Śrīla Bhakti Bhūdeva Śrautī Gosvāmī Mahārāja

[February 29, 2024 is the appearance day of Śrīla Bhakti Bhūdeva Śrautī Gosvāmī Mahārāja in Vṛndāvana, India. The following is the bhāva anuvāda of the kathā given by Śrīla Bhakti Vijñāna Bhāratī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, on December 19, 2014. Editors’ input: Additional text has been included in square brackets to facilitate the flow of content.]

Today is a special tithī. It is the disappearance day of Śrīla Bhakti Bhūdeva Śrautī Gosvāmī Mahārāja.

Śrīla Śrautī Gosvāmī Mahārāja used to earlier work at Tata Nagar, but upon hearing hari-kathā, he gave up his job and joined the Gauḍīya Maṭha. Śrīla Śrautī Gosvāmī Mahārāja is one of the eighteen sannyāsa disciples of Śrīla Prabhupāda.

HIS LITERARY CONTRIBUTION

Being proficient in Sanskrit, he made substantial literary contribution. He served as an editor of the ‘Bhāgavata’ (a bilingual monthly in Hindi & Sanskrit), published by the Naimiśaranya Maṭha, Lucknow. He would correspond in Sanskrit for any comments or queries posed in Sanskrit by the readers. He also wrote extensively for ‘Śrī Gauḍīya Pratrikā’, published by Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha [established by Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja after the disappearance of Śrīla Prabhupāda] and proofread ‘Śrī Bhāgavata Patrikā’, published by Śrī Keśavaji Gauḍīya Maṭha, Mathurā.

He also proofread the ’Viṣṇu Sahasra Nāma’, published along with the commentary of Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhuṣaṇa by Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Kumud Santa Gosvāmī Mahārāja and ’Vedānta Sutra’ published along with the Govinda Bhāṣya commentary by Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Śrīrūpa Siddhantī Gosvāmī Mahārāja.

During Deity installations he would chant the mantras promptly without having to refer to them. He spoke hari-kathā in a clear and booming voice, using many scriptural references.

A MYSTIC PERFECTION

He possessed a special siddhī (mystic perfection) which helped remove poison from a dog bite by chanting some mantras. Twice, during Vraja Maṇḍala Parikramā, my godbrother Śrīpāda Bhakti Prasāda Purī Mahārāja was bitten by a dog. The first time he had to go to Delhi and get an injection, and on the other occasion, Śrīla Śrautī Gosvāmī Mahārāja, who was with us in the parikramā party, exclaimed, “No issues! I will do the needful.” He made Purī Mahārāja stand on a plate made out of wet clay and began reciting some mantras, which made the plate rotate while Purī Mahārāja still stood on it. Eventually the plate stopped rotating. Then he affirmed, “Nothing further needs to be done. The poison has been removed.” Basically the plate continued to rotate as long as the poison was not completely removed. He would not normally exercise this siddhi; it was only incidental to a maṭha-vāsī being bitten by a dog. I have personally witnessed this incident, hence I remember it.

Today, on his disappearance day, I remember him and pray at his lotus feet, begging for his mercy.