Bhakti Rakshaka Shridhara Deva Goswami

Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar (; 10 October 1895 – 12 August 1988) was an Indian guru, writer, sannyasi and spiritual leader in the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, founder-president-acharya of the Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.

Recognised as a "profound thinker" and "learned representative of the theistic conception of Gaudiya Vaishnavism", Sridhar was a senior disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and elder "godbrother" (i.e. received initiation from the same guru) to A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (the ‘Hare Krishnas’), to whose young disciples he provided spiritual guidance after Prabhupada's passing in 1977.

Early life Born Ramendra Chandra into a family of a high-class Bengali brahmins (his family bore the aristocratic title, or , of Bhattacharya), Sridhar joined his guru's mission, the Gaudiya Math, in 1926, taking diksha initiation from Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati as Ramendra Sundara .

On the meaning of his first spiritual name, Sridhar recalled: “My original name was Ramendra Candra. When I was given initiation, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura gave me the name Ramendra Sundara. I asked him, “What is the meaning of Ramendra?” He told me, “In our consideration, Rama does not mean Dasarathi Rama or Lord Ramacandra, the son of King Dasaratha. It means Radha-ramana Rama – Krsna, the lover of Radharani.”

Before being sent by Saraswati to locate the site where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu spoke with Ramananda Ray on the banks of the Godavari , his guru gave him the new name Ramananda Das , meaning servant of Ramananda. He finally became Bhakti Rakshak, meaning 'Guardian of Devotion', after taking sannyasa in 1930.

Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math In 1941, after the death of his guru, Sridhar founded his own international mission, becoming acharya of the monastic and missionary society "Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math," in Nabadwip, now in West Bengal.

His chosen successor was his disciple, Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami, who led the math until his death in 2010.

Relationship with Prabhupada Though "something of an outsider in his spiritual master's original movement", Prabhupada, ISKCON's founder, had "strong friendships with two prominent sannyasi godbrothers, Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar (1895–1983) , founder of the Chaitanya Saraswata Math, and Bhakti Prajnan Keshava (1898–1968), founder of the Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti."

After Prabhupada's death in 1977, Sridhar Maharaja gave instruction to Prabhupada's disciples, with Americans Bhaktivedanta Tripurari among the prominent ex-ISKCON members to take shiksha or sannyasa initiation from Sridhar.

Prabhupada and Sridhar were close, having a "long and intimate relationship" over almost five decades.

Honorifics In a Gaudiya Vaishnava context, Sridhar's full title is Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, (where Śrīla, an adjectival form of Śrī, is a respectful honorific akin to 'Reverend', and Mahārāja means 'Great King', while Gosvāmī reflects his status as a sannyasi).

He is known simply as Srila Guru Maharaj within Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.