VRNDAVANA DASA

He was a Gaudiya Vaisnava who lived in Vraja. He translated in Vrajbhasa Vilapa-kusumanjali, Prema-bhakti-candrika and Vaisnavabhidhana in some special meters. These works were done in 1813 Samvat.

VRNDAVANA DASA BABAJI

He lived in Varsana, but everyday he would rise early and after performing his mornking duties, he would walk to Vrndavana taking his japa mala with him. In Vrndavana he visited the seven famous temples and took caranamrta, Tulasi and the dust of the temples. He then returned to Varsana in the evening and went out on madhukari. He never took prasada anywhere. Once in Sri Vrndavana in the temple of Sri Govinda many Vaisnavas were invited for prasada. All of them requested Vrndavana dasa to take prasada with them. Thinking that it would be improper not to honor their request, he took the prasada and left for Varsana. At dawn he got up as usual, finished his morning duties and went out with japa mala in his hand. Strangely, the thumb of his right hand refused to move as if it were paralyzed, yet there was no pain. Confused he rushed to Sri Manohara dasa Babaji of Sri Govinda kunda, threw himself at his feet and began to cry and said, "Baba, I am undone. I do not know why my right thumb refuses to move while chanting the holy name." Maharaja asked him where he had taken prasada on the previous day, and requested Vrndavana dasa to enquire about the source of the money given for the prasada. Vrndavana dasa came to find out that the money had been given by a prostitute. Thus Maharaja instructed Vrndavana dasa to take his bath in Sri Kunda and to circumambulate Giriraja in wet clothes for three days, eating only what he was able to get along the way. Sri Vrndavana dasa did so and on the fourth day his thumb was restored to its former healthy state.

VRNDAVANA DASA THAKURA

Sri Narayani devi was the mother of Sri Vrndavana dasa Thakura and the niece of Srivasa Pandita. Srivasa had three brothers who all came from Srihatta to live in Navadvipa. Srivasa's only son died at a very early age. At the time when Mahaprabhu began to manifest His divine nature in the courtyard of Srivasa, Narayani devi was four years old. Her son was Sri Vrndavana dasa, the author of Sri Caitanya Bhagavata. He describes therein that his mother was very dear to Lord Gauranga.

Sri Vrndavana dasa was the manifestation of Vyasa and Kusumapida (GGD. 109). Sri Gaura-Nityananda were his life. In his writings he never mentioned the identity of his father's but frequently speaks of his mother.

In the introduction of CBh, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada states that Vrndavana dasa was born in the house of Malini devi.

After completing a thorough investigation it was revealed that Sri Narayani devi was married in a village near Mamagachi. She became a widow when she was pregnant. When poverty struck her she had no other alternative but to accept work in the house of Sri Vasudeva Datta Thakura. There Sri Vrndavana dasa took his birth and started his education.

Just four years before the birth of Sri Vrndavana dasa, Sri Gaurasundara took sannyasa. When Mahaprabhu disappeared, at that time Sri Vrndavana dasa was not more than twenty years old. He received initiation from Sri Nityananda and was His last disciple. Sri Vrndavana dasa visited Kheturi with Jahnava Mata. Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja specifically sings the glories of Sri Vrndavana dasa. CCU. P. 692-693 states as follows: (VV. of Jiva 83-84, Devaki 126, Vrnd. 120-121). Jayakrsna dasa writes that Vrndavana dasa was born at Kumarahatta and lived at Mamagachi. Like the Vaisnava poet Uddhava dasa, Jayakrsna writes that Vrndavana dasa's mother Narayani was a child widow. (manuscripts no. 1691 in the collection of Bangiya Sahitya Parisat is a Sanskrit translation of CBh.)

Nrsimha, the seventh descendant from Vasudeva, a contemporary of Lord Caitanya, wrote the Sanskrit work `Caitanya-Mahabhagavata' based on CBh. of Vrndavana dasa. Cintaharana Cakravarti wrote about this work based on the mss. preserved in Sahitya Parisad. See Sahitya Parisat Patrika 1342: 2: P. 89. One more copy of this work was collected by Haridasa Gosvami of Navadvipa from the collection of the Thakura family of Daksinakhanda.

Vrndavana dasa was the son of the brahmana Vaikuntha dasa and Narayani, the later being the daughter of Srivasa Pandita's brother. Vrndavana dasa lost his father when his mother was carrying him. At the lose of her husband, Narayani was entrusted with the responsibility for offering service to the Deity installed by Vasudeva Datta at Mamagachi village. It seems that the childhood of Vrndavana dasa was spent only at Mamagachi.

Vrndavana dasa acquired a profound command of several theological works which is born out by his own work CBh. He was the last disciple of Lord Nityananda at whose command he took up writing the divine sports of Lord Gauranga in CBh. Some of the lyrical poems composed by Vrndavana dasa are found in Padakalpataru.

CBh. of Vrndavana dasa stands as a unique store of nectar of the divine pastimes of Lord Gauranga and Nityananda. Deeply immersed in the stream of this nectar, Vrndavana dasa seems to have delivered for other devotees what he himself enjoyed. Being thoroughly dedicated to the task of describing the lila of Lord Nityananda, the size of the book grew larger and Vrndavana was unable to describe the last days of Lord Gauranga. Devotees of Vrndavana were so fascinated by reading CBh. that they commanded Krsnadasa Kaviraja to complete what had not been finished by Vrndavana dasa.

