Paramahaṁsa Śrīla Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja was born on the banks of the Padma River in Bagayan village in Faridpur district in what is now Bangladesh. The names of his parents are unknown. His given name was Vaṁśī Dāsa. He was born sometime in the middle of the nineteenth century. He was the dīkṣā-guru of Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Prabhupāda, founder of the Sree Chaitanya Math and the world-wide Gaudiya Maths.

Vaṁśī Dāsa’s parents had him married at an early age according to the custom of the time, but he always remained detached from householder life. His main interest was always worshipping the Lord. When his wife died, he left home and in order to perform bhajana in solitude he went to Vṛndāvana where he accepted paramahaṁsa-veṣa from Śrīmad Bhāgavata Dāsa Bābājī (a disciple of Śrīla Jagannātha Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja) and received the name Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja.

After being initiated into the Bābājī order, Bābājī Mahārāja spent thirty years in Vraja engaged in intense devotional practice. He also travelled outside of the Vraja area, visiting northern India and Bengal. While in the East, he met many of the leading Vaiṣṇavas of Bengal and Odisha, such as Svarūpa Dāsa Bābājī of Purī, Bhagavān Dāsa Bābājī of Kalna and Caitanya Dāsa Bābājī of Kuliya.

In 1893, after the birthplace of Caitanya Mahāprabhu was consecrated at the Śrī Māyāpura Yogapīṭha, Jagannātha Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja ordered Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja to stay in Navadvīpa. This is where he remained for the rest of his life. He saw all the residents of Navadvīpa with transcendental eyes, considering them to be divine beings. He thus accepted mādhukarī from them, cooking everything in a rejected clay bowl. It is said that sometimes he would subsist on nothing but Ganges water and mud. Sometimes he would go for long periods without eating, chanting the Holy Names constantly. He set the standard for those in the renounced order who live the life of solitary worship, remaining completely independent of others.

Mahāprabhu’s personal envoy, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was extremely impressed by Bābājī Mahārāja’s extraordinary renunciation, his pure devotion and his attachment to the Lord. Bābājī Mahārāja would often go to Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s home in Godrumadvīpa, Svānanda Sukhada Kuñja, where he would listen to him speak on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam and discuss Vaiṣṇava theology with him.

Bābājī Mahārāja never accepted service from anyone. He constantly chanted the Holy Name, sometimes counting the names on a tulasī-māla, at other times by making knots on long strips of old cloth. His favourite texts were Narottama Ṭhākura’s Prārthanā and Prema-bhakti-candrikā, which he considered to be his all-in-all. His renunciation resembled that of Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī and he possessed the same attachment to Kṛṣṇa.

In 1898, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura got his first darśana of Srila Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja at Svānanda Sukhada Kuñja in Godrumadvīpa. Sarasvatī Ṭhākura was enchanted and overcame with ecstasy by Bābājī Mahārāja’s heartfelt emotional kīrtana. He wrote down the kīrtana and later made it available to the devotees. The song describes Śrīla Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī’s ecstatic separation from Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

kothāy go premamayi rādhe rādhe
rādhe rādhe go, jaya rādhe rādhe
dekhā diye prāṇa rākha rādhe rādhe
tomāra kāṅgāl tomāy ḍāke rādhe rādhe
rādhe vṛndāvana-vilāsini rādhe rādhe
rādhe kānu-mano-mohini rādhe rādhe
rādhe aṣṭa-sakhīra śiromaṇi rādhe rādhe
rādhe vṛṣabhānu-nandini rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) niyama kare sadāi ḍāke rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) ekabāra ḍāke keśī-ghāṭe
ābāra ḍāke vaṁśī-vaṭe rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) ekabāra ḍāke nidhuvane
ābāra ḍāke kuñja-vane rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) ekabāra ḍāke rādhākuṇḍe
ābāra ḍāke śyāma-kuṇḍe rādhe rādhe.
(gosāñi) ekabāra ḍāke kusuma-vane
ābāra ḍāke govardhane rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) ekabāra ḍāke tāla-vane
ābāra ḍāke tamāla-vane rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) maline vasana diye gāya,
vrajera dhulāya gaḍāgaḍi jāya rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) mukhe rādhā rādhā bole
bhese nayanera jale rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) vṛndāvane kulikuli
keṅde beḍāya rādhā boli rādhe rādhe
(gosāñi) chāpānna daṇḍa rātri dine, jāne nā
rādhā-govinda bine rādhe rādhe
tāra para cāri daṇḍa śuti thāke svapne
rādhā-govinda dekhe rādhe rādhe

Where is the abode of all love, Rādhā! Glories to Rādhā! Show Yourself to me, O Rādhā, and save my life. Your beggar is calling for You, O Rādhā. O Rādhā, You enjoy pleasure pastimes in Vṛndāvana, You enchant Kṛṣṇa’s mind, You are chief amongst the eight sakhīs, and are the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu.

Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī regularly, constantly calls out to You, O Rādhā. He calls for You in Keśī Ghāṭa, in Vaṁśī Vata, Nidhuvana, Kuñjavana, in Rādhā-kuṇḍa and Śyāma-kuṇḍa, in Kusumavana and Govardhana, in Tālavana and Tamālavana. He calls out wearing only a worn and dirty cloth and rolling in the Vṛndāvana dust. The names of Rādhā on his lips, his eyes are filled with tears. He wanders through every part of Vraja, calling Rādhā’s name and weeping. Night or day, for twenty-three hours he thinks of nothing but Rādhā-Govinda, and when he sleeps, he dreams of Rādhā-Govinda.

In January 1900, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura took initiation from Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāj in Godruma Svānanda-sukhada-kuñja on the instructions of Śrīla BhaktivinodaṬhākura. Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī was Bābājī Mahārāja’s only disciple. Bābājī Mahārāja was an anchorite who had sworn not to take any disciples, but he was forced to change his decision when he saw Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s determination and devotion.

The story is told that Śrīla Prabhupāda petitioned Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja several times to give him initiation. The first time he asked, Bābājī Mahārāja told him, “If Mahāprabhu tells me to, I will.”

The second time Bābājī Mahārāja told him that he had forgotten to ask Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Prabhupāda did not give up and came a third time, Bābājī Mahārāja said, “Virtuousness, scholarship and other qualities are not the means to attain the Lord. They do not give you any right to initiation.”

Though Bābājī Mahārāja had repeatedly turned him down, Śrīla Prabhupāda did not abandon his resolution. Ramanujācārya was turned back eighteen times before receiving the mercy of Goṣṭhīpūrṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda, similarly, showed his qualities of patience and determination and continued to come before Bābājī Mahārāja. He humbly entreated him to give him initiation until finally, Bābājī Mahārāja’s heart melted, and out of great affection mercifully initiated Śrīla Prabhupāda by sprinkling the dust of his lotus feet on his head.

Bābājī Mahārāja would never allow any materialistic persons to touch his feet. If they did so, he would make a show of anger, saying, “You are doomed!” Most people were thus afraid to attempt it. On this occasion, however, he himself offered the dust of his feet to his dear disciple and smeared it on his body. From Śrīla Prabhupāda’s disciples, it is heard that he was turned down twelve times before Bābājī Mahārāja became compassionate and initiated him upon his thirteenth request. Others say that it happened on the fourth time. This story reminds one of Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura’s initiation by Śrīla Lokanātha Gosvāmī. Unswerving dedication to the guru is the sign of a true disciple. Afterward, Bābājī Mahārāja, seeing Śrīla Prabhupāda to be eminently qualified for the task, blessed him and ordered him to preach Mahāprabhu’s message all around the world.

Śrīla Prabhupāda wrote the following words about his guru, with exemplary humility, in order to show the world definitively the path of auspiciousness: “In order to complete the gaping needs that I felt, I was busily trying to get my hands on everything under the sun. I thought that possessions would fulfil my needs. Over time, I had indeed accumulated a great number of rare possessions, but I was not able to rid myself of the sense of being unfulfilled. I had encountered many personalities who were reputed to be great saints but saw various deficiencies in every one of them and so was unable to give them my full respect. Seeing my pitiful and gloomy state, fortunately, the supremely merciful Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu allowed two of his dearest companions to show their kindness to me. I was egotistically so self-absorbed that I had completely lost any sense of where my well-being could be found. Even so, due to past pious activities, I was able to get the association of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, who was my ever well-wisher. My Prabhu often came to visit him and sometimes stayed overnight at his house. Out of mercy to me, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura introduced me to my Prabhu. From the time that I first met my Prabhu, my stubborn egoism started to diminish. Previously, I used to think that everyone who took birth in a human body was filled with the same faults that I had, but upon seeing my Prabhu’s divine character I realized that there truly are flawless Vaiṣṇavas in this world who matched the ideal.”

