Vaisnava amrta chapter 11 Gopichandan and Sri Krsnas Tilaka

[Paramananda das]

 

Lord Sri Krsna has 3 kinds of Tilaka , 1 made of kasturi , musk from the deer , it makes a black line on Krsna forhead, 2 is Gorocana ,gallstones from cows , and 3 kunkuma .It sppears Lord Sri Krsna at times wore tilaka as one line made of Sandalwood. Unfortunatly there is no mention I could find of the Tilaka worn by Lord Caitanya and His associates.Except for Lord Caitanya having tilaka made of chandan sandalwood in Navadvipa.

There is a common misconception that Sri Krsna wears Gopichandan ,gopichandan is descriped as the cosmetic of the gopis and found in Gopi kupa in Dvaraka ,the glories of Gopichandan is for example explained in Garga Samhita .

Also is it not descriped anywhere Krsna wears Tilaka the way vaisnavas wear it .Different Sampradayas have different kind of Tilakas even among vaisnavas there is many kind .It is known as Urdhva Pundra. Gaudiya Vaisnava tilka is not made of clay from Vrindavana except Radha and Shyama kunda tilaka.
This link if partly incorrect https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urdhva_Pundra . Gaudiya Vaisnavas only wear
Gopi chandan
See also my articles about Gopichandan from Garga samhita
and Vasudeva Upanisad .

Advaita Prakash chapter 14 mentiones Lord Caitanya putting tilaka ,Gopichandan is not mentioned what else could it be?:
Seeing Gauranga, His friends smiled and said, “Dear Nimai, why are You dressed differently? You have marked the twelve parts of Your body with tilaka and written the name of Hari on Your limbs. Why have You marked Your body with the signs of the conch and disc?”
On hearing His friends, Gaura replied, “Don't laugh at Me. You should know the importance of marking the body with tilaka. The scriptures state that one who worships the Lord but does not mark his body with tilaka or wear tulasi neck beads achieves no result. Therefore these should be accepted as proper dress. According to great sages, this dress has unlimited potency. Wearing proper dress is the cause of purifying the mind. This tradition comes through the disciplic succession and is therefore most worshipable. By proper decorating the body in this way the living entity can attain liberation even while residing in the material world. Putana attained the supreme abode by dressing properly.”
The devotees' sharklike minds drown in the ocean of ecstasy, and they said to themselves, “Gaura has completely changed His mood.”

So according to this part of Sastra even Putana put on tilaka when she came to kill baby Krsna .
Urdhva Paundram refers that they go upward and similarly when you wear Tilaka you go upward back to Godhead.Garga Muni narrates how even by accident (a jiva) person that came in touch with Gopichandan attained Goloka Vrindavana.

The Glories of Gopi-chandana Tilak
According to Vaishnava tradition, gopi-chandana, or the sacred soil from Dwaraka , is applied on the body in twelve places while reciting mantras to Lord Vishnu. This process purifies one's body, designating it as a temple of the Lord. Besides purification, the tilak also offers the wearer protection from ghosts, evil influences, bad dreams, accidents and many other things. It keeps one's mind calm and allows one to constantly remember Lord Krishna. The sacred dust of vrndavan is said to have touched the lotus feet of Sri Krishna's exclusive devotees and is worship able even by Sri Krishna himself.
The following story from the Garga Samhita describes the wonderful glories of the sacred mud known as gopi-chandana.
(From Garga Samhita, Canto Six, Chapter Fifteen )

Text 15 yasya sravana-matrena
karma-bandhat pramucyate
gopinam yatra vaso 'bhut
tena gopi-bhuvah smrtah

Simply by hearing about Gopi-bhumi, which is so named because the gopis resided there, one become free from the bondage of karma.

Text 16
gopy-angaraga-sambhutam
gopi-chandanam uttamam
gopi-chandana-liptango
ganga-snana-phalam labhet

In Gopi-bhumi gopi-chandana was manifested from the gopis' cosmetics. A person who marks his limbs with gopi-chandana tilaka attains the result of bathing in the
Ganga.

