WE shall reverently review the career of Sree Thakur Haridas who was so entirely devoted to the service of Sree Hari in the spirit of Thakur Haridas whose pride was in the servitude of the Supreme Lord and shall feel satisfied by thus honouring ourselves and hope that the reader will share our satisfaction. The great devotee made his appearance in this world at the village of Budhan, in the district of Jessore, towards the end of the 14th century. It is necessary to have some idea of the state of society in Bengal at that period in order to be able to understand the significance of the Thakur's appearance. The caste-system had lost all its propriety and its so-called purity was only another name for oppressive practices due to the grossest abuse of its principles. The views regarding religion that were then upheld by the public opinion of the so-called religious communities were nothing but the infuriated expression of sectarian rancour. On the one hand, the rotten Hindu-society swollen with the pride of caste showed every contempt for those who formed the lower grades of its own strata and in the name of religion endeavoured merely to realise selfish ambitions. Their practice of religion took the forms of hostility to Vaishnabas and attacks on the Sanatan Dharma— the Eternal Religion of all Jibas. The meanness of the hellish: contempt for the true faith, wanton cruelty showed all the virulence of a chronic disease that had penetrated to the very bones and marrow of the Hindu society. On the other hand, the narrow-minded Yavana sampradaya was enacting scenes of malice, hatred, aggression and oppression towards the Hindu-community. The Yavana-society failing to appreciate the true greatness of Hinduism never lesisted from its persistent and many-sided activities against the religion of the Hindus. The Aryas and Yavanas of Bengal were acting towards each other on the conviction that the dharma of man was based on the principle of mutual animosity leading to unjustifiable attacks on the mode of worship of each by the other. The contending passions of the two parties brought untold suffering on society in Bengal. The generality of the people devoid of all religious association and demoralised by every form of luxury held in high estimation the pleasures of the world and material power. Exter al display had become so prominent in all the religious practices of the Hindus that it would be no exaggeration to say that there was not a single person who had any sympathy for the method of artless devotion. Under the inpression that the attainment of the kingdom of the next world was a feat as difficult as the crossing of the highest mountain peaks, the difficult methods of the Yoga, arduous bratas 'vowed observances' such as Chandrayana etc., severe Brahmacharyya and Sannyasa 'asceticism' etc. were pointed out as the paths leading to Bhukti 'enjoyment' or mukti 'annihilation'. As they had doubts regarding the possibility of attainment of the trivial fruits of dharma, artha and kama by offensive taking of the Name and of mukti the goal of the so-called vedantist practices by taking the dimly perceived Name, the Hindus had absolutely no respect for the straight path of devotion.
In these dark days of Bengal, thirty or thirtyfive years in advance of the appearance of Bhagaban Shree Chaitanya-deva, in order to help the transcendent activities of Him Who is Love Himself, the four-faced Birinchi appeared in non-Hindu Yavana family in the village of Budhan. The actual site of Budhan village is not known at the present day. But several maujas belonging to Budhan pargana are remembered by the inhabitants of the locality. We do not learn anything about the boyhood of Thakur Haridas from authoritative works. No reliance can be placed on recent books on the subject that offer fictitious accounts bearing the names of ancient authors. In the opinion of some the appearance of Brahma in non-Hindu Yavana family was in expiation of the offence of stealing the calves. There are some again who hold that Shree Pralhad Maharaj became visible under the name of Haridas.
When he grew up in years Thakur Haridas, giving up the social customs and principles of the Yavana family was found constantly taking the Name of Shree Hari. The writers who have recorded the lila of those days are silent as regards the agent by whose instigation Thakur Haridas was initiated in the rite of the Name of the Godhead transgressing the rules of Yavana society and also as regards the person whose mercy he obtained. We, therefore, feel a certain degree of apprehension in adducing proofs in support of those facts after the lapse of such a long period. Haridas ascertained that to pray to God without any selfish object giving up all mundane expectations and impulses is the only duty of life. After having arrived at this decision though still very young. Thakur Haridas left Budhan and taking up his residence in a solitary cell close to Benapole began loudly taking the Name of Krishna.