Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This is the bhajana-kutira of the celebrated 19th Century Gaudiya Vaishnava acharya Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Born Kedaranatha Dutta at Birnagar in Bengal in 1838 into a family of wealthy landowners belonging to the upper-caste kayastha community, in his youth he received a good education and attended the prestigious Hindu College in Calcutta. He went on to become a school teacher but later joined the then British government’s judicial service and was appointed to the post of District Magistrate. By the age of twenty-nine he became a devout follower of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and dedicated himself to the deep study Lord Chaitanya’s philosophy and teachings. He soon emerged as a powerful leader within the Gaudiya Vaishnava movement in Bengal and published over 100 books on Vaishnavism including major theological treatises such as Krishna-samhita (1880) and Caitanya-sikshamrita (1886). In recognition of his significant role in reviving Vaishnavism through his literary works and preaching activities, in 1886 the Gaudiya Vaishnava community conferred upon him the honorific title Bhaktivinoda. Then in the year 1889, Bhaktivinoda accepted initiation from Bipin Bihari Goswami, who belonged to the hereditary line from Vamsivadana Thakura, one of Lord Chaitanya’s close associates. Later Bhaktivinoda accepted the revered Vaishnava ascetic Jagannatha Dasa Babaji as his shiksha-guru and principal spiritual mentor. Other important literatures soon flowed from the pen of Bhaktivinoda Thakura including Jaiva-dharma (1893), Tattva-sutra (1893), Tattva-viveka (1893) and Hari-nama-cintamani (1900).
In the year 1900, four years before his eventual retirement from the post of Deputy Magistrate at Krishnanagara, Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura built this bhajana-kutira at Radha-kunda and named it as ‘Vraja-swananda-sukhada Kunja’, which translates as ‘The forest grove that gives one happiness and bliss’. Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was a prolific author of Vaishnava literature and wrote a number of important books and many well-known bhajans and kirtans. He was also responsible for discovering the location of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s birthplace at Shridhama Mayapura and he also oversaw the construction of a temple at the sight which is known as the Yoga-pitha.
Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura single-handedly carried forward the mission of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at a time when the scripturally deviant sahaja-sampradayas, who openly engage in sinful and immoral practices, were gaining prominence. These degraded sahajiyas were giving a bad name to Gaudiya Vaishnavism as well as the sankirtana movement of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Bhaktivinoda Thakura preached vigorously in order to counteract the influence of the sahajiya-sampradayas. During this time, Bhaktivinoda fervently prayed to Krishna to send someone to help him in spreading the sankirtana movement. Within a short time he was blessed with a brilliant son named Bhimal Prasada, who took birth at Puri in 1874, and who later, after receiving initiation from Gaura-Kishore Dasa Babaji Maharaja, became famous as Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami, the ‘Lion Guru’, who fearlessly challenged the devious sahajiyas and especially the jati-gosai, or caste-goswamis. Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati was such a powerful preacher that his opponents would run away as soon as they saw him, due to their fear of being utterly defeated in a philosophical debate.
Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura lived at Jagannatha Puri in Orissa for a considerable period of time where he was the Deputy Magistrate. He also oversaw the management of the Jagannatha Temple and was responsible for raising the standards of worship by regulating the various temple pujas and bhoga offerings to Lord Jagannatha. Previously the famous South Indian acharya Ramanuja had also attempted to regulate the Deity worship, but it became far too ritualistic for the Orissan brahmanas to accept and he was unable to continue. Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was an empowered acharya of the Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradaya of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and therefore he was more successful in raising the standards of the temple. In the ‘Iron Age’ of Kali-yuga, Jagannatha Puri is the Yuga-tirtha, Lord Jagannatha is the Yuga-murti, and Lord Chaitanya is the Yuga-avatara, also referred to in the Vedas as the ‘Golden Avatara’. Consequently the Yuga-dharma, or form of religious practice recommended for this particular age, is the sankirtana-yajna that was introduced by the Yuga-avatara Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
After the disappearance Bhaktivinoda Thakura in the year 1914, his bhajana-kutira was utilized by his son Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati whenever he visited Radha-kunda. Presently, the bhajana-kutira is being managed by members of the Gaudiya Matha. It was at Radha-kunda in 1935, where His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada met his spiritual master Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati for the last time. Due to a crisis in the newly constructed temple of the Gaudiya Math in Bagh Bazar, Calcutta, where his senior disciples were fighting for control over the living quarters, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati told Shrila Prabhupada that if he ever got sufficient funds, he should print books rather than build temples.
Within the compound of the bhajana-kutira one can see the pushpa samadhi of Shrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura who disappeared in 1914, as well as the pushpa samadhi of Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati who disappeared in 1936, and also a number of items used by Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati during the period when he stayed here at Vraja-swananda-sukhada Kunja which are now on public display.
