Uddhāraṇa Datta was the best of the devotees who served Nityānanda Prabhu’s lotus feet in every way possible. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.11.41)

Whenever the Supreme Lord Nandanandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa adopts the devotional mood and bodily lustre of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in order to become Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya in the house of Śrī Jagannātha Miśra in Śrīdhāma Māyāpura, He is always accompanied by His eternal associates who join Him to enrich His pastimes. Thus, Kṛṣṇa’s primary expansion or prakāśa, Baladeva, accepts the attitude of a devotee as Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, appearing in Ekacakra village in order to embellish Mahāprabhu’s līlā. He too has His entourage of personal confidantes who descend to this earth to assist Him in playing His role. Nityānanda Prabhu is Baladeva-tattva: He is none other than Lord Śeṣa, the source of three puruṣāvatāras, Mahā Saṅkarṣaṇa’s causal form or mūla Saṅkarṣaṇa. His chief companions are known as the dvādaśa-gopālas or twelve cowherds. Thus it is stated in the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (129):

subāhur yo vraje gopo datta uddhāraṇākhyakaḥ

The cowherd named Subāhu became Uddhāraṇa Datta.

Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura is thus one of the twelve gopālas. In order to assist Nityānanda Prabhu’s pastimes, he appeared in the town of Saptagram in the year 1481 AD. Saptagram is in Hooghly district, near the Trishbigha railway station. His parents, Śrīkara and Bhadrāvatī, belonged to the gold merchant class. Any caste in which a Vaiṣṇava appears is holy, the earth itself is blessed by the appearance of a Vaiṣṇava, and his or her mother has achieved the perfection of motherhood. Vṛndāvana Dāsa has written:

Nityānanda Prabhu remained a few days in Khardah and then went on to Saptagram with his troupe of associates. The Lord stayed at the home of the fortunate Uddhāraṇa Datta on the banks of the Triveni. Completely surrendered to the feet of Nityānanda Prabhu, Uddhāraṇa Datta worshipped Him without any false pretence. The entire caste of gold merchants was purified by the presence of Uddhāraṇa Datta in its midst, of this there can be no doubt. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 3.5.443, 449-50, 453)

jāti-kula saba nirarthaka jānāite
janmāilena haridāse mleccha-kulete

In order to show that one’s caste and family background are completely irrelevant, the Lord made Haridāsa Ṭhākura take birth in an outcaste family.

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Nityānanda Prabhus wanted to teach that a great devotee may appear in any family in any caste, and so They had some of Their devotees take birth in such households.

One who takes birth in a low-class family is not disqualified from performing devotional service, nor is one who born in a pure, high-class brahminical family automatically qualified for such service. Whoever engages in the worship of the Lord is a great person; one who does not worship is rejected. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 3.4.66-7)

arcye viṣṇau śīladhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhi
viṣṇor vā vaiṣṇavānāṁ kalimala-mathane pada-tīrthe ‘mbu-buddhiḥ
śrī-viṣṇor nāmni mantre sakala-kaluṣahe śabda-sāmānya-buddhir
viṣṇau sarveśvareśe tad-itara-samadhīr yasya vā nārakī saḥ

Anyone who considers the deity to be nothing but stone, the guru to be an ordinary human being, or the Vaiṣṇava to be a member of a particular caste or race, who takes the holy water which has washed Viṣṇu or the Vaiṣṇava’s feet and can destroy all the sins of the age of Kali, to be ordinary water, who thinks that the Name or mantra of Viṣṇu, which destroys all evils, is the same as any other sound, or who takes Viṣṇu to be equal to anything other than Him, is a resident of hell. (Padma-purāṇa)

Anyone who sees a Vaiṣṇava in terms of his material birth is destined for a hellish existence. Subāhu took birth in a family of gold merchants, but this does not mean that he was a gold merchant—he was an eternal associate of the Lord beyond the material modes. One cannot understand the underlying nature or ontological aspect of the Lord and His devotees by using the gross or subtle material senses; one can only get a superficial understanding of their morphological or external aspect. The true nature of the devotee and the Supreme Lord is revealed to the surrendered heart. If Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura is merciful, one can understand his transcendental nature and his divine glories.

Amongst devatas, Viṣṇu is supreme. Only by uttering the Name of Viṣṇu can all of one’s sins be burned up, all inauspiciousness in one’s destiny be destroyed and auspiciousness gained. A single utterance of the Name of Rāma equals a thousand repetitions of the Name of Viṣṇu.

rāma rāmeti rāmeti rame rāme manorame
sahasra-nāmabhis tulyaṁ rāmanāma varānane

O sweet-faced Devī, I take great pleasure in chanting the Names of Rāma, Rāma, Rāma. A single utterance of the Name of Rāma is equivalent to a recital of the thousand Names of Viṣṇu. (Padma-purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa, 72.335; Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.9.32)

sahasra-nāmnāṁ puṇyānāṁ trirāvṛttyā tu yat phalam
ekāvṛttyā tu kṛṣṇasya nāmaikaṁ tat prayacchati

The fruits of three recitals of the thousand Names of Lord Viṣṇu are attained by a single utterance of the Name of Kṛṣṇa. (Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa, Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta 1.631, Caitanya Caritāmṛta 2.9.33)

Even though the Name of Kṛṣṇa and the kṛṣṇa-mantra are supremely powerful, offenses are taken into consideration in the chanting of Kṛṣṇa’s Name. Even the glow of the Holy Name (nāmābhāsa) can destroy all sins and bestow liberation. Nevertheless, if one commits offences, the benefits of nāmābhāsa are lost. Lord Kṛṣṇa withholds His mercy from the offensive person. The difference between a sin (pāpa) and an offence (aparādha) is the following: an improper act committed toward a conditioned embodied being is a sin, whereas a similar improper act committed toward Viṣṇu or the Vaiṣṇava is an offence. An offense has more grave consequences than a sin. Ajāmila was a great sinner, but because he had committed no offences, he was delivered by the power of nāmābhāsa. Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu delivered everyone, both sinners and offenders.

