Purusottma Thakura is he the Sakha Damana or Stoka Krsna?

[Paramananda das]

PAMHO AGTSP

Today is the holy disapperance of Purusottma das Thakura:

The Disappearance day of Purusottama Das Thakura is observed on February 27th.

Today is a good day to honor Purushottama Thakura ,so I am hoping he will be pleased by my chanting and Giriraja seva and my bookdistribution, may he bless me ,I may also one day serve Krsna as a  priya narma sakha,he is one of the Dvadasa Gopas:

Previosuly I wrote this:

Dear Vaisnava friends PAMHO AGTSP Today is the disappearenceday of Purusottama das Thakura.He was one of Lord Nityanandas 12 gopas,cowherdsboys,also known as the dwadasagopalas. These cowhersboy priviously appeared in Krsnas pastimes, and Purushottama das Thakura ,was Krsna's friend,and known as StokaKrsna.StokaKrsna is a cowherdboy in the mood of a priya sakha(dear friend of Krsna).Nectar of devotion explains about the various catagories of cowherdboyfriends of Krsna. Regarding Stoka Krsna we find this pastime mentioned in the Nectar of Devotion. "When Stoka Krsna was fighting with Krsna,his farther chastised him for fighting with Krsna,who was the life and soul of all the residents of Vrindavana.Upon hearing these chastisements, Stoka Krsna stopped his fighting.But Krsna continued to challenge him,and thus in order too meet the challenge,Stoka Krsna took his pole and began to display his dexterity by whirling it." In Lord Caitanyas pastimes all these cowherdboys incarnated to become Lord Nityananda's associates. CC Adi lila 11.38 -39 states :"The twnety third and twenty fourth prominent devotees of Lord Nityananda were Sadasiva Kaviraja, and his son Purosottama dasa who was the tenth Gopala." Since birth Purusottama dasa was merged in the service of the lotusfeet of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, and he always engaged in childish play with Lord Krsna." vers 40 mentions Purusottmas son:"Sri Kanu Thakura a very respectabel gentelman , was the son of Purusottama das Thakura.He was such a great devotee that Lord Krsna always lived in his body" There are more information in the purports to these verses. Purusottama dasa Thakura was son of Sadasiva Kaviraja,and he was formerly the Gopi Chandravali. There is information in the Nectar of devotion about the priya sakhas.Also Dasaratha Suta has written the book called the:Cowherdboys nectar.This fine book describes the daily activities of the priya sakhas. More information about the 12 gopas are also found in the 11th chapter of the Adi lila of the CC. All glories to the dwadasa gopas! All glories to Purushottama dasa Thakura ! All glories to whoever remebers the pastimes of the cowherdboys on this auspiscious day of the appearance of Purushottama das Thakura!  The pastimes of the cowherdboys,Gopas are also recorded in 10th Canto of Srimad Bhagavatam.

Now look at the article of Ballabha Tirtha Maharaja:

this is by HH Ballabha Tirtha maharaja:

sadasivasuto namna nagarah purusottamah vaidya-vamsodbhavo namna dama yo vallavo vraje

Nagar Purushottam was previously the cowherd named Daman in Vraja. He is now born in a Vaidya family as the son of Sadashiva. (Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika 131)

Daman was one of the twelve Gopals and a companion of Krishna in his childhood pastimes in Vraja. In the eleventh chapter of the Adi-lila of Chaitanya Charitamrita, Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami has listed Purushottam Das amongst the devotees of Lord Nityananda.

Sadashiva Kaviraj was a great personality. Purushottam Das was his son. From birth, Purushottam das was absorbed in the service of the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda Prabhu, and he always engaged in childish play with Lord Krishna. His son was named Sri Kanu Thakur, a very respectable gentleman. His body was saturated with the nectar of Love for Lord Krishna. (Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.11.38-40)

Vrindavan Das Thakur has also named Purushottam Das as one of Nityananda Prabhu's chief associates.

Sadashiva Kaviraj was very fortunate to have a son like Purushottam Das. Purushottam Das had no external consciousness of his body, for Nityananda Prabhu is constantly acting through him. (Chaitanya Bhagavata 3.5.741-2)

For four generations the family of Purushottam Das consisted of eternally perfect direct associates of Mahaprabhu: Kamsari Sen, Sadashiva Kaviraj, Purushottam Thakur, and Kanu Thakur. The Gaura-ganodesa-dipikaidentifies Kamsari Sen as Ratnavali Sakhi and Sadashiva Kaviraj as Chandravali (156).

