Live Caitanya Caritamrta · CC Ādi 11.14-15
Shared Service and the Deity’s Loving Care
“When Nityānanda Prabhu was ordered to go to Bengal to preach, these two devotees [Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa] were ordered to go with Him. Thus they are sometimes counted among the devotees of Lord Caitanya and sometimes among the devotees of Lord Nityānanda. Similarly, Mādhava Ghoṣa and Vāsudeva Ghoṣa belonged to both groups of devotees simultaneously.”
What the purport teaches
- Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa were ordered to accompany Nityānanda Prabhu to preach in Bengal. Like Mādhava Ghoṣa and Vāsudeva Ghoṣa, they belonged to both Lord Caitanya’s and Lord Nityānanda’s groups of devotees.
- Śrī Gopīnāthajī accepted Govinda Ghoṣa as His father. The purport describes the Deity performing the śrāddha ceremony on the anniversary of Govinda Ghoṣa’s death.
- Each year in Vaiśākha, Śrī Gopīnāthajī is taken to Kṛṣṇanagara for the bāradola ceremony with eleven other Deities. He is then brought back to the temple in Agradvīpa.
Try this today
Write one sentence reflecting on the loving relationship between Śrī Gopīnāthajī and Govinda Ghoṣa.
Ask yourself
What moves me about Śrī Gopīnāthajī accepting Govinda Ghoṣa as His father?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
The study points are short summaries drawn from Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport; the practice and question are plain words for trying the verse today.