Śrī Śyāmānanda Pandita disappearance day

Identity in the spiritual world

From Śrī Caitanya: His Life and Associates, Swami B.B. Tirtha, Mandala Publishing

Śrī Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita was a servant of a servant of Subala in Kṛṣṇa-līlā. He was the disciple of Hṛdaya Caitanya, a disciple of Gaurī Dāsa Paṇḍita who was Subala in Kṛṣṇa-līlā.

yam loka-bhuvi kīrtayanti hṛdayānandasya śiṣyaṁ priyaṁ

sakhye śrī-subalasya yaṁ bhagavataḥ preṣṭhānuśiṣyaṁ tathā

sa śrīmad-rasikendra-mastaka-maṇiś citte mamādadhār niśaṁ

śrī-rādhā-priya-narma-marmasu ruciṁ saṁpādayan bhāsatām

Śrī Śyāmānanda was known in this world as Hṛdayānanda’s dear disciple. He was the grand-disciple of Subala-sakhā, one of the Lord’s dearest friends. May he, the crest-jewel of the connoisseurs of divine love, appear day and night in my mind, bringing me an appreciation of the essence of the joys of Rādhā’s beloved Kṛṣṇa. (Śyāmānanda-śataka)

Pastimes in Gaura-līlā

Excerpt from Śrī Caitanya: His Life and Associates, Swami B.B. Tirtha, Mandala Publishing

Śrī Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita was born on the full moon day of Caitra in 1456 of the Śaka era (1534 AD) in the town of Dharenda Bahādurpura, which is near the Khargapura railway station in Midnapore. His father was Śrī Kṛṣṇa Maṇḍala and his mother, Durikā. Kṛṣṇa Maṇḍala’s hometown was Dāṇḍeśvara, which lies on the banks of the Subarṇarekhā River. The following statement is found in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna: “Śrī Kṛṣṇa Maṇḍala used to live in a place called Ambuā, near Dāṇḍeśvara. He formerly lived in Gauḍa (the part of Bengal which lies on the banks of the Bhāgīrathī River) and only later moved to Dāṇḍeśvara, just across the present-day border in Orissa. Śrī Śyāmānanda’s disciples have established five principal seats in the towns of Dharenda, Bahādurpura, Raynī, Goptaballabhapura, and Nṛsiṁhapura.”

Śrī Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita was born in the Sadgopa subcaste, which fits in the category of jala-cala (brāhmaṇas who are permitted to only take water touched by their caste members). Of course, a Vaiṣṇava is beyond the material qualities and may take birth in a family of any race or caste. If anyone thinks badly of Vaiṣṇavas or judges them on the basis of their race or caste, they are destined for hell.

arcye viṣṇau śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matir vaiṣṇave jāti-buddhir

viṣṇor vā vaiṣṇavānāṁ kali-mala-mathane pāda-tīrthe ’mbu-buddhiḥ

śrī-viṣṇor nāmni mantre sakala-kaluṣa-he śabda-sāmānya-buddhir

viṣṇau sarveśvareśe tad-itara-sama-dhīr yasya vā nārakī saḥ

No one should consider the Deity in the temple to be made of stone or wood, nor should one consider the spiritual master an ordinary human being. No one should consider a Vaiṣṇava to belong to a particular caste or creed, and no one should consider caraṇāmṛta or Gaṅgā water to be like ordinary water. Nor should anyone consider the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra to be a material vibration. All these expansions of Kṛṣṇa in the material world are simply demonstrations of the Lord’s mercy and willingness to give facility to His devotees who are engaged in His devotional service within the material world. (Padma Purāṇa)

A person born in a low family is not unfit for discharging devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa, nor is one fit for devotional service simply because he is born in an aristocratic family of brāhmaṇas. Anyone who takes to devotional service is exalted, whereas a nondevotee is always condemned and abominable. Therefore in the discharge of devotional service to the Lord, there is no consideration of the status of one’s family. [Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā 4.66-67]

na me bhaktas caturvedī

mad-bhaktaḥ śvapacaḥ priyaḥ

tasmai deyaṁ tato grāhyaṁ

sa ca pūjyo yathā hy aham

Simply being a knower of the four Vedas does not make someone My devotee. Even an outcaste who is My devotee is dear to Me. One should exchange gifts and food with such a devotee, for he is certainly as worshipable as I am. (Itihāsa-samuccaya, quoted in Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, 10.127)

Śrī Śyāmānanda’s parents had lost several children in childbirth and they vowed to surrender their next child to Viṣṇu if it survived. They had suffered so much grief in the loss of their previous children that they first named Śrī Śyāmānanda Duhkhi, or “unhappy,” to ward off further distress.

