8.66
kasisvara gosanira sisya--govinda gosani
govindera priya-sevaka tanra sama nani
SYNONYMS
kasisvara gosanira—of Kasisvara Gosvami; sisya—disciple; govinda—of the name Govinda; gosani—spiritual master; govindera—of Govinda; priya-sevaka—most confidential servitor; tanra—his; sama—equal; nani—is none.
Govinda Gosani, the priest engaged in the service of Lord Govinda in Vrndavana, was a disciple of Kasisvara Gosani.
There was no servant more dear to the Govinda Deity.
PURPORT
Kasisvara Gosani was one of the contemporaries of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who was with the Lord in Jagannatha Puri.
Also known as Kasisvara Pandita, he was a disciple of Isvara Puri and son of Vasudeva Bhattacarya, who belonged to the dynasty of Kanjilala Kanu.
His surname was Caudhuri.
His nephew, his sister’s son, who was named Rudra Pandita, was the original priest of Vallabhapura, which is situated about one mile from the Sriramapura railway station in the village of Catara.
Installed there are the Deities of Radha-Govinda and Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Kasisvara Gosani was a very strong man, and therefore when Lord Caitanya visited the temple of Jagannatha, he used to protect the Lord from the crowds.
Another of his duties was to distribute prasada to the devotees after kirtana.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura also visited this temple at Vallabhapura.
At that time the person in charge was a Saivite, Sri Sivacandra Caudhuri, who was a descendant of Kasisvara Gosani’s brother.
In Vallabhapura there was a permanent arrangement to cook nine kilos of rice, vegetables and other foodstuffs, and near the village there is sufficient land, which belongs to the Deity, on which this rice was grown.
Unfortunately, the descendants of Kasisvara Gosani’s brother have sold a major portion of this land, and therefore the Deity worship has now been hampered.
It is said in the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika that the servant of Krsna in Vrndavana named Bhrngara descended as Kasisvara Gosani during the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
In our householder life we also sometimes visited this temple of Vallabhapura and took prasada there at noon.
The Deities of this temple, Sri Sri Radha-Govinda and the Gauranga vigraha, are extremely beautiful.
Near Vallabhapura is another beautiful temple of Jagannatha.
We sometimes used to take prasada in this Jagannatha temple also.
These two temples are situated within a one mile-radius of the Sriramapura railway station, near Calcutta.