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Let us further see how another gem of a devotee, named Pundarika Vidyanidhi, joined the circle of devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Gauging him by his activities and external appearance one might condemn him as an outright materialist with lot of desires for worldly pleasures. He was extremely rich and very handsome too. He maintained his curly hair beautifully by applying fragrant oils, wore only silk clothes but within his heart, secretively, he was intensely devoted to SriHari.

He never bathed in the Ganges. His attitude was that if he bathed, he would have to touch mother Ganges with his feet. If he saw people urinating or dirtying Ganges by throwing garbage, he felt extremely pained at heart. Ironically, people considered him a great sinner who never bathed in Ganges. Nobody knew his heart. He kept his devotion secretive with least exposure.

Once during Nãmasankirtan, Prabhu called out loudly - “Ha! Pundarika Vidyanidhi! Oh! My father! Vidyanidhi!” Later he swooned to the ground. Devotees could not understand anything. They thought that He had called only Krishna by the word ‘Pundarika’. But they suspected ‘Vidyanidhi’ to be some devotee. Even after trying to recollect for a long time, they could not think of a devotee by that name in Navadweep. After Prabhu woke up, he was asked by his devotees - “You called out the name ‘Pundarika Vidyanidhi’ in a loud voice. Who is that highly fortunate Bhãgavata?”

Prabhu replied - “He is a Vaishnava of the highest order. You will not understand his greatness when you see him. He is a great Brahmin devotee living in a village called ‘Chatgav’. He also visits his other house in Shantipur often to worship the Ganges. I am longing to see him.” On hearing this, the devotees began eagerly expecting the time for Pundarika Vidyanidhi to come in search of MahaPrabhu.

One day Pundarika Vidyanidhi came to Navadweep. Nobody took him to be a Vaishnava. They thought him to be a very rich and respectable man. Mukunda Dutt who was one among Prabhu’s intimate devotees, was capable of singing in a very sweet voice. He too belonged to Vidyanidhi’s place. Both were of the same age and knew each other very well. Mukunda Dutt was very affectionate towards another devotee of MahaPrabhu, named Gadhadhara. Mukunda Dutt spoke to him thus - “A Vaishnava has now arrived in Navadweep. Let us both go and meet him”, and went to Pundarika Vidyanidhi’s house with him.

Vidyanidhi stayed in a very beautiful palacial house in Navadweep. The cot on which he was seated was possessed of intricate designs and there were costly mattresses and bed spreads over it. Vidyanidhi had adorned his forhead with a very fragrant Tilak. Chewing a fragrant pãn, which had reddened his lips, he was seated comfortably in his cot like a young prince. Two servants were fanning him with fans made of soft peocock feathers. Mukunda Dutt introduced Gadhadhar to Vidyanidhi. He said that Gadhadhar was a very detached Vaishnava and was an intimate devotee of Prabhu receiving his grace.

With a smile, Vidyanidhi said that he was fortunate to have seen them. Gadhadhara had a great doubt as to how such a person like Vidyanidhi, who was steeped in pomp and pleasures, could be a devotee of the Lord and was extremely surprised. Mukunda Dutt could read his thoughts. He began singing in his sweet voice, two verses from Srimad Bhãgavatam describing the Lord’s compassion and grace. Hearing those two verses, which were considered to be gems in the whole of the Bhãgavatam, Vidyanidhi fell unconscious on the floor from his cot.

Observing the strange state of Vidyanidhi upon hearing the verse, who was a second before seated comfortably with a smile, Gadhadhara was taken aback with surprise. All symptoms of divine ecstasy like sweat, tremor and tears in the eyes manifested in the body of Vidyanidhi. He began crying aloud. Tears flowed incessantly from his eyes. Tearing his silk clothes with both his hands he pleaded - “Brother! Please sing! Please! I beg you to fill my ears with your nectarine voice.” Mukunda Dutt kept singing without a pause. Seeing Vidyanidhi’s state, his people asked Mukuda Dutt to stop his music. Before that Vidyanidhi had swooned and was shedding tears constantly.

Gadhadhara felt ashamed on having considered such a Bhagavottama to be a worldly-minded person without knowing his true nature. He repented for his mistake. He knew that offence to a devotee was greater than that to God and was unpardonable too, and so he pleaded him to initiate him into a mantra. He conveyed his thoughts to Mukunda Dutt that by initiating him, Vidyanidhi would become his Guru and hence would graciously forgive his disciple. Understanding his sincerity in the matter, Mukunda Dutt requested Vidyanidhi - “Gadhadhara belongs to a very noble family. He is a fit Vaishnava. He desires to get initiated into a mantra by you.”

Acceding to Mukunda Dutt’s request, would Vidyanidhi agree to initiate Gadhadhara into a mantra or would he refuse saying that he had no such eligibility was something which even Mukunda Dutt was apprehensive about.

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