Sri Mohan Das.
The Taitteraya Upanishad which forms a part of Taitteraya Aranyaka of the Krishnayajur
Veda. It consists of the first chapter known as the Sikshavallli where the great sage Bhrigu
Maharishi propiates the Lord to grant him good and deserving students from all sides so
that He could also have a good reputation as being a good teacher. What work will a good
teacher have bereft of worthy students?
It is no wonder that a great seer like Bhrigu asks for worthy disciples. According to Gaudiya
Madhwa philosophy no Guru gets emancipation without granting gnaana to the disciples
ordained by the Lord and hence the Guru disciple relationship according to
Srimadaachaaryaa is totally an interdependent relationship. This same Bhrigu
Maharishi is born as Sri Vijayadaasaru and is blessed with worthy disciples like Sri Gopala
Das, Sri Jagannatha Das, Sri Mohana Das and a host of other luminaries who
illuminated the daasa saahitya horizon. One of his chief pupils was Sri Mohana das.
In a small village near Anegondi Bheemaana Nayaka was residing with his wife Yagyamma
and was running a financial institution with the help of his three brothers. Due to ill fate
Bheemanna suddenly died and the his wife was pregnant at that time and the three
brothers mercilessly drove away her confiscating all the property by tarnishing her image.
She went from pillar to post for sustenance and could not bear the torture of poverty. Even
her mother who was the only succor also died of grief on seeing the plight of her daughter.
Now the child was born and to add to the sufferings it was an invalid. The child had sores
all over the body with puss and blood oozing out from it.
The lady took the child to Hampi and as the Lord desired the great Vijay das had
arrived there from Chikalparvi for celebrating Purandaradasara Aradhana. During this
aradhana after a long time the lady with the child sat for meals and this time the child had
severe dysentery which made other people around also to leave their leaves and flee the
place. This was too much for the lady and she decided to end her life the next
morning. In the wee hours she left the baby behind and went to commit suicide and the
baby started weeping loudly. She could not proceed further and rushed to the baby and
fondled it affectionately.
Sri Vijay das was going for the regular darshan of Yantroddharaka Hanmuman and met
the child and its mother. As mentioned in the Vijarayara Kavacha by His disciple Kallur
Subbanaacharyaru this great dasa removes the Bhava roga itself and this disease was not a
great challenge to Him. He accepted Yagyamma as His sister and
bathed the child singing the devaranama
Chiranjeevi agirallu china neeenuu...........
He took the child to Chikalaparvi and gave abhiseka milk to drink and the holy gandha
applied to the Lord was the medicine for the superficial wounds and sores of the child. Sri
Vijay das implored the Lord to cure this baby by singing
Yivana paalisadare ninage Punyaa................
The child became not only absolutely normal but also very beautiful and was christened as
Mohana (for he had a mohana rupa). This incident clearly highlights the importance of the
grace of the guru and if achieved even impossible becomes within reach. After the regular
Chowla, Aksharabyaasaa, Veda adyana the guru sought a good girl called Seethamma who
was only 9 years old and after attaining puberty she lived with Mohana
das happily.
Sri Vijay das decided that time was ripe for Mohana to be included into the das
kootaa. He gave the ankhita along with the kaavi shaati to be worn as mundaaas after
subjecting him to the usual tests before becoming a das.
The guru has to sing a song with the ankhita of both the guru and sishya in that song and he
did accordingly by singing
Paahi Mohana Vitthalaaa..........
Sri Vijay das decided to go for the third kaasi yatra and called seethaamma and said
that some harm may befall Her husband and she should not perturb but remember Him at
that time. (Vijay das was a great aparoksha gyaani and could foresee the future).
Similarly, suddenly Mohana das died and he was taken to Yamapatna.
Mohana das pleaded ignorance and thought of His guru. Meanwhile, on the earth the
wife locked the door with the body as the crowd had gathered around to force
cremation and she reverentially prayed to Sri Vijay das.
The Lord in the Gita, clearly mentions.(Chapter10 shloka 25) Maharshinaam bhriguraham
and for the great dasa it was not difficult to reach Yama patna
and he was received with utmost honours. Everyone has the misconception that
Yamapatna is a personification of torture and torment but great personalities are revered
here and they have a special entrance.
The sage told Yamadharmaraaja that a mistake had occurred and a shepherd named
Mohana was to be taken and yama said it will take a long time for the soul to reach the
earth but dasaru said that the body will be preserved till that time. Mohana das got up
as from slumber and the shepherd died and with tears he washed the guru’s feet
singing the song.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Brahman Diksha or upanayan sanskar.
Upanayana Sanskar or Thread Ceremony
It is also called “Yagyopavita Sanskar” . In this Sanskar the bachelor is given “Gayatri Updesh” (a mantra which is considered one of the most auspicious, mantras for individual ) by the Acharya (preceptor) and the Guru or Acharya teaches the bechelor about ‘Vedas’ and also about the behavioural code of conduct and disciplinesof “Bhramacharya-Ashrama” (bachelorhood). After Upnayana the person is called ‘Dwija’ or reborn. He is said to taken rebirth from the womb of Acharya as a responsible and disciplined member of the society. After this Sanskar the person wears a sacred thread . It contains three threads reminding the person that he has to pay his three debits i.e.
(1) Pitri Rina (debt of parents)
(2) Rishi Rina (debt of those who gave him knowledge )
(3) Deva Rina (debt of God)
Three more threads are contained which show the ‘pravaras’ relating to a particular ‘Kula’ or family. This Sanskar also signifies a new phase of life as student.
Time: Counting the age from birth from conception, the age prescribed is 5th or 8th year for Brahmins; 6th or 11th year for Kayashtas and 8th or 12th for ‘Vaishyas’. The maximum age limit is 16 year for Brahmins, 22 years for Kayasthas and 24 years for Vaishyas.
Solar months of Makara, Kumbha, Meena, Mesha, Vrishbha and Mithuna avoidingb Harishayana (i.e. the period from Ashada Shukla 11 to Kartika Shukla 11 ) are considered good. Upanayana of eldest son should not be done when Sun is in Tarus. Sun in Gemini is good only for Kayashtas and Vaishyas. Solar month of chitra (sun in Pices ) is very auspicious in Upnayana.
Nakshatra : All fixed nakshatras (i.e. Uttaraphalguni, Uttarashada, Uttarabhadrapad and Rohini ) all friendly nakshatras (i.e. Hastha, Ashwini, Pushya and Abhijit ) and all movable nakshatras (i.e. Swati, Punarvasu, Shravana, Dhanistha and Shatbhisha ) are considered auspicious. Punarvasu is not considered favorable for Brahmins.
Naksatras for various Veda branches or Shakhas :
For ‘Rig-vedis’ Mrigshira, Ardra, Aslesha, Hasta, Poorvafalguni, Poorvashada and Poorvabhadrapad are auspicious.
For ‘Yajur-vedis’ Revati, Hastha,Anuradha, Pushya, Mirgshira, Punarvasu, Uttaraphalguni, Uttarashada, Uttarabhadrapad and Rohini are considered auspicious.
For ‘Saam-vadis Ashwini, Dhanistha, Hastha, Uttaraphalguni, Uttarashada, Uttarabhadrapad, Ardra and Shravana are considered auspicious.
For ‘Atharva-vadis’ Mrigshira,Revati, Hasta, Ashwini, Pushya, Anuradha,Dhanishta and Punarvasu nakshatras are considered considered auspicious.
Tithis: 2/3/5/10/11/12 tithis of bright half and 2/3/5 tithis of dark half are considered auspicious for Upnayana Sanskar. Avoid Ashada Shukla-10, Jyestha Shukla-2,Pausa Shukla 11, Magha Shukla 12 and samkranti day. All Rikta tithis (4/9/14) and Galgraha tithis (13/14/15/30/1/4/7/8/9 ) are avoided.
Days : All days except Tuesday and Saturday are good. For Saamvedis even Tuesday is auspicious.
Part of the day : Divide the length of the day in three parts. Upnayana is considered auspicious in first part of the day and inauspicious in third part of the day.
Lagnas: In Upnayana lagna benefic placed in Kendras and Trikonas and Malfics placed in 3/6/11 houses are considered good.
Avoid Jupiter, Venus, Moon and Lagna Lord in 6th or 8th house, avoid Venus and Moon in 12th house and avoid malfics in 5th or 8th house.
Full Moon, exalted or in its own house is considered very auspicious in lagna.
Upnayana Lagna and Moon should be in the navamasha of mercury, Jupiter or Venus. Moon in its own navamasha is not considered auspicious except in 4th quarter of Shravana or Punarvasu nakshatras.
It is also called “Yagyopavita Sanskar” . In this Sanskar the bachelor is given “Gayatri Updesh” (a mantra which is considered one of the most auspicious, mantras for individual ) by the Acharya (preceptor) and the Guru or Acharya teaches the bechelor about ‘Vedas’ and also about the behavioural code of conduct and disciplinesof “Bhramacharya-Ashrama” (bachelorhood). After Upnayana the person is called ‘Dwija’ or reborn. He is said to taken rebirth from the womb of Acharya as a responsible and disciplined member of the society. After this Sanskar the person wears a sacred thread . It contains three threads reminding the person that he has to pay his three debits i.e.
(1) Pitri Rina (debt of parents)
(2) Rishi Rina (debt of those who gave him knowledge )
(3) Deva Rina (debt of God)
Three more threads are contained which show the ‘pravaras’ relating to a particular ‘Kula’ or family. This Sanskar also signifies a new phase of life as student.
Time: Counting the age from birth from conception, the age prescribed is 5th or 8th year for Brahmins; 6th or 11th year for Kayashtas and 8th or 12th for ‘Vaishyas’. The maximum age limit is 16 year for Brahmins, 22 years for Kayasthas and 24 years for Vaishyas.
Solar months of Makara, Kumbha, Meena, Mesha, Vrishbha and Mithuna avoidingb Harishayana (i.e. the period from Ashada Shukla 11 to Kartika Shukla 11 ) are considered good. Upanayana of eldest son should not be done when Sun is in Tarus. Sun in Gemini is good only for Kayashtas and Vaishyas. Solar month of chitra (sun in Pices ) is very auspicious in Upnayana.
Nakshatra : All fixed nakshatras (i.e. Uttaraphalguni, Uttarashada, Uttarabhadrapad and Rohini ) all friendly nakshatras (i.e. Hastha, Ashwini, Pushya and Abhijit ) and all movable nakshatras (i.e. Swati, Punarvasu, Shravana, Dhanistha and Shatbhisha ) are considered auspicious. Punarvasu is not considered favorable for Brahmins.
Naksatras for various Veda branches or Shakhas :
For ‘Rig-vedis’ Mrigshira, Ardra, Aslesha, Hasta, Poorvafalguni, Poorvashada and Poorvabhadrapad are auspicious.
For ‘Yajur-vedis’ Revati, Hastha,Anuradha, Pushya, Mirgshira, Punarvasu, Uttaraphalguni, Uttarashada, Uttarabhadrapad and Rohini are considered auspicious.
