About Swami BV Parivrajak

Italian born, Swami BV Parivrajak is a modern day free thinker, writer, scholar and active environmentalist.
Since 1985 he became an assiduous practitioner of bhakti-yoga under the guidance of renown teachers from both India and the West.
He managed and directed the ISKCON temple in Rome, Italy, in 1993 and the Rupanuga Bhajan Ashram of the Gaudiya Vaishnava Society (GVS) in Vrindavan, India, from 1994 to 1997. In 1994 he became a founding member of the World Vaishnava Association (WVA), of which he became one of its most enthusiastic supporters. Swami BV Parivrajak has been living in India for about ten years inspiring hundreds of seekers to tread the spiritual path. His name reflects his life's mission.
Parivrajak indicates someone who travels around the world preaching the message of God. To disseminate the teachings of the universal saints in a non-sectarian way is one of his main aims. He translated and published in Italian several books of his spiritual master, Srila BR Sridhar Maharaj. He wrote a book in Hindi about the ontological position of Lord Shiva and served as the editor-in-chief of WVA Panorama. Since few years he contributes regularly to Vaishnava Websites on the Internet such as VINA, VNN, Isvara and RVN (Russian Vaishnava News). His articles have been translated into the major languages of the world. In 1998 he started ACINTYA, an international movement inspired by the life and teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Since then he began traveling regularly to Europe and throughout India.
Swami BV Parivrajak is the pathfinder for innumerable spiritual seekers from all over the world. His teachings are meant to overcome all kinds of spiritual problems and reach the balance which is needed in life. Their relevance is great in that they point to peace, true love and global prosperity. When he is not traveling, Swami BV Parivrajak resides at Puri, in Orissa, one of the most sacred pilgrimage places of India.

 Tribute to Srila Puri Maharaj

A humble tribute to the lotus feet of Om Vishnupada Bhakti Pramod Puri Goswami Maharaj on the occasion of his appearance day.

Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj appeared in this world only to benefit others. He was endowed with natural humility and unfathomable knowledge. His personality reflected the descriptions of the spiritual master as we find in the Vedic scriptures. Srila Puri Maharaja’s form appeared very gracious and spiritually attractive even at the venerable age of 100 years. The Kularnava rahasya says, ingita akaravit prajnah. One can detect the internal conscience of the spiritual master from his physical appearance. This is so because the outside and the inside of Sri Guru are one. The whole body and particularly the eyes of Srila Gurudeva are a mirror of his pure conscience.  Another characteristic of the spiritual master is vichakshanah, which means that he does not disturb the spiritual feelings of anybody. Srila Puri Maharaj was conspicuously absent from any dispute in the association of his godbrothers. We never heard him criticize anybody. He had the habit to find the bright side in everybody.  We never saw him arguing with others just to make a show of his learning. Rather, he always preached with the aim to remove the difficulties of the sincere souls who came to him with questions and doubts. So many went to listen to his good advice and we never heard that he ever rejected whoever came with sincere, non duplicitous motives.

Srila Puri Maharaj used all his knowledge, spiritual potency and realizations to take the living entities across the miserable material existence. His preaching mood bound the Lord Himself as we read in the Vishnu dharma:

mat katha vachakam nityam
mat katha shravane ratam
mat katha prita manasam
naham tyakshami tam naram

Sri Krishna told Arjuna, “If anyone is happily engaged in regularly speaking or hearing My transcendental glories, either alone or congregationally, I never leave such a person at any time.” Actually, one who understands the process of devotional service to the Lord must certainly help those who are spirituallly unaware and instruct other Vaishnavas as well. This is confirmed in the Hari bhakti vilas 10.535:

kirtane ‘py atra tajjneyam
mahatmyam shravane ‘sya yat
sidhyati shravanam nunam
kirtanat svayameva hi

“Whatever results one achieves by hearing the transcendental glories of the Lord, the same results are achieved by one who speaks them. Certainly one achieves perfection by speaking, because hearing is included in speaking.” Srila Sanatana Goswami remarks in his Digdarshini-tika that the glories of speaking are even greater than those of hearing. Any person who teaches the science of Krishna consciousness to innocent people derives the greatest satisfaction and bliss.

