About Sriharidasniwas in Sri Haridas Niwas, Purana Kalidah, Vrindavan

This sacred ashram was founded by nitya-lila pravishta Sri Srimat Haridas Shastri ji Maharaj, a saint who, all along is life, was venerated all over India for his commitment to Dharma and for his scriptural erudition. Sri Maharaj ji, throughout his life, was actively engaged in serving the Lord and guiding spiritual seekers on the path of Uttama-Bhakti, originally taught to the world by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. An expert of the scriptures, a seer of the absolute Truth (tattva-darshi) and an embodiment of the pristine teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Maharaj ji worked relentlessly throughout his life for the welfare of all.

Sri Maharaj ji had appeared in this world in a pious Brahmana family of Kashyap Gotra in the erstwhile Manbhum (now Purulia) district of West Bengal. As a little boy, he had once accompanied his mother to go and hear a discourse on Sri Krishna by a sadhu. When he heard the discourse, his heart started longing for Sri Krishna. When he was about 15 years of age, he renounced home and travelled along with a sadhu to Vrindavan, the land of Sri Krishna. It was the year 1933. At that time, Vrindavan was quite different from what we see today. There were no roads, no concrete buildings and no electricity. The temples were the only solid structures. The place was inhabited only by some sadhus who used to live in huts. The population was very low and most of the land was covered with jungles, through which people walked on winding trails. In those days the spiritual aspirants of the entire Vraja-mandal used to visit a famous saint, Sri Ramakrishna Das Babaji in Dauji ki Bagichi. He hailed from the family of the chief royal priest of Jaipur and was fondly called Pandit Baba by the local residents of Vraja-mandal. Practitioners of different faiths used to go to him to have their queries answered. He would answer them in accordance with the teachings of their individual faiths. After his arrival in Vrindavan, Maharaj ji started staying under Pandit Baba’s care. Pandit Baba had never given diksha (initiation) to anybody. But he had given vesh-diksha (diksha for adopting the renounced order of life in the tradition of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu) to one great personality, Sri Vinod Bihari Goswami Maharaj.