Prabodhananda Saraswati: From Benares to Braj (Part I)
Prabodhananda Saraswati: From Benares to Braj (Part I)
Prabodhananda Saraswati: From Benares to Braj (Part II)
Prabodhananda, Hit Harivansh and the Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi (Part I)
Prabodhananda, Hit Harivansh and the Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi (Part II)
Introduction
Over the past several centuries, the town of Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh has celebrated the loves of the pastoral god Krishna and his beloved Radha. Numerous saints and devotional authors have contributed to the rich cultural heritage of this Hindu holy land, all doing much to strengthen its position as a center for one of the most important streams of religious feeling in India. However, despite the theological claims of universal liberation from mundane preoccupations said to result from such religious feeling, the Vaishnavism of Vrindavan shows the same susceptibility to rivalry that can be detected in all human endeavors. This rivalry takes the form of controversies, many of which have not yet been entirely resolved. In this article and another which follows it, I undertake to address a triad of such controversies, well aware that the matters are still sensitive ones for both the parties involved: the Radha Vallabhi followers of Hita Harivams, and the Gaudiyas, followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
The chief matter contested by these devotees is the authorship of a book well-loved by both sects: the Rädhä-rasa-sudhä-nidhi (RRSN), ascribed to Hita Harivams by his followers and to Prabodhananda Saraswati by the Gaudiyas.(1) Before treating this question, however, one is obliged to confront two others: one concerns the identity of Prabodhananda, the second that of Hita Harivams's relation to the Gaudiya school. Both of these personalities are claimed by each of the sects to have, at one time or another, accepted allegiance to their own group.
All three of these issues have been obscured over time by traditional historians of the two sects who either through silence, deliberate falsification or real ignorance have exaggerated or distorted the relevant facts. In some cases, the information available is starkly self-contradictory, as in the matter of Prabodhananda's identity. In the absence of sufficient historical records, it is understandable that some feel it impossible to come to any reliable conclusions on any of these matters. In the same way, much of what has been written on these matters by latter day Indian scholars is also colored by sectarian leanings, and there is a sad ignorance in each of the sects about their rival's traditions and literature. The necessity for an impartial study is therefore felt, and it is hoped that the discussion presented here will fill that need.
It is here proposed that through the application of scientific literary criticism to the works of Prabodhananda and Hita Harivams, in this case a comparison of style, vocabulary and subject matter, confident conclusions may be reached in the matter of the authorship of RRSN. This, coupled with the available historical evidence, may enable us to make reasonably confident assumptions about Prabodhananda and Harivams's sectarian affiliations. This exercise commences in this article with an examination of the works of Prabodhananda and other, later authors of both schools to establish as far as possible a reliable biography. In the article which follows, we shall examine the life of Harivams and the RRSN itself.
(1) Abbreviations of other titles used in this article are as follows: ARP = Azcarya-rAsa-prabandha; BhP = BhAgavata-purANa; BRK = Bhakti-ratnAkara; BRS = Bhakti-rasAmRta-sindhu; CP = CaurAsI Pada or Hita-caurAsI; CCA = Caitanya-candrAmRta; CC = Caitanya-caritAmRta; GItag = GIta-govinda; HBV = Hari-bhakti-vilAsa; KKA = KRSNa-karNAamRta; PV = Prema-vilAsa; SangM = SangIta-mAdhava; UN = Ujjvala-nIlamaNi; VMA = VRndAvana-mahimAmRta.
Prabodhananda Saraswati the author
Prabodhananda Saraswati is primarily known as the author of a number of works in the Sanskrit language, all of which deal with the subject of Krishna or Krishna devotion. None of the works ascribed to him contain any explicitly biographical data, nor are any of them dated.
The list of his works differs in each of the two schools who contest his allegiance. Amongst the Gaudiyas, his most significant works, beside the contested stotra-kAvya, Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi (RRSN), include four works of Sanskrit verse: Chaitanya-chandramrita (CCA), Vrindavana-mahimamrita (VMA), Sangita-madhava (SangM) and Ascarya-rasa-prabandha (ARP), as well as a number of commentaries.
The first two of the four verse works are also stotra-kavyas in the vein of Mukunda-mala, Stotra-ratna, and Krishna-karnamrita, the stylistic influence of this last work being particularly noticeable. The two other compositions are descriptions of Radha and Krishna's amorous dalliances, the first (SangM) a giti-kavya in the style of the Gita-govinda in sixteen sargas, the second (ARP), an original reworking of the rasa-lila in 284 verses, primarily in the pajjhatika metre.
Prabodhananda’s prose commentaries include the Sruti-stuti-vyakhya on the 87th chapter of the Bhagavata-purana's tenth book, another on the Gita-govinda, one on Gopala-tapani Upanishad(2) and the last on Gayatri-mantra. These last two are somewhat doubtful, as they bear a great similarity to works also attributed to Jiva Goswami. All of these works have been published in recent years,(3) for which the efforts of Haridas Das are particularly noteworthy. The CCA in particular is a continuing favorite of the Gaudiyas that has seen repeated publication.
Amongst the Radha-vallabhis, the CCA never attained currency for obvious reasons, but apparently neither did many of Prabodhananda's other writings. In this school, Prabodhananda is known principally as the author of the Vrindavana-sataka, and then primarily through its Brajabhasha translation by Bhagavat Mudita rather than in its original form. This translation contains only the last of the seventeen centuries of the VMA recension known to the Gaudiyas.
The Radha-vallabhis also recognize Sangita-madhava. They also consider Prabodhananda to be the author of Nikunja-vilasa-stava,(4) known to the Gaudiyas as Nikunja-rahasya-stava and held to be the work of Rupa Goswami. There are good reasons for accepting the Radhavallabhi version in this case.(5)
Another work attributed to Prabodhananda by the Radhavallabhis is a short poem called Sri-Hitaharivamsa-candrastaka, eight verses glorifying Harivams. That RRSN is Hita Harivams' own composition is held by the school as an article of religious faith.
An examination of MS collections in Vrindavan and elsewhere leads one to conclude that other than VMA and CCA, Prabodhananda's works did not gain great currency. The RRSN was widely read amongst the Radhavallabhis, and it would appear, according to the manuscript evidence available in the Vrindavan Research Institute, that it was only later adopted by the Gaudiyas. who apparently added invocatory and signatory verses to Caitanya.(6) We shall return to a fuller discussion of these matters later.