Śrī Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita’s parents performed the appropriate rituals such as the first eating of solid food and the cutting of hair when their time came. As he grew older, he studied Sanskrit grammar. His parents were overjoyed to see his talents and religious proclivities. Śrī Śyāmānanda listened carefully to devotees when they spoke of Gaurāṅga and Nityānanda’s glories and liked to repeat them to others. Whenever he listened to the activities of Gaura-Nitāi or Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, tears would flow in torrents from his eyes.

Śrī Śyāmānanda also served his parents devotedly, and they told him to get initiated so that he could fully commit himself to the service of the Lord. Duhkhi agreed and told them that he wished to take dīkṣā from Hṛdaya Caitanya in Ambikā Kālnā. Going there would also give him the chance to see the Gaṅgā and bathe in it. His parents happily gave him permission to go.

When Duhkhi arrived in Ambikā Kālnā, he threw himself at the holy feet of Hṛdaya Caitanya, who, upon becoming acquainted with him, happily gave him the Kṛṣṇa-mantra. He gave Duhkhi the Vaiṣṇava name “Kṛṣṇa Dāsa” and so he was known from then on as Duhkhi Kṛṣṇa Dāsa. Hṛdaya Caitanya ordered him to go to Vṛndāvana and take up a life of intense bhajana. Though Duhkhi Kṛṣṇa Dāsa did not like being separated from his gurudeva, he set off for Vraja, first visiting Navadvīpa and other places in Gauḍa-maṇḍala, where he sought the blessings of the Vaiṣṇavas. After spending much time on pilgrimage, he finally arrived in Vṛndāvana where he became completely absorbed in the worship of Rādhā and Śyāmasundara.

In Vṛndāvana, Duhkhi Kṛṣṇa Dāsa studied the Vaiṣṇava scriptures under Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, who was the leading scholar of the sampradāya. When Hṛdaya Caitanya heard of the enthusiasm with which Duhkhi Kṛṣṇa Dāsa was leading the devotional life in Vraja, he wrote a letter to Jīva Gosvāmī in which he said that Duhkhi should consider Jīva to be an extension of himself. Just as he gave titles to his other prominent students, Jīva gave the name Śrī Śyāmānanda to Duhkhi Kṛṣṇa Dāsa. The reasoning behind this name was that he brought great joy (ānanda) to Rādhā and Śyāmasundara.

Jīva Gosvāmī sent Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura, and Śrī Śyāmānanda back to Bengal with the Vaiṣṇava scriptures in 1504 of the Śaka era (1582–83 AD). The idea was to spread the teachings found in these books throughout Bengal and Orissa. We have already related the events that took place when Bīr Hambīra had these books stolen. Narottama went to northern Bengal and Śrī Śyāmānanda went to Orissa. The Midnapore district was previously under the rule of the Orissan king.

Rādhārāṇī’s special mercy on Śrī Śyāmānanda Paṇḍita

Even though Śrī Śyāmānanda Prabhu was Hridaya Caitanya’s initiated disciple, his guru entrusted him to the care of Jīva Gosvāmī Prabhu. Through the association of Jīva and service to him, Śrī Śyāmānanda developed a taste for serving Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in the conjugal mood. Hridaya Caitanya Prabhu himself was a disciple of Gaurīdāsa Paṇḍita, who was one of the twelve Gopālas, Subala-sakhā. He thus worshiped Gaura-Nitāi in the mood of friendship. Those who think that Śrī Śyāmānanda committed an offense to his initiating spiritual master by abandoning his mood and trying to directly serve Kṛṣṇa in a different attitude are wrong. The mood of friendship is contained within the conjugal mood. If a disciple makes further progress in spiritual life, it enhances the reputation of his teacher.

An extraordinary incident, which took place in Vṛndāvana prior to being ordered by Jīva to return to Orissa, demonstrates how dear Śrī Śyāmānanda was to Rādhārāṇī. One day, Śrī Śyāmānanda Prabhu was sweeping the Rāsa-maṇḍala in Vṛndāvana, absorbed in ecstatic trance. Suddenly, by Rādhārāṇī’s transcendental mercy, he found Her ankle bracelet (nūpura) lying on the ground. In his excitement, he touched the ankle bracelet to his forehead, where it left a mark that is preserved to this day as the tilaka marking of the disciplic descendants of Śrī Śyāmānanda. It is known as nūpura-tilaka.