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THE CONSTITUTIONAL POSITION OF GADADHARA PANDIT
BY SRILA BHAKTIVEDANTA NARAYANA GOSVAMI MAHARAJA
Maui, Hawaii, May 26, 2000

Devotee: Some persons were speaking about Sri Gadadhara Pandit. They said that because Krishna has taken Srimati Radhika's bhava from Her, now She has become like Rukmini.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Bogus.

Devotee: They said that because She has become like Rukmini, She now stays with Mahaprabhu in the form of Gadadhara Pandit.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: This is bogus.

Devotee: They say that Sri Gadadhara Pandit has taken that form to try to get Srimati Radhika's bhava back.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Srimati Radharani was like a guru. In the form of Gadadhara Pandit, She was watching Krishna in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, to see whether He was playing Her role properly or not. And, if He made a mistake, he would correct Him. You can say that Krishna took the mood of Radhika, but it is not that He took everything from Radhika and She thus became a male. This thought is quite wrong. If anyone is following my moods, then my moods are with him. In the same way Krishna is taking, in the sense of following, the moods of Srimati Radhika.

Devotee: If someone takes your mood, it doesn't mean that you have no more mood.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Yes, you should reject a foolish person who is speaking like this.

Devotee: Some people think that Srimati Radhika's mood is left-wing and Rukmini's mood is right-wing. So after Krishna took the left-wing mood of Radhika, only the right-wing mood was left.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Sri Gadadhara Pandit was there in Navadvipa-lila, and he was full with Srimati Radhika's moods. Then, when he went to Jagannatha Puri, he was also full with Her moods. Krishna was only following some of Her moods, not all moods. He was trying to follow and, in the form of Gadadhara Pandit, Radhika was giving Him guidance in His form as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. She would say, "You should do like this," or "You are making some mistakes."

Devotee: I think they are committing some offense to Srila Gadadhara Pandit by saying that something is missing in him.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Yes.

Devotee: They say that Gadadhara Pandit is like Rukmini, and thus she has no left-wing mood. They describe the pastime of Sri Vallabhacarya. How can we reconcile this?

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Sri Kavi Karnapura has clearly written that Srila Gadadhara Pandit is Srimati Radhika. Nowhere is it written that he is Rukmini.

bada sakha gadadhara pandita-gosani
tenho laksmi-rupa, tanra sama keha nai

TRANSLATION
Gadadhara Pandita, the fourth branch, is described as an incarnation of the pleasure potency of Sri Krishna. No one, therefore, can equal him.

PURPORT
In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, verses 147 through 153, it is stated: "The pleasure potency of Sri Krishna, formerly known as Vrindavanesvari, is now personified in the form of Sri Gadadhara Pandita in the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu." Sri Svarupa Damodara Gosvami has pointed out that in the shape of Laksmi, the pleasure potency of Krishna, she was formerly very dear to the Lord as Syamasundara-vallabha. The same Syamasundara-vallabha is now present as Gadadhara Pandita. (Adi 10.16)]

Devotee: Once, when Gadadhara Pandit was in Jagannatha Puri, Mahaprabhu neglected him when he heard Vallabhacarya's commentary on the Bhagavatam. Then, when Mahaprabhu met with him later on, He said, "Oh, I was just trying to make you angry. But you didn't become angry."

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Yes

Devotee: "…so your mood is like Rukmini."

gadadhara-panditera suddha gadha bhava
rukmini-devira yaiche 'daksina-svabhava'

TRANSLATION
Gadadhara Pandita's pure ecstatic love for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was also very deep. It was like that of Rukmini devi, who was always especially submissive to Krishna.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Mahaprabhu also told Sri Jagadananda Pandit Prabhu that he was Satyabhama, but He said this only to joke with him.

Devotee: Only joking.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Yes. His constitutional position was not that of Satyabhama. Mahaprabhu said this only to joke. Then, in an angry mood, Sri Jagadananda Prabhu would reply, "Why did You say that I am Satyabhama?" He would sometimes be angry and Mahaprabhu would like him to be angry.

Devotee: But in Gaura Ganoddesa Dipika, doesn't it say that Srila Jagadananda Pandit is Satyabhama?

