Jayadeva died roughly three centuries before Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born, yet Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita returns to his poem more often than to the work of almost any other pre-Chaitanya writer.
Read and Sung, Day and Night #
Chaitanya-charitamrita's Madhya-lila describes how Mahaprabhu spent His time at Puri in the company of two of His closest associates, Svarupa Damodara Goswami and Ramananda Raya. Together, it says, they passed their days and nights reading the poetry of Chandidasa and Vidyapati, hearing verses from Ramananda Raya's own drama Jagannatha-vallabha-nataka, and singing from Bilvamangala Thakura's Krishna-karnamrita and Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, "with great pleasure." A later chapter of Antya-lila repeats the same short list of favorite books. This time it notes that Krishna-karnamrita, Vidyapati's poetry, and the Gita Govinda were what Mahaprabhu "especially liked to hear." Again and again, Jayadeva's book appears together with Bilvamangala Thakura's. The two poet-saints lived generations before Mahaprabhu. Their books are very different, but in Mahaprabhu's hands both became ways of tasting the same ecstatic love of Krishna.
Ramananda Raya's Recitations #
Chaitanya-charitamrita calls one period of Mahaprabhu's life His Gambhira-lila. These were the years of His deepest separation from Krishna, which He spent mostly in seclusion at Puri. It was Ramananda Raya who could meet Him in that mood. Antya-lila records that Ramananda Raya would recite verses from Vidyapati, Chandidasa, and, above all, the Gita Govinda. He chose each verse to match whatever wave of feeling was passing through Mahaprabhu at that moment. One example is recorded in detail. Antya-lila quotes directly a Gita Govinda verse in which Radha remembers Krishna's playful teasing during the rasa dance. It notes that this exact verse is sung by Srimati Radharani within the poem. So, as the tradition understands it, when this verse was recited to Mahaprabhu, He was hearing Radharani's actual words. The tradition accepts Mahaprabhu as Krishna in the mood of Radharani, so through Jayadeva's Sanskrit, Her words were returning to Her.
Later still, in the final chapters of Antya-lila, Chaitanya-charitamrita describes Mahaprabhu reading verses from several books together. They were Jayadeva's Gita Govinda, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Ramananda Raya's own drama, and Bilvamangala Thakura's Krishna-karnamrita. Each time, He was overwhelmed by whatever feeling that particular verse carried.
Ranked Among India's Great Poets #
Chaitanya-charitamrita does not only quote Jayadeva devotionally. It also places him, quite deliberately, among Sanskrit literature's most celebrated names. In a passage weighing the poetic gifts of Rupa Gosvami against the wider Sanskrit tradition, Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami names Bhavabhuti, Jayadeva, and Kalidasa together:
"Even in the poetic compositions of such great poets as Bhavabhuti, Jayadeva and Kalidasa there are many examples of faults."
The comparison here is with Rupa Gosvami's own verses, which are presented as free of any such flaw. Kalidasa is generally regarded as the greatest poet of classical Sanskrit. Simply being named in that company, alongside Kalidasa, shows how highly the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition valued Jayadeva's skill as a poet, apart from the devotion in his verses.
A Caution From Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami #
Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami, the author of Chaitanya-charitamrita, does not present any of this as material for casual reading. In his purport to these passages, Srila Prabhupada draws on Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. He explains that such feelings of separation are meant only for advanced souls like Ramananda Raya and Svarupa Damodara. They are not for ordinary devotees to imitate. This warning is important. Jayadeva's verses describe Krishna's most confidential pastimes. Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition has always insisted that they are scripture. Reading them as anything less, as only romantic poetry, badly misses the point.
What Srila Prabhupada Said #
Srila Prabhupada returned to Jayadeva more than once outside his written purports. In a 1973 conversation in London, he spoke about the popular hymn Keshava dhrita mina-sharira jaya jagadisha hare, which George Harrison was setting to music. He identified it as Jayadeva's own Dasavatara-stotra and quoted its opening verse, pralaya-payodhi-jale, from memory. In a 1969 conversation with the poet Allen Ginsberg, he named Jayadeva alongside Vidyapati and Chandidasa as one of Vaishnavism's great poets. And in a 1974 lecture on Bhagavad-gita 4.11, he quoted Jayadeva's own verse on the Buddha incarnation. He used it to explain why the Lord once taught nonviolence, even though this seemed to go against Vedic sacrifice. In this way he used Jayadeva's poetry not only for its devotional flavor, but also to make a real theological point.