Another title attributed to Prabodhananda is Viveka-sataka. This work does not seem ever to have been published. The description of the MS given by Rajendralal Mitra in his Notices, "a century of verses on dispassion or indifference to worldly attractions, for the sake of devotion to Krishna," does not in itself help to establish whether or not it is an authentic work by the same Prabodhananda with whom we are concerned.(7)
A further work, Navadvipa-sataka, appears to be a pastiche of CCA in Prabodhananda's style, written to vaunt the glories of Chaitanya's birthplace.(8) This work has only gained currency in certain limited circles of the Gaudiya sampradaya.
2. I have done a translation of both Jiva’s commentary and that attributed to Prabodhananda. A thorough study led me to conclude that the commentary attributed to him was likely not his, but based on an early commentary by him. I may give a detailed explanation of this at a further time.
3. See bibliography for publishing details of these works.
4. Published in Stava-kalpa-druma, 700-706.
5. Lalita Charan Goswami, Sri Hita Harivams: Sampraday aur Sahitya, (Vrindavan, 1957) 573-4. This volume is the source of information on Radha-vallabhi knowledge of Prabodhananda's writings. This work is nowhere included in any list of Rupa’s works. It contains a number of stylistic similarities to Prabodhananda’s other writings, as well as those of Harivams, as will be pointed out later on in this article.6. The MS. 6626 where the introductory Radha-vallabha has been erased and replaced by Radha-ramana. The verses to Chaitanya and a colophon appear to have been added in a later hand. MS. 3263 is incomplete and the inconsistency of the numbering, altered by the addition of the invocatory verse points to tampering. For a complete discussion see Rupert Snell, The Eighty-four Hymns of Hita Harivams: An edition of the Caurasi Pada, London: School of Oriental and African Studies, 1991. pp. 42ff.
7. MS. 2510. Unfortunately, this manuscript has never been recovered. The introductory and concluding verses found in Mitra’s descriptions are very close in style to Prabodhananda’s writings and indicate a devotional mood.
Introductory verse:
dehaH prApto virasa-jarasaM kSINam Ayur mamAbhUt
svalpA zaktir viSama-viSaya-grAhiNI yendriyANAm/
dUre vRndAvana-taTa-bhuvaH sveda-bheda-pradAyAH
kiM kurve 'haM vrata-kula-ziro-ratna-** na vedmi//
Final verse:
zrI-kuNDala-maNDitAnana-vidhau danta-prabhA-kaumudI
vidhvasta-vraja-vallabhASitam asi protphulla-vaktrAmbuje/
vaMzI-nAda-vimohitAkhila-jagaj-jantau kizorAvRtau
zrI-kRSNa-ratir astu me prati**premAbdhi-sambandhinI//
Colophon: zrI-prabodhAnanda-sarasvatI-viracitaM viveka-zatakam. The influence of Bhartrihari, author of the Vairagya-sataka, etc., on Prabodhananda is felt elsewhere. It is hoped that this manuscript may one day be found again.
8. ed. N. K. Vidyalankara (Krishnanagar, Nadia Gaudiya Mission, 1941)
Knowledge of Prabodhananda in Gaudiya Vaishnava works
In the earliest stratum of Gaudiya Vaishnava literature, the name of Prabodhananda crops up first in those peculiar works, the Vaishnava-vandanas, Bengali precursors to the bhakta-malas of North India, in which Chaitanya's associates' names are listed with only the sparsest of biographical detail. In all of these, we find oblique reference to a work by Prabodhananda glorifying Chaitanya.One of Chaitanya's more important associates, Narahari (d. 1568), in his Saparshad-gauranga-vandana writes "Oh Prabodhananda, I implore you. Intoxicate me just once with the glories of Gauranga!" (9)
Devakinandan Das, in his works Vaishnava-vandana and Vaishnavabhidhan, also states simply that Prabodhananda (to whom he gives the respectful title “gosAi”, i.e. gosvAmI) is particularly known for his pure devotion to Mahaprabhu, “whose glories he described.”(10)
A bit more information is added by the important author Kavi Karnapur in his Gaura-ganoddeza-dIpikA (AD 1576), where Prabodhananda is identified as a yati -- an ascetic or monk, most likely of the Shankara orders. This is confirmed by the addition of the adjective gaurodgAna-sarasvatI, "he whose words are used in enthusiastically singing out the glories of Gaura (Chaitanya)", (11) where Saraswati is also one of the titles or classes of daza-nAmI renunciates of the Shankara school. In Prabodhananda's own works, the title Saraswati is used in the signature verses of SangM.(12)
Prabodhananda is further described in Gaura-ganoddeza-dIpikA as having the identity in Vraja of Tungavidya, the most scholarly of all of Radha and Krishna's chief girl friends. This identity ranks him with Svarupa Damodar, Ramananda Raya, Narahari, etc., who are some of the other Chaitanya associates identified as sakhis.
Another work of this type ascribed to Jiva Goswami specifies that Prabodhananda wrote Chandramrita and adds to this information that this Prabodhananda was the spiritual master of Gopala Bhatta.(13)
In his important Sanskrit compilation of ritual, the Hari-bhakti-vilAsa, sometimes known as the Vaishnava-smriti, Gopala Bhatta, one of the renowned "six goswamis" of Vrindavan, does indeed make obeisance to Prabodhananda as his guru, describing him as “dear to bhagavat”, which according to Sanatana, the commentator, means Chaitanya.(14)
Thus the earliest literature of the the Gaudiya Vaishnava school indicates that Prabodhananda was well known as someone who had glorified Chaitanya in a work named Chandramrita, that he was a yati who had the devotional mood of a sakhi. He was also the spiritual master of a significant member of Mahaprabhu’s entourage, Gopala Bhatta.
