“Shri Nityananda Prabhu is the topmost branch of the indestructible tree of eternal love of Godhead, Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I offer my respectful obeisances to all the sub-branches of that topmost branch.”
Gauridasa Pandit is one of the most important sub-branches of the Nityananda branch of the Chaitanya tree of bhakti. Of this particular sub-branch of Nityananda, Shri Krishna Dasa Kaviraja Goswami has written: gauridasa pandit yara premoddanda-bhakti, krishna-prema dite, nite, dhare mahashakti. nityananda samarpila jati kula-panti, shri chaitanya-nityananda kari pranapati.
“Gauridasa Pandita, the emblem of the most elevated devotional service in love of Godhead, had the greatest potency to receive and deliver such love. Making Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda the Lords of his life, Gauridas Pandit sacrificed everything for the service of Lord Nityananda, even the fellowship of his family.”
Shri Gauridasa Pandit’s father’s name was Shri Kamsari Mishra. His mother’s name was Shri Kamala Devi. He had five brothers: Damodara, Jagannatha, Suryadasa, Krishnadasa, and Nrishinga-Chaitanya. Previously, in Vrindvana, Gauridasa Pandit was Subala Shakha, one of the twelve most important cowherd-boy friends of Krishna who were known as the dvadasha-gopals.
In the Bardhaman district lies the town of Ambika-kalna, not far from the city of Shantipura. In Ambika-kalna lived Gauridasa Pandit. At present, in the house of Shri Gauridasa Pandit there is a temple where the deities of Gaura-Nityananda are installed.
In that temple there is an ancient manuscript, which is said to be a copy of the Bhagavad-gita written in Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s own hand, although this is not accepted by some authorities. Hearsay has it that Shriman Mahaprabhu crossed the Ganges in a boat with an oar. Giving the oar to Gauridasa Pandita, Mahaprabhu is supposed to have said, “With this oar, you may help the fallen souls cross over the ocean of material existence.” That oar is still found at the temple of Gauridasa Pandit.
Gauridasa Pandit had an elder brother named Suryadas Sarakhela. Suryadasa Sarakhela lived a few miles from Navadwipa in a place called Shaligram. At that time he accepted employment as a secretary in the Mohammedan government. He had two daughters: Shri Vasudha and Jahnava Devi.
These two daughters later married Shri Nityananda Prabhu. Of Gauridasa Pandit’s brothers, Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami has written: “Suryadasa Sarakhela and his younger brother Krishnadasa Sarakhela both possessed firm faith in Nityananda Prabhu. They were a reservoir of love of Godhead. “
On the Shukla Ekadashi in the month of Shravana, Shri Gauridasa Pandita passed away from this earth and entered into the eternal unmanifest pastimes of Shri Gauranga and Nityananda.
Today we are celebrating the beginning of Jhulana-yatra, which is steeped in the moods of Vrindavan. When I first began reading Srila Prabhupada’s books, I was struck by the following description in the introduction to Teachings of Lord Chaitanya: “Actually, Vrindaban is as good as the Spiritual Vrindaban, and therefore Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami says that underneath one of the desire trees of Vrindaban there is a nice throne decorated with valuable jewels on which Radharani and Krishna are seated. And His dear friends and the gopis are all serving Them: somebody is singing, somebody is dancing, somebody is offering betel nuts and refreshment, somebody is decorating with flowers.
