Submitted by: Yasoda nandana Dasa
Srila Prabhupada presents the glories of Sri Gadadhara Pandita
compiled by Yasoda nandana dasa
gadādhara-paṇḍitādi–prabhura nija-śakti
tāṅ’-sabāra caraṇe mora sahasra praṇati
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the internal potencies of the Lord, of whom Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu is the foremost.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition : Cc. Adi-lila : Adi 1: The Spiritual Masters : Adi 1.41
advaita ācārya, nityānanda, śrīnivāsa
gadādhara, dāmodara, murāri, haridāsa
āra yata caitanya-kṛṣṇera bhakta-gaṇa
bhakti-bhāve śire dhari sabāra caraṇa
SYNONYMS
advaita ācārya—Advaita Ācārya; nityānanda—Lord Nityānanda; śrīnivāsa—Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita; gadādhara—Gadādhara Paṇḍita; dāmodara—Svarūpa Dāmodara; murāri—Murāri Gupta; haridāsa—Haridāsa Ṭhākura; āra—other; yata—all; caitanya–kṛṣṇera—of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya; bhakta–gaṇa—devotees; bhakti–bhāve—with a devotional attitude; śire—on my head; dhari—I take; sabāra—of all of them; caraṇa—the lotus feet.
TRANSLATION
PURPORT
The author of Śrī Caitanya–caritāmṛta teaches us that we must offer our respectful obeisances to all such pure confidential devotees of Lord Caitanya if we indeed want to know Him in truth.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition : Cc. Adi-lila : Adi 4: The Confidential Reasons for Lord Caitanya’s Appearance : Adi 4.227-228
gadādhara-paṇḍitādi prabhura ‘śakti’-avatāra
‘antaraṅga-bhakta’ kari’ gaṇana yāṅhāra
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
PURPORT
In connection with verses sixteen and seventeen, Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura explains in his Anubhāṣya: “There are specific symptoms by which the internal devotees and the unalloyed or pure devotees are to be known. All unalloyed devotees are śakti-tattvas, or potencies of the Lord. Some of them are situated in conjugal love and others in filial affection, fraternity and servitude. Certainly all of them are devotees, but by making a comparative study it is found that the devotees or potencies who are engaged in conjugal love are better situated than the others. Thus devotees who are in a relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in conjugal love are considered to be the most confidential devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Those who engage in the service of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu and Lord Advaita Prabhu generally have relationships of parental love, fraternity, servitude and neutrality. When such devotees develop great attachment for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they too become situated within the intimate circle of devotees in conjugal love.” This gradual development of devotional service is described by Śrī Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura as follows:
gaurāṅga balite habe pulaka śarīra
hari hari balite nayane ba’be nīra
hari hari balite nayane ba’be nīra
āra kabe nitāicāṅda karuṇā karibe
saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuccha habe
saṁsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuccha habe
viṣaya chāḍiyā kabe śuddha habe mana
kabe hāma heraba śrī-vṛndāvana
kabe hāma heraba śrī-vṛndāvana
rūpa-raghunātha-pade ha-ibe ākuti
kabe hāma bujhaba śrī-yugala-pirīti
kabe hāma bujhaba śrī-yugala-pirīti
“When will there be eruptions on my body as soon as I chant the name of Lord Caitanya, and when will there be incessant torrents of tears as soon as I chant the holy names Hare Kṛṣṇa? When will Lord Nityānanda be merciful toward me and free me from all desires for material enjoyment? When will my mind be completely freed from all contamination of desires for material pleasure? Only at that time will it be possible for me to understand Vṛndāvana. Only if I become attached to the instructions given by the six Gosvāmīs, headed by Rūpa Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, will it be possible for me to understand the conjugal love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” By attachment to the devotional service of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu one immediately comes to the ecstatic position. When he develops his love for Nityānanda Prabhu he is freed from all attachment to the material world, and at that time he becomes eligible to understand the Lord’s pastimes in Vṛndāvana. In that condition, when one develops his love for the six Gosvāmīs, he can understand the conjugal love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. These are the different stages of a pure devotee’s promotion to conjugal love in the service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in an intimate relationship with Śrī Caitanya [https://./]MahāprabhuSri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition : Cc. Adi-lila : Adi 7: Lord Caitanya in Five Features : Adi 7.17
