Ananta Vasudeva

Letter PAMHO:6157670 (11 lines)From: Bir Krishna das GoswamiDate: 02-Nov-02 06:27 +0530 (19:57 -0500) To: Bhaktarupa (das) ACBSP (Bhubaneswara - IN) [28276]Comment: Text PAMHO:6158557 by Bhaktarupa (das) ACBSP (Bhubaneswara- IN)Subject: question------------------------------------------------------------Dear Bhakta Rupa Prabhu,Please accept my obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.I was just speaking to Guru Prasad Swami and he told me that there wasanother version to the Ananta Vasudeva story that you had told him. Itsounded interestingCould you fill me in on the details? Your servant,Bir Krishna das Goswami(Text PAMHO:6157670) ---------------------------------------Letter PAMHO:6158557 (156 lines)From: Bhaktarupa (das) ACBSP (Bhubaneswara - IN)Date: 02-Nov-02 12:07 +0530 To: Bir Krishna das Goswami

Reference: Text PAMHO:6157670 by Bir Krishna das GoswamiComment: Text PAMHO:6160117 by Bir Krishna das GoswamiSubject: question------------------------------------------------------------> I was just speaking to Guru Prasad Swami and he told me that there was> another version to the Ananta Vasudeva story that you had told him. It> sounded interesting>> Could you fill me in on the details?Happily.I have had the good fortune for the last 6 years to have the association of oneDr. Fakir Mohan Das, a retired professor of Sanskrit and Oriya at the localUtkal University, a naistiki brahmacari, and foremost authority on GaudiyaVaishnavism in Orissa. He left home as a teenager and joined the Bagh Bazargroup, "Gaudiya Mission", and had much close association with Sri AnantaVasudeva Prabhu, as well as Sri Sundarananda Vidyavinode, Sri Bhaktipradip Tirtha Maharaj, Sri Audolomi Maharaja, and Sri Haridas Das Babaji Maharaja.He also had close association with Sri BR Sridhar Maharaj and is known andrespected by many different groups of Gaudiyas, including those as diverseas Sri BV Puri Maharaja and Sri Yati Maharaja.Fakir Mohan Prabhu took harinam from Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu and residedwith him for some time during his grhastha ashram in Varanasi, assisting withthe book publication work that was going on there. Later Fakir Mohan tookdiksa from Sri Kanupriya Goswami of Nabadwip. He has no affiliation with anyGaudiya institution other than ISKCON (which is due to the encouragement of Sri Gour Govinda Maharaj) so he doesn't seem to have any institutionalmotivation in the matter.During the course of my association with Fakir Mohan Prabhu I began to hearbits and pieces of the Ananta Vasudev story from him and was a bit taken

aback, as it seemed so different from the general ISKCON understanding. ButI continued to hear, maintaining a healthy dose of scepticism. After sometime I realized that the whole story he was telling was not internallyinconsistent, and it also allowed for how others, such as our worshipable SrilaPrabhupada, might have made the statements that they made. I also realizedthat it wasn't really an important issue for my individual spiritual life(!) and Iresolved to follow "hanachena haibena prabhur jata das" and maintain arespectful attitude toward all servants of Lord Caitanya that may haveappeared in the past or may appear in the future.However, there are some interesting historical lessons if the story is, indeed,true. Therefore there is no harm in discussing the history in carefullycontrolled circumstances. I have not explicitly verified every aspect of hisstory, but I have heard enough confirmation from other sources that I amquite convinced that the contra-story that we hear in ISKCON wasmanufactured out of personal motivation by some individuals close to theGaudiya Vedanta Samiti and/or some followers of Sridhar Maharaja. PerhapsSrila Prabhupada also heard that story in the course of his dealings with thosetwo institutions -- enough that he chose to use the story upon occasion whilegiving particular instructions to his disciples.And how a story so completely wrong could have such a wide following? Ithink we have enough experience with wild stories spreading in ISKCON thatwe can see that it is certainly a possibility. And it is also interesting to notethat outside of the institutions of Kesava Maharaj and Sridhar Maharaja theredon't seem to be many believers in the story. Since ISKCON received quite of bit of historical cross-fertilization over the years from these two institutions,we have imbibed their understandings on this subject. Other than vox populi,though, there doesn't seem to be any hard evidence supporting the contra-story. Ananta Vasudeva Prabhu still has legions of loyal followers, strictlyfollowing our same process, who are fully faithful in him as well as to SrilaBhaktisiddhanta. How could this be if he were such a sexual deviant andblatant guru-tyagi?Sorry for the long intro. Here is the story as I understand it: Just before he disappeared, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Thakur was making plans togive formal organizational structure to the Gaudiya Maths and Mission,including a governing board of his senior disciples. Kunja Babu was tomanage and Ananta Vasudev was to be the acarya, giving initiations andresolving philosophical matters. This could not be completed before his