Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrī Śrīmad Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja appeared in this world sometime around 1750 A.D. in a remote village in the subdivision of Tangail, in the district of Mymensingh, in what is now known as Bangladesh. He belonged to a very aristocratic family. According to the authoritative book Gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-jīvana he lived to the age of 147 years.

Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī accepted Bābājī initiation from Madhusūdana dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. According to the Gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-jīvana the dīkṣā-guru of Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī was Jagadānanda Gosvāmī of Śṛṅgāravaṭa, Vṛndāvana.

Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī performed bhajana (worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa) in Vraja-maṇḍala (the 84 square-mile district area of Vṛndāvana) for many years. He was famed throughout the region as a siddha-bābā (a perfectly realized soul). He was known to sometimes chant continuously for three days and nights in a row without sleeping, and he would fast throughout. After the completion of his vow, he would break his fast upon flat rice and yogurt prasādam.

It so happened that the real birthsite of Lord Caitanya was unknown and a few false sites were being propagated as the real one in order to attract followers and earn a good amount of money. The result was that no one was absolutely sure where Lord Caitanya actually took birth. In the year 1893, Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī, together with his followers, proceeded to Māyāpura and visited many holy places like the Yogapīṭha, Śrīvāsa-āṅgana, etc. When he arrived at the birthplace of Lord Caitanya, which had been discovered by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, he began to dance in ecstasy, although he was very old at the time, and had previously been thought unable to walk. He thus established the authenticity of the site beyond any doubt.

He spent some time at the Yogapīṭha in the association of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, and he miraculously cured one of the Ṭhākura’s sons of a skin disease simply by telling him to lie down in the dust of the Lord’s place of appearance. He passed most of the time chanting the holy name on the bank of the Ganges in the village of Kuliyā.

Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī’s life and soul was the chanting of the holy name and rendering service to Vaiṣṇavas (devotees of Kṛṣṇa). Although he was almost bent double in his old age, still, during the time of kīrtana, his body would expand to well over six feet, and his appearance would replicate the dancing figure of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja’s personal servant and disciple, Śrī Bihārī dāsa, was very stout and powerful. Due to Bābājī Mahārāja’s advanced age, he could apparently not walk. Śrī Bihārī used to carry him everywhere on his shoulder in a bamboo basket. Once, when he was traveling thus, a wealthy man gave him a rupee, which was deposited with Bābājī Mahārāja’s servant, Bihārī. After journeying for some miles, Śrīla Bābājī Mahārāja had his servant take him back to the donor and he returned his one rupee. He told the man, “I understand that you have a good deal of money. I could not bear the burden of one rupee, and I wonder how you tolerate the burden of so many.” Bābājī Mahārāja sometimes accepted donations for rendering service to the Vaiṣṇavas, but in this instance he instructively exhibited his detachment, showing how one must be wary of accepting charity from the pounds-shillings-and-pence class of men.

He used to strictly and regularly follow the vows of cāturmāsya (the four-month-long rainy season). In the first month, he would take only four bananas each day in the evening. In the second month, he would only take guavas. In the third month, he drank some buttermilk. And in the fourth month, he consumed only the flowers of the banana tree.

He once went to the town of Hṛṣīkeśa to purify his chanting, which involved the performance of the purificatory practice called puraścaraṇa. This penance had to be performed with extreme rigidity. He used to bathe at three o’clock in the morning and chant inside a closed room until sunset without speaking or eating. In order to complete the vow properly one is expected to take bath after each call of nature and even after passing air. Once, after observing this regimen for two months, he inadvertently spoke to Bihārī dāsa. He began the entire process again and completed his vow in three months’ time. He thereafter pronounced that if one wanted to have darśana of Lord Kṛṣṇa as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he should perform puraścaraṇa in this manner.

Bābājī Mahārāja once accepted some bread from a person belonging to the sweeper caste in Vṛndāvana. This action was much criticized by the local Vaiṣṇava community because it was customary that saintly people not take any food from a contaminated source. Many people approached him and challenged him to explain his action. He replied, “Do you know who these sweepers are? Before appearing in Vraja-dhāma, Lord Kṛṣṇa asked 88,000 sages to take birth there, and they were born in low-class families. Devotees reside in Vraja-dhāma simply to get the opportunity of smearing their bodies with its dust and indeed to give up their bodies here. These sweepers are always serving the dust of Vṛndāvana. Therefore, I regard them as servants of Vraja-dhāma and see them as no different from any other Vaiṣṇavas.”

Wherever Bābājī Mahārāja and his servant Bihārī dāsa went, prasādam was always miraculously available to them. Once, in Navadvīpa, an interesting event took place during the rainy season. The whole city was flooded with the water of the Ganges, and it continued raining heavily for one week. No one could go out to beg alms. Suddenly, four persons appeared in a small boat and donated Bābājī Mahārāja 20 kilograms of flat-rice, yogurt, and sandeśa.

