Srila Vakresvara Pandit Disappearance Day - 7th July

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Cc Adi 10.18

 

vakresvara pandita--prabhura bada priya bhrtya

eka-bhave cabbisa prahara yanra nrtya

 

Vakresvara Pandita, the fifth branch of the tree, was a very dear servant of

Lord Caitanya's. He could dance with constant ecstasy for seventy-two hours.

 

PURPORT

In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (71) it is stated that Vakresvara Pandita was an

incarnation of Aniruddha, one of the quadruple expansions of Visnu (Vasudeva,

Sankarsana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna). He could dance wonderfully for

seventy-two continuous hours. When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu played in dramatic

performances in the house of Srivasa Pandita, Vakresvara Pandita was one of the

chief dancers, and he danced continuously for that length of time. Sri Govinda

dasa, an Oriya devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, has described the life of

Vakresvara Pandita in his book Gaura-krsnodaya. There are many disciples of

Vakresvara Pandita in Orissa, and they are known as Gaudiya Vaisnavas although

they are Oriyas. Among these disciples are Sri Gopalaguru and his disciple Sri

Dhyanacandra Gosvami.

 

TEXT 18

apane mahaprabhu gaya yanra nrtya-kale

prabhura carana dhari' vakresvara bale

 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally sang while Vakresvara Pandita danced, and

thus Vakresvara Pandita fell at the lotus feet of the Lord and spoke as

follows.

 

TEXT 19

"dasa-sahasra gandharva more deha' candramukha

tara gaya, muni nacon--tabe mora sukha"

 

"O Candramukha! Please give me ten thousand Gandharvas. Let them sing as I

dance, and then I will be greatly happy."

 

TEXT 20

prabhu bale--tumi mora paksa eka sakha

akase uditama yadi pan ara pakha

 

Lord Caitanya replied, "I have only one wing like you, but if I had another,

certainly I would fly in the sky!"

 

Text 77

bhagavati devananda vakresvara-krpate

bhagavatera bhakti-artha paila prabhu haite

 

Devananda Pandita was a professional reciter of Srimad-Bhagavatam, but by the

mercy of Vakresvara Pandita and the grace of the Lord he understood the

devotional interpretation of the Bhagavatam.

PURPORT

In the Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-khanda, Chapter Twenty-one, it is stated that

Devananda Pandita and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya's father, Visarada, lived in the

same village. Devananda Pandita was a professional reciter of

Srimad-Bhagavatam, but Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not like his interpretation

of it. In the present town of Navadvipa, which was formerly known as Kuliya,

Lord Caitanya showed such mercy to him that he gave up the Mayavadi

interpretation of Srimad-Bhagavatam and learned how to explain

Srimad-Bhagavatam in terms of bhakti. Formerly, when Devananda was expounding

the Mayavadi interpretation, Srivasa Thakura was once present in his meeting,

and when he began to cry, Devananda's students drove him away. Some days later,

Caitanya Mahaprabhu passed that way, and when He met Devananda He chastised him

severely because of his Mayavada interpretation of Srimad-Bhagavatam. At that

time Devananda had little faith in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as an incarnation of

Lord Krsna, but one night some time later Vakresvara Pandita was a guest in his

house, and when he explained the science of Krsna, Devananda was convinced

about the identity of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus he was induced to explain

Srimad-Bhagavatam according to the Vaisnava understanding. In the

Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (106) it is described that he was formerly Bhaguri Muni,

the sabha-pandita who recited Vedic literatures in the house of Nanda Maharaja.

 

71. Lord Aniruddha, the fourth member of the Catur-vyuha, appeared in Lord

Caitanya's pastimes as Vakresvara Pandita. Lord Krsna personally entered

Vakresvara's body and caused Him to dance in ecstasy. This ecstatic dancing of

Vakresvara Pandita delightes Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

Once in the house of Srivasa Thakura Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu sang while

Vakresvara Pandit danced in constant ecstasy for seventy-two hours. At that

time Lord Caitanya said, ''Vakresvara, I have only one wing like you, but if I

had another certainly I could fly in the sky.''

Expert at singing and dancing, Vakresvara Pandit always pleased Lord Caitanya

with his service in the Navadvipa sankirtana parties (which he joined from the

beginning), the dramas at Srivas Angam, and the yearly Ratha-yatra at

Jagannatha Puri.

