Page 71 - SBV (English)

Early Life 11

Bimalä’s formal education commenced at an English school in Ranaghat.
In September 1880 he was admitted to Oriental Seminary, in Calcutta. By age
seven he had memorized all the verses of Bhagavad-gétä and could explain their
meaning according to Vaiñëava siddhänta. In 1883 Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura
was transferred to Çrérämapur, just outside Calcutta, and in October enrolled
Bimalä in the Union School there. In 1887 Bimalä entered Metropolitan
Institution, in Calcutta, where he began to study Sanskrit grammar and jyotiña.
Yet his scholarly aptitude was focused on the spiritual rather than mundane.
Joining many cultured men at weekly Sunday meetings of Öhäkura Bhaktivinoda’s
Viçva-Vaiñëava Sabhä, he listened earnestly as Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura
lectured on Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu, the manuscript of which Bimalä carried to
and from the assembly. *
In 1885 Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura apportioned part of Bhakti Bhavan
for the Vaiñëava Depository, which consisted of a library adjoined by a press
called Çré Caitanya Yantra, and thereupon resumed publication of Sajjana-toñaëé.
He trained and engaged Bimalä in all aspects of its printing and publishing,
including editing, proofreading, typesetting, and operating the machines. Bimalä
even learned the mechanics of the presses, including detailed knowledge of all
their components, and could diagnose and repair malfunctioning equipment.
Also in 1885, Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura took Bimalä along with other
sons to visit a few places of Lord Caitanya’s pastimes in Bengal. Arriving late one
evening on the outskirts of Kuléna-gräma, a settlement whose former inhabitants
were very dear to Caitanya Mahäprabhu, the father and sons were accorded
repose in a temple. Next morning upon entering the hamlet, they were asked by
some local residents where they had come from and where they had spent the
night. Upon hearing the answer the village men amazedly asked, “How could
you have slept? No one can stay there peacefully, for it’s haunted by a brahma-
räkñasa who pitches stones and brickbats at anyone passing by after dusk.” Çréla
Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura replied, “Yes, that ghost did try to disturb us, but I loudly
chanted the Hare Kåñëa mahä-mantra and he went away.” Learning that he was
Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura, whom they already knew of, some having read his
books, the villagers became most obeisant and further questioned, “How did you
quell that ghost by chanting Hare Kåñëa? Previously he was the priest of that

* Bhakti-rasämåta-sindhu was probably in the form of a handwritten paper manuscript, as
printed editions were not available then. Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura personally had at
least partially copied some of the Sandarbhas of Çréla Jéva Gosvämé and engaged scribes
to replicate some of the other Gosvämé works.