Śrī Gadādharāṣṭakam – Eight Prayers Glorifying Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu

Śrī Śrī Gaura-Gadādhara

ŚRĪ GADĀDHARĀṢṬAKAM — A Sanskrit Prayer glorifying Gadādhara Paṇḍit, written by Mahāprabhu’s associate, Svarūp Dāmodara Gosvāmī.

|| श्री गदाधराष्टकम् ||
Śrī Gadādharāṣṭakam

Eight Prayers Glorifying Gadādhara Prabhu
by Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī

 Text 1
sva-bhaktiyoga-lāsinaṁ sadā vraje vihāriṇaṁ
hari-priyā-gaṇāgragaṁ śacī-suta-priyeśvaram
sa-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-sevana-prakāśakaṁ mahāśayaṁ
bhajāmy ahaṁ gadādharaṁ supaṇḍitaṁ guruṁ prabhum

I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu, who appears very splendid, engaged in Lord Gaurāṅga’s devotional service. He always performs pastimes in Vraja, where he is very prominent among the beloved gopīs of Lord Hari. Lord Caitanya, the Son of Saci (Sacisuta) is the dear master of Gadādhara Prabhu, who manifests the confidential service (seva) of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. (1)

Text 2
navojjvalādi-bhāvanā-vidhāna-karma-pāragaṁ
vicitra-gaura-bhakti-sindhu-rasabhaṅga-lāsinam
su-rāga-mārga-darśakaṁ vrajādi-vāsa-dāyakaṁ
bhajāmy ahaṁ gadādharaṁ supaṇḍitaṁ guruṁ prabhum

I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu. He is expertly absorbed in meditation on the nine rasas of devotional service, beginning with ujjvala-rasa (conjugal love), and he dances in the waves of the amazing ocean of gaura-bhakti, devotional service to Lord Caitanya. He preaches the path of rāganuga-bhakti (spontaneous devotional service), and he bestows residence in the holy tīrthas such as Vraja etc. (2)

Text 3
śacī-sutāṅghri-sāra-bhakta-vṛnda-vandya-gauravaṁ
gaura-bhāva-citta-padma-madhya-kṛṣṇa-suvallabham
mukunda-gaura-rūpiṇaṁ sva-bhāva-dharma-dāyakaṁ
bhajāmy ahaṁ gadādharaṁ supaṇḍitaṁ guruṁ prabhum

I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu, who is the best of those devoted to the lotus feet of Sacisuta (the Son of Saci-devi). I offer respectful obeisance’s to him and treat him with great reverence. Gadādhara Prabhu is very dear to Śrī  Kṛṣṇa, who sits in the middle of the lotus of his heart in His golden form as Gaura. Gadādhara  also preaches that Lord Mukunda has assumed the golden form of Gaura to re-establish the living entities in their original constitutional positions as eternal servants of Bhagavan Śrī  Kṛṣṇa. (3)

Text 4
nikuñja-sevanādika-prakāśanaika-kāraṇaṁ
sadā sakhī-rati-pradaṁ mahā-rasa-svarūpakaṁ
sadāśritāṅghri-paṅkajaṁ śarīri-sad-guruṁ varaṁ
bhajāmy ahaṁ gadādharaṁ supaṇḍitaṁ guruṁ prabhum

I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu. It is only because of him that the truth of the exalted devotional service performed by the intimate associates of Kṛṣṇa in the forests and groves of Vṛndāvana has been revealed. He is preaching the ecstatic love attained by the gopīs, and he is indeed a personification of the mellows of devotional service. The saintly devotees take shelter of his lotus feet, and he teaches the truth of spiritual life to the living entities. (4)

Text 5
mahāprabhor mahā-rasa-prakāśanāṅkuraṁ priyaṁ
sadā mahā-rasāṅkura-prakāśanādi-vāsanāṁ
mahāprabhor vrajāṅganādi-bhāva-moda-kārakaṁ
bhajāmy ahaṁ gadādharaṁ supaṇḍitaṁ guruṁ prabhum