Srila Puri Maharaj departed at the age of 102. He preached tirelessly up to the age of 100 years, when the conditions of his body did not allow him to speak any more. We saw a flow of divine energy coming from the figure of Srila Puri Maharaj. He applied the ointment of divine knowledge (jnananjana) to the eyes of uncountable aspirants on the path back to God.  The Gautamiya tantra compares sri guru to a doctor who removes an almost incurable disease: ajnana, ignorance.

om ajnana timirandhasya, jnananjana shalakaya
chakshur unmilitam yena, tasmai sri gurave namah

“I was almost blind due to ignorance (ajnana) and he has given me spiritual vision. He applied the collirium (anjana) of spiritual knowledge to remove the cataracts from my eyes. Obeisances to the spiritual master.” Shalaka is an instrument used to apply medical ointments to eyes afflicted with cataracts. The shalaka is used in such a dangerous surgical operation. Similarly, the spiritual master removes the cataracts of false ego, ahankar, from the mind of his disciple so that the latter may be willing to render devotional service to the Lord.  The shalaka of Srila Puri Maharaj was the mantra that he had received in full purity from the lips of Srila Saraswati Thakur. Srila Puri Maharaj was a mine of divine qualities. His example is the authorized pride of the enthusiastic devotees.

 Srila Puri Maharaj preached fearlessly the science of God with the desire to rescue the conditioned souls all over the world. At the age of 89, in 1987, he established Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math responding to the desire of his disciples. He was never attached to increasing his following. He never presented allurements or material benefits to attract followers. Everyone wanted naturally to follow him for he was such a disinterested Vaishnava.

Another characteristic of Srila Puri Maharaj was antar laksho vahir drishtih. This means that the spiritual master can perceive the internal consciousness of an individual just by looking at him/her externally. The Supreme Lord bestows such ability only upon those souls who are utterly surrendered to His will. Srila Puri Maharaj always used this natural talent with the aim to counsel the bhaktas who knocked at his door, and his door was always open for the sincere, surrendered souls. His fame spread all over the world in the most natural way and devotees from many distant countries came to offer their obeisance to his lotus feet.

Srila Puri Maharaj always reminded others about the hellish conditions of life. In this way he was very merciful to all living entities. He wrote innumerable articles for the Dainik Nadiya Prakash to uplift the people of this age and the devotees read them with great interest and reverence. He spent several years publishing spiritual literature.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur appreciated very much the attachment for the scriptures of his own disciple, Pranavananda Brahmachari (Puri Maharaja’s name as a brahmachari) and bestowed upon him two titles, Pratnavidyalankar and Mahopadeshak. These recognitions came from a very sober, thoughtful and illustrious source such as Srila Saraswati Thakur. They cannot be taken lightly and should be accepted as most authentic and meaningful. By giving him the title Mahopadeshak, Srila Saraswati Thakur recommended Pranavananda Brahmachari as one of his most competent disciples, someone who could give relevant instructions to others in spiritual matters. The title Pratnavidyalankar implies that the knowledge acquired by Pranavananda Brahmachari was indeed most refined and effulgent.

Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj was a dispassionate speaker well versed in the truth about Lord Chaitanya and Sri Sri Radha Krishna. He could speak very charmingly. By hearing him, whoever was overwhelmed with lust, anger, greed or any other mental trouble, would immediately become free of all such difficulties. He was very affectionate to the devotees, sober, merciful and had a spontaneous tendency to smile while speaking (smita purna vak). Indeed his qualities were so many that it is impossible to recount them all. By manifesting his example of both preaching and personal conduct, Srila Puri Maharaj fulfilled the desire of guru and Krishna. Although most unqualified, I have made a humble attempt to praise the divine qualities of Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Goswami Maharaj for my own purification and for the satisfaction of the devotees. I beg to be excused for any possible mistake. I pray that the Vaishnavas will overlook my faults and grant their mercy upon me, so that I will be able to advance on the path of prema dharma.

May the glories of Om Vishnupada Srila Bhakti Pramod Puri Maharaj spread in all the corners of the universe!

Aspiring for a particle of mercy, 
kripa bhikshu 
B.V. Parivrajak