At first I pay my innumerable prostrated obeisances to the lotus feet of my most worshipable Divine master, who is the redeemer of the fallen souls, the bestower of knowledge on the Absolute, the non-different manifestation of the Supreme Lord and the bestower of service of the Supreme Lord. I pray for his causeless mercy. I pay my prostrated obeisances to the lotus feet of the worshipable Vaishnavas and pray for their causeless mercy. I pay my due respects to all the devotees who are inclined to hear discourses on the Supreme Lord. May they all become satisfied.

Today is a special Tithi which falls in the season of Vasant. Worldly persons seeking material knowledge worship the Goddess of learning namely Saraswati on today’s Tithi. On the same Tithi the transcendental potency of Gaura Narayan made Her appearance as Srimati Vishnupriya Devi. Also there is the appearance of Pundarika Vidyanidhi, one of the personal associates of Mahaprabhu on today’s Tithi, Vasanta-pancami, the fifth day of the waxing moon in the month of Magh. Srila Raghunandan Thakur and Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, two other associates of Mahaprabhu also appeared on today’s Tithi. Our preceptor Srila Vishwanath Chakravarty Thakur made the pastimes of disappearance on the same Tithi. Also the Godbrothers of our Gurumaharaj namely Srimad Bhakti Vivek Bharati Goswami Maharaj and Srimad Bhakti Swarup Parvat Goswami Maharaj made their disappearance pastimes on the same Tithi. This is also the time for the annual function of our Tezpur Math. I used to go to Tezpur during this time of the year. But now I can no more go there due to health issues. I am forbidden by doctors to undergo hectic tours.

Lord Gauranga has two forms, one is Gaur Krishna and the other one is Gaur Narayan, the one who played the pastimes of a householder. All the manifestations of Vishnu Tattva have got three energies—Sri, Bhu and Lila. Lakshmipriya Devi is the Sri Shakti (potency) of Mahaprabhu in His majestic Gaura Narayan Form, Vishnupriya Devi is His Bhu Shakti or Bhakti Shakti and Navadwip Dham is His Lila Shakti. Baladeva Prabhu has two potencies namely Revati and Varuni. The two potencies of Nityananda Prabhu are Jahnva and Vasudha. So, all the manifestations of Krishna Tattva have got their respective potencies. Vishnupriya Devi made Her appearance pastimes on Vasant Panchami Tithi. She is the Chinmaya Shakti (transcendental potency of the Lord). Just as the Supreme Lord is transcendental, His spiritual potency is also transcendental. All the other associates of Mahaprabhu who made their pastimes of appearance or disappearance mentioned above are all transcendental.

So the Shakti of Gaura Narayan is Srimati Lakshmipriya Devi. When someone views the marriage of the Lord and His potency he immediately gets liberated from material bondage. The marriage of the Supreme Lord and His potency is not like a worldly marriage; it is transcendental. Here in this world, we have the vanity that we are Purush. Even the enjoying tendency in females also represents the vanity of being Purush. But in reality, the only Purush (enjoyer) is the Supreme Lord. No one else is the enjoyer. It is written by Srila Rupa Goswami,

viṣṇos tu trīṇi rūpāṇi
puruṣākhyāny atho viduḥ
ekaṁ tu mahataḥ sraṣṭṛ
dvitīyaṁ tv aṇḍa-saṁsthitam
tṛtīyaṁ sarva-bhūta-sthaṁ
tāni gyātvā vimucyate
(Laghu Bhagavatamrita Purva 2.9, Chaitanya Charitamrita Adi. 5.77)

Srila Rupa Goswami has written that one manifestation of the Supreme Lord (Purushavatar) is Karanadakshayi Mahavishnu, Who resides in the Causal Ocean (Karana Ocean). He thinks, eko aham bahusyami—I am one, I shall become many. From there then the creation starts. He remains as the Antaryami (dweller in the heart) of Mahat-tattva. Another Purushavatar is Garbhodakshayi Vishnu Who is the Antaryami (in heart dweller) of infinite universes and personally controls them. Yet another Purushavatar is Kshirodakshayi Vishnu Who remains as the dweller in the heart of the individual living entities (Vyasti-jiva). These three Purushavatars are the only enjoyers. One who knows about Them will get liberation from material bondage. We all are to be enjoyed by Them. But as we have forgotten the Supreme Lord, we consider ourselves to be enjoyers. Whichever material gross body a living being may assume, whether of a male or a female, he or she is not the enjoyer. The Supreme Lord is the only enjoyer. It is difficult for us to understand all these matters.

Persons who aspire to get transcendental knowledge will worship Vishnupriya Devi. Knowledge is of two types—Para and Apara. The knowledge on the Supreme Lord who is beyond the three modes of material qualities is called Para-vidya or Brahma-vidya.

jada-vidya jata, mayara vaibhava,
tomara bhajane badha
moha janamiya, anitya samsare,
jivake koraye gadha

If someone is addressed as ass (donkey), he will come to beat the addresser. The so-called material knowledge is an impediment on the path of devotion. It is nothing but an opulence of the illusory energy of the Lord and it makes the living entity infatuated with the material world and converts him to a donkey. The living being will then put up the burden of these material relations just like how the donkey carries heavy loads.