I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu. He is very dear to Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and it is as if he had manifested from the manifestation of the Lord`s ecstatic love. He is always adorned with the garments of ecstatic love of Godhead, and He delights Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu by arousing in the Lord the ecstatic emotional love experienced by the gopīs of Vraja. (5)

Text 6
dvijendra-vṛnda-vandya-pāda-yugma-bhakti-vardhakaṁ
nijeṣu rādhikātmatā-vapuḥ-prakāśanāgraham
aśeṣa-bhakti-śāstra-śikṣayojjvalāmṛta-pradaṁ
bhajāmy ahaṁ gadādharaṁ supaṇḍitaṁ guruṁ prabhum

I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu, who expands the mellows of devotional service and whose lotus feet are worshipped by the leaders of the brāhmanas. Among his confidential associates, he reveals his actual form as Śrīmatī Rādhikā. On the basis of the bhakti-śāstras, (devotional scriptures) Gadādhara teaches about the nectarean ecstatic conjugal love of the Vraja-gopīs (ujjvala-premāmṛta). (6)

Text 7
mudā nija-priyādika-sva-pāda-padma-sīdhubhir
mahārasārṇavāmṛta-pradeṣṭa-gaura-bhaktidam
sadāṣṭa-sāttvikānvitaṁ nijeṣṭa-bhakti-dāyakaṁ
bhajāmy ahaṁ gadādharaṁ supaṇḍitaṁ guruṁ prabhum

I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu. With delight he is giving gaura-bhakti, the devotional service of Lord Caitanya, which reveals the nectarean ocean of the most exalted mellows of devotional service, along with the nectar flowing from the lotus feet of the gopīs, headed by Śrīmati Radharani, who is most dear to Kṛṣṇa. Gadādhara Prabhu is always decorated with the eight transcendental ecstatic symptoms of sattvika-bhāva, and he is distributing pure devotional service to his worshipable Lord Kṛṣṇa. (7)

Text 8
yadīya-rīti-rāga-raṅga-bhaṅga-digdha-mānaso
naro ’pi yāti tūrṇam eva nāryabhāva-bhājanam
tam ujjvalākta-cittam etu citta-matta-ṣaṭpado
bhajāmy ahaṁ gadādharaṁ supaṇḍitaṁ guruṁ prabhum

I worship the greatly learned and exalted spiritual master, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu. A person whose mind becomes anointed by the colorful waves of spontaneous devotional service as delineated by Śrīla Gadādhara Prabhu, quickly attains the highest level of devotional service. He becomes like a maddened bumble bee whose mind is anointed with the mellow of ujjvala-rāsa (conjugal love). (8)

Text 9
mahā-rasāmṛta-pradaṁ sadā gadādharāṣṭakaṁ
paṭhet tu yaḥ subhaktito vrajāṅganā-gaṇotsavam
śacī-tanūja-pāda-padma-bhakti-ratna-yogyatāṁ
labheta rādhikā-gadādharāṅghri-padma-sevayā

This Gadādharāṣṭaka glorifying Śrīla Gadādhara Prabhu, which grants the nectar of mahā-rasa, is a festival for the gopīs of Vraja. If one regularly reads these verses with pure devotion and serves the lotus feet of Śrīla Gadādhara Prabhu, who is an incarnation of Śrīmati Radharani, then he will become qualified to attain the priceless jewel of pure bhakti for the lotus feet of the son of Śacī. (9)

|| iti śrī-svarūpa-dāmodara-gosvāmī viracitaṁ gadādharāṣṭakaṁ sampūrṇam ||
Thus ends the Gadādharāṣṭakaṁ compiled by Svarūpa-dāmodara-gosvāmī

Download PDF
Sri-Gadadhara-astakam-w2w.pdf

***

ŚRĪ GADĀDHARĀṢṬAKAM – by: YAŚODĀ KUMĀR DĀSĀ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV3FazqVMr0

Youtube-Video   –   Śrī Gadādhara Ashtakam [H-24]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG8QRJHBy1M