Prabhu Jagatbandhu Sundar

Prabhu Jagatbandhu Sundar was an ascetic vaishnava preacher who propounded the philosophy of Bhakti yoga and Hari nam sankirtan in various parts of Bengal during the late 19th century in the post Chaitanya era. His devotees consider him an avatar of krishna whose appearance was believed to be prophesised in various hindu scriptures and also by lord Chaitanya himself. He is revered as bandhu meaning the friend or as prabhu meaning the supreme lord.

Jagatbandhu Sundar's life
He was born in May 1871 in a poor but learned brahmin family of Dahapara, Murshidabad in northern Bengal . His father was a brahmin scholar Dinanath Nyaya ratna and his mother was Bama Devi. He lost both his parents quite early in his life and was brought up by his elder sister. His early days during his stay at Bakchar were filled with memories of past times of krishna and he enjoyed the devotional love of all the villagers.

He travelled widely in his youth and attarcted thousands of people who came to him and devoted their lives to hari bhakti (devotion to the supreme lord). But he spend the most part of his life in Faridpur, Bakchar and Brahman kanda now in Bangladesh. He rejected the then widely existing castism in India and emancipated the downtrodden 'low castes' of Hindu society ( like the forest dwelling Baghdis of Faridpur and Santhals of Calcutta ) and brought them in the path of devotional service of Krishna. During this period he produced works like Chandra pat and Hari katha which contain the wisdom of the Vedas and Krishna's past times described in a very cryptic fashion. Chandra pat contains the Mahanam ( the holy name ): a verse of two lines whose chanting Prabhu said , would counter the evils of Kali yuga and firmly set the mind of a devotee unto the divine lord. Prabhu Jagatbandhu sundar also produced a series of kirtans ( devotional songs ) that are still sung today.

The last twenty years of his life were spent in Mahagambhira Lila - an almost continuous state of meditation and trance when he locked himself up in a small cottage and neither saw nor spoke to anybody. He left this human form on 17 September 1921 .

Jagatbandhu Sundar's legacy
Prabhu Jagatbandhu Sundar's many and illustrious devotees like Mahedraji, Sripad Kunjadasji and Mahanambrata brahmachariji propounded the philosophy of Hari nam in various parts of India and abroad. They established temples dedicated to Prabhu in various places , notable among them being Dahapara sri dham in Murshidabad India, Mahanam moth
in Kolkata and Faridpur sri angan in Bangladesh. Sripad Mahendraji organised the Mahanam Sampradaya which is a group of vaishnav monks who have the dedicated purpose of propounding Vaishnavism. The mortal remains of Prabhu Jagatbandhu Sundar still remain in West Bengal and his devotees have been chanting Hari nam around it continuously, unbroken for the past 83 years.

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