Bon Maharaja, Indian guru and religious writer (b. 1901)
Bhakti Hridaya Bon (Sanskrit: भक्ति हृदय वन, IAST: Bhakti Hṛdaya Vana), also known as Swami Bon (Baharpur, 23 March 1901 – Vrindavan, 7 July 1982), was a disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati and a guru in the Gaudiya Math following the philosophy of the Bhakti marg, specifically of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Gaudiya Vaishnava theology. At the time of his death, he left behind thousands of Bengali disciples in India.
Reference books on Bon's life include My First Year in England, On the path to Vaikuntha, Vaikunther Pathe (in Bengali), and Viraha-vedana (in Bengali). He is noted for his translation into English of Rupa Goswami's Sanskrit classic, Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu; as well as his educational activities in Vraja Mandala, considered a sacred area associated with Krishna, located between Delhi and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, India.
Swami Bon was the rector of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy in Vrindavan, and founder of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Primary School in Nandagram, Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh. He initiated a few Westerners, such as Asim Krishna Das (Allan A. Shapiro); Lalitananda Bon (R.S. Brown); and Vamana dasa (Walther Eidlitz), who was converted to Gaudiya Vaishnavism by meeting Sadananda in a religious gathering in India.