(3/4) Remembering Gadadhar Pandit

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Evening programme, Tarakeshwar
21 November 2020, part 3
Translated from Bengali

You should accept even committing an offence for the service of the Lord, but you should never accept any offence for your own enjoyment. But we do just the opposite. We are not afraid to commit any sin for our own enjoyment (nija sukha lagi' pape nahi dari, নিজ সুখ লাগি' পাপে নাহি ডরি). We are devoid of any compassion and very selfish (daya-hina svartha-para, দয়াহীন স্বার্থপর). We are happy when others are unhappy, and we are unhappy when others are happy (para-sukhe duhkhi para-duhkha sukha-kara, পর সুখে দুঃখী পরদুঃখ সুখকর).

If we only chant the Holy Name and only think about the Lord, if we have faith that the Lord will definitely protect us, then the Lord will take a good care of us. If we have the mercy of our guru and the Lord, then the Lord will remove all obstacles.

Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami wrote, 'I am writing this scripture happily by the mercy of Vaishnavs.'

sri-rupa-raghunatha-pade yara asa
chaitanya-charitamrta kahe krsna-dasa

'Always desiring the lotus feet of Sri Rupa and Raghunath, Krishna Das is narrating this Chaitanya-charitamrita.'

First, I am remembering my gurus, Vaishnavs and the Lord. 'Tinera smarane haya vighna-vinasana (তিনের স্মরণে হয় বিঘ্নবিনাশন). Remembering these three destroys all obstacles' (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 1.1.21).

Sri Gadadhar Pandit Goswami spent his whole life in Puri. At first, he stayed near Chandrasekhara Acharya's house, so he spent his childhood and youth with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Later, when Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took sannyas and went to live in Puri, he came with Him. He lived in the temple of Tota Gopinath, it is near our temple in Puri. Gadadhar Pandit is actually an incarnation of Radharani. Mahaprabhu appeared on a purnima day, and Gadadhar appeared on an amavasya day: Mahaprabhu took the moon, the light, and Gadadhar took the dark day, staying without the moon (there is no moon on the amavasya day). Tomorrow is also the disappearance day of Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami; it is the gopastami (gostha-astami) day.

There is some contradiction. We all know that Gauranga is the combined form of Radha-Krishna, but then how can Gadadhar be Radharani's incarnation? Krishna takes everything from Radharani – He takes Her heart and halo. After that, only Her outer cover, Her shadow, remains. These are very high things... One time, somebody asked me why our Gaudiya guru-varga do not worship Gaura Gadadhar so much. Why is it so? Because they must have thought that we have no qualification to worship Them or become Their devotees. It is a very high conception. Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur worshipped Gaura-Gadadhar, and Dvija Vaninath also worshipped Gaura-Gadadhar at his home in Champahati. Other than that, we do not see Gaura-Gadadhar service so much. So, who is Gadadhar? Taking Radharani's heart and halo, Krishna becomes Gauranga, and Gadadhar takes whatever is left of Her. He always stayed behind Mahaprabhu as a shadow. Although he is a little younger than Mahaprabhu, they studied together at the same school. He was very intimate to Mahaprabhu.

I was reading earlier today and did not notice the time pass. I read a little in the morning and later in the afternoon. I read when I get time. But today's boys and girls do not want to read. Even if you give them a book, they do not even want to look at it. They only want to see their mobile phones. But we are not interested in mobile phones. When we take scriptures, we read them from cover to cover...

During His childhood pastimes, Sri Gaura Hari always played with Gadadhar Pandit. Although Gadadhar Pandit was a few years younger than Mahaprabhu, they studied together at the local school. Mahaprabhu could not stay without Gadadhar, and Gadadhar also could not stay even a moment without Mahaprabhu.

One day, Sri Isvar Puri came to Mayapur. During his visit, he taught Gadadhar a scripture named Krishna-lilamrita — hearing this holy scripture from Sri Isvar Puri's holy mouth, Gadadhar was extremely captivated. From his childhood, Gadadhar Pandit was placid, peaceful, reserved and renounced. He was the opposite of Mahaprabhu – Mahaprabhu was very naughty and restless when He was small, but Gadadhar was very reserved. When Gaura Hari was small, He would display a very naughty mood and sometimes ask Gadadhar hard questions, trying to trick him with logic. Gadadhar Pandit did not particularly like it, so sometimes he would try to keep away from Nimai (sometimes, seeing Nimai walking down the street, he would turn around and go in the opposite direction to avoid Him), but Sri Gaurasundar did not let him go.

