Before understanding the mercy of Sri Caitanya properly it is very helpful to hear the glorious life of Sri Madhavendra Puri. In fact today is the disappearance day of Sri Madhavendra Puri. So on this auspicious time I would like to briefly narrate according to the Caitanya Caritamrita. So next question arises Who is Sri Madhavendra Puri?
Sri Madhavendra Puri is said to be the sprout of the great tree of devotional love represented by Sri Chaitanya mahaprabhu. He comes of the line of Sri Madhva, the Acharya of the pure Dwaita (Dualistic) philosophy. Sripad Madhavendra Puri was an Acharya of the Madhwa school and is considered to be the connecting link between Madhwa and Gaudiya Sampradaya. This is accepted both by the Madhwa as well as by the Madhwa Gaudiya-Sampradayas.
Once Madhavendra Puri travelled to Vrindavan And he came upon a hill known as Govardhan which is non different than the body of Sri Krishna, he was maddened in transcendental love. So after circumambulating the Govardhan Hill, Madhavendra Puri went to Govind kund. Madhavendra Puri sat to take his bath at Govind Kund. After taking his bath he sat beneath the tree to take his rest. and while he was sitting beneath that tree an unknown cowherd boy came with a pot of milk and placed it before Madhavendra Puri. So this cowherd boy with a smile addressed Madhavendra Puri. He said please drink this milk I've brought. Why dont you beg some food to eat...what kind of meditation are you undergoing? When Madhavendra Puri saw that boy he became very satisfied. Hearing his sweet words he forgot all hunger and thirst. Madhavendra Puri said, "Who are you? Where do you reside? and how did you know that I was fasting?" The boy replied, "Sir I'm a cowherd boy and I reside in this village. In my village no one fasts. In this village a person can beg from other people and thus eat. Some people drink only milk; but if a person does not ask anyone for food, I supply him all his eatables. The women who come here to take water saw you and they supplied me with this milk and sent me to you. I must go very soon to milk the cows but I shall return and take back this pot of milk from you." Saying this, the boy left and he could no longer be seen. And after drinking the milk Madhavendra Puri washed the pot and put it aside. And he looked towards the path where the boy had come from, but he never returned.
Then Madhavendra Puri sat under the tree and began to chant holy name of lord. And at the end of the night he got a dream in which he saw the same boy. The boy came to him holding his hand and took him into the jungle. And then the boy showed Madhavendra Puri the bush and said, "I reside in this bush. And because of this, I suffer very much from severe cold, rain, showers, wind and scorching heat. Please bring the people of the village and get them to take me out of this bush. Please take me out of this bush and situate me nicely on top of a hill. Also construct a temple on the hill and install me in that temple. After this wash me with large quantities of cold water so that my body may be clensed. Days and years passed by Madhavendra Puri was happily serving Sri Gopal on his new temple and he gave a grand feast to all villagers. In this way the worship of Gopal was very gorgeously performed. One day Madhavendra Puri, got another dream where Sri Gopal said that my bodily temperature still has not decreased. Please Go to Jagannath Puri and bring sandalwood back for me. Kindly go quickly; since no one else can do it. As per the instructions of Sri Gopal, Madhavendra Puri started his journey on foot for Jagannath Puri.
On the way to Jagannath Puri, he came to the village of Remuna where Gopinath is situated. And upon seeing the beauty of the deity Madhavendra Puri was overwhelmed. In the courtyard of the temple where the general people had the darshan of the Lord, Madhavendra Puri in great love began to sing and dance in the glorification of Sri Gopinath. , Madhavendra Puri enquired from brahman, "What kind of food was offered to the deity? So that I can learn these things and bring them to Gopal and prepare them for my Gopalji. Priest informed that in the evening, there's an offering of kheer - in twelve earthen pots. And because the taste is like nectar, it is called Amritakeli. And he explained that this sweet rice, this kheer is celebrated throughout the entire world as Gopinath kheer. And it is not offered anywhere else in the world. And while he was talking, pujari brought the offering of the twelve pots onto the altar of the Lord. And Madhavendra Puri was thinking, if only I could taste just a small portion so that I can prepare a similar preparation for the pleasure of Gopal. Later Madhavendra Puri realized that what kind of offence I did? Before Food is offered to Gopinath, I asked to taste it. So he felt very guilty and very bad. And just at that time, the bell rang and the aarti began and after aarti Madhavendra Puri offered his prostrated obeisances and left without saying anything to anyone. He went to a vacant marketplace within the village, and he simply sat feeling the guilt of his. But as a true vaishnava, he never considered himself as advanced. He considered himself as a very ordinary man. And he considered only in terms of pleasing Gopal, he still considered that I'm just an offensive neophyte devotee wanting to Lord it over and enjoy the property of God. So he went to the marketplace to purify himself by chanting the holy name of lord. Pujari after finishing his duties, he put Gopinath to rest and then he also went to take rest. But in a dream he saw Gopinath appeared to him and he spoke, "Please get up and open the door of the temple. I have kept one pot of sweet rice for the sanyasi Madhavendra Puri. This pot of sweet rice is just behind my cloth curtain. You did not see it because of my tricks. A sanyasi named Madhavendra Puri is sitting in the vacant marketplace. Please take this pot of sweet rice from behind me and deliver it to him.