Śrīla Prabhupāda further wrote, “Many people who saw Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, whether innocent or experienced, young or old, learned or ignorant, or proud of their being advanced devotees, were not able to truly see him. This is the divine power of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees. Hundreds of people came to him seeking help in fulfilling their material desires and he would give them advice, but this was a kind of deception. There are countless persons who take on the dress of a saintly person and make a show of acting like a saintly person, but on closer analysis are far from the standard. My Prabhu was not a cheater like them. It is clear from his spiritual activities that he identified complete honesty with the truth. His sincere affection was incomparable; it proved that the attainment of spiritual powers is a deception. He showed no enmity for those who opposed him or disagreed with him; similarly, he made no particular external show of affection for those who were objects of his compassion. He used to say, ‘I neither love nor hate anyone in this world; everyone is the object of my respect.’

“Amazingly, Prabhu would be surrounded by people with no understanding—fakers and materialists inimical to the path of pure devotion who thought themselves to be recipients of such a saintly person’s mercy but continued to engage in sensual activities. My Prabhu never openly rejected any of these people, but he never openly accepted any of them, either.”

Bābājī Mahārāja was an expert judge of character and had highly developed foresight and, often foretelling events in the distant future.

On the 30th of Kārtika in 1322 Bengali (1915 AD), Paramahaṁsa Śrīla Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja entered the eternal pastimes of the Lord. At the time, he was residing at Rāṇīra Dharma-śālā in Kuliya. When Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura received the news of his disappearance, he was overcome with feelings of separation from his guru and immediately hurried to the site of his departure. He was heart-broken to see that mahānta bābājīs (abbots) of various āśramas were busily arguing about where and how to perform Bābājī Mahārāja’s samādhi rites. Their idea was to lay claim to any future samādhi temple of an advanced devotee like him as such a temple would be an attractive pilgrimage site and a possible source of money-making. Śrīla Prabhupāda alone stood up and spoke out against this rascaldom. As things heated up, Navadvīpa chief of police, Yatīndranātha Siṁha Rāya Bāhādura, came to maintain the peace.

At that time, Śrīla Prabhupāda had not yet taken tridaṇḍa sannyāsa. The bābājīs argued that as they had taken the renounced order, they had the right to perform the last rites for one of their order. As this was not the case for Śrīla Prabhupāda, he had no rights. Śrīla Prabhupāda displayed his spiritual strength and stated that he was Bābājī Mahārāja’s one and only disciple. He then asked them if there was any amongst them who had not had illicit sexual relations in the previous one year, six months, three months, one month, or even in the previous three days. He who had so done would be doomed if he touched Bābājī Mahārāja’s divine remains.

When he heard Śrīla Prabhupāda make this challenge, Yatīndra Bābu asked how anyone could prove whether or not he had had illicit sexual relations. Śrīla Prabhupāda answered that he would take anyone who came forward at his word. When the bābājīs looked at the effulgence of pure spiritual practice emanating from Śrīla Prabhupāda, they slowly slunk away, one by one. The chief of police was embarrassed at this sight and he paid his obeisances to Śrīla Prabhupāda and then left.

Some residents of Kuliya told Śrīla Prabhupāda what Bābājī Mahārāja had said about his last desires. Apparently, he had stated that he wished his body to be dragged through the streets of Navadvīpa so that it would be covered by the dust of the holy dhāma. Śrīla Prabhupāda replied, “This is my Gurudeva. Even Kṛṣṇa is honoured to carry him on His shoulders and carries him like a crown upon His head. He said these things to confound the pride of the materialists with his humility. We may be inexperienced fools and offenders, but we should still make an effort to understand his intention. When Haridāsa Ṭhākura entered his eternal pastimes, Lord Gaurāṅga took his transcendental body to His chest and danced with it. What a precedent He set for honouring the perfected soul’s departure! We would rather follow Mahāprabhu’s example and carry Bābājī Mahārāja’s divine remains on our head.”

On the first day of Agrahāyaṇa in Kuliya’s Nūtan Caḍā, Śrīla Prabhupāda performed the samādhi rites for Śrīla Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja according to Vaiṣṇava Smṛti injunctions during the noontime. It was Utthāna ekādaśī tithi. A certain Poddara Mahāśaya of Lohāgaḍā in Jessore district gave the land for the samādhi, renouncing any claims on the property. Later, however, he reneged on his promise and came to live there himself and engaged in various illicit activities on the site. During the Ganges floods one season, the samādhi site gradually started to drown into the river. On the 5th of Bhādra, 1339 Bengali (1932 AD) Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura retrieved the samādhi remains from the Ganges bed and took them to the Chaitanya Math where he established a samādhi temple on the banks of Rādhā-kuṇḍa. The site was consecrated on the 2nd of Āsvina, 1339 and in the course of time, a small temple housing a deity of Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja was constructed there. The deity’s daily regulated services have continued ever since.

Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura’s disciples recounted some events from Bābājī Mahārāja’s divine life, which are full of import for the practitioner of devotional life.

(1) On one occasion, a certain Bābājī came to visit Śrīla Gaura Kiśora Dāsa Bābājī with some of his followers in tow. These acolytes began glorifying their guru to Bābājī Mahārāja, “Our Prabhu is so merciful. He takes so much trouble to travel from place to place to deliver the poor, fallen souls. If he did not travel, what would be the destiny of these forsaken places?” Bābājī Mahārāja immediately became cross and answered, “If someone makes a pretence of delivering the world when in fact he is only interested in making money and garnering prestige, he not only does no one any good but falls down for having cheated others.”

(2) One day, a few devotees were describing the expertise of a particular lecturer on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Bābājī Mahārāja, as an indweller of the heart, knew that this individual does Śrīmad Bhāgavatam recitation to earn money. He said, “This fellow does not explain the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam or the scriptures of the Gosvāmīs. He is simply speaking on the sense-gratificatory scriptures. He isn’t chanting ‘Gaura, Gaura!’ or ‘Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa!’, but ‘Money! Money!’ It has nothing to do with bhajana. The end result is that the true vaiṣṇava-dharma is obscured. Nothing good can come from it; indeed, the world will be harmed by such preaching.”

(3) One day Bābājī Mahārāja was chanting japa in Navadvīpa. At 10 o’clock in the night, he suddenly jumped up and exclaimed, “Did you see that? Did you see? A professional speaker on the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam has gone to Pabna district and has just made a chaste widow break her vows! What a shame! These rascals are giving a bad name to dharma.” He spoke as if he were personally witnessing the event.

(4) The owner of the Navadvīpa Dharma-śālā was a certain Giriśa Bābu. One day, his wife offered to build a cottage for Bābājī Mahārāja. He answered, “I have no problem sleeping under the straw shelter on a boat. The only problem I have is that so many rascals are constantly coming to me asking me to bless them. They disturb my chanting. They don’t really want my blessings because they don’t really want what is best for them, but still, they come to disrupt my chanting the Holy Name. If you give me your outhouse, I will be able to chant in peace. No one will come to bother me there.” When he realized that Bābājī Mahārāja was serious, Giriśa Babu immediately had the outhouse purified with cow dung and brought in a mason to completely redo the building.

(5) One day during the cold season, a devotee made a gift of a quilt to Bābājī Mahārāja, but rather than wrapping himself in it, he simply draped it over the tiny bamboo shelter. When asked why he did that, he answered that the cold would go away simply upon seeing the quilt.

(6) One day the Rājā of Kashim Bazaar, Sir Manīndra Candra Nandī Bāhādura, invited Bābājī Mahārāja to his palatial residence for a Vaiṣṇava assembly. Bābājī Mahārāja answered, “If you want my association, leave all your riches and come and live under a bamboo shelter like mine. You won’t have to worry about food. I will beg enough to feed both of us. If I go to stay in your palace, it won’t be long before I start desiring to enjoy sense gratification. I will start thinking about how I can accumulate a property for myself. Then before you know it, I will become your enemy. If you want to preserve our friendship and if you wish to be kind to me as your Vaiṣṇava friend, then you will come to the dhāma and join me in worshipping the Lord and eating mādhukarī.”

Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura’s songs were much beloved of Bābājī Mahārāja. He was often heard to sing one of them in particular. All the Vaiṣṇava teachings can be found in this one song:

gaurā pahū nā bhajiyā moinu
prema-ratana-dhana helāya hārāinu

Due to my neglect of not worshipping Lord Caitanya, I have carelessly cast away the treasure of love for Kṛṣṇa.

adhane yatana kari dhana teyāginu
āpana karama-doṣe āpani ḍubinu

I have rejected the real purpose of my life and given my attention to worthless things. I am drowning because of my own misdeeds.

satsaṅga chāḍi kainu asate vilāsa
te-kāraṇe lāgila je karma-bandha-phāṅsa

Disregarding the association of the holy, I have amused myself in the company of the wicked. Is there any wonder that the noose of karmic reaction is dangling around my neck?

viṣaya viṣama viṣa satata khāinu
gaura-kīrtana-rase magana nā hainu

I have constantly drunk the most dangerous poison of sense gratification and so could not absorb myself in the taste of Mahāprabhu’s divine saṅkīrtana.

keno vā āchaye prāṇa ki sukha lāgiyā
narottama dāsa kena nā gela mariyā

What pleasure keeps me still alive today? Narottama Dāsa wonders, “Why have I not died from this misery?”