Once, Gadadhar Pandit came to Mahaprabhu and said, 'Prabhu, give me initiation.'

'Your Guru is coming', answered Mahaprabhu. 'He will give you initiation.' After a while, Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi came to Nabadwip from Chattagram. Mahaprabhu always called him 'father'.

One day, Mukunda Datta came to Gadadhar Pandit and asked him, 'Prabhu, would you like to meet a Vaishnav?'

Gadadhar Pandit answered, 'Yes, of course! Let us go!'

When they came to the house of Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi, Gadadhar Pandit lost the enthusiastic faith he had before coming. He saw that Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi was a householder devotee: dressed in a costly dhoti and a fine kurta, he sprawled leisurely on his opulent bed, chewing pan. Gadadhar Pandit had come to see a sadhu, but it turned out that the 'sadhu' looked just like a materialist. Thinking in this way, Gadadhar Pandit made an offence. He wondered, 'Who is this man? Why does he behave like a gross materialist if he is a Vaisnav?' Mukunda Datta understood what had gone through Gadadhar Pandit's mind, and he recited a verse describing pastimes of Krishna:

aho baki yam stanakalakutam
jighamsayapayayad apy asadhvi
lebhe gatim dhatry-uchitam tato 'nyam
kam va dayalum saranam vrajema

'Oh! Even though the wicked Putana nursed Krishna with her poison-smeared breasts, intending to kill Him, Krishna granted her a position befitting His mother! Of what merciful Lord shall we take shelter other than Him?'

(Srimad Bhagavatam, 3.2.23)

Hearing Mukunda sing about Krishna's pastime in a very sweet voice, Sri Pundarik Vidyanidhi immediately started chanting, 'Krishna! Krishna!' — tears flowed from his eyes, and he fell unconscious. Seeing this, Gadadhar Pandit thought, 'This is not an ordinary man. I have mistaken this great Vaishnav for a materialist! I have made an offence! Unless I take the mantra from him, I will not become free — this offence will not go away.'

Why did Mahaprabhu call Pundarik Vidyanidhi 'father'? There is a reason behind it. In Dvapara-yuga, this Pundarik Vidyanidhi was Raja Vrsabhanu, Srimati Radharani's father. Who is Gadadhar Pandit? He is an incarnation of Srimati Radharani. That is why when Gadadhar Pandit told Mahaprabhu what had happened, Mahaprabhu approved of it, saying, 'Yes, to remove your offence, you must take initiation from him. He is your Guru!'

When, Mukunda Datta intimidated Sri Gadadhar Pandit's peculiar identity to Pundarik Vidyanidhi, Pundarik Vidyanidhi laughed:

suniya hasena pundarika vidyanidhi
"amare ta' maharatna milaila vidhi
karaimu ihate sandeha kichhu nai
bahu janma-bhagye se emata sisya pai"

'Hearing this, Pundarik Vidyanidhi laughed: "The Providence has brought a great jewel to me. I have no doubt about it. I am getting this kind of disciple as a result of a great fortune accumulated after many, many births".'

(Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata, 2.7.117-118)

'It is my great fortune to accept him as a disciple! So, I did not bestow mercy on him; rather, getting a disciple like him, I think it is he who has bestowed his mercy on me!' Then, Gadadhar Pandit came in front of Pundarik Vidyanidhi and offered his obeisance to him, and Pundarik Vidyanidhi gave him the mantra. After Gadadhar Pandit returned home, he manifested a new life: he became inundated with transcendental love for Lord Krishna and floated continuously, day and night, engrossed in it.

Gadadhar Pandit and Mahaprabhu performed their Nadia pastimes together, and when Mahaprabhu showed the pastime of accepting sannyas, Gadadhar Pandit accepted ksetra-sannyas (the vow of a renounced person to stay in one place the whole life) on the order of Mahaprabhu and started to live in Nilachal (Jagannath Puri) — he lived there like Mahaprabhu's shadow.

