Śrī Bhakti Sundar Divya–vāṇī

In an effort to commemorate and propagate the divine teachings that Om Visnupad Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj has given over the last twenty years as the President-Sevaita-Acharyya of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, especially those given here in our Soquel Seva Ashram, we offer the worldwide community of devotees and the sincere seekers of exclusive devotional life this series of compilations based on the lectures of his divine grace.

Srila Govinda Maharaj served and studied under the guidance of his spiritual master, Om Visnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, for forty-two years in the holy abode of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Nabadwip Dham, in West Bengal India. Srila Sridhar Maharaj personally groomed Srila Govinda Maharaj, cherishing him as his dear-most disciple, and prophesied not only that Srila Govinda Maharaj would succeed him as the spiritual leader of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, but that he would become a world renowned guru empowered to spread the divine Hari-nam-sankirttan movement of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. Since 1992, Srila Govinda Maharaj has travelled around the world on twenty-four world tours distributing the message of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, as it has been revealed in his heart by his worshippable spiritual master Srila Sridhar Maharaj and enriched therein by his own prodigious mood of devotion, for the satisfaction of devotees world wide. His message attracts and nourishes the hearts of the sincere and faithful seekers of genuine spiritual life, a life of exclusive surrender and devotion to the Eternal Personal Lord in His form as Absolute Sweetness Personified—Bhagavan Sri Krishna.

Our prayer is that our heart’s aspiration to glorify and assimilate (personally and collectively) this divine message may draw down the grace of Srila Govinda Maharaj and his associates (the Rupanuga-guru-varga) upon us, their grace being the sole means by which we may possibly tastefully represent their perfect theistic conclusions (siddhanta) and expressions of divine love, beauty and relationship. Furthermore, we pray for the forgiving glance of our gentle readers as they graciously imbibe and imbue our written offerings that they knowingly recognize any and all imperfections they may find therein to be solely those of our conditioned selves. Finally, we pray that the hearts of all may be nourished and all may progressively appreciate the self-revealed essence and import of Srila Govinda Maharaj’s divine message (Sri Bhakti Sundar Divya-vani).