Nityananda Prabhu’s Branches (Numbered as per text)
Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu is the topmost branch of the indestructible tree of eternal love of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. I offer my respectful obeisances to all the subbranches of that topmost branch. (CC Adi 11.4)
All the associates of Lord Nityānanda were formerly cowherd boys in Vrajabhūmi. Their symbolic representations were the horns and sticks they carried, their cowherd dress and the peacock plumes on their heads. (CC Adi 11.21)
- Śrī Vīrabhadra Gosāñi (Direct son of Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu and a disciple of Jāhnavā-devī – incarnation of Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu)
- Śrī Rāmadāsa (Gopala – Śrīdāmā)
- Śrī Gadādhara dāsa
- Śrī Mādhava Ghoṣa
- Śrī Vāsudeva Ghoṣa
- Śrī Murāri
- Raghunātha (Upādhyāya)
- Sundarānanda (Gopala – Sudāmā)
- Kamalākara Pippalāi (Third Gopala – Mahābala)
- Sūryadāsa Sarakhela (Vasudhā and Jāhnavā were two daughters of Sūryadāsa Sarakhela)
- Kṛṣṇadāsa Sarakhela
- Gaurīdāsa Paṇḍita (Gopala – Subala / Younger brother of Sūryadāsa Sarakhela)
- Paṇḍita Purandara
- Parameśvara dāsa (Fifth Gopala – Arjuna, a friend of Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma)
- Jagadīśa Paṇḍita
- Dhanañjaya Paṇḍita (Gopala – Vasudāma – CC Adi 11.31 purport)
- Maheśa Paṇḍita (Seventh Gopala)
- Puruṣottama Paṇḍita (Eighth Gopala – Stokakṛṣṇa)
- Balarāma dāsa
- Yadunātha Kavicandra
- Kṛṣṇadāsa Brāhmaṇa
- Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa (Ninth Gopala – Lavaṅga)
- Sadāśiva Kavirāja (Candrāvalī)
- Puruṣottama dāsa – Son of Sadāśiva Kavirāja (Tenth Gopala)
- Śrī Kānu Ṭhākura / Nāgara Puruṣottama / Śiśu Kṛṣṇadāsa – Son of Puruṣottama dāsa (Gopala – Dāma)
- Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura (Eleventh Gopala – Subāhu)
- Acārya Vaiṣṇavānanda / Raghunātha Purī
- Viṣṇudāsa (Brothers – Nandana, Gańgādāsa)
- Paramānanda Upādhyāya
- Śrī Jīva Paṇḍita (Gopi Indirā)
- Paramānanda Gupta (Gopi Mañjumedhā)
- Nārāyaṇa
- Kṛṣṇadāsa
- Manohara
- Devānanda
- Hoḍa Kṛṣṇadāsa
- Nakaḍi
- Mukunda
- Sūrya
- Mādhava
- Śrīdhara (Twelfth Gopala)
- Rāmānanda
- Jagannātha
- Mahīdhara
- Śrīmanta
- Gokula dāsa
- Hariharānanda
- Śivāi
- Nandāi
- Paramānanda
- Vasanta
- Navanī Hoḍa
- Gopāla
- Sanātana
- Viṣṇāi
- Kṛṣṇānanda
- Sulocana
- Kamsāri Sena (Ratnāvalī)
- Rāmasena
- Rāmacandra Kavirāja
- Govinda (physician)
- Śrīrańga (physician)
- Mukunda (physician)
- Pītāmbara
- Mādhavācārya
- Dāmodara dāsa
- Śańkara
- Mukunda
- Jñāna dāsa
- Manohara
- Gopāla (dancer)
- Rāmabhadra
- Gaurāṅga dāsa
- Nṛsiṁha-caitanya
- Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa (Saṅkarṣaṇa)
- Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura (combined incarnation of Vedavyāsa and the cowherd boy Kusumāpīḍa)
All these branches, the devotees of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, being full of ripened fruits of love of Kṛṣṇa, distributed these fruits to all they met, flooding them with love of Kṛṣṇa. All these devotees had unlimited strength to deliver unobstructed, unceasing love of Kṛṣṇa. By their own strength they could offer anyone Kṛṣṇa and love of Kṛṣṇa. (CC Adi 11.58 – 59)
Jāhnavā-mātā is also within the list of Lord Nityānanda’s followers. She is described in the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (66) as Anaṅga-mañjarī of Vṛndāvana. All the devotees who are followers of Jāhnavā-mātā are counted within the list of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu’s devotees. (CC Adi 11.21 purport)
Ādi 11.1: After offering my obeisances unto all the devotees of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, who are like bumblebees collecting honey from His lotus feet, I shall try to describe those who are the most prominent.
