Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita

CC Ādi 11 Summary

CC Ādi 11.1: After offering my obeisances unto all the devotees of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, who are like bumblebees collecting honey from His lotus feet, I shall try to describe those who are the most prominent.

CC Ādi 11.2: All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! Anyone who has taken shelter at His lotus feet is glorious.

CC Ādi 11.3: All glories to Śrī Advaita Prabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu!

CC Ādi 11.4: Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu is the topmost branch of the indestructible tree of eternal love of Godhead, Śrī Krishna Caitanya Mahāprabhu. I offer my respectful obeisances to all the subbranches of that topmost branch.

CC Ādi 11.5: Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu is an extremely heavy branch of the Śrī Caitanya tree. From that branch grow many branches and subbranches.

CC Ādi 11.6: Watered by the desire of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, these branches and subbranches have grown unlimitedly and covered the entire world with fruits and flowers.

CC Ādi 11.7: These branches and subbranches of devotees are innumerable and unlimited. Who could count them? For my personal purification I shall try to enumerate only the most prominent among them.

CC Ādi 11.8: After Nityānanda Prabhu, the greatest branch is Vīrabhadra Gosāñi, who also has innumerable branches and subbranches. It is not possible to describe them all.

CC Ādi 11.9: Although Vīrabhadra Gosāñi was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He presented Himself as a great devotee. And although the Supreme Godhead is transcendental to all Vedic injunctions, He strictly followed the Vedic rituals.

CC Ādi 11.10: He is the main pillar in the hall of devotional service erected by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He knew within Himself that He acted as the Supreme Lord Vishnu, but externally He was prideless.

CC Ādi 11.11: It is by the glorious mercy of Śrī Vīrabhadra Gosāñi that people all over the world now have the chance to chant the names of Caitanya and Nityānanda.

CC Ādi 11.12: I therefore take shelter of the lotus feet of Vīrabhadra Gosāñi, so that by His mercy my great desire to write Śrī Caitanya-caritāmrita will be properly guided.

CC Ādi 11.13: Two devotees of Lord Caitanya named Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa always lived with Śrī Vīrabhadra Gosāñi.

CC Ādi 11.14-15: 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 Ghosha and Vāsudeva Ghosha belonged to both groups of devotees simultaneously.

CC Ādi 11.16: Rāmadāsa, one of the chief branches, was full of fraternal love of Godhead. He made a flute from a stick with sixteen knots.

CC Ādi 11.17: Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa was always fully absorbed in ecstasy as a gopī. In his house Lord Nityānanda enacted the drama Dāna-keli.

CC Ādi 11.18: Śrī Mādhava Ghosha was a principal performer of kīrtana. While he sang, Nityānanda Prabhu danced.

CC Ādi 11.19: When Vāsudeva Ghosha described Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda while performing kīrtana, even wood and stone would melt upon hearing it.

CC Ādi 11.20: There were many extraordinary activities performed by Murāri, a great devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sometimes in his ecstasy he would slap the cheek of a tiger, and sometimes he would play with a venomous snake.

CC Ādi 11.21: All the associates of Lord Nityānanda were formerly cowherd boys in Vrajabhūmi. Their symbolic representations were the horns and sticks they carried, their cowherd dress and the peacock plumes on their heads.

CC Ādi 11.22: The physician Raghunātha, also known as Upādhyāya, was so great a devotee that simply by seeing him one would awaken his dormant love of Godhead.

CC Ādi 11.23: Sundarānanda, another branch of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, was Lord Nityānanda's most intimate servant. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu perceived the life of Vrajabhūmi in his company.

CC Ādi 11.24: Kamalākara Pippalāi is said to have been the third gopāla. His behavior and love of Godhead were uncommon, and thus he is celebrated all over the world.

CC Ādi 11.25: Sūryadāsa Sarakhela and his younger brother Krishnadāsa Sarakhela both possessed firm faith in Nityānanda Prabhu. They were a reservoir of love of Godhead.

CC Ādi 11.26: Gaurīdāsa Pandita, the emblem of the most elevated devotional service in love of Godhead, had the greatest potency to receive and deliver such love.

CC Ādi 11.27: Making Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda the Lords of his life, Gaurīdāsa Pandita sacrificed everything for the service of Lord Nityānanda, even the fellowship of his own family.

CC Ādi 11.28: The thirteenth important devotee of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu was Pandita Purandara, who moved in the ocean of love of Godhead just like the Mandara Hill.

CC Ādi 11.29: Parameśvara dāsa, said to be the fifth gopāla of krishna-līlā, completely surrendered to the lotus feet of Nityānanda. Anyone who remembers his name, Parameśvara dāsa, will get love of Krishna very easily.

CC Ādi 11.30: Jagadīśa Pandita, the fifteenth branch of Lord Nityānanda's followers, was the deliverer of the entire world. Devotional love of Krishna showered from him like torrents of rain.

CC Ādi 11.31: The sixteenth dear servant of Nityānanda Prabhu was Dhanañjaya Pandita. He was very much renounced and always merged in love of Krishna.

CC Ādi 11.32: Maheśa Pandita, the seventh of the twelve gopālas, was very liberal. In great love of Krishna he danced to the beating of a kettledrum like a madman.

CC Ādi 11.33: Purushottama Pandita, a resident of Navadvīpa, was the eighth gopāla. He would become almost mad as soon as he heard the holy name of Nityānanda Prabhu.