Vrndavana Dasa Thakura said, ''To awaken the sleeping souls in the age of Kali

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to distribute the nectar of the holy name of

Krishna. When He came the khol (mrdanga) and kartals sounded like thundering

clouds. Absorbed in moods of ecstatic love and shouting ''Hari bol Hari bol,''

Sri Gauranga told everyone to chant the holy name of Krishna. Raising His

golden arms to the sky, Lord Gaura Hari would dance in ecstasy. At that time,

Vakresvara Pandit and others would dance with the Lord.'' (Caitanya Bhagavata)

By Vakresvara's blessings Devananda Pandit was freed from the Vaisnava aparadha

he committed against Srivasa Pandit. Then Sri Caitanya accepted Devananda

Pandit as one of His ''own devotees.'' Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu commented on

this incident, ''Krishna has madde His home in the heart of Vakresvara Pandit.

As Krishna dances in his heart, so Vakresvara Pandit himself dances. Whatever

place Vakresvara Pandit blesses with his association becomes a holy place of

pilgrimage more sacred than all the holy places.''

 

Certain great devotees such as Vakresvara Pandit, Paramananda Puri, Svarupa

Damodara, Gadadhar, Jagadananda Pandit, Sankara, Raghunatha Vaidya, and

Raghunatha Dasa were associating with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu from the

beginning of His pastimes in Navadvipa. They also faithfully served the Lord

when He moved to Nilacala Dhama (Jagannatha Puri).

Vakresvara Pandit established Deities of Sri-Sri Radha-Kantha in Kashi Mishra's

house next to the Gambhira in Jagannatha Puri. Kavi Karnapura says Vakresvara

Pandit is an incarnation of Aniruddha of catur-vyuha. Vakresvara Pandit

initiated Gopala Guru Gosvami and many others in Orissa. Dhyan Candra, a

disciple of Gopala Guru Gosvami, says in his books that Vakresvara Pandit is an

incarnation of Tungavidya-sakhi, an expert singer and dancer serving as one of

Srimati Radharani's asta-sakhis. His samadhi is in the 64 Samadhis Area.

 

He belonged to the sakha of Lord Caitanya and frequently accompanied the Lord

in singing during kirtana. In his past incarnation he was born as Aniruddha

(GGD. 71, 73, CC. 1.10.17,77)

 

It was only when Vakresvara showered his mercy upon Devananda Pandita that the

later was accepted by Lord Gauranga. Sakhanirnayamrta 36 places Vakresvara in

the sakha of Gadadhara Pandita Gosvami. (Murari 3.17.17,

Caitanyacaritamrta-mahakavya 13.14.5, Caitanyacandropdaya-natakam 1.20, CBh.

2.1.139, Jayananda P. 2, Locanandasa P. 2, CC. 2.1.238)

 

In nataka of Kavikarnapura 8.33 Sarvabhauma says that he was acquainted with

Srivasa, Vakresvara, Acaryaratna and Pundarika when the latter were children.

This indicates that Vakresvara was fairly senior in age to Lord Gauranga. As

B.B. Majumdar points out in CCU. p. 683, Vakresvara had a great influence on

the Vaisnava community. Two manuscripts of "Vakresvarastaka" written by

Gopalaguru are found in the collection of Barahanagar Pathavadi (no. 140 in

Devanagari script, and no. 677 in Bengali script). The second sloka of that

manuscript records that Vakresvara preached the message of Lord Caitanya in

southern and western India. In 1900 A.D. (1307) Amrtalal Pal wrote and

published a book titled Vakresvaracarita, wherein it is stated that

Vakresvara's disciple, Gopalaguru, was the founder of the Radhakanta Matha.

 

When Lord Caitanya performed His pastimes in Navadvipa, Vakresvara was His very

close associate. He also stayed with the Lord in Puri after Mahaprabhu

accepted sannyasa. Sri Vakresvara Pandita was born in Gupti para near Triveni.

He was quite skillful in music and dance. He was able to dance continuously

for 72 hours. When Mahaprabhu went to Ramakeli, Vakresvara Pandita accompanied

Him. Because of Vakresvara Pandita's mercy, Devananda Pandita was liberated.

 

At one time Devananda Pandita was famous as a lecturer on Bhagavata and was

known to be second to none. One day Srivasa Pandita had the opportunity to

hear him lecture and began to cry during the presentation. At that time some

ignorant students of Devananda thought that Srivasa was creating a disturbance

during the lecture and thus took Srivasa Pandita out of the class room.

