Śrī Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura

Chapter, Sreela Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Goswami Maharaj

When Locana Dāsa arrived in Amedpur, he was unable to remember where his in-laws' house was, since it had been so long since he had visited. He asked a young girl in the street for directions, addressing her as ‘mā' or ‘mother’. When he arrived at his in-laws’ house, he found out that the girl whom he had addressed as

  • Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura appeared in 1523 in Kogram, in the Katwa block of Burdwan district. This village is about ten miles north of the Guskar train station. The Ṭhākura’s home is situated near the Ajaya River.

    His birth tithi is given by some as the first day of the fortnight of the waxing moon in Pauṣa. He was born in the Rāḍha clan of the physician caste (vaidya). His father’s name was Kamalākara Dāsa, his mother’s Sadānandī. He was a very affectionate and lone child of the couple. Locana Dāsa studied while at his maternal grandfather’s house. He displayed devotion for Mahāprabhu from his childhood.

    Locana Dāsa was married at a very young age, according to the customs of that time. Since he had been married so young, his wife first remained with her parents in the village of Amedpur Kakuta. As he grew older, Locana Dāsa showed a highly renounced attitude to life and spent all his time discussing kṛṣṇa-kathā with other devotees of Gaurāṅga.

    As the time approached when his wife was to join him, the girl’s parents began to worry because of Locana Dāsa’s indifference to material life. They approached his guru Narahari Sarakāra and told him of their disquiet. As a result, Narahari Sarakāra ordered Locana Dāsa to go to his in-laws’ home.

    When Locana Dāsa arrived in Amedpur, he was unable to remember where their house was, since it had been so long since he had visited. He asked a young girl in the street for directions, addressing her as “mā”, or “mother”. When he arrived at his in-laws’ house, he found out that the girl whom he had addressed as his mother was, in fact, his wife. From that day on, he always looked upon his wife as a mother, worshipping guru and Gaurāṅga in an attitude of renunciation.

  • The Caitanya Maṇgala

    Narahari Sarakāra Ṭhākura, Mahāprabhu’s famous associate from Srikhanda, was very affectionate to Locana Dāsa and gave him initiation. Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura enthusiastically took up residence with his guru in Srikhanda and served him. His guru taught him kīrtana and later ordered him to write Mahāprabhu’s sacred biography. Locana Dāsa took this order seriously and wrote the Caitanya Maṅgala, the events of which are based on Murāri Gupta’s Caitanya-carita.

    The word maṅgala means auspicious and this title reflects the fact that hearing Mahāprabhu Śrī Caitanya’s divine pastimes is the most auspicious activity for all the living beings. Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura’s biography of the Lord was first named Caitanya-maṅgala and was only later known as Caitanya Bhāgavata. Locana Dāsa gives an indication of this in the introductory portion of his book:

    I attentively pay my obeisances to Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura; his Bhāgavata’s songs have enchanted the entire universe. (Caitanya Maṅgala Sūtra-khaṇḍa 1.35)

    Some people believe that Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura and Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī gave the name Caitanya Bhāgavata to Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura’ book. In the Caitanya Maṅgala, Locana Dāsa prays for his guru’s blessings as follows:

    Narahari Dāsa Ṭhākura is the proprietor of my life, and out of the hope of attaining his lotus feet, I desire to sing the glories of Gaurāṅga, even though I am the lowest of the low. This is my ambition. (Caitanya Maṇgala Sūtra-khaṇḍa 1.9)

    I offer my reverences to Narahari Dāsa, the ocean of Gaurāṅga’s qualities. Other than him, I have no friend in the three worlds. (Caitanya Maṇgala Sūtra-khaṇḍa 1.33)

    My lord and master is Narahari Dāsa. I prostrate myself in humility to him. May he fulfill my desires. (Caitanya Maṇgala Sūtra-khaṇḍa 1.61)

    Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura wrote the Caitanya Maṅgala in Eastern Bengal’s Pāṇcālī style, completing it in 1537 AD. There is a legend that he wrote the book while sitting on a stone under a flower tree. In his new Bengali dictionary, Āśutoṣa Deva has underlined Locana Dāsa’s contribution by stating that he was the first to write Bengali poetry using vowel-marked meters as well as being one of Bengal’s earliest historical writers. The original manuscript of the Caitanya Maṅgala is said to be found in the personal library of Prāṇa Kṛṣṇa Cakravartī of Kandra near the Guskar train station.