Vishnupriya Devi is Para-vidya-swarupini (the personification of transcendental knowledge). She is Satyabhama in Krishna-lila. In Krishna lila, there was a king called Satrajit who belonged to the clan of the Yadavas. The daughter of this king was Satyabhama who later became the queen of Dwarka. In Srimad Bhagavatam, it is written that King Satrajit used to worship the Sun God. The Sun God became his friend and gifted him the Syamantaka gem. That gem gave so many radiations. There cannot be any inauspiciousness at the place where this gem resides. The Syamantaka gem's specialty was that it could produce eight measures of gold a day. Is there any person in this world who will not aspire for such a gem and if anybody gets such a gem will he ever leave it? One day King Satrajit wore that gem on his body and came to Dwarka. The gem was giving out so many radiations that the guards thought that Sun God personified has come to Dwarka. They came running to Dwarkadish Krishna and told Him that the Sun God himself has come to Dwarka. Krishna dispelled their illusion by stating that King Satrajit has come to Dwarka wearing the Syamantaka gem given to him by the Sun God and that the gem was giving sun-like radiations. The Sun God has not come, it is only the gem that is giving sun-like radiations. When the Lord met the king, He said to the latter, "Please give Me this gem." But even after being asked the king could not part himself with the gem. Though the king was a devotee of the Lord but still he was not prepared to give the Gem to the Lord. Anyways he returned to his kingdom with the gem. A few days later, the younger brother of King Satrajit named Prasena said to the king, “I am going out to hunt. I want to carry this gem with me since it bestows auspiciousness.” The king gave the gem to Prasena who took it with him. While wandering in the forest Prasena encountered a lion who killed him and took away the gem with him. When Prasena did not return to the palace, the king suspected that Krishna might have killed Prasena and taken the gem. It is the general nature of the people to look at someone from his own perspective.

kamuka pasyanti kaminimay jagat
lubdha pasyanti dhanmay jagat
dhira pasyanti narayanmay jagat

"A lusty man will always look upon every female to be the object of his enjoyment. A wealthy man will only look at how to increase his wealth. A wise person with fixed intelligence beholds the presence of Lord Narayan in everything."

When the Lord heard that He was suspected of killing Prasena and stealing the gem, He took all His associates and reached the place where Prasena was killed. In the meanwhile, Jambavan (bear), the associate of Lord Ramchandra, was also attracted to the gem and he fought with the lion, killed it and took away the gem. He went to his place of residence located in a dark cave and gave the gem to his son as a toy to be played with. So when Krishna reached the spot where Prasena was killed, He saw footprints of a lion and assumed that a lion must have killed Prasena. So Krishna followed the footprints of the lion and saw that even the lion has been killed. He saw the dead body of the lion near the cave. The Lord being omniscient knew what had transpired and said to His men, “You people stay outside. Let me go inside and see.” Krishna found Jambavan's son playing with the Syamantaka gem. Frightened by the stranger, Jambavan's son let out a wail that alerted Jambavan. Jambavan came and started fighting with the Lord. The fight continued for 28 days after which Jambavan became weak. He then thought that the person with whom he is fighting must be his worshipable Lord only as anyone else cannot have such strength. He immediately fell down at the feet of Krishna and begged forgiveness for the offence he committed out of ignorance. He then brought his daughter Jambavati and surrendered both the Syamantaka gem and Jambavati to the Lord. Since Jambavan was a devotee, he surrendered the gem to His feet. Who is the owner of all sorts of wealth? It is the Supreme Lord Narayan Himself. He is the master of the Goddess of Wealth namely Lakshmi. If we try to enjoy like Him then we will undergo predicaments. This is unavoidable. Thompson Bata, the owner of the Bata shoe company was the second wealthiest man in this world. But he ended his life by committing suicide. His vast wealth couldn’t make him happy.

On finding Krishna not coming out of the cave for so many days all His associates started worrying and fearing the worst they started wailing. Later Krishna came out of the cave with the gem and Jambavati. Krishna returned the gem to its rightful owner Satrajit who by then was ashamed of accusing Krishna. Satrajit, understanding that he has committed an offence to Sri Krishna gave his daughter as a bride to Him and also the Syamantaka gem. Krishna accepted his daughter as She is His personal associate but returned the Syamantaka gem to Satrajit. Even though Satrajit had given the gem to Krishna, he was not strong from within on giving it away. We may also externally say that I do not want wealth but from within we want it.

Here, we can see what was the malicious effect on the person who possessed this gem. Firstly, Prasena was killed, next the lion was killed. Jambavan had to wage war and was defeated by the Lord after the battle. And what had happened to King Satrajit after Krishna returned the gem? His daughter Satyabhama had three suitors—Akrura, Kritavarma and Shatadhanwa. They were angered by the fact that Satrajit have given Satyabhama to Krishna and not to one of them. Once when Krishna and Balaram went to Hastinapur for some work, Akrura asked Shatadhanva to get Syamantak gem from the King. Shatadhanwa in his rage killed Satrajit while he slept and stole the Syamantaka gem from him. On realizing what he had done, Shatadhanwa left the gem with Akrura and fled from Dwarka. Krishna and Balrama gave chase and killed Shatadhanwa for his crime. Not finding the gem on Shatadhanwa, Krishna knew that he must have left it with Akrura for safekeeping. On seeing Her father murdered Satyabhama started crying out of sorrow. So it was seen that whoever possessed that gem was murdered. Though it was predicted that this gem bestows auspiciousness to its possessor but what sort of auspiciousness!! It only invited the dark complexioned God of Death (Yama) to the possessor of the gem.

When Sanatan Goswami Goswami was going to Mahaprabhu with his servant Ishan, he rested in the house of a land-lord who was in actuality a dacoit. Sanatan Goswami Goswami’s servant had secretly carried eight gold coins (Mohar) with him, in case of any need, without the knowledge of Sanatan Goswami Goswami. Somehow the landlord came to know about those coins and planned to kill Sanatan Goswami and take away those coins. With this intention, he was behaving very nicely with Sanatan Goswami so that later he would not suspect the plan. Sanatan Goswami became suspicious of the very warm treatment he was getting from his host, and so he asked Ishana whether he was carrying anything of value. Ishana answered that he had seven gold coins, keeping his other coin a secret from him. Sanatan Goswami said, "sange keno aaniyacho e kal yam?"—why have you brought this ruination upon us? Chastising his servant in this way, he took the coins from him and gave them to his host, asking him to help him get across the mountain.

