VAKRESHVARA PANDIT
At
the time of Shriman Mahaprabhu’s Nabadwipa-lila, as well as at the time
of his taking sannyasa and his staying in Jagannatha Puri, Vakreshvara
Pandit was an associate of the Lord. Shri Vakreshvara Pandit’s
birthplace is near the Triveni in a place called Guptiparaya. Shri
Vakreshvara Pandit was expert in song and dancing. He once danced
continuously for 72 hours. In the Gaura-Ganodesh-Dipika, verse
71, it is stated that Vakreshvara Pandit was an incarnation of
Aniruddha, one of the quadruple expansions of Vishnu. When Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu played in dramatic performances in the house of
Shrivasa Pandit, Vakreshvara Pandit was one of the chief dancers.
When Caitanya Mahaprabhu first began his Sankirtan-lila Vakreshvara
Pandit was a great singer and dancer. When Shri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu went to Ramkeli, Vakreshvara Pandit went with him.
By
the mercy of Vakreshvara Pandit Devananda Pandit was
delivered. Devananda Pandit had a reputation as a great
scholar of the Bhagavatam from the monist point of view. One day
Srivasa Pandit went to hear his Bhagavata class, and in the ecstasy of
Krishna prem began to cry tears of joy upon hearing the holy Bhagavata.
At that time, some of Devananda Pandit’s ignorant disciples, feeling
that Shrivasa Thakura was disrupting the class, threw Shrivas Pandit
out of the house where the Bhagavatam class was going on.
Ignorant of the true position both of the Lord’s devotee and the holy
Bhagavata , Devananda Pandit made no protest after seeing this
disrespectful treatment of a great Vaishnava with his own
eyes. In this way, he was responsible for
Vaishnava-aparadha, an offense at the lotus feet of a pure
devotee. When Caitanya Mahaprabhu manifest his divinity in
Nabadwip in the house of Shrivasa Thakura, it came to his attention
that such an offense had been commited a the lotus feet of that great
devotee, Shrivasa Thakura. At that time, he gave many
instructions regarding the position of the book Bhagavata and the
person Bhagavata. He said, “If one studies the book Bhagavata but
doesn’t respect the devotee Bhagavata, he is an offender.
One may study the Bhagavata in that way for hundreds and hundreds of
kalpas without making any progress towards Krishna-prema. The
book Bhagavata and the person Bhagavata are nondifferent. One who
is sincere to know the meaning of the book Bhagavata must serve the
devotee Bhagavata. Mahaprabhu was indifferent towards Devananda
Pandit and did not bestow Krishna-prema upon him. One day
Vakreshvara Pandit was in the section of Nabadwip known as Kuliya at
the house of a devotee. That evening Vakreshvara Pandit was
singing the glories of the Lord and dancing in ecstasy. Devananda
Pandit went there to find out what was going on, and when he saw
Vakreshvara Pandit enveloped in a mood of ecstasy, he became fascinated
by watching him. By and by a large crowd formed, pressing forward to
see Vakreshvara Pandit. Shri Devananda Pandit then
pushed the crowd back waving a cane in his hand, so that
the divine kirtan and dancing of Shri Vakreshvara Pandit Thakura was
not disturbed. In this way for another six hours into the night
Vakreshvara Pandit continued his intense singing and dancing in divine
kirtana. Later, when Vakreshvara Pandit had taken a seat in order
to rest, Devananda Pandit fell before his feet, offering his
obeisances in full submission.
Vakreshavara Pandit was very
happy with Devananda Pandit and his service, and blessed him, saying,
“May you have love of God.” From that day on, Devananda Pandit’s
Krishna Bhakti grew. One who gets the blessing of a devotee soon
achieves Krishna-bhakti. After Caitanya Mahaprabhu had stayed in
Jagannatha Puri for some time, he returned to Kuliya in Nabadwipa, in
order to visit his mother and see the Ganges. At that time, he
gave his mercy to Devananda Pandit. At that time he told
Devananda Pandit: “Because you have rendered service to Vakreshvara
Pandit I consider you to be one of my own. Vakreshvara Pandit is
completely empowered by the Lord. He has attained Krishna, and is
full in Krishna-bhakti. Krishna has made his home in the heart of
Vakreshvara Pandit, and as Krishna dances within his heart, so
Vakreshavara Pandit himself dances. Whatever place
Vakreshvara Pandit blesses with his association becomes a holy place of
pilgrimage more sacred than all the holy places.”
