About the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre
Bhaktivedanta Research Centre
110A Motilal Nehru Road
Kolkata 700 029, WB India
PH: 91 33 4065 / 2475 5216
A Brief History
The creation of BRC was the culmination of several ideas going back to Srila Prabhupada himself. As early as 1972 he had instructed his disciples to make film records of the writings of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura at Bir Nagar, to preserve them for future generations of Vaisnavas. In correspondence with Yadubara and Acyutananda prabhus Srila Prabhupada expressed a strong desire to preserve the ancient manuscripts and writings of our previous acaryas. He described it as very important work and stating his willingness to spend substantially to achieve this purpose. A small amount of work was done and then the program stopped. In August 1976 Srila Prabhupada told his Bombay Juhu managers to create a Vedic library for the temple there. He said it should contain all his own books, those of all the acaryas, as well as the Upanisads and other bona fide Vedic texts. This wish was unfortunately never fulfilled.
In 1975 Srila Prabhupada had discussed with one of his early Phd. Disciples, Ravindra Svarupa prabhu, the possibility of opening a Vedic University in Sri Mayapur. A preliminary requisite for that would be a firstclass library. Again, this project has been on hold for more than thirty years, until now.
Srila Prabhupada also discussed in detail about his biggest and boldest project, the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TOVP) in Sri Mayapur. He began a strong push to start this largest project in 1977, shortly before his departure.
Now in 2010, the TOVP is finally manifesting and is expected to be opened around 2016-17. The TOVP will have a state of the art planetarium, along with other exhibits. To support this, it was clear that a comprehensive library containing all the works on puranic and siddhantic cosmography and astronomy would be required. In 2008 the Vedic cosmology team were made aware by Acyuta prabhu—who had been working with Pranava prabhu for a number of years—of a five storey building in central Kolkata, which had been donated to ISKCON Mayapur in 2000 by Sri Madan Chand Shamsukha.
He kindly agreed to facilitate the library in the building. At that time Pranava prabhu had conceived of a major center for the study of all aspects of Vaisnava culture and philosophy. Thus the BRC took birth as the combination of the preservation project, the Vedic Library, the TOVP Cosmology Library, and the Vaisnava Studies Centre. I took the initiative at this stage and fulfilled all major practical aspects of this project by arranging for funding, renovation of the building, and have been functioning as managing director since. After six months of hard work the library was officially opened by his HH Jayapataka Maharaja and HH Bhakti Charu Maharaja on 30 June 2009. The guesthouse was completed several months later and is for scholars, students, and BRC members. Janakaraja prabhu has joined the team as assistant manager and Bharati Roy prabhu as librarian. Pranava prabhu and Krishnabhishek prabhu are it's academic directors.
Aims and Objectives
- To perform extensive research work in Sanskrit and Bengali literature of historic texts of Vaisnavism, such as Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya Caritamrta, Bhakti Rasamrtia Sinduh, etc., and to distribute this research throughout educational institutions all over the world, regardless of race, color, creed, or religion;
- To promote Vedic research in the area of agriculture and animal husbandry, and alternative energy sources according to historic Vedic texts, for the sound and healthy development of body, mind and soul;
- To perform research into ancient Vedic educational systems such as gurukula, as well as the development of the individual through yoga and to promote and distribute this research throughout India and the world;
- To develop a comprehensive library of books on Indian astronomy from the classical to the modern period. The purpose is to explore the development of Indian astronomy and the perspective of vedic, puranic, and siddhantic cosmology, particularly of Srimad Bhagavatam, based on original sources in various Indian languages;
- To develop a Bhagavad Gita library, consisting of translations and commentaries on Bhagavad Gita by Vaishnava acaryas from all over India, both in English, Sanskrit and vernacular languages like Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, and Gujarati. The collection will also include all translations of Srila Prabhupada's Bhagavad Gita As It Is in all available languages of the world.
- To collect, preserve and digitize literature of Gaudiya Vaishnavism from the period of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to the present. This effort includes location of old manuscripts in the libraries, homes and mathas of Bengal, Bangladesh, Orissa, and other centers of Gaudiya Vainavism such as Vrndavana, Jaipur etc.
- To facilitate research on the above library according to the following aims:
- To encourage and carry out the study, translation and research on the above texts, and to publish literature of high academic and devotional standard;
- To create good facilities for scholars, researchers, and its members to stay at the Centre and study at the library;
- To hold seminars, courses and lectures on the content of the library, thus publicizing the value of the knowledge collected;
The BRC's Aims and Objectives were also inspired by the Aims of the Vishva Vaishnava Raja Sabha, an organization set up by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura and later revived and incorporated into the structure of the Gaudiya Matha by its Founder-acarya, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.
Aims of Vishva Vaishnava Raja Sabha
In the charter of the Sabha mentioned in Sajjanatoshani, here quoted from the Sarasvati Jaya Sri, six areas of service (seva) were to be developed by respective working committees (mandali), a plan that could be applied on a global scale:
- Manada Mandali, making arrangements for worship of images (murti) and caring for Krsna bhaktas;
-
Sri Krishna Caitanya Pracara (missionary activities), a committee or mandali with three divisions:
- Nama (sacred name): Travelling around the world and performing nagar sankirtana—literally 'community kirtana in the village'—speaking from Bhagavata Purana to the masses, and serving the gurus of the movement. The members of this subcommittee would go to far off places for missionary purposes, lecturing and publicly singing the names of Sri Sri Radha and Krsna;
- Sastra Pracara: Collecting the texts of the Caitanya line and publishing, distributing and preserving them. This subcommittee works to keep old writings in a safe condition and reprint them, as well as research the history of these books and their writers;
- Sastra Siksya: Systematic study of bhakti literature. This subcommittee will give regular lectures to students about Vedanta, the art of devotion, and hold regular examinations as well;
- JijnasaMandali: To evaluate character, background, and nature of a person before assigning them service in the movement;
- Pasandadalan Mandali: Defending bhakti from arguments which are against the general conclusions presented in the canonical Caitanyaite texts;
- Utsava Mandali: Arranging large festivals on particular occasions related to sacred images, prominent Vaisnava personalities, etc.;
- Bhaktyanusana Mandali: Maintaining ancient sacred places and opening new temples and other facilities. This committee also supervised travelling for the sake of opening new Vaisnava centers.
Your humble servant,
Hari-Sauri Dasa
Director BRC (Bhaktivedanta Research Center)
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