Purushottam Thakur's wife was named Jahnava Devi. She died while her son, Kanu Thakur, was just a young child. Nityananda Prabhu named the boy Sisu Krishna Das. It is said that Nityananda Prabhu's wife Jahnava Devi adopted Kanu and took him with her to Vrindavan. Some say that he was also one of the twelve Gopals. One legend about Kanu Thakur holds that when in Vrindavan, while he was dancing in kirtan, his ankle bell flew off. He vowed that he would make his residence wherever the ankle bell was recovered. When it was found in the town of Bodhkhana in Jessore district, he established his Sripat there. In the opinion of some, Madhavacharya (Madhava Chattopadhyaya) of Jirat in Hooghly district, the husband of Nityananda Prabhu's daughter Ganga Devi, was Purushottam Thakur's disciple.

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Goswami Thakur has the following to say about Purushottam Thakur's Sripat: " Purushottam Das Thakur lived at Sukhasagara, midway between the Chakdaha and Simurali railway stations. The deities he installed were formerly served in Beledanga village, but when the temple fell into the river, the deities were taken to Sukhasagara. That temple was also swallowed by the Ganges and so the deities were brought with Jahnava Mata's deity to Sahebdanga Berigram. Since that place was also destroyed, all the deities were again moved about three or four miles to the village named Chanduregram, on the banks of the Ganges about one mile up from Pal Para." (Anubhasya 1.11.39)

Devakinandana Das, the author of the Vaisnava-vandana, was Purushottam Thakur's disciple. There he writes,

"I worship Sadashiva Kaviraj with great attentiveness. He was constantly intoxicated with love and had no external consciousness… I bow down to my worshipable Lord, Purushottam Thakur. Who can list his incomparable qualities? He was merciful to those who were devoid of virtue, displaying the natural power of his compassion. When only seven years old, he was so intoxicated with love for Krishna that he danced in a way that enchanted the entire world."

The following supplementary information is given in the Gaudiya-Vaisnava Abhidhana:

"Some people say that Purushottam's surname was Nagar, while others say that the name Nagar comes from the name of the area where he lived. Since the five villages (Beledanga, Berigram, Sukhasagar, Manasapota and Pal Para) are so close together, this area is sometimes called Nagaradesh. Purushottam once ate snake poison when in a trance state without experiencing any ill effects. This was a source of great astonishment to all who witnessed it. Many of Nityananda Prabhu's associates often displayed such miraculous powers."

Excerpted from "Sri Chaitanya: His Life & Associates" by Srila Bhakti Ballabh ...

on Sampradaya Sun ,they posted a very nice set of articles about the Dvadasa Gopas:

Stoka-krsna Sakha Painting by Haridas Thakur das

May 07, 2011 — CANADA (SUN) — A serial presentation of Sri Krsna's transcendental Vrindavan associates.

Today we begin our next presentation on Sri Krsna's transcendental associates in Vrindavan, this time featuring the cowherd boy, Stoka-krsna. The confidential friends of Krsna known as the priya-sakhas are closer to Krsna than some of His boyhood friends, cousins, etc. The priya-sakhas are almost Krsna's age, and their very confidential relationships with Krsna are based on pure friendship. Included in this group are Sridama, Sudama, Dama, Vasudama, Kinkini, Stoka-krsna, Amsu, Bhadrasena, Vilasi, Pundarika, Vitanka and Kalavinka (Jaiva-dharma, Volume Five).

Stokakrsna sakha is also included in a list of the twelve most important cowherd boys, along with Sridama, Sudama, Vasudama, Subala, Mahabala, Subahu, Mahabahu, Dama, Arjuna, Lavanga, and Kusumasava.

Elsewhere, in the 'Govinda Vrndavana' portion of Brihad Gautamiya-tantra, which discusses Lord Krsna's gopa friends, we find this list:

Text 138
upendrah stoka-dama ca sujayah stoka-nagarah vasantas ca sumantas ca rasavan rasa-kandarah

"Upendra, Stoka-dama, Sujaya, Stoka-nagara, Vasanta, Sumanta, Rasavan, Rasa-kandara..."

Stokakrsna, one of the twelve gopalas, or associates of Nityananda Prabhu, is described in Srila Rupa Goswami's famous Sri Sri Radha-Krsna-Ganoddesa-dipika:

Krsna's confidential friends (priya-sakha)

"Krsna's confidential friends are Sridama, Sudama, Dama, Vasudama, Kinkini, Bhadrasena, Amsu, Stokakrsna, Vilasi, Pundarika, Vitankaksa, Kalavinka and Priyaskara. These friends are the same age of Krsna. Their leader is Sridama, who is also known as Pithamardaka.