CC Ādi 11.34: Balarāma dāsa always fully tasted the nectar of love of Krishna. Upon hearing the name of Nityānanda Prabhu, he would become greatly maddened.

CC Ādi 11.35: Yadunātha Kavicandra was a great devotee. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu always danced in his heart.

CC Ādi 11.36: The twenty-first devotee of Śrī Nityānanda in Bengal was Krishnadāsa Brāhmana, who was a first-class servant of the Lord.

CC Ādi 11.37: The twenty-second devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Kālā Krishnadāsa, who was the ninth cowherd boy. He was a first-class Vaishnava and did not know anything beyond Nityānanda Prabhu.

CC Ādi 11.38: The twenty-third and twenty-fourth prominent devotees of Nityānanda Prabhu were Sadāśiva Kavirāja and his son Purushottama dāsa, who was the tenth gopāla.

CC Ādi 11.39: From birth, Purushottama dāsa was merged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, and he always engaged in childish play with Lord Krishna.

CC Ādi 11.40: Śrī Kānu Thākura, a very respectable gentleman, was the son of Purushottama dāsa Thākura. He was such a great devotee that Lord Krishna always lived in his body.

CC Ādi 11.41: Uddhārana Datta Thākura, the eleventh among the twelve cowherd boys, was an exalted devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. He worshiped the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda in all respects.

CC Ādi 11.42: The twenty-seventh prominent devotee of Nityānanda Prabhu was Ācārya Vaishnavānanda, a great personality in devotional service. He was formerly known as Raghunātha Purī.

CC Ādi 11.43: Another important devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Vishnudāsa, who had two brothers, Nandana and Gańgādāsa. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu sometimes stayed at their house.

CC Ādi 11.44: Paramānanda Upādhyāya was Nityānanda Prabhu's great servitor. Śrī Jīva Pandita glorified the qualities of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu.

CC Ādi 11.45: The thirty-first devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Paramānanda Gupta, who was greatly devoted to Lord Krishna and highly advanced in spiritual consciousness. Formerly Nityānanda Prabhu also resided at his house for some time.

CC Ādi 11.46: The thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth prominent devotees were Nārāyana, Krishnadāsa, Manohara and Devānanda, who always engaged in the service of Lord Nityānanda.

CC Ādi 11.47: The thirty-sixth devotee of Lord Nityānanda was Hoda Krishnadāsa, whose life and soul was Nityānanda Prabhu. He was always dedicated to the lotus feet of Nityānanda, and he knew no one else but Him.

CC Ādi 11.48: Among Lord Nityānanda's devotees, Nakadi was the thirty-seventh, Mukunda the thirty-eighth, Sūrya the thirty-ninth, Mādhava the fortieth, Śrīdhara the forty-first, Rāmānanda the forty-second, Jagannātha the forty-third and Mahīdhara the forty-fourth.

CC Ādi 11.49: Śrīmanta was the forty-fifth, Gokula dāsa the forty-sixth, Hariharānanda the forty-seventh, Śivāi the forty-eighth, Nandāi the forty-ninth and Paramānanda the fiftieth.

CC Ādi 11.50: Vasanta was the fifty-first, Navanī Hoda the fifty-second, Gopāla the fifty-third, Sanātana the fifty-fourth, Vishnāi the fifty-fifth, Krishnānanda the fifty-sixth and Sulocana the fifty-seventh.

CC Ādi 11.51: The fifty-eighth great devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Kamsāri Sena, the fifty-ninth was Rāmasena, the sixtieth was Rāmacandra Kavirāja, and the sixty-first, sixty-second and sixty-third were Govinda, Śrīrańga and Mukunda, who were all physicians.

CC Ādi 11.52: Among the devotees of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, Pītāmbara was the sixty-fourth, Mādhavācārya the sixty-fifth, Dāmodara dāsa the sixty-sixth, Śańkara the sixty-seventh, Mukunda the sixty-eighth, Jñāna dāsa the sixty-ninth and Manohara the seventieth.

CC Ādi 11.53: The dancer Gopāla was the seventy-first, Rāmabhadra the seventy-second, Gaurāńga dāsa the seventy-third, Nrisimha-caitanya the seventy-fourth and Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa the seventy-fifth.

CC Ādi 11.54: Vrindāvana dāsa Thākura, the son of Śrīmatī Nārāyanī, composed Śrī Caitanya-mańgala [later known as Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata].

CC Ādi 11.55: Śrīla Vyāsadeva described the pastimes of Krishna in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Vyāsa of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was Vrindāvana dāsa.

CC Ādi 11.56: Among all the branches of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Vīrabhadra Gosāñi was the topmost. His subbranches were unlimited.

CC Ādi 11.57: No one can count the unlimited followers of Nityānanda Prabhu. I have mentioned some of them just for my self-purification.

CC Ādi 11.58: All these branches, the devotees of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, being full of ripened fruits of love of Krishna, distributed these fruits to all they met, flooding them with love of Krishna.

CC Ādi 11.59: All these devotees had unlimited strength to deliver unobstructed, unceasing love of Krishna. By their own strength they could offer anyone Krishna and love of Krishna.

CC Ādi 11.60: I have briefly described only some of the followers and devotees of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. Even the thousand-mouthed Śesha Nāga cannot describe all of these unlimited devotees.

CC Ādi 11.61: With an ardent desire to serve the purpose of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, I, Krishnadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmrita, following in their footsteps.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness