Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Goswami appeared in this world on January 26, 1913 in Fulta, a village situated 15 km from Berhampur in the Ganjam District, Orissa, India. His parents, Srimati Devi and Sri Damodara, named the second of four sons Nrsimha.Srila Maharaj received his primary education from a teacher in Kutarsingi and his higher education in Surangi.By the encouragement of his elder brother he attended Khalikote College in Berhampur. All members of his family were initiated in the Sri Sampradaya and were chanting the respective mantras and wearing the tilak of this Sampradaya.But Srila Maharaja refused to take initiation from any ‘ordinary’ family guru. He told his parents that he is waiting to meet an extraordinary saint, whom he would accept as his spiritual master. He was of noble character from the beginning, truthful and devoid of envy, so naturally he was attracted to Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom movement and the non-cooperation movement of the 1930s.

Meeting his Spiritual Master Having been repeatedly requested by his family, Srila Maharaja performed some austerity with the aim to find his spiritual master. In a divine vision he was told that he should go to Mayapur, where he will find his guru. At that time he had never left Orissa, so he did not know where this place called Mayapur could be.

When he revealed his vision to his teacher, Sripad Madhusudana Sharma, he immediately understood, that Mayapur is the birth place of Sriman Mahaprabhu in Nadia district, West Bengal, and hisguru will be Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada.

He was of noble character from the beginning, truthful and devoid of envy, so naturally he was attracted to Mahatma Gandhi’s freedom movement and the non-cooperation movement of the 1930s.