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{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
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{{religion primary|article|date=December 2014}}
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{{Infobox Hindu leader
|name = Bhakti Hridaya Bon
|image = Swami Bon personal.jpg
|caption =
| religion = [[Hinduism]]
|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1901|03|23}}
|birth_place= [[Faridpur District|Baharpur]], [[Bengal Presidency]], [[British Raj]]
|birth_name =
|death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1982|07|07|1901|03|23}}
|death_place = [[Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]]<ref name=Swami_Bon>[http://swamibon.blogspot.com.ar/2012/09/swami-bon-maharaja-books.html "Swami Bon: Life and Teachings of a Gaudiya Vaishnava Saint"], article from Swami Bon website, September 2012.</ref>
|nationality = {{flagu|India}}
|guru = [[Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura]]
|sect = [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism]]
|philosophy = [[Achintya Bheda Abheda]]
|honors =
|founder = Sri Sri Radha Govindaji Trust and Institute of Oriental Philosophy
|disciples =[[Sadananda]], [[Walther Eidlitz]], Rasikananda Bon, Gopananda Bon and others
|influenced =
|literary_works = ''My First Year in England'' and others
|footnotes =
|signature =
}}

{{Vaishnavism}}
{{Hindu philosophy}}

'''Bhakti Hridaya Bon''' ({{lang-sa|भक्ति हृदय वन}}, {{IAST3|Bhakti Hṛdaya Vana}}), also known as '''Swami Bon''' ([[Faridpur District|Baharpur]], 23 March 1901 – [[Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh|Vrindavan]], 7 July 1982),<ref name=Swami_Bon/> was a disciple of [[Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati]] and a [[guru]] in the [[Gaudiya Math]] following the philosophy of the [[Bhakti]] marg, specifically of [[Caitanya Mahaprabhu]] and [[Gaudiya Vaishnava theology]]. At the time of his death, he left behind thousands of Bengali disciples in India.

Reference books on Bon's life include ''My First Year in England'', ''On the path to Vaikuntha'', ''Vaikunther Pathe'' (in [[Bengali language|Bengali]]), and ''Viraha-vedana'' (in Bengali). He is noted for his translation into English of [[Rupa Goswami]]'s Sanskrit classic, ''Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu'';<ref>{{cite book|author=Sri Rupa Goswami|title=Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu|others=translation by Swami Bon Maharaj — Rector, IOP, Vrindavan|url=http://bvml.org/SHBM/brs.htm|access-date=28 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101102070626/http://bvml.org/SHBM/brs.htm|archive-date=2 November 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as his educational activities in [[Vraja]] Mandala, considered a sacred area associated with [[Krishna]], located between Delhi and Agra in [[Uttar Pradesh]], India.

Swami Bon was the rector of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy in [[Vrindavan]],<ref>{{cite web|title=The Education of Human Emotions by Klaus K. Klostermaier|url=http://content.iskcon.com/icj/4_1/klostermaier.html|access-date=16 February 2007|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707151406/http://content.iskcon.com/icj/4_1/klostermaier.html|archive-date=7 July 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=May 2014}} and founder of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Primary School in Nandagram, [[Mathura district]], Uttar Pradesh.<ref>{{cite book|title=Vraja-Rasa-Bindhu|author=Brown, Richard Shaw |year=1997}}</ref> He initiated a few Westerners, such as Asim Krishna Das (Allan A. Shapiro); Lalitananda Bon (R.S. Brown); and Vamana dasa ([[Walther Eidlitz]]), who was converted to [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism]] by meeting [[Sadananda]] in a [[ religious gathering]] in India.<ref>{{cite book|title=Sri Bepin Sakhi Vilas|author=Lalitananda Vana|year=1971|oclc=31935694}}</ref>

==Early life==
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2016}}
Born Narendra Nath Mukherji in 1901 in [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] to the [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism|Gaudiya Vaishnava]] [[Brahmana]] and [[Brahmarishi]] Rajanikanta, who was a Vedic scholar, Bon was a lifelong celibate and, as a [[brahmacari]], he joined [[Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura]] and took initiation in the early 1900s. 

In 1924, at the age of 23, he was the third disciple to accept lifelong Tridanda Sannyasa from [[Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura]] Prabhupada and quickly became one of his leading preachers. He preached the message of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, delivering many lectures all over India, including at the [[Albert Hall, Kolkata|Royal Albert Hall]] in [[Kolkata]]. He also established a new [[Gaudiya Math]] in [[Madras]] (now [[Chennai]]), and he organised successful theistic exhibitions in [[Kolkata]] and [[Dacca]].

He was so successful as a preacher, introducing the message of Sarasvati Prabhupada and Chaitanya up to the highest levels of social and intellectual society of that time (during the [[British Raj]]), that he soon became known all over India. Due to his [[caste]] and high education, he was sent by his guru, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada, to the UK and Germany to preach. He took Chaitanya's teachings to the very top of society, even being received in audience by the King of England, and gave many lectures throughout England and continental Europe. During this trip, Bon converted two German men, E.G. Schulze ([[Sadananda]]) and Baron Koeth, whom he brought back to his guru, Sarasvati Prabhupada, for initiation. In 1942, after the disappearance of his guru, Sarasvati Prabhupada, Bon voted for Bhakti Vilas Tirtha to be the next Acharya of the Gaudiya Math.