The landowner then revealed to Sanatan Goswami that he had known all along about the eight gold coins and that it had been his intention to murder them both that night somewhere on the mountain in order to take the money. He was very pleased that Sanatan Goswami had given him the gold and was even ready to return it to him, but Sanatan Goswami refused. He was intelligent enough to understand the adage: dhurtasya vachene kvastha kvacit satyam kvachid mrisha kvachid raudram kvachid vrishtih shravanasya ghano yatha—how can one have faith in the words of a rascal? He sometimes tells the truth and sometimes falsehoods. Just as with the clouds of Shravan, sometimes there is sunshine and sometimes rain.

The daughter of Satrajit namely Satyabhama descended as Vishnupriya Devi. King Satrajit in Krishna-lila came as Sanatan Mishra in Gaura lila, the father of Vishnupriya. Mahaprabhu marries Lakshmipriya Devi at the first. After marriage He goes to East Bengal. Lakshmipriya Devi who is the Sri Shakti of Mahaprabhu is transcendental and after He leaves She is bitten by the snake of separation from Him and leaves this material world to Her own transcendental abode. Mahaprabhu returns from East Bengal and consoles His grieving mother. After that He marries the daughter of Sanatan Mishra namely Vishnupriya. Vishnupriya Devi was very much devotionally inclined right from Her childhood and used to bathe in the Ganges three times a day. She used to meet Sachi Mata (mother of Mahaprabhu) there who loved Her very much and used to bless Her. Later she was married to Him. Those who will see the marriage of the Supreme Lord with His potency his material relations will be destroyed. This is because such a marriage is transcendental. The Supreme Lord Mahaprabhu is transcendental and His potency Who is the Chinmayi Shakti namely Vishnupriya Devi is also transcendental.

In Ramayan, Valmiki Muni had written that after Lord Ramachandra is freed from His exile and becomes the king of Ayodhya, He is forced to banish His wife Sita Devi to the forest to satisfy His subjects. Later He had to perform Ashwamedha Yagna (Horse-sacrifice Yagna). The Lord is asked to accept another wife for performing the sacrifice by the priests. The Lord refuses and tells them that He has vowed to accept only one wife. So instead of marrying again, He made a golden idol of Sri Sita Devi and performed the Yagna with the idol. That same Sita Devi has descended as Srimati Vishnupriya Devi in Gaura Lila to repay the debt of dedication the Lord had shown for Her in Rama-lila.

Every morning, Vishnupriya Devi would go for Her bath in the Ganges with mother Sachi, after which She spent the entire day inside the house, never allowing the moon or the sun to see Her form. Not even the devotees were allowed to see anything more than Her feet, nor would anyone ever hear Her voice. Constantly shedding tears and eating only Mother Sachi’s remnants, She became pale and thin. She took intense delight in the Holy Name, chanting all day long in solitude before a portrait of Gauranga, surrendering Herself to His lotus feet. In this way, she demonstrated the ideal character of a devoted wife as well as the forbearance spoken of by the Lord in His verse,

tṛṇād api sunīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ

Srinivas Acharya received Vishnupriya Devi’s blessing. He personally witnessed Her devotion to Mahaprabhu in separation. Narahari Chakravarti has described this in his Bhakti-ratnakara:

Every day Srinivas would come to see Her. He observed Her daily activities, which are beyond description. She had completely renounced sleep, and if ever she closed Her eyes, it would be while lying on the bare ground. Her bodily lustre, which had formerly glowed more brilliantly than gold, had become dull and she was as thin as the waning moon on its fourteenth day. She set aside grains of rice to count the Holy Names She chanted, and would cook only this rice and offer it to her Lord. Of this amount, She would only eat a small portion. No one understood how She could remain alive. (Bhakti-ratnakara 4.47-51)

Every day She would place two clay pots on either side of Her, one filled with uncooked rice, the other empty. Each time She completed one Mantra of sixteen names and thirty-two syllables, She would joyfully place a grain of rice into the empty container. She would chant in this way until three o’clock in the afternoon, and then would take whatever rice had accumulated and cook it. This is the only food that She prepared, drenching it with Her tears before She offered it to the Lord.

She followed all the instructions of Sriman Mahaprabhu as they were.

ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanaṁ
bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇaṁ
śreyaḥ-kairava-candrikā-vitaraṇaṁ
vidyā-vadhū-jīvanam
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaṁ
prati-padaṁ pūrṇāmṛtāsvādanaṁ
sarvātma-snapanaṁ
paraṁ vijayate śrī-kṛṣṇa-saṇkīrtanam

“Chanting of the Holy Name Sri Krishna, completely, loudly in the company of devotees and without tenfold offences, which can bestow seven attainments—viz. cleansing of the mindmirror, extinguishing of the forest fire of birth-death and threefold afflictions, bestowing eternal soothing benefit like moonlight, life of spiritual learning i.e. awakening of the real self, increasing of the ocean of bliss, bestowing at every step sweet taste of complete transcendental ambrosia, holy immersion of body-mind-real self—be supremely glorified.”

She remained alive only to grace Sri Vamsivadana Thakur and Ishan Thakur. Vamsivadana Thakur was the incarnation of the bamboo flute which Krishna plays in Krishna lila. In the personal abode of the Lord there are no gross objects, everything is living there and thus possesses chetana (consciousness). There is no past, present and future in the abode of the Lord. Everything is present there and everything is eternal.

