Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati

Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati was a Sri Vaishnava scholar of Srirangam in South India who was personally converted to Gaudiya Vaishnavism by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and went on to become one of the most celebrated Sanskrit poets of the entire Gaudiya tradition. He is remembered above all for two things: being the uncle and initiating guru of Sri Gopala Bhatta Goswami, one of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavana, and for writing Sri Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi, a poem on the glories of Srimati Radharani so treasured by later Vaishnavas that verses from it are still drawn on for songs and study today.

A Sri Vaishnava Family at Srirangam #

Prabodhananda Saraswati was born into a brahmana family of the Ramanuja sampradaya at Srirangam, the great temple town of Sri Ranganatha on the Kaveri River in South India. He had two elder brothers, Venkata Bhatta and Tirumalaya Bhatta. All three served as acharyas of their Sri Vaishnava community and worshipped Lakshmi and Narayana with real, deep devotion. Venkata Bhatta's young son was Gopala Bhatta, who grew up to become his uncle's most important disciple. This South Indian family's full story is told in Birth and Life in South India, and from the nephew's own side in Sri Gopala Bhatta Goswami's biography.

Converted During Mahaprabhu's Four Months at Srirangam #

When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu reached Srirangam on his long pilgrimage through South India, he spent the entire four months of Chaturmasya as a guest in Venkata Bhatta's house. Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita records the long, warm exchange in which Mahaprabhu drew Venkata Bhatta from Sri Vaishnava devotion to Lakshmi-Narayana toward the Gaudiya vision of Radha and Krishna in Vraja. By the time the four months ended, all three brothers, Prabodhananda included, had made that same turn. Srila Prabhupada's own purport to Chaitanya-charitamrita states plainly that Prabodhananda Sarasvati "belonged to the Ramanuja-sampradaya" before this meeting, and that he was among those the Lord met and transformed during that stay. The conversation, the conversion, and an old case of mistaken identity that has confused some later readers are told in full in Conversion to Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Guru of Gopala Bhatta Goswami #

A few years after Mahaprabhu returned to Puri, Prabodhananda left Srirangam and settled in Kamyavana, one of the twelve forests of Vraja, where he absorbed himself in the intimate teachings the Lord had given him. It was there, and later in Vrindavana itself, that he became guru to his own nephew. The opening verse of the Hari-bhakti-vilasa itself names Gopala Bhatta as "the disciple of Prabodhananda who is dear to the Lord." Among Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami and the other Goswamis of Vrindavana, Prabodhananda was recognized as a rasika acharya of the first rank. Yet he asked that his own life not be described in Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami's Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, out of the same deep humility his nephew was known for. This whole period, and the small, telling episodes that survive from it, are told in Life Among the Goswamis of Vrindavana.

A Master Poet of Rasa #

Prabodhananda's writings place him among the finest Sanskrit poets the Gaudiya sampradaya produced. Sri Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi glorifies Srimati Radharani's own transcendental qualities and moods, in language later Vaishnavas have called unequalled for its sweetness. Sri Chaitanya-chandramrita, a long poem in praise of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, contains verses Srila Prabhupada quoted again and again in his own lectures and purports, among them the celebrated kaivalyam narakayate verse, on how liberation itself looks like hell to a devotee touched by Mahaprabhu's mercy. Sri Vrindavana-mahimamrita glorifies the holy land of Vrindavana itself. A modern academic study has even raised questions about who really wrote Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi, in connection with the separate Radhavallabha sampradaya, though Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, including Srila Prabhupada's own writings, has always credited it to Prabodhananda. A closer look at these works, at that scholarly question, and at how often Srila Prabhupada quoted them, is given in Literary Works and Radha-rasa-sudha-nidhi.

Disappearance and Legacy #

No known record gives the year of Prabodhananda Saraswati's disappearance. What has been preserved instead is the place: his samadhi stands in Vrindavana behind Kaliya Ghat. Tradition also remembers, as recorded in Kavi Karnapura's Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika, that he serves Sri Radha eternally in Goloka Vrindavana as Tungavidya, one of Her eight principal sakhis. His verses are still sung and studied. One of his hymns, the Sri Nityanandastakam, is preserved in the songs section, and Srila Prabhupada quoted his humility-teaching verse from Chaitanya-chandramrita as a model for how devotees should approach others in preaching. Through Gopala Bhatta Goswami, his influence also reaches into the Hari-bhakti-vilasa and the worship of Sri Radha Raman in Vrindavana. The full picture is drawn together in Disappearance and Legacy.