Page 14 - Viveka Satakam - Eng

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About the Author

time, three brothers from Mysore had come to live in
Śrīraṅgam. They were called Tirumalaya, Vyeṅkaṭa and
Gopāla-guru (Prabodhānanda). Originally, they belonged
either to Andhra Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh. Śrīmān
Mahāprabhu was very pleased with this brāhmaṇa family
and spent four months at their house. Vyeṅkaṭa was the
middle brother, and his son, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, who was then
between five to ten years old, would later become one of
the famous Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana.

The Śrī Vaiṣṇavas are mostly fond of worshipping Śrī
Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. By virtue of Śrīmān Mahāprabhu’s
special mercy, this Bhaṭṭa family became expert in
relishing the rasas of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Although we have no further
information about Tirumalaya, it is understood that he
was fully devoted to Lord Caitanya. The conversations
between Lord Caitanya and Vyeṅkaṭa are described in the
ninth chapter of the Madhya-līlā in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta.
Prabodhānanda had an incomparable attachment for
Lord Caitanya. It was by the influence of the instruction
received from Prabodhānanda that Vyeṅkaṭa’s son, Gopāla
Bhaṭṭa, became an ācārya among the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.
Prabodhānanda has a very elevated place among Lord
Caitanya’s servants. In his Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, verse
163, Kavi Karṇapūra has stated:

tuṅgavidyā vraje yāsīt sarva-śāstra-viśāradā
sā prabodhānanda-yatir gaurodgāna-sarasvatī
“She who was previously known in the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa
in Vraja as Tuṅgavidyā, who is fully conversant with all