For ‘Saam-vadis Ashwini, Dhanistha, Hastha, Uttaraphalguni, Uttarashada, Uttarabhadrapad, Ardra and Shravana are considered auspicious.
For ‘Atharva-vadis’ Mrigshira,Revati, Hasta, Ashwini, Pushya, Anuradha,Dhanishta and Punarvasu nakshatras are considered considered auspicious.
Tithis: 2/3/5/10/11/12 tithis of bright half and 2/3/5 tithis of dark half are considered auspicious for Upnayana Sanskar. Avoid Ashada Shukla-10, Jyestha Shukla-2,Pausa Shukla 11, Magha Shukla 12 and samkranti day. All Rikta tithis (4/9/14) and Galgraha tithis (13/14/15/30/1/4/7/8/9 ) are avoided.
Days : All days except Tuesday and Saturday are good. For Saamvedis even Tuesday is auspicious.
Part of the day : Divide the length of the day in three parts. Upnayana is considered auspicious in first part of the day and inauspicious in third part of the day.
Lagnas: In Upnayana lagna benefic placed in Kendras and Trikonas and Malfics placed in 3/6/11 houses are considered good.
Avoid Jupiter, Venus, Moon and Lagna Lord in 6th or 8th house, avoid Venus and Moon in 12th house and avoid malfics in 5th or 8th house.
Full Moon, exalted or in its own house is considered very auspicious in lagna.
Upnayana Lagna and Moon should be in the navamasha of mercury, Jupiter or Venus. Moon in its own navamasha is not considered auspicious except in 4th quarter of Shravana or Punarvasu nakshatras.
Experience of Bala ji prabhu with Mayavadi impersonalist!!!
Balaji Prabhu from ISKCON Chowpatty narrates this experience on the day of
Gita Jayanti in Mumbai.
I was doing book distribution in the trains on the day of Gita Jayanti and
it incidentally happened to be the day of bakri-id. So many muslims were
also traveling in the train on that day. After distributing books in that
particular bogie I got down at khandeshwar station to catch the next train.
Five to 6 muslim youngsters also got down from the same bogie and followed
me. They had a spokesperson who seemed to be quite well read amongst them.
He stopped me and then we started conversing.
Muslim: Oh! You seem to be a well educated person. Have you dedicated your
whole life for this preaching mission?
Balaji: Yes.
Muslim: Oh! That's very nice. You are doing such a nice thing. I am also
very interested in knowing about your religion and I have done quite a lot
of study about your religion also. Can I ask you a few questions?
Balaji: Sure.
The spokesperson's tone, which sounded very pleasant till now, suddenly
became sarcastic.
Muslim: So you people believe in idol worship?
Balaji: No, we believe in deity worship.
Muslim: What is the difference?
Balaji: The difference is like this. You see post boxes in almost every
street of Mumbai. When you post a letter addressed to a person staying in
Delhi or Chennai in the post box it will eventually reach him even if there
is a slight mistake in the address. But if you yourself paint a box in black
and red, hang it outside your door and post a letter in it, it will never
reach the destination even if it is addressed to the person next door. Why?
Because the postbox has been authenticated by the government, letters posted
in that box are regularly cleared by postal department professionals and
delivered to their destinations. Similarly the deities are invested with the
complete potencies of the Lord Himself and hence can be worshipped.
Muslim: Oh! Then, does it mean that if I am at a place where there is no
access to the deities I cannot worship the Lord?
Balaji: No, You can worship Him through His holy names. Holy Quran says that
there are 100 names of Lord Allah. The same way our scriptures also mention
so many names of the Lord which are invested with all the potencies. So, we
can always worship the Lord through His holy names.
Muslim: Oh! If the Lord can be worshipped simply through His holy names then
what is the need for deity worship?
Balaji: Ok. Now I will give you my cell phone and you have unlimited free
minutes for the rest of your life to speak with your mother. Does it negate
the need for having any more personal interactions with your mother for the
rest of your life? Will you be satisfied by just speaking with her over
phone or would you want to personally have some interactions with her and do
some service to her when she is in need?
Muslim: I would definitely like to have personal interactions.
Balaji: Yes, the same way Deity worship gives us this nice opportunity do
personal service to the Lord. Moreover, the many names of the Lord are
actually named after their form. For example, the Lord is called Keshava,
meaning, the one with beautiful hair. He is also called Padma Lochana,
meaning, the one with eyes as beautiful as lotus petals. If just these
names, which are named after the forms of the Lord, are so much attractive,
how much more the forms themselves would attract the hearts of the devotees?
Hence the deities are there in order to attract the devotees.
Muslim: But I have read in your vedic scriptures that those who do Asambhuti
worship go to the darkest regions of hell? (Referring probably to the
Isopanishad verse)
Balaji: Yes, it is Ishopanishad verse 12, "andham tamah pravishanti ye
asambhutim upasate".
His face had a completely shocked expression when he heard me actually quote
the verse. May be he never expected any hindu to know and what to speak of
actually quoting the verse?
Balaji: Here the word asambhuti doesn't refer to deity worship, but it
refers to demigod worship. Anyways, you seem to be well read in our
scriptures. What do our scriptures mention about the right process of
acquiring vedic knowledge?
Muslim: I don't know.
Balaji: See (Opening the Bhagavad gita and showing Bg 4.34) this is the
process. First one should surrender to a spiritual master, serve him nicely
and then humbly question. Then the spiritual knowledge flows. Did you
receive your knowledge by this process?
Muslim: No.
Balaji: Then, how did you learn?
Muslim: I read from the Oxford university press edition of your Vedas.
Balaji: See, that is the problem. Neither the person who wrote the book nor
you, who read his book, understood the Vedas in the way it is recommended.
One cannot understand the vedic scriptures by a mere knowledge of Sanskrit,
the same way a person with just a knowledge of English cannot understand a
chemistry or physics book, though it may be written in the English language.
But I see that you have a genuine interest in understanding our scriptures
(with a pinch of sarcasm). So I will introduce you to a spiritual master and
you surrender your life to him, serve him day and night and then humbly
question him. That way your sincere desire to understand our scriptures will
be fulfilled (again intended sarcastically). Now, you want to take this
Bhagavad gita?
Muslim (With a completely confused look): No, No. I will call you later. He
hurriedly walked away with his cheerleaders.
Bhakta dhruv das.
Gita Jayanti in Mumbai.
I was doing book distribution in the trains on the day of Gita Jayanti and
it incidentally happened to be the day of bakri-id. So many muslims were
also traveling in the train on that day. After distributing books in that
particular bogie I got down at khandeshwar station to catch the next train.
Five to 6 muslim youngsters also got down from the same bogie and followed
me. They had a spokesperson who seemed to be quite well read amongst them.
He stopped me and then we started conversing.
Muslim: Oh! You seem to be a well educated person. Have you dedicated your
whole life for this preaching mission?
Balaji: Yes.
Muslim: Oh! That's very nice. You are doing such a nice thing. I am also
very interested in knowing about your religion and I have done quite a lot
of study about your religion also. Can I ask you a few questions?
Balaji: Sure.
The spokesperson's tone, which sounded very pleasant till now, suddenly
became sarcastic.
Muslim: So you people believe in idol worship?
Balaji: No, we believe in deity worship.
Muslim: What is the difference?
Balaji: The difference is like this. You see post boxes in almost every
street of Mumbai. When you post a letter addressed to a person staying in
Delhi or Chennai in the post box it will eventually reach him even if there
is a slight mistake in the address. But if you yourself paint a box in black
and red, hang it outside your door and post a letter in it, it will never
reach the destination even if it is addressed to the person next door. Why?
Because the postbox has been authenticated by the government, letters posted
in that box are regularly cleared by postal department professionals and
delivered to their destinations. Similarly the deities are invested with the
complete potencies of the Lord Himself and hence can be worshipped.
Muslim: Oh! Then, does it mean that if I am at a place where there is no
access to the deities I cannot worship the Lord?
Balaji: No, You can worship Him through His holy names. Holy Quran says that
there are 100 names of Lord Allah. The same way our scriptures also mention
so many names of the Lord which are invested with all the potencies. So, we
can always worship the Lord through His holy names.
Muslim: Oh! If the Lord can be worshipped simply through His holy names then
what is the need for deity worship?
Balaji: Ok. Now I will give you my cell phone and you have unlimited free
minutes for the rest of your life to speak with your mother. Does it negate
the need for having any more personal interactions with your mother for the
rest of your life? Will you be satisfied by just speaking with her over
phone or would you want to personally have some interactions with her and do
some service to her when she is in need?
Muslim: I would definitely like to have personal interactions.
Balaji: Yes, the same way Deity worship gives us this nice opportunity do
personal service to the Lord. Moreover, the many names of the Lord are
actually named after their form. For example, the Lord is called Keshava,
meaning, the one with beautiful hair. He is also called Padma Lochana,
meaning, the one with eyes as beautiful as lotus petals. If just these
names, which are named after the forms of the Lord, are so much attractive,
how much more the forms themselves would attract the hearts of the devotees?
Hence the deities are there in order to attract the devotees.
Muslim: But I have read in your vedic scriptures that those who do Asambhuti
worship go to the darkest regions of hell? (Referring probably to the
Isopanishad verse)
Balaji: Yes, it is Ishopanishad verse 12, "andham tamah pravishanti ye
asambhutim upasate".
His face had a completely shocked expression when he heard me actually quote
the verse. May be he never expected any hindu to know and what to speak of
actually quoting the verse?
Balaji: Here the word asambhuti doesn't refer to deity worship, but it
refers to demigod worship. Anyways, you seem to be well read in our
scriptures. What do our scriptures mention about the right process of
acquiring vedic knowledge?
Muslim: I don't know.
Balaji: See (Opening the Bhagavad gita and showing Bg 4.34) this is the
process. First one should surrender to a spiritual master, serve him nicely
and then humbly question. Then the spiritual knowledge flows. Did you
receive your knowledge by this process?
Muslim: No.
Balaji: Then, how did you learn?
Muslim: I read from the Oxford university press edition of your Vedas.
Balaji: See, that is the problem. Neither the person who wrote the book nor
you, who read his book, understood the Vedas in the way it is recommended.
One cannot understand the vedic scriptures by a mere knowledge of Sanskrit,
the same way a person with just a knowledge of English cannot understand a
chemistry or physics book, though it may be written in the English language.
But I see that you have a genuine interest in understanding our scriptures
(with a pinch of sarcasm). So I will introduce you to a spiritual master and
you surrender your life to him, serve him day and night and then humbly
question him. That way your sincere desire to understand our scriptures will
be fulfilled (again intended sarcastically). Now, you want to take this
Bhagavad gita?
Muslim (With a completely confused look): No, No. I will call you later. He
hurriedly walked away with his cheerleaders.
Bhakta dhruv das.
The hidden cause of kurma avtaar.
