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EDITORIAL July 7, 1999 VNN4247 Comment on this story Sriman Vakresvara Pandit BY ARIJIT DAS  EDITORIAL, Jul 7 (VNN) — 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. Vrindavana 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 them¾Paramananda Puri and Svarupa Damodara¾were 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 beginning 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 Vrindavana 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 the 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." "Vakreshvara Pandit was the fifth branch of the Caitanya tree. He was a very dear servants 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 happy. The Lord replied, "I have only one wing like you, but if I had another, certainly I could fly like a bird." At the time of Rathayatra in Jagannatha Puri, there were four sampradayas. In their midst Vakreshavara Pandit initiated a new sampradaya that of dancing. All Glory to Sri Vakreshavara Pandit, may his pastimes dance in our hearts. Submitted for the pleasure of the sankirtan party - Arijit das Comment on this story | Contact VNN about this story | Send this story to a friend
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