BRC Newsletter 12, Sept 2015

Bhaktivedanta Research Centre Newsletter

Issue 12, September 2015

BRC Digitizes Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s Handwritten Letters BRC recently digitized several never- before- seen letters that were personally written by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur to Mahendra Nath Datta. BRC Bengali Section Librarian, Bharati Roy Mataji has translated them into English for the first time.

BRC Bengali Librarian, Bharati Roy

Gratefully, we accepted the permission of Niranjan Roy, whose wife is Mahendra Nath Datta’s granddaughter.

Niranjan Roy is currently the head of Bhaktivinoda Gosthi, a committee of devotees from Birnagar that help manage Bhaktivinode Thakur’s birthplace.

BRC Director, HG Hari Sauri Das with Bhaktivinoda Gosthi

One of the most historically significant discoveries among these letters included Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati’s news that he has taken Sannyass: “..In the beginning of the month of Jyaistha will go to Daulatpur Prapannasrama. There staying a few days I have to read and analyze Sri Caritamrta and Bhaktirasamrtasindhu. You may have heard that in the last birth ceremony time, I have taken Tridanda. Now you being graceful all the time to this worthless fellow, so that I can spend the rest of my life in doing the service to Sri Gaurasundara”...

Sriharijana Kinkara Tridandi Bhiksu Sri Siddhanta Sarasvati 1

A Review of BRC’s Inspiration and Service Collaborations at Birnagar In 1972, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad visited Lalita Prasad Prabhu in Birnagar. Subsequently, it became known that there were many invaluable manuscripts being kept there. He ordered his disciples Acyutananda and Yadubara to take this service opportunity seriously. In a letter dated June 12, 1972, He wrote:

“These items are very, very priceless and are a great treasure house of Vaisnava lore, so be very careful in the matter and take all precautions to guard them.”

The BRC Team is pleased to have the privilege of working with devotees in Birnagar as we continue this service with the prayer that it pleases Srila Prabhupada.

BRC’s service relationship with Bhaktivinoda Gosthi continues to strengthen with this effort as they continue to entrust us with precious devotionally and historically important works, helping make them accessible to all.

BRC’s New Publications Office Opens

BRC is happy to announce that the renovations for the Translations Department Office have now been completed. It is spacious and clean, which is conducive to the amount of concentration needed for this service.

Shinjinee Choudhuri translates

This is also good news for those devotees and scholars visiting the library as there is now more space for them to study quietly.

Welcoming You to Visit Our New and Improved Website Have you seen our updated website? Now you may browse through our catalog and view a wide variety of digitized manuscripts for you to view and download: www.brcindia.com Don’t forget to visit BRC’s Facebook Page as well as our campaign on Youcaring: http://tinyurl.com/pu5fkzw

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New Fireproof Cabinets Acquired Our new fireproof filing cabinets are certified as two hours fire resistant and weigh over 850 lbs. We are grateful to our donors for helping in this acquisition which ensures our precious original documents and manuscripts safe in the event of an emergency.

BRC Administrative Manager Janakaraj Das examines the new cabinets

Moving such heavy objects requires special techniques

BRC Team Highlight: Asis Chakraborty Asis joined BRC in 2010. He offers our Centre a wide range of specialties including a background in Communication, Public Relations, Management, and Photography.

Although his duties spanned over several areas originally, when the “Bookeye” a cutting-edge digital scanner arrived at BRC, his duties began to center around that area. These days he also travels on the Manuscript Mission Team. He carefully photographs the texts that will become part of our digital collection. To date, he’s responsible for about 900 of those.

When asked about what appealed to him the most about his service, he responded, “ I really enjoy exploring the many creative aspects that are emerging as digital libraries emerge. It is a time of many updates and evolutions..”

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Thanking our Donors Since the time of our last newsletter BRC Director Hari Sauri Das has traveled to Australia and Singapore to make presentations about the service offerings of BRC. He is currently in Europe.

The following list includes those who are new donors as well as those who continue their membership at Patron level, (one time gift of $10,000 or more) Adopt a Month, ($2500) Yearly, ($501) and Nitya Sevak ($1-5 per day) levels.

Donations may be made through paypal, cheque, or bank transfer. Contact harisauri@gmail.com for details.

Shyam M. Sidhwani Advaita Caran Das Mahesh Advani Devamrta Swami Raktamba Das Madhava Gauranga Das Prthu Das Govinda Mohini Das Satya Dasi Raj Buyya Krsna Kirtan Das Navina Krsna Das Srivasa Pandit Das Milan Gradick Shriya Russel Bina Chauhan Bhaktivedanta Archives Radha Pillai Mahesh Pithadiya Raghupati Laksman Das

Anand Vardhan Das and Bhakti Priya Dasi Cittahari Das Mahotsaha Das Govinda Valley Vasusrestha Das Bhaktivedanta School Radha Damodar, Rupa Raghunatha , and Ivan Yogesvara Das Bhakti Purushottama Swami Jayapataka Swami Bhaktivedanta School Neelam Doshi Balasingam Sathananthan Lokenath Das Niranjan Swami Krsna Madhuri Dasi Smita Krsna Swami Mahesh Advani Premal G. Shah Jivanananda Das Jayadeva Das

We are grateful for all our supporters and well-wishers. We pray this finds you and your families well and nicely situated in your service offerings to Sri Sri Radha Krishna.

Please pardon me if I inadvertently excluded anyone. Please email me at brc.mahalaksmi@gmail.com to bring it to my attention if I had.

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 Your

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Ys, Mahalakshmi dasi, BRC Membership Coordinator

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