Śrī Viṣṇupriyā Devī

Chapter, Sreela Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj

The earth split from the sound of Viṣṇupriya’s crying: the birds and beasts, even the trees and stones shed tears when they heard it. Falling to the ground she would lament, crying out “Why does my sinful life not end?” In separation, her breath was like fire, drying her lips and her body trembled constantly.

  • śrī-sanātana-miśro’yaṁ purā satrājito nṛpaḥ
    viṣṇupriyā jagan-mātā yat-kanyā bhū-svarūpiṇī

    King Satrājit in Kṛṣṇa-līlā became Sanātana Miśra in Caitanya-līlā. His daughter Viṣṇupriyā is the incarnation of the Lord’s bhū-śakti, the mother of the universe. (Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 47)

    Kṛṣṇa married Satyabhāmā, the daughter of King Satrājit and a Yadu princess. In Gaura-līlā, this same Satrājit became Sanātana Miśra and she became Viṣṇupriyā Devī. All manifestations of Viṣṇu-tattva have three energies, known as Śrī, Bhū and Nīlā (or Līlā). Lakṣmīpriyā Devī is the śrī-śakti of Mahāprabhu in His majestic Gaura-Nārāyaṇa aspect; Viṣṇupriyā is His bhū-śakti or bhakti-śakti and Navadvīpa-dhāma is His līlā-śakti. Śrīla Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosvāmī is the śakti of Gaura-Kṛṣṇa.

    Knowledge is of two kinds, aparā vidyā or material knowledge, and parā vidyā, or transcendental knowledge. Viṣṇupriyā Devī is the personification of transcendental knowledge. Devotees worship her on her appearance day on the śuklā pañcamī of the month of Māgha. On the same day, materialistic persons seeking the perfection of worldly knowledge worship the goddess of learning, Sarasvatī.

    Viṣṇupriyā Devī’s grandfather was Dūrgā Dāsa Miśra. Some people believe that Dūrgā Dāsa was Viṣṇupriyā Devī’s father. The Prema-vilāsa attributes the family of Dūrgā Dāsa Miśra’s descendants through Yādavācārya as Viṣṇupriyā’s family lineage.

  • Mahāprabhu’s Marriage to Viṣṇupriyā Devī

    Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura describes the birth of Gaura-Nārāyaṇa’s śakti, Viṣṇupriyā Devī, in his Caitanya Bhāgavata. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has also mentioned the event in his Caitanya Caritāmṛta.

    In the Ādikhaṇḍa, the disappearance of Mahāprabhu’s first wife, Lakṣmīpriyā Devī is described, and then his second marriage to Viṣṇupriyā Devī, the daughter of the court Paṇḍita. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 1.1.110)

    Then the Lord was married to Viṣṇupriyā Ṭhākurāṇī, after which He defeated the Digvijayī Paṇḍita. (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.16.25)

    For the materialistic person, the marriage of a man and woman is the source of bondage. When the Lord marries in imitation of ordinary mortals, it becomes something quite different: it is a transcendental affair. By chanting and hearing about the union of the Supreme Lord with His divine energy, one is liberated from the material world.

    Whoever hears about the holy pastime of the Lord’s marriage will be liberated from his bondage to this world. Lakṣmī sat beside the Lord and the house of Śacī was filled with light. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 1.10.110-1)

    All who saw the Lord’s marriage on that day were freed from their sins and attained Vaikuṇṭha-dhāma. This is why the Lord is known as merciful (dayāmaya) and the master of the fallen (dīna-nātha). (Caitanya Bhāgavata 1.15.216-7)

    In order to support His wife, Lakṣmīpriyā, and His mother, Mahāprabhu made a trip to eastern Bengal to teach some students. However He was away longer than planned and Lakṣmīpriyā Devī found it impossible to tolerate His absence. So, meditating on His lotus feet, she departed from this world. When Mahāprabhu finally arrived back in Navadvīpa, He found His mother grieving for her daughter-in-law and consoled her.

    Though Mahāprabhu consoled her, soon afterwards, Śacī Mātā started looking for another wife for her son. For that purpose, she consulted Kāśīnātha Paṇḍita, a well-known matchmaker described in Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (50) as having been Kulaka in Kṛṣṇa-līlā. Kulaka was the brāhmaṇa who was sent by Satrājit to arrange the marriage between his daughter Satyabhāmā and Kṛṣṇa. Kāśīnātha went to court Paṇḍita Sanātana Miśra to arrange for a marriage between Mahāprabhu and his daughter, the devotionally-minded Viṣṇupriyā. Kāśīnātha persuaded Sanātana Miśra with the following words:

    “Give your daughter to Viśvambhara Paṇḍita. In every way They are a perfect match. She alone is suitable of such a divine husband, while He deserves just such a pious and chaste wife. Viṣṇupriyā and Nimāi Paṇḍita are right for each other, just as Rukmiṇī and Kṛṣṇa were.” (Caitanya Bhāgavata 1.15.57-59)

    From her early childhood, Viṣṇupriyā Devī had been deeply devoted to her parents and to Viṣṇu. She would take bath in the Ganges three times daily. Śacī Mātā would see her there and bless her when she saw her pay obesciences. Śacī thus already knew Viṣṇupriyā’s good qualities and happily agreed to accept her as a wife for her son.