SHRILA PRABHUPADA always said that there is always a hidden cause of lord's incarnation and kurma avtaar is not exception to above - this avtaar occured not only to help surs or demi gods but also to reveal the eternal truth that it is supreme personality of godhead himself who holds the devotee along his whole spirtual path ,as kurma avtaar holds mandhara( man is mind and dhara is single line of water in hindi/sanskrit) this means our mind concentrated for one destination- to serve the lord , to love him without any selfish purpose etc.
And each stage in sagar manthan corresponds to parallel stage of a person leading spirtual path (Beginning with ocean of milk till attainment of immortality) as follows-
ocean of milk is same as human conciousness it is same as cerebro spinal fluid in mind with almost same concentration of salts.The mind is like an ocean while the thoughts and emotions are the waves in the ocean .
Mandhara, the mountain symbolises concentration. The word Mandhara is made up of two words Mana (mind) and Dhara (a single line) which means holding the mind in one line.
This is possible only by concentration.
The Devas and Asuras represent the positives and negatives respectively of one's personality. The participation of both the Devas and the Asuras signifies that when one is seeking bliss through spiritual practice, one has to integrate and harmonise both the positive and negative aspects and put both the energies to work for the common goal.
Mount Mandhara was upheld by Lord Vishnu as a Kurma (tortoise). The tortoise here symbolises the withdrawal of the senses into oneself (just as a tortoise withdraws its head and limbs into its shell, they are also five in number as our senses are five in number) as one practices mental concentration and meditation or contemplation which infact is possible only by krishna conciuosness.
Only humans have five senses and are elligible to do bhakti.Senses begins from virus which has half sense ie modern science considers it to be a bridge between living and non-living as it is living (starts dividing) when inside body and is inactive when outside body. examples are HIV , Comman cold etc.Thats why there is no cure for them.
Then bacteria has one sense that is only it can feel touch examples are typhoid, tuberculosis etc.
Plants are having two senses as they can smell also(exhale oxygen and inhale carbon di oxide)these do not have brains as it will be very difficult for them to live at one place(they will get irritated).
Then ants have three senses, higher developed creatures like honey bee,some fishes have four senses(they can 'see' also). The memory begins from fishes.(for eg)As recent findings say golden fishes have memory of only three seconds. This is the reason they never come to know that they are living in aquarium and not huge ocean.
Then animals have five senses in which we humans have fully developed senses along with proper sense of speech.
So lord kurma represents the human being who has withdrawn his heart from enjoyment given by these five senses and using them only to develop Krishna conciousness.
As lord himself is holding mana on his back-It is same like giving one's heart to krsna where he controls our mind and led ourself towards our final goal. Vasuki symbolises desire. Vasuki used in the churning of the ocean denotes that the desire.
Devas and the demons held desire (to seek immortality) as a rope and churned the mind with the help of concentration in krishna conciousness which lord kurma symbolises and withdrawal of the senses. Desire, if not controlled ,will overpower and destroy an individual. Now this desire is to be controlled by holding it from both sides.(Snakes are symbols of desire like we see many snakes coiling around golden pots ,diamonds etc,thus they represent desires of material things. People who die having money , gold in mind are reborn as snakes and then they remain attached to therehidden treasures. Thus greed is very dangerous things.
In Book "NECTAR OF DEVOTION" SHRILA PRABHUPADA SAYS(QUOTING PADMA PURAN):Pure devotional service in krishna conciousness is the highest enlightment and when such enlightment is there , it is just like blazing forest fire,killing all inauspicious snakes of desire." Thus snakes represents desire.
In vishnu sahastranama one of the lord's name is SHESHASHEAYE meaning one who lies on the grand snake sheshnaag internal meanning is one who is above materialistic desires or death which snake(sheshnaag) represents.
Thus holding snale from both sides means controlling our materialistic desires.
Controlling a desire is equivalent to vairagya or dettachment from materialistic things.This VAIRAGYA is of two types:
1.Positive dettachment or vairagya:It means when one possess materialistic thing but do not have attachment for it. Like king janak ,king dhruv who had whole empire to rule but they were not attached to any thing inside. Demi-gods holding tail of vasuki also represents positive vairagya as leaving enjoyment of heaven- they were churning ocean for attaining immortality. Thus in krisna conciousness one should not get attached to any thing which takes us away from our goal even any addiction is not allowed. This can be seen in Iskcon like four regulative principles, also shrila prabhupada forbade to drink tea as it contains caffeine which can lead to addiction. Thus even a small addiction will remove positive vairagya and can hamper our spirtual progress.
2.Negative dettachment or vairagya:It means when one does not have the materialistic thing in need and also does not have desire for it beacuse of his perfect knowledge or bhakti or devotion of lord. Like sudama (sakaha of krishna) never demanded anything from shree krishna he came back to his home without asking for anything even he knew that his wife and sons are dying of hunger.
While going back home (from dwarka) he was thanking lord krisna for not giving him any materialistic thing , thinking lord has done this so that he does not get attached to any materialistic thing.This was his level of spirtual development!!!king rantidevis another example .This is represented by asurs or demons holing mouth of vasuki.
Thus this means when a person becomes complete with positive and negative vairagya his journey towards supreme personality of godhead actually begins.
Then first thing which came out of ocean is poison which was consumed by lord shiva.
Lord Shiva symbolises the ascetic principle. His role in this story as the consumer of poison suggests that one can deal with the early problems of spiritual life by cultivating the qualities of Lord Shiva, namely, courage, initiative, willingness, discipline, simplicity, detachment, compassion, pure love and asceticism. He also represents one's guru as he is the highest vaishnav according to Shrila Prabhupad . In ISKON these habbits are developed from beginning and all the prabhu ji who have taken initiation have to cultivate these habbits.
The poison also symbolises pain and suffering(due to previous births bad karma) which occurs during early stage of spirtual path and this can only be lowered with the help of one's guru and strong faith in him and lord.
The various precious objects that come out of the ocean during the churning stand for the psychic or spiritual powers (Siddhis) which one gains as he progresses spiritually from stage to stage. The seeker should be careful about these powers as they can hamper his progress unless he uses them judiciously, not for selfish gains but for others' welfare.
This energy or siddhis can be lost in two ways removing one from the krishna conciousness:
1. One can ascend to higher planet and become demigod for example becoming indra,varun etc.
2. Using these siddhis in this world only like many dharama gurus these days (or so called babas) are using their spirtual energy interfering with the plan of lord and thus thrown back to lower positions.
Along with these siddhis many auspicious materlistic things also follow.For example Kalp vriksha comes out which is Tree of desire thus all materlistic desires(these are previous births desires which are lying in antarman like maps but the original bhakta do not have any material desires) are fullfilled.
Thus again one needs to control his inner self and move forward.
So one should again develop strong positive vairagya in this stage and should not get attached with any of these things.
This is the reason why the Gods and demons distributed these objects as they did not want to lose sight of their original aim which was to gain immortality. Shree krsna says many loose path while comming to me during this stage as many use their spirtual energy for their selfish purpose and loose sight of their final aim.
This reminds me of famous shalok by SANT TULSIDAS :
PRABHUTA KO SABH KOHI CHAHE
PRABHU CHAHE NA KOYI
TULSI JO PRABHU KO CHAHE
APHE PRABHUTA HOYI
MEANING:
EVERYBODY LIKES QUALITIES OF GOD LIKE HIS GRACE ,HIS SYMPATHY HIS LOVE AND TRIES TO TAKE BENEFIT OF THAT,BUT,NOBODY LIKE SUPREME
PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD HIMSELF. IF ANYBODY LOVES SUPREME PERSONALITY
OF GODHEAD(SHREE RAM) THAN AUTOMATICALLY HIS GRACE WILL FALL UNTO HIM
WITHOUT ANY EFFORT.
Mohini symbolises delusion of the mind in the form of (or originating from) pride. It is the pride of achievement to which the asuras or the demons succumbed and thus lost sight of their goal. Pride and egoism are the last hurdles one has to overcome in spiritual life before experiencing self-realisation. This is final stage where all delusion can occur many fall down due to abhiman or ahankar they have in their mind of the spirtual progress they have made.
SHRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU
IN
SHRI CHAITANYA-CHARITAMRITA SAYS
"To enable one to chant the holy name of lord always ,a person should be humbler than the grass in he street ,devoid of all desire for personal honor, and ready to offer others all respectful obeisances"
Lakshmi represents universal enrichment which comes as an automatic by-product of the internal self-realization or Amrita. and in end amrit represnts immortality which can be achieved only after entering eternal abode of supreme personality of godhead. So all the products in sagar manthan represnts some stage of spirtual path but in all of them role played by lord
KURMA is most significant as controlling our mind(mana) is most difficult task and it can be concentrated only and only with the help of lord himself.
So we must become very sincere towards developing krishna conciousness and regularly chant the mahamantra of lord which will concentrate our mind towards our final aim -the lotus feet of sri krisna.!!!!!!!!
HARE KRISNA HARE KRISNA KRISNA KRISNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.!!!!!
And each stage in sagar manthan corresponds to parallel stage of a person leading spirtual path (Beginning with ocean of milk till attainment of immortality) as follows-
ocean of milk is same as human conciousness it is same as cerebro spinal fluid in mind with almost same concentration of salts.The mind is like an ocean while the thoughts and emotions are the waves in the ocean .
Mandhara, the mountain symbolises concentration. The word Mandhara is made up of two words Mana (mind) and Dhara (a single line) which means holding the mind in one line.
This is possible only by concentration.
The Devas and Asuras represent the positives and negatives respectively of one's personality. The participation of both the Devas and the Asuras signifies that when one is seeking bliss through spiritual practice, one has to integrate and harmonise both the positive and negative aspects and put both the energies to work for the common goal.
Mount Mandhara was upheld by Lord Vishnu as a Kurma (tortoise). The tortoise here symbolises the withdrawal of the senses into oneself (just as a tortoise withdraws its head and limbs into its shell, they are also five in number as our senses are five in number) as one practices mental concentration and meditation or contemplation which infact is possible only by krishna conciuosness.
Only humans have five senses and are elligible to do bhakti.Senses begins from virus which has half sense ie modern science considers it to be a bridge between living and non-living as it is living (starts dividing) when inside body and is inactive when outside body. examples are HIV , Comman cold etc.Thats why there is no cure for them.
Then bacteria has one sense that is only it can feel touch examples are typhoid, tuberculosis etc.
Plants are having two senses as they can smell also(exhale oxygen and inhale carbon di oxide)these do not have brains as it will be very difficult for them to live at one place(they will get irritated).
Then ants have three senses, higher developed creatures like honey bee,some fishes have four senses(they can 'see' also). The memory begins from fishes.(for eg)As recent findings say golden fishes have memory of only three seconds. This is the reason they never come to know that they are living in aquarium and not huge ocean.
Then animals have five senses in which we humans have fully developed senses along with proper sense of speech.
So lord kurma represents the human being who has withdrawn his heart from enjoyment given by these five senses and using them only to develop Krishna conciousness.
As lord himself is holding mana on his back-It is same like giving one's heart to krsna where he controls our mind and led ourself towards our final goal. Vasuki symbolises desire. Vasuki used in the churning of the ocean denotes that the desire.
