Purushottama Acharya's journey from a grieving scholar in Varanasi to Svarupa Damodara Goswami, secretary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, took only a few months. But it decided the course of the rest of his life.
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Sannyasa-guru | Chaitanyananda Bharati, a Dashanami renunciant of Varanasi |
| Order given | To study Vedanta-sutra and teach it to others |
| Form of renunciation | Gave up tuft of hair and sacred thread; declined saffron cloth and a sannyasa title |
| Name after renunciation | Svarupa (brahmachari name); "Damodara" added later at Puri |
| Arrival at Puri | Shortly after Paramananda Puri and around the time of Ramananda Raya's own arrival |
An Incomplete Sannyasa, By Choice #
At Varanasi, Purushottama Acharya took his vows from Chaitanyananda Bharati, a sannyasi of the Dashanami order, who instructed him to study the Vedanta-sutra and teach it to others. But he did not go through with the full formal ceremony expected of a Dashanami sannyasi. He gave up the two outward marks that a twice-born man gives up when he enters renunciation: his shikha, or tuft of hair, and his sacred thread. But he refused the ochre cloth, the sannyasa-daṇḍa, and any of the titles (such as Tirtha or Bharati) that mark a full sannyasi. According to Bhaktivinoda Thakura's commentary, his reason was this. He did not want a title that might bring the danger of pride, or any outward mark that might draw attention or respect. He wanted only the freedom to worship Krishna undisturbed. So for the rest of his life he remained, strictly speaking, a naishthika-brahmachari. He kept only the name given him at that stage, Svarupa.
The Name Damodara #
The second half of his famous name was added only after he reached Nilachala, Jagannatha Puri, and rejoined Mahaprabhu. Tradition holds that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself began calling him Damodara, delighted by his extraordinary skill as a singer. It holds that this personal name was simply joined to the brahmachari name Svarupa he already carried. The sources do not fully agree on exactly how the two names came together. But the result was the name by which he is remembered: Svarupa Damodara. The name recalls both his formal identity as a renunciant and the one gift of his that most delighted the Lord.
Arrival and Reunion #
Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita places his arrival at Puri in a specific sequence: Paramananda Puri had already reached the Lord, and Svarupa Damodara came soon after, "an ocean of transcendental mellows," in Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami's words. He offered obeisances and recited a Sanskrit verse of welcome composed for the occasion. The poet Kavi Karnapura later preserved this verse in his Chaitanya-chandrodaya-nataka. It praises Mahaprabhu as an ocean of mercy able to end all quarrels among scriptures and awaken the deepest transcendental bliss. As Chaitanya-charitamrita records, Mahaprabhu's response was immediate and personal. He raised Svarupa Damodara up and embraced him. Mahaprabhu said that He had dreamed of this arrival the night before. Just as a blind man rejoices at suddenly gaining sight, so He now rejoiced at getting Svarupa Damodara back. Svarupa Damodara, in turn, humbly confessed his own fault. He said he had abandoned the Lord's company and gone to a foreign land with no trace of real love in his heart. Mahaprabhu answered only that Krishna's mercy, not any merit of Svarupa Damodara's own, had bound him by the neck and dragged him back.
After this reunion, Svarupa Damodara paid his respects in turn to Nityananda Prabhu, then to Jagadananda, Mukunda, Sankara, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, and finally Paramananda Puri. Then Mahaprabhu arranged a quiet place for him to live alone, with a servant to assist him. At about this same time, Ramananda Raya, until then a royal governor at Vidyanagara, also arrived at Puri. This began a friendship between the two men that would shape the rest of the Lord's manifest life. It is told more fully on friendship-with-ramananda-raya.
Settling Into a Role No One Else Could Fill #
From nearly the moment of his arrival, Svarupa Damodara's position at Puri was unlike anyone else's. Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita says it clearly: he was "the limit of all learned scholarship," yet he rarely spoke with anyone and preferred solitude, remaining largely unknown even to people living nearby. He is described as directly representing Mahaprabhu as a kind of "second expansion" of the Lord Himself. This description points ahead to the far more demanding role he would soon take on. He would check every song, poem and book that anyone hoped to bring before Mahaprabhu. He would also stand guard over the Lord's own body and mind during the Lord's most overwhelming states of ecstasy. Both of these duties, and the often dramatic episodes that show them, are gathered on keeper-of-the-lords-innermost-moods.
