VRNDAVANA DASA THAKURA

Vrndavana dasa Thakura was the son of the brahmana Vaikuntha dasa and his wife
Narayani. Sri Narayani devi was 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.

Vrndavana dasa lost his father before he was born. When poverty struck
Narayani devi she had no other alternative but to accept work in the house of
Sri Vasudeva Datta Thakura. Narayani was entrusted with the responsibility for
offering service to the Deity installed by Vasudeva Datta at Mamagachi
village. There Srila Vrndavana dasa took his birth and started his education.
It seems that the childhood of Vrndavana dasa was spent only at Mamagachi.

At the time when Mahaprabhu began to manifest His divine nature in the
courtyard of Srivasa, Narayani devi was four years old. Vrndavana dasa
describes in the Caitanya-bhagavata that his mother was very dear to Lord
Gauranga.

"Narayani-devi received the entire remnants of Mahaprabhu's meal. Though she
was only an insensible child He bestowed His mercy on her in this way."

Also as a result of this mercy, Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura, whose life and
soul was Gaura-Nityananda, took his birth from her womb.
Gaura-gannodesa-dipika (109) describes he is the manifestation of Vyasa and
Kusumapida.

narayani--caitanyera ucchista-bhajana
tanra garbhe janmila sri-dasa-vrndavana

"Narayani eternally eats the remnants of the foodstuffs of Lord Caitanya
Mahaprabhu. Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura was born of her womb." (Cc Adi 8.41)

The Gaura-gannodesa-dipika describes that when Lord Krsna was a child, He was
nursed by a woman named Ambika who had a younger sister named Kilimbika.
During the time of Lord Caitanya's incarnation, the same Kilimbika used to eat
the remnants of foodstuffs left by Sri Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. That
Kilimbika was Narayani.

bhagavate krsna-lila varnila vedavyasa
caitanya-lilate vyasa--vrndavana-dasa

"Srila Vyasadeva described the pastimes of Krsna in the Srimad-Bhagavatam. The
Vyasa of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu was Vrndavana dasa. (CC Adi
11.55)

Sri Gaura-Nityananda were his life. In his writings he never mentions the
identity of his father but frequently speaks of his mother. A devotee of Lord
Krsna is celebrated in terms of devotional service rendered to the Lord; thus
we know Srila Vrndavana dasa Thakura as the son of Narayani. Srila
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura notes in this connection that there is no
reference to his paternal ancestry because there is no need to understand it.
In the introduction of Caitanya-bhagavata, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
Prabhupada states that Vrndavana dasa was born in the house of Malini devi.

Just four years before the birth of Sri Vrndavana dasa, Sri Gaurasundara took
sannyasa. When Mahaprabhu disappeared, 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.

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

CCUP. 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
Caitanya-Bhagavata)

Nrsimha, the seventh descendant from Vasudeva, a contemporary of Lord
Caitanya, wrote the Sanskrit work `Caitanya-Mahabhagavata' based on
Caitanya-Bhagavata 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.

Caitanya-Bhagavata 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 Caitanya-Bhagavata 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
Caitanya-Bhagavata. One can at best make an attempt to guess the probable
date based on the following information: In 1431 Sakabda 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 Sakabda or late 1430 Sakabda. 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 Gaura-gannodesa-dipika 109 Vrndavana
dasa is referred to as Vedavyasa. Gaura-gannodesa-dipika was written in 1498
Sakabda which is clearly stated by Kavikarnapura himself. Hence one can
conclude that Vrndavana dasa's Caitanya-Bhagavata became fai rly well known
before 14 98 Saka. Some think that Caitanya-Bhagavata was written in 1495
Sakabda and some say 1497 Sakabda. 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 Caitanya-Bhagavata was written in 1548 A.D.
(1470 Sakabda). 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
Caitanyamangala and was later changed to Sri Caitanyabhagavata. In several
places throughout Caitanya-caritamrta, even in the last chapter of Antya-lila,
Vrndavana dasa's book is referred to as Caitanyamangala. This clearly shows
that until the time of writing Caitanya-caritamrta (Sakabda 1537) the book
still was known as Caitanyamangala. Thus the idea that the Vrndavana devotees
were instrumental in changing the title does not hol d as it was only after
studying and analyzing Vrndavana dasa's work that Caitanya-caritamrta 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 Caitanya-caritamrta.

