Bhaktivijay Bhavan
Information – This is a two-story building at the western entrance of Sri Chaitanya Math. Srila Prabhupada used to stay here. Srila Prabhupada’s Bhajana room with the furniture and papers, etc. used by him are still present there.
Information – The Gaudiya Math is the principle branch of Sri Chaitanya Math of Sridham Mayapur. The distinction be tween the Gaudiya Math and Sri Chaitanya Math is all analogous to that between one lamp lighted by another. The Gaudiya Math is the expansion of the Chaitanya Math in a visible form into the heart of this world. Sri Chaitanya Math is eternally located as the original soruce even when it is manifested to the view of the people of this world, in the transcendental environment of the eternal Abode of the Divinity. The activities of the Gaudiya Math and of the other sister branch Maths are, however, essentially identical with those of Sri Chaitanya Math and are categorically different from the ordinary activities of this world.
(THE HARMONIST AS IT IS · ‘VOL.4 (VOL. XXVIII, June 1930 – May 1931), Page 130)
Information – The off-shoots of Sri Chaitanya Math are an extension of the centre of the bestowal of grace for the benefit of souls in all parts of the world. The recognition of the connection with Sridham Mayapur is vital for realising the true nature of the Gaudiya Math and the grace of the Acharya.
(THE HARMONIST AS IT IS · ‘VOL.4 (VOL. XXVIII, June 1930 – May 1931), Page 165)
Information – Sripad Sakhi Charan Roy Bhakti vijoy, who has built the ‘Bhakti-vijoy Bhawan’ for the Acharya, has erected the magnificent Temple on the Birth-site of the Lord, or ‘Sri Yogapitha’. It is due to his pure serving zeal that electric lights and telephones are being installed for the service of the holy cause of propagating the Transcendental Teachings of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya from Sridham Mayapur.
(THE HARMONIST AS IT IS VOL.7 (VOL. XXXI, Sept.1934 – July 1935), Page 340)
Information – Submitting to Kuñja Bihārī’s will, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī shifted there, and commented:
While I desired to scrupulously avoid opulence and crowds, considering that those might go against my principle of humility, which prompted me to be like a blade of grass, and also go against my perseverance, which rooted me in perpetual Hari-bhajana, I changed my residence to Hanskhali, the loneliest possible place. But my most affectionate Kuñja Bihārī deeply felt that both purposes of my life should be served, namely that my constant presence in the dhāma be secured and simultaneously my solitude remain undisturbed. Hence he got this building constructed for me by the munificence of Śrī Bhakti Vijaya, so here I stay as the Garuḍa-stambha of Śrī Caitanya Maṭha.
He further stated:
As Prahlāda Mahārāja represents the Garuḍa-stambha of Narasiṁha and initiates the world to His service, and as Āñjaneya (Hanumān) represents the Garuḍa-stambha of Rāmacandra and proclaims to the world the ideal of service to the Lord, so too, representing the Garuḍa-stambha of Śrī Caitanya Maṭha, I am sheltered herein at Bhakti Vijaya Bhavana near the lion gate of Śrī Caitanya Maṭha.²⁰
Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura often remained alone inside his room at Bhakti Vijaya Bhavana for hours on end—chanting, studying, and writing. When he eventually egressed, his disciples would quickly congregate, eager for his association. Sometimes he would call for the neighboring village children (mostly Muslims) to give them sweets. And often he sat on the roof terrace which afforded a vista of the Yogapīṭha spire towering over the trees and fields, with the Gaṅgā rushing in the background.
Early one morning outside Bhakti Vijaya Bhavana, several pilgrims had gathered by the drainpipe and were jubilantly sprinkling Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī’s bath water on their heads. But when he saw that, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī was not at all happy. From then on he bathed only in a tub, and ordered his disciples to throw the wash water at a distance and that no one should take his bath water.
One day while walking from Śrī Caitanya Maṭha to the Yogapīṭha, a disciple accompanying Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura covered his nose with the edge of his dhoti to protect against the reek of slops. Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura smiled and commented, “This is a transcendental land full of absolutely pure, spiritual scents, yet you detect only the malodors of this material world. This divine realm is nondifferent from the Supreme Lord. Don’t try to comprehend it by mundane intelligence.”
(“Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Vaibhava” Volume Two by HH Bhakti Vikasa Swami, Chapter ‘Dhama-Seva’, Page 384)