16.25
tabe visnupriya-thakuranira parinaya
tabe ta’ karila prabhu digvijayi jaya
SYNONYMS
tabe—after this; visnupriya—of the name Visnupriya; thakuranira—of the goddess of fortune; parinaya—marriage; tabe ta’-thereafter; karila—did; prabhu—the Lord; dig-vijayi—the champion; jaya—conquer.
Then Lord Caitanya married Visnupriya, the goddess of fortune, and thereafter He conquered a champion of learning named Kesava Kasmiri.
PURPORT
As in the modern day there are many champions in sports, so in bygone days there were many learned scholars in India who were champions in learning.
One such person was Kesava Kasmiri, who came from the state of Kashmir.
He traveled all over India and at last came to Navadvipa to challenge the learned scholars there.
Unfortunately he could not conquer the learned scholars in Navadvipa, for he was defeated by the boy scholar Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Later he understood that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is none other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Thus he surrendered unto Him and later became a pure Vaisnava in the sampradaya of Nimbarka.
He wrote Kaustubha-prabha, a commentary on the Vedanta commentary of the Nimbarka-sampradaya, which is known as the Parijata-bhasya.
The Bhakti-ratnakara mentions Kesava Kasmiri and lists his predecessors in the disciplic succession of the Nimbarka-sampradaya: (1) Srinivasa Acarya, (2) Visva Acarya, (3) Purusottama, (4) Vilasa, (5) Svarupa, (6) Madhava, (7) Balabhadra, (8) Padma, (9) Syama, (10) Gopala, (11) Krpa, (1 2) Deva Acarya, (13) Sundara Bhatta, (14) Padmanabha, (15) Upendra, (16) Ramacandra, (17) Vamana, (18) Krsna, (19) Padmakara, (20) Sravana, (21) Bhuri, (22) Madhava, (23) Syama, (24) Gopala, (25) Balabhadra, (26) Gopinatha, (27) Kesava, (28) Gokula and (29) Kesava Kasmiri.
It is stated in the Bhakti-ratnakara that Kesava Kasmiri was a favorite devotee of mother Sarasvati, the goddess of learning.
By her grace he was an extremely influential scholar, and he was the greatest champion among all the scholars in the four corners of the country.
Therefore he got the title dig-vijayi, which means “one who has conquered everyone in all directions.” He belonged to a very respectable brahmana family of Kashmir.
Later, by the order of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, he gave up the profession of winning championships and became a great devotee.
He joined the Nimbarka-sampradaya, one of the Vaisnava communities of the Vedic culture.