So when we will get the grace of Srimati Vishnupriya Devi we will get Para-vidya (the transcendental knowledge on the Supreme Lord). Actually, we should cultivate nothing else other than the knowledge of the Absolute. So, today is the appearance day of Srimati Vishnupriya Devi whose transcendental qualities are unlimited in number. It is not possible for conditioned souls like us to narrate those qualities. It is said, jahan kam tahan nahi ram, ravi rajani nahi mile ek tham—as day and night cannot exist together and likewise the Lord does not manifest in the heart where there exist ulterior desires. We can sing those qualities as per our degree of submission to such transcendental personalities. This transcendental knowledge called Para-vidya is chinmayi-shakti and is the Goddess Saraswati Herself. Worshipping such transcendental knowledge will bestow auspiciousness.

Today is also Pundarika Vidyanidhi Prabhu's appearance day. Who is Pundarika Vidyanidhi? The one who is Vrishabhanu Raja in Vraja pastimes, the father of Srimati Radharani has now come as Pundarika Vidyanidhi in Gaura lila. He was born on Vasanta-panchami, the fifth day of the waxing moon in the month of Magh in Chakrashala in Chittagong. His home, or Shripat, used to stand in the village of Mekhala which is two miles east of the Hat Hajari police station, about twelve miles north of the city of Chittagong. Shri Pundarika Vidyanidhi came to Navadwip because he wished to live by the banks of the Ganges. There he played the pastimes of externally being an enjoyer. He had bed and comfortable cushions covered in sheets as white as the foam of milk. He wore expensive clothes and put on perfumes. He was surrounded by all the attributes of a materialistic life. No one would recognize him to be a Vaishnava by seeing his external materialistic life style. Mahaprabhu, the indweller of all beings, knew prior to his coming that he had such a desire, and one day in the assembly of Devotees started calling out, “Pundarika, bap re, Pundarika, bap re!” (Pundarika, Oh my Father, Oh my father) and crying. Gadadhara Pandit Goswami, Mukunda Datta and Vasudeva Datta were also originally from Chittagong and so they were acquainted with Pundarika Vidyanidhi. Indeed Gadadhar Pandit’s father Madhava Mishra was his good friend. Mukunda Datta knew Pundarika Vidyanidhi’s transcendental personality and that he was a Vaishnava, but Gadadhara did not, even though he was from the same town. This was, of course, a pretense for the sake of the lila. In actuality Gadadhar Pandit Goswami also knew about the transcendental qualities of Pundarika Vidyanidhi since he is the potency of Gaura-Krishna. But for the sake of pastimes he pretended he didn’t knew anything about him. Sri Mukunda Dutta took Gadadhar Pandit to have an audience of Pundarika Vidyanidhi but when Gadadhar saw his apparently materialistic life style he played the pastimes of doubting whether Pundarika Vidyanidhi was a Vaishnava or not. Mukunda could see from Gadadhara’s face what was going through his head, and in order to bring out Pundarika’s inner mood, recited two verses from the Bhagavatam that enkindle the flames of love for Krishna.

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ
jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī
lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-ucitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema
(Srimad Bhagavatam 3.2.23)

pūtanā loka-bāla-ghnī
rākṣasī rudhirāśanā
jighāṁsayāpi haraye
stanaṁ dattvāpa sad-gatim
(Srimad Bhagavatam 10.6.35)

“That Rakshasi Putana was a blood-drinking killer of infants. Even though she wanted to kill Krishna, because she gave Him her breast, she attained the auspicious goal of a nurse in Goloka.”

As soon as he heard these two verses in the glories of Krishna’s mercy, Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi cried out “Ha Krishna!” and fell to the floor in a swoon. He began to roll on the floor in ecstasy, knocking over the hookah and tearing his clothes.

When he saw these transcendental symptoms of love on Pundarika’s body, Gadadhara realized that he had committed an offense, which he began to regret. He decided that the only way to rid himself of this offense would be to take initiation from Pundarika Vidyanidhi. Gadadhar Pandit Goswami was Srimati Radharani Herself and Pundarika Vidyanidhi is Vrishnabhanu Raj in Vraja-lila who is the father of Radharani. Finally Gadadhar Pandit took initiation from Pundarika Vidyanidhi. Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi was also present at Jagannath’s Chandana yatra festival when Mahaprabhu and all His Devotees would play in the water of Narendra Sarovara, also known as Chandan Pukur. Pundarika and Svarupa Damodar were close friends and they joyfully splashed each other as a part of these pastimes. Pundarika Vidyanidhi had so much respect for river Ganga that he never used to bathe in her waters for the fear of touching her waters with his feet. He only goes to take darshan of the Ganges at night and from a distance. He cannot bear to see people engaged in offensive behavior to the Ganges by gargling, cleaning their teeth, washing their hair in her waters, so he never goes there during the daytime. The river Ganga had emerged from the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord and for this reason he had so much respect and devotion for her.

On the Oran Shashthi festival, Jagannath’s servants dress Him in a cloth which still has starch in it. Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi was a pure Sadachari, i.e., attached to the proper etiquette of Vaishnavism. When he observed this custom, he did not feel happy about it and said to his friend, Svarupa Damodar, “Why do they give this unwashed cloth to the Lord? The people of this country know the rules in the Smritis and the Shrutis, so why do they give this maruwa cloth to Jagannath?”

Svarupa Damodar answered that the Supreme Lord is beyond the rules and regulations that have become general custom and that therefore there was no fault. Vidyanidhi did not find this conclusion satisfying and he countered by saying, “That may be true for the Lord Himself. But His servants should follow the rules of the scripture. The shri-vigraha of the Lord is beyond the material qualities, so you can say this of Him, but His servants are not of the same nature as He. So we have to judge whether their behaviour is proper or improper.”

