Today marks the most auspicious appearance day of our dear grand spiritual master, Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Maharaja. Here is an excerpt from the upcoming authorized biography of Shrila Prabhupada, describing Bhakisiddhanta's early life.
THE RAY OF VISHNU
One should beget a child who can perform the duties of Vishnu, otherwise there is no need to produce children. There are two kinds of children born of good fathers: one is educated in Krishna consciousness so that he can be delivered from the clutches of maya in that very life, and the other is a ray of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and teaches the world the ultimate goal of life. As it is described in the chapters of Shrimad-Bhagavatam, Kardama Muni begot such a child-Kapila, the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead who enunciated the philosophy of Shankya. Great householders pray to God to send His representative so that there may be an auspicious movement in human society. In the same order as Kardama Muni, Takura Bhaktivinoda also wanted to beget a child who could preach the philosophy and teachings of Lord Chaitanya to the fullest extent.
As Lord Advaita very much lamented prior to Lord Chaitanya's appearance, Bhaktivinoda Thakura similarly lamented being afflicted by the deterioration of the society: "Lord Chaitanya's movement has been so defamed. As soon as people see the devotees who belong to the Chaitanya sampradaya, they deride them, thinking they are all rascals who only indulge in sex pleasures." And as Advaita Prabhu called upon Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, similarly, when Bhaktivinoda Takura saw the condition of pseudo Vaishnavas spreading all over the country, he prayed to Lord Chaitanya: "Kindly send somebody from Your personal staff so that I can start this movement." And by the grace of Lord Chaitanya, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura appeared as the son of Bhaktivinoda Takura. For this reason, devotees pray:
shri-gaura-karuna-shakti-vigrahaya namo 'stu te
"I offer my respectful obeisances unto Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura, who is the personified energy of Shri Chaitanya's mercy.
Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura appeared in February 1874 as the child of Bhaktivinoda Takura. The house of his appearance is still preserved in Jagannatha Puri. When he appeared, his umbilical cord was wrapped around his body as though a brahmin thread. This is the sign that he was a brahmana from the very beginning of his life. When he was six months old, there was a Ratha-yatra festival and the cart carrying the Deities stopped in front of the house, where Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta's family lived. When Jagannatha's cart is carried, sometimes it stops, and the devotees have difficulty to push it again. This generally happens in Jagannatha Puri. But it is nice. When this happened at the time of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, He used to push the cart with His head, and this was a wonderful pastime.
When the cart stopped before Bhaktivinoda Takura's house, Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura, as a child, was present in the lap of his mother, who took the opportunity and got onto the cart. Since she was the magistrate's wife, she had that extra facility, and everyone respected that. People immediately gave her way to go on the top of the cart, and she placed the child on Lord Jagannatha's lotus feet. There were many garlands hanging on the Lord and one of them immediately fell on Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, signifying a blessing. Bhaktivinoda Takura could thus understand that this child was not ordinary. He knew that because he prayed to Gaurasundara to send someone to help his mission, the Lord sent this child, and, therefore, he took care of him very nicely. Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta was thus named Bimala Prasada Datta, the mercy of the transcendental potency of Lord Jagannatha.
When Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta was three years or four years old, he took a mango from the Deity room and ate it. When Bhaktivinoda Takura saw what happened he said, "Oh, you have done a great wrong. You have taken the mango of the Deity before offering? It is a great offense." The child took it very seriously, and since that time Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta never took a mango throughout his whole life. Whenever mango was offered to him, he would say, "Oh, I am a offender. I cannot take."
One can understand what a perfect exemplary householder Bhaktivinode Takura was since he produced such a nice child as Shrila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Takura. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Takura took all inspiration from his great Vaishnava father, and that is the way of all lucky Vaishnava families. The life history of many such devotees is almost the same, because there is always symmetry between the early lives of all great devotees of the Lord.