Who Is Vakresvara Pandita?

Vakresvara Pandita, the fifth branch of the tree, was a very dear servant of Lord Caitanya’s. He could dance with constant ecstasy for seventy-two hours. (Adi 10.17)

In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, verse 71, it is stated that Vakresvara Pandita was an incarnation of Aniruddha, one of the quadruple expansions of Visnu (Vasudeva, Sankarsana, Aniruddha and Pradyumna). He could dance wonderfully for seventy-two continuous hours. When Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu played in dramatic performances in the house of Srivasa Pandita, Vakresvara Pandita was one of the chief dancers, and he danced continuously for that length of time. Sri Govinda dasa, an Oriya devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, has described the life of Vakresvara Pandita in his book Gaura-krsnodaya. There are many disciples of Vakresvara Pandita in Orissa, and they are known as Gaudiya Vaisnavas although they are Oriyas. Among these disciples are Sri Gopalaguru and his disciple Sri Dhyanacandra Gosvami. (Adi 10.17)

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu personally sang while Vakresvara Pandita danced, and thus Vakresvara Pandita fell at the lotus feet of the Lord and spoke as follows. (Adi 10.18)

The Gandharvas, who are residents of Gandharvaloka, are celebrated as celestial singers. Whenever singing is needed in the celestial planets, the Gandharvas are invited to sing. The Gandharvas can sing continuously for days, and therefore Vakresvara Pandita wanted to dance as they sang. (Adi 10.19)

In the Caitanya-bhagavata, Madhya-lila, Chapter Twenty-one, it is stated that Devananda Pandita and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya’s father, Visarada, lived in the same village. Devananda Pandita was a professional reciter of Srimad-Bhagavatam, but Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not like his interpretation of it. In the present town of Navadvipa, which was formerly known as Kuliya, Lord Caitanya showed such mercy to him that he gave up the Mayavadi interpretation of Srimad-Bhagavatam and learned how to explain Srimad-Bhagavatam in terms of bhakti. Formerly, when Devananda was expounding the Mayavadi interpretation, Srivasa Thakura was once present in his meeting, and when he began to cry, Devananda’s students drove him away. Some days later, Caitanya Mahaprabhu passed that way, and when He met Devananda He chastised him severely because of his Mayavada interpretation of Srimad-Bhagavatam. At that time Devananda had little faith in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as an incarnation of Lord Krsna, but one night some time later Vakresvara Pandita was a guest in his house, and when he explained the science of Krsna, Devananda was convinced about the identity of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus he was induced to explain Srimad-Bhagavatam according to the Vaisnava understanding. In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, verse 106, it is described that he was formerly Bhaguri Muni, who was the sabha-pandita who recited Vedic literature in the house of Nanda Maharaja. (Adi 10.77)