While he was staying in Navadvīpa, he became the object of great affection and acclaim. On one occasion, the famous landlord, Śrīnāth Rāi, and several family members went to have an audience with the famous saintly person. Not recognizing him, they asked if he knew where the famous siddha-bābā lived. Śrīla Bābājī Mahārāja replied, “I don’t know anyone who is a siddha-bābā here. I am staying here, but I am simply an ordinary living entity like all of you.” The Rāis then realized that they were actually addressing Śrīla Bābājī Mahārāja, who was completely free from any desire for recognition or fame. Nevertheless, they humbly requested him to show them a miracle.

Becoming disturbed, the Bābājī declared, “I don’t know how to perform any miracles.” He then picked up a stick and started beating the ground, apparently out of annoyance. The landlord, fearful that he had committed an offense, begged the Bābājī not to be angry with them for their having made an unpleasant request. Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī replied, “I am not angry with you. I was just chasing out a goat who was eating the tulasī plant near the cottage of Śrīla Lokanātha Gosvāmī at Rādhā-kuṇḍa, a holy pond in Vṛndāvana, which was at least 1,200 km away.”

The Rāis were much astonished to hear this, and to test the veracity of his statement they immediately sent a reply-paid telegram to Rādhā-kuṇḍa. The reply came back the following day, and it confirmed that a goat had entered the cottage of Śrīla Lokanātha Gosvāmī and ruined the tulasī plant there. This incident convinced many doubting persons of the Bābājī’s perfection. They returned to see him and fell at his feet to offer their obeisance. Perfect devotees of the Lord, being disinterested in the material universe, never desire to make an exhibition of miraculous powers. In order to increase the faith of worldly creatures, however, they are sometimes inspired by the Supersoul dwelling within their heart to perform some supramundane deed for their edification.

Once, while residing in Navadvīpa, Bihārī dāsa became seriously ill. He suffered a severe fever and delirium, and periodically lapsed into unconsciousness. A medical expert was summoned from Calcutta, but he declared that the illness was too far advanced to respond to treatment. He predicted that Bihārī would expire before morning. Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja then sat by the side of his dear servant. He put a sanctified tulasī leaf in his mouth and began to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. Within half an hour Bihārī was cured. He rose from his bed and proceeded to the kitchen to cook prasādam, knowing that Śrīla Bābājī Mahārāja, who had fasted throughout his servitor’s illness, would not eat anything unless it was prepared by him.

Although the Bābājī could not walk properly during his last years, still he would dance very enthusiastically during the performance of saṅkīrtana (congregational chanting). His body would expand while dancing. He daily paid one-thousand obeisances to his Giridhāri Deity until the last day of his life. He did not like the idea of leaving any prasādam on his plate, and if he thought anyone was going to eat his remnants, he would consume every last morsel, and even the leaf plate to prevent it.

Bihārī dāsa was illiterate and did not even know the alphabet. One day Śrīla Bābājī Mahārāja asked him to read the Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta to him. When Bihārī reminded his Guru Mahārāja of his illiteracy, the Bābājī requested him to simply look at the book for some time and then start chanting its stanzas. Within minutes, Bihārī dāsa started reciting the pastimes of Lord Caitanya from the pages of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

On another occasion, a dog gave birth to five puppies on the bank of the Ganges near Bābājī Mahārāja’s bhajana kuṭīra (hermitage). When the sage sat down to take prasādam, the dogs sat around his plate. Bihārī tried to move some of the puppies, but Bābājī Mahārāja said, “Take my plate away, I will not eat today.” Then Bihārī produced the dogs and say, “Here are the dogs.” Bābājī Mahārāja would say fondly, “They are the dogs of the dhāma (pilgrimage site).”

Śrīla Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī used to stay six months in Vraja and six months in Navadvīpa-dhāma. According to Gauḍīya-vaiṣṇava-jīvana, at the advanced age of 146, when he was set to travel to Navadvīpa from Rādhā-kuṇḍa, many Brijbāsīs (residents of Vṛndāvana) and other Vaiṣṇavas went to him to inquire why he was leaving Vraja-dhāma at such an advanced age. In a very humble and transcendentally depressed mood, he replied, “You can all stay here in Vraja-dhāma because you are all pure Vaiṣṇavas. I am very offensive, and therefore it is better for me to stay at Navadvīpa. Their Lordships Śrī Śrī Gaura-Nitāi do not count one’s offenses, as They have appeared to liberate all offenders. But here in Vraja-dhāma offenses are counted and reactions thereto are strictly enforced.” This was his last journey to Navadvīpa-dhāma. A few months after his arrival, on the first day of the new moon in the month of Phālguṇa, a fortnight before the anniversary of Lord Caitanya’s appearance, he entered the Lord’s eternal pastimes.

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura used to always call Śrīla Bābājī Mahārāja, Vaiṣṇava-sārvabhauma, the “Commander-in-chief of the Vaiṣṇavas.”