Gayatri Mahima Madhuri by HH Mahanidhi Swami:
"In Caitanya Caritamrta, Sri Krsna Dasa Kaviraja explains how Sri Caitanya´s antaranga-bhaktas (premika bhaktas), the followers of Sri Gadadhara Pandita, were most successful in spreding the sankirtana movement of the Lord.
The indication is that the greater the love for Krsna, the more successful the preaching will be."
Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrta Ādi 7.17
gadādhara-panditādi prabhura 'śakti'-avatāra
'antarańga-bhakta' kari' ganana yāńhāra
TRANSLATION
The devotees headed by Gadādhara Pandita are to be considered incarnations of the internal potency of the Lord. They are confidential devotees engaged in the service of the Lord.
PURPORT
In connection with verses 16 and 17, Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura explains in his Anubhāsya: "There are specific symptoms by which the internal devotees and the unalloyed or pure devotees are to be known. All unalloyed devotees are śakti-tattvas, or potencies of the Lord. Some of them are situated in conjugal love and others in filial affection, fraternity and servitude. Certainly all of them are devotees, but by making a comparative study it is found that the devotees or potencies who are engaged in conjugal love are better situated than the others. Thus devotees who are in a relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead in conjugal love are considered to be the most confidential devotees of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Those who engage in the service of Lord Nityānanda Prabhu and Lord Advaita Prabhu generally have relationships of parental love, fraternity, servitude and neutrality. When such devotees develop great attachment for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they too become situated within the intimate circle of devotees in conjugal love." This gradual development of devotional service is described by Śrī Narottama dāsa Thākura as follows:
gaurāńga balite habe pulaka śarīra
hari hari balite nayane ba'be nīra
āra kabe nitāicāńda karunā karibe
samsāra-vāsanā mora kabe tuccha habe
visaya chādiyā kabe śuddha habe mana
kabe hāma heraba śrī-vrndāvana
rūpa-raghunātha-pade ha-ibe ākuti
kabe hāma bujhaba śrī-yugala-pirīti
"When will there be eruptions on my body as soon as I chant the name of Lord Caitanya, and when will there be incessant torrents of tears as soon as I chant the holy names Hare Krsna? When will Lord Nityānanda be merciful toward me and free me from all desires for material enjoyment? When will my mind be completely freed from all contamination of desires for material pleasure? Only at that time will it be possible for me to understand Vrndāvana. Only if I become attached to the instructions given by the six Gosvāmīs, headed by Rūpa Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, will it be possible for me to understand the conjugal love of Rādhā and Krsna." By attachment to the devotional service of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, one immediately comes to the ecstatic position. When he develops his love for Nityānanda Prabhu he is freed from all attachment to the material world, and at that time he becomes eligible to understand the Lord's pastimes in Vrndāvana. In that condition, when one develops his love for the six Gosvāmīs, he can understand the conjugal love between Rādhā and Krsna. These are the different stages of a pure devotee's promotion to conjugal love in the service of Rādhā and Krsna in an intimate relationship with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrta Ādi 7.18-19
yāń-sabā lañā prabhura nitya vihāra
yāń-sabā lañā prabhura kīrtana-pracāra
yāń-sabā lañā karena prema āsvādana
yāń-sabā lañā dāna kare prema-dhana
TRANSLATION
The internal devotees or potencies are all eternal associates in the pastimes of the Lord. Only with them does the Lord advent to propound the sańkīrtana movement, only with them does the Lord taste the mellow of conjugal love, and only with them does He distribute this love of God to people in general.
PURPORT
Distinguishing between pure devotees and internal or confidential devotees, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, in his book Upadeśāmrta, traces the following gradual process of development. Out of many thousands of karmīs, one is better when he is situated in perfect Vedic knowledge. Out of many such learned scholars and philosophers, one who is actually liberated from material bondage is better, and out of many such persons who are actually liberated, one who is a devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is considered to be the best. Among the many such transcendental lovers of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the gopīs are the best, and among the gopīs Śrīmatī Rādhikā is the best. Śrīmatī Rādhikā is very dear to Lord Krsna, and similarly Her ponds, namely, Śyāma-kunda and Rādhā-kunda, are also very dear to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura comments in his Anubhāsya that among the five tattvas, two are energies (śakti-tattva) and the three others are energetic (śaktimān tattva). Unalloyed and internal devotees are both engaged in the favorable culture of Krsna consciousness untinged by philosophical speculation or fruitive activities. They are all understood to be pure devotees, and those among them who simply engage in conjugal love are called mādhurya-bhaktas, or internal devotees. The loving services in parental love, fraternity and servitude are included in conjugal love of God. In conclusion, therefore, every confidential devotee is a pure devotee of the Lord.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu enjoys His pastimes with His immediate expansion Nityānanda Prabhu. His pure devotees and His three purusa incarnations, namely, Kāranodakaśāyī Visnu, Garbhodakaśāyī Visnu and Ksīrodakaśāyī Visnu, always accompany the Supreme Lord to propound the sańkīrtana movement.