When, Krishna stole Srimati Radharani's heart and halo and became Gauranga Mahaprabhu, Srimati Radharani became empty — Her entire being was taken away, and only Her body remained there like a shadow. Such was Gadadhar Pandit's position: his form is non-different from Srimati Radharani. Like a shadow, he could not leave Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu: wherever Mahaprabhu went, Gadadhar Pandit followed Him from afar. Although he did not know anything except Gauranga Mahaprabhu, he did not come close to Mahaprabhu: he always stayed in the background, behind Him. We can see that Mahaprabhu appeared on a full moon day (purnima), and Gadadhar Pandit appeared on a new moon day (amavasya). A new moon day means when there is no moon in the sky: Mahaprabhu has taken the moon, and Gadadhar Pandit choose to come on the holy day when there was no moon. Gadadhar Pandit is the master, but he has given everything to his Lord. Such was his character — he revealed the example of the highest sacrifice.

In Gaura-lila, Mahaprabhu's nature was aggressive, bold and miraculously genius, and Gadadhar Pandit's nature was just the opposite. Nonetheless, Gadadhar Pandit was naturally drawn and surrendered to Nimai Pandit, and Nimai Pandit was also attracted to Gadadhar Pandit, but because Gadadhar Pandit was a little shy, he could not look straight into Nimai Pandit's face. Moreover, seeing Nimai Pandit, Gadadhar Pandit would try to show he was indifferent, but Nimai did not let him go: He always asked Gadadhar Pandit various questions, showing many pastimes in his association.

When, overcome with the mood of a devotee, Nimai Pandit returned to Nabadwip from Gaya and saw Gadadhar Pandit, He said, 'Gadai, your life is perfect! You have had firm devotion to Lord Narayan and Krishna since your childhood, but My life is spoilt: I have wasted so much time on mundane talks and discussions, I have not practised Krishna consciousness! Yet, you have been a pure devotee of Krishna from the beginning. I want your mercy so that I may also be able to spend My life with devotion.'

In 1956, our Param Guru Maharaj, Om Visnupad Srila Bhakti Raksak Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj, wrote a very beautiful article about Sri Gadadhar Pandit. We are presenting this article here for the eternal spiritual benefit of the world.

Among dear associates of Sri Gauranga, Sri Gadadhar Goswami is the highest. Just as Sri Radhika's position in the amorous pastimes of Lord Krishna is indisputably the highest of all; in the same way, in the magnanimous pastimes of Krishna, who assumes the form of Gaura, in terms of service in the magnanimous mood of divine love, Sri Pandit Goswami's character possesses the strongest attraction to Sri Gauranga, the embodiment of magnanimous loving devotion. Great souls behold Sri Radha tattva within Pandit Gadadhar.

Pandit Gadadhar appeared in the summer, on the new moon day in the Bengali month of Jyaistha (May−June); his holy disappearance day is one month later, on the new moon day in the Bengali month of Asarha (June−July). The peculiarity of Pandit Goswami's character is such that he embodies a silent gift of complete self-sacrifice to his dearmost. Those who can relish a wondrous happiness by realising in their hearts the oxymoronic (contradictory) excellence of the sight of Laksmi Devi carrying a beggar's bag on her shoulder — are qualified to feel and realise the extraordinary glory of Srimat Pandit Goswami's transcendental personality.

Although it is impossible for us to realise the glory of Sri Pandit Goswami, great souls have kept for us their divine realisation with regard to Gadadhar's identity. However, ill-fated as we are, being certainly incapable of establishing our faith in what they describe, we plunge ourselves into offences and disrespect. When Sri Krishna is in the garb of Sri Radha's mood, He is Sri Gaura, and when Gaura is physically detached from Radha, He is Sri Krishna. Sri Krishna is the only object of worship in all possible mellows of devotion (conjugal, etc.). Sri Rama et al. are not like that. Twice-born Sri Gaurasundar or the master of renuncianta Sri Krishna Chaitanyadev never mixed and never mixes freely with women assuming the mood of a womaniser. To see paramour enjoyment within these pastimes is rasabhas (a wrongful confusion of devotional mellows), an offence, antagonism towards great souls and sheer heresy. In the authentic scriptures, such as Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata and Sri Chaitanya-charitamrta, there is no and there cannot be any even slightest mention of an event or conclusion pointing at this conception of Gaura as a womaniser (Gaura-nagara).

Gadadhar Pandit's father's name was Madhav Misra, and his mother's name was Ratnavali Devi.

All this is written in Nabadwip Dham Mahatmya-mukta-mala. Do you read this book? You should read it sometimes...

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) My Worst Misfortune
2) Live for Service
3) Remembering Gadadhar Pandit
4) Advaita Acharya's Mystic Personality