Ādi 11.2: All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! Anyone who has taken shelter at His lotus feet is glorious.
Ādi 11.3: All glories to Śrī Advaita Prabhu, Nityānanda Prabhu and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu!
Ādi 11.4: Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu is the topmost branch of the indestructible tree of eternal love of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. I offer my respectful obeisances to all the subbranches of that topmost branch.
Ādi 11.5: Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu is an extremely heavy branch of the Śrī Caitanya tree. From that branch grow many branches and subbranches.
Ādi 11.6: Watered by the desire of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, these branches and subbranches have grown unlimitedly and covered the entire world with fruits and flowers.
Ādi 11.7: These branches and subbranches of devotees are innumerable and unlimited. Who could count them? For my personal purification I shall try to enumerate only the most prominent among them.
Ādi 11.8: After Nityānanda Prabhu, the greatest branch is Vīrabhadra Gosāñi, who also has innumerable branches and subbranches. It is not possible to describe them all.
Ādi 11.9: Although Vīrabhadra Gosāñi was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He presented Himself as a great devotee. And although the Supreme Godhead is transcendental to all Vedic injunctions, He strictly followed the Vedic rituals.
Ādi 11.10: He is the main pillar in the hall of devotional service erected by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He knew within Himself that He acted as the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu, but externally He was prideless.
Ādi 11.11: It is by the glorious mercy of Śrī Vīrabhadra Gosāñi that people all over the world now have the chance to chant the names of Caitanya and Nityānanda.
Ādi 11.12: I therefore take shelter of the lotus feet of Vīrabhadra Gosāñi, so that by His mercy my great desire to write Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta will be properly guided.
Ādi 11.13: Two devotees of Lord Caitanya named Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa always lived with Śrī Vīrabhadra Gosāñi.
Ādi 11.14-15: When Nityānanda Prabhu was ordered to go to Bengal to preach, these two devotees [Śrī Rāmadāsa and Gadādhara dāsa] were ordered to go with Him. Thus they are sometimes counted among the devotees of Lord Caitanya and sometimes among the devotees of Lord Nityānanda. Similarly, Mādhava Ghoṣa and Vāsudeva Ghoṣa belonged to both groups of devotees simultaneously.
Ādi 11.16: Rāmadāsa, one of the chief branches, was full of fraternal love of Godhead. He made a flute from a stick with sixteen knots.
Ādi 11.17: Śrīla Gadādhara dāsa was always fully absorbed in ecstasy as a gopī. In his house Lord Nityānanda enacted the drama Dāna-keli.
Ādi 11.18: Śrī Mādhava Ghoṣa was a principal performer of kīrtana. While he sang, Nityānanda Prabhu danced.
Ādi 11.19: When Vāsudeva Ghoṣa described Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda while performing kīrtana, even wood and stone would melt upon hearing it.
Ādi 11.20: There were many extraordinary activities performed by Murāri, a great devotee of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sometimes in his ecstasy he would slap the cheek of a tiger, and sometimes he would play with a venomous snake.
Ādi 11.21: All the associates of Lord Nityānanda were formerly cowherd boys in Vrajabhūmi. Their symbolic representations were the horns and sticks they carried, their cowherd dress and the peacock plumes on their heads.