jaya jayādvaita ācārya kṛpāmaya
jaya jaya gadādhara paṇḍita mahāśaya
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Advaita Ācārya, who is very merciful, and also to that great personality Gadādhara Paṇḍita, the learned scholar.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition : Cc. Adi-lila : Adi 8: The Author Receives the Orders of Krsna and Guru : Adi 8.3
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu called Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi “father,” and He gave him the title Premanidhi. Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi later became the spiritual master of Gadādhara Paṇḍita and an intimate friend of Svarūpa Dāmodara’s. Gadādhara Paṇḍita at first misunderstood Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi to be an ordinary pounds-and-shillings man, but later, upon being corrected by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he became his disciple. Another incident in the life of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi involves his criticizing the priest of the Jagannātha temple, for which Jagannātha Prabhu chastised him personally by slapping his cheeks. This is described in Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Antya-līlā, Chapter Seven. Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura informs us that there are still two living descendants of the family of Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, who are named Śrī Harakumāra Smṛtitīrtha and Śrī Kṛṣṇakiṅkara Vidyālaṅkāra. For further information one should refer to the dictionary known as Vaiṣṇava-mañjuṣā
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition : Cc. Adi-lila 10.14
baḍa śākhā,–gadādhara paṇḍita-gosāñi
teṅho lakṣmī-rūpā, tāṅra sama keha nāi
SYNONYMS
TRANSLATION
PURPORT
In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, verses 147 through 153, it is stated: “The pleasure potency of Śrī Kṛṣṇa formerly known as Vṛndāvaneśvarī is now personified in the form of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.” Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has pointed out that in the shape of Lakṣmī, the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa, she was formerly very dear to the Lord as Śyāmasundara-vallabhā. The same Śyāmasundara-vallabhā is now present as Gadādhara Paṇḍita. Formerly, as Lalitā–sakhī, she was always devoted to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. In the Twelfth Chapter of this part of the Caitanya–caritāmṛta there is a description of the descendants or disciplic succession of Gadādhara Paṇḍita.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition : Cc. Adi-lila : Adi 10: The Trunk, Branches and Sub-branches of the Caitanya Tree : Adi 10.15
There is no information that Acyutānanda ever married, but he is described as the biggest branch of the Advaita Ācārya family. From a book named Śākhā-nirṇayāmṛta it is understood that Acyutānanda was a disciple of Gadādhara and that he took shelter of Lord Caitanya in Jagannātha Purī and engaged in devotional service. The Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Chapter Ten, states that Acyutānanda, the son of Advaita Ācārya, lived in Jagannātha Purī, taking shelter of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Gadādhara Paṇḍita, in the last years of his life, also lived with Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Jagannātha Purī. There is no doubt, therefore, that Acyutānanda was a disciple of Paṇḍita Gadādhara. In the accounts of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s dancing in front of the car during the Ratha-yātrā festival, Acyutānanda’s name is to be found many times. It is stated that in the party of Advaita Ācārya from Śāntipura, Acyutānanda was dancing and others were singing. At that time the boy was only six years old. The Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, compiled by Śrī Kavi-karṇapūra, has described Acyutānanda as a disciple of Gadādhara Paṇḍita and a great and dear devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. According to the opinion of some, he was an incarnation of Kārttikeya, the son of Lord Śiva, and according to others he was formerly the gopī named Acyutā. The Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā has supported both these opinions. Another book, Narottama-vilāsa, compiled by Śrī Narahari dāsa, mentions Acyutānanda’s presence during the festival at Khetari. According to Śrī Narahari dāsa, during the last days of his life Acyutānanda stayed in his house at Śāntipura, but during the presence of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu he lived at Jagannātha Purī with Gadādhara Paṇḍita.
