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Om Vishnupad 108 Tridandi Swami Sri Srimat Bhakti Sravan Tirtha Goswami Maharaj ki Jai !!

 

Sri Pundarika Vidyanidhi was a disciple of Madhavendra Puri and was the guru of Sri Gadadhara Pandita.

Pundarika Vidyanidhi was sometimes misunderstood to be too much attached to material pleasures, but just by hearing the recitation of one verse of the Bhagavatam he would enter into a trance.

In Krsna’s pastimes he was Vrsabhanu, the father of Srimati Radharani. (See Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 10.14 and Madhya-lila 16.76-81.) Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore treated him as His father.

Pundarika Vidyanidhi’s father was Suklambara Brahmacari, and his mother’s name was Gangadevi. The original home of Pundarika Vidyanidhi was in East Bengal, in a village near Dacca named Baghiya.

One special characteristic of this family is that each of its members had only one son or no son at all, and therefore the family was not very extensive. There is a place in the district of Chattagrama in Bangladesh that is known as Hata-hajari, and a short distance from this place is a village known as Mekhala-grama in which Pundarika Vidyanidhi’s forefathers lived.

The birthplace of Pundarika Vidyanidhi is about two miles southwest of Annapurnara-ghata. The temple constructed there by Pundarika Vidyanidhi is now very old and much in need of repair.

There are two inscriptions on the bricks of that temple, but they are so old that one cannot read them. There is another temple, however, about two hundred yards south of this one, and some people say that this is the old temple constructed by Pundarika Vidyanidhi.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu called Pundarika Vidyanidhi “father,” and He gave him the title Premanidhi. Pundarika Vidyanidhi later became the spiritual master of Gadadhara Pandita and an intimate friend of Svarupa Damodara.

Gadadhara Pandita at first misunderstood Pundarika Vidyanidhi to be an ordinary pounds-and-shillings man, but later, upon being corrected by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he became his disciple.

There is an interesting story how Srila Gadahar Pandit first met Pundarik Vidyanidhi. He had heard that he was a very great devotee and one worthy of seeking out. So he went to his home for his darshan.

His initial glimpse of Pundarik Vidyanidhi confounded him greatly.  Vidyanidhi sat before him in what appeared to be the personification of sense gratification – dressed in opulent silk clothing, hair oiled and nicely combed back, reclining upon a soft silken cushion with a hukka in his hands and beautiful young women seated around the room.

Gadadhara Pandit came there expecting to see a sadhu, a guru, someone he could approach for spiritual knowledge, to learn from, and take shelter of.

“I came here to learn from you about Krishna” Gadadhar said, ….but no sooner the word Krishna were uttered Pundarik Vidyanidhi fell to the ground his body became strangely transformed and he mumbled the name of Krishna , Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare…..

Gadhadhara then realised that this was no ordinary man, but a very advanced devotee absorded in blissful Krishna consciousness.

Another incident in the life of Pundarika Vidyanidhi involves his criticizing the priest of the Jagannatha temple, for which Jagannatha Prabhu chastised him personally by appearing in his dream and slapping him on the cheeks.

 

Srila Pundarik Vidyanidhi Maharaj ki Jai !!

Nitai Gaur Hari Bol !!

Jai Jai Sri Radhey !!