Further confirmation of this relation is found in three later and somewhat less reliable Bengali histories. These works are the much maligned Prema-vilAsa(15) of Nityananda Das (<1650 das="" manohar="" s="">AnurAga-vallI
(AD 1696) and Narahari's Bhakti-ratnAkara (mid- to late-eighteenth century). The main subject matter of all three of these works is the life of Srinivasa Acharya and his associates, the important second-generation exponents of Chaitanya's religion, responsible for the transmission of the Vrindavan doctrines of the Goswamis to Bengal. The absence of information in Chaitanya Charitamrita about Gopala Bhatta, the initiating spiritual master of Srinivasa, was compensated for in these accounts.(16)
The skeleton of the story, found in Prema-vilAsa and expanded in the two other works, runs as follows:
When Chaitanya traveled through South India in 1509-10, he stayed at the house of Venkata Bhatta, the father of Gopala, near Srirangam. Venkata and his two brothers, Gopala's uncles Trimalla Bhatta and Prabodhananda were converted from their Sri-Vaishnava faith in Lakshmi-Narayan to one in Radha Krishna. Venkata Bhatta's young son, Gopala, served Chaitanya and the saint took a liking to the boy, told Prabodhananda, his academic teacher, to give him a good education and then later send him to Vrindavan. Prabodhananda became a great devotee (bhAgavatottama) by Chaitanya's mercy, of which he made a description. [This is presumably a reference to CCA.] (17)The account of Bhakti-ratnakara is substantially the same, only adding that Prabodhananda was famed far and wide because of his knowledge and this was the cause of his receiving the title "Saraswati."(19) Narahari describes Prabodhananda as a great renunciate, affectionate, a poet and an expert singer, a player of musical instruments and dancer. Though not recounting Prabodhananda's death like Nityananda Das, Narahari nowhere indicates that he went to Vrindavan, nor that he wrote any literature describing the land of Radha and Krishna.
On his deathbed, Prabodhananda remembered Chaitanya's instruction and reminded Gopala of his duty to go to Vrindavan. This then Gopala did.(18)
Manohara Das also seems to follow the Prema-vilAsa, only adding that the entire Bhatta family made a pilgrimage to Puri on one occasion to see Chaitanya, and that Gopal only left for Vrindavan after the deaths of all three brothers and their wives, thus confirming not only that Prabodhananda died a family man but that he never saw Vrindavan.(20)
These stories appear to have their roots in the account of Chaitanya's travels in South India given in CC, Madhya 9, to which details about Prabodhananda and Gopal Bhatta have been added. In fact, with the exception of the identification of Prabodhananda as a householder and Gopal Bhatta's uncle, there is little to indicate that these authors knew anything concrete about Prabodhananda other than that he was Gopala Bhatta's spiritual master and that he wrote a work glorifying Chaitanya.
Manohar Das betrays this in his Anuraga-valli when he supplements his account by translating the few words of Sanatana's commentary on the abovementioned verse of Hari-bhakti-vilAsa in which Gopala mentions Prabodhananda as his guru. This verse is also cited by Narahari in BRK (1.151).
Manohar mentions that Prabodhananda visited Jagannath Puri, but this could easily be deduced from reading Chandramrita, as we shall see in the next section.
The authenticity of these accounts is furthermore suspect for several reasons: It seems quite clear even from the little information that we get from the earliest sources that Prabodhananda was a yati. Moreover, Prabodhananda is not a name that resonates with those of his brothers Venkata and Tirumalla, both customary South Indian given names. It is rather a typical brahmacharin or sannyasin's name. Saraswati, too, is a title generally given to sannyasins and only very infrequently a scholar's upadhi. Though the possibility that Prabodhananda changed ashrams at some point is not excluded, none of these writers has suggested it, rather the opposite.
It is also quite clear from Prabodhananda's own writings that at some time he lived in Vrindavan, likely for a considerable period. So any biographical information that contradicts what seems certain knowledge immediately puts us on our guard.
A further rather significant doubt is cast on the entire account by Gopala Bhatta's own statements about his parentage given in the colophons to both his commentary on the Krishna-karnamrita and Kala-kaumudi in which he identifies himself as the son of Harivams Bhatta, grandson of Nrisimha Bhatta.(21) This may of course mean that another Gopala Bhatta is the author of these works.
9. Haridas Das, Introduction to Ascarya-rasa-prabandha, 3; ohe zri-prabodhAnanda nivedi tomAre/ gaura guNete bArek mAtAho AmAre//10. In Bhakti-tattva-sAra, Rasiklal Chandra (ed.) (Calcutta, 1850), p. 10.
zuddha sarasvatI vanda baRa zuddha-mati/
mahAprabhur caraNe jAr vizeS bhakati//
zrI prabodhAnanda gosAni kavir vandan/
jei kaila mahAprabhur guNer varNan//
11. tungavidyA vraje yAsIt sarva-zAstra-vizAradA |
sA prabodhAnanda-yatir gaurodgAna-sarasvatI || Verse 163.
12. ed. Haridas Das (Nabadwip, 1953).e.g. rasika-sarasvatI-gIta-mahAdbhuta-rAdhA-svarUpa-rahasyam, or madhura-sarasvatI-gItam udAram gaNaya rasika-jana-hari-rasa-sAram; rasada-sarasvati-varNita-mAdhava-rUpa-sudhA-
rasa-sAre.
13. prabodhAnanda-sarasvatIM vande vimalAM yayA mudA/
candrAmRtaM racitaM yat ziSyo gopAla-bhaTTaH//
This work is given in full in Caitanya cariter UpAdAn, appendix +na, 101-12; this verse found on p.106. The preponderance of metrical and grammatical flaws indicate that this could never have been composed by an accomplished author of Jiva's talents, even considering the possibility of scribal and editorial incompetence.
14. bhakter vilAsAMz cinute prabodhAnandasya ziSyo bhagavat-priyasya. HBV 1.2, Shyama Charan Kaviratna (ed.), Calcutta, 1318 Beng. (AD. 1911)
15. See bibliography for publishing information. These works and the difficulties with accepting the evidence contained in them is discussed in B. B. Majumdar's Chaitanya chariter upadan, University of Calcutta, 1931. See pp. 424ff. The difficulties of the Prema-vilasa are summarized there, pp. 506-15. Nityananda Das claims to be a disciple of Jahnava, which would place him in the latter part of the 16th century, but his grasp of historical detail is tenuous. Though the work cannot be entirely discounted, there are numerous versions containing widely disparate texts. As yet no critical edition has been made.
16. Gopal Bhatta's name is found in four different places in CC (Adi 1.36-7, 9.4, 10.105, Madhya 18.49), but no biographical information is given. Later authors including Narahari ascribe this lacuna to the humble Gopal's request (cf. BRK 1.222, p.10: zrI-gopAla bhaTTa hRSTa haiyA AjnA dila/ grantha nija-prasanga varNite niSedhila//)
Tarapada Mukherjee suggests ("Caitanya-caritAmRter racana-kAla evaM brajer gauDIya-sampradAy", SAhityapariSat PatrikA, 1987 (1), 39) that it was in fact due to Gopal's non-participation in Chaitanya's activities and that he was not alive at the time that Krishna Das Kaviraj took up the task of writing this work. However, Mukherjee's contention is only acceptable if Gopala Bhatta had never met Chaitanya as was the case with Jiva Goswami.
