Sri Nityananda Prabhu

Sri Nityananda Prabhu is the second member of the Panca-tattva and, in Gaudiya Vaishnava theology, the principle of the spiritual master himself. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna appearing as His own devotee, and Nityananda Prabhu is understood to be Balarama. Balarama is Krishna's elder brother and His first expansion. He is also the source of all service to Krishna. Vaishnavas therefore approach Mahaprabhu through Nityananda Prabhu rather than directly, on the principle that one reaches the Lord by the mercy of the Lord's servant. The pairing is so fundamental to Bengali devotional life that the two are almost never named separately: they are simply Gaura-Nitai.

Advent at Ekachakra #

He appeared around 1474 in the village of Ekachakra, in the Birbhum district of Bengal. This was some twelve years before Mahaprabhu. His parents were Hadai Ojha (Hadai Pandita) and Padmavati Devi. The biographies describe how, as a child, He acted out the pastimes of Krishna and Balarama with the other village boys. He would take sometimes one role and sometimes another. It is said that His play seemed so real that it made the adults watching it uneasy.

Leaving Home and Twenty Years of Pilgrimage #

When Nityananda was about twelve or thirteen, a travelling sannyasi named Lakshmipati Tirtha stopped at Hadai Pandita's house. The sannyasi asked for the boy as his companion. This was a guest's request, and it could not honourably be refused. Hadai Pandita gave his only son away and, the accounts say, collapsed. Nityananda left Ekachakra and did not return for some twenty years. He spent those years in continuous pilgrimage across the length of India. The Chaitanya-bhagavata records this journey at length. It covered Gaya, Kashi, Prayag, Mathura, Vrindavana, Dvaraka, Rameshvaram and the tirthas of the south.

The Meeting With Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu #

Nityananda came to Nabadwip around 1506. He was then in His early thirties, and Mahaprabhu had already begun the sankirtana movement. Their meeting is one of the best-loved episodes in Bengali Vaishnava literature. After arriving in the town, Nityananda hid Himself. Mahaprabhu knew very well who had come, and He sent devotees to find Nityananda. In the end Mahaprabhu revealed Himself in His four-armed and six-armed forms, and these forms made clear who both of them really were. From that point the two were inseparable, and Nityananda became the movement's most fearless preacher.

Kavi Karnapura's Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika (verse 11), explaining the Panca-tattva, says plainly who the two of Them are:

bhakta-rūpo gauracandro yato’sau nanda-nandanaḥ
bhakta-svarūpo nityānando vraje yaḥ śrī-halāyudhaḥ

"In this Panca-tattva, the bhakta-rupa (form of a devotee) is Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who formerly appeared as Lord Krsna, the son of Nanda Maharaja. The bhakta-svarupa (devotional incarnation) is Lord Nityananda, who formerly appeared in Vrajabhumi as Lord Balarama." (Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 11)

Chaitanya-charitamrita joins His identity and His mood of service in a single verse:

yadyapi āpani haye prabhu balarāma
tathāpi caitanyera kare dāsa-abhimāna

"Although Nityānanda Prabhu is none other than Balarāma Himself, He nonetheless always thinks of Himself as the eternal servant of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu." (Chaitanya-charitamrita Madhya 1.28)

The Deliverance of Jagai and Madhai #

His most famous act belongs to that period. Sent out with Haridasa Thakura to call every householder in Nabadwip to chant, He approached the two notorious brothers Jagai and Madhai and was struck on the head by Madhai with a broken earthen pot, so that blood ran down His face. When Mahaprabhu came in fury to punish them, it was the bleeding Nityananda who threw Himself between the Lord and the brothers and begged that they be forgiven. The episode fixed His reputation permanently as the most merciful of all the Lord's associates, the one who takes the blow and then pleads for the man who struck Him.

The Bengal Mission and Household Life #

When Mahaprabhu settled at Jagannatha Puri, He appointed Nityananda Prabhu to lead the mission throughout Bengal. Largely because of this, Gaudiya Vaishnavism became a mass movement and did not stay limited to Nabadwip. Nityananda preached across Bengal for decades, initiated thousands, and organised the householder communities that carried the tradition forward. At the request of the devotees He also married. His wives were Vasudha and Jahnava, daughters of Suryadasa Sarakhela. After Nityananda Prabhu's disappearance, Jahnava Mata became one of the most authoritative teachers in the entire tradition. The Gaudiya community accepted her leadership without dispute.

The Mercy of Nitai #

Gaudiya Vaishnavas hold that no one is qualified to approach Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu without first receiving the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, and one certainly cannot approach Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa without His mercy. This teaching is expressed in the much-repeated line of Narottama Dasa Thakura that when Nitai's mercy comes, one attains Radha and Krishna. He is called patita-pavana, the deliverer of the fallen, and the tradition insists that His mercy asks nothing of anyone. The reason usually given is the Jagai and Madhai episode. Nityananda forgave even the man who struck Him and made Him bleed. In doing so He showed, in effect, the full extent of His mercy.