Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Mandal

(est. 1980)

   The Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Mandal is an off-shoot of the INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR KRISHNA CONSCIOUSNESS (ISKCON), popularly known in North America as the Hare Krishna movement. The Mandal was founded in 1980 by Bhakti Rakasa Sridhara Deva Goswami (1895–1988) to carry on the teachings of his god-brother Swami A. C. Prabhupada BHAKTIVEDANTA (1896–1977), founder of ISKCON.

   Before he died Prabupada is said to have told his disciples that if dissention occurred in the movement, it should be resolved by Sridhara; they were “god-brothers,” as both received their ini-tiation from Bhaktisiddanthanta Sarawati Takir in the GAUDIYA MAT H in India. This group had been the central Krishna Consciousness organization in Bengal.

   Prabhupada’s death was in fact followed by intense infighting and theological unrest. Dis-putes were frequent and solutions hard to obtain. When some members of the upper ranks turned to Sridhara, as they had been advised to do, the eventual solution was the founding of a new order. The Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Mandal was formed as the branch that would serve the mission in the United States while remaining affiliated with the Gaudiya Math.

   Since its founding the mandal has flourished and has engaged in an expansive publishing pro-gram. Guardian of Devotion Press has published a variety of Sridhara’s literature in the field of religion and spirituality. There are affiliated centers in Mex-ico, Brazil, England, Venezuela, South Africa, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, Austria, and Hungary.

   Further reading: Sridhara Deva Goswami (Bhakti Rak-saka), Bhakti Parpanna Jivanmarta: Lifenectar of the Surrended Souls: Nabadwip Dham (West Bengal: Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, 1988); ———, The Search for Sri Krsna, Reality the Beautiful (San Jose, Calif.: Guard-ian of Devotion Press, 1983).