7.17
gadadhara-panditadi prabhura ’sakti’-avatara
’antaranga-bhakta’ kari’ ganana yanhara
SYNONYMS
gadadhara—of the name Gadadhara; pandita—of the learned scholar; adi—headed by; prabhura—of the Lord; sakti—potency; avatara—incarnation; antaranga—very confidential; bhakta—devotee; kari’-accepting; ganana—counting; yanhara—of whom.
The devotees headed by Gadadhara Pandita are to be considered incarnations of the internal potency of the Lord.
They are confidential devotees engaged in the service of the Lord.
PURPORT
In connection with verses sixteen and seventeen, Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura explains in his Anubhasya: “There are specific symptoms by which the internal devotees and the unalloyed or pure devotees are to be known.
All unalloyed devotees are sakti-tattvas, or potencies of the Lord.
Some of them are situated in conjugal love and others in filial affection, fraternity and servitude.
Certainly all of them are devotees, but by making a comparative study it is found that the devotees or potencies who are engaged in conjugal love are better situated than the others.
Thus devotees who are in a relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in conjugal love are considered to be the most confidential devotees of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Those who engage in the service of Lord Nityananda Prabhu and Lord Advaita Prabhu generally have relationships of parental love, fraternity, servitude and neutrality.
When such devotees develop great attachment for Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, they too become situated within the intimate circle of devotees in conjugal love.” This gradual development of devotional service is described by Sri Narottama dasa Thakura as follows:
gauranga balite habe pulaka sarira
hari hari balite nayane ba’be nira
ara kabe nitaicanda karuna karibe
samsara-vasana mora kabe tuccha habe
visaya chadiya kabe suddha habe mana
kabe hama heraba sri-vrndavana
rupa-raghunatha-pade ha-ibe akuti
kabe hama bujhaba sri-yugala-piriti “When will there be eruptions on my body as soon as I chant the name of Lord Caitanya, and when will there be incessant torrents of tears as soon as I chant the holy names Hare Krsna? When will Lord Nityananda be merciful toward me and free me from all desires for material enjoyment? When will my mind be completely freed from all contamination of desires for material pleasure? Only at that time will it be possible for me to understand Vrndavana.
Only if I become attached to the instructions given by the six Gosvamis, headed by Rupa Gosvami and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, will it be possible for me to understand the conjugal love of Radha and Krsna.” By attachment to the devotional service of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu one immediately comes to the ecstatic position.
When he develops his love for Nityananda Prabhu he is freed from all attachment to the material world, and at that time he becomes eligible to understand the Lord’s pastimes in Vrndavana.
In that condition, when one develops his love for the six Gosvamis, he can understand the conjugal love between Radha and Krsna.
These are the different stages of a pure devotee’s promotion to conjugal love in the service of Radha and Krsna in an intimate relationship with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.