About Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 25 October 2020, part 4

Question: In Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, when Pancha-tattva is described, it is said that Mahaprabhu is Lord Krishna Himself, Nityananda Prabhu is an expansion of the Lord and Advaita Acharya is an incarnation of a devotee (bhakta-avatara). However, I do not understand the position of Gadadhar Pandit. Could you please explain it?

Sri Gadadhar Pandit is an incarnation of Srimati Radharani. Actually, Krishna took Radharani's heart and halo and became Gauranga, and whatever remained from Radharani became Sri Gadadhar Pandit. When Mahaprabhu came to Sri Puri Dham, He kept Sri Gadadhar Pandit in Puri and gave him there a beautiful service of Tota Gopinath. There, Sri Gadadhar Pandit would read Srimad Bhagavatam and Mahaprabhu would listen to it from him. Also, Sri Gadadhar Pandit could cook very nicely, especially a particular type of spinach (avona sak) that grows in the garden on its own and that Mahaprabhu liked very much. One day, Sri Gadadhar Pandit thought, "If Mahaprabhu loves me and if He knows my heart, He will come even if I do not invite Him. Let me see whether He will know it when to come or not." He prepared the bhog and suddenly Mahaprabhu came there saying, "Oh! You are cooking for Me, and you are not inviting Me! But I know you want Me to come! That is why I have come." Such is the relationship between Sri Gadadhar Pandit and Sriman Mahaprabhu.

As for Pancha-tattva, there is Mahaprabhu, Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhar, and Srivas Pandit. They are the Pancha-tattva. Sri Gadadhar is a part of Pancha-tattva. We can also say that Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur always worshipped, prayed to Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar and also established Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar Deities. Another Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar Deity is established by Dvija Vaninath. Other than this explanation, I do not understand what you want to know.

There are people who say many esoteric, confidential things, but these are sahajiya, aul people. You know, there is one disciple (and a relative) of Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He is a school teacher from Hapaniya. Actually, Srila Sridhar Maharaj did not accept him as his disciple although he had taken diksa from Srila Sridhar Maharaj. He is still alive, but he is staying in some other temple. He used to always come to our temple from time to time, I saw him in Gurudev's time; we would always give him as much respect as possible. Yet one time he came to the temple at the time of some festival. I do not remember what festival day it was, perhaps Srila Guru Maharaj's appearance day, but I remember it was a festival because Gurudev heard him from his house, so it means there was a loud speaker running. Actually, at Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math, there are no loud speakers used except on festival days because Srila Guru Maharaj did not like any loud speakers in his temple and in his time no loud speakers were allowed. Now, during festival time, so many people come, and it has become necessary to use loud speakers, so Gurudev allowed to use them, but only during festival time. So, that time, that man was singing at the evening arati, and suddenly he started singing, "Mala jhanmal jhanmal kare," and when Gurudev heard him sing, "Gadadharer gatha mala," Gurudev became very disturbed and shouted, "STOP IT! STOP IT!! Who is this sahajiya coming and saying this?! STOP IT!!" Gurudev told to never chant "Gadadharer mala"—we must chant, "Bhakta-ganer ghata mala jhanmal jhanmal kare." We are not to speak about "Gadadharer gatha mala." Do you understand how extremely deep these things are?

Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur says, "Srila Narottam Das Thakur can sing, 'Vrndavane chabutara tahe mora mano-ghera—My entire mind dwells within the courtyard of Vrindavan.' But we know very clearly whether our mind is in Vrindavan's courtyard or in some other place." So, you must serve within your adhikar (right). Know your place when you serve, do not cross the line. Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Saraswati Thakur also said, "I have read Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita sixty times, but I still cannot understand it clearly."

Question: I have heard that there are no Gaura-Gadadhar Deities in Jagannath Puri. Why is it so?

These are very high things. Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar are extremely high Deities. The relationship between Sri Gaura and Sri Gadadhar is the highest relation, that is why I think many temples avoid installing Their Deities. We see that mainly only Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur and Dvija Vaninath worship Sri Gaura-Gadadhar. So, not only in Jagannath Puri, I have not seen so many places in Bengal or India where Gaura-Gadadhar are worshipped. This relationship is very high. We do not have that kind of qualification to worship the Deities of Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar. We see that even all the Gaudiya-acharya-varga (even Srila Sridhar Maharaj, or any other Gaudiya Acharya), do not give priority to establishing Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar. Only in very rare places Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar are worshipped, that is because the relationship between Sri Gaura and Sri Gadai is a very confidential, very high. They are worshipped through kirtan-marga, so we see They are worshipped in the island of kirtan (kirtanakhya-dvip) in Svarupganj, that is Godrumdwip. Another highest place is Champahati, where Jayadev Goswami lived. It is possible to see the Deities of Sri Sri Gaura-Gadadhar in this kind of places. Other than that, our entire Gaudiya-acharya-varga always keep distance from these things. This is what I think. I have never asked Gurudev about such things, neither has it even ever come to my mind.

I remember one time when I was in Russia there was a big gathering. Srila Janardan Maharaj and Srila Ashram Maharaj were also there. That day, I gave a class in the morning and mentioned that there were three and a half closest servitors of Mahaprabhu—Svarup Damodar, Ray Ramananda, Sikhi-kanta Mahiti are three, and Sikhi-kanta Mahiti Mahiti's sister Madhavi Devi is the half. Later, in the evening, there was a huge gathering—so many new people, so many devotees came, so many services were going on; and everybody on the stage had a microphone. Srila Gurudev gave a lecture at that gathering, and, having finished his lecture, he left the place. After that, everybody got a chance to ask questions. Suddenly, one lady got up and said directly to me, "Acharya Maharaj said in the morning that there were three and a half closest servitors of Mahaprabhu—why is Madhavi Devi only a half? Is it because we are ladies that we are considered a half only?!" And I in particular was supposed to answer this question. I did not know the proper answer, so I prayed to Gurudev, "Gurudev, please give some answer to my mind, my heart!" Anyhow, I answered her question at that time, and later I asked Gurudev if it was a correct answer or not, and Gurudev said, "Yes, you gave the right answer." The answer I gave is this. Actually, we do not think somebody is a lady, somebody is a man—this is illusion; but the thing is that Mahaprabhu always avoided women, He did not want to receive prasadam or anything from any woman. So, Madhavi Devi cooked and served Mahaprabhu, but she could only do it from far—she could see Mahaprabhu from far, but she could not come close to Him. That is why, she could not do full service and that is why she is only a half.

Question: Also, we see that all devotees either went to Vrindavan with Mahaprabhu or Mahaprabhu allowed them to go on their own, but Mahaprabhu never allowed Gadadhar Pandit to go there...

Yes... One time, when Sri Gadadhar Pandit tried to leave with Mahaprabhu and Mahaprabhu did not allow him to go, Sri Gadadhar Pandit showed ego saying, "I am not going with You! I am going to see Ai [Sachi Mata, Mahaprabhu's mother]!" So, we see that Mahaprabhu had sent some sari, some prasad for His mother with Jagadananda Pandit on another occasion, but Mahaprabhu did not allow Gadadhar Pandit to visit her. Externally, Mahaprabhu always kept some distance because people could start saying so many things, people could start criticising, and if they criticised Mahaprabhu, they would make an offence and become offenders. That is why Mahaprabhu avoided it in every possible way.

— : • : —

{ 2001  |   2002  |   2003  |   2005  |   2009  |   2010  |   2011  |   2012 }
{ 2013  |   2014  |   2015  |   2016  |   2017  |   2018  |   2019  |   2020  |   2021 }

• Listen to the audio or download (4.6 Mb, 11 min)