Thought of the week: Gadadhara Pandita

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Hare Krishna !!

 

Gadadhara Pandit is one of the ‘pancha tattva’ or the five intimate

associates of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Rarely is Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Who is

non different from Lord Sri Krishna, worshipped without honoring the

Pancha tattva, the Lord's eternal associates who incarnated to assist Him

in His pastimes.

 

Gadadhara Pandit or Gadai, as he was know as a child, was born in

Chittagong in a brahman family in the lineage of Kasyapa muni. His

father's name was Kasyapa Misra and mother's name Ratnavati. He was born

around the same time as Caitanya Mahaprabhu, perhaps an year later, and

from the age of thirteen moved to Navadvipa in his uncle's house. Here he

met Caitanya Mahaprabhu and soon became His closest, inseparable friend.

Of all the associates and disciples of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Gadadhara

Pandit remained the longest in personal contact with the Lord, serving Him

even after He took sannyasa and moved to Puri.

 

Gadadhara Pandit is understood to be an incarnation of Radharani. Whereas

Caitanya Mahaprabhu incarnated Himself in the mood of Radharani in

separation, the bhava of Gadadhara Pandit was more that of Rukmini devi,

one of awe, reverence and submissiveness to Sri Krishna. Gadadhara Pandit

is the perfect manifestation of the Lord's hladini potency. Jiva Goswami

explains in the Bhagavata-sandarbha that the Lord has basically three

potencies, the sandhini potency by which He maintains His existence, the

samvit potencies by which He knows Himself and His devotees understand

Him, and the hladini potency, through He and His devotees enjoy

indescribable bliss, unattainable in the material world. These three

energies correspond to the three Vedic principle of existence:

 

- sat (eternity),

- cit (knowledge) and

- ananda (bliss)

 

The hladini potency, which is embodied in Srimati Radharani, is the

highest and most esoteric of the Lord's energies. The essence of love of

God is bhava, or intense spiritual emotions. This consummate love is

manifested in the personality of Radharani. Lord Krishna enchants the

world, but Sri Radharani enchants Krishna. Therefore, She is the supreme

goddess, above all others. She is the “param-shakti”, the full power and

She manifests in Caitanya lila as Gadadhara Pandit. He has the golden

effulgence of Radharani and is meditated upon by those who are specially

wise. His body radiance is unsurpassed, for He is a lifelong celibate. It

is said that when the nocturnal kirtans at Shrivasa Thakur's home became

really ecstatic, Caitanya Mahaprabhu's body would turn blackish, like that

of Krishna, and Gadadhara Pandit's body would glow with the golden

effulgence of Radharani.

 

As a young man, Gadadhara Pandit was often able to soothe the Lord when

His anguish in separation would become intolerable. Witnessing this, Saci

devi, Caitanya Mahaprabhu's mother, requested Gadai to always remain by

the side of Nimai. It is said that when Radharani in Vrindavan was

constantly being scolded and forbidden by Her elders to associate with Sri

Krishna, She prayed for a male body so that She could freely associate

with the Lord. It was in response to these prayers of Radharani that

Gadadhara Pandit incarnated with a male body.

 

Gadadhara Pandit was initiated by Pundarika Vidyanidhi, a wealthy but pure

devotee of the Lord, who is an incarnation of Maharaja Vrishbhanu, the

father of Radharani. Gadadhara Pandit later took sannyas and spent his

days in ecstasy as one of the Lord's intimate associates in Puri. He lived

on the southwest side of the Jagannatha temple in a place called

Yamesvara-tota, where he took the vow of caring for the Gopinatha deity

for the rest of his life. Even though Gadadhara Pandit has taken ksetra

sannyas (vow of not leaving Puri), he was willing to break his vow so as

to accompany Caitanya Mahaprabhu to Vrindavan. Such is the mood of pure

devotees, who are always willing to break all rules for a higher purpose,

service to the Lord.

 

After the disappearance of the Lord, Gadadhara Pandit spent his time in

separation, worshipping the Tota-Gopinatha deity. In his old age he was

unable to stand and garland the deity, but so intense was his desire to

anoint the deity, that the deity assumed a sitting position to help

Gadadhara Pandit. The worshippable deities of the pure devotees are non

different from their Lord and should be considered as living expansions.

The Gopinatha deity is extremely special since it is one of the three

place where Caitanya Mahaprabhu merged into when he exhibited His

disappearance pastime. In doing so, the Lord glorified the deity and His

worshipper, Gadadhara Pandit.

 

So intense was the anguish of separation with his Lord, that Gadadhara

Pandit was reduced to a mere shadow of his old effulgent self. He only

remained on the planet under the orders of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to

instruct a great saint of the next generation, namely Srinivas Pandit.

Once he was able to meet and instruct Srinivas Pandit, Gadadhara Pandit

wound up his earthly pastimes to rejoin his master in the eternal

spiritual sky. Gadadhara Pandit, is considered the best of the sadhus,

exhibiting all Brahminical qualities. He is the perfect example of

devotion in practice, the very form of blissful love, and to gaze upon His

sweet smiling face is to see love personified. He is absorbed in the mood

of madhurya-rasa, and without His mercy it is impossible even to approach

Krishna. So, let us pray to Gadadhara Pandit, so that He may show us the

way of selfless surrender and pure devotion.

 

 

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Monday April 23, 2001 Appearance day of Gadadhara Pandita

 

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