The Treasure Chest of Śrīla Gurudeva’s Personal Library

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda founded the Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha and commenced publication of the weekly Gauḍīya in Bengali, the fortnightly Bhāgavata in Hindi, the Harmonist in English, and spiritual magazines in other languages in order to propagate the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the line of Śrīla Rūpa and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī.

 The Gauḍīya was published weekly for almost seventeen years, but sometime after the disappearance of Śrīla Sarasvatī Prabhupāda in 1937, it was discontinued, causing the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community great sadness.

In order to preserve and propagate the pure conceptions of the message of Śrī Rūpa and Raghunātha in the Sārasvata Gauḍīya line, Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja  founded Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti in 1941. Its headquarters were in Śrī Navadvīpa-dhāma at Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha. On the Gaura-pūrṇimā day of 1949, he resumed the publishing of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Bengali Gauḍīya magazine, this time as the monthly Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā. This brought great joy to the Sārasvata Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community.

Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja’s efforts to continue the legacy of Śrīla Prabhupāda garnered the appreciation of his god-brothers, including Śrī Abhaya Caraṇa Bhaktivedānta (Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja). All were very satisfied. By contributing articles to Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā, many of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples presented the bona fide Sārasvata conceptions and refuted the misconceptions of apa-sampradāyas. Their presentations – deep contemplations and understandings – were backed with sound scriptural evidences. Gradually, Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā became a platform upon which Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples could fulfil his instruction to cooperatively preach the message of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha.

At Gaura-pūrṇimā of 1951, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja appointed Śrī Abhaya Caraṇa Bhaktivedānta as chief of the editorial board of Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā. He served in that capacity until 1971, and personally contributed many Bengali articles.

This collection of Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā offers a wide range of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava treasures. Each issue contains Bengali translations of various strotras from Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Stavamālā, Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī’s Stavāvalī, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura’s Stavāmṛta Laharī or from other Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava literatures.

Each issue of the magazine contains articles by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda, and by his disciples, grand-disciples and, in later years, by his great-grand-disciples.

The disciples of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Prabhupāda who contributed their writings in the Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā include Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Bhūdeva Śrautī Gosvāmī Maharaj, Śrīla Bhakti Mayukha Bhāgavata Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Saudha Āśrama Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Kuśala Narasiṁha Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhakti Sambandha Turyāśramī Gosvāmī Mahārāja and Śrīla Bhakti Kumuda Santa Gosvāmī Mahārāja.

The grand-disciple contributors include Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Trivikrama Gosvāmī Mahārāja and Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja. Anyone can glean the essence of all the Vaiṣṇava scriptures simply by reading Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā, which is an ocean of nectarean Sārasvata Gauḍīya conceptions where one can dive and swim without the slightest fear of being attacked by the sharks of apasiddhānta.

Our beloved Paramagurudeva, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, would send a complimentary copy of every issue of Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā to all of the Gauḍīya Maṭha branches founded by his godbrothers, to the homes of his gṛhastha godbrothers, and to other reputed Vaiṣṇavas and scholars. Our Śrīla Gurudeva, Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja, would also receive a copy addressed to his name at Śrī Keśavajī Gauḍīya Maṭha, Mathurā. He saw these magazines as the mahā-prasāda, or grace, of his gurudeva and guru-paramparā, and carefully preserved and protected them by binding the twelve issues of each year into a book, which he placed in his personal library. Over the years, this grew into quite a large collection of books. When the scanning of his personal library began, Śrīla Gurudeva expressed his desire to also preserve Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā in digital format, for the benefit of the future generations of Vaiṣṇavas.

Originally this Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā scanning seva was initiated by Śrīla Gurudeva’s disciple Caitanya prabhu, who was assisted by Vijaya-kṛṣṇa prabhu. They scanned the first thirteen years of issues, while Vraja-kiśorī dīdī scanned the remaining forty-two years. This has resulted in a digital library archive of fifty-five years of Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā, from 1949 to 2003–2004.

Śrīla Gurudeva would dedicate each of his GVP Hindi publications to his beloved gurudeva, Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, whose appearance day this year (2021) falls on March 2nd. In honour of Śrīla Gurudeva’s centennial appearance, we humbly present to Śrīla Gurudeva this digital Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā archive on this day, confident that it will bring him much pleasure to offer it to his own gurudeva. Just as one worships Gaṅgā-devī by offering her palmfuls of Gaṅgā water, Śrīla Gurudeva, along with his disciples and followers serving as his instruments to preserve and propagate his gurudeva’s cherished desires and conceptions, is offering the matchless gift bequeathed to him back to his gurudeva and beloved śikṣā-gurus.

This priceless contribution is now being offered to the Sārasvata Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community.

Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā ki jaya!
Śrīla Gurudeva ki jaya! His centennial appearance year ki jaya!
Śrī Paramagurudeva Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja ki jaya!
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda ki jaya!
Śrī Rūpānuga guru-varga ki jaya!

In the service of Śrī Guru and the Vaiṣṇavas,
The Gauḍīya Vedānta Publications team