There is no way of knowing for certain exactly when Vrndavana dasa wrote CBh. One can at best make an attempt to guess the probable date based on the following information: In 1431 Saka Lord Caitanya accepted sannyasa at the age of 24 years. For a year preceding that date the Lord performed kirtana at the house of Srivasa and manifested his divine nature. Somewhere within this period of one year the Lord showered His mercy upon Narayani, possibly early in 1431 Saka or late 1430 Saka. Narayani was then only four years old. It seems that Vrndavana dasa was born when Narayani was about 14 or 15 years old which leads us to conclude that around 1440 Saka Vrndavana dasa was born. In GGD. 109 Vrndavana dasa is referred to as Vedavyasa. GGD. was written in 1498 Saka which is clearly stated by Kavikarnapura himself. Hence one can conclude that Vrndavana dasa's CBh. became fairly well known before 1498 Saka. Some think that CBh. was written in 1495 Saka and some say 1497 Saka. But it seems improbable that the book gained wide fame within the span of only one or two years, so much so that in 1498 Saka Vrndavana dasa was recognized as Vyasa himself.

According to Ramagati Nyayaratna CBh. was written in 1548 A.D. (1470 Saka). This seems acceptable. At that time Vrndavana dasa was about thirty years old and when Kavikarnapura described Vrndavana dasa as Vedavyasa, Vrndavana dasa was about 58 years old.

It is said that the title of Vrndavana dasa's book was originally Caitanya-mangala and was later changed to Sri Caitanya-bhagavata. In several places throughout CC., even in the last chapter of Antya-lila, Vrndavana dasa's book is referred to as Caitanya-mangala. This clearly shows that until the time of writing CC (Saka 1537) the book was known as Caitanya-mangala. Thus the idea that the Vrndavana devotees were instrumental in changing the title does not hold as it was only after studying and analyzing Vrndavana dasa's work that CC. was written at the command of the Vrndavana devotees. Had these devotees already changed the title of Vrndavana dasa's work then Krsnadasa Kaviraja would surely have mentioned that in CC.

There is, however, some evidence to refute this idea. In Gaura-ganoddesa- dipika, which was written early in 1498 Saka, Kavikarnapura refers to Vrndavana dasa as Vedavyasa. This indicates that at the time GGD was written Vrndavana dasa's book was quite well known as CBh.

In Caitanya-mangala Locana dasa also refers to Vrndavana dasa's work as CBh. Caitanya-mangala was written sometime between 1482 and 1488 Saka. It appears therefore that the book CBh. which attained fame by 1482/1488 Saka was mentioned by Krsnadasa Kaviraja repeatedly as Caitanya-mangala, the reason for this is not clear.

According to some scholars the title of Vrndavana dasa's work was entitled CBh. right from the beginning, but since it is traditional to refer to books which are written in glorification of a particular deity by adding the suffix `mangala' (e.g. Candimangala, Manasamangala), it is natural to refer to a book describing the glories to Lord Caitanya as Caitanya-mangala. Hence Krsnadasa Kaviraja termed the Bengali book by Vrndavana dasa which was written for the glorification of Lord Caitanya as Caitanya-mangala (See CCU. by B.B. Majumdar).

The doubt which arises here is that had CBh. been the title of the work right from the beginning and was only popularly referred to as CM then the book of Krsnadasa Kaviraja would have surely contained some reference to this, direct or indirect.

It appears from statements of Locanadasa and Kavikarnapura that Vrndavana dasa's work was titled CBh. right from the beginning. Unlike Kaviraja Gosvami, who concludes every chapter of CC. with the statement "Thus Krsnadasa narrates CC.", Vrndavana dasa did not refer to the title of his book. All the editions of CBh. consulted by R.G. Nath, except one, write the concluding lines as "<MI>sri krsna caitanya nityanandacand jana vrndavanadasa tachu padayuge gana" (Vrndavana dasa sings following the footsteps of Lord Caitanya-Nityananda). In the Atulkrsna Gosvami edition of CBh. 3rd ed., the concluding verse of the first chapter is written as follows: "Contemplating the lotus-feet of Lord Caitanya, Vrndavanadasa sings Caitanya-mangala." In the footnote Prabhupada A.K. Gosvami writes that at the end of each chapter the text varies (stated in other editions noted earlier) in some books. This shows that A.K. Gosvami found the bhanita with reference to Caitanya-mangala in all the other chapters although he never repeated this bhanita at the end of any other chapter except the first one.

It therefore leads one to conclude that had the bhanita "<MI>vrndavana dasa kahe caitanya-mangala" been there in the book of Vrndavana dasa right from the beginning at least in chapter one and since the author nowhere in the book specifies the title CBh. then it is natural for some to argue that the book was known as CM. The mss. copy of CBh. found in Vrndavana possibly had the bhanita of "<MI>vrndavana dasa gana caitanya-mangala" hence Kaviraja Gosvami mentioned the book as CM throughout his own work.