Lord Jagannath is very concerned about His servants. If anybody tries to blaspheme His servants he may face troubles. Once in Chakdaha, some outside people fought with servants of Jagannath Deva. When the matter was reported to the concerned authority, he said, “I am not worried for the sevak who is abused. But I am worried for those persons who abused him.” Sri Jagannath Dev has got love for any person who even renders the slightest amount of service to Him. It is exactly like the love which parents have for their children. So one should not blaspheme or abuse any of His servitors. Otherwise the abuser will have to face the consequences of his actions. The same case also happened with Ramanujacharya. He wanted to change some traditional procedure of worship which the Pandas (Sevaks) practised for ages. But the next morning he found himself taken outside Puri Dham automatically and placed in his own place.

Pundarika Vidyanidhi is Mahaprabhu’s dear associate and beyond any fault, but once again we see that the Lord teaches particular lessons through His Devotees. Here He wished to show that we have no right to make judgments or to find fault with the behavior of Jagannath’s Devotees. That night an angry Jagannath came to Pundarika Vidyanidhi and gave him a dream vision. Vidyanidhi was frightened when he saw the anger of the Lord. He saw both Jagannath and Balaram slap him on each of his cheeks and he started to cry out, “Krishna save me! Krishna, save me! Forgive me my offense!”

Lord Jagannath said to him, “There is no end to your offensiveness. Just as there is no question of pure and impure in My case, the same holds true for My servants. You are staying here; you should know all this. If you thought that it was impure, then why did you stay at all? Go home then, if you want to maintain your purity.” (Chaitanya Bhagavat 3.10.131-2)

When he woke up in the morning, the devotees saw the marks of the Lords’ slaps on his cheeks, which had swollen as a result and they started to laugh. This pastime shows just how dear Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi is to Jagannath and to Mahaprabhu, for the Lord only comes to His dearest Devotees to personally punish them in this way.

That night Jagannath and Balaram came to him and, laughing all the while, slapped him on the cheeks. Pundarika Vidyanidhi felt a secret joy at his swollen cheeks, as has been described by Vrindavan Das Thakur in detail. (Chaitanya Charitamrita 2.16.80-1)

So, today is the appearance day of Pundarika Vidyanidhi who is a personal associate of the Supreme Lord. What can one not achieve if he gets his grace! One can do everything by the grace of such a personal associate of the Lord.

Today is also the appearance Tithi of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami. He is also a personal associate of the Supreme Lord. He is ascribed three different names from his previous identity as a Manjari in Krishna-lila: Rasa Manjari, Rati Manjari, and Bhanumati. (Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 186)

Raghunath Das was born in around 1416 Shaka (1494 AD) in the town of Saptagram in Hooghly district. His actual birthplace was in the village of Krishnapura which is not far south of the current railway station name Adi Saptagram on the eastern bank of the ancient Saraswati River. Krishnapura is about a mile from Adi Saptagram station and approximately 1 miles from Trish Bigha station.

Srila Raghunath Das Goswami was the son of Govardhana Majumdar. His mother’s name is not known. Govardhana’s elder brother Hiranya had no male offspring. The two brothers belonged to the Kayastha caste and were the primary landholders in Saptagram. In those days, the borders of Saptagram stretched from the Yashohara Bhairava creek almost up to the Rupa Narayan River. Raghunath lived in Saptagram Krishnapura, his uncle Kali Das, who was also Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s devotee, lived in Shankhanagara. Raghunath’s family priest, Balaram Acharya and his guru, Yadunandana Acharya, lived in the town of Chandpura. Yadunandana was an intimate disciple of Advaita Acharya and a dedicated devotee of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who had also received the special blessings of Vasudeva Datta Thakur.

After delivering the prostitute sent to tempt him by Ramachandra Khan, Hari Das Thakur left Benapole and came to Chandpura where he stayed with Balaram Acharya. Srila Raghunath Das Goswami was just a young boy at that time, but he had the opportunity to have darshan of Hari Das Thakur and receive his blessings. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami says that these blessings were the cause of Raghunath’s later being able to attain the association of Mahaprabhu in the last years of his life.

Although Raghunath himself was a personal associate of the Lord and was quite eligible to get the company of the Lord but in order to show to the world that only by the mercy of a pure devotee of the Lord one becomes eligible to get the association of the Lord, Raghunath played the pastimes of getting the mercy of Haridas Thakur to gain the association of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

He had his first opportunity to see Mahaprabhu when the Lord came to Shantipur after taking Sannyas. As soon as he saw the Lord, he fell to his feet in a transport of Divine Love. Raghunath’s father, Govardhana Majumdar, always served Advaita Acharya with faith and devotion, and thus Advaita Prabhu was predisposed to show kindness to the young Raghunath. He thus made sure that Raghunath received the Lord’s remnants for as long as he remained in Shantipur.

As the elder brother of Govardhan Majumdar called Hiranya Majumdar had no male offspring, the entire property of both the brothers belonged to Raghunath. Hiranya and Govardhana Majumdar had an annual income of 800,000 rupees. At that time, a rupee could buy about 650 lbs of rice, which means several hundred times the value of a rupee today. When the Lord departed for Puri, Raghunath returned to his home in Saptagram, but he had been transformed and was constantly feeling intense separation from the Lord. Seeing him in this condition, his father surrounded Raghunath by a guard of eleven men, including two Brahmins, four servants and five guards. Even so, Raghunath tried on several occasions to run away in order to join the Lord, but each time was caught and brought back before realizing his objectives.

