Later on, after becoming proficient in Sanskrit and Vedic scriptures he began to deliver harikatha discourses on Śrīmad Bhagavatam. He was ideally equipped for this because of his pure bhakti and his vast learning. At the end of his katha he would dance and sing lila kirtan. He is famous for reviving the tradition of Krishna lila kirtan and for introducing Gaura lila kirtan. His katha was so powerful that he very quickly became famous and attracted many people. Once he was giving Bhagavata katha in the village of Abadpur in Maimansimha district. Sri Anandakiśor Goswami of that village was so impressed by his katha that he offered him his daughter, Sarojini, in marriage. The Goswami’s family opposed this because Prabhu Prangopal was poor, but Sri Anandakiśor Goswami prevailed and Prabhu Prangopal and Sarojini Devi were duly married.

There was some dispute among the relatives of Prabhu Prangopal Goswami and as a result he left Kolkata and moved to Navadvip with his wife. He began to give Bhagavata patha (katha) and attracted many people as well as much opposition from the local smarta brahmanas who were envious of his success. They threatened him and even made attempts on his life but he was undeterred, having full confidence that Nitai would always protect him.

One old devotee, Govinda das Babaji of Vaiṣnavapaḍa was much impressed by his katha and they became close friends. One day, when Prabhu Prangopal was on his way to the Ganga, the Babaji invited him into his kutir. When Prabhu Prangopal saw the Babaji’s deities of Radha- Madanmohan he was struck with wonder. These were the same deities who revealed Themselves to him earlier on in life. That night both Prabhu Prangopal and the Babaji had the same dream whereby Lord Madanmohan revealed his desire to be worshipped by Prabhu Prangopal. Thereafter Govinda das Babaji handed over his kutir and Sri Radha- Madanmohan deities to Prabhu Prangopal and left for Vrindavan to do bhajan. In the course of time, the present temple of Radha-Madanmohan was constructed and later on Prabhu Prangopal also raised the money to build the neighbouring Radha-Govinda temple.

Every year, at the time of Niyam-seva (Kartik), Prabhu Prangopal went to Dhaka for the whole month to give Bhagavat katha. People came from far and wide to listen to his katha and became ecstatic to see him dancing and performing kirtan after the katha. Once he was giving katha at the house of a rich landlord, Kala Saheb in Kumilla. Prabhu Prangopal was speaking with deep bhava and the listeners were shedding tears but then a puffed up, highly placed official started interrupting the katha with inappropriate, challenging questions, much to the annoyance of everyone. Finally Prabhu Prangopal reproached that man sharply, “You should keep silent for now.” Instantly that man lost his voice and despite all his efforts couldn’t utter a single word. At the end of the katha Prabhu Prangopal touched that man’s forehead with his bead bag and restored his power of speech.

Once Prabhu Prangopal went to Falehabad for giving harikatha. In the nearby village of Mekala lived a rich man called Govinda Saha. On his property was a dilapidated temple built by his ancestors. The temple was haunted by a ghost. One day Govinda Saha picked up courage and asked the ghost, “Who are you? Why are you haunting us here?” The ghost replied, “I am one of your ancestors and I have been cursed to become a ghost. But I have good news for you. Sripad Prangopal Goswami is giving katha in Falehabad. You should go and take shelter of him by accepting dikṣa. Then you should bring his adarāmrita (his prasadam remnants) and offer it to me. By this I will be released from this curse.” Govinda Saha followed these instructions and the ancestor ghost was duly delivered.

Once, while delivering Bhagavat katha at the palace of Raj Nandi Mahaśaya of Kasimbazar, Srila Narottam das Thakur appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to go and give katha in Kheturi gram, the site of the famous kirtan festival initiated by Jahnava Ma. Thereafter the Pandits of Bengal assembly, being highly impressed by his katha and learning, awarded him the title Siddhanta Ratna (The crown jewel of those who know and propound the essence Vaiṣnava philosophy).

 In 1911, Prabhupad Srila Prangopal Goswami went on pilgrimage to Vrindavan. The local devotees much appreciated the opportunity to hear his patha–kirtan. They took him from the station to his own LakṣmiKanta kunj temple in Gopinath bazaar in a kirtan procession with fourteen mridangas. The patha (katha) started the next day at the Govindaji temple. All the siddha mahatmas of the time attended including Pandit Ramakrishna das Babaji, Jagadish das babaji, Gauranga das Babaji and Rajarṣi Banamali Roy. When he described Vraja-lila, it was as if the lila had manifested. Devotees in the audience were stormed with bhava and manifested the symptoms of tears, horripilation and shaking.

Prabhu Prangopal had great capacity for controlling his bhava, but sometimes even he couldn’t control it. Occasionally, he had to stop the patha half way through and go to his private room to let his mind swim freely in the ocean of bhava of Vraja-lila. Once he became so deeply absorbed in bhava that the whole night, while sleeping, he continued reciting ślokas from Gopi-gita. The next morning, when his son, Prabhupad Srila Yadugopal Goswami asked him about it, he looked at him perplexed and said, “What are you saying? I can’t remember anything.”