Text 17
maha-nadinam snanasya
punyam tasya dine dine
ngopi-chandana-mudrabhir
mudrito yah sada bhavet

A person who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains the pious result of daily bathing in all sacred rivers.

Text 18
asvamedha-sahasrani
rajasuya-satani ca
sarvani tirtha-danani
vratani ca tathaiva ca
krtani tena nityam vai
sa krtartho na samsayah

A person who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains the result of performing a thousand asvamedha-yajnas and a hundred rajasuya-yajnas. He attains the reusult of giving charity and following vows at all holy places. He attains the goal of life. Of this there is no doubt.

Text 19
ganga-mrd-dvi-gunam punyam
citrakuta-rajah smrtam
tasmad dasa-gunam punyam
rajah pancavati-bhavam

Twice as sacred as the mud of the Ganga is the dust of Chitrakuta. Ten times more sacred than that is the dust of Panchavati-tirtha.

Text 20
tasmac chata-gunam punyam
gopi-chandanakam rajah
gopi-chandanakam viddhi
vrndavana-rajah-samam

A hundred times more sacred is the dust of gopi-chandana. Please know that gopi-chandana is equal to the dust of Vrindavana.

Text 21
gopi-chandana-liptangam
yadi papa-satair yutam
tam netum na yamah sakto
yama-dutah kutah punah

Even if in the past he has committed hundreds of sins, if a person wears gopi-chandana tilaka, then Yamaraja cannot take him away. How, then, can Yamaraja's messengers touch him?

Text 22
nityam karoti yah papi
gopi-chandana-dharanam
sa prayati harer dhama
golokam prakrteh param

A sinner who daily wears gopi-chandana tilaka goes to Lord Krishna supreme abode, Goloka, which is beyond the world of matter.

Text 23
sindhu-desasya rajabhud
dirghabahur iti srutah
anyaya-varti dustatma
vesya-sanga-ratah sada

In Sindhu-desa there was a king named Dirghabahu. He was cruel and sinful and he was addicted to visiting prostitutes.

Text 24
tena vai bharate varse
brahma-hatya-satam krtam
dasa garbhavati-hatyah
krtas tena duratmana

While he was on the earth this cruel sinner murdered a hundred brahmanas and ten pregnant women.

Text 25
mrigayayam tu banaughaih
kapila-go-vadhah krtah
saindhavam hayam aruhya
mrgayarthi gato 'bhavat

One day he mounted a sindhu horse and went hunting. With a flood of arrows he accidentally killed with a brown cow in that hunt.

Text 26
ekada rajya-lobhena
mantri kruddho maha-khalam
jaghanaranya-dese tam
tiksna-dharena casina

One day, greedy to get his kingdom, with a sharp sword his angry minister killed him in the forest.

Text 27
bhu-tale patitam mrtyu-
gatam viksya yamanugah
baddhva yama-purim ninyur
harsayantah parasparam

Seeing him fallen to the ground and dead, the Yamadutas came, bound him, and, joking as they went, took him to the city of Yamaraja.

Text 28
sammukhe 'vasthitam viksya
papinam yama-rad bali
citraguptam praha turnam
ka yogya yanatasya vai

Seeing this sinner brought before him, powerful Yamaraja said to his scribe Chitragupta, "What is the proper punishment for him?"

Text 29
sri-chitragupta uvaca catur-asiti-laksesu
narakesu nipatyatam
nihsandeham maha-raja
yavac candra-divakarau

Sri Chitragupta said: O great king, he should be thrown into eight million four hundred thousand hells for as long as the sun and the moon shine in the sky.

Text 30
anena bharate varse
ksanam na su-krtam krtam
dasa-garbhavati-ghatah
kapila-go-vadhah krtah

On the earth he did not perform a single pious deed. He killed ten pregnant women. He killed a brown cow.

Text 31
tatha vana-mriganam ca
krtva hatyah sahasrasah
tasmad ayam maha-papi
devata-dvija-nindakah

He killed thousands of deer in the forest. He offended the demigods and the brahmanas. He is a great sinner.

