhanta concluded that it could only have been Krishna. He is also recorded as refusing an invitation to the palace of the Maharaja of Kashimbazar. Instead, he suggested that the Maharaja give away his wealth and come to live with him in a simple hut. These accounts come from Vaishnava biographies compiled from the memories of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and his associates. They do not come from independent records made at the time. So they are reported here as the tradition's memory of the man, not as verified reports of events.

"Renunciation Personified" #

A traditional Gaudiya Vaishnava verse of homage to him is still recited today. Srila Prabhupada translated it in a lecture at Los Angeles on 1 December 1968. It shows how his own spiritual grandchildren remembered him:

I offer my respectful obeisances unto Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja, who is renunciation personified. He is always merged in a feeling of separation and intense love of Krishna.

In 1900 this same renounced babaji accepted the scholarly son of Bhaktivinoda Thakura as his disciple, as told in Initiating Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

Back to top

Chapter 3

Initiating Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati

In 1900 a renowned young scholar sought initiation from an ascetic who appeared unable to read.

Open as a separate page

In 1900, at Nabadwip, Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji accepted a new disciple. He was Bimala Prasad Datta, the learned son of Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji initiated him under the name Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa. Bimala Prasad would in time become known as Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, founder of the Gaudiya Math and the spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada. People at the time found this pairing very strange. Bimala Prasad was a young man already recognized in Calcutta's educated Vaishnava circles as a fine scholar. According to Srila Prabhupada's own account of him, he had earned the title "Siddhanta Sarasvati" for a written work on astronomical calculation. Yet he was seeking initiation from an old ascetic who outwardly appeared unable to read.

A Father's Instruction to His Son #

According to the biography at gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com, Bhaktivinoda Thakura had long treated Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji with deep respect, even though he was a householder and the babaji was a renounced devotee. This biography records that Bhaktivinoda Thakura directly instructed his son to seek initiation from the babaji: "You must take initiation from Babaji Maharaja, and don't return to this house if you don't." Srila Prabhupada recalled the same episode in a Montreal question-and-answer session on 26 August 1968. He put it more simply: Bhaktivinoda Thakura "saw him a pure devotee; therefore he recommended his son, Bimala Prasada."

Blocking the Path on a Bridge #

Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji, according to the same gaudiyahistory account, did not want disciples. He considered himself only a recipient of shiksha, or instruction, from Bhaktivinoda Thakura, and was reluctant to accept the householder's own son as a formal disciple. Bimala Prasad is said to have waited for him at a bridge he crossed daily and blocked his path, declaring, "If you don't give me initiation then I will finish my life by throwing this useless body off this bridge." Faced with Bimala Prasad's determination, and with Bhaktivinoda's own instruction, Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji finally agreed. In 1900 he gave Bimala Prasad the name Varshabhanavi-devi-dayita Dasa. He also gave him a tiger-skin cap and a basket of items for worship. Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji had himself received this same cap and basket years before from his own initiating babaji, Bhagavat Dasa Babaji.

Another Telling: Three Days at the Door #

Another devotional account tells the story of this same initiation quite differently. In it there is no bridge and no threat of suicide, but a three-day exchange at Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji's door. On the first day, when Bimala Prasad asked for bhagavati-diksha, Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji said only, "I shall ask Mahaprabhu about this, for without asking Him, I am in no position to tell you anything." On the second day he said he had forgotten to ask. Bimala Prasad pressed him: "If I do not get your mercy, I shall not maintain my life." On the third day Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji told him, "I inquired from Mahaprabhu, but He said, 'Good behavior and scholarship are extremely insignificant in comparison to devotional service to the Supreme Lord.'" Hurt by this, Bimala Prasad answered, "Because you worship Krishna, the crest jewel of hypocrites, are you thus not deceiving me? If I do not receive the mercy of your divine lotus feet, I shall give up my life. Goshthi Purna favored Sri Ramanujacharya after his request for initiation was turned down eighteen times. Certainly, I shall wait to be favored by you some day. This is my firm vow." Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji, greatly pleased, then sprinkled him with the dust of his own lotus feet and initiated him that same day at Svananda-sukhada-kunja.

The two accounts agree on the main facts. Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji was truly unwilling at first, and Bimala Prasad had to overcome this by sheer determination before he was accepted. Both accounts also say that the initiation happened in 1900 at Nabadwip. But they do not agree on how Bimala Prasad showed his determination, so both are reported here instead of being merged into one.