17. sei prabodhAnanda prabhura prANa sama/
prabhu kRpA kari kaila bhAgavatottama//
prabhura erUpa kRpA karila varNan/
prasange likhila ei sab vivaraN//,
ed. RAma NArAyaNa VidyAratna (Murshidabad, 1892), 274 (18th vilAsa)
18. zeSa-kAle prabodhAnander haila smaraN/
bhaTTa DAki kahe prabhur je Ache vacan//
smaraN haila tAhA je AjnA balila/
vRndAvana jAbe ei mane vicArila// (ibid.)
19. BRK, 1.148-56;
pitRvya-kRpAy sarva-zAstra haila jnAn/
gopAler sama ethA nAi vidyamAn//
keha kohe prabodhAnander guN ati/
sarvatra haila jAr khyAti sarasvatI//
20. AnurAga-vallI, Mrinala Kanti Ghosh (ed.) (Calcutta: Ananda Bazar Patrika Office, 1931), 4-7.
21. zrImad-drAviDa-nIvRd-ambudhi-vidhuH zrImAn NRsiMho 'bhavad
bhaTTa zrI-harivaMza uttama-guNa-grAmaika-bhUs tat-sutaH/
tat-putrasya kRtis tv iyaM vitanutAM gopAla-nAmno mudA
gopInAtha-padAravinda-makarandAnandi-ceto 'linaH//
ed. S. K. De, Dacca University, 1938, 342). See discussion in the introduction to that volume, pp. xxxli.
Prakashananda Saraswati
In Gaudiya Vaishnava literature, the identification of Prakashananda with Prabodhananda is relatively late. It is explicitly stated for the first time in the Rasikasvadini commentary on CCA by Anandin. Nothing is known about Anandin, but at least he had the grace to date his work, given as AD 1718.(22) Roughly contemporary to Anandin is Priya Das's commentary on the Bhakta-mala, which makes it clear that the Prabodhananda who wrote CCA also lived in Vrindavan and wrote about the glories of residence there, an obvious reference to Vrindavana-mahimamrita.(23)Nowhere in any of the above-mentioned Gaudiya works of the Vaishnava-vandana genre is the name of Prakashananda Saraswati to be found. This is rather unusual in view of the importance given to Prakashananda in the two most authoritative biographies of Chaitanya. Though Prakashananda is only mentioned twice in Chaitanya Bhagavata (ca. AD 1560), where he is identified as an exponent of the advaita doctrine in Kashi with whom Chaitanya was displeased, (24) he becomes a rather significant character in Krishna Das's CC (AD 1612). There the greater part of two chapters (Adi 7, Madhya 25) is consecrated to the story of his conversion by Chaitanya. Indeed, it is quite possible that Vrindavan Das intended to complete the story of Prakashananda’s conversion, as his naming of Prakashananda has no narrative purpose without some dénouement that was to follow. Vrindavan Das’ work ends rather abruptly, leaving the latter part of Chaitanya’s life little discussed, making Krishna Das’ work a necessity.
According to Krishna Das, Prakashananda was the most important of the Shankarite sannyasi in Kashi at the time of Chaitanya's visit there in AD 1514. Chaitanya, though himself garbed as a sannyasin of a Shankarite order, did not keep the company of the other ascetics, preferring to stay with some devotees, including Sanatan, whom he instructed there for two months. Prakashananda found Chaitanya's emotional bhakti unorthodox for a Shankarite sannyasin and criticized him within his own circle. He particularly denounced Chaitanya's deviation from the practices of Vedanta study and meditation in order to engage in loud singing of kirtan and dancing.
When a meeting between the two was finally arranged, Chaitanya's humility, effulgence, charm, and ultimately his knowledge, all led Prakashananda to admit his superiority and accept not only his theological doctrines and practices, but also his divinity.(25)
Despite the obvious importance that Krishna Das gives to this conversion, he gives no information about what Prakashananda did thereafter. This curious silence, maintained in all subsequent histories of the sampradaya, is particularly striking when contrasted with Krishna Das's account of another famous convert, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya -- no prayers are attributed to Prakashananda, as there are to Sarvabhauma, even though Sarvabhauma's Chaitanya-sataka(26) seems to have descended into obscurity.
Prakashananda's destination after conversion is also unknown from the CC. Even more significantly, in the three chapters (Adi, 10-12) that Krishna Das devotes to comprehensively listing and eulogizing Chaitanya's associates, neither the name of Prakashananda nor that of Prabodhananda is anywhere to be found. Needless to say, this silence on the subsequent activities of such an important convert is a mystery that requires explanation. As it is difficult to confirm Prakashananda's existence from any other source, suspicions could be raised about the historical veracity of the story.
As we have noted, Anandin is the first to have made the identification of Prabodhananda with Prakashananda. It is clear from other sources that by the beginning of the 19th century at least, many Gaudiya Vaishnavas were convinced of this identification. The Bhaktamal of Krishna Das(27) (or Lala Babu as he was otherwise known) written sometime in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, embellishes the accounts of the Chaitanya Bhagavata and Chaitanya Charitamrita with details that support this view. According to Lala Babu, Prakashananda and Chaitanya exchanged letters even before their meeting in Benares. After Prakashananda’s conversion, Chaitanya renamed him Prabodhananda because he had been “awakened” by his conversion.
To summarize the discussion so far, the earliest sources know Prabodhananda only as a sannyasin who wrote a work glorifying Chaitanya, explicitly named Chandramrita in one work ascribed to Jiva. He is known from HBV to be the spiritual master of Gopala Bhatta. Chaitanya's biographers have not mentioned him, though they have talked about a significant mayavadi sannyasin from Kashi named Prakashananda Saraswati who was converted by Chaitanya. Sectarian historians interested in Prabodhananda's second generation spiritual descendant Srinivasa identify him as Gopala Bhatta's uncle, a householder who had no known life outside of Srirangam. In works roughly contemporaneous to these histories, Prabodhananda Saraswati and Prakasananda Saraswati are equated for the first time, indicating that conflicting accounts of Prabodhananda's identity arose in the Gaudiya sampradaya around the late 17th to early 18th centuries.
NOTES22 ed. Manindranath Guha (Panihati, 1971). There are two different numbering systems for CCA, one apparently instituted by Anandin. The edition we are using is the one found in Stava-kalpa-druma, (ed.) Bhakti Saranga Goswami (Vrindavan, 1959).
23. p.892. Nabhaji only gives Prabodhananda's name with a number of other devotee sannyasins in chappaya 181.