Devas and the demons held desire (to seek immortality) as a rope and churned the mind with the help of concentration in krishna conciousness which lord kurma symbolises and withdrawal of the senses. Desire, if not controlled ,will overpower and destroy an individual. Now this desire is to be controlled by holding it from both sides.(Snakes are symbols of desire like we see many snakes coiling around golden pots ,diamonds etc,thus they represent desires of material things. People who die having money , gold in mind are reborn as snakes and then they remain attached to therehidden treasures. Thus greed is very dangerous things.
In Book "NECTAR OF DEVOTION" SHRILA PRABHUPADA SAYS(QUOTING PADMA PURAN):Pure devotional service in krishna conciousness is the highest enlightment and when such enlightment is there , it is just like blazing forest fire,killing all inauspicious snakes of desire." Thus snakes represents desire.
In vishnu sahastranama one of the lord's name is SHESHASHEAYE meaning one who lies on the grand snake sheshnaag internal meanning is one who is above materialistic desires or death which snake(sheshnaag) represents.
Thus holding snale from both sides means controlling our materialistic desires.
Controlling a desire is equivalent to vairagya or dettachment from materialistic things.This VAIRAGYA is of two types:
1.Positive dettachment or vairagya:It means when one possess materialistic thing but do not have attachment for it. Like king janak ,king dhruv who had whole empire to rule but they were not attached to any thing inside. Demi-gods holding tail of vasuki also represents positive vairagya as leaving enjoyment of heaven- they were churning ocean for attaining immortality. Thus in krisna conciousness one should not get attached to any thing which takes us away from our goal even any addiction is not allowed. This can be seen in Iskcon like four regulative principles, also shrila prabhupada forbade to drink tea as it contains caffeine which can lead to addiction. Thus even a small addiction will remove positive vairagya and can hamper our spirtual progress.
2.Negative dettachment or vairagya:It means when one does not have the materialistic thing in need and also does not have desire for it beacuse of his perfect knowledge or bhakti or devotion of lord. Like sudama (sakaha of krishna) never demanded anything from shree krishna he came back to his home without asking for anything even he knew that his wife and sons are dying of hunger.
While going back home (from dwarka) he was thanking lord krisna for not giving him any materialistic thing , thinking lord has done this so that he does not get attached to any materialistic thing.This was his level of spirtual development!!!king rantidevis another example .This is represented by asurs or demons holing mouth of vasuki.
Thus this means when a person becomes complete with positive and negative vairagya his journey towards supreme personality of godhead actually begins.
Then first thing which came out of ocean is poison which was consumed by lord shiva.
Lord Shiva symbolises the ascetic principle. His role in this story as the consumer of poison suggests that one can deal with the early problems of spiritual life by cultivating the qualities of Lord Shiva, namely, courage, initiative, willingness, discipline, simplicity, detachment, compassion, pure love and asceticism. He also represents one's guru as he is the highest vaishnav according to Shrila Prabhupad . In ISKON these habbits are developed from beginning and all the prabhu ji who have taken initiation have to cultivate these habbits.
The poison also symbolises pain and suffering(due to previous births bad karma) which occurs during early stage of spirtual path and this can only be lowered with the help of one's guru and strong faith in him and lord.
The various precious objects that come out of the ocean during the churning stand for the psychic or spiritual powers (Siddhis) which one gains as he progresses spiritually from stage to stage. The seeker should be careful about these powers as they can hamper his progress unless he uses them judiciously, not for selfish gains but for others' welfare.
This energy or siddhis can be lost in two ways removing one from the krishna conciousness:
1. One can ascend to higher planet and become demigod for example becoming indra,varun etc.
2. Using these siddhis in this world only like many dharama gurus these days (or so called babas) are using their spirtual energy interfering with the plan of lord and thus thrown back to lower positions.
Along with these siddhis many auspicious materlistic things also follow.For example Kalp vriksha comes out which is Tree of desire thus all materlistic desires(these are previous births desires which are lying in antarman like maps but the original bhakta do not have any material desires) are fullfilled.
Thus again one needs to control his inner self and move forward.
So one should again develop strong positive vairagya in this stage and should not get attached with any of these things.
This is the reason why the Gods and demons distributed these objects as they did not want to lose sight of their original aim which was to gain immortality. Shree krsna says many loose path while comming to me during this stage as many use their spirtual energy for their selfish purpose and loose sight of their final aim.
This reminds me of famous shalok by SANT TULSIDAS :
PRABHUTA KO SABH KOHI CHAHE
PRABHU CHAHE NA KOYI
TULSI JO PRABHU KO CHAHE
APHE PRABHUTA HOYI
MEANING:
EVERYBODY LIKES QUALITIES OF GOD LIKE HIS GRACE ,HIS SYMPATHY HIS LOVE AND TRIES TO TAKE BENEFIT OF THAT,BUT,NOBODY LIKE SUPREME
PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD HIMSELF. IF ANYBODY LOVES SUPREME PERSONALITY
OF GODHEAD(SHREE RAM) THAN AUTOMATICALLY HIS GRACE WILL FALL UNTO HIM
WITHOUT ANY EFFORT.
Mohini symbolises delusion of the mind in the form of (or originating from) pride. It is the pride of achievement to which the asuras or the demons succumbed and thus lost sight of their goal. Pride and egoism are the last hurdles one has to overcome in spiritual life before experiencing self-realisation. This is final stage where all delusion can occur many fall down due to abhiman or ahankar they have in their mind of the spirtual progress they have made.
SHRI CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU
IN
SHRI CHAITANYA-CHARITAMRITA SAYS
"To enable one to chant the holy name of lord always ,a person should be humbler than the grass in he street ,devoid of all desire for personal honor, and ready to offer others all respectful obeisances"
Lakshmi represents universal enrichment which comes as an automatic by-product of the internal self-realization or Amrita. and in end amrit represnts immortality which can be achieved only after entering eternal abode of supreme personality of godhead. So all the products in sagar manthan represnts some stage of spirtual path but in all of them role played by lord
KURMA is most significant as controlling our mind(mana) is most difficult task and it can be concentrated only and only with the help of lord himself.
So we must become very sincere towards developing krishna conciousness and regularly chant the mahamantra of lord which will concentrate our mind towards our final aim -the lotus feet of sri krisna.!!!!!!!!
HARE KRISNA HARE KRISNA KRISNA KRISNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE.!!!!!
Gadadhara pandita : Incarnation of Radha Rani
SRI GADADHARA PANDITA GOSWAMI
Sri Gadadhar was the consant companion of Mahaprabhu from the time of their childhood. His father's name was Sri Madhva Misra and his mother's name Sri Ratnavati-devi. They lived very near the house of Sri Jagannatha Misra in Mayapura. Ratnavati-devi thought of Saci-devi as her own sister, and always used to visit her.
During their childhood, Sri Gaura Hari and Gadadhara would play together, sometimes at Mahaprabhu's house and sometimes at Gadadhara's house. They both studied together at the same school. Gadadhara was a few years younger then Nimai. Nimai couldn't remain without Gadadhara even for a moment and Gadadhara likewise couldn't stand to be separated from Nimai.
In the Gaur-ganoddesa-dipika, it is described that that person who in Vraja was the daughter of Sri Vrsabhanu Raja, namely Srimati Radharani, is now celebrated as Sri Gadadhara Pandita.
Srila Svarupa Damodara has written in his diary: avani sura bavah Sri Panditakhyo jatindrah / sa khalo bhavati Radha Srila Gauravataro.
Sri Vasudeva Ghosa Thakura has also written:
Agam agocar gora akhil brahma-par, veda upar, najane pasandi mati bhora Nitya-nityananda Caitanya Govinda Pandit Gadadhar Radhe Caitanya yugala-rupa kebol raser kup avatar sadsiva sadhe Antare nave-ghana bahire gaura tanu yugalrupa parkase Kahe Vasudeva Ghose yugal bhajan base janame janame rahu asa
"Lord Gaurasundara, who is beyond the perview of the scriptures, beyond the entire Brahman, and above even the Vedas, can never be known by the atheists whose intelligence is dull. Lord Nityananda is His eternal self. Lord Caitanya is Lord Govinda Himself and Pandita Gadadhara is none other than Sri Radha. The divine couple, who are present in Sri Caitanya, are a well of rasa. Advaita Acarya (Sadasiva) has prayed for His descent.
Within He is blackish but of a golden hue without, the manifestation of the divine couple. Thus Vasudeva Ghosa sings of the beauty of this divine couple - Sri Gaura-Gadadhara - in whose worship he has been completely subjugated. He prays that he will desire to serve them birth after birth."
In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta we likewise find:
Panditer bhav mudre kahan na jay gadadhar pran nath nam hoila jay panditer krpa prasad lehan na jay gadai gauranga kari sarvaloke gay
"The emotions and expressions of Pandita Gadadhara are not possible to describe. Another name of Lord Gauranga is the 'Lord of the life of Gadadhara.' Who can understand what mercy has been bestowed upon him? Their glories are sung by everyone as Gadai- Gauranga."
During the time when Sri Isvara Puri was present for a few months in Navadwipa at the house of Sri Gopinath Acarya, he taught Gadadhara from the book he had composed, Sri Krsna Lilamrta.
Gadadhara was from his very childhood very serene, patient, calm, quiet, fond of solitude and very renounced. Nimai Pandit during the time of His precocious youth would ask his fellow students meaningless, fallacious questions in logic. Gadadhara however, was not especially fond of this pastime, and therefore he sometimes used to remain at some distance from Nimai. But Nimai wouldn't allow him to get away. He would tell him - "Gadadhara! In a very short time I'll become such a Vaisnava that Lord Brahma and Lord Siva themselves will come to My door."
Sri Gadadhara Pandita was very affectionate towards Mukunda datta. Whenever any Vaisnava came to Navadwipa, Mukunda would inform Gadadhara and they would both go to have darsana. One time Pundarika Vidyanidhi came from Cattagram to Navadwipa and Mukunda invited Gadadhara to come along and meet him. Gadadhara was very excited to meet such a Vaisnava and thus the two of them happily set out together to take advantage of sadhu-sanga with the famous Pundarika Vidyanidhi.
However, when Gadadhara saw that Pundarika Vidyanidhi dressed and acted like a wealthy materialist, he lost whatever reverence he had previously felt even before speaking with him. Gadahara thought to himself, "How can a Vaisnava look and act as if he was so addicted to sense enjoyment?"
However, Mukunda knew the real character of Pundarika Vidyanidhi, and he could also sense the doubts in the mind of Gadadhara Pandita. Thus he recited some slokas from the Srimad Bhagavatam in a very sweet voice. When Pundarika Vidyanidhi heard his beautiful recitation of these slokas, in a fit of ecstasy he began to cry while calling, "Krsna, Krsna", and finally fainted dead away on the floor. [Chaitanya Bhagavat. Madhylila 7.78-79].
Gadadhara now felt very remorseful in his mind. He thought to himself, "Because I have ignorantly considered this highly advanced soul to be an ordinary materialist, what an offense I have committed! In order that I might be saved from the reaction of this offense, I think the only solution is to accept initiation from him."