There are offences to be considered while chanting Kṛṣṇa’s Name. Therefore simply by chanting His Name, the offender does not become ecstatic. But these considerations do not exist where Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda are concerned. So as soon as one chants the Name, he feels the ecstasy of love for God. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.8.24, 31)

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has glorified Nityānanda Prabhu’s quality of being merciful to the most fallen in the following words:

Nityānanda Prabhu is the avatāra of mercy; He is so intoxicated by ecstatic love that He does not discriminate between the good and the bad. He delivers anyone who falls down before Him. Therefore He has delivered such a sinful and fallen person as me. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.5.208-9)

Śrīla Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura has particularly given extensive glorifications of Nityānanda Prabhu. The sinful and offensive living beings of this world have no alternative but the mercy of Nityānanda Prabhu if they want to be delivered. Even though Nityānanda Prabhu is bhagavat-tattva, He behaves as a devotee. All of His associates are expansions of His mercy. Nityānanda Prabhu is said to be the deliverer of the most fallen; His companions seek out even more fallen souls to deliver. In fact, Nityānanda Prabhu distributes His mercy to the conditioned souls through His devotees.

As one of Nityānanda Prabhu’s closest confidantes, Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura is called parama-parama-patita-pāvana, “the deliverer of the most fallen amongst the most fallen”. Thus any jīva who takes shelter of Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura is quickly delivered from his material entanglements and attains the service of Nityānanda and Gaurāṅga Prabhus’ lotus feet. Therefore Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī describes him as the best of the mahā-bhāgavatas and Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura writes in the Caitanya Bhāgavata:

“Uddhāraṇa Datta is a great and magnanimous Vaiṣṇava, who is the most entitled to the service of Nityānanda Prabhu.”

From a superficial point of view, Uddhāraṇa Datta worked as the manager of a big zamindar (Nairaja) of Naihati. The relics of this wealthy family are still visible not far from the Dain Hat station. The village where Uddhāraṇa Datta lived while acting as the manager of the estate was named Uddhāraṇapura.

Though he possessed a vast fortune, Uddhāraṇa Datta renounced all sense gratifications, dedicating all of his sense activities to the service of Nityānanda Prabhu. Being controlled by the love of His devotee, Nityānanda Prabhu enjoyed the foodstuffs that Uddhāraṇa had cooked.

bhaktera dravya prabhu kāri kāri khāya
abhaktera dravya-pāne ulati na cāya

The Lord will grab food from His devotee, but He will not even glance at anything offered by a non-devotee.

At Uddhāraṇa Datta’s Sripat in Saptagram, which stands on the banks of the Sarasvatī River, one can still see the six-armed form of Mahāprabhu that he personally worshiped. On the right side of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is a deity of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and on the left side is the deity of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita. On another altar are the deities of Rādhā-Govinda and a śālagrāma-śilā, and below the throne is a picture of Śrī Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura. After Uddhāraṇa Datta disappeared, Jāhnavā Devī made an auspicious visit to his home.

Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī writes in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta that his brother did not have as much faith in Nityānanda Prabhu as he had in Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This was the cause of an argument between his brother and Nityānanda Prabhu’s follower Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa. Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī took Rāma Dāsa’s side in this argument and rebuked his brother. Nityānanda Prabhu was pleased with Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī just because he supported His devotee. Nityānanda Prabhu gave him a vision of Himself, the right to live in Vṛndāvana and service to the lotus feet of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. The conclusion is that if we worship Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura, serve him and try to please him, we will quickly be able to get the mercy of Lord Nityānanda, through which we will become eligible to attain love for Kṛṣṇa and thus perfect our lives. In order to attract people and to bring welfare upon them, it is necessary to make repairs to the buildings at Uddhāraṇa Datta’s Sripat. Through this, people will submit to him, serve him, become aware of his glories, will seek his mercy and become blessed. If one makes an effort to serve, the object of worship will give the commensurate power to serve.

In front of the Saptagram temple, a large hall has been constructed, in front of which is a shady and cool terrace covered by a mādhavi creeper.

Śrīnivāsa Datta was Uddhāraṇa Datta’s son. Their descendants have spread into many branches and today live in Kolkata, Hooghly and many other places. Those who have taken birth in this family are doubtlessly very fortunate individuals. We pray that they abandon the superficial illusory family connection and establish their transcendental relation with him and take care of developing the birthsite of Śrī Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura.

Uddhāraṇa Datta left this world in the Śaka year 1463 (1551 AD), on the kṛṣṇā trayodaśī of the month of Pauṣa.