Although Devananda witnessed this great insult to Srivasa Pandita, he did not

protest. Thus, he committed a great sin to the Bhagavata. When Mahaprabhu

came to know of Devananda's behavior, the Lord said, "He who reads the

Bhagavata but does not pay due respect to the devotee of Bhagavata, is a

sinner. He will never experience the joy of reading the Bhagavata in even

hundreds of kalpas."

 

Thus the Lord clearly explained that if one wants to know the scripture

Bhagavata, he must unselfishly serve the devotee of Bhagavata. From that time

forward Mahaprabhu ignored Devananda and did not bless him with love for Krsna.

 

One evening while Sri Vakresvara Pandita was busy dancing and singing at Kulia

in Navadvipa, Devananda Pandita came to meet him and was charmed by

Vakresvara's devotion. Great crowds of people gathered to watch Vakresvara

dance and Sri Devananda Pandita, with a stick in his hand, managed the crowd so

that there would be no disturbance to the dancing and singing of Sri Vakresvara

Pandita. The performance continued until mid-night. Afterwards, when

Vakresvara sat down to rest, Devananada offered obeisances. Sri Vakresvara

Pandita was pleased with his service and blessed him saying, "May you be

devoted to Krsna." From that time onward, Devananda Pandita became a Krsna

bhakta. The blessing of a devotee inspires devotion for Krsna.

 

When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went to Kulia from Puri to see His mother and the

Ganges, he took pity on Devananada Pandita. The Lord said, "You have served

Vakresvara so you have become known to Me. Vakresvara's heart is the abode of

Krsna, thus wherever he goes becomes as good as Vaikuntha." In this way Sri

Vrndavana dasa glorified Sri Vakresvara in CBh. Sri Vakresvara lived in

Navadvipa, but later went to serve Lord Caitanya in Puri.

 

It is said that Vakresvara Pandita lived in the house of Kasi Misra. The Deity

of Sri Sri Radhakanta was installed there by Vakresvara's disciple, Gopalaguru.

In Dhyanacandra Paddhati Sri Gopalaguru Gosvami's disciple, Sri Dhyanacandra

Gosvami states that the gopi known as Tungavidya, who was extremely intelligent

and an expert dancer and musician, who born as Vakresvara Pandita. He was born

on the fifth day of the black fortnight in the month of Asadha and died on the

sixth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Asadha (June-July).

 

The Oriya poet, Sri Govinda deva, was a member of the family of Sri Vakresvara

Pandita's family. Towards the end of the 17th century he composed a volume of

poems named Sri Sri Gaura-Krsnodaya, which was published by Srimad

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati.

 

Sri Vrndavana dasa has mentioned that during the time of the Ratha yatra in

Nilacala, four kirtana groups were formed. Vakresvara was the main dancer of

one of these groups. Srimad Krsnadasa Kaviraja also sang the glories of

Vakresvara Pandita in CC.

 

In CCN Sarvabhauma states that he knew Srivasa, Vakresvara, Acaryaratna and

Pundarika during their childhood days. From this statement it is clear that

Vakresvara was far older than Lord Caitanya. The Vaisnava community accepted

Vakresvara as an eminent author. Two manuscripts of Vakresvarastaka composed

by Gopalaguru are available at Varahanagar Pathavadi (ms. no. 140 is in

Devanagari script, and no. 677 is written in Bengali script. The second verse

of this explains that Vakresvara preached the message of Caitanya in southern

and western India.

 

>From Caitanya Bhagavata:

 

Everyone in the town of Kulia was liberated by the Lord's presence. From the

most elevated soul to the most fallen soul, all received the Lord's mercy. And

whosoever hears this narration will also become free from the shackles of

karmic reactions. The compassionate Lord stayed outside long enough for

everyone to see Him and bring up their consciousness to a state of intense joy.

He then went inside accompanied by His associates and sat down feeling very

much their presence. Just then a brahmana came and clasped the Lord's feet

tightly. He said, "O Lord, I have one prayer. If Yoy can spare a little time, I

may tell You. Without understanding the essence of the devotional path, I have

committed a grievous offence by criticizing a Vaisnava. I would repeatedly

shout and taunt, `Who is a Vaisnava in Kali-yuga, and what is kirtan?' In this

way I have condemned myself. Now when I remember these incidents, my mind

begins to burn up. O Lord, You have the potency to liberate anyone, so kindly

tell me how I can mitigate my sins."