24. Ref. to Madhya, ch. 20, sannyAsI prakAzAnanda basaye kAzIte/ paRAye vedAnta mora vigraha nA mAne//. Madhya, ch. 3: kAzIte paRAye beTA parakAzAnanda/ bAkhAnaye veda, more vigraha nA mAne//.
25. A rather unreliable source, Advaita-prakash, also mention that Chaitanya met a Prabodhananda Saraswati in Kashi. Its author paraphrases the CC account with some anachronistic additions. This work is ascribed to Advaita's servant, Ishana Nagar. (ed.) Mrinala Kanti Ghosh, (Calcutta, Ananda Bazar Patrika Office, 2nd edition, 1929), 77. This is another book whose credibility has been placed in doubt by Majumdar, op.cit., 424-35.
26. A work of this name has been published several times in Bengali editions, including (ed.) Kali Das Nath (Calcutta, 1911), etc. None of them contain either of Bhattacharya’s two famous Sanskrit verses cited by Kavi Karnapur (Caitanya-candrodaya-näöaka, 6.32-33) and quoted in Chaitanya Charitamrita (2.6.254-5) and there is some doubt about its authenticity. In tone, etc., however, the work warrants comparison with CCA.
27. ed. Upendranäth Mukhopadhyäya (Calcutta, Basumati Sähitya Mandir, 1949).
Prabodhananda and the Caitanya-candrAmRta
Before turning to Radha-vallabhi sources in search of more biographical information about Prabodhananda, it may do well to examine CCA for any clues it might supply about his identity. The work is not written as a historical account or autobiographical record and thus we must glean whatever information we can by inductive reasoning. The conclusions of which we can never provide us with absolute certainty, and yet there are many surprising hints in its 143 verses that excite the imagination.
The work is a panegyric mixed with prayers, a stotra-kAvya. It is written in a style that has apparently been much influenced by Bilvamangala's Krishna-karnamrita and other South Indian works of the genre, especially Mukunda-mala-stotram. This poetic/stylistic pattern ultimately derives from the writings of the Alvars, as has been shown by Friedhelm Hardy.(28) This may or may not indicate the southern provenance of the author; Mukunda Mala is quoted five times in Saduktikarnamritam, a Bengali compilation from about 1200 A.D. Prabodhananda could have become familiar with Krishna-karnamrita in Puri where we know Chaitanya had great affection for it.(29) At any rate, the link between Chaitanya Vaishnavism and South Indian devotion can be shown in other ways.(30)
Prabodhananda in Puri
It would appear from certain clues in CCA that Prabodhananda had personally met Chaitanya, and if so, certainly at Puri, though not necessarily for the first time there. This is surmised from the importance that is placed on the vision of Chaitanya (CCA, 27, 29, 59, 77, 82) as well as the vivid descriptions given of the saint at Puri.
May the golden-bodied Hari deliver youOther lines such as "How amazing, the Supreme Truth dances on the shores of the salt-water sea!" (verse 17) and "On the beaches of the salt ocean, a certain form made of molten gold pleases my mind as he remembers the sweet pastimes of his previous incarnation..." (verse 45) support this view.
as he brings joy to your eyes
with his pacing back and forth,
his face bathed in tears from his desire to see Jagannath.
To count the world-saving Hare Krishna names he is chanting,
he ties knots in a rope tied around his waist
with a shaking, love-filled hand.(31)
It also seems likely that Prabodhananda visited Mahaprabhu's birthplace in Nabadwip, (100-2), but not while Chaitanya was there, for he glorifies the dhaman of Nabadwip as the place where Chaitanya had appeared and one which had been transformed by his influence, but gives no descriptions of any of his pastimes there. Prabodhananda knew Chaitanya as a sannyasin. The poem itself may well have been written in Puri not long after the death of Chaitanya, for several verses indicate that Chaitanya is no longer alive, especially verse 83:
This is the same city of Gauda, blessed on earth,It would also appear that Prabodhananda knew many of Chaitanya's associates, whom he praises in several verses, specifically naming Advaita Acharya (verse 134) and Vakreshwar Pandit (verse 116), whose dancing had impressed him. He also accepted the doctrine that these were various deities or associates from Krishna's lila who had joined him in this incarnation, specifically mentioning the five who come to be known as the Pancha Tattva (verse 52) (33)
and this too the same ocean beach,
this, the town of Purushottam
and these, the identical names of Krishna;
but nowhere, alas! can I see the same festival of love.
Ah, Chaitanya, source of all compassion,
will I ever again see your glories?
(32)
Other of Prabodhananda's verses reflect some well?known Sanskrit and Bengali statements made by Chaitanya’s associates, most startling is one attributed to Chaitanya himself: Verse 85 (tRNAd api sunIcatA, etc.) quotes in part Padyavali 47, (tRNAd api sunécena, etc.). Some of the others will be noted below.
NOTES28. “Madhavendra Puri: A link between Bengal Vaishnavism and South Indian bhakti,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1, 1974, 37-40.
29. CC, Madhya 2, p.105;
caNDIdAs, vidyApati, rAyer nATaka-gIti, karNAmRta, zrI-gIta-govinda/
svarUpa rAmAnanda sane, mahAprabhu rAtri-dine, gAy zune parama Ananda//.
Mahaprabhu is said to have brought the KKA with him from his pilgrimage to the south (the shores of the Krishnavenva) in 1511. Cf. CC Madhya 9, p.168.
30. See note 28.
31. badhnan prema-bhara-prakampita-karo granthIn kaTI-DorakaiH
sankhyAtuM nija-loka-mangala-hare-kRSNeti-nAmnAM japan/
azru-snAta-mukhaH svam eva hi jagannAthaM didRkSur gatA-
yAtair gaura-tanur vilocana-mudaM tanvan hariH pAtu vaH// CCA, 9.
32. saiveyaM bhuvi dhanya gauDa?nagarI velApi saivAmbudheH
so 'yaM zrI-puruSottamo madhu-pates tAny eva nAmAni ca/
no kutrApi nirIkSyate hari hari premotsavas tAdRzo
hA caitanya kRpAnidhAna tava kiM vIkSe punar vaibhavam?//
33. sarve nArada-zankarAdaya ihAyAtAů svayaM zrIr api
prAptA deva-halAyudho'pi milito jAtAz ca vRSNAdayaH /
bhUyaH kiM vraja-vAsino'pi prakaTA gopAla-gopy-AdayaH
pUrNa-prema-rasezvare=vatarati zrI-gauracandre bhuvi //
The equivalents given in Gaura-gaNoddeza-dIpikA are as follows: Narada = Srivasa Pandit, Shankara = Advaita, Sri = Gadadhar, Halayudha = Nityananda, and of course Hari = Chaitanya. This doctrine is attributed to Svarupa Damodar Goswami, both in Karëapur's work and in CC.