In 1513, when the Lord made his attempt to visit Vrindavan, but only managed to get as far as Kanair Natashala, he returned to Shantipur and again stayed there for a short period of time. Raghunath wanted to see the Lord and this time begged his father to give him permission to go to Advaita Acharya’s house. Govardhana was worried about the state of his son’s mind and finally decided to let him go on condition that he will return quickly. He also sent a large entourage of guards to accompany him.

When Raghunath saw the Lord, it was as though he regained a new lease on life. He told the Lord of the intolerable situation he was living and prayed to him to tell him how he could break free from the bondage of his material existence. The all-knowing Lord could understand the depth of Raghunath’s feeling and yet he tried to pacify him with the following instruction:

sthira hañā ghare yāo, nā hao bātula
krame krame pāya loka bhava-sindhu-kūla
markaṭa-vairāgya nā kara loka dekhāñā
yathā-yogya viṣaya bhuñja’ anāsakta hañā
(Chaitanya Charitamrita 2.16.237-9)

“Calm yourself and return home. Don’t be foolish. It takes time to cross the ocean of material suffering. Don’t make a show of ‘monkey renunciation’ (markata-vairagya) simply for other people’s benefit. Enjoy the worldly life in a moderate way without attachment. Be fixed on Krishna internally while externally dealing with the world in the appropriate fashion. It will not be long before Krishna delivers you.”

So, what is exactly monkey renunciation? The monkeys remain in the forest without clothes and behave like ascetics by sustaining on fruits etc. But when they see some belongings of the people they quickly grab it and flee. So basically they are only interested in their own sense enjoyment. So, Mahaprabhu told Raghunath to stay away from such monkey-renunciation or markata-vairagya. The renunciation that one shows without serving the Lord is called ‘falgu-vairagya’ or false-renunciation. Real renunciation or Yukta-vairagya arises when one engages himself in the service of the Lord. It comes naturally when one serves the Lord. But one should not hurry. It will result gradually. When Raghunath’s father saw the change in his son he panicked that his son may leave family life and hurriedly married him to a very beautiful girl as beautiful as the heavenly damsels. He thought that marriage might make Raghunath a family person and relinquish the idea of leaving home.

In those days, there was an officer of the Shah with the title Chaudhari or Nayeb who acted as an intermediary between the Shah and the zamindars. He collected taxes from the landowners and received a commission of 25% on them. Hiranya Majumdar, however, paid his taxes directly to the Shah, with whom he had a special agreement and thus cut out the middle man. Thus, on an income of 2,000,000 rupees, Hiranya was paying only 1,200,000 rather than 1,500,000, the difference which would normally have been paid to the Chaudhari. Since he was losing a large amount of commission, the Turkish Muslim Chaudhari became an enemy of the Majumdar brothers. Ever since returning from his meeting with Mahaprabhu, Raghunath was practicing yukta-vairagya in accordance with the Lord’s instructions. However, when he heard that Mahaprabhu had returned from Vrindavan, he started making preparations to join him in Puri. At that time, the Chaudhari had started making complaints to the Shah about Hiranya and Govardhana out of anger at being cheated of his percentage of the tax revenue. Fearful of arrest, the two brothers had gone into hiding.

When the minister came to investigate the Chaudhari’s complaints, he arrested Raghunath, since his father and uncle were not present. The Chaudhari came daily to rebuke and threaten Raghunath, asking him to reveal their whereabouts. Finally he decided to have Raghunath beaten, but when he saw his calm, lotus-like face, he was unable to continue.

Raghunath himself was looking for a way to extricate himself from the situation, and spoke to the Chaudhari in a sweet voice: “My father and uncle are like your brothers. The behavior of brothers is difficult to understand. Sometimes they fight amongst themselves, sometimes they are loving to each other. Today you are arguing, but tomorrow, I am sure that you will be reconciled with each other. I am your son as much as I am my father’s and therefore you are my protector. It is not right for one such as yourself to punish his dependent. I need say no more, for you know the scriptures and are practically a living saint, a pir.”

The Chaudhari was affected by Raghunath’s sweet words and began to cry as he was overcome by affection for him. He said, “From now on, I consider you to be my son. I will find an excuse to have you freed today.”

Though Raghunath knew that the devotees from Bengal were preparing their annual trip to Puri, he was afraid of joining them because he knew that he would easily be caught. One day, about an hour before dawn, Yadunandana Acharya came by the house while Raghunath was sleeping on the Durga-mandapa. He told Raghunath that a disciple who performed the puja had abandoned his service and needed to be persuaded to take it up again as there was no replacement.

Raghunath accompanied his guru while all the guards were still sleeping. After walking a little distance with Yadunandana Acharya, however, Raghunath told him to return to his home, saying that he would go alone to the disciple’s house and convince him to come and perform his duties. He told him not to worry and bid him goodbye. With no guards or servants around him, Raghunath realized that he had a golden opportunity to make his escape.

When Govardhana heard that his son had run away, he immediately sent a group of ten servants with a letter for Shivananda Sena who was already on his way to Puri with the devotees, telling him to send Raghunath back. They caught up with the group of pilgrims at a place called Jhankara, but were disappointed to find that Raghunath was not with them. Meanwhile, Raghunath was walking at great speed towards Puri, completely oblivious to his own fatigue and hunger.

