Gadadhara Dasa

Expressions researched:
"Gadadhara Dasa"

CC Adi-lila

Caitanya Mahāprabhu is sometimes explained to be rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalita, or characterized by the emotions and bodily luster of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Gadādhara dāsa is this dyuti, or luster.

CC Adi 10.53, Translation and Purport:

Śrī Gadādhara dāsa, the twenty-third branch, was understood to be the topmost, for he induced all the Muslim Kazis to chant the holy name of Lord Hari.

About eight or ten miles from Calcutta, on the banks of the Ganges, is a village known as Eṅḍiyādaha-grāma. Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa was known as an inhabitant of this village (eṅḍiyādaha-vāsī gadādhara dāsa). The Bhakti-ratnākara (Seventh Wave), informs us that after the disappearance of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Gadādhara dāsa went from Navadvīpa to Katwa. Thereafter he came to Eṅḍiyādaha and resided there. He is stated to be the luster of the body of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, just as Śrīla Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosvāmī is an incarnation of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī Herself. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is sometimes explained to be rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalita, or characterized by the emotions and bodily luster of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Gadādhara dāsa is this dyuti, or luster. In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (154) he is described to be an expansion of the potency of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. He counts among the associates of both Śrīla Gaurahari and Nityānanda Prabhu; as a devotee of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu he was one of the associates of Lord Kṛṣṇa in conjugal love, and as a devotee of Lord Nityānanda he is considered to have been one of the friends of Kṛṣṇa in pure devotional service. Even though he was an associate of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, he was not among the cowherd boys but was situated in the transcendental mellow of conjugal love. He established a temple of Śrī Gaurasundara in Katwa.

Following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa one night went to the house of the Kazi and requested him to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra.

CC Adi 10.53, Purport:

In 1434 Śakābda (A.D. 1512), when Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was empowered by Lord Caitanya to preach the saṅkīrtana movement in Bengal, Śrī Gadādhara dāsa was one of Lord Nityānanda's chief assistants. He preached the saṅkīrtana movement by requesting everyone to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. This simple preaching method of Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa can be followed by anyone and everyone in any position of society. One must simply be a sincere and serious servant of Nityānanda Prabhu and preach this cult door to door.

When Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa Prabhu was preaching the cult of hari-kīrtana, there was a magistrate who was very much against his saṅkīrtana movement. Following in the footsteps of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa one night went to the house of the Kazi and requested him to chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. The Kazi replied, "All right, I shall chant Hare Kṛṣṇa tomorrow." On hearing this, Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa Prabhu began to dance, and he said, "Why tomorrow? You have already chanted the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, so simply continue."

Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa is considered to be a united form of Candrakānti, who is the effulgence of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and Pūrṇānandā, who is the foremost of Lord Balarāma's very dear girlfriends. Thus Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa Prabhu was one of the associates of both Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu.

CC Adi 10.53, Purport:

In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (verses 154–55) it is said:

rādhā-vibhūti-rūpā yā candrakāntiḥ purā vraje

sa śrī-gaurāṅga-nikaṭe dāsa-vaṁśyo gadādharaḥ

pūrṇānandā vraje yāsīd baladeva-priyāgraṇī

sāpi kārya-vaśād eva prāviśat taṁ gadādharam

Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa is considered to be a united form of Candrakānti, who is the effulgence of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and Pūrṇānandā, who is the foremost of Lord Balarāma's very dear girlfriends. Thus Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa Prabhu was one of the associates of both Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu.

Once while Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa Prabhu was returning to Bengal from Jagannātha Purī with Nityānanda Prabhu, he forgot himself and began talking very loudly as if he were a girl of Vrajabhūmi selling yogurt, and Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu noted this. Another time, while absorbed in the ecstasy of the gopīs, he carried a jug filled with Ganges water on his head as if he were selling milk. When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared in the house of Rāghava Paṇḍita while going to Vṛndāvana, Gadādhara dāsa went to see Him, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was so glad that He put His foot on his head. When Gadādhara dāsa Prabhu was present in Eṅḍiyādaha, he established a Bāla Gopāla mūrti for worship there. Śrī Mādhava Ghoṣa performed a drama known as Dāna-khaṇḍa with the help of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrī Gadādhara dāsa. This is explained in the Caitanya-bhāgavata (Antya 5.318–94).