Prabodhananda, the brahmavadi sannyasi
Prabodhananda mentions Kashi, the classical name for the town of Benares, on two separate occasions in Chaitanya-chandramrita. Not a place of great religious significance for Chaitanya's followers, Kashi is spoken of by Prabodhananda only in relation to the life he has left behind. When this clue is added to indications that he was a sannyasi on the path of monism before his sudden conversion by Chaitanya, Prabodhananda begins to bear an uncanny resemblance to the Prakashananda encountered in CC.Prabodhananda tells us clearly that he is a sannyasi, though he does not give this status much value. He curses both his learning and his ashram, which to him are nothing more than misfortunes preventing him from developing even a hint of a relationship with Chaitanya (hA dhig api me vidyAM dhig apy Azramam, verse 117). The same sentiment is also found in verse 106: dvijatvam api dhik paraM vimalam AzramAdyaM ca dhik. In 23, he speaks of sannyasis giving up their regulated cultivation of knowledge upon discovering the devotional path set forth by Chaitanya (jnAnAbhyAsa-vidhiM jahuz ca yatayaH).
In verse 8, Prabodhananda condemns those who in ignorance prattle the words brahmAham: "I am brahman", (dhig astu brahmAhaM-vadana-pariphullAn jaDa-matIn), but he does not hesitate to call Chaitanya brahman or paraM brahman while underscoring his personal nature: (paraM brahma svayaM nRtyati, 17). In another place, he calls Chaitanya paraM jyotir gauraH (15). Chaitanya is also called koTy-advaita-ziromaNi -- “the jewel at the crown of a hundred-million monistic truths” (140).
Prabodhananda says that until one sees Chaitanya, talk of brahman, the goal of liberation, will not taste bitter, nor will the chains of fruitive works according to the Vedic path be loosed, and the learned will chatter amongst themselves about the relative merits of different superficial paths of spiritual practice (v. 35).
He further warns his mind not to follow the path of monistic spirituality: na karNAbhyarNe 'pi kvacana nayatAdhyAtma-saraNeH (v. 63), and in a well-loved verse, states that monistic liberation is like hell to one who has received Chaitanya's mercy (v. 95):
Identification with brahman appears like hell,According to Prabodhananda, Chaitanya came to show the insignificance of the other goals of human life including mukti (57). This attitude is further expressed in Prabodhananda's description of even Chaitanya's uneducated disciples chastising pandits learned in all the scriptures (80);(35) “the disciples of Chaitanya condemn the scholars of the paths of knowledge and ritual” (dhik kurvanti ca jńAna-karma-viduSaH, 99). He berates the uselessness of all other practices of renunciation, knowledge, yoga, even devotion to other forms of Narayan. All gains can be found more easily simply through the worship of Chaitanya.(36)
the heavenly kingdoms like so many figments of the imagination,
the indomitable black snakes of the senses
appear to have had their fangs extracted,
the universe appears to be full of joy
and the gods Brahma and Mahendra
seem as insignificant as worms
to those who have become wealthy
with the grace of Gaura's merciful glance:
I offer my praises to him.(34)
Prabodhananda uses the term pum-arthAnAM mauliH (6) “crown of the goals of life”, a phrase that is clearly echoed in the Krishna Das Kaviraj’s account of the conversion of Prakashananda, for there Chaitanya explained to Prakashananda that love of Krishna was the fifth or parama puruSArtha.(37)
In other words reminiscent of the conversion of Prakashananda described in CC, Prabodhananda indicates that the embarrassment he had felt about publicly dancing and singing disappeared as a result of Chaitanya’s blessings.
Some powerful thief of golden complexionOther verses in Chaitanya-chandramrita show further resemblances to descriptions used in the CC which arise in the context of the conversion of Prakashananda. Compare, for example, the following two passages from CCA and CC:
has stolen everything from me,
whether it be the performances of worldly and ritual duties,
all of which had attained faithful regularity,
or the embarrassment that held me back
from festivals of laughter, loud song and dance,
and even, wonder of wonders,
[his grace leads me to neglect]
the natural activities of maintaining my life and body! (38)
He does not judge who is worthy and who is not,Though many verses in Chaitanya-chandramrita imply the sudden conversion of Prabodhananda, the use of the word akasmAt, 'without a why or a wherefore, suddenly', in verses 33 and 88, etc., are further resonances of the Chandramrita in Krishna Das’ account of Prakashananda’s conversion. Perhaps no one of these resonances in itself would attract our attention, but the juxtaposition of so many significant similarities of language seem too much to be a mere coincidence.
he does not see some people as friends and others as enemies;
he does not ruminate over whether this gift is to be given or not,
nor does he consider the correctness of the occasion;
that Gaura who gave the rare taste of devotion
by simply being heard, seen, bowed to or meditated upon,
is my destiny.(39)
He does not judge who is worthy and who is not; there is no place that is suitable or unsuitable; Mahaprabhu gives the gift of love to whomever he finds, wherever he finds him.(40)
NOTES34. kaivalyaM narakAyate tridazapUr AkAza-puSpAyate
durdAntendriya-kAlasarpa-paTalI protkhAta-daMSTrAyate/
vizvaM pUrNa-sukhAyate vidhi-mahendrAdiz ca kITAyate
yat kAruNya-kaTAkSa-vaibhavavatAM taM gauram eva stumaH//
35. tiraskurvanty ajńA api sakala-zAstrajńa-samitim
36. Cf. na yogo na dhyAnaM... (6); yan nAptaM karma-niSThair (7); kva tAvad vairAgyam (50); alaM zAstrAbhyAsaiH (64); vairAgya-koTir (127); jńAna-vairAgya-bhakty-Adi sAdhayantu yathA tathA (129); vyarthIbhavanti mama sAdhana-koTayo 'pi (130); sarva-sAdhana-hIno 'pi (131); etc.
37. Similar expressions are found in CCA 6, 12 (prema nAmAdbhutArthaH), 14 (premAbhidhAnaH paramaH pumarthaH), 20 (parama-pumartham), 117 (sarva-pumartha-mauli-). Also note CCA 25: “Those who seek the four goals of life may worship the Supreme Lord; others can become Hari's servants by worshiping him. As far as I am concerned, I am hungry to experience something more esoteric and so have taken shelter of Caitanya Candra's lotus feet."
