All glories to Sri Guru and Sri Gauranga

'The Lotus feet of Gadadhar Pandit are our sole treasure'

By His Divine Grace Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj

From Divine Guidance, Chapter Two, 'On the Way to Sri Puri-Dham'

When Uddhava went to Vrndavan he was so charmed by seeing the Gopis' love, their devotion, their attraction, and their affection for Krishna, that he said, "For life after life, I only desire one thing: I want to become a speck of dust in Vrndavan. Not only that, I want to be one of those who are worthy of receiving that dust -- the plants and creepers of Vrndavan -- and live here for all eternity. Here in the land of Vrndavan, Krishna has performed His Pastimes, and His companions, the Gopis, also roam around here. If I can be born as a small creeper so that I may get the dust of their lotus feet on my head, that will be my highest fortune."

Such are the glories of Krishna, and the intense feeling of separation from Him -- Vipralambha. Mahaprabhu has shown us the highest limit of that Vipralambha in Sri Nilachala-Dham.

Sri Gadadhar Pandit, who kept Mahaprabhu in the depths of his heart, and performed the supreme seva, also lived there. Mahaprabhu took sannyasa and went to Jagannath Puri, and by His desire Lord Gopinath became manifest. When you go to Puri you will all see Lord Gopinath there. Both the feelings of Mahaprabhu and the feelings of Gadadhar Pandit were described in a beautiful sloka by our Srila Guru Maharaj.

nilambhodhi-tate sada sva-viraha-ksepanvitam bandhavam
srimad-bhagavati katha madiraya sanjivayan bhati yah
srimad-bhagavatam sada sva-nayanasru payanaih pujayan
gosvami-prabaro gadadhara-vibhur-bhuyat mad-eka-gatih

The lotus feet of Gadadhar Pandit are our sole treasure. He resided by the ocean of Vipralambha which was manifest by his life and soul, Lord Gauranga, who took everything from him.

Sri Sri Gaura Gadadhar, worshipped since the time of Mahaprabhu at the Sri Sri Gaura Gadadhar Mandir in Champahati, Sri Nabadwip Dham. 'The lotus feet of this Gadadhar Pandit are our ultimate destination. Our worshipable Deities are Gaura-Gadadhar, and the supreme demonstration of their Vipralambha was seen in Nilachala-Dham.'

Mahaprabhu was suffering separation from Krishna, and His feelings of separation were so intense, that sometimes His body became elongated, sometimes He retracted His limbs like a tortoise, and sometimes His joints became separated.

So Mahaprabhu, Sri Krishna Himself, suffered intense separation from Krishna, and He was enlivened by hearing topics about Lord Krishna from Gadadhar Pandit. When a person is in intense grief, what does he do? He becomes blinded by his grief, and he cannot decide how he will find some peace, so he drinks alcohol. Sri Gadadhar Pandit provided such intoxication for Mahaprabhu by enlivening Him with the intoxicating topics of Srimad-Bhagavatam. This is how he served the Lord of his heart.

And how were Gadadhar Pandit's own feelings of separation? He is seeing that his beloved Lord is in front of him, and his Lord is suffering so intensely that He is becoming unconscious now and then. All the eight symptoms of separation can be seen in His body, such as perspiring, trembling, tears, becoming stunned, changing of bodily colour, etc., but there is nothing he can do about it. Lamenting this, continuous floods of tears flowed from his eyes.

Whenever Gadadhar Pandit read the Bhagavatam, he became so mad with feelings of separation from Krishna that his tears would wash away the letters on the page. The proof of this is, when Srinivasa Acharyya came to him to study Srimad-Bhagavatam, Gadadhar Pandit told him,

"My dear son, when I was reading Bhagavatam to Mahaprabhu, all the letters in my book were washed away, therefore I cannot now read to you from this book. Please find a book somewhere. Mahaprabhu instructed me in my dream, saying you were coming. But you need to have a book. I have memorised everything, but you need a book also." Gadadhar Pandit thus worshipped the Bhagavatam with his tears. Is it necessary to have any ingredients to worship? One's own tears are the best ingredients.

The lotus feet of this Gadadhar Pandit are our ultimate destination. Our worshipable Deities are Gaura-Gadadhar, and the supreme demonstration of their Vipralambha was seen in Nilachala-Dham.