Sri Srimad Gour Govinda Swami was
born as Braja Bandhu Manik on the second
of September 1929 in Jagannathpur, a small
village near to Jagannath Puri, Orissa. In
his youth he mostly lived with his maternal
family the Giris in the village of Gadeigiri.
The Giris were Gaudiya Vaishnavas and
well known for their expertise in kértana.
Braja Bandhu’s maternal grandfather,
Bauri Giri, was famous in the local area as
a paramahaàsa vaiñëava. He was constantly
chanting the hare kåñëa mahä-mantra and
worshiping the family deity of Gopal Jiu.
As a boy Braja Bandhu was very quiet and
serious. Whatever free time he had from his
studies he spent rendering services to Gopal
and accompanying his grandfather and uncles
in going from village to village, chanting
hari-näma and singing songs of the vaiñëava
äcäryas. He was very attached to Çrémad
Bhägavatam. As a young boy his mother found
that whenever he would cry she need only
place the Bhägavatam in his hands and he
would stop. At night Braja Bandhu would go
to sleep with the book clutched to his chest.
In 1952 his mother arranged for him to
marry, and in 1955, when his father passed
away, the financial responsibility to maintain
the family fell on his shoulders. After
obtaining B.A. and B.Ed. degrees from Utkal
University, he took up government service
as a school teacher.
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Although busy with his family and
teaching responsibilities, he maintained a
strict daily sädhana of rising before 4:00 AM,
chanting hare kåñëa, worshipping tulasé and
speaking on Bhagavad-gétä. Throughout his
life Braja Bandhu made entries in his diary in
the form of prayers to Gopal. His 1973 entries
frequently mention his desire to renounce
family life. From 10 October:
O Prabhu Gopal, please make me a yogé
sannyäsé! I don’t need anything, Prabhu.
I’m not asking You for material opulence,
respect, glory or anything else. You may
give those things to my younger brother
Kripa-sindhu. Let him maintain Your
[my] family. Make me a saàsära-vairägé-
yogé, a renunciate of family life. Let
me beg that prema-dhana, that wealth
of love of Godhead! Let me distribute
prema and änanda! Let me serve You!
Please shower this mercy on me, Prabhu!
Please bless me with prema-bhakti,
ecstatic love for You!
In April of 1974, he left his family life,
taking only a Bhagavad-gétä, two gämuchäs,
and a notebook with him. At that time he
adopted the name “Gour Gopal” — Gour
for Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Gopal after
his beloved childhood deity. Taking up the
lifestyle of a mendicant sadhu, Gour Gopal set
out to find a spiritual master who could teach
him about the hare kåñëa mahä-mantra,
Çrémad Bhägavatam and Sri Chaitanya
 M y R evere d S piritual M aster
Mahaprabhu. His search took him all over
India, from Kanya Kumari in the South
to the Himalayas in the North. Finally in
September of the same year, he resolved
to go to Vrindavan the land of Krishna,
thinking that surely his desire would be
fulfilled there. Obtaining free passage from
a train conductor, he arrived in Mathura. He
stayed in a few different temples, and finally
he made his way to Vrindavan where he saw
a sign, “International Society for Krishna
Consciousness.” Arriving there, a devotee
gave him a copy of the society’s magazine,
Back To Godhead. Seeing the articles in the
magazine on Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Çrémad
Bhägavatam and the mahä-mantra, Gour Gopal
knew he had found what he was looking for. He
requested to meet the founder of the society,
and at midday was brought to the quarters
of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada. After speaking with him
for a little while, Srila Prabhupada asked,
“Have you taken sannyäsa?”
Gour Gopal replied, “No.”
Srila Prabhupada said, “Then I will give
you sannyäsa.”
Gour Govinda Swami later
commented:
I could then understand, ‘He is a genuine
guru because he knows my heart. He is
caitya-guru.’ I was in search of such a
person under whom I could take shelter.
I took shelter of him. My heart was
naturally attracted towards him. I had
full faith in Krishna and Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu and They helped me.
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Hearing of his scholastic abilities,
Srila Prabhupada immediately engaged
Gour Gopal in translating his small book
Perfection of Yoga into Hindi. A few weeks
later Srila Prabhupada gave him initiation
and the name Gour Govinda Das. Then, on
20 April 1975, Gour Govinda Das received
sannyäsa from Srila Prabhupada at the
opening ceremony of the ISKCON Sri Sri
Krishna Balaram temple in Vrindavan.
On Srila Prabhupada’s order, Gour
Govinda Swami went to open a center in
Bhubaneswar, the capital city of Orissa.
Arriving there with no money and no
resources, he stayed alone on the newly
donated property, which at that time was
nothing more than a jungle full of snakes,
scorpions and ant hills.
In late January 1977 Srila Prabhupada
arrived in Bhubaneswar and stayed for
sixteen days on the property in a small hut
that Gour Govinda Swami had arranged for
him. On Lord Nityananda’s appearance day
Srila Prabhupada laid the foundation stone
for the upcoming temple. This was his last
founded project. Prabhupada predicted that
one day the temple on the isolated property
would be one of the best ISKCON centers in
the world and would be situated in the heart
of the city. Prabhupada also instructed Gour
Govinda Maharaja to translate his books
into the Orissan language and to travel and
preach to devotees around the world.
In early 1985 Gour Govinda Maharaja
began accepting disciples. Two years later, on
the request of senior devotees, he agreed to
 Sri Sri Radha Gopaljiu
become a member of the ISKCON Governing
Body Commission, and was given joint charge
of the society’s projects in Orissa.
In the summer of 1985, pursuing Srila
Prabhupada’s order, Gour Govinda Maharaja
went overseas to preach. For the next eleven
years he traveled all over the world speaking
kåñëa-kathä to interested devotees. His
lectures inspired thousands of devotees
and these lectures are now being compiled
into books by his followers. During this
time, despite his busy schedule, he strictly
maintained a daily quota of translating Srila
Prabhupada’s books into Oriya.
In 1991, after sixteen years of endeavor,
G o u r G ov i n d a S w a mi o p e ne d th e
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magnificent Sri Sri Krishna-Balaram temple
in Bhubaneswar on the auspicious occasion
of Lord Ramachandra’s appearance day.
Today, the Sri Sri Krishna Balaram Mandir
is the second most popular temple in Orissa,
after the Jagannath Mandir in Puri, and the
area around the temple is the fastest growing
section of Bhubaneswar.
In July 1994, in New York City, Gour
Govinda Maharaja spoke to the devotees
about his mission:
There are three things that are very
important to me. One is that I want to
preach to the preachers. It causes me so
much pain to see the devotees falling
down and going away. The second thing
 M y R evere d S piritual M aster
is that I want to show how everything is
in Prabhupada’s books. Those persons
who are saying that Srila Prabhupada
only gave ABC, it causes me so much
pain in my heart. I want to make them
silent. And the third thing is that I want
to show how everything is in ISKCON
and that devotees do not have to go
elsewhere for higher teachings.
In late January of 1996, Gour Govinda
Swami mentioned, “Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati said that this material world is
not a fit place for any gentleman. Therefore,
because he was disgusted, he left this world
prematurely. I may also leave. I don’t know. I
will ask Gopal. I will do whatever He wants.”
The next day he went to Gadeigiri to see
Gopal. While there he spoke to his cousin
Ghanashyam Giri, who recalls:
We were discussing Gopal’s new temple
and the planned installation of large
deities of Radha Gopal to go with the
existing small ones. Suddenly, Maharaja
told me, “I won’t see this deity installation.
You will see it but I won’t.”
I said, “How is that? You are ten years
younger than I am. If you won’t see it
how will I?”
Maharaja said, “No, no. You will see
the inauguration of the temple and the
deity because you have served Gopal so
nicely.” That was the last discussion I
had with Maharaja. After that he went
to Bhubaneswar for a few days and then
to Mayapur where he stayed forever.”
In Mayapur, on 9 February 1996, the
appearance day of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
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Saraswati Thakur, two senior devotees
requested an appointment to meet with Gour
Govinda Swami to ask some questions. They
inquired, “Why did Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
stay in Jagannath Puri?” Gour Govinda
Swami began to enthusiastically explain the
confidential significance of Mahaprabhu’s
pastimes in Puri. He described the pain of
separation felt by Srimati Radharani when
Krishna was away from Vrindavan. He
gradually unfolded the pastime to the point
where Radha and Krishna were finally united
after their long separation. He described
how Krishna became so ecstatic upon seeing
Radharani that he manifested a form with
big round eyes and shrunken limbs, Lord
Jagannath. At that time the devotees noticed
that tears had come to his eyes and his voice
had become choked up. In a whisper he said,
“Then the eyes of Krishna fell upon the eyes
of Radharani. Eye to eye union.” Unable
to continue, he folded his hands and in a
barely audible voice, apologized, saying,
“Please forgive me, I cannot speak more.”
The devotees present began to chant as he
calmly lay back on his bed, breathing slowly
and deeply. Upon his request, a servant
placed a picture of Gopal Jiu in his hand.
Then, gazing lovingly at the picture of his
worshipable deity, Gour Govinda Swami
said, “Gopal!” Then his eyes closed, he lost
external consciousness and left this world.
His body was brought to the Sri Sri Krishna
Balaram Mandir in Bhubaneswar where he was
placed in samädhi in the small mud hut that had
served as his bhajana-kuöir for many years.
www.gopaljiu.org