Raghunath arrived in Puri after only twelve days, having stopped to eat only three times along the way and resting only infrequently. He came upon Mahaprabhu, who was sitting with Swarupa Damodar, and paid his obeisances to the Lord from a certain distance. Mukunda Datta informed the Lord that Raghunath had arrived and was paying his obeisances. The Lord told him to approach and Raghunath fell at his feet. The Lord embraced him, his heart melting with compassion for the exhausted young man. He said, “Nothing is more powerful than Krishna’s mercy. It has dragged you out of the deep latrine hole of sense gratification.” (Chaitanya Charitamrita 3.6.193)

Mahaprabhu noticed that Raghunath was dirty and weak after his journey and so, after accepting him as his own son and servant, entrusted him to Swarupa Damodar, telling him take responsibility for him and to see to his well-being. He was thenceforth to be known as Swarupa’s Raghu to distinguish him from Raghunath Vaidya and Raghunath Bhatta, who were also living in Mahaprabhu’s association in Puri at that time. The Lord also told Govinda to take care of Raghunath with great affection. He then told him to go and take his bath in the ocean and go to see Lord Jagannath, after which he was to join him for lunch. When Govinda gave Raghunath the remnants of the Lord’s plate to eat, Raghunath was overjoyed.

Things went on like this for five days, Raghunath taking the Lord’s remnants each day, but on the sixth day, he stopped taking the Lord’s remnants. From that day on, he went to the Jagannath temple and took darshan of the Lord’s flower offering, after which he would stand at the Lion’s Gate and beg Mahaprasad. At night, after they had finished their duties, Jagannath’s servants would pass by on their way home and would customarily give Prasad to any Vaishnavas who waited there. In this way, renounced Vaishnavas could keep body and soul together. This type of renounced attitude was particularly noticeable amongst Mahaprabhu’s devotees.

Raghunath Goswami’s asceticism grew stronger with each passing day. He stopped begging at the Lion’s Gate and started going instead to an almshouse. When Mahaprabhu heard this news from Govinda, he asked Swarupa Damodar what the cause was for the change. Swarupa Damodar answered that Raghunath was finding that a lot of time was being wasted standing in front of the Simha-dvara and was going to the almshouse every day at noon instead. Mahaprabhu praised Raghunath’s decision, saying, “Begging by the Simha-dvara resembles the behavior of a prostitute.” A prostitute stands around and waits for some man to come and give her some business, a beggar cannot remain indifferent as he waits for someone to be kind to him. Going for handouts at the almshouse does not present the same kind of problem. One simply has to go at the proper time and one receives enough to keep his body alive. This is useful if one wishes to use one’s time in chanting the Holy Names.

Finally, Raghunath started going at night to gather the prasad which the vendors outside the temple threw away near the Simha Dwar after it started to go so bad that even the Tailangi cows would not eat it. He would wash it to take out the dirt with which it had become mixed until he reached the hard core of the grains which had not cooked. This is what he would eat, only adding a little salt. One day, Swarupa Damodar Goswami saw Raghunath doing this and asked him for some of this prasad, comparing it to the nectar of the gods. Even Mahaprabhu, when He heard about it from Govinda, came and took a handful of Raghunath’s prasad, though Swarupa Damodar prevented Him from taking a second.

After the disappearance of Mahaprabhu and Swarup Damodar, Raghunath Das Goswami could not stay in Jagannath Puri. He went to Vrindavan and performed intense bhajan staying at Radhakund. He gave up eating solid food altogether, only drinking whey to sustain himself. He would pay a thousand prostrated obeisances, chant 100,000 Holy Names, serve Radha and Krishna mentally both day and night, recount the glorious pastimes of Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and bathe three times a day without fail in Radhakund. This was the exemplary standard of bhajan set by Raghunath in which he served their Lordships for more than 22 hours a day, sleeping only an hour and a half, if at all. Raghunath’s renunciation may superficially be compared to that of the Siddharth (Buddha), but when examined more closely it will be observed that there are some unique characteristics in Raghunath’s asceticism. The external meaning of renunciation is detachment from sense gratification, but its true meaning is attachment to the Supreme person. Raghunath’s strong attachment to the lotus feet of Radha and Krishna meant that he was completely and naturally detached from anything which was not connected to his worshipable Lord.

He lived in Radhakund which was where he engaged in his most intense devotional practices. He was blessed there by Nityananda Prabhu’s potency, Jahnava Devi, when she visited Radhakund.

When Mahaprabhu himself visited the village of Arit and displayed his pastime of bathing in a rice field, by which he indicated the presence of Radhakund and Shyamakund. At that time the two Kunds had not been finished with steps, etc. Raghunath himself thought it would be a good idea to have this work done, but had some reservations about getting involved in this kind of work. However, one day, a rich merchant who was on pilgrimage to Badri Narayan with the intention of donating a large sum of money to the temple there. But Badri Narayan appeared to him in a dream and told him to fund Raghunath’s vision of a developed Radha Kund and Shyama Kund. The merchant came back to Vraja and found Raghunath in the village of Arit and recounted the story of the dream to him. Raghunath thus supervised the excavation of the ponds and the subsequent building of stone steps walkways.

Today is also the appearance day of Raghunandan Thakur. The third member of the Chatur-vyuha, Pradyumna, took part in Radha Madhava’s lila in Vraja as Krishna’s intimate friend or Priya-narma-sakha. He has now appeared as Raghunandan, whose body is not different from that of Sri Chaitanya. (Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 70)

Raghunandan was born into a family of physicians in the Shaka year 1432 (1510 AD). His father’s name was Mukunda Das, his mother’s name is unknown. Mukunda Das was Narahari Sarkar Thakur’s elder brother. In the fifteenth chapter of the Madhya-lila of Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, it is clearly said that Mukunda Das was physician to the king.

Externally, he appears to be a physician to the king who is engaged in government service. But internally, he is filled with Divine Love. Who would be able to know his love?
(Chaitanya Charitamrita 2.15.120)

Mahaprabhu Gave Raghunandan the Service of Deity Worship. Raghunandan’s work is to serve Krishna. He has no interest in anything other than serving Krishna.
(Chaitanya Charitamrita 2.15.131)

From his early childhood, Raghunandan Thakur would feed the family’s Gopinath deity. Uddhava Das has written a song in which this lila is described:

Mukunda Das lived in the village of Srikhanda, where his household deity was named Gopinath. One day he had to go somewhere for work and he called Raghunandan to do the service.

