OUR GURUS
ŚRĪ BHAKTI VAIBHAVA PURĪ GOSVĀMĪ
This great soul appeared in Orissa, India, in 1913. He studied Ayurveda at a young age and was a supporter of Mahatma Gandhi's resistance movement. In 1936 , the future sannyasi took initiation from Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. After his departure he fully joined the Gauḍīyā Maṭh, where he was known as Nṛsiṁha Kavirāja.
In 1966 he tooksannyāsa and has since been known as Śrī Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Gosvāmī. In 1983, together with some of his Godbrothers, he founded the Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission, based in Sri Jagannatha Puri, Orissa, India.
At the request of many Vaiṣṇavas, this great Master traveled to the West for the first time in 1996 and inspired thousands of people with his great love for the Lord and the Vaiṣṇavas. Whenever he spoke about the pastimes of the Lord and His devotees, tears of love and separation streamed from his eyes. From 1998 to 2005 he visited Austria annually and installed Gauranga, Rādhā Govinda and Jagannātha.
In 2009, in Visakhapatnam, South India, while looking at the images of his Guru and Sri Krishna's Rasalila, he left this world.
ŚRĪ BHAKTI VICĀRA BISNU GOSVĀMĪ
Śrīla Bhakti Vicār Viṣṇu Gosvāmī Mahārāj was born in 1956 in Odisha, India in a family of Vaiṣṇavas. From childhood , this venerable scholar was interested in yoga, the study of Sanskrit and Vedic scriptures, communion with saints and devotional music. In 1978 he met his spiritual master Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Gosvāmī and a year later the future Spiritual Master was initiated into the Vaiṣṇava Tradition by that noble soul . In 1984 , this still young yogi took the path of renunciation ,sannyāsa.
Śrīla Mahārāj is a walking encyclopedia, with profound mastery of Vedic scriptures whose principles he knows how to apply to everyday life. Since 1995 Bisnu Goswami has been traveling all over the world to pass on this treasure of Vedic knowledge and its realization to others.
Since 2004 he has been Vice President of the Viśva Vaiṣṇava Rāja Sabhā, a worldwide association of various Vaiṣṇava missions. After the departure of his spiritual master in 2009, this great preceptor continues his mission as an initiating Ācārya.
SRI KRISHNA CHAITANYA MISSION
In 1983 our Gurudeva Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Gosvāmī together with Śrīla Bhakti Jīvana Janārdana Gosvāmī and other Godbrothers registered the Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission based in Jagannath Puri, Orissa, India. By 2009 established 26 temples and ashrams in India and some in Europe and America.
Our ashram, Sri Bhagavata Dharma Ashram, is a member of the Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission. It is our wish that the spiritual attitude and mood with which our spiritual master founded the mission will continue to be cultivated here in Austria.
VIŚVA VAIṢṆAVA RĀJA SABHĀ
WORLD VAIṢṆAVA ASSOCIATION
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī founded in the 16th century. the Viśva Vaiṣṇava Rāja Sabhā, a worldwide union of all Vaiṣṇavas. The aim of this association is to fulfill Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's wish:
pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi-grāma
sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma
The transcendental name of the Lord will be heard in every village and city on earth.
That was and is the goal of the Viśva Vaiṣṇava Rāja Sabhā.
Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission is a member of the Viśva Vaiṣṇava Rāja Sabhā. Śrīla Bhakti Vicāra Viṣṇu Gosvāmī Mahārāj has been the vice president of the organization for many years.
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE LEADER
BHAKTI SUNDAR SADHU MAHARAJ
Born in Burgenland, he already knew in kindergarten that he would not do what the adults around him did.
In 1999, after studying various spiritual traditions, he "accidentally" found a Bhagavad-gita with the commentary of Srila AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, which in one sentence convinced him to follow the path of Bhakti-Yoga. Very soon after that he moved into the Bhakti Yoga Ashram in Vienna, traveled to India with the staff at the time and received initiation from Śrī Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Gosvāmī.
From then on he lived in the temple in Vienna and served at the altar, in the kitchen, in the office, in renovation work, at kirtan in the street and wherever else it was needed. 2015 to 2018 he lived mainly in Sri Vrindavan, Sri Krishna's birthplace, 140 km south of New Delhi, India. There he had the chance to delve deeper into the worship of Sri Sri Radha Krishna and the Sanskrit literature of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.
In 2019 he took the renounced stage of life,sannyasa, from Śrīla Bhakti Vicār Viṣṇu Gosvāmī Mahārāj on. With the desire to practice Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's teaching of universal, divine love himself and to bring it closer to the people in Vienna, he founded the Bhagavata Dharma Ashram in 2021.