The tomb of Gadādhara dāsa Prabhu is in the village of Eṅḍiyādaha.

CC Adi 10.53, Purport:

The tomb of Gadādhara dāsa Prabhu, which is in the village of Eṅḍiyādaha, was under the control of the Saṁyogī Vaiṣṇavas and later under the direction of Siddha Bhagavān dāsa Bābājī of Kālnā. By his order, Śrī Madhusūdana Mullik, one of the members of the aristocratic Mullik family of the Nārikelaḍāṅgā in Calcutta, established a pāṭavāṭī (monastery) there in the Bengali year 1256 (A.D. 1849). He also arranged for the worship of a Deity named Śrī Rādhākānta. His son Balāicāṅda Mullik established Gaura-Nitāi Deities there in the Bengali year 1312 (A.D. 1905). Thus on the throne of the temple are both Gaura-Nityānanda Deities and Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Deities. Below the throne is a tablet with an inscription written in Sanskrit. In that temple there is also a small Deity of Lord Śiva as Gopeśvara. This is all described on a stone by the side of the entrance door.

"Śrī Gadādhara dāsa and Narahari Sarakāra were extremely dear to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu."

CC Adi 10.78-79, Purport:

In the Caitanya-maṅgala it is stated that Śrī Gadādhara dāsa and Narahari Sarakāra were extremely dear to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but there is no specific statement regarding the inhabitants of the village of Śrīkhaṇḍa.

CC Adi 11.13, Translation:

Two devotees of Lord Caitanya named Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa always lived with Śrī Vīrabhadra Gosāñi.

CC Adi 11.14-15, Translation:

When Nityānanda Prabhu was ordered to go to Bengal to preach, these two devotees (Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa) were ordered to go with Him. Thus they are sometimes counted among the devotees of Lord Caitanya and sometimes among the devotees of Lord Nityānanda. Similarly, Mādhava Ghoṣa and Vāsudeva Ghoṣa belonged to both groups of devotees simultaneously.

CC Adi 11.17, Translation:

Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa was always fully absorbed in ecstasy as a gopī. In his house Lord Nityānanda enacted the drama Dāna-keli.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 15 Summary:

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sent Nityānanda Prabhu to Bengal for preaching and also sent Rāmadāsa, Gadādhara dāsa and several other devotees with Him.

CC Madhya 15.43, Translation:

Nityānanda Prabhu was given assistants like Rāmadāsa, Gadādhara dāsa and several others. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, “I give them to You to assist You.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 6.61, Translation:

Among them were Rāmadāsa, Sundarānanda, Gadādhara dāsa, Murāri, Kamalākara, Sadāśiva and Purandara.

Gadādhara dāsa and many other personal associates of the Lord sat on the raised platform with Nityānanda Prabhu. No one could count them all.

CC Antya 6.63, Translation and Purport:

Similarly, Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura and many other personal associates of the Lord sat on the raised platform with Nityānanda Prabhu. No one could count them all.

The devotees mentioned herein are described by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura in his Anubhāṣya. For further information one may consult the following references in the Ādi-līlā: Rāmadāsa—Chapter Ten, texts 116–118 (CC Adi 10.116), and Chapter Eleven, texts 13–16 (CC Adi 11.13). Sundarānanda—11.23 (CC Adi 11.23). Gadādhara dāsa—10.53 (CC Adi 10.53), 11.13–15 (CC Adi 11.13) and 11.17 (CC Adi 11.17).

CC Antya 10.140-141, Translation:

They would extend invitations to the Lord. Vāsudeva Datta, Gadādhara dāsa, Murāri Gupta, the inhabitants of Kulīna-grāma and Khaṇḍa and many other devotees who were not brāhmaṇas by caste would purchase food offered to Lord Jagannātha and then extend invitations to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.