Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura
A Comprehensive Guide to Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma
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Overview
He was born during the eighteenth century AD., in a village near Remuna in the Balasore district of Orissa. He studied Vyakarana, Alamkara, and Nyayasastra in an academic center on the bank of Lake Cilka. Afterwards he went to Karnataka to study the Vedas. At that point he was initiated into the Madhva Sampradaya. After taking sannyasa he defeated the scholars of Puri in a debate on Sastra.
Visvanatha settled on the bank of the Radhakunda in Vrndavana. Regarding his spiritual practices Narahari writes as follows, "Being deeply immersed in singing kirtana of the Lord, Visvanatha narrated the pastimes of the Lord in a most fascinating manner. No one is competent enough to speak of his spiritual practices. Anyone who had the good fortune to set his eyes upon Visvanatha felt immediately soothed from the pangs of material existence. Visvanatha served the deity of Sri Gokulananda with great pleasure and devotion."
When Visvanatha arrived in Vrndavana he noticed that with the disappearance of the six Gosvamis the beauty of that holy place was no longer visible. A large number of Mathas had been destroyed by the Muslims. Priests migrated from Vrndavana taking away the deities which were in their charge. A number of deities were left standing alone and received no service. And the devotees were in a state of constant fear. People in general where in no mood to devote attention to the study of the scriptures
Resides in Vraja-dhama
By the mercy of his spiritual master, Srila Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura lived in many different places within Vraja-dhama, and composed various transcendental literatures there. Most of these books are very difficult to find nowadays; however a few of them are well known, and are considered to be the supremely honorable wealth of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas.
Sometimes Srila Cakravarti Thakura lived at Sri Govardhana, sometimes on the bank of Sri Radha-kunda, sometimes at Sri Yavata and sometimes in Sri Vrindavana within the compound of Sri Gokulananda's temple. His movements here and there are made very clear by the statements found at the end of his books.
During his stay in Vrndavana many loyal workers and scholars such as Baladeva Vidyabhusana were deeply impressed upon seeing Visvanatha's devotion, strength of mind and hard working nature. Visvanatha became determined to bring back the lost glory of Vrndavana. The following are some of his achievements.
1. Visvanatha himself installed the Deity of Gokulananda and took charge of serving Govardhana sila. He reinstated different priests to begin the service of the Deities in various places.
2. It was through his initiative that the Sri Vardhana Matha of Kongala and some new Mathas at several other places were set up. Visvanatha also arranged to renovate a large number of temples.
3. At that time there was little access by the common people to the works of the Gosvamis. This was due to the fact that there were no proper analysis and interpretation of these theological treatises. What Visvanatha did was to prepare simple and lucid commentaries for these works, as well as presenting abridged forms of the original works. This enabled devotees of all types to understand and appreciate the essence of the Gosvamis works. Visvanatha also arranged for the wide distribution of books which Vaisnavas needed for daily study and spiritual practices. He also organized classes to be held on them to impart instructions.
Life Notes From A Gaudiya Article
[The following article appeared in the monthly Bengali magazine "Gaudiya", 18th volume, number 18, dated 8 Pausha, Bengali year 1329 (1922 A.D.). The magazine was founded and edited by His Divine Grace Sri Srimad Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura.]
"The names of all the Vrajavasi Gosvamis who were living during the time of Sri Mahaprabhu are very well known. Later, after their disappearance, the flow of pure devotion for the Lord took shelter of the three famous Prabhus -- Srinivasa Acarya, Thakura Narottama, and Syamananda Parbhu -- and surged on with full force. In the disciplic succession coming from Thakura Narottama, Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura appeared in the fourth position.
The story of Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti is more or less known only among the Gaudiya Vaisnavas. They speak of the outstanding excellence of achievement demonstrated by Srila Cakravarti Thakura in his examination of the Srimad Bhagavata and the Bhagavad Gita, as well as his complete understanding of the opinions expressed by the Gosvamis in their own books. Our Thakura is the protector, guardian and acarya of the middle period of Gaudiya Vaisnava dharma's historical developement.
Nowadays amongst the Vaisnavas, there is the following saying in relation to Cakravarti Thakura's three most famous books: "kirana bindu kana, e tin niye vaisnava pana"-- "These three books, Ujjvala-Nilamani-Kirana, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu-bindhu, and Bhagavatamrta-kana, are taken and used by the Vaisnavas as their wealth." In this connection, we also hear the following verse sung everywhere:
visvasya natha-ripo 'sau bhakti-vartma-pradarsanat bhakta-cakre varttitatvat cakravarty akhyaya bhavat
"Because he has shown the visva-vasis (residents of the material universe) the path of bhakti, he is called 'Visvanatha'; and because he is situated amongst the cakra (circle) of devotees, he is called 'Cakravarti'."
