Śrīla Gurudeva

Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja was born into a deeply religious Trivedī brāhmaṇa family in the village of Tewaripur, situated near the banks of the sacred Gaṅgā River in Bihar, India.

In February 1947, he met his Gurudeva for the first time in Śrī Navadvīpa-dhāma, West Bengal. Within days, he left home to join the mission of his spiritual master and surrender his entire life in service. When he arrived in Śrī Navadvīpa-dhāma, the annual parikramā was already underway, and he immediately joined the group.

Upon the completion of the parikramā on Gaura-pūrṇimā, Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja bestowed upon him both harināma and gāyatrī initiations, giving him the name Śrī Gaura Nārāyaṇa. Soon afterwards, his Gurudeva awarded him the title Bhakta-bandhava, meaning “friend of the devotees,” because he was always engaged in serving the Vaiṣṇavas in a most pleasing and affectionate manner.

Over the following five years, he travelled extensively throughout India with Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja on preaching tours. In 1952, on the auspicious occasion of Gaura-pūrṇimā, his beloved Gurudeva initiated him into the sacred order of sannyāsa.

In 1954, Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja placed him in charge of the newly established temple in Mathurā, Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha. Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja thereafter spent part of each year in Mathurā and the remainder in Bengal, rendering extensive service in both regions. He continued in this way for the following fourteen years.

Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja also appointed him Vice-President of his institution, the Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti, as well as Editor-in-Chief of its Hindi publications and its monthly magazine, Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā. When Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja departed from this world in 1968, Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja performed all the necessary ceremonial rites connected with his samādhi.

Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja was instructed by his Gurudeva to translate the books of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura from Bengali into his native language, Hindi. He faithfully carried out this instruction by translating many of the Ṭhākura’s most prominent works, including Jaiva-dharma, Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta, Bhakti-tattva-viveka and Vaiṣṇava-siddhānta-mālā, among others. These books were also translated into English by his followers.

He lectured extensively in Hindi, Bengali and English throughout India. His discourses were recorded and gradually transcribed and translated into English for publication.

A particularly significant relationship in the life of Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja was his association with His Divine Grace Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda, the world-renowned preacher of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism and Founder-Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

They first met in Calcutta in 1948, on the occasion of the inauguration of a new branch of the Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti on Ghosh Para Lane, where they had both come to render service. Their association continued several years later, when Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja accompanied Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja to Jhansi. At that time, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja was endeavouring to establish a Vaiṣṇava society known as the League of Devotees.

In the early 1950s, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja came to reside at Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha in Mathurā at the invitation of his godbrother, Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja. He remained there for several months. Through regular devotional exchanges and profound discussions concerning Vaiṣṇava-siddhānta, Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja developed a very intimate relationship with him. He regarded Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja as his senior and superior, as well as his dear friend.

In 1959, Śrīla Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja initiated him into the sacred order of sannyāsa, bestowing upon him the sannyāsa name and title Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja. Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja performed the Vedic fire yajña and all the accompanying rituals during the ceremony.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja was already residing in Vṛndāvana during this period, initially at the Vaṁśī Gopāla Mandira and, several years later, at the Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Dāmodara Mandira. Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja frequently visited him there. He would cook for him, honour prasāda with him and engage in intimate discussions concerning Vaiṣṇava philosophy.

When Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja travelled to the West to preach and successfully established the first Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa temple in America, Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja sent him the first mṛdaṅga drums and karatālas to be used for saṅkīrtana.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja maintained regular correspondence, often every month or two, with Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja and Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja until 1968, when Śrīla Keśava Mahārāja entered nitya-līlā. Thereafter, he continued corresponding with Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja until his own divine departure.

Towards the end of his manifest pastimes, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja personally requested Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja on several occasions to kindly give his association to his Western disciples and help them understand the profound truths of Vaiṣṇava philosophy in the line of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhupāda.

Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja humbly agreed to honour this request, considering Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja to be one of his worshipful śikṣā-gurus. Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja also requested him to take complete responsibility for performing all the rituals associated with his samādhi following his departure. These two requests clearly demonstrated the firm and complete confidence he placed in Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja.

For almost two decades following Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja’s departure in November 1977, Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja unwaveringly carried out this final request, providing insightful guidance and loving shelter to all who approached him. Through the medium of his English books, his purifying association and divine realizations have reached sincere seekers of truth throughout the world.

For nearly half a century, Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja demonstrated and exemplified a pure and unadulterated life of complete dedication and loving service to his Gurudeva, Śrīman Mahāprabhu and the Divine Couple, Yugala-kiśora Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa.

As Their intimate servitor, Śrīla Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja illuminated the path for all those who sincerely wished to enter deeply into the ecstatic ocean of rādhā-dāsyam - loving service to the radiantly beautiful lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s most dearly beloved, Śrīmatī Rādhikā. At the age of ninety years, on December 29, 2010, at 3:00 a.m., at Cakra-tīrtha, Śrī Jagannātha Purī-dhāma, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja concluded his pastimes in this world. That day was the sacred appearance day of his beloved Godbrother, nitya-līlā-praviṣṭa oṁ viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja. The following day, in Śrī Navadvīpa-dhāma, Śrī Gaurasundara’s fully empowered emissary, the very embodiment of His unique compassion, was given samādhi. He will never cease to reside in his divine instructions and in the hearts of those who are devoted to him. He used to say, “Do not think that I will ever leave you - never, ever - I am always with you.”