Remembering Fakir Mohan Prabhu

We received the news of Fakir Mohan Prabhu's departure in November (2016) with heavy hearts. It seemed as though no time had passed since he had sat with us in our library. 

Fakir Mohan Prabhu was a foremost scholar on the life of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and he re-discovered the family Deities of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Sri Sri Radha-Madhava. Read more about this here.


Fakir Mohan Prabhu was a not an exclusive member of a particular group or mission and never initiated any disciples. He was a naistaka (lifelong) brahmachari and intimate friend of many revered Vaisnavas from both ISKCON and Gaudiya Math. He was one out of only 4 initiates of Srila Bhakti Prasad Puri Goswami Maharaj, a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saravati Thakura.


He was born in 1932 at midnight on Janmastami. His best friend from childhood was Srila Gour Govinda Swami, They once made a pact to run away from home and become a sadhus together. After Fakir Mohan Prabhu's parents sent the police after him, they locked him up in a room so he could not escape again. He later convinced his father to donate him to the nearby Gaudiya Math temple when he was aged 12. 


When the temple authorities ordered him to attend school, he was very disappointed because he was only interested in nam-bhajan. Everyone was astounded when he excelled in his studies far beyond the other students. This was the beginning of his life as a devotional scholar and sadhu professor, earning a PhD  in Sanskrit and subsequently taught at several universities in Orissa. He moved seamlessly between Vaisnava and academic circles. He independently published over 35 books, mostly in Oriya language, and traveled all over the world preaching
. 

It is truly a loss from this world to have him depart from our vision, but likely a great delight to those great souls welcoming him to their transcendental place.

Srila Gaur Govinda Swami Maharaj (left) and Fakir Mohan Prabhu (right) in Bhuvenesvar, 1991. (photo courtesy of www.gourgovindaswami.org.)

 Srila Gour Govinda Swami  appreciated Fakir Mohan Prabhu's scholarly research into Vaisnava topics a great deal. He once stated, "no one knows as much about Mahaprabhu as the respected Professor. "




BRC celebrates 5th Year Anniversary, June 2014

We put together a special edition in honor of completing 5 years. Click on this link to read:

BRC's 5th Anniversary Newsletter

The review includes overviews of:

• Manuscript mission
• Improvements to our facilities
• Acquisition of new office space for translation department
• New additions to BRC staff
• Sundar Vidyabinode Collection cataloguing progress, including Nadia Prakash

Complete Set of Nadia Prakash Fully Preserved and Bound

We previously reported the acquisition of the Bookeye 4, a professional, high resolution scanner. Since its arrival, we have been busy scanning beginning with the more delicate works, in particular the 31 bound volumes of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s daily newspaper Nadia Prakash.

We are happy to report that the scanning of Nadia Prakash is now completed – a huge task which resulted in almost 40,000 (forty thousand) images!

All 31 volumes have now been:
de-acidified;
laminated with acid-free sheets;
re-assembled in volumes ready for re-binding;
fully indexed 

Rare Set of Astronomical Periodicals Found

We continue to be amazed at the contents of the collection of Sri Sundarananda Vidyavinoda. A recent search revealed the entire third year of publication, 1904, of Jyotir Vid, an astronomical periodical edited by both ‘K. Dutt’ and ‘Sri Bimala Prasada Siddhanta Sarasvati’.

A Sampling of BRC's Rare Acquisitions of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura

Highlights of the Sundaranand Vidyabinode Collection related to the great devotional works of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura:

The section is entitled Thoughts on Popular Topics or Occasional Notes by Baboo Kedar Nauth Dutta Dy. Collector and Magistrate (see picture above).

It includes his famous poem about the perils of drink:

Alas for those that spend their days

in festive mirth and joy!

The dazzling, deadly liquid forms

Their hearts for e‘er employ!

Also included are the full ten verses of his poem, Stanzas on the Samaj of Haridas on the Sea Shore at Puri, about Srila Haridasa Thakura which contains the famous verse #9:

He reasons ill who tells that Vaishnavs die

When thou art living still in sound?

The Vaishnavs die to live and living try

To spread a holy life around!

Another book discovery is a full commentary by Bhaktivinoda Thakura on Bhagavad Gita:

Haridas was the son of a Cazee who lived within a few miles from Delhi. While yet a boy, the religious sentiment received a very great development in him and he could understand that pure spiritual love was the only absolute religion of man. He was very much averse to cruelty to animals and turned out a Vaisnava in preference to the faith of his race. The Cazees and others met together and ordered him to be beaten very hard in the bazaars of Delhi. We read it in the “Chaitanya Bhagbat” that when he was being cruelly beaten, he was praying God that his enemies might be pardoned.

It is said that Haridas after leaving Delhi came to Bengal and lived for sometime in Santipur, on the banks of the Ganges. The great “Chaitanya Provoo” of Nuddea was born long after Haridas had come to Santipur. But when “Caitanya Provoo” came to age and began to preach the highest truth of Vaisnavism Haridas very gladly enlisted himself as a follower of the “Provoo.” In a short time Haridas accompanied him to Puri of Jagannath and there lived till the time of his death. His remains were interred by “Caitanya Deba” on the sea shore.

A large portion of the beach at Puri goes by the name of “Chakra-tirtha” in which the Samaj or tomb of Haridas is found. Popularly the place is considered sacred.

Finally, the following page has a few lines of handwriting, which after comparing to a known sample, we believe to be of the great Thakura:

All are welcome to our BRC Library in Kolkata to see these amazing works in person.