His Disciplic Succession
Sri Ganga-narayana Cakravarti was a disciple of Srila Narottama Thakura Mahasaya, and a resident of Balucara Gambila (the place of Narottama's disappearance). By the Lords desire, he had no sons; however, he had one daughter named Visnu-priya. Srila Thakura Mahasaya also had a famous disciple known as Sri Rama-krsna Bhattacarya (a Barendra-sreniya-brahmana). The youngest son of this Bhattacarya was named Sri Krsna-carana, who was accepted by Sri Ganga-narayana as his own son (since he had none of his own.) This Krsna-carana is the parama-guru, or grand spiritual master of Srila Cakravarti Thakura. In Visvanatha's Bhagavatam commentary named Sarartha-darsini, at the beginning of the famous Rasa-pancadhyayi (five chapters describing Lord Sri Krsna's rasa-lila dance), we find the following verse:
- sri rama krsna ganga caran natva gurun uru premnah
- srila narottama natha sri gauranga prabhum naumi
"Having bowed down while absorbed in the most exalted divine love at the feetof all my gurus in disciplic succession -- Sri Radha-ramana Cakravarti, Sri Krsna-carana Cakravarti, Sri Ganga-narayana Cakravarty, Sri Narottama Thakura and Sri Lokanath Gosvami -- I now offer my respectful obeisances unto my Lord Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu."
We understand from this sloka that Sri Radha-ramana's abbreviated name is 'Sri Rama', and that Sri Krsna-carans's abbreviated name is 'Krsna'. The word 'natha' is understood to mean Sri Lokanatha Gosvami.
Conquest at Jaipur
During the time of Srila Cakravarti Thakura, the offspring of acaryas were signing the title "Gosvami" next to their own names, thereby displaying their foolish ignorance. Being envious of the Lord and averse to the scriptures, they were very proud to announce the name of their vamsa-parampara (family lineage). At that time, at Sri Govindadeva's temple at Gulta-grama (just outside Jaipur), the acaryas of the Sri Ramanuja-sampradaya issued a challenge against the Gaudiya Vaisnavas. The King of Jaipur consequently invited the most prominent Gaudiya Vaisnavas of Sri Vrndavana to attend. Knowing them to be followers of Srila Rupa Gosvami, he called them to council with the followers of Sri Ramanuja. This happened in 1628 Saka (1706 A.D.), when Srila Cakravarti Thakura was very old (about 68 years). So he consulted his foremost student, Gaudiya Vaishnava Vedanta acarya Mahamahopadhyaya Pandit-kula-mukta Sripada Baladeva Vidya-bhusana. Thereafter, Sri Vidya-bhusana left Vrndavana to join the assembly in Jaipur, accompanied by his own student (and disciple of Srila Cakravarti Thakura), Sri Krsnadeva Sarvabhauma.
The caste Gosvamis had completely forgotten their own loyalty to the Sri Madhva-sampradaya. Being ignorant of the true facts of the disciplic succession, and being disrespectful to Vaisnava Vedanta, they had fallen into such a degraded condition that Sri Baladeva Vidya-bhusna was onbliged to write a separate commentary on the Vedanta-sutra, according to the philosophy of the Gaudiya -sampradaya. This was done just to refute their false conclusions. Srila Cakravarti Thakura gave his full sanction and approval to this task of counteracting the challenge, which simultaneously resulted in allowing the Gaudiya Vaisnava parampara to continue preaching freely.
This event marks the second illustration of Srila Cakravarti Thakura's preaching of the Vaisnava dharma. Specifically, this is a brilliant example of his endeavor to reform the Vaisnava acaryas who happened to be born in impure brahmana families.
List of Commentaries
1. on Srimad-bhagavatam, named Sarartha-darsini (She Who Reveals the Inner, Essential Purports)
2. on Bhagavad-gita, named Sarartha-varsini (She Who Showers Forth the Hidden Meanings)
3. on Sri Rupa's Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, named Bhakti-sara-pradarsini (She Who Demonstrates the Cream-like Essence of Devotion)
4. on Sri Rupa's Ujjvala-nilamani, named Ananda-candrika (Moonbeams of Pure Bliss)
5. on Sri Rupa's Lalita-madhava-nataka
6. on Sri Rupa's Vidagha-madhava-nataka
7. on Sri Rupa's Dana-keli-kaumudi, named Mahati (She Who Is Glorious)
8. on Sri Rupa's Hamsa-duta
9. on Kavikarnapura's Alankara-kaustubha, named Subhodini (She Who Informs Very Nicely)
10. on Kavi Karnapura's Ananda-vrindavana-campu, named Sukha-varttini (She Who Establishes One in Happiness)
11. on Krsnadasa Kaviraja's Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, which is said to be incomplete.
12. on Narottama dasa Thakur's Prema-bhakti-candrika
13. on Sri Brahma-samhita
14. on Gopala-tapani-upanisad, named Bhakta-harsini (She Who Gives Great Joy to the Devotees)