Text 66
kāśīśvara gosāñira śiṣya — govinda gosāñi
govindera priya-sevaka tāṅra sama nāñi
kāśīśvara gosāñira — of Kāśīśvara Gosvāmī; śiṣya — disciple; govinda — Govinda; gosāñi — spiritual master; govindera — of Govinda; priya-sevaka — most confidential servitor; tāṅra — his; sama — equal; nāñi — is none.
Govinda Gosāñi, the priest engaged in the service of Lord Govinda in Vṛndāvana, was a disciple of Kāśīśvara Gosāñi. There was no servant more dear to the Govinda Deity.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura writes in his Anubhāṣya, “Kāśīśvara Gosāñi was one of the contemporaries of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu who was with the Lord in Jagannātha Purī. Also known as Kāśīśvara Paṇḍita, he was a disciple of Īśvara Purī and son of Vāsudeva Bhaṭṭācārya, who belonged to the dynasty of Kāñjilāla Kānu. His surname was Caudhurī. His nephew, his sister’s son, who was named Rudra Paṇḍita, was the original priest of Vallabhapura, which is situated about one mile from the Śrīrāmapura railway station in the village of Cātarā. Installed there are the Deities of Rādhā-Govinda and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Kāśīśvara Gosāñi was a very strong man, and therefore when Lord Caitanya visited the temple of Jagannātha, he used to protect the Lord from the crowds. Another of his duties was to distribute prasādam to the devotees after kīrtana.”
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura visited this temple at Vallabhapura. At that time the person in charge was a Śaivite, Śrī Śivacandra Caudhurī, who was a descendant of Kāśīśvara Gosāñi’s brother. In Vallabhapura there was a permanent arrangement to cook nine kilos of rice, vegetables and other foodstuffs daily, and near the village there is sufficient land, which belonged to the Deity, on which this rice was grown. Unfortunately, the descendants of Kāśīśvara Gosāñi’s brother have sold a major portion of this land, and therefore the Deity worship has now been hampered.
It is said in the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (137) that the servant of Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana named Bhṛṅgāra descended as Kāśīśvara Gosāñi during the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In our householder life we also sometimes visited this temple of Vallabhapura and took prasādam there at noon. The Deities of this temple, Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Govinda and the Gaurāṅga vigraha, are extremely beautiful. Near Vallabhapura is a beautiful temple of Jagannātha. We sometimes used to take prasādam in this Jagannātha temple also. These two temples are situated within a one mile-radius of the Śrīrāmapura railway station, near Calcutta.