Pujari immediately rose from his bed and took his bath and went into the temple. There he found behind the curtain, behind the deity was hidden one pot of kheer. He was struck with wonder. Then he went out to the vacant market place and started calling out Madhavendra Puri’s Name in every stall and every corner. Hearing the Name Madhavendra Puri came out and identified himself and the priest knowing what sort of glorious person this is that Gopinath has stolen the kheer just for him. Pujari offered his prostrated obeisances to Madhavendra Puri. Then Madhavendra Puri upon leaving the brahman priest, he ate the sweet rice offered to him by Krishna in great ecstatic love. And after this he washed the pot and broke it into pieces and wound them in his cloth to take with him. Madhavendra Puri started his journey for Jagannath Puri as when people would hear of this story there would be great crowds coming to take his darshan. So out of humility, he did not want to become famous. He did not want to become very well known as a special param hansa vaishnava. He wanted to simply remain in a very ordinary position - secretly worshipping Krishna in his heart. And walking and walking he finally reached Jagannath Puri. And when he approached Jagannath Puri he was overwhelmed with great ecstasy of love of God. When Madhavendra Puri came to Jagannath Puri all the people around were aware of his reputation. In fact every way he went on the way to Jagannath Puri, every town and every village before he arrived, his reputation was already understood by everyone and they all greated him and celebrated him. Being afraid of his reputation Madhavendra Puri fled from Remuna. But the reputation brought by love of Godhead is so sublime that it goes along with the devotee as a following.
Madhavendra Puri wanted to leave Jagannath Puri because the people were honoring him as such a great devotee. But he knew that his service was to get sandalwood for Gopal and that the only way to get sandalwood was he had to remain in Jagannath Puri. So for the sake of service for Gopal he was going to tolerate all of this of this respectfulness and all of this honor and all of this worship. And this way, this is the position of a real acharya or guru. Madhavendra Puri told the servants of Lord Jagannath and all the great devotees there the story of the appearance of Gopal. And he told about the dream. So they made wonderful arrangements to assist him by collecting sandalwood. And in great pleasure they endeavored to collect it. And those who were acquainted with government officers met with them and begged for camphor and sandalwood which they collected. One brahman and one servant were given to Madhavendra Puri just to carry the sandlewood.
And after some days he again reached Remuna and he went to the Gopinath temple.He offered his respectful obeisances many times at the lotus feet of the Lord. And when the pujari again saw Madhavendra Puri he offered his respects and he gave him sweet rice prasad and made him eat. Madhavendra Puri took rest that night but toward the end of the night he had another dream. Madhavendra Puri dreamed that Gopal came before him again and said, "O Madhavendra Puri, I have already received all the sandalwood and camphor." The Gopal of Vrindavan is speaking to him. Now just grind all the sandalwood together with the camphor and then smear the pulp on the body of Gopinath daily until it is finished. There's no difference between My body and Gopinath's body. They are one and the same. Therefore if you smear the sandalwood on the body of Gopinath, you'll naturally also smear it on My body. Thus the temperature of My body will be reduced. You should not hesitate to act according to my order. Believing in me, just do as it is needed". After giving these instructions, Gopal disappeared.
Then Madhavendra Puri awoke and immediately called for the servants of Gopinath and told them, "Smear the body of Gopinath with this camphor and sandalwood that I've brought for Gopal in Vrindaban. Do this regularly everyday. If the sandalwood pulp is smeared over the body of Gopinath then Gopal will be cooled. The servants of Gopinath were very pleased to hear this. Because it was the summer season, it was very hot. So Madhavendra Puri gave his two assistants to regularly grind the sandalwood and two other people would help. That was their service to just grind the sandalwood and present to Gopinath. In this way every day Gopinath 's body was covered with the sandalwood pulp. And Madhavendra Puri stayed there until the entire stock was finished.
So Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was personally praising the glories of Madhavendra Puri by narrating the wonderful story describing the characteristics of his love for Krishna. And of course Caitanya Mahaprabhu who's non different than that Gopal and Gopinath, took the greatest pleasure and relished describing the glories of His devotee. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, "Madhavendra Puri was so fortunate that Krishna personally appeared before him and in the form of delivering milk, three times the Lord gave orders to Madhavendra Puri in dreams. Being obliged because of the loving affairs of Madhavendra Puri, Lord Krishna himself appeared as Gopal and accepting his service he liberated the whole world. On account of Madhavendra Puri, Lord Gopinath stole the sweet rice and thus he became known as kheer chora Gopinath. To this day this is the name of the temple, kheer chora Gopinath - which means the thief who stole the sweet rice.
Madhavendra Puri's position is so special and his love was unique in this world. Although Madhavendra Puri appeared and took initiation within the Madhavachrya Sampradaya, the understanding of the conjugal love affairs of Radha and Krishna and the awakening of this conjugal ras within one's own heart had never appeared within this sampradaya, until Sri Madhavendra Puri revealed it to the world.
