All you ever wanted to know about the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre

By Govardhana Seva dasa

Recently we were privileged to have Hari Sauri visiting New Govardhana and sharing his knowledge with us.

After spending many years as Srila Prabhupada’s personal secretary, Hari Sauri became motivated to start a research centre and preserve everything possible pertaining to the Gaudiya Vaishnava past.

In 2008, an Indian devotee named Sharma Suka donated a run-down six unit apartment block in Calcutta and this was the beginning of the Bhaktivedanta Research Centre (BRC). Shortly afterwards Hari Sauri met Pranava Prabhu, who had a PhD, spoke seven languages and could read ten. He told Hari Sauri that he had 4000 books and handwritten documents, written in Bengali, which he was going to export to Oxford University Museum and Library, because he didn’t know of anywhere in Calcutta where he could safely store them.

Hari Sauri persuaded him to use the books and documents to start the library in the BRC. Hari Sauri immediately began to refurbish one of the apartment units to act as a library. He completed this in six months and installed the 4000 books and other publications. After the opening of the library he met several interested people including Acyutananda, Sudaputa (Richard Thompson), and Sundaranda Vidyabhinode, who between them donated a further 11,000 books, publications and handwritten documents. These included many rare handwritten documents, among them some from Srila Prabhupada, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur and even some from Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur. Now the BRC Library was truly established.

The Library has recently purchased a specialised scanner, which is designed not to damage sensitive old documents. They have now begun the painstaking task of scanning every page of every book, document and handwritten items in the Library. This will ensure that there is an electronic record of every page.

The other five units in the apartment block have now been converted in self-contained units, where students and visitors can stay while studying subjects in the Library such as the Vedas, Vedic Astrology, Vaishnavism and many others.