Bhadrasena is the general who leads Krsna's childhood friends in military pastimes. Stokakrsna is very appropriately named, for he is just like a small (stoka) Krsna."
(Sri Sri Radha-Krsna-Ganoddesa-dipika, Part Two, Texts 30-32)

In Sri Garga Samhita we find this description of Stoka-krsna's birth:

sri-bhagavan uvaca
nandopananda-bhavane sridama subalah sakha stoka-krishno 'rjuno 'msus ca nava-nanda-grihe vidhe

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My friends Sridama and Subala will take birth in the homes of Nanda and Upananda. Stoka-krishna, Arjuna, and Amsu will take birth in the nine homes of Nanda's relatives."
(Sri Garga Samhita, Chapter Four, Text 1)

The appearance in Vrindavan of the gopa Stoka-krsna is also mentioned by Sri Rupa Goswami in Sri Sri Radha-Krsna-Ganoddesa-dipika, Part One, Text 103-107:

"Mahavasu-gopa desired to beget a powerful and heroic son and a beautiful daughter. To attain this end the self-controlled Mahavasu engaged Bhaguri Muni in performing a Vedic sacrifice. (103)

Certain nectarean foodstuffs appeared from that sacrifice and the delighted Mahavasu gave them to his wife, Sucandra-devi. (104)

As Sucandra-devi was hastily eating the sacred foodstuff on her front porch, she spilled some of it. At that time the doe named Suranga, who was the mother of the doe named Rangini, was wandering in Vrajabhumi. Seeing Sucandra-devi spill some of the foodstuff, the doe Suranga quickly came forward and ate some of it. As a result of eating this sacred foodstuff, both the gopi Sucandra and the doe Suranga became pregnant. (105-106)

Sucandra-devi gave birth to a son whom the gopas called Stokakrsna and the deer gave birth to the girl Hiranyangi in the village of Vraja." (107)

Stoka-krsna sakha's identify in Gaura-lila is also disclosed, both in Caitanya-caritamrta Adi lila and in Sri Kavi Karnapura's Sri Gaura Ganodesa Dipika.

Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila 11.33
navadvipe purusottama pandita mahasaya nityananda-name yanra mahonmada haya

"Purusottama Pandita, a resident of Navadvipa, was the eighth gopala. He would become almost mad as soon as he heard the holy name of Nityananda Prabhu.

PURPORT

It is stated in the Caitanya-bhagavata that Purusottama Pandita was born in Navadvipa and was a great devotee of Lord Nityananda Prabhu. As one of the twelve gopalas, his former name was Stokakrsna."

As we will see in tomorrow's segment, there is another reference to Stoka-krsna's name in Caitanya-lila, besides Purusottama Pandita.

So Srila Prabhupada said Stoka Krsna so to me that is what I meditate on.

Lord Caitanya predicted:

Krsnavatara-kale yahstriyo ye pururah priyahkalau te 'vatariryantisridama-subaladayah

"My dear male and female associates, headed by Sridama and Subala, who came to

this world at the time of My advent as   Krsna, will come again during the Kali-yuga.

catuh-rarti-mahantas tegopa dvadasa balakahdharma-samsthapanarthayavihariryami tair ahamcatuh-rarti-mahanta-

"The gopas will become the sixty-four mahantas and the twelve gopalas. To establishthe truth of religion, I will enjoy many pastimes with them.

see also http://www.scribd.com/doc/35996499/Predictions-of-Chaitanya-Mahaprabhu

your humble servant

Paramananda das

[Paramananda das]

this is where the confusion lies:

130. Lord Krsna's cowherd friend Stokakrsna appeared in Lord Caitanya's pastimes as Sri Purusottama das.

131. Dama-gopa, who had been Lord Krsna's cowherd friend in Vraja, appeared in Lord Caitanya's pastimes as Nagara Purusottama. Nagara Purusottama was born in a family of phyisicians, and his father's name was Sadasiva.

[Paramananda das]

this is where the confusion lies:Gaura Ganodessa Dipika

130. Lord Krsna's cowherd friend Stokakrsna appeared in Lord Caitanya's pastimes as Sri Purusottama das.

131. Dama-gopa, who had been Lord Krsna's cowherd friend in Vraja, appeared in Lord Caitanya's pastimes as Nagara Purusottama. Nagara Purusottama was born in a family of phyisicians, and his father's name was Sadasiva.

Purosottama Thakura is Stoka Krsna

[Paramananda das]

Krsna lila - Stokakrsna

Purusottama das Thakura was a great devotee of Lord        Nityananda.

(See Sri Caitanya-caritamrta,        Adi-lila 11.38-40.)