From Vrindavan, Prabhu Prangopal went to Radha kund. He used to circumambulate Radha kund a few times during mangal arati time (a tradition followed nowadays by Srila Prankrishna Baba). One early morning Prabhu Prangopal went out of site of his companions. Suddenly they heard him shouting, “Oh, come and see!” They ran up to him and found him lying senseless on the bank of the kund. The place was radiant with a supernatural blue light and pervaded by supernatural fragrance. They took him in unconscious state to the Rajbari residence of Rajarṣi Banamali where he was staying (it is situated on the left of Radha Kund parikrama marg, half way between Jaganath Mandir and Lalita kund, but is very run down nowadays). Prabhu Prangopal came back to half-external consciousness only after his companions sang Harinam to him for a long time. He looked at them with tearful eyes and said, “Oh my friends tell me where He has gone leaving me alone in the darkness of separation.” He continued to cry and rave in transcendental madness for a long time.

There are many more pastimes but I will only mention one more, the cleaning of Radha Kund. At that time it hasn’t been cleaned for hundreds of years and its condition was deplorable. Its water had become so muddy that it wasn’t even possible to take acaman, a few drops of caranamrita of the sacred liquid form of Srimati Radharani. Prabhu Prangopal was upset to see the kund in this condition and it brought tears to his eyes. Therefore he became determined to have it cleaned and renovated. This was a momentous task and involved a huge expenditure. But he was undeterred by the difficulties and started begging donations from door to door. He was helped by Sri Ramdas Babaji Maharaja and when some funds were raised the work started. At that point one local king claimed that Radha kund and the adjoining lands belonged to him. The case was brought to the High Court and Prabhu Prangopal’s disciple, the famous barrister PR Das, fought the case on behalf of the Gaudiya Vaiṣnavas and won it. The work was suspended for seven months and the money was spent. Prabhu Prangopal asked his wealthy disciple Priyanath Paul to undertake the financial responsibility for completing the work. Priyanath refused but that night Radharani appeared to him in his dream and reprimanded him for disobeying his Guru. The next day he apologised to his Guru and the work resumed. Radharani could not remain indifferent to the work undertaken by Her dear devotee, Her intimate maidservant, for Her own service.

Prabhu Prangopal also set the example of an ideal householder. He took great care of his family and once even agreed to Sanidev’s request to do puja for him in order to save the life of his seriously ill daughter. He considered Sri Radha Madanmohan the head of the household and whenever he got money he was anxious to spend it on devotional projects like building a temple or printing books. He never kept money for himself or for his family’s future.

His contribution to the kirtan tradition is outstanding. Not only had he revived the lila–kirtan tradition, but he also introduced Gaura-lila kirtan. He trained all the prominent kirtaniyas of his time. He heard their kirtan and corrected it where it run counter to rasa–siddhanta. He changed the language where necessary and taught them the appropriate melody and dance by singing and dancing himself. He himself composed songs, both lyrics and melody, a tradition followed by Prabhupad Srila Madangopal Goswami and now by Prabhupad Nityagopal Goswami and Prabhupad Premgopal Goswami.

Prabhu Prangopal is a siddha mahatma, a fully realised, perfected soul. His ultimate glory is that he is an intimate manjari maidservant of Srimati Radhika. In our present state of consciousness we cannot realise this but there is circumstantial evidence. The following excerpt is from the biography of Kamini Kumar Ghosh: “Śrīpad Prangopal had deep respect and friendship with Kamini Bapu. Both addressed each other as ‘Dada’ (Elder brother). Though they lived far from each other, they often found themselves together in lila–smaran. Sometimes both envisioned the same lila and saw each other in their manjari svarupa. This is confirmed by the letters they wrote to each other.”

Even while sleeping at night Prabhu Prangopal was often heard saying something which indicated he was having lila–darshan. Once he was heard saying, “Oh sakhi, give me the camara (Yaktail fan). Don’t you see that both of Them are sweating?” This is not surprising because according to the siddha–pranali Prabhu Prangopal in his eternal manjari svarupa has the main service of fanning the Divine Couple.

Prabhu Prangopal’s most prominent contribution is to the Gaudiya Vaiṣnava literature. He translated Srila Jiva Goswami’s Sandarbhas into simple Bengali. He wrote a commentary on Caitanya-caritamrita (the Adi lila part has recently been reprinted and we hope to translate it into English). His favourite ācārya was Viṣvanath Cakravartipad and he translated many of his books into Bengali: Bhaktirasamrita-sindhu bindu, Ujjvala-nilamani kiran, Bhagavatamrita-kana, Raga-vartma-candrika and others. It is surprising that in spite of his many duties and preoccupation with preaching he found the time to translate and publish so many books.

Prabhupad Srila Prangopal Goswami and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati were contemporaries but as far as we know they have never met. However, they had mutual friends like Pandit Ramkrishna das Babaji, so they must have known about each other. I mention this point because there is a sad history of a hundred years of the Gaudiya Math criticizing the Traditional Parivars and propagating false propaganda, claiming that the Traditional Gaudiya Vaiṣnava lines were stagnant at that time and that even now they are all “sahajiya Babajis.” Prabhupad Srila Prangopal Goswami’s life and teaching, and the life and preaching of his illustrious descendants, provide conclusive evidence that the opposite is true. It is therefore important to become familiar with Prabhu Prangopal’s Biography and to share this with others. The full Biography titled “Sri Sri Prangopal Charitamrita Kana” (written in Bengali by Madangopal Goswami) is available in English and in Spanish in both paperback and PDF forms. Jay Nitai!