Srila Narayana Maharaja: No, it has been told only for that reason. But Jagadananda Prabhu himself is revealing in his book Prema Vivarta that he wants to be the maidservant of the gopis. (He is a palya dasi of Srimati Radhika.)

Devotee: I was having a discussion with one of my god-brothers on this point, and I asked him, "What is the fact? Is it that Jagadananda Pandit is Satyabhama or not?" He said that he is Satyabhama, but in Gaura-lila there is some specialty because of the associates.

Srila Narayana Maharaja: No, no. He was never Satyabhama.

Devotee: Never?

Srila Narayana Maharaja: Never, never, never, and never. It is said only because his mood is similar to that of Satyabhama. (The mood of Satyabhama is also within him, as a smaller number is included in a larger number.)

[The following was an excerpt from a lecture, which Srila Narayana Maharaja gave two days later in Los Angeles.]

Srila Narayana Maharaja: If Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu were making some mistake, Sri Gadadhara Pandit would twist the ears of Krishna. "O, you are doing wrong. You should do like this." Mahaprabhu was singing, "barhapidam nata vara." Gadadhara quickly came and said; "O, you should do it like this."

barhapidam nata-vara-vapuh karnayoh karnikaram
bibhrad vasah kanaka-kapisam vaijayantim ca malam
randhran venor adhara-sudhayapurayan gopa-vrndair
vrndaranyam sva-pada-ramanam pravisad gita-kirtih

In the mood of Srimati Radharani, Gadadhara Pandit's heart was melting and tears were coming. There was some defect in Krishna. Some say that when Mahaprabhu took the beauty and intrinsic mood of Radhika, She became like Rukmini. This is quite wrong. It was not like this. Srila Svami Maharaja came for the same object and mission, that you should be given raga-marga. Why? You should know who is Srimati Radhika, and what are all these moods.

[The following is a summary of a conversation with Srila Narayana Maharaja two weeks later in Alachua, Florida. Devotees showed him three verses from Sri Caitanya Caritamrta regarding the moods of Sri Jagadananda Pandit]

pandita jagadananda prabhura prana-rupa
loke khyata yenho satyabhama svarupa

SYNONYMS
pandita jagadananda - of the name Pandita Jagadananda; prabhura - of the Lord; prana-rupa - life and soul; loke - in the world; khyata - celebrated; yenho - who; satyabhama - of Satyabhama; svarupa - personification.

TRANSLATION
Pandita Jagadananda, the sixth branch of the Caitanya tree, was celebrated as the life and soul of the Lord. He is known to have been an incarnation of Satyabhama (one of the chief queens of Lord Krishna).

Here Srila Maharaja explained that the word 'loke' means 'the ordinary people of the world'. 'Loke khyata' means that 'he is known by the ordinary people in the world as such.'

jagadananda-panditera suddha gadha bhava
satyabhama-praya prema 'vamya-svabhava'

SYNONYMS
jagadananda-panditera - of Jagadananda Pandita; suddha - pure; gadha - deep; bhava - ecstatic love; satyabhama-praya - like Satyabhama; prema - his love for the Lord; vamya-svabhava - quarrelsome nature.

TRANSLATION
Jagadananda Pandita's pure ecstatic love for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very deep. It can be compared to the love of Satyabhama, who always quarreled with Lord Krishna. (Antya 7.143)

jagadanande-prabhute prema cale ei-mate
satyabhama-krsne yaiche suni bhagavate

SYNONYMS
jagadanande-prabhute - between Jagadananda Pandita and the Lord; prema - affection; cale - goes on; ei mate - in this way; satyabhama-krsne - between Satyabhama and Krishna; yaiche - as; suni - we learn; bhagavate - in the Srimad-Bhagavatam.

TRANSLATION
The affectionate loving exchanges between Jagadananda Pandita and Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu continued in this manner, exactly like the exchanges between Satyabhama and Lord Krishna related in Srimad-Bhagavatam. (Antya 12.153)

Here Srila Maharaja explained that his love is compared with that of Satyabhama devi because they are both in the leftist mood. Jagadananda Pandit would quarrel with Mahaprabhu, and Satyabhama would quarrel with Dvarakadhisa Krishna.

(From: http://purebhakti.com/lectures/lecture20000526.shtml)