Sri Shrila Bhakti Prasad Puri |
Shrila Puri Goswami Thakur (Acharya Dev) appeared on 25 th August, 1895 at ‘Sandip Hatia' village of Noakhali district of East Bengal (now Bangladesh ). He had a very deep attachment for Kirtan. He used to sing many Kirtan composed by Shrila Norattam Thakur and Shrila Bhakti Vinode Thakur with mridanga . At age of 16 years he met Shrila Bhakti Vinode Thakur in his residence ‘ Bhakti Bhaban ' at Rambagan in Kolkata. After the demise of Shrila Bhakti Vinode Thakur he met Shrila Prabhupad For the first time at ‘ Bhakti Bhavan ' in 1918. At that time with the instruction of Shrila Prabhupad he sang the Kritan ‘ kobe habe balo se din amar ' and pleased him. He received spiritual initiation from Shrila Prabhupad on the day after Gaur jayanti festival day and was named as Ananta Vasudev Bramhachary. Thereafter in 1925 he fully surrendered himself in the service of Shrila Prabhupad. For sometime, he was given the charge of Bhagavat Press. He had extraordinary devotion to his Guru. After the disappearance of Shrila Prabhupada on 31 st December, 1936, as per the wish of Shrila Prabhupad, he was accepted as the Acharya of the Mission and since then he was know as ‘Acharya Dev'. He vigorously preached the gospel of Srimad Bhagvat as an Acharya. In September, 1938 at Bagbazar Gaudya Math. He took ‘Sannyasa' order in June 1939, at Gaya Dham and adopted the name ‘Srimad Bhakti Prasad Puri Goswami'. He started commentary on ‘Sri Bhakti Sandarbha' in 1934. With his divine instruction, Srimad Bhakti Keval Audulomi Maharaj became the Acharya of the Mission in 1954. Towards the last part of his life he immersed himself in Bipralambha bhajan Vrindavan and finally entered hi eternal pastimes on 8 th March, 1958. |
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