Diksha and Siksha: Two Kinds of Guru #

In the same 1968 Montreal exchange, a devotee asked Srila Prabhupada whether Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati had accepted both Bhaktivinoda Thakura and Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji as his spiritual master. Srila Prabhupada confirmed it. He explained that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati accepted Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji as his diksha, or initiating, guru, and treated Bhaktivinoda Thakura as his siksha, or instructing, guru. Srila Prabhupada also said that both stood directly within the lineage of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This relationship with two gurus, and the events around it, are told from the other side in the companion page in Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's own section. See also the main page on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.

After this initiation came Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji's own disappearance in 1915 and the unusual way his new disciple later took sannyasa. Both are told on that linked page.

Back to top

Chapter 4

Disappearance and Legacy

His disappearance in 1915 and the unusual 1918 sannyasa his disciple took before his photograph.

Open as a separate page

Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji disappeared from this world at Nabadwip on 17 November 1915, his own seventy-seventh birthday. Both gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com and gosai.com agree that this was also the day of Utthana Ekadashi. Beyond the events described below, very little more is recorded about him with any confidence.

A Contest Over His Samadhi #

His body was placed in a samadhi tomb at Nabadwip. But according to gaudiyahistory.iskcondesiretree.com, flooding of the Ganges some sixteen years later forced it to be moved. Several local babajis are said to have argued over who should be the one to handle the sacred body. By this account, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati settled the matter. He declared himself the only genuine disciple of "Paramahamsa Babaji Maharaja" and set a test of personal purity. None of the rival babajis was willing to meet this test before a police inspector who had been called in to keep order. The account says that the other babajis left without a word. Bhaktisiddhanta then set up the samadhi again within the grounds of Sri Chaitanya Matha at Mayapur, where it remains.

Another devotional account describes what appears to be this same confrontation, in much the same words. But it places it on the very day of Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji's disappearance in 1915, not sixteen years later over a flood-driven move. In this version the head priests of Nabadwip's temples and ashramas argued over where his body would be buried. This account names the police inspector called to the scene as Mr. Jatindranath Simha. The two accounts do not agree on when this confrontation took place or on what caused it. Both are reported here without trying to settle the difference.

In another account, the disputing babajis objected that Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was not a sannyasi, and so had no right to prepare the samadhi of one who had renounced his home. He answered them, "I am the sole disciple of Paramahamsa Babaji Maharaja. Even though I have not accepted sannyasa, I am a celibate brahmachari, and, by the grace of Babaji Maharaja, I am not a hypocritical renunciate... He who within the last one year, or six months, three months, one month or even three days has not indulged in illicit association with women will be able to touch this spiritually blissful body. If anyone else touches it, he will be completely ruined." One by one, the babajis are said to have turned and left. Some of those present then suggested that Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji had expressed a last wish to have his body dragged through the streets of Nabadwip in the dust of the Dhama. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati replied that even Krishnachandra Himself would think it a success to carry his Gurudeva on His own head or shoulders, "for after the departure of Haridasa Thakura, Sri Gaurasundara took the spiritual body of the Thakura on His lap and danced. What dignity He adorned it with! Therefore, following in the footsteps of Sriman Mahaprabhu, we shall also bear Babaji Maharaja's spiritually blissful body on our heads."

Sannyasa Before a Photograph #

In 1918, three years after Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji's disappearance, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati took a step that had no real earlier example in Vaishnava practice. He did not receive the sannyasa order of formal renunciation from a living teacher. Instead, he sat down before a photograph of his guru. In Wikipedia's words (drawing on Ferdinando Sardella's academic study Modern Hindu Personalism), he "invested that order upon himself." The same Wikipedia article cites June McDaniel's The Madness of the Saints, and on that basis says some scholars of Vaishnavism have treated the formal validity of this sannyasa as an open question. But within the Gaudiya Math and the later ISKCON lineage descending from Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, the act has never been in dispute. There it is remembered as an act of loyalty to a guru who had already left the world. It was taken in the firm belief that Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji's approval did not require his physical presence. Both views are reported here without judging between them.

A Life That Left Few Records #

Almost nothing else about Srila Gaura Kishora Dasa Babaji can be stated with certainty from written records. No writings of his own survive. There is no photograph except the one honoured by his disciple. And there is no record from his own time apart from the memories later gathered by his followers. This lack of records is not mainly a gap in research. It comes from the kind of life he lived. He sought no following and built no institution. All accounts say that he actively discouraged the personal attention that might have produced a fuller record. What remains is what his one acknowledged disciple, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, carried forward. One part is his place in the guru-parampara, set out on the guru-parampara chart here. The other is his way of renunciation, which later Gaudiya Vaishnavas, down to Srila Prabhupada, continued to hold up as an example.

Back to top