Books : Sri Caitanya-caritamrta – 1975 Edition : Cc. Adi-lila : Adi 12: The Expansions of Advaita Acarya and Gadadhara Pandita : Adi 12.17 : PURPORT
Main Deities: Sri Tota Gopinatha graces the centre altar with Sri Radhika playing vina and Lalita sakhi playing flute on His left and right. Being deeply absorbed in syama-rasa – the mellow of satisfying all of Krishna’s conjugal desires – Radhika and Lalita-sakhi appear black. Holding Her kacchapi-vina, Srimati Radharani curiously stands in a three-fold bending form dancing in time with Her beloved syamam tri-bhanga-lalitam. The left altar features Lord Balaram with Revati and Varuni on His left and right. On right altar are Deities of Gaura-Gadadhara and Sri Sri Radha Madana-mohana installed by Mamu Thakura. He is the nephew of Sri Nilambara Cakravati, Lord Gauranga’s grandfather.
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Tota Gopinatha has such a charismatic bewitching quality that draws one to His darshana over and over again. Srila Vrindavana Thakura extols His power: “Even an extreme atheist will be changed upon seeing the Deity of Gopinatha.” At 7am during darshana time, upon request, the pujari can show a small golden streak on Gopinatha’s right knee where Mahaprabhu entered the Lord.
APPEARANCE OF SRI TOTA GOPINATHA
Gopinatha temple is situated in Sri Ksetra Jagannatha Puri Dhama in an area named Yamesvara Tota. When Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, He stayed at Jagannatha Puri Dhama for 18 years. Sri Gadadhara Pandita also came with Mahaprabhu. Most of Mahaprabhu’s other associates in Navadvipa remained in Bengal; they came to Puri only once in a year, for the four months of the rainy season, to attend the Lord Jagannatha Rathayatra and to see Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But Gadadhara Pandita couldn’t bear to be separated from the Lord, and the Lord couldn’t bear to be separated from Him. So He was permitted to stay with Mahaprabhu in Puri. Gadadhara Pandita resided here at Sri Tota Gopinatha Temple. While residing here in this peaceful garden of trees and creepers, Gadadhara Pandita recited Srimad-Bhagavatam every afternoon. Mahaprabhu attended regularly and heard recount the stories of Dhruva Maharaj and Prahlada Maharaj 100 times.
One day here, Sri Caitanyadeva experienced immense separation from Lord Krishna. Crying out, “Where is My Prananatha,” Gauranga started digging the earth to search of His Lord. Feeling the carved stone mukuta of a murti below the ground, Gaurahari declared, “Gadai, I have found a most precious treasure here. Would you like to accept it?” Noticing the head of a murti emerging from the sand, Gadadhara helped Gauranga uncover a most beautiful Deity of Supreme Lord Sri Krishna.
Mahaprabhu named the Deity, Gopinatha, and because He appeared in this garden called tota in Oriya the devotees called Him, Tota Gopinatha. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave the responsibility of Sri Tota Gopinatha’s service to His most dear Gadadhara Pandita, and also awarded Him ksetra-sannyasa.
Sri Tota Gopinatha Deity is very beautiful. Sri Vrindavana Dasa Thakura describes Sri Tota Gopinatha’s beauty in his Sri Caitanya-Bhagavat as follows:
gadadhara bhavane mohana Gopinatha
achene, ye hena nanda-kumara saksat
apane Caitanya tare kariyachena kole
ati pasandi-o se vigraha dekhe bhule
dekhi sri-murali mukha angera bhangima
nityananda ananda asura nahi sima
(Sri Caitanya-Bhagavat Antya 7.114)
“In the house of Gadadhara there is most attractive Gopinatha. This Deity looks exactly like son of Nanda Himself is sitting there. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself had held Him in His lap. Even most atheistic person will be changed to see this Deity. By seeing the posture of the body and face with flute Lord Nityananda sheds tears of bliss limitlessly.”
