Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Expanded based on Sri Chaitanya-bhagavata
Kolkata—Worldwide, 22 November 2020, part 2

Today is Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami's disappearance. As I have already told, Sri Gadadhar Pandit Goswami and Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami are not the same personality. Our Srila Param Guru Maharaj Srila Sridhar Maharaj wrote an article about Sri Gadadhar Pandit Goswami, and he expressed there very nice, the highest things about Sri Gadadhar Pandit Goswami who is an incarnation of Srimati Radharani. I read that yesterday. And today is the disappearance day of Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami.

Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami is an eternal associate of Sriman Mahaprabhu and Sriman Nityananda Prabhu. At first, he lived in Katwa (where Mahapabhu took sannyas), and later, after Mahaprabhu's disappearance, he moved to a village on the bank of the Ganges. He had one brahman disciple named Yadunandan Chakravarti. In Sri Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, that is written by Kavi Karnapur (Puri Das, Sivananda Sen's son), he is stated to be the incarnation of bodily beauty of Srimati Radharani. Although he was a follower of Sriman Nityananda Prabhu, he did not manifest sakhya-rasa (friendship), instead he manifested the mood of a gopi (madhura-rasa)—sitting on the bank of the Ganges, he would scoop some Ganges water into a pot, put it on his head, and, going village to village, cry out with a laugh, "Who wants to buy some milk?", "Who wants to buy some yoghurt?"

When Sriman Mahaprabhu ordered Sriman Nityananda Prabhu to preach Krishna consciousness in Bengal, He sent Sri Ram-das and Sri Gadadhar-das to Gauda-desh with Sriman Nityananda Prabhu.

Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur tells that "Gadadhar Das's glory is such that Sriman Nityananda Prabhu Himself resides in his body." Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur also describes a pastime in which Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami delivers the Kazi of Endiyadaha who vehemently opposed sankirtan:

One day, overwhelmed by divine love for the Lord, Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami came to the house of Kazi chanting sankirtan and said, "Where is that Kazi? Come, chant the Holy Name at once, otherwise I will cut your neck!" Furious, Kazi came out to him, but seeing the divine form and mood of Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami, he became astounded and his anger subsided. Kazi said then,

"What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to speak to you," answered Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami.

"What do you want to say?" asked Kazi.

"Gaura-Nityananda have appeared on this earth and are giving the Holy Name to anyone and everyone, but why are you not taking this nectarian Holy Name?"

"Go home, I will take it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why not today? I have come to give you the Holy Name and to rescue you. Take this supremely beneficial Holy Name! It will rescue you from all your sins today!"

Kazi felt embarrassed to refuse him, so he sniggered, "Well, I will say 'Hari' tomorrow."

Then, hearing Kazi say 'Hari', Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami became overwhelmed by divine love and said, "Now why tomorrow? You have just said 'Hari'! All your sins have been removed, you have become supremely pure." Saying this, Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami began to dance.

In this way, Kazi became purified and took shelter at the lotus feet of Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami. At the end, Srila Vrindavan Das Thakur concludes, "Saintly persons did not want to be touched by the air that touched the Kazi, for they felt that such contact would make them lose their caste. Yet Gadadhar Das Mahasaya glanced mercifully on that most sinful Kazi, who took away the caste of any Hindu he encountered. When such a person gives up his envious nature, it is to be understood that this is the potency of Krishna consciousness."

This was how Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami delivered many sinners and inauspicious people by bestowing the Holy Name upon them.

Such is Sri Gadadhar Das Goswami's glory.

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