Srila Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja

namo gaura-kisoraya sakshad-vairagya-murtaye
vipralambha-rasambhode padambujaya te namah
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja [the spiritual master of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati], who is renunciation personified. He is always merged in a feeling of separation and intense love of Krishna.

My Guru Mahārāja was very great scholar, and his Guru Mahārāja, from literary point of view, he could not even sign his name, Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. And Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura asked Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura to accept Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja as his, as his spiritual master, that “You go and take your initiation from Gaura-kiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja.” So he thought that “I am a great scholar, and I am son of a magistrate, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and great Vaiṣṇava. He’ll be very much pleased to accept me.” Of course, he was very much pleased. But in the beginning he refused. He refused. Because… Of course, that is only show. He was not proud. Just to teach us. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī explained that “I was little proud. So I was thrice refused by Guru Mahārāja,” although he was the only disciple. So the scholarship is not a qualification of becoming devotee. That is Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s teaching.
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.91-2 — Vrndavana, March 13, 1974)

Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī always tried to dissuade his disciple, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, from going to Calcutta, which he considered a bastion of Kali-yuga. Yet though some might think Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura disobeyed his guru’s order, he preached not only in Calcutta but in other capitals of Kali-yuga, such as London, Berlin, Bombay, Madras, and Delhi. He vehemently opposed the idea of constructing a temple in some quiet spot and leading a passive and uneventful life in the monastery. He represented perfectly the ideal of utilizing 100 percent of one’s energy in God’s service for the spiritual upliftment of humanity.
(Renunciation Through Wisdom, Chapter 2)

There is a practical example set for us by Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja, who used to sit on the side of a latrine to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. Many materialistic persons used to come and bother him and disturb his daily routine of chanting, so to avoid their company he used to sit by the side of a latrine, where materialistic persons would not go because of the filth and the obnoxious smell. However, Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja was so great that he was accepted as the spiritual master of such a great personality as His Divine Grace Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja.
(SB 4.2.18 purport)

Information – The Samadhi of Srila Gaurkishore Das Goswami Maharaj, which had been enshrined at the town of Nabadwip, was oh the point of being washed away by the Ganges. Accordingly, on August 21, at the desire of the Editor, the devotees of Sree Chaitanya Math dug up the Samadhi and brought it to Sridham Mayapur with Kirtana procession. On the 18th of September the Samadhi was laid in the earth by the Editor, in accordance with the method of Samaskara Deepika, on the southern bank of Sree Radha Kunda. Srila Gaurkishore Das Goswami Maharaj manifested his appearance in this world about a century ago at the village of Bagjan not far from Tepakhola in the district of Faridpur. He accepted the Kaupin from Srimad Bhagabata Das Babaji, disciple of Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji Maharaj. After assumption of the garb he was constantly engaged in the bhajan of Krishna by residing in different villages of Sree Brajamandala for a period of about thirty years. In 1893 when Srila Jagannatha Das Babaji Maharaj identified the Birth-place of Sree Chaitanya at Sridham Mayapur on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi, Srila Babaji Maharaj invited all the Mahatmas to come to Sridham Mayapur. Srila Gaurkishore also came to Sree Gaudamandal at that time by the command of Srila Babaji Maharaj. Since then Srila Gaurkishore resided in Sridham Nabadwip till his disappearance. He never again went outside the Circle of the Nine Islands. He resided most of the time in Sree Godruma, Sree Mayapur and Sree Koladwipa. He was the inseparable bosom friend and associate of Srila Thakur Bhaktivinode. Srila Gaurkishore Das Goswami Maharaj manifested his disappearance in 1915. His spiritual body was placed in Samadhi on Utthan Ekadashi day by the Editor at Kulia Nabadwip. We reserve for the next issue the more detailed treatment of the personality of Srila Gaurkishore Das Goswami Maharaj.
(THE HARMONIST AS IT IS VOL.6 (VOL. XXX, July 1932 – June 1933), Page 128)