    Buddhimanta Khān was a rich and wise friend of Nimāi’s family who volunteered to bear the entire expense of His marriage. Once it had been decided that Viṣṇupriyā and Viśvambhara would be married, an auspicious day and moment were fixed for the ceremony. With great pomp, the adhivāsa rituals were carried out on the eve of the marriage. The Lord arrived at Sanātana Miśra’s house in a palanquin at dusk and Gaura and Viṣṇupriyā’s wedding ceremony was performed according to both scriptural and popular traditions.

    On the following day in the forenoon, Viṣṇupriyā joined the Lord on the palanquin and arrived with Him at His house. Those who hear the eternal pastime of the wedding of Lakṣmī and Nārāyaṇa, lose their desire for a material relationship of enjoyer and enjoyed, for one comes to understand that Nārāyaṇa alone is the supreme enjoyer of the entire universe. For his service, Buddhimanta Khān received Mahāprabhu’s embrace and mercy.

    Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura describes how the pious women who saw the newly-weds compared them to various divine couples: Some said, “They remind me of Gaurī and Śiva.” Others said, “It seems that they are Lakṣmī and Nārāyaṇa.” Yet others said, “No, they rather resemble Rati and Kāmadeva.” Some compared them to Indra and Śacī, and others to Rāma and Sītā. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 1.15.205-8)

  • Viṣṇupriyā Devī After Nimāi’s Sannyāsa

    Mahāprabhu took sannyāsa from Keśava Bhāratī in Katwa when He was only 24 years old. Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura has described Viṣṇupriyā Devī’s terrible feelings of separation in the days that followed His sannyāsa in the Caitanya Maṅgala:

    The earth split from the sound of Viṣṇupriyā’s crying; the birds and beasts, even the trees and stones shed tears when they heard it. Falling to the ground she would lament, crying out “Why does my sinful life not end?” In separation, her breath was like fire, drying her lips and her body trembled constantly. (Caitanya Maṅgala 2.14.15-6)

    The Advaita-prakāśa also describes how Viṣṇupriyā Devī lived her life in terrible separation from the Lord. Every morning, she would go for her bath in the Ganges with Mother Śacī, after which she spent the entire day inside the house, never allowing the moon or the sun to see her. Not even the devotees were allowed to see anything more than her feet, nor hear her voice. Constantly shedding tears and eating only Mother Śacī’s remnants, she became pale and thin. She took intense delight in the Holy Name, chanting all day long in solitude before a portrait of Gaurāṅga and serving it and surrendering herself to His lotus feet. In this way, she demonstrated the ideal character of a devoted wife as well as the forbearance spoken of by the Lord in His verse, tṛṇād api sunīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā.

    Śrīnivāsa Ācārya received Viṣṇupriyā Devī’s blessing. He personally witnessed her devotion to Mahāprabhu in separation. Narahari Cakravartī has described this in his Bhakti-ratnākara:

    Every day Śrīnivāsa would come to see her. He observed her daily activities, which are beyond description. She had renounced sleep, and if ever she slept, she would do so on the bare ground. Her bodily luster, which had formerly glowed more brilliantly than gold, had become dull and she was as thin as the waning moon on its fourteenth day. She set aside grains of rice to count the Holy Names she chanted, and would cook only this rice and offer them to her Lord. Of this amount, she would only eat a small portion. No one understood how she managed to stay alive. (Bhakti-ratnākara 4.47-51)

    Jāhanavā Devī’s disciple Nityānanda Dāsa has also described the standard Viṣṇupriyā Devī set for bhajana in his Prema-vilāsa.

    “Listen, brothers, to the way in which Iśvarī Viṣṇupriyā would take the Names of the Lord. By listening to this, you will get a feeling for the līlā. Every day she would place two clay pots on either side of her, one filled with uncooked rice, the other empty. Each time she completed one mantra of sixteen names and thirty-two syllables, she would joyfully place a grain of rice into the empty container. She would chant in this way until noon, and then would cook whatever rice had accumulated. This is the only food that she prepared, drenching it with her tears before she offered it to the Lord.

    “It is not possible to estimate how many names Mahāprabhu Himself chanted, for He chanted all day and night. Similarly, His beloved wife Viṣṇupriyā chanted incessantly through the day and the night. Such dedication to the Holy Name was not impossible for her, for the Lord had planted the seed of His power in her.”

    It is said that Viṣṇupriyā Devī was the first to establish the worship of a mūrti of Gaurāṅga. This has been stated in Murāri Gupta’s dairy, kadacā:

    prakāśa-rūpeṇa nija-priyāyāḥ
    samīpam āsādya nijāṁ hi mūrtim
    vidhāya tasyāṁ sthita eṣaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
    sā lakṣmī-rūpā ca niṣevate prabhum

    Kṛṣṇa came to His beloved wife in this expansion form to remain by her side as the Mahāprabhu deity. Thus she, the incarnation of the goddess of fortune, served Him constantly.

    The devotees of Mahāprabhu sometimes said that just as Rāmacandra, who had taken the vow of monogamy, performed a sacrifice by seating Sītā Devī’s deity made out of gold next to Him during her exile in the forest rather than marry a second time, so Viṣṇupriyā repaid her debt to her Lord in the pastimes of Gaura-Nārāyaṇa by serving the deity of Mahāprabhu. This deity is still present and worshiped in Navadvīpa.

    Śrī Vaṁśīvadana Ṭhākura and Śrī Iśāna Ṭhākura were blessed by the service of caring for Śrīmati Viṣṇupriyā Devī and Śrīmati Śacī Devī after Mahāprabhu took sannyāsa.

Excerpt from "Sri Chaitanya: His Life and Associates" by Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj

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