Question:

Dear Tarun, in your diksha-parampara, the first acarya after Sriman Nityananda´s wife Jahnava Ma is Sri Dhananjaya Pandit.
Now, in Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika (127) we can read:

vasudama sakha yash ca panditah shri-dhanañjayah-
“Krishna’s friend Vasudama became Dhanañjaya Pandit in Gaura-lila.”

I know that your Gurudeva, Srila Ananta das Babaji practices and teaches manjari-bhava-sadhana. But how can this be if your first acarya after Jahnava Ma is a cowherd boy (gopa)?
Shouldn´t you all practice gopa-bhava-sadhana instead of manjari-bhava-sadhana?

Also I heard that many devotees of your parampara claim that he changed his svarupa from gopa to manjari.

Can you please shed some light on this and help me understand these things?

Answer:

Dandavats. Jay Sri Radhe!

First of all I want to emphatically state, that I never heard anyone from my parivar (or from any other for that matter) say “Sri Dhananjaya Pandit changed his svarupa”.

To really understand this topic, we have to start from our point of view.

The jiva, the soul, can attain several svarupas when liberated.

Vedanta Sutra 4.4.12

“For this reason, Badarayana holds that Muktas are of both kinds (they are both bodiless and have bodies),
just as the twelve days’ sacrifice (is both an ahina and a satra).”

From the COMMENTARY by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana:

“…There is no contradiction in this. In the same way the liberated soul may, by his own wish, either have a body or not have a body. That is the meaning. The truth is that they who by the power of transcendental knowledge have broken the bonds of material existence are in a situation where all their desires are at once fulfilled. Those amongst them who desire to have a body can at once have any body they wish. This is described in Chandogya Upanishad (7.26.2).

sa ekadha bhavati dvidha tridha bhavati pancadha saptadha navadha caiva punas caikadasa smritah.
satam ca dasa caikas ca sahasrani ca vimsatih.

‘He becomes one. Then he becomes two. Then three. Then five. Then seven. Then nine. Then eleven. He becomes one hundred and ten. He becomes one thousand and twenty.’

They who do have no desire to have a body do not have a body. This is described in Chandogya Upanishad (8.12.1). They who desire always to employ a spiritual body in the service of the Supreme Lord attain such a body by their spiritual powers.”

The mukta has botha body and a bodiless nature because the scriptures describe them in both ways. A technical example of a Vedic sacrifice is given to illustrate this point. However, due to the muktas’ release from the body and their quality of ‘satya-sankalpa’ (having their wishes realised instantaneously), ATTAIN a body by the force of their mere will, and they can have as many as they like. Those muktas who do not wish to possess a body will not choose to do so. Those muktas who choose to assume bodies do so out of their wish to serve Hari.
Then it is described that the mukta’s body has a nature like that of Hari’s, whereby they see, hear, smell, perceive and know through His energy alone. Verily, the mukta’s body is am amsa of Hari!

vaikunthasya bhagavato jyotir-amsa-bhuta vaikuntha-loka-sobha-rupa ya ananta murtayas tatra vartante,
tasam ekaya saha muktasyaikasya murtir bhagavata kriyata iti vaikuntasya murtir iva murtir yesham ity uktam ||
Priti- sandarbha 10

“In the spiritual world, the Supreme Lord has unlimited spiritual forms;
they all are expansions (AMSAS) of Himself illuminating that world.
With each one of those forms, the Lord enjoys pastimes with a single individual liberated soul.”

Srimat Baladeva writes that the will of the mukta, which is operative in all of this, has to be cultivated from the beginning of the sadhaka’s spiritual practice, and that it is the same will that was cultivated during the time of sadhana. “Since this had been his aspiration, even before Mukti, it becomes realised in the state of Mukti.”

This fits perfectly with Srila Narottama das Thakur:

yugala carana sevi, nirantara ei bhavi,
anuragi thakibo sadaya.
sadhana bhavibo yaha, siddha-dehe pabo taha
raga pathera ei se upaya (Prema Bhakti Chandrika, verse55)

“I will always think of the devotional service of the lotus-feet of the Divine Pair, and I will always remain attached to that. Whatever I think of during my spiritual practice, I will attain in my siddha deha when I reach perfection. This is the means of raga bhakti.”

So if the liberated jiva can attain several svarupas, what to speak of the eternal associates of the Lord. They can have several svarupas too.

There are many examples. Advaita Acarya has many svarupas. My good friend Advaita das who is initiated in the Advaita-parivar practices manjari-bhava-sadhana too. He writes:

“All pārṣadas (associates) of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu have a svarūpa in madhurya-rasa. Advaita Prabhu is Viśākhā and Rati Mañjari. All lines descending from Mahāprabhu’s parshadas can bestow gopī-bhāva and gopī-prema. Though they may be famous as personalities in Vraja outside of gopī-bhāva (f.i. Nityānanda is Balarāma but also Ananga Mañjari), they all have a place in gopī-bhāva as well.”

The same is with Sri Dhananjaya Pandit. He is Vasudama Sakha in sakhya-rasa AND Sri Madana Manjari in madhurya-rasa.

But there is something very special about the sakhya-rasa of Vasudama. He is the emodiment of Krishna´s heart and one of the 4 primary and most beloved friends of Sri Krishna, the others being Sridama, Sudama and Kinkini. All of the confidential Vraja-lilas are known to these gopas. They are called PRIYA-NARMA-SAKHAS. Their friendship is mixed with cmadhurya-rasa. In this way they can masterfully advice Krishna in his love affairs with the gopis.

From another RASA-point of view, it can be stated that since Dhananjaya Pandit is Sri Madana Manjari, his priya-narma-sakha form is an aspect of the kaya vyuha expansion of Madana Manjari (so the adi-rasa here is MADHURYA-RASA and the sakhya-rasa mixed with madhurya rasa is an aspect of this sthayi-bhava and not “a new one”.

Let us read Sriman Mahāprabhu´s own words and all will be crystal clear:

Kavi Karnapura was extremely dear to Sriman Mahāprabhu. His father was Mahāprabhu’s dear associate, Shivananda Sena.

In the end of Śrīla Kavi Karṇapūra’s Śrī Caitanya Candrodaya Nāṭaka, Śrīman Mahāprabhu personally blessed Sītānātha (Advaita Prabhu), saying:

vṛndāraṇyāntarasthaḥ sarasa vilasitenātmanām ātmānam uccair
ānanda syanda vandīkṛta manasam urīkṛtya nitya pramodaḥ
vṛndāraṇyaika niṣṭhān svaruci sama tanūn kārayiṣyāmi yusmān
ityevās te’vaśiṣṭam kim api mama mahat karma tac cātaniṣye
(Śrī Caitanya Candrodaya Act X, 280)

“O ācārya! I’m always absorbed in My blissful luscious pastimes, residing in Vṛndāvana, and I will give you all (spiritual) bodies suitable for joining Me (according to your own taste) in these Vṛndāvana-pastimes. That one remaining great duty I will swiftly perform!”

api ca—
dāsye kecana kecana praṇayinaḥ sakhyaika evobhaye
rādhā-mādhava-naiṣṭhikāḥ katipaye śrī-dvārakādhīśituḥ
sakhyādāv ubhayatra kecana pare ye vāvatārāntare
mayy ābaddha-hṛdo’khilān vitanavai vṛndāvanāsaṅginaḥ
(Śrī Caitanya Candrodaya Act X, 281)

“Those of you whose hearts are bound to Me in this form of Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu, even if your rasas are friendship or servitude to Shri Shri Radha-Madhava or Lord Dvarakadhisha, or if your rasas are friendship or servitude to any of My other incarnations, I will make into My eternally liberated associates in Goloka Vrindavana.”

Here Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu makes a wonderful promise. Now, the opponent may say: “See, your Dhananjaya Pandit gets a nice eternal form as a cowherd in sakhya-rasa. BUT Sri Chaitanya Mahāprabhu says: “…even if your rasas are friendship or servitude to Shri Shri Radha-Madhava” and thus we can clearly see what RASA He is “promising – MADHURYA RASA…why else would He say “EVEN IF”…even to those who worship ANY OTHER OF MY AVATARAS.

anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau
samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam
hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ
sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ śacī-nandanaḥ

“He who descends in the Kali Yuga as the avatar of mercy to bestow his most precious treasure, namely the highest aspect of madhura prema rasa, which had not been awarded before, and whose form is dazzling like molten gold, let that Supreme Lord Sri Sachinandan always be manifest in the innermost chamber of your heart.”

Now, the opponent may say:

“Wait a minute, this dual “Goloka-svarupa”-business ONLY applies to Sriman Nityananda Prabhu (Balaram AND Ananga Manjari in Goloka).” It cannot apply to all eternal associates.

But isn´t it very interesting to hear what  Śrī Advaitācārya replied:

tathāstu—
nijecchayā prāpaya yad yad eva
sthalāntaraṁ no vapur antaraṁ vā |
tavaitad āścarya-caritram eva
jātismarā eva ciraṁ smarāmaḥ ||74||

“So be it. By Your desire, may You give us all different eternal forms and different eternal residences.
We will eternally remember Your wonderful transcendental pastimes.”

“US ALL”…nothing further to add here.

Dhananjaya Pandit was an extraordinarily great Vaishnava. 
Nityananda took up permanent residence in his heart.
(Chaitanya Bhagavat 3.5.773)

Dhanañjaya Pandit was Nityananda Prabhu’s dear servant;
he was very renounced and full of love for Krishna.
(Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.11.31)

Sri Dhananjaya Pandit is an eternal associate of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and most dear to Sriman Nityananda Prabhu.
So he too belongs to “US ALL”, no single doubt in the words of Advaita Acarya.

Śrīman Mahāprabhu is the combined form of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. In the form of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, He is always absorbed in sweet pastimes in Śrī Vṛndāvana and in His Navadvīpa-pastimes He is bestowing the relish of this sweet taste in Vraja’s nikuñjas to His associates in their mentally conceived forms of Rādhā’s maidservants — this is Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s final duty!

Another most wonderful example of this very special aspect of Sriman Mahāprabhu’s mercy is the case of Srila Prabhodhananda Sarasvati Thakur.

My Gurudeva writes:

Śrīpada Prabodhananda Sarasvati is the object of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s unlimited mercy, therefore he is conscious of the elevated ujjvala rasa (amorous sentiment) of Vraja and thinks of himself as a maidservant  of Śrī Rādhā in the forest bowers (kuñjas) of Vraja.
Śrīpada  Kavi  Karṇapura  has written in  his  book  ‘Gaura  Gaṇoddeśa Dīpikā’  that in Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī was Tuṅgavidyā-sakhī, one of Śrī Rādhikā’s eight chief  girlfriends, but while  reading his book ‘Rādhā Rasa Sudhānidhi’ we can see that, by Mahāprabhu’s grace, his heart was filled with the astonishing rasa of a maidservant, or kiṅkarī, of Śrī Rādhā.

So, although Sri Dhananjaya Pandit may be a gopa (PRIYA-NARMA-SAKHA) in Krishna-lila, by the mercy of Sriman Mahāprabhu he serves in a form of a manjari too.

In our parivar, we worship Sri Dhananjaya Pandit in his manjari-svarupa, named Sri Madana Manjari.

So there is absolutely NOTHING wrong if my beloved Gurudeva and his own beloved Gurudeva and all acaryas of our parivar practice manjari-bhava-sadhana with the goal to follow the maidservants of Srimati Radhika.

Thank you: Madhavananda das & Advaita das