Gadadhara Pandita submitted his proposal to Mukunda, who presented it to Pundarika Vidyanidhi with a full account of the pandita's high qualifications. "Hearing this proposal, Pundarik became very happy. 'Providence has bestowed upon me a great jewel; certainly I will accept him. You shouldn't have any doubt about that. It is the result of many lifetimes of good fortune that one gets a disciple like this.'" [Chaitanya Bhagavat. Madhylila 7.117-118]. On an auspicious day, Sri Gadadhara Pandita received the divine mantra from Pundarika Vidyanidhi.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, upon going to Gaya Dham, first began to manifest Krsna-prema. There he enacted the pastime of accepting the shelter of Sri Isvara Puri. After returning to His house He began to exhibit a new life.
Day and night He floated in the ocean of love of Krsna. Gadadhara, upon seeing the Lord showering of tears in love for Krsna, also began to cry in ecstatic love. From this time, Gadadhara Pandita was always at Mahaprabhu's side.
One day Sri Gadadhara brought some pan to Sri Gauranga, Who, in an exuberance of emotion asked him, "Gadadhara! Where is that beautiful blackish boy Who is dressed in yellow garments?" After asking this, He began to shed tears.
Gadadhara couldn't immediately think of what to say. He finally respectfully suggested, "He is in your heart." Hearing this, Mahaprabhu began to tear at his chest with his nails, but Gadadhara quickly grabbed his hands. Prabhu said to him, "Gadadhara! Let go of My hands. I cannot remain a moment more not seeing Krsna."
Gadadhara replied, "Just try to be a little patient and calm Yourself. Krsna will come any minute now." Hearing this, Mahaprabhu became somewhat composed.
Sacimata heard all this from a distance and then came running there. Being very pleased with Gadadhara, she declared, "Though He is just a boy, He is very intelligent. I am frightened to go before my son when He is in these moods. But Gadadhara has very cleverly pacified him."
"Sacimata told Gadadhar, 'Gadadhara! You must please remain with Nimai always. If you stay with Him then I won't have to worry."
One day, Sri Gadadhara, having heard that Mahaprabhu will speak Krsna-katha at Suklambara Brahmacari's house, went there and sat down inside. Meanwhile, Mahaprabhu arrived outside on the verandah and began to speak about Krsna to an audience of devotees there; Gadahara Prabhu listened from within the house. Soon Mahaprabhu became totally absorbed in the ecstacy Krsna-prema, which quickly spread to the assembly of devotees. For some time they continued to taste the mellows of love of Krsna together and then becalmed themselves.
Gadadhara, however, couldn't restrain his ecstacy. With his head bowed down, he continued to cry very loudly. Hearing his pitiful sobbing, Mahaprabhu inquired, "Who is crying within the room?" Suklambara Brahmacari replied, "Your Gadadhara."
Mahaprabhu exclaimed, "Gadadhara! You are so pious and virtuous. Since your very childhood you were so devoted to Krsna. My life has been wasted. Due to my previous evil activities I cannot get the association of the Lord of my life, Sri Krsna."
Saying this Prabhu embraced Gadadhara in great love.
When Mahaprabhu began His pastimes in Navadvipa, Gadadhara was his chief companion. Radha-Krsna of Vraja are now sporting on the banks of the Ganga as Gadai-Gauranga, and the cowherd boy-friends of Vraja are assisting in His pastimes of kirtana.
One day after roaming throughout the town of Navadwipa, Mahaprabhu came to a forest and seated Himself there. Then He began to remember His pastimes in Vraja. Mukunda began to sing the purva-vag (courtship) songs in a very sweet voice while Gadadhara collected some flowers from that forest and after stringing a garland placed it on Prabhu's neck. Previously, in the way that Sri Radha used to decorate Sri Krsna, Gadadhara began to dress Prabhu in that exact same manner. Some were singing beautiful songs, while others began to dance in a very graceful style. Then Sri Gaurasundara taking Gadadhara by His side seated Himself on a dias at the base of one tree, while Adwaita Acarya began to offer arati. Nityananda seated Himself on Prabhu's right side and Srivasa Pandita began to decorate everyone with flower garlands. Narahari was fanning that Divine couple with a whisk made from the tail hairs of forest cows. Suklambar decorated them all with sandalwood paste while Murari Gupta recited the premdhani. Madhava, Vasudeva, Purusottama, Vijaya, and Mukunda began to sing songs in the various ragas.
Then Prabhu closed his pastimes in Nadiya and as per his mother's request he took up his residence at Nilacala. Gadadhara also went there to live at this time. He engaged himself in the service of Sri Tota Gopinatha. Mahaprabhu would very often visit His dear friend Gadadhara and lose Himself in discussions on the topics of Sri Krsna. The temple of Sri Tota Gopinathji is located near the ocean at Yameshvar.
Tota Gopinath in Puri
When Lord Caitanya traveled to Sri Vrindavana, Gadadhara, not being able to bear separation from Him, wanted to go also but Mahaprabhu reminded him of his vow of Ksetra-sannyasa (by which he was to remain constantly in Sri Ksetra in the service of Sri Gopinatha) and sent him back.
Sri Gadadhara Pandita would regularly recite Srimad Bhagavatam. Sri Gaurasundara, along with His associates, would listen.
Then one might ask a question, if Lord Chaitanya is Radha and Krsna combined, where is the necessity for the appearance of Gadadhara Pandit?
The answer to this is that it has been explained that Mahaprabhu is Krsna in search of the loving sentiment of Radha for Krsna. Sri Gadadhara Pandita represents that bhava personified, and thus he has appeared to be at the side of Mahaprabhu to assist him in his search. In this explanation, Gadadhara gives his unalloyed love to Lord Gauranga willingly.
It has also been explained that Krsna has stolen the bhava of Radha and appears as Mahaprabhu, Radha Krsna combined. Gadadhara represents that which is left of Radha after Krsna steals her bhava. The mood is that seeing that neither Sri Radha nor Sri Krsna appear on the purnima tithi (full moon), but when The Divine couple combine as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, this appearance in the world occurs on the Purima in Navadwipa.
Sri Gadadhara pandit appears on the new moon and leaves the world on the same day. New moon means no moon - dark moon or Amavasya tithi. He also appeared in a land that is desert-like, dry and vacant in contrast to the lush Ganga basin of Navadwipa.
All of this indicates the condition of the heart or nature of Sri Gadadhara. He is thus feeling empty, and lets everyone know about it too. It is said that what remains in him is the bhava of Rukmini, who is Radha's expansion in Dvaraka. Thus his surface mood in Gaura lila is like that of a dakshine (right wing) gopi rather than a vama (left wing) gopi (Vama type is little aggressive in nature, and fights with the lover). However, to prove Gadadhar's dedication as right-wing He is submissive to the extreme (daksina type tolerates everything whatever comes, only with a defensive attitude he stands. That is daksina path, that is as in Srimati Rukmini Devi. So when the spirit of Radharani of that opposing nature was drawn out by Mahaprabhu, then what remains is compared like that of Rukmini, as a passive seer, without any power to assert, only onlooker. Onlooker and bearing everything, a very pitiable condition. The idea is to awaken kindness and sympathy from everyone).
"What is he and what is she and what is her position now. And how her lover has taken up everything from her, looted everything from her, leaving her as a beggar wandering in the street. So much looted. Radharani when looted to such a degree by Krsna, that becomes Gadadhara, the pitiable figure. The wealth of course cannot go forever. She is the proprietor, owner cannot be far off. After a long time, that must come to her again, one day. And those that are helping her in her day of distress, they will get how much remuneration at that time. When she will get back all property."
Just as in Vraj Srimati Radharani is the Queen and proprioter of everything, so Gadadhara is master of everything, but still here He has given everything to His master, and thus in one sense He is empty. This mood of His being empty is unique, he is playing in such a way, as His part or play, as Gadadhara Pandita. His is the highest position of self-sacrifice.
"Nimai Pandita showed His character as an aggressor, impertinent, and an extraordinary genius. Gadadhara Pandita was just the opposite. He had some natural inclination, that was in His submission and total dedication towards Nimai Pandita. And Nimai Pandita also had some special attraction for Gadadhara Pandita. But Gadadhara Pandita could not face Nimai Pandita directly. Some sort of shyness He felt about Nimai Pandita. So, this is what we know about Gadadhara Pandita. Gadadhara Pandita had very intimate relationship with Mahaprabhu, in which the acaryas, Swarupa Damodara, Rupa, Sanatana, Kaviraja Goswami, Raghunatha Dasa, all of them, could see Radharani and Rukmini both in his personality, and according to that we can try to understand him."
It is true that Gauranga Mahaprabhu is Vrajendranandana Krsna, within Him, as is the case with svayam bhagavan Krsna, all of His expansions are present. Thus as Gaura-Narayana He consorts with Rukmini in Her appearance as Laksmipriya devi. Furthermore, just as Vrajendranandana Krsna never leaves Vrndavana, similarly Sacinandana Gaura Krsna never leaves Navadvipa Dhama.
Thus the lila of Mahaprabhu in Puri, which is representative of Dvaraka, is imbued with aisvarya (opulence) not found in Nadiya (Bengal). Indeed this aisvarya is said to have weighed heavily on Gadadhara Pandita and influenced His loving sentiment of bhava. Srila Krsna dasa Kaviraja Goswami says of Gadadhara in Puri Dhama that because He was influenced by aisvarya-jnana of Gauranga, He was, as Srila Prabhupada comments further, always submissive (daksina-nayiki). He could not be angered by Mahaprabhu even when Mahaprabhu tried to anger Him and see the mood of Radha (vama-nayiki) in Him.
Krsna dasa Kaviraja pointed out that even as Krsna in the form of Mahaprabhu tried to anger Gadadhara (Radha) He could not draw out this sentiment from Him because he maintained a temperament like that of Rukmini's (daksina-nayiki) due to the fact that Mahaprabhu had already stolen the vama-nayiki aspect of Radha from him. Indeed, Svarupa Damodara Goswami asked Gadadhara why He did not reproach Mahaprabhu and instead tolerated Mahaprabhu's criticisms of Him. To this Gadadhara replied, prabhu svatantra sarvajna-siromani tanra sane 'hatha' kari,--bhala nahi mani, "The master is independent. He is the topmost omniscient person. If I speak on an equal level with Him, this will not be good for Me."
"That which is left over after the bhava and luster of Radha has been plundered by Krsna is Gadadhara Pandita."
It is stated that no one loves Lord Gauranga more than Sri Gadadhara. Yet even though He takes much abuse and neglect from Gauranga, still He cannot leave Him. His necessity and dependency is very great. The understanding is that without Mahaprabhu She/He is transcendentally incomplete, thus He/She wants to get His/Her bhava back from Krsna to again become complete, the complete united whole Radha-Krsna. To unite Gaura with Gadadhara (Radha Krishna) is the highest ideal of Gaudiya Vaisnavism.