Compare this with CC, Adi 7.84-5;
KRSNa-viSayaka premA paramapuruSArtha/
jAnra Age tRNa-tulya cAri puruSArtha//
pańcama-puruSArtha premAnandAmRta-sindhu/
mokSAdi Ananda jAnra nahe eka bindu//
and CC Adi 7.91: BhAla haila, pAile parama-puruSArtha
The use of the word lobha in CC Adi 7.87 also resonates with the above quoted CCA 25.
38. niSThAM prAptA vyavahRti-tatir laukikI vaidikI yA
yA vA lajjA prahasana-samudgAna-nATyotsaveSu /
ye vAbhUvann ahaha sahaja-prANa-dehArtha-dharmA
gauraz cauraH sakalam aharat ko 'pi me tIvra-vIryaH// CCA, 21.
Compare CC Madhya 25, p.317:
nikaTe dhvani zuni parakAzAnanda/
dekhite kautuke Aila lańA ziSya-vRnda//
dekhiyA prabhur nRtya deher mAdhurI/
ziSya-gaN sange sei bole hari hari//
Prakashananda is nowhere described by Krishna Das as an ecstatic, but the verse itself resonates with Mahaprabhu's descriptions to Prakashananda of the effects the name had upon him. Cf. CC Adi 7.89-90.
39. pAtrApAtra-vicAraNaM na kurute na svaM paraM vIkSate
deyAdeya-vimarzako nahi na vA kAla-pratIkSaH prabhuH/
sadyo yaH zravaNekSaNa-praNamana-dhyAnAdinA durlabhaM
datte bhakti-rasaM sa eva bhagavAn gauraH paraM me gatiH// CCA, 112.
40. pAtrApAtra-vicAra nAhi nAhi sthAnAsthAn /
jei jAnhA pAy tA+nhA kare prema-dAn // CC Adi 7.23.
COMMENT
In view of the extensive awareness of Prabodhananda as someone who glorified Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, it is impossible to believe that a widely-read scholar like Krishna Das Kaviraj had never read Chaitanya Chandramrita. Yet, he has nowhere quoted this book or refered to it in his great work, Chaitanya Charitamrita. Nor has he mentioned the name of Prabodhananda, even though the two clearly lived in Vraja at roughly the same time. Whatever the reason for such silence, we must ask why, in this specific place, do we get these resonances?
Prabodhananda's view of Chaitanya
Prabodhananda's panegyric shows a sophisticated theological conception of Chaitanya as the godhead Krishna himself, fully incarnate (pUrNa evAvatIrNaH, 142) both to taste love for Krishna (vrajapati-kumAraM rasayituM, 1) and to distribute that taste of love to all and sundry (vizuddha-sva-premonmada-madhura-pIyUSa-laharIM pradAtuM cAnyebhyaH, 1), irregardless of their caste, sinful character or previously held beliefs (3, 4, etc.). This shows that he understood both the internal (antaranga) and external (bahiranga) causes for Chaitanya's incarnation, as outlined by Krishna Das Kaviraj.(41)Prabodhananda appears to have come under the influence of several of Chaitanya's associates: Svarupa Damodar and Narahari Sarkar in particular, for some of their ideas are reflected in his verses. He thus seems to have alternately described Chaitanya according to each of several theological points of view that were extant without making any particular effort at differentiation. Thus, in one place he follows the position attributed to Svarupa Damodar (42) in postulating that Chaitanya is both Radha and Krishna in a combined form: “May the body of Madhava, united with Radha, give you salvation” (ekIbhUtaM vapur avatu vo rAdhayA mAdhavasya, 16) or “Gaurachandra is directly manifest as the [combined] form of Radha and the enemy of Madhu” (sAkSAd rAdhA-madhuripu-tanur bhAti gaurAnga-candraH, 103)
On the other hand, Prabodhananda more often describes Chaitanya as Krishna himself with a golden color. (43) In particular, one verse (90) describes Chaitanya as nAgara, a concept that is usually attributed to Narahari and his followers. The idea of Chaitanya as sannyAsi-kapaTam or “fraudulent sannyasi” (64, 96) also appears to be derived from Narahari's SachinandanASTaka.(44) The idea of Chaitanya “abandoning” Vrindavan (126) also appears to be an idea of Narahari's. (45)
B. B. Majumdar, S. K. De, and more recently R. K. Chakravarty, refer to Prabodhananda as a founder of gaura-pAramya-vAda, or the doctrine of Gaura’s supremacy. (46) It would seem rather that he kept the company of Narahari, who is traditionally accepted as the author of this viewpoint. As in the case of Kavi Karnapur, not too much should be made of Prabodhananda's apparent support for this concept, for his later writings, as well as his descriptions in this poem of the various conceptions of devotion and contributions made by Chaitanya, indicate that he (like Karnapur) ultimately considered the Vrindavan lila, i.e. Radha and Krishna, to be the ultimate goal of his spiritual life. Both he and Karnapur did, however, believe in the identity of the two lilas.
Prabodhananda describes the oscillating moods of Chaitanya in the following way:
Sometimes he danced in the mood of Krishna himself,A description of Chaitanya absorbed in the identity of a gopi suffering in separation from Krishna is also found elsewhere in the work (78).
imitating many different postures;
sometimes he would take the mood of Radha
and would cry the name of Hari in pain [of separation];
sometimes he would crawl like a baby or behave like a cowherd.
In the sweetness of all these different moods
Gaura astonished the universe. (47)
would not be an exaggeration to say that during the life or in the period immediately following the death of Chaitanya, no other author wrote a description of Mahaprabhu in the same sophisticated terms that were later popularized by Krishna Das’ Chaitanya Charitamrita. The same may be said about the summary that Prabodhananda gave of the type of devotion that Chaitanya disseminated.
NOTES41. As described in CC, Adi 4.5-6.
42. CC, Adi 1.5.
43. Cf. CCA 126, etc. The same ambiguity can be found in Svarupa Damodar's famous verse quoted in Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika and Chaitanya Charitamrita, and this has resulted in some controversy amongst Gaudiyas up to the present day: is Mahaprabhu Krishna, enjoying the mood of Radharani, or is he a combined form of the two personalities? In that verse Svarupa writes both tad dvayaM caikyam Aptam and rAdhA-bhAva-dyuti-suvalitaM kRSNa-svarUpam (GGD).
44. Verse 1: AzcaryaM sakhi pazya lampaTa-guroH sannyasi-vezaM kSitau.
45. ed. H. K. Mukhopadhyaya, VaiSNava-padAvalI, 151. vraja-bhUmi kari zUnya nadIyAy avatIrNa, etc.
46. Majumdar, op.cit., 1719, S. K. De, Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal (Calcutta, 1942), 137-8; Chakravarty, Vaishnavism in Bengal, 1486-1900 (Calcutta, 1985), 114.
47. kvacit kRSNAvezAn naTati bahu-bhangIm abhinayan
kvacid rAdhAviSTo hari hari harIty Arta-ruditaH/
kvacid ringan bAlaH kvacid api ca gopAla-carito
jagad gauro vismApayati bahu-bhangI-madhurimA//
The nature of the devotion imbibed by Prabodhananda from Chaitanya
Prabodhananda apparently came to appreciate the supremacy of Radha from Caitanya, for he says that Hari, in his form as Gaura, exhibited his devotion to the feet of Radha: svayaM vitanute rAdhA-padAbje ratim (87). As one progresses in devotion to Mahaprabhu, a pious person suddenly gets a vision of Radha's feet, which are an ocean of nectar (89). He prays for the time when by Chaitanya's mercy, upon attaining a pure, sincere love for Chaitanya, the light from the jewel-like toenails of Radha's feet will illuminate his heart. As we shall see later, the words “the light of the nails of Radha's feet would arise” (zrI-rAdhA-pada-nakha-jyotir udagAt; 86), “the ocean of the ambrosia of love [filled with] the new flavor of condensed brightness” (sAndrojjvala-nava-rasa-prema-pIyUSa-sindhoH, 88), “the ocean of nectar of Radha's lotus feet” (rAdhA-padAmbhoja-sudhAmbu-rAziH, 89) are all particularly redolent of the language found in RRSN and VMA.Furthermore, in a verse that bears close resemblance to a well-known Bengali song by Narahari Sarkar(48), Prabodhananda indicates that he takes Chaitanya to be the source of this type of devotion:
Who'd have heard that the wonderful purpose of life is preman?By the same token, different associates of Chaitanya developed different relations with Krishna through Chaitanya: the four chief relationships are listed, but those who were the luckiest attained “the sweet ocean of Radha-rasa” (anye dhanyatamA dhayanti madhuraM rAdhA-rasAmbho-nidhim; 113). Something similar to this is stated in the RRSN. (50) These verses show a knowledge of Rupa Goswami's gradation of the five rasas (BRS 2.5.6, etc.)
Who would have known the glories of the names (of Krishna)?
Who would have been able to enter
into the tremendous sweetness of the forests of Vrindavan?
And who would have known the extent of the amazing glories
of the supreme rasa that is Radha?
Chaitanya alone revealed all these things by his supreme mercy. (49)
Finally, it needs to be pointed out here that Prabodhananda showed a great enthusiasm for the antinomianism that was an apparent feature of Chaitanya's democratic religion. This, of course, was very much the mood of the early stages of the devotional movement as described in Chaitanya Bhagavata, etc. Chaitanya's merciful glance was sufficient to give what hundreds of years of spiritual practice might or might not give. As the movement became sanskritized, the necessity of various forms of sadAcAra became integral to the practice of devotion. Prabodhananda's insistence on bhakti's transcendence to any other practice, its independence from any kind of karman is evidenced by many verses in both this and other works, such as the one glorifying Vrindavan (e.g. VMA, 2.1, etc.). (51)
In summary, the reputation enjoyed by Chaitanya Chandramrita in the Gaudiya world in the early 16th century was well-deserved. It was the first Sanskrit work that dealt with many aspects of Mahaprabhu’s personality and teachings that only much later were made current in Bengali through the Chaitanya Charitamrita. Since Krishna Das could conceivably have made use of this work to support many of his own ideas in the way that he made use of Karnapur, Raghunath Das, Rupa Goswami and Svarupa Damodar, the absence of any such reference in Chaitanya Charitamrita is all the more remarkable.
NOTES48 Compare Narahari:
gaurAnga nahita ki mene haita, kemane dharitAm de?
rAdhAr mahimA prema-rasa-sImA jagate jAnAto ke?
madhura vRndA vipina madhura, pravez cAturI sAr/
vrajer yuvatI-bhAver bhakati zakati haito kAr?
This pada has often attributed to Basu Ghosh, but H. K. Mukhopadhyay has, presumably on the basis of reliable MSS, identified it as Narahari's. VaiSNava-padAvalI, 150-1.
49. premA nAmAdbhutArthaH zravaNa-patha-gataH kasya nAmnAM mahimnaH
ko vettA kasya vRndAvana-vipina-mahA-mAdhurISu pravezaH/
ko vA jAnAti rAdhAM parama-rasa camatkAra-mAdhurya-sImAm
ekaz caitanya-candraH parama-karuNayA sarvam AvizcakAra//
50. kecid dAsyam avApur uddhava-mukhAH zlAghyaM pare lebhire
zrIdAmAdi-padaM vrajAmbuja-dRzAM bhAvaM ca bhejuH pare/
anye dhanyatamA dhayanti madhuraM rAdhA-rasAmbonidhiM
zrI-caitanya-mahAprabhoH karuNayA no kasya kAH sampadaH// CCA, 113.
dUre snigdha-paramparA vijayatAM dUre suhRn-maNDalI
bhRtyAH santu vidUrato vraja-pater anyaH prasangaH kutaH/
yatra zrI-vRSabhAnujA kRta-ratiH kuńjodare kAminA
dvAra-sthA priya-kinkarI param ahaM zroSyAmi kAńci-dhvanim// RRSN 74.
dUre spRSTy-Adi vArtA na kalayati manAM nAradAdIn svabhaktAn
zrIdAmAdyaiH suhRdbhir na milati ca hareH snigdha-vRddhiM sva-pitroH/
kintu premaika-sImAM madhura-rasa-sudhA-sindhu-sArair agAdha.m
zrI-rAdhAm eva jAnan madhu-patir anizaM kuńja-vIthIm upAste// RRSN, 236.
51. CCA, 1: ati-vimaryAdA. See also verses 6, 7, 20, 23, 25, 50, 60, 61, 63, 64, et passim. VMA, 2.1: “Better that I should live here devoid of any devotion to Hari's feet and greedy for the most insignificant purposes than live elsewhere, even in the happiness of being initiated in the service to the feet of the lover of the gopis.”
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