Ādi 11.22: The physician Raghunātha, also known as Upādhyāya, was so great a devotee that simply by seeing him one would awaken his dormant love of Godhead.
Ādi 11.23: Sundarānanda, another branch of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, was Lord Nityānanda’s most intimate servant. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu perceived the life of Vrajabhūmi in his company.
Ādi 11.24: Kamalākara Pippalāi is said to have been the third gopāla. His behavior and love of Godhead were uncommon, and thus he is celebrated all over the world.
Ādi 11.25: Sūryadāsa Sarakhela and his younger brother Kṛṣṇadāsa Sarakhela both possessed firm faith in Nityānanda Prabhu. They were a reservoir of love of Godhead.
Ādi 11.26: Gaurīdāsa Paṇḍita, the emblem of the most elevated devotional service in love of Godhead, had the greatest potency to receive and deliver such love.
Ādi 11.27: Making Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda the Lords of his life, Gaurīdāsa Paṇḍita sacrificed everything for the service of Lord Nityānanda, even the fellowship of his own family.
Ādi 11.28: The thirteenth important devotee of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu was Paṇḍita Purandara, who moved in the ocean of love of Godhead just like the Mandara Hill.
Ādi 11.29: Parameśvara dāsa, said to be the fifth gopāla of kṛṣṇa-līlā, completely surrendered to the lotus feet of Nityānanda. Anyone who remembers his name, Parameśvara dāsa, will get love of Kṛṣṇa very easily.
Ādi 11.30: Jagadīśa Paṇḍita, the fifteenth branch of Lord Nityānanda’s followers, was the deliverer of the entire world. Devotional love of Kṛṣṇa showered from him like torrents of rain.
Ādi 11.31: The sixteenth dear servant of Nityānanda Prabhu was Dhanañjaya Paṇḍita. He was very much renounced and always merged in love of Kṛṣṇa.
Ādi 11.32: Maheśa Paṇḍita, the seventh of the twelve gopālas, was very liberal. In great love of Kṛṣṇa he danced to the beating of a kettledrum like a madman.
Ādi 11.33: Puruṣottama Paṇḍita, a resident of Navadvīpa, was the eighth gopāla. He would become almost mad as soon as he heard the holy name of Nityānanda Prabhu.
Ādi 11.34: Balarāma dāsa always fully tasted the nectar of love of Kṛṣṇa. Upon hearing the name of Nityānanda Prabhu, he would become greatly maddened.
Ādi 11.35: Yadunātha Kavicandra was a great devotee. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu always danced in his heart.
Ādi 11.36: The twenty-first devotee of Śrī Nityānanda in Bengal was Kṛṣṇadāsa Brāhmaṇa, who was a first-class servant of the Lord.
Ādi 11.37: The twenty-second devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa, who was the ninth cowherd boy. He was a first-class Vaiṣṇava and did not know anything beyond Nityānanda Prabhu.
Ādi 11.38: The twenty-third and twenty-fourth prominent devotees of Nityānanda Prabhu were Sadāśiva Kavirāja and his son Puruṣottama dāsa, who was the tenth gopāla.
Ādi 11.39: From birth, Puruṣottama dāsa was merged in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, and he always engaged in childish play with Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Ādi 11.40: Śrī Kānu Ṭhākura, a very respectable gentleman, was the son of Puruṣottama dāsa Ṭhākura. He was such a great devotee that Lord Kṛṣṇa always lived in his body.
Ādi 11.41: Uddhāraṇa Datta Ṭhākura, the eleventh among the twelve cowherd boys, was an exalted devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. He worshiped the lotus feet of Lord Nityānanda in all respects.
Ādi 11.42: The twenty-seventh prominent devotee of Nityānanda Prabhu was Acārya Vaiṣṇavānanda, a great personality in devotional service. He was formerly known as Raghunātha Purī.
