Shyam Manohar Goswami (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: Śyāma Manohara Gosvāmī,

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

: श्याम मनोहर गोस्वामी,

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

: શ્યામ મનોહર ગોસ્વામી) also known as Shyamu Bava (

: Śyāmu Bāvā,

: श्यामु बावा,

: શ્યામુ બાવા), is the 16th descendant of Shri

Vallabha Acharya Vallabhacharya Mahaprabhu (1479–1531 CE), also known as Vallabha, Mahaprabhuji and Vishnuswami, or Vallabha Acharya, is a Hindu Indian saint and philosopher who founded the Krishna-centered PushtiMarg sect of Vaishnavism in the Braj(Vraj) ...

, sanskritists,

philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...

, spiritual leader, active reformer &

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...

of the

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

-centered

Pushtimarg Pushtimarg (), also known as ''Pushtimarg sampradaya'' or ''Vallabha sampradaya'', is a subtradition of the Rudra Sampradaya (Vaishnavism). It was founded in the early 16th century by Vallabhacharya (1479–1531) and is focused on Krishna.

sect of

Vaishnavism Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

. He belongs to the first house of the Pushtimarg. His ancestral lineage had settled in

Kishangarh Kishangarh is a city and a Municipal Council in Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. History Kishangarh State was founded by the Jodhpur prince Kishan Singh in 1609. Prior to the rule of Kishan Singh this area was ruled by Ra ...

by the eighteenth century, and by the nineteeth century his family had moved to

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. He is considered one of the most prominent living theologians of the Vallabha family. He does not maintain a large retinue like other goswamis nor does he travel widely to preach sermons. Since the 1980s he has refused to worship at any of the public Pushtmarg temples (including Shrinathji's in Nathdwara), and orders his disciples to do the same. Shyam Manohar Goswami's opinions on temples and ''vittajā sevā'' (financial donations) are generally opposed by other goswamis, and in 1992 he debated Goswami Hariray in the ''Puṣṭi Siddhānt Carcā Sabhā''.

Academia & Research

Shyam Manohar Goswami giving lecture at IPC 2017