History of Srikrishna Sangha
Srikrishna Sangha was established on 2nd May 1966 by the devotees
of Sri Srimat Premananda Tirtha Swamijee in Calcutta,India. Swamijee did not
establish any temples or monastery. He didn't even have a fixed place of
living. He did not initiate any disciples or establish any school of order.
He used to travel from Kashmir to Bengal and while traveling he met many
families. They became his devotees. He wrote many books and his devotees
decided to establish a society to publish his writings. Sri Krishna Sangha
has published many books in Bengali and a few in Hindi and English. His
unpublished papers are in the process of being printed and his books in
Bengali are in the process of being translated to different languages.
Sri Krishna Sangha decided to establish a library on religious books and
other allied subjects. With these ideals the Sangha was established in
the name of Sri Krishna. The name Sri Krishna does not refer to the historical/mythological
figure known as Lord Krishna. It refers to the actual meaning of the word,
referring to the Almighty who is always attracting us.
Swamijee was born
on 27th November 1878 at a remote village of Barisal district of Bangladesh.
His mother Chandramukhi Devi and father Mahesh Chandra Bhattacharya were
Vedic Brahmins. His name was Hari Charan Bhattacharya. He studied Sanskrit
in the Tola (school) at his maternal uncle's house. At the age of
19 years he joined an English school for higher studies at Barisal. He
passed the "Entrance Examination" at the age of 24 years and continued
his studies in colleges in Calcutta. After appearing final examination
for Bachelor of Arts degree of Calcutta University he renounced the trappings
of material success in 1899 and traveled to the Himalayas. There he met
his Guru and was initiated by him. Later he came back to the plains in
Deradun as desired by his Guru to serve poor people after an epidemic of
cholera there. In 1900 he joined the order of Danda-Swami (Staff Bearer)
and his name was changed to Krishnananda Bramhachari. He became Sanyasi
in 1904 and his name was changed to Premananda Tirthaswami. In 1935 he
wrote the Puja-Mantra and in 1941 he wrote Yajna-Mantra. The objective
of the Srikrishna Sangha is to follow the ideals of Sri Sri Thakur.
The first President
of Srikrishna Sangha, Sri Srimat Swami Sadanandajee was born on 18th
March 1904 at 4 a.m. in a remote village Masua of Mymansingh, Bangladesh.
His parents were Eshwar Chandra Bhattacharya and Sarala Devi. He was the
second son of his parents. When he was two and half years old he lost his
mother and his five years old sister died in Cholera epidemic.
Bhola, the nick name of Sadananda, at age of 12 years lost his father.
With the kind help of Dr. Bipin Behari Sen, who was the Chairman of the
Municipality and also President of Edward School of Mymansingh, Sadananda
got admission in the school without fees and the boarding and lodging in
his house along with other twenty students. He passed matriculation in
1922 and came to Calcutta for higher education. He joined the Engineering
College of National Council. At the end of 1924, Sadananda was having eye
trouble and he felt that he nay loose his eye sight. One day without telling
anybody he left Jadavpur and went to Haridwar by train. He wanted to be
a Sannyasin by a good Guru and with that intention he started tracking
over Himalayas. He met one Mahatma in a cave and he told him that your
Guru is waiting at Srinagar, Kashmir. So he went to Kashmir in June 1925
and met Sri Sri Thakur. He told him “ if you want be a Sannyasin you must
study Sastras and do not roam without any aim. He also told him to go back
to Benaras and report to Dr. Gopinath Kaviraj for study.” He was a student
of Dr. Gopinath Kaviraj and Hariharnath Sastri at Benaras and studied various
Sastras. He became close associate of Sri Sri Thakur from 19th. July 1925
to the end of his life on 23rd. September 1998. After the demise of Sri
Sri Thakur on 2nd May 1959 at Calcutta he became the sole interpreter of
the ideals of Sri Sri Thakur. Srikrishna Sangha was established in 1966
at Calcutta for publication of books written by Sri Sri Thakur and also
to propagate the ideals of Sri Sri Thakur. Sri Srimat Swami Sadanandajee
became the founder President of Srikrishna Sangha. In 1985 Indumoti Chattopadhya
wife of Jatindra Mohan Chattopadhya donated half of her house of Barasat
to Srikrishna Sangha. In the mean time Srikrishna Sangha built an apartment
of ownership flats for five members and one for the Library and Office
of the Sangha at “Anandadham Abasan,” 1/1A, Khanpur Road, Tollygunj, Calcutta.
Sadanandajee started to stay alternatively in places, Barasat and Calcutta.
He visited devotees’ houses at Asansol, Dhanbad, Sreerampore, Delhi,
Hydrabad, Mumbai, Goa, Pondicheri, Jeypur of Orissa, Vishakhapatnam and
also various pilgrimage places after the demise of Sri Sri Thakur He was
again bed ridden sick due to aging from 19th June 1996 and died
on the night of 23rd September 1998 at Anandadham Abasan at the age of
94 years.