==Tapasya==
Bon went by foot on a solitary pilgrimage into the [[Himalayas]] for years of severe penances, described in his Bengali-language book ''Vaikunther-pathe'' (On the way to Vaikuntha). His vows were (1) not speaking to anyone, (2) eating only fruits and nuts off of trees, (3) sleeping bare-bodied on the ground, and (4) not taking a single step without chanting the Maha-mantra. He journeyed 650 miles on foot and lived at the source of the Yamuna River under very severe circumstances. In his book he writes about his vision ([[darśana|darshan]]) of his Gurudeva, who revealed to him his siddha-bhajan-pranali, and ordered him to go serve Vrindavana-dhama. Thereafter, he retired in [[Vrindavan]], where he constructed a small [[Bhajana Kutir]] on land donated to him. He also excavated a cave-room where he spent many years performing secluded bhajan (chanting in meditation).

==Later life==
By the age of 70, Bon had initiated over one thousand mostly Bengali and other Indian-born disciples, including ten Tridandi Sannyasis (monks). In some East and West Bengali villages such as Vishnupur, the entire populations, husbands, wives and children, were his disciples. Bon lived in [[Vrindavan]] in his ashram, "Bhajan Kutir." He was active in attracting scholars and other people to Vraja Dham for theological studies, as well as creating a post-graduate college in Vrindavan, the Institute of Oriental Philosophy (affiliated with the state [[Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar University]]), where many local people received their education. He also founded the Sri Krishna Chaitainya Primary School in Nandagram in 1970. He spent much of his time associating with his close friends and godbrothers, such as "bhajananandi" Krishnadas Babaji, and Bhakti Shuddha Ashram.<ref name=Bhrgumuni_dasa>{{cite web | url= http://hari-katha.org/other/bon1.htm | title= The Later Life Of Srila Bhakti Hriday Bon Maharaj | author= Bhrgumuni dasa | access-date= 2018-12-20}}</ref>

==Sri Sri Radha Govindaji Trust==
In addition to his main residence, Bhajan Kutir in Vrindavan (now a temple and his [[Samadhi (shrine)|samadhi]] were built at its garden), Swami Bon also founded 3 temples-ashrams in Nandagram, South [[Kolkata]], and [[Hingalganj]], West Bengal. In 1979{{Verify source|date=December 2018}} to manage them and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy he established the ''Sri Sri Radha-Govindaji Trust'' (easier, "Radha Govinda Trust"), religious and educational organization, still in force.<ref name=Bhrgumuni_dasa/> His current acarya successor is Gopananda Bon, a disciple of Swami Bon, which is also the president of the named Institute and the World Vaishnava Association (WVA).<ref>{{cite web | url= http://vinacc.blogspot.com/2017/10/new-president-of-wva-srila-gopananda.html?m=1 | title= New President of the WVA: Srila Gopananda Bon Maharaj! | date= 2017-10-10 | access-date= 2018-12-20}}</ref>

==Death==
He died in the company of chanting disciples at 9:04 PM on 7 July 1982 at his Bhajan Kutir in [[Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh]]. The story of his death is reported in the book ''Supreme Divinity and Sad-guru'' by Tapodhir Krishna Dastidar.{{dubious|reason=no record found of such a book|date=June 2014}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* {{cite journal|last1=Bharati|first1=Agehananda|title=Review of ''Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhuh'' by Sri Rupa Gosvami|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|date=February 1968|volume=27|issue=2|pages=412–3|doi=10.2307/2051795|jstor=2051795}}
*B.H. Bon Maharaj. IPC 18, 1973: 200261. ... 3.455: B.H. Bon Maharaj, "Life and message of Sri Caitanya", IPC 17, 1972 
*{{cite book|author1=B.H. Bon Maharaj|editor1-last=Bleeker|editor1-first=C.J.|title=Ex Orbe Religionum. Studia Geo Widengren Oblata|date=1972|publisher=Lugduni Batavorum|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aJg3AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Life+and+message+of+Sri+Caitanya%22&pg=PA11|access-date=18 September 2015|chapter=The Life and Message of Sri Caitanya}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Pearson|first1=Birger A.|title=Comparative History of Religion [review of ''Ex Orbe Religionum: Studia Geo Widengren Oblata'' by C.J. Bleeker]|journal=Journal of the American Academy of Religion|date=June 1973|volume=41|issue=2|page=296|doi=10.1093/jaarel/XLI.2.296|jstor=1461441|quote=S. B. H. Bon Mahārāj presents some interesting material on Śrī Caitanya, a 15th-century holy man and philosopher.}}

==External links==
* [https://www.scribd.com/doc/65329352/Tridandi-Swami-BH-Bon-Second-Year-of-the-Gaudiya-Mission-in-Europe Booklet, "Second Year of the Gaudiya Mission in Europe"] written by Bon, describing his meeting with [[Joseph Goebbels]]

{{Modern Gaudiya Vaishnavas}}
{{Chaitanya sampradaya}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bon, Bhakti Hridaya}}
[[Category:20th-century Hindu religious leaders]]
[[Category:Devotees of Krishna]]
[[Category:Gaudiya religious leaders]]
[[Category:20th-century Hindu philosophers and theologians]]
[[Category:Indian Hindu spiritual teachers]]
[[Category:Indian Vaishnavites]]
[[Category:Presidents of religious organizations]]
[[Category:People from Faridpur District]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:1901 births]]

Bhakti Hridaya Bon - Revision history

UpdateBot at 14:02, 28 February 2022