The worship of Gaura-Gadadhara is in madhurya-rasa so is not for the kanistha adhikari on the beginning stages of devotional service where one strives to follow the principles and avoid offences, rather this is for advanced devotees who are already steady (nistha) in Krsna consciousness and getting a genuine taste (ruchi). Then in transcendental view They are worshipped like Radha and Krishna. Thus Sri Gadadhara pandit is like Sri Radha standing next to the Gaura (Krsna) who has stolen Her/His bhava (love), and She wants it back. When They are united, then the divine couple Radha-Krsna/Gaura-Gadadhara are present. Sometimes the devotees will see them as Radha-Krsna, and sometimes as Gaura-Gadadhara according to that pure devotee's mood. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written an arati song for Gaura-Gadadhara describing Radha-Krsna. This is the internal reality. It is all very esoteric and not to be imitated. Who can understand such wonderful and intimate pastimes, thus we use ordinary terms to try to explain them but these mellows are not ordinary.
When Vakresvara pandita came to live at Puri, he would accompany Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Advaita Acharya and other devotees to Tota Gopinath to hear Gadadhara Pandit give discourses on the Bhagavatam.
One should hear the book Bhagavatam from the devotee Bhagavatam.
One who thinks, "I understand the Bhagavatam" does not really know the Bhagavatam's central meaning. On the other hand, an ignorant person who takes shelter of the Bhagavatam will directly perceive its meaning. The Bhagavatam is pure love, it is the incarnation of Krishna himself. It recounts Krishna's most intimate activities. After recounting the Vedas and the Puranas, Vedavyasa felt unsatisfied, but as soon as the Bhagavatam manifested on his tongue, his mind was immediately satisfied. (Chaitanya Bhagavat 3.3.514-8)
smara gaura-gadadhara keli kalam
bhava gaura-gadadhara paksa caram
srnu gaura-gadadhara caru katham
bhaja godruma-kanon kunja-vidhum
[Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura]
"Remember Gaura-Gadadhara during the time of Their pastimes, Meditate on Gaura-Gadadhar, the Divine couple, the par-excellence of beauty. Hear beautiful discussions on the topics of Gaura-Gadadhara, and worship them in the forest grove of Godruma, bathed in the light of the moon."
gadadhar pandit prabhu age bosi
pare bhagavat - sudha dhale rasi rasi [B.R. 3/107]
After enacting His pastimes on this planet for forty-eight years, it was seen by witnesses that Sri Gaurasundara entered into the body of Sri Tota-Gopinathji, who was the Deity in Puri on the Nilachala beach served by Sri Gadadhara Pandita.
nyasi siromani cesta bujhe sadya kar
akasmat prithini karila andhakar
pravesila ei gopinatha mandire
hoila adarsan, punah na aila bahire
[B.R. 8.356-357]
In the diary of one Orissan devotee, Mahaprabhu is said to have first went missing inside the Gundica Mandira. Then the devotees began to comb the four directions in search of their Beloved Lord. Finally, outside of Tota Gopinatha Mandira, at Yameswar, the outer garment of Mahaprabhu was found lying on the ground.
There's a story in connection with Sri Gadadhar Pandit that when He was very old and trying to render service to Tota-Gopinath that He couldn't any more reach to put the garland around the neck of the Deity. To reciprocate with His loving service the Deity knelt down to accept the flower garlands of His beloved Gadadhar, Who is none other than His beloved Srimati Radharani incarnate as mentioned previously.
To this day the Deity of Tota-Gopinath in the temple remains in a kneeling position to accept the eternal service of His beloved Gadadhar. A slight crack which is still to be found near the right knee of Sri Gopinathji is the spot where Mahaprabhu is said to have entered the Deity.
His appearance is on the amavasya (new moon) of the month of Vaisakha.
Sri Gadadharastakam by Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami
Text 1
sva-bhakti-yoga-lasinam sada vraje viharinam
hari-priya-ganagragam cacisuta-priyecvaram
saradha-krsna-sevana-prakacakam mahacayam bhajamy aham
gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu, who appears very splendid, engaged in the Lord's devotional service. He always performs pastimes in Vraja, where he is very prominent among the gopis, who are very dear to Lord Hari. Lord Caitanya, the Son of Saci is the dear Lord of Gadadhara Prabhu, who is preaching the service of Radha and Krsna.
Text 2
navojjvaladi- bhavana-vidhana-karma-paragam
vicitra-gaura-bhakti-sindhu-ragga-bhagga-lasinam
suraga-marga-darsakam vrajadi-vasa-dayakam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. He is expertly absorbed in meditation on the nine rasas of devotional service, beginning with ujjvala-rasa (conjugal love), and he dances in the waves of the amazing ocean of devotional service to Lord Caitanya. He preaches the path of raganuga-bhakti (spontaneous devotional service), and He is a fit person to attain residence in the transcendental land of Vraja.
Text 3
sacisutagghri-sara-bhakta-vrnda-vandya-gauravam
gaura-bhava-citta-padma-madhya-krsna-vallabham
mukunda-gaura-rupinam svabhava-dharma-dayakam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. The best of those who are devoted to the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya, the Son of Saci-devi, offer respecful obeisances to him and treat him with great importance, and he is very dear to Lord Krsna, Who is seated in the middle of the lotus flower which is his heart, assuming His golden form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He preaches that Lord Mukunda has assumed the golden form of Lord Caitanya, and he returns the living entities to their constitutional position as servants of the Lord.
Text 4
nikunja-sevanadika-prakasanaika-karanam sada
sakhi-rati-pradam maha-rasa-svarupakam
sadacritagghri-pankajam sariri-sad-gurum varam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. It is only because of him that the truth of the exalted devotional service performed by the intimate associates of Krsna in the forests and groves of Vrndavana has been revealed. He is preaching the ecstatic love attained by the gopis, and he is indeed a personification of the mellows of devotional service. The saintly devotees take shelter of his lotus feet, and he teaches the truth of spiritual life to the living entities.
Text 5
mahaprabhor maha-rasa-prakasanagkuram priyam sada
maha-rasagkura-prakacanadi-vasanam mahaprabhor
vrajagganadi-bhava-moda-karakam bhajamy aham
gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. He is very dear to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and it is as if he had sprouted from the manifestation of the Lord`s ecstatic love. He is always adorned with the garments of ecstatic love of Godhead, and He delights Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu by arousing in the Lord the ecstatic emotional love experienced by the gopis of Vraja.
Text 6
dvijendra-vrnda-vandya-pada-yugma-bhakti-vardhakam
nijesu radhikatmata-vapuh-prakacanagraham
asesa-bhakti-sastra-siksayojjvalamrta-prabam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu, who expands the mellows of devotional service and whose lotus feet are worshipped by the kings of the brahmanas. Among his confidential associates, he reveals his actual form as Srimati Radharani. He distributes the nectar of the ecstatic mellow of the gopis conjugal love, strictly following the instructions of all the devotional scriptures.
Text 7
muda nija-priyadika-svapada-padma-sindhubhir
maha-rasarnavamrta-pradesta-gaura-bhaktidam
sadast-sattvikanvitam nijesta-bhakti-dayakam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. With delight he is giving the devotional service of Lord Caitanya which reveals the nectarean ocean of the most exalted mellows of devotional service, along with the nectar flowing from the lotus feet of the gopis, headed by Srimati Radharani, who is most dear to Krsna. Gadadhara Prabhu is decorated with the eight transcendental ecstatic symptoms of sattvika-bhava,and he is distributing devotional service to his worshippable Lord Krsna.
Text 8
yadiya-riti-raga-ragga-bhagga-digdhamanaso naro `api
yati turnam eva narya-bhava-bhajanam tam
ujjvalakta-cittam etu citta-matta-catpado bhajamy aham
gadadharam supanditam guram prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. Even a conditioned soul, whose mind becomes anointed by the colorful waves of spontaneous devotional service as delineated by Srila Gadadhara Prabhu, quickly attains the highest level of devotional service. He becomes like a maddened bumble bee whose mind is anointed with the mellow of ujjvala-rasa (conjugal love).
Text 9
maha-rasamrta-pradam sada gadadhara-astakam pathet tu
yah subhaktito vrajaggana-ganotsavam
saci-tanuja-pada-padma-bhakti-ratna-yogyatam labheta
radhika-gadadharagghri-padma-sevaya
"These eight verses glorifying Srila Gadadhara Prabhu distribute the nectat of the most exalted mellow of devotional service, and they are like a festival for the gopis of Vraja. If one regularly reads these verses and serves the lotus feet of Srila Gadadhara Prabhu, who is an incarnation of Srimati Radharani, then he will become qualified to attain the jewel of pure devotional service for the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya,the son of Sacidevi."
Sri Gadadhar was the consant companion of Mahaprabhu from the time of their childhood. His father's name was Sri Madhva Misra and his mother's name Sri Ratnavati-devi. They lived very near the house of Sri Jagannatha Misra in Mayapura. Ratnavati-devi thought of Saci-devi as her own sister, and always used to visit her.
During their childhood, Sri Gaura Hari and Gadadhara would play together, sometimes at Mahaprabhu's house and sometimes at Gadadhara's house. They both studied together at the same school. Gadadhara was a few years younger then Nimai. Nimai couldn't remain without Gadadhara even for a moment and Gadadhara likewise couldn't stand to be separated from Nimai.
In the Gaur-ganoddesa-dipika, it is described that that person who in Vraja was the daughter of Sri Vrsabhanu Raja, namely Srimati Radharani, is now celebrated as Sri Gadadhara Pandita.
Srila Svarupa Damodara has written in his diary: avani sura bavah Sri Panditakhyo jatindrah / sa khalo bhavati Radha Srila Gauravataro.
Sri Vasudeva Ghosa Thakura has also written:
Agam agocar gora akhil brahma-par, veda upar, najane pasandi mati bhora Nitya-nityananda Caitanya Govinda Pandit Gadadhar Radhe Caitanya yugala-rupa kebol raser kup avatar sadsiva sadhe Antare nave-ghana bahire gaura tanu yugalrupa parkase Kahe Vasudeva Ghose yugal bhajan base janame janame rahu asa
"Lord Gaurasundara, who is beyond the perview of the scriptures, beyond the entire Brahman, and above even the Vedas, can never be known by the atheists whose intelligence is dull. Lord Nityananda is His eternal self. Lord Caitanya is Lord Govinda Himself and Pandita Gadadhara is none other than Sri Radha. The divine couple, who are present in Sri Caitanya, are a well of rasa. Advaita Acarya (Sadasiva) has prayed for His descent.
Within He is blackish but of a golden hue without, the manifestation of the divine couple. Thus Vasudeva Ghosa sings of the beauty of this divine couple - Sri Gaura-Gadadhara - in whose worship he has been completely subjugated. He prays that he will desire to serve them birth after birth."