He said, “In this house we worship Krishna, so I want you to be sure to give him something to eat.” and then he left. Raghunandan did as his father had ordered and made the offering to the deity.

Raghunandan was just a child and in his simplicity, he said to Gopinath, “Eat! Eat!” Krishna is controlled by love, and so he did as the child told him and ate everything on the plate without leaving a grain of rice.

When Mukunda Das returned, he asked the boy to bring him the prasad from the offering he had made. The child answered, “Father, Gopinath ate everything and left no remnants.”

Mukunda was astonished at his child’s wonderful words that he asked him again on another occasion to make an offering. This time after he left the house, he returned and hid to watch what his son would do.

Raghunandan joyfully placed a laddu in Krishna’s hand and said in a commanding voice, “Eat! Eat!” When Krishna had eaten half of the laddu, Raghunandan saw Mukunda Das in the doorway.

Mukunda saw that Krishna did not take another bite and that the half-eaten laddu remained in his hand. This caused him to be filled with love. He embraced his child and, as tears of joy rained from his eyes, spoke to him in a broken voice.

To this day, fortunate people come to Srikhanda to see the half-eaten laddu in Gopinath’s hand. Raghunandan is not different from Cupid himself, says Uddhava Das with great feeling.

Srila Raghunandan Thakur had great affection for Srinivas Acharya. Prior to his disappearance he consoled Srinivas that despite the difficult times, he would be able to spread Vaishnavism in the future.

“A difficult time is coming in which people will succumb to various doubts. Narahari Prabhu wrote in his Shri-Krishna-bhajanamrita:

krishna-caitanya-candrena nityanandena samhrite
avatare kalav asmin vaishnavah sarva eva hi
bhavishyanti sadodvignah kale kale dine dine
prayah sandigdha-hridaya uttametara-madhyamah
(Verses 3-4)

Once our Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya and his companion Nityananda Prabhu have ended their earthly pastimes, the Vaishnavas in this age of Kali will be anxious with every passing day. Whether very advanced, somewhat advanced or neophyte, their hearts will nearly always be filled with doubt.

But don’t let this worry you. Lord Gauranga will accomplish many great works through you. I bless you that you remain long on this earth and that you and your followers protect our Lord’s religion. Those who are opposed to devotion to Krishna will become devotees by your influence and they will take shelter of you.” (Bhakti-ratnakara 13.174-179)

Raghunandan Thakur bequeathed the service of his Gaura-Gopal deity to his son Kanai Thakur and then left this world on the fourth day of the waxing moon in the month of Shravan. Kanai Thakur gave Utsava as a part of his father’s last rites:

After the disappearance of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and all His personal associates a dark age descended in the reign of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Many pseudo sects cropped up who practiced all sorts of illegal things in the name of pure devotion. Seeing them most people lost their faith in the path of pure devotion practiced by Mahaprabhu. Seeing the precarious condition, Mahaprabhu sent His own personal associates namely Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur who are Kamala Manjari and Nayanmani Manjari in the spiritual realm. They came and dispelled the darkness that arose in the sky of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism and ultimately re-established the path of pure devotion shown and practiced by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Today is also the disappearance day of Srila Vishwanath Chakravarty Thakur. He is the topmost of the devotees and showed the path of pure devotional service to the Lord. He had written a ‘tika’ (abstract) on ‘Ujjal Nilamani’ which was composed by Srila Rupa Goswami Thakur and the ‘tika’ was called ‘Ujjvala-nilamani-kirana-lesha’. His other books are ‘Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu Bindu’, Sri Bhagavatamrita Kana. These are only a few examples but in actuality he had composed many books and written many commentaries on many works. When Srila Chakravarti Thakur was in his advance age and hampered in his ability to travel, the Acharyas of the Ramanuja sampradaya in the Galta village of Jaipur attempted to convert the King of Jaipur to their school by denying that the Gaudiya school had any historical basis. They accused the Gaudiyas of not having a tie to any one of the four Vaishnava disciplic successions. They advised the King of Jaipur to take initiation from someone in the Ramanuja line. The King was confused by their arguments and asked Srila Chakravarti Thakur, who was the most prominent acharya of the Gaudiya school at that time, to come to Jaipur and answer the questions posed by the Ramanuja group. Due to his advanced age, Srila Chakravarti Thakur was unable to go, but in his stead he sent his dear student, Baladeva Vidyabhushana Prabhu to defend the line.

One of the arguments of the Ramanujis was that the Gaudiya school had no commentary of its own on the Vedanta. Baladeva Prabhu asked the accusers for some time—seven days according to some, three months according to others—to write a Gaudiya commentary on Vedanta. He was given the time and then he went to the Govinda temple and prayed to his guru and to the Lord to give him the power to write such a commentary. Govindaji’s garland fell from around his neck and the pujaris placed it on Baladeva Prabhu’s chest. He took this a sign that the Lord had given him authorization.

With the Lord’s blessings, even the impossible becomes possible, and Baladeva Prabhu undertook the writing of comments to the 500 sutras of the Brahmasutra, completing it in the limited time given him but without neglecting the aesthetic qualities of the Gaudiya tradition in any way. When he went to Galta, the scholars of the other sampradayas were astonished by the quality of Baladeva’s commentary. Because Govindaji himself had ordered its writing, the commentary became known as the Govinda-bhashya. It was after completing this commentary that Baladeva Prabhu received the ‘Vidyabhushana’ title.