    Other titles attributed to Locana Dāsa are Prārthanā, Durlabha-sāra, Padāvalī (Dhāmālī), and Bengali verse translations of Rāmānanda’s Jagannātha-vallabha-nāṭaka and the Rāsa-pañcādhyāya of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

  • Locana Dāsa’s Songs Glorifying Nityānanda

    In Caitanya Maṅgala, Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura describes his guru Narahari Sarakāra Ṭhākura as Mahāprabhu’s dearest associate. He does not describe Nityānanda Prabhu’s glories as extensively. Fearful that he may have committed an offense by neglecting Nityānanda Prabhu, he later wrote a few songs in His praise. These songs are particularly well appreciated by the devotees.

    nitāi guṇa-maṇi āmāra nitāi guṇa-maṇi
    āniyā premera vanyā bhāsāla avanī
    premera vanyā laiyā nitāi āilā gauḍa-deśe
    ḍubila bhakata-gaṇa dīna-hīna bhāse
    dīna-hīna patita-pāmara nāhi bāche
    brahmāra durlabha prema sabākāre yāce
    ābaddha karuṇā-sindhu (nitāi) kāṭiyā mohāna
    ghare ghare bule prema amiyāra bāna
    locana bole mora nitāi ye bā nā bhajila
    jāniyā śuniyā sei ātma-ghātī haila

    Nitāi is a jewel of virtue! My Nitāi is a jewel of virtue. He brought the deluge of love of God and flooded the world.

    Nitāi brought the deluge of love of God to Gauḍa-deśa and inundated the devotees. The lowly and deprived floated in the flood.

    Nitāi never excluded the lowly and deprived, nor the sinful and atheistic. He freely distributed the love of God, which is beyond the reach of even Brahmā.

    Nitāi released the floodgates that held back the ocean of compassion, going from door to door to give everyone the nectar of love.

    Locana Dāsa says that anyone who has not worshiped Nitāi has knowingly committed suicide.

    akrodha paramānanda nityānanda rāy
    abhimāna-śūnya nitāi nagare beḍāy
    adhama patita jīver dvāre dvāre giyā
    harināma mahāmantra dena bilāiyā
    yāre dekhe tāre kahe dante tṛṇa kari
    āmāre kiniyā laha bhaja gaura-hari
    eta boli nityānanda bhūme gaḍi yāy
    sonāra parvata yena dhūlāte loṭāy
    hena avatāre yāra rati nā janmila
    locana bole sei pāpī ela āra gela

    Completely free from anger, Lord Nityānanda Prabhu is the embodiment of supreme joy. He wanders throughout the town without any pride or arrogance.

    He knocks on every fallen soul’s door and bestows the mahā-mantra of the Holy Names on him.

    Placing straw between His teeth, He says to everyone He sees, “Worship Gaurahari and you will purchase Me and make Me your slave.”

    Saying thus, He tumbles on the ground, in an ecstatic fit, looking like a golden mountain rolling in the dust.

    Whoever lacks faith in such a compassionate avatāra is a sinner who will die having made nothing of his life, says Locana Dāsa.

    parama karuṇā, pahuṅ dui jana,
    nitāi gauracandra
    saba avatār sāra śiromaṇi
    kevala ānanda kanda
    bhaja bhaja bhāi caitanya nitāi
    sudṛḍha viśvāsa kari
    viṣaya chāḍiyā se rase majiyā
    mukhe bolo hari hari
    dekha are bhāi tribhuvane nāi
    emana dayāla dātā
    paśu pākhī jhure pāṣāṇa vidare
    śuni yāra guṇa-gāthā
    saṁsāre majiyā rahili paḍiyā
    se pade nahila āśa
    āpana karama bhuñjāye śamana
    kahaye locana-dāsa

    These two Lords, Nitāi and Gauracandra, are most compassionate. They are the essence of all other avatāras of Godhead, They are the most perfect, for They are the unique source of joy.

    Pray, O brothers! Pray with great faith to Caitanya and Nitāi. Give up the objects of sense-gratification, absorb yourself in the flavors of Their divine mood, and use your tongue to sing the Names of Hari.

    Just look, O my brothers! There is no more compassionate benefactor than Gaura-Nitāi anywhere in the three worlds. Even the birds and beasts shed tears in ecstacy and stones melt when they hear Their virtues.

    I have fallen into the worldly life, completely absorbed in mundane pursuits, and have never aspired to attaining Them. The god of judgement is making me suffer the consequences of my acts, so sings Locana Dāsa.

    Śrīla Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura was present on the occasion of Śrī Narahari Sarakāra Ṭhākura’s disappearance festival. In Bhakti-ratnākara, it is said that he came there with Yadunandana Ṭhākura, bringing flower garlands and sweet-scented sandalwood.

  • Gaura-nāgarī Doctrine Condemned

    Followers of certain heterodox groups or apasampradāyas say that the Gaura-nāgara doctrine is found in the Caitanya Maṅgala. This is not true. Vṛndāvana Dāsa Ṭhākura writes in his Caitanya Bhāgavata: “No one should praise the Lord by calling him the golden playboy.”

    Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda comments: “Gaurasundara is Kṛṣṇa Who has been endowed with Rādhā’s bodily hue and Her mood of love. Thus He never abandoned the qualities of the heart of Rādhikā and the other gopīs, i.e., the character of the āśraya of devotion in the conjugal mood. This means that He never acts like the enjoyer of madhura-rasa by looking at other women in the spirit of a playboy.” (Gauḍīya-bhāṣya to Caitanya Bhāgavata 1.15.30)

    Locana Dāsa Ṭhākura ended his pastimes in this world in 1589 AD. His brick samādhi is seen at his Sripat.

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

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