In Sri Caitanya-caritamrta we likewise find:
Panditer bhav mudre kahan na jay gadadhar pran nath nam hoila jay panditer krpa prasad lehan na jay gadai gauranga kari sarvaloke gay
"The emotions and expressions of Pandita Gadadhara are not possible to describe. Another name of Lord Gauranga is the 'Lord of the life of Gadadhara.' Who can understand what mercy has been bestowed upon him? Their glories are sung by everyone as Gadai- Gauranga."
During the time when Sri Isvara Puri was present for a few months in Navadwipa at the house of Sri Gopinath Acarya, he taught Gadadhara from the book he had composed, Sri Krsna Lilamrta.
Gadadhara was from his very childhood very serene, patient, calm, quiet, fond of solitude and very renounced. Nimai Pandit during the time of His precocious youth would ask his fellow students meaningless, fallacious questions in logic. Gadadhara however, was not especially fond of this pastime, and therefore he sometimes used to remain at some distance from Nimai. But Nimai wouldn't allow him to get away. He would tell him - "Gadadhara! In a very short time I'll become such a Vaisnava that Lord Brahma and Lord Siva themselves will come to My door."
Sri Gadadhara Pandita was very affectionate towards Mukunda datta. Whenever any Vaisnava came to Navadwipa, Mukunda would inform Gadadhara and they would both go to have darsana. One time Pundarika Vidyanidhi came from Cattagram to Navadwipa and Mukunda invited Gadadhara to come along and meet him. Gadadhara was very excited to meet such a Vaisnava and thus the two of them happily set out together to take advantage of sadhu-sanga with the famous Pundarika Vidyanidhi.
However, when Gadadhara saw that Pundarika Vidyanidhi dressed and acted like a wealthy materialist, he lost whatever reverence he had previously felt even before speaking with him. Gadahara thought to himself, "How can a Vaisnava look and act as if he was so addicted to sense enjoyment?"
However, Mukunda knew the real character of Pundarika Vidyanidhi, and he could also sense the doubts in the mind of Gadadhara Pandita. Thus he recited some slokas from the Srimad Bhagavatam in a very sweet voice. When Pundarika Vidyanidhi heard his beautiful recitation of these slokas, in a fit of ecstasy he began to cry while calling, "Krsna, Krsna", and finally fainted dead away on the floor. [Chaitanya Bhagavat. Madhylila 7.78-79].
Gadadhara now felt very remorseful in his mind. He thought to himself, "Because I have ignorantly considered this highly advanced soul to be an ordinary materialist, what an offense I have committed! In order that I might be saved from the reaction of this offense, I think the only solution is to accept initiation from him."
Gadadhara Pandita submitted his proposal to Mukunda, who presented it to Pundarika Vidyanidhi with a full account of the pandita's high qualifications. "Hearing this proposal, Pundarik became very happy. 'Providence has bestowed upon me a great jewel; certainly I will accept him. You shouldn't have any doubt about that. It is the result of many lifetimes of good fortune that one gets a disciple like this.'" [Chaitanya Bhagavat. Madhylila 7.117-118]. On an auspicious day, Sri Gadadhara Pandita received the divine mantra from Pundarika Vidyanidhi.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, upon going to Gaya Dham, first began to manifest Krsna-prema. There he enacted the pastime of accepting the shelter of Sri Isvara Puri. After returning to His house He began to exhibit a new life.
Day and night He floated in the ocean of love of Krsna. Gadadhara, upon seeing the Lord showering of tears in love for Krsna, also began to cry in ecstatic love. From this time, Gadadhara Pandita was always at Mahaprabhu's side.
One day Sri Gadadhara brought some pan to Sri Gauranga, Who, in an exuberance of emotion asked him, "Gadadhara! Where is that beautiful blackish boy Who is dressed in yellow garments?" After asking this, He began to shed tears.
Gadadhara couldn't immediately think of what to say. He finally respectfully suggested, "He is in your heart." Hearing this, Mahaprabhu began to tear at his chest with his nails, but Gadadhara quickly grabbed his hands. Prabhu said to him, "Gadadhara! Let go of My hands. I cannot remain a moment more not seeing Krsna."
Gadadhara replied, "Just try to be a little patient and calm Yourself. Krsna will come any minute now." Hearing this, Mahaprabhu became somewhat composed.
Sacimata heard all this from a distance and then came running there. Being very pleased with Gadadhara, she declared, "Though He is just a boy, He is very intelligent. I am frightened to go before my son when He is in these moods. But Gadadhara has very cleverly pacified him."
"Sacimata told Gadadhar, 'Gadadhara! You must please remain with Nimai always. If you stay with Him then I won't have to worry."
One day, Sri Gadadhara, having heard that Mahaprabhu will speak Krsna-katha at Suklambara Brahmacari's house, went there and sat down inside. Meanwhile, Mahaprabhu arrived outside on the verandah and began to speak about Krsna to an audience of devotees there; Gadahara Prabhu listened from within the house. Soon Mahaprabhu became totally absorbed in the ecstacy Krsna-prema, which quickly spread to the assembly of devotees. For some time they continued to taste the mellows of love of Krsna together and then becalmed themselves.
Gadadhara, however, couldn't restrain his ecstacy. With his head bowed down, he continued to cry very loudly. Hearing his pitiful sobbing, Mahaprabhu inquired, "Who is crying within the room?" Suklambara Brahmacari replied, "Your Gadadhara."
Mahaprabhu exclaimed, "Gadadhara! You are so pious and virtuous. Since your very childhood you were so devoted to Krsna. My life has been wasted. Due to my previous evil activities I cannot get the association of the Lord of my life, Sri Krsna."
Saying this Prabhu embraced Gadadhara in great love.
When Mahaprabhu began His pastimes in Navadvipa, Gadadhara was his chief companion. Radha-Krsna of Vraja are now sporting on the banks of the Ganga as Gadai-Gauranga, and the cowherd boy-friends of Vraja are assisting in His pastimes of kirtana.
One day after roaming throughout the town of Navadwipa, Mahaprabhu came to a forest and seated Himself there. Then He began to remember His pastimes in Vraja. Mukunda began to sing the purva-vag (courtship) songs in a very sweet voice while Gadadhara collected some flowers from that forest and after stringing a garland placed it on Prabhu's neck. Previously, in the way that Sri Radha used to decorate Sri Krsna, Gadadhara began to dress Prabhu in that exact same manner. Some were singing beautiful songs, while others began to dance in a very graceful style. Then Sri Gaurasundara taking Gadadhara by His side seated Himself on a dias at the base of one tree, while Adwaita Acarya began to offer arati. Nityananda seated Himself on Prabhu's right side and Srivasa Pandita began to decorate everyone with flower garlands. Narahari was fanning that Divine couple with a whisk made from the tail hairs of forest cows. Suklambar decorated them all with sandalwood paste while Murari Gupta recited the premdhani. Madhava, Vasudeva, Purusottama, Vijaya, and Mukunda began to sing songs in the various ragas.
Then Prabhu closed his pastimes in Nadiya and as per his mother's request he took up his residence at Nilacala. Gadadhara also went there to live at this time. He engaged himself in the service of Sri Tota Gopinatha. Mahaprabhu would very often visit His dear friend Gadadhara and lose Himself in discussions on the topics of Sri Krsna. The temple of Sri Tota Gopinathji is located near the ocean at Yameshvar.
Tota Gopinath in Puri
When Lord Caitanya traveled to Sri Vrindavana, Gadadhara, not being able to bear separation from Him, wanted to go also but Mahaprabhu reminded him of his vow of Ksetra-sannyasa (by which he was to remain constantly in Sri Ksetra in the service of Sri Gopinatha) and sent him back.
Sri Gadadhara Pandita would regularly recite Srimad Bhagavatam. Sri Gaurasundara, along with His associates, would listen.
Then one might ask a question, if Lord Chaitanya is Radha and Krsna combined, where is the necessity for the appearance of Gadadhara Pandit?
The answer to this is that it has been explained that Mahaprabhu is Krsna in search of the loving sentiment of Radha for Krsna. Sri Gadadhara Pandita represents that bhava personified, and thus he has appeared to be at the side of Mahaprabhu to assist him in his search. In this explanation, Gadadhara gives his unalloyed love to Lord Gauranga willingly.
It has also been explained that Krsna has stolen the bhava of Radha and appears as Mahaprabhu, Radha Krsna combined. Gadadhara represents that which is left of Radha after Krsna steals her bhava. The mood is that seeing that neither Sri Radha nor Sri Krsna appear on the purnima tithi (full moon), but when The Divine couple combine as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, this appearance in the world occurs on the Purima in Navadwipa.
Sri Gadadhara pandit appears on the new moon and leaves the world on the same day. New moon means no moon - dark moon or Amavasya tithi. He also appeared in a land that is desert-like, dry and vacant in contrast to the lush Ganga basin of Navadwipa.
All of this indicates the condition of the heart or nature of Sri Gadadhara. He is thus feeling empty, and lets everyone know about it too. It is said that what remains in him is the bhava of Rukmini, who is Radha's expansion in Dvaraka. Thus his surface mood in Gaura lila is like that of a dakshine (right wing) gopi rather than a vama (left wing) gopi (Vama type is little aggressive in nature, and fights with the lover). However, to prove Gadadhar's dedication as right-wing He is submissive to the extreme (daksina type tolerates everything whatever comes, only with a defensive attitude he stands. That is daksina path, that is as in Srimati Rukmini Devi. So when the spirit of Radharani of that opposing nature was drawn out by Mahaprabhu, then what remains is compared like that of Rukmini, as a passive seer, without any power to assert, only onlooker. Onlooker and bearing everything, a very pitiable condition. The idea is to awaken kindness and sympathy from everyone).
"What is he and what is she and what is her position now. And how her lover has taken up everything from her, looted everything from her, leaving her as a beggar wandering in the street. So much looted. Radharani when looted to such a degree by Krsna, that becomes Gadadhara, the pitiable figure. The wealth of course cannot go forever. She is the proprietor, owner cannot be far off. After a long time, that must come to her again, one day. And those that are helping her in her day of distress, they will get how much remuneration at that time. When she will get back all property."
Just as in Vraj Srimati Radharani is the Queen and proprioter of everything, so Gadadhara is master of everything, but still here He has given everything to His master, and thus in one sense He is empty. This mood of His being empty is unique, he is playing in such a way, as His part or play, as Gadadhara Pandita. His is the highest position of self-sacrifice.
"Nimai Pandita showed His character as an aggressor, impertinent, and an extraordinary genius. Gadadhara Pandita was just the opposite. He had some natural inclination, that was in His submission and total dedication towards Nimai Pandita. And Nimai Pandita also had some special attraction for Gadadhara Pandita. But Gadadhara Pandita could not face Nimai Pandita directly. Some sort of shyness He felt about Nimai Pandita. So, this is what we know about Gadadhara Pandita. Gadadhara Pandita had very intimate relationship with Mahaprabhu, in which the acaryas, Swarupa Damodara, Rupa, Sanatana, Kaviraja Goswami, Raghunatha Dasa, all of them, could see Radharani and Rukmini both in his personality, and according to that we can try to understand him."
