Near the opening of Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita's account of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's associates, Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami pauses to offer a verse of praise unlike almost any other in the book: "All glories to Sri Madhavendra Puri, the storehouse of all devotional service unto Krishna! He is a desire tree of devotional service, and it is in him that the seed of devotional service first fructified" (Adi 9.10). This is a striking image in a book that is mostly about praising Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. A full chapter before he introduces the tree's central trunk, the author stops to name where its seed first cracked open.
From Seed to Sprout to Tree #
Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami does not leave the metaphor there. The very next verse carries the lineage one step further: "The seed of devotional service next fructified in the form of Sri Isvara Puri, and then the gardener Himself, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, became the main trunk of the tree of devotional service" (Adi 9.11). In three short verses, the author shows the origin of the whole Gaudiya Vaishnava movement as one living plant. Madhavendra Puri is the seed, Isvara Puri is its first shoot, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the tree that then grew large enough to shade the entire world. Srila Prabhupada's purport explains the history plainly. The disciplic line from Madhvacharya down to Lakshmipati Tirtha had been "full of ritualistic ceremonies, with hardly a sign of love of Godhead," as he puts it. Madhavendra Puri was the first person in that line to actually show the symptoms of love of Godhead. He was also the first to write the poem that carries its seed. This same image returns near the very end of the book, where it describes his death: "Madhavendra Puri sowed the seed of ecstatic love for Krishna within this material world and then departed. That seed later became a great tree in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu" (Antya 8.36).
The Verse Itself #
Prabhupada's purport names the poem that literally contains that seed. It is the verse Madhavendra Puri is remembered chanting again and again at the close of his life: "O My Lord! O most merciful master! O master of Mathura! When shall I see You again? Because of My not seeing You, My agitated heart has become unsteady. O most beloved one, what shall I do now?" (Madhya 4.197). Chaitanya-charitamrita treats this single verse as something very precious: "This verse uncovered the door of ecstatic love," it says. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself recited it at the Gopinatha temple in Remuna, in the story told on The Kshira Chora Gopinatha of Remuna. He reportedly could not get past the opening words. Through tears He repeated only "Ayi dina! Ayi dina!" and then collapsed unconscious in the arms of Nityananda Prabhu. Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami adds a detail that explains why the verse carries such force. He holds that it was actually spoken first by Srimati Radharani Herself, when She was grieving over Krishna's departure for Mathura. He also holds that Her own mercy let it come out again, centuries later, from Madhavendra Puri's mouth.
A Mood Not Meant for Imitation #
This particular kind of devotion is called vipralambha-bhakti, the felt ache of separation from Krishna. It became one of the main themes of the entire Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. Afterward Rupa Goswami developed it at length, and Raghunatha Dasa Goswami gave it its most intense personal expression in his later life. But Srila Prabhupada, speaking in Gorakhpur in 1971, was careful to draw a firm line around it. He described another of Madhavendra Puri's own compositions. In this verse the old sannyasi tells his gayatri-mantra directly, "no more I can chant," and concludes only that he will "sit down somewhere underneath a tree and simply remember Govinda's name. That is sufficient." Then Prabhupada added the caution directly: "This Madhavendra's statement is not for the neophyte devotees. We should not imitate Madhavendra Puri... the position of Madhavendra Puri, the position of Haridasa Thakura, they are different from our position." In other words, this mood is presented as the goal of devotional life, not as a shortcut at its beginning.
The Seed Every Later Acharya Traces Back To #
In the tradition's own understanding, every acharya in the Gaudiya Vaishnava line comes from this single seed. Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita is built on a simple idea. The loving mood that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu distributed to the world did not appear from nowhere. It had a first sprout. That sprout was an aging, mostly silent, wandering sannyasi. He felt ashamed even for wishing to taste the sweet rice offered to the Gopinatha Deity at Remuna. He spent his final years crying for a glimpse of Krishna he could not yet see.