Lord Caitanya smiled benignly on hearing the brahmana's straightforward and

honest confession. He said, "Please listen, O brahmana, if one who has taken

poison is administered nectar or the drink of immortality, then gradually the

effects of poison weaken and the body becomes immortal. So now I wll reply to

your question and tell you how this nectar works. All the criticisms you made

although unwittingly are equivilant to having drunk poison. So now you must

drink the nectar of Krsna's name and pastimes with that same mouth. Use the

tongue that offended Vaisnavas from now on to glorify them. Above all other

activities, constantly glorify the Vaisnavas through songs, poems or any other

way. The ambrosia of Krsnas pastimes is transcendentally blissful, and can

faciley dissolve all poisonous effects of Vaisnava criticism. I am telling you

truly that this is the method of purification for one who criticizes a Vaisnava

unknowingly. If one give up such malpractices and offensive behavior and

constantly glorifies the Supreme Lord and His unalloyed devotees, then one can

totally destroy all sins. Otherwise, millions of pious activities and penances

cannot counteract the offences commited against a Vaisnava. So go now and

practice glorifying the devotees of the Lord, and you will become free from all

sins."

The devotees became very happy when they heard these wonderful instructions and

they responded by chanting, "Hari! "Hari!" The Lord nicely explained the method

of exoneration from the offence of Vaisnava criticism. One who disregards these

instructions of Lord Caitanya and criticises a saintly person must drown in the

ocean of grief. And those who accept the instructions of Lord Caitanya as the

Vedic truth can smilingly cross the ocean of nescience.

The next visitor was Devananda Pandita. When Lord Caitanya was still in famly

life in Navadvipa, where He performed many transcendental pastimes, Devananda

Pandita had not the desire then to come and meet the Lord. He did not possess

sufficient faith in the Lord so he avoided coming in contact with Him. Yet

although having the required piety to see Him again, why did he not come accros

tha Lord earlier? All such arrangements are actually in Krsna's hands. So when

Lord Caitanya had accepted the sannyasa order and left home, Devananda Pandita

had the good fortune to closely associate with Vakresvara Pandita.

Vakresvara Pandita was very dear to Lord Caitanya. He was such an elevated soul

that he could purify the entire universe. He was always totally absorbed in

relishing devotional mellows with Lord Krsna. When he danced, both the demigods

and the demons were captivated. In fact, as soon as he would begin to dance, by

Lord Caitanya's mercy all the ecstatic symptoms like crying, shivering,

perspiring, laughing, horripilation, roaring, and swooning in divine bliss

would all appear on his person. It is impossible to describe all the devotional

symptoms in Vakresvara Pandita. By some provedential arrangement Vakresvara

Pandita came to stay in Devananda Pandita's house, attracted by his devotional

qualities.

Devananda Pandita was very pleased and impressed with Vakresvara Pandita's

radiant appearance and his unalloyed devotion to yhe Supreme Lod. He began to

serve Vakresvara Pandita with sincere devotion. When Vakresvara Pandita would

dance, he would walk around him with a cane keeping the crowd away from

disturbing him. And when on ocassion Vakresvara would fall swooning in ecstacy

Devananda Pandita rushed to catch himin his arms. He would take the dust from

Vakresvara's body and feet and smear it all over his own body with much

humility and devotion. In this way, serving him and seeing his elevated

devotional characteristics, there developed a strong faith in devananda Pandita

for Lord Caitanya.

 

>From this incident one can understand the words from the Puranas where it

states that devotion to the Supreme Lord is developed only through serving the

pure devotees of the Lord. Devananda Pandita was a very pious and noble person.

>From his childhood he was studying the Srimad-Bhaavatam. He was calm and

peaceful, in control of his senses, unattached to material things, and had so

many other good qualities. Inspite of these qualities he could not develop

attraction to Lord Caitanya's lotus feet. But by Vakresvara's grace, his

perverted intelligence became rectified. Therefore we find in Srimad-Bhagavatam

that service to a pure devotee is even higher than service to the Supreme Lord

Himself. Thus in the Bhagaavtam it is stated, "There may exist some doubt about

the success in attaining perfection by serving the Supreme personality of

Godhead, but there is absolutely no doubt whwtever in achieving perfection by

serving the pure devoteed of the Supreme Lord."