It is true that Gauranga Mahaprabhu is Vrajendranandana Krsna, within Him, as is the case with svayam bhagavan Krsna, all of His expansions are present. Thus as Gaura-Narayana He consorts with Rukmini in Her appearance as Laksmipriya devi. Furthermore, just as Vrajendranandana Krsna never leaves Vrndavana, similarly Sacinandana Gaura Krsna never leaves Navadvipa Dhama.
Thus the lila of Mahaprabhu in Puri, which is representative of Dvaraka, is imbued with aisvarya (opulence) not found in Nadiya (Bengal). Indeed this aisvarya is said to have weighed heavily on Gadadhara Pandita and influenced His loving sentiment of bhava. Srila Krsna dasa Kaviraja Goswami says of Gadadhara in Puri Dhama that because He was influenced by aisvarya-jnana of Gauranga, He was, as Srila Prabhupada comments further, always submissive (daksina-nayiki). He could not be angered by Mahaprabhu even when Mahaprabhu tried to anger Him and see the mood of Radha (vama-nayiki) in Him.
Krsna dasa Kaviraja pointed out that even as Krsna in the form of Mahaprabhu tried to anger Gadadhara (Radha) He could not draw out this sentiment from Him because he maintained a temperament like that of Rukmini's (daksina-nayiki) due to the fact that Mahaprabhu had already stolen the vama-nayiki aspect of Radha from him. Indeed, Svarupa Damodara Goswami asked Gadadhara why He did not reproach Mahaprabhu and instead tolerated Mahaprabhu's criticisms of Him. To this Gadadhara replied, prabhu svatantra sarvajna-siromani tanra sane 'hatha' kari,--bhala nahi mani, "The master is independent. He is the topmost omniscient person. If I speak on an equal level with Him, this will not be good for Me."
"That which is left over after the bhava and luster of Radha has been plundered by Krsna is Gadadhara Pandita."
It is stated that no one loves Lord Gauranga more than Sri Gadadhara. Yet even though He takes much abuse and neglect from Gauranga, still He cannot leave Him. His necessity and dependency is very great. The understanding is that without Mahaprabhu She/He is transcendentally incomplete, thus He/She wants to get His/Her bhava back from Krsna to again become complete, the complete united whole Radha-Krsna. To unite Gaura with Gadadhara (Radha Krishna) is the highest ideal of Gaudiya Vaisnavism.
The worship of Gaura-Gadadhara is in madhurya-rasa so is not for the kanistha adhikari on the beginning stages of devotional service where one strives to follow the principles and avoid offences, rather this is for advanced devotees who are already steady (nistha) in Krsna consciousness and getting a genuine taste (ruchi). Then in transcendental view They are worshipped like Radha and Krishna. Thus Sri Gadadhara pandit is like Sri Radha standing next to the Gaura (Krsna) who has stolen Her/His bhava (love), and She wants it back. When They are united, then the divine couple Radha-Krsna/Gaura-Gadadhara are present. Sometimes the devotees will see them as Radha-Krsna, and sometimes as Gaura-Gadadhara according to that pure devotee's mood. Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written an arati song for Gaura-Gadadhara describing Radha-Krsna. This is the internal reality. It is all very esoteric and not to be imitated. Who can understand such wonderful and intimate pastimes, thus we use ordinary terms to try to explain them but these mellows are not ordinary.
When Vakresvara pandita came to live at Puri, he would accompany Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Advaita Acharya and other devotees to Tota Gopinath to hear Gadadhara Pandit give discourses on the Bhagavatam.
One should hear the book Bhagavatam from the devotee Bhagavatam.
One who thinks, "I understand the Bhagavatam" does not really know the Bhagavatam's central meaning. On the other hand, an ignorant person who takes shelter of the Bhagavatam will directly perceive its meaning. The Bhagavatam is pure love, it is the incarnation of Krishna himself. It recounts Krishna's most intimate activities. After recounting the Vedas and the Puranas, Vedavyasa felt unsatisfied, but as soon as the Bhagavatam manifested on his tongue, his mind was immediately satisfied. (Chaitanya Bhagavat 3.3.514-8)
smara gaura-gadadhara keli kalam
bhava gaura-gadadhara paksa caram
srnu gaura-gadadhara caru katham
bhaja godruma-kanon kunja-vidhum
[Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura]
"Remember Gaura-Gadadhara during the time of Their pastimes, Meditate on Gaura-Gadadhar, the Divine couple, the par-excellence of beauty. Hear beautiful discussions on the topics of Gaura-Gadadhara, and worship them in the forest grove of Godruma, bathed in the light of the moon."
gadadhar pandit prabhu age bosi
pare bhagavat - sudha dhale rasi rasi [B.R. 3/107]
After enacting His pastimes on this planet for forty-eight years, it was seen by witnesses that Sri Gaurasundara entered into the body of Sri Tota-Gopinathji, who was the Deity in Puri on the Nilachala beach served by Sri Gadadhara Pandita.
nyasi siromani cesta bujhe sadya kar
akasmat prithini karila andhakar
pravesila ei gopinatha mandire
hoila adarsan, punah na aila bahire
[B.R. 8.356-357]
In the diary of one Orissan devotee, Mahaprabhu is said to have first went missing inside the Gundica Mandira. Then the devotees began to comb the four directions in search of their Beloved Lord. Finally, outside of Tota Gopinatha Mandira, at Yameswar, the outer garment of Mahaprabhu was found lying on the ground.
There's a story in connection with Sri Gadadhar Pandit that when He was very old and trying to render service to Tota-Gopinath that He couldn't any more reach to put the garland around the neck of the Deity. To reciprocate with His loving service the Deity knelt down to accept the flower garlands of His beloved Gadadhar, Who is none other than His beloved Srimati Radharani incarnate as mentioned previously.
To this day the Deity of Tota-Gopinath in the temple remains in a kneeling position to accept the eternal service of His beloved Gadadhar. A slight crack which is still to be found near the right knee of Sri Gopinathji is the spot where Mahaprabhu is said to have entered the Deity.
His appearance is on the amavasya (new moon) of the month of Vaisakha.
Sri Gadadharastakam by Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami
Text 1
sva-bhakti-yoga-lasinam sada vraje viharinam
hari-priya-ganagragam cacisuta-priyecvaram
saradha-krsna-sevana-prakacakam mahacayam bhajamy aham
gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu, who appears very splendid, engaged in the Lord's devotional service. He always performs pastimes in Vraja, where he is very prominent among the gopis, who are very dear to Lord Hari. Lord Caitanya, the Son of Saci is the dear Lord of Gadadhara Prabhu, who is preaching the service of Radha and Krsna.
Text 2
navojjvaladi- bhavana-vidhana-karma-paragam
vicitra-gaura-bhakti-sindhu-ragga-bhagga-lasinam
suraga-marga-darsakam vrajadi-vasa-dayakam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. He is expertly absorbed in meditation on the nine rasas of devotional service, beginning with ujjvala-rasa (conjugal love), and he dances in the waves of the amazing ocean of devotional service to Lord Caitanya. He preaches the path of raganuga-bhakti (spontaneous devotional service), and He is a fit person to attain residence in the transcendental land of Vraja.
Text 3
sacisutagghri-sara-bhakta-vrnda-vandya-gauravam
gaura-bhava-citta-padma-madhya-krsna-vallabham
mukunda-gaura-rupinam svabhava-dharma-dayakam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. The best of those who are devoted to the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya, the Son of Saci-devi, offer respecful obeisances to him and treat him with great importance, and he is very dear to Lord Krsna, Who is seated in the middle of the lotus flower which is his heart, assuming His golden form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He preaches that Lord Mukunda has assumed the golden form of Lord Caitanya, and he returns the living entities to their constitutional position as servants of the Lord.
Text 4
nikunja-sevanadika-prakasanaika-karanam sada
sakhi-rati-pradam maha-rasa-svarupakam
sadacritagghri-pankajam sariri-sad-gurum varam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. It is only because of him that the truth of the exalted devotional service performed by the intimate associates of Krsna in the forests and groves of Vrndavana has been revealed. He is preaching the ecstatic love attained by the gopis, and he is indeed a personification of the mellows of devotional service. The saintly devotees take shelter of his lotus feet, and he teaches the truth of spiritual life to the living entities.
Text 5
mahaprabhor maha-rasa-prakasanagkuram priyam sada
maha-rasagkura-prakacanadi-vasanam mahaprabhor
vrajagganadi-bhava-moda-karakam bhajamy aham
gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. He is very dear to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and it is as if he had sprouted from the manifestation of the Lord`s ecstatic love. He is always adorned with the garments of ecstatic love of Godhead, and He delights Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu by arousing in the Lord the ecstatic emotional love experienced by the gopis of Vraja.
Text 6
dvijendra-vrnda-vandya-pada-yugma-bhakti-vardhakam
nijesu radhikatmata-vapuh-prakacanagraham
asesa-bhakti-sastra-siksayojjvalamrta-prabam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu, who expands the mellows of devotional service and whose lotus feet are worshipped by the kings of the brahmanas. Among his confidential associates, he reveals his actual form as Srimati Radharani. He distributes the nectar of the ecstatic mellow of the gopis conjugal love, strictly following the instructions of all the devotional scriptures.
Text 7
muda nija-priyadika-svapada-padma-sindhubhir
maha-rasarnavamrta-pradesta-gaura-bhaktidam
sadast-sattvikanvitam nijesta-bhakti-dayakam bhajamy
aham gadadharam supanditam gurum prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. With delight he is giving the devotional service of Lord Caitanya which reveals the nectarean ocean of the most exalted mellows of devotional service, along with the nectar flowing from the lotus feet of the gopis, headed by Srimati Radharani, who is most dear to Krsna. Gadadhara Prabhu is decorated with the eight transcendental ecstatic symptoms of sattvika-bhava,and he is distributing devotional service to his worshippable Lord Krsna.
Text 8
yadiya-riti-raga-ragga-bhagga-digdhamanaso naro `api
yati turnam eva narya-bhava-bhajanam tam
ujjvalakta-cittam etu citta-matta-catpado bhajamy aham
gadadharam supanditam guram prabhum
I worship the greatly learned spiritual master, Srila Gadadhara Prabhu. Even a conditioned soul, whose mind becomes anointed by the colorful waves of spontaneous devotional service as delineated by Srila Gadadhara Prabhu, quickly attains the highest level of devotional service. He becomes like a maddened bumble bee whose mind is anointed with the mellow of ujjvala-rasa (conjugal love).
Text 9
maha-rasamrta-pradam sada gadadhara-astakam pathet tu
yah subhaktito vrajaggana-ganotsavam
saci-tanuja-pada-padma-bhakti-ratna-yogyatam labheta
radhika-gadadharagghri-padma-sevaya
"These eight verses glorifying Srila Gadadhara Prabhu distribute the nectat of the most exalted mellow of devotional service, and they are like a festival for the gopis of Vraja. If one regularly reads these verses and serves the lotus feet of Srila Gadadhara Prabhu, who is an incarnation of Srimati Radharani, then he will become qualified to attain the jewel of pure devotional service for the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya,the son of Sacidevi."
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