Gadadhara Pandita maintains a very unique position in the highest understanding of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s lila. These two divine personalities were very close from a young age and as Sri Caitanya didn’t manifest his divinity in His early life, Gadadhara Pandita, a great devotee, lamented that his close friend wasn’t a devotee and he would state this often to Mahaprabhu.
Naturally Gadadhara was overjoyed when Sri Caitanya returned from Gaya after his initiation by Isvara Puri. Mahaprabhu had totally converted to a Vaisnava devotee and initiated his sankirtana movement of the loud congregation chanting of the Holy Name of the Lord:
Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Oftentimes the pastimes of the Lord may be misunderstood as they serve more than one hidden purpose. This is described by Śrīla Rupa Goswami in his Ujjvala-nilamani, in the verse:
aher iva gatiḥ premṇaḥ
svabhāva-kuṭilā bhavet
This section of the Ujjvala-nilamani refers to the loving affairs between Lord Krsna and the (gopi) residents of Vrndavan. And this verse 163 states that these loving affairs between the gopis and Lord Krsna move in a crooked way like a snake and in particular, that the left wing anger of Srimati Radharani often manifests without any cause and sometimes with cause. Krsna is captivated by such heated unpredictable emotions in Srimati Radharani which add an extra volatile fascinating spice to Their pastimes.
Desiring to understand and directly experience this intense love of Srimati Radharani that she exhibits for Himself alone, the original Supreme Personality Himself, Krsnas tu bhagavan svayam, manifests as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu — Who is none-other than Krsna covered in the the aura, the mood and mentality of Srimati Radharani — Krsna searching after Himself. And He is trying to experience and understand the penultimate extreme love exhibited by Srimati Radharani for Himself.
This love of Srimati Radharani is the suprememost emotion expressed anywhere by anyone, the highest state of love — prema pumartho mahan, pure love of God. To experience even a small taste of this pure love of God is our highest goal of life, understood only by greatly fortunate rare souls. And it is a fact that all of our devotional service is under the domain of Srimati Radharani and must pass through Her to reach Lord Krsna.
In Caitanya lila, Srimati Radharani has also manifested Herself as Gadadhara Pandit, thus the nature, the lila and especially the mood of service of Gadadhara Pandita in relation to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu mirrors in many ways that of Srimati Radharani and Lord Krsna in Gokula. Krishna became Mahaprabhu and felt great separation from Himself. His goal was “Union in separation,” wherein He manifested the joyous symptoms of mahabhava tempered with the agony of separation.
Srila Sridhara Maharaja has wonderfully expressed this unique relationship in a verse he has written:
nilambhodi-tate sadā sva-viraha-kṣepānvitaṁ bandhavam
śrīmad-bhāgavati-kathā-madirayā sañjīvayan bhāti yaḥ
śrīmad-bhāgavatam sadā sva-nayanasru-pāyanaiḥ pūjayan
gosvāmī-pravaro gadādhara-vibhur bhūyāt mad-eka-gatiḥ
On the sands of the blue ocean in Puri, feeling deep separation from Himself (Krsna), Mahaprabhu is consoled by His friend Gadadhara (Radharani). As one nears death, suffering the loss of a beloved, Gadadhara tries to resuscitate Mahaprabhu by supplying the intoxicating wine of krsna-katha to drown the agony of separation plaguing His heart. As Gadadhara sings the songs of the Bhagavata, tears cascade from his eyes, like a shower of flower offerings, washing the words from its pages. My only goal is to enter that current of devotion flowing from the divine heart of that best of Gosvamis -— Gadadhara.
Such expressions are the highest emotions of devotion aspired for by maturing devotees craving to dive deep into this endless blissful ocean of pure love of God. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spent the last years of His manifest pastimes in Jagannatha Puri, absorbed in these overwhelming emotions of love — the pure love of Radha and Krsna. This is Krsna as Radha searching after Himself.