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

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

According to some scholars the title of Vrndavana dasa's work was entitled
Caitanya-Bhagavata 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 Caitanyamangala.
Hence Krsnadasa Kaviraja termed the Bengali book by Vrndavana dasa which was
written for the glorification of Lord Caitanya as Caitanyamangala (See CCU by
B.B. Majumdar)

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

It appears from statements of Locana dasa and Kavikarnapura that Vrndavana
dasa's work was titled Caitanya-Bhagavata right from the beginning. Unlike
Kaviraja Gosvami, who concludes every chapter of Caitanya-caritamrta with the
statement "Thus Krsnadasa narrates Caitanya-caritamrta.", Vrndavana dasa did
not refer to the title of his book. All the editions of Caitanya-Bhagavata
consulted by R.G. Nath, except one, write the concluding lines as "sri krsna
caitanya nityanandacand jana vrndavanadasa tac hu padayuge gana" (Vrndavana
dasa sings following the footsteps of Lord Caitanya-Nityananda). In the
Atulkrsna Gosvami edition of Caitanya-Bhagavata 3rd edition, the concluding
verse of the first chapter is written as follows: "Contemplating the
lotus-feet of Lord Caitanya, Vrndavanadasa sings Caitanyamangala." 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 Caitanyamangala 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 "vrndavana dasa kahe
caitanyamangala" 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 Caitanya-Bhagavata then it is natural for some to argue
that the book was known as Caitanyamangala. The mss. copy of
Caitanya-Bhagavata found in Vrndavana possibly had the bhanita of "vrndavana
dasa gana caitanyamangala" hence Kaviraja Gosvami mentioned the book as
Caitanyamangala throughout his own work. It is also not known whether any
other biographer except Kaviraja Gosvami called Vrndavana dasa's work
Caitanyamangala.

The lyrical poems composed by Vrndavana dasa show that he was an authority on
music also. There are some poems circulated with the name and bhanita of
Vrndavana dasa which are not found in any authentic compilations nor do they
stand in harmony with the well known views of Vaisnava Acaryas and Gosvamis.
These were perhaps compositions of some other Vrndavana dasa and to add
literary weight to the work the bhanita of Vrndavana dasa was inserted.

Vrndavana dasa was a worshiper of Sakhyabhava.

Vrndavana dasa Thakura's Sripat, where his worshipable Deities of Sri Sri
Gaura-Nitai are still residing, is at Denur. Denur can be reached by bus from
Navadvipa.

"O fools, just read Caitanya-mangala! By reading this book you can understand
all the glories of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. As Vyasadeva has compiled the
pastimes of Lord Krsna in the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Thakura Vrndavana has
depicted the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. Thakura Vrndavana has composed
Caitanya-mangala. Hearing this book will annihilate all misfortune. By reading
Caitanya-mangala one can understand the glories or truths of Lord Caitanya and
Nityananda and come to the ultimate conclusion of devotional service to Lord
Krsna. In the Caitanya-mangala [later known as Caitanya-bhagavata] Srila
Vrndavana dasa Thakura has given the conclusion and essence of devotional
service by quoting from the authoritative statements of Srimad-Bhagavatam. If
even a great atheist hears Caitanya-mangala, he immediately becomes a great
devotee. The subject matter of this book is so sublime that it appears that
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has personally spoken through the writings of Sri
Vrndavana dasa Thakura. I offer millions of obeisances unto the lotus feet of
Vrndavana dasa Thakura. No one else could write such a wonderful book for the
deliverance of the fallen souls. (CC Adi 8.33-40)