Ādi 11.43: Another important devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Viṣṇudāsa, who had two brothers, Nandana and Gańgādāsa. Lord Nityānanda Prabhu sometimes stayed at their house.
Ādi 11.44: Paramānanda Upādhyāya was Nityānanda Prabhu’s great servitor. Śrī Jīva Paṇḍita glorified the qualities of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu.
Ādi 11.45: The thirty-first devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Paramānanda Gupta, who was greatly devoted to Lord Kṛṣṇa and highly advanced in spiritual consciousness. Formerly Nityānanda Prabhu also resided at his house for some time.
Ādi 11.46: The thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth prominent devotees were Nārāyaṇa, Kṛṣṇadāsa, Manohara and Devānanda, who always engaged in the service of Lord Nityānanda.
Ādi 11.47: The thirty-sixth devotee of Lord Nityānanda was Hoḍa Kṛṣṇadāsa, whose life and soul was Nityānanda Prabhu. He was always dedicated to the lotus feet of Nityānanda, and he knew no one else but Him.
Ādi 11.48: Among Lord Nityānanda’s devotees, Nakaḍi was the thirty-seventh, Mukunda the thirty-eighth, Sūrya the thirty-ninth, Mādhava the fortieth, Śrīdhara the forty-first, Rāmānanda the forty-second, Jagannātha the forty-third and Mahīdhara the forty-fourth.
Ādi 11.49: Śrīmanta was the forty-fifth, Gokula dāsa the forty-sixth, Hariharānanda the forty-seventh, Śivāi the forty-eighth, Nandāi the forty-ninth and Paramānanda the fiftieth.
Ādi 11.50: Vasanta was the fifty-first, Navanī Hoḍa the fifty-second, Gopāla the fifty-third, Sanātana the fifty-fourth, Viṣṇāi the fifty-fifth, Kṛṣṇānanda the fifty-sixth and Sulocana the fifty-seventh.
Ādi 11.51: The fifty-eighth great devotee of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu was Kaḿsāri Sena, the fifty-ninth was Rāmasena, the sixtieth was Rāmacandra Kavirāja, and the sixty-first, sixty-second and sixty-third were Govinda, Śrīrańga and Mukunda, who were all physicians.
Ādi 11.52: Among the devotees of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, Pītāmbara was the sixty-fourth, Mādhavācārya the sixty-fifth, Dāmodara dāsa the sixty-sixth, Śańkara the sixty-seventh, Mukunda the sixty-eighth, Jñāna dāsa the sixty-ninth and Manohara the seventieth.
Ādi 11.53: The dancer Gopāla was the seventy-first, Rāmabhadra the seventy-second, Gaurāńga dāsa the seventy-third, Nṛsiḿha-caitanya the seventy-fourth and Mīnaketana Rāmadāsa the seventy-fifth.
Ādi 11.54: Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura, the son of Śrīmatī Nārāyaṇī, composed Śrī Caitanya-mańgala [later known as Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata].
Ādi 11.55: Śrīla Vyāsadeva described the pastimes of Kṛṣṇa in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. The Vyāsa of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was Vṛndāvana dāsa.
Ādi 11.56: Among all the branches of Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Vīrabhadra Gosāñi was the topmost. His subbranches were unlimited.
Ādi 11.57: No one can count the unlimited followers of Nityānanda Prabhu. I have mentioned some of them just for my self-purification.
Ādi 11.58: All these branches, the devotees of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu, being full of ripened fruits of love of Kṛṣṇa, distributed these fruits to all they met, flooding them with love of Kṛṣṇa.
Ādi 11.59: All these devotees had unlimited strength to deliver unobstructed, unceasing love of Kṛṣṇa. By their own strength they could offer anyone Kṛṣṇa and love of Kṛṣṇa.
Ādi 11.60: I have briefly described only some of the followers and devotees of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu. Even the thousand-mouthed Śeṣa Nāga cannot describe all of these unlimited devotees.
Ādi 11.61: With an ardent desire to serve the purpose of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps.