Page 87 - SBV (English)

Pre-Sannyäsa Period 27

Further Scholarly Activities

In October 1898 Çré Siddhänta Sarasvaté accompanied Çréla Bhaktivinoda
Öhäkura to the holy places Banaras, Prayäga, and Gayä, about which he collected
much information that later appeared in his Anubhäñya commentary on Çré
Caitanya-caritämåta. In Banaras a Çré Vaiñëava paëòita became much pleased by
Çré Siddhänta Sarasvaté’s deep knowledge of the Çré sampradäya.
During 1899 Çré Siddhänta Sarasvaté became the editor of and a major
contributor to the spiritual portion of Nivedana (also titled Signboard), a new
English religious-cum-secular weekly started by Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura and
published from Bhakti Bhavan. In 1900 he wrote and printed Baìge Sämäjikatä
*
(Social customs in Bengal), a deeply researched booklet giving an overview of
the provenance, whereabouts, and ideas of varied social and spiritual groups
in Bengal. Outlining the plethora of religious doctrines then prevalent,
Çré Siddhänta Sarasvaté briefly delineated their errors and established the
superiority of Lord Caitanya’s philosophy of acintya-bhedäbheda-tattva.

Initiation

Late in 1898, after performing bhajana for almost thirty years in Vraja-
maëòala, Çréla Gaura Kiçora däsa Bäbäjé Mahäräja arrived in Navadvépa-dhäma
eager for darçana of the deities of Çré Çré Gaura-Viñëupriyä at the newly revealed
birthsite of Lord Caitanya. Bäbäjé Mahäräja was a bhajanänandé, preferring
to live in a holy place to concentrate on chanting, rather than going out into
the world to establish temples and recruit followers. As säkñäd-vairägya-mürti
(renunciation personified) he rejected bodily comforts and made little effort
to shelter or maintain his body. He ate raw earth, uncooked rice, and other
items generally considered inedible. He shunned company, had no patience with
pretenders posing as devotees, and ignored or vituperated those who approached
him. He cared not for any residence. In Navadvépa he lived for some time under
a chai (detachable wicker awning of a country boat), and for several months in
a latrine. His possessions were practically nil. Sometimes he donned cloth taken
from dead bodies at the burning ghat, and at other times went naked. He had no
interest apart from chanting the holy names continuously and associating with
the few devotees he recognized as genuine.
Toward the end of 1898, at Çréla Bhaktivinoda Öhäkura’s newly constructed
house in Svänanda-sukhada-kuïja, Çré Siddhänta Sarasvaté had his first darçana

* Nivedana—offering, informing, request.