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TEXT 23
sundarananda--nityanandera sakha, bhrtya marma
yanra sange nityananda kare vraja-narma
SYNONYMS
sundaranandaof the name Sundarananda; nityanandera sakhaa branch of Nityananda Prabhu; bhrtya marmavery intimate servant; yanra sangewith whom; nityanandaLord Nityananda; kareperforms; vraja-narmaactivities of Vrndavana.
TRANSLATION
Sundarananda, another branch of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, was Lord Nityananda's most intimate servant. Lord Nityananda Prabhu perceived the life of Vrajabhumi in his company.
PURPORT
In the Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya-lila, Chapter Fives, it is stated that Sundarananda was an ocean of love of Godhead and the chief associate of Sri Nityananda Prabhu. In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika he is stated to have been Sudama in krsna-lila. Thus he was one of the twelve cowherd boys who came down with Balarama when He descended as Sri Nityananda Prabhu. The holy place where Sundarananda lived is situated in the village known as Mahesapura, which is about fourteen miles east of the Majadiya railway station of the eastern railway from Calcutta to Burdwan. This place is within the district of Jeshore, which is now in Bangladesh. Among the relics of this village, only the old residential house of Sundarananda still exists. At the end of the village resides a baula (pseudo-Vaisnava), and all the buildings, both the temples and the house, appear to be newly constructed. In Mahesapura there are Deities of Sri Radhavallabha and Sri Sri Radharamana. Near the temple is a small river of the name Vetravati.
Sundarananda Prabhu was a naisthika-brahmacari: he never married in his life. Therefore he had no direct descendants except his disciples, but the descendants of his family still reside in the village known as Mangaladihi in the district of Birbhum. In that same village is a temple of Balarama, and the Deity there is regularly worshiped. The original Deity of Mahesapura, Radhavallabha, was taken by the Saidabad Gosvamis of Berhampur, and since the present Deities were installed, a Zamindar family of Mahesapura has looked after Their worship. On the full moon day of the month of Magha (January-February), the anniversary of Sundarananda's disappearance is regularly celebrated, and people from the neighboring areas gather together to observe this festival.
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