In this way
Vrindavan Das Thakur writes of the glories of Shri Vakreshvara
Pandit. Although Shri Vakreshvara Pandit had previously
lived in Nabadwip, he left Nabadwip for Jagannatha Puri after
Mahaprabhu took sannyasa, in order to better serve the Lord.
After this, he lived in Jagannatha Puri. The Caitanya Caritamrita
says, “Among the devotees who accompanied the Lord in Jagannatha Puri,
two of them-Paramananda Puri and Svarupa Damodara-were the heart and
soul of the Lord. Among the other devotees were Gadadhara,
Jagadananda, Sankara, Vakreshvara, Damodara Pandit, Thakura Haridasa,
Raghunatha Vaidya, and Ragunatha das. All these great
devotees had been his associates from the very begining of the Lord’s
pastimes, and when the Lord took up residence in Jagannatha Puri they
remained there to serve him faithfully. It is said that
Vakreshvara Pandit later lived in the house of Kashi Mishra.
There he established the Radha-Kanta deities. Shri Vakreshvara
Pandit’s disciple was Gopal Guru Goswami. Shri Gopal Guru
Goswami’s disciple Dhayanachandra Goswami has written a book called the
Dhyan Chandra Paddhati. There he has written of Vakreshvara
Pandit:
“Previously in Vrindavan he was Tungavidya Gopi who was
expert in singing and dancing. Later that same person appeared in
the lila of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and became known as Vakreshvara Pandit.
He appeared within this world as Vakreshavara Pandit on the day of
Krishnapanchami in the month of Asharh. He disappeared from this
Earth and entered into the unmanifest pastimes of the Lord on the sixth
day of the full moon in the month of Asarh. “
One of Vakreshvara
Pandit’s family members was the poet Shri Govinda dev of Utkala, who is
known as an Oriyan. In the year 17, Gaur Era, he compiled a
scripture in the Orissan language named “Shri Gaura
Krishnodaya.” This book has since been published by the
great acarya of the Gaudiya Sampradaya, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Saraswati Thakura Prabhupada, who recently entered into the eternal
pastimes of the Lord. In Gaura Krishnodaya Govinda Das describes
the life of Vakreshvara Pandit. There are many disciples of Vakreshvara
Pandit and they are known as Gaudiya Vaishnavas although they are from
Orissa.
Vrindavan Das Thakura has described the great
celebration of Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan rasa in his Caitanya
Bhagavata. There he mentions Vakreshvara Pandit’s participation
in Mahaprabhu’s sankirtan-lila as follows:
“To bless all souls
with good fortune, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared on this earth in an
enchanting form, which was like a doll of gold. To awaken the sleeping
souls of the age of Kali, he came to distribute the nectar of the holy
name of Krishna. The Lord descended to this earth in the midst of his
eternal associates: Nityananda, Advaita Acarya, Gadadhara, and all His
pure devotees. When Caitanya came, the khol and kartals sounded
like the thunder of the clouds within the temple of the Lord.
Absorbed in different moods of ecstatic love, Sri Caitanya would order
everyone to chant the holy name of Krishna, saying, “bolo Haribol!”
Raising his arms to the sky, the Son of Sachi would dance in
ecstasy. At that time the beautiful Ramai and Shri Raghunandan
also danced. Srivasa Thakura and Haridas Thakura as well as
Vakreshvara Pandit, Dvija Haridas, and Shankara Pandit also
danced. In this way, again and again glorifying their activities
within this world, floating on the ocean of ecstasy churned by them,
Vrindavana Das sings this Caitanya Bhagavata.
At the time of
Rathayatra in Jagannatha Puri, there were four sampradayas.
In their midst Vakreshavara Pandit initiated a new sampradaya-of
dancing. Shri Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami writes of the glories of
Vakreshvara Pandit:
“Vakreshvara Pandit was the fifth branch of
the Caitanya tree. He was a very dear servant of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. Once in the house of Srivasa Thakura he danced with
constant ecstasy for seventy-two hours. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
personally sang while Vakreshvara Pandit danced, and thus Vakreshvara
Pandit fell at the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya and said, “O you whose
face is as beautiful as the full moon; please give me 10,000
Gandharvas. Let them sing as I dance, and then I will be greatly
happy.” The Lord replied, “I have only one wing like you, but if
I had another, certainly I could fly like a bird.”