Bhakti Prajnan Keshava
Bhakti Prajnan Keshava (IAST: Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava; 9 February 1898 – 6 October 1968), addressed by the honorific Mahārāja (Mahārāja), was a Gaudiya Vaishnava guru, disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and the founder-acharya of the religious organisation "Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti", formed in Calcutta in 1940, and its headquarters, monastery Sri Devananda Gaudiya Math in Nabadwip.
Bhakti Prajnan Keshava Maharaja | |
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Murti of Bhakti Prajnan Keshava Maharaja on the altar in the Gaudiya Math in Mathura | |
| Title | Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual leader |
| Personal | |
| Born | 9 February 1898 Banaripara, East Bengal, British India (now Bangladesh) |
| Died | 6 October 1968 (aged 70) Nabadwip, India |
| Religion | Gaudiya Vaishnavism |
| Other names | Vinodabihari Brahmacari Kritiratna Prabhu |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Vrindavan, India |
| Period in office | 1940 - 1968 |
| Predecessor | Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati |
| Successor | Srila Bhaktivedānta Vamana Goswāmī Maharaj. |
| Initiation | Diksa–1919, Sannyasa–1940 |
| Part of a series on |
| Vaishnavism |
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Bhakti Prajnan Keshava Maharaja and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada were godbrothers (disciples of the same spiritual master). Abhay Charanaravinda Prabhu became A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (taking the title "Bhaktivedanta" and name Swāmī) when Keśava Gosvāmī initiated him into the renounced order of life (sannyasa) on 17 September 1959 at Keshava Maharaja's temple in Mathura.