Texts 32 and 33
sri-narada uvaca
tada yamajnaya duta
nitva tam papa-rupinam
sahasra-yojanayame
tapta-taile maha-khale sphurad aty-ucchalat-phene
kumbhipake nyapatayan
pralayagni-samo vahnih
sadyah sitalatam gatah

Sri Narada said: Then, by Yamaraja's order, the Yamadutas took that sinner and threw him into a terrible, eight-thousand mile wide cauldron of bubbling boiling oil in the hell of Kumbhipaka. The moment that sinner came to it, the boiling oil, which was as hot as the great fires at the time of cosmic devastation, suddenly became cool.

Text 34
vaideha tan-nipatanat
prahlada-ksepanad yatha
tadaiva citram acakhyur
yama-duta mahatmane

O king of Videha, as Prahlada was unhurt in the same situation, that sinner was not hurt by the boiling oil. Then the Yamadutas described that great wonder to noble-hearted Yamaraja.

Text 35 anena su-krtam bhumau
ksanavan na krtam kvacit
citraguptena satatam
dharma-rajo vyacintayat

Yamaraja and Chitragupta carefully reviewed the sinner's case and concluded that while he was on the earth the sinner had not for a moment performed even a single pious deed.

Text 36
sabhayam agatam vyasam
sampujya vidhivan nrpa
natva papraccha dharmatma
dharma-rajo maha-matih

Then Vyasadeva arrived in that assembly. Bowing down before Him, and carefully worshiping Him, saintly and noble-hearted Yamaraja asked Vyasadeva the following question.

Text 37
sri-yama uvaca anena papina purvam
na krtam su-krtam kvacit
sphurad-agny-ucchalat-phene
kumbhipake maha-khale asya ksepanato vahnih
sadyah sitalatam gatah
iti sandehatas cetah
khidyate me na samsayah

Sri Yamaraja said: When a certain sinner, who had never performed even a single pious deed, was thrown into the terrible boiling oil of Kumbhipaka, the oil suddenly became cool. Because of this my mind is now tortured with doubts.

Text 39
sri-vyasa uvaca suksma gatir maha-raja
vidita papa-punyayoh
tatha brahma-gatih prajnaih
sarva-sastra-vidam varaih

Sri Vyasadeva said: O great king, the intelligent sages, who have studied all the scriptures, know that the ways of piety, sin, and spiritual progress are very subtle and difficult to understand.

Text 40 daiva-yogad asya punyam
praptam vai svayam arthavat
yena punyena suddho 'sau
tac chrnu tvam maha-mate

Somehow or other, by destiny, this sinner did perform a pious deed, and by that deed he became purified. O noble-hearted one, please hear the story of this.

Text 41
kasyapi hastato yatra
patita dvaraka-mrdah
tatraivayam mrtah papi
suddho 'bhut tat-prabhavatah

That sinner died in a place where from someone's hand some gopi-chandana from Dvaraka had accidentally fallen. Dying in gopi-chandana, that sinner became purified.

Text 42
gopi-chandana-liptango
naro narayano bhavet
etasya darsanat sadyo
brahma-hatya pramucyate

A person who wears gopi-chandana tilaka attains a spiritual form like that of Lord Narayana. Simply by seeing him one becomes free of the sin of killing a brahmana.

Texts 43 and 44
sri-narada uvaca iti srutva dharma-rajas
tam aniya visesatah
vimane kama-ge sthapya
vaikuntham prakrteh param presayam asa sahasa
gopi-chandana-kirti-vit
evam te kathitam rajan
gopi-chandanakam yasah

Sri Narada said: Hearing this, Yamaraja, who understands the glories of gopi-chandana, took the sinner, placed him a an airplane that goes anywhere one wishes, and sent him to Vaikuntha, which is above the worlds of matter. O king, thus I have described to you the glories of gopi-chandana.

Text 45
gopi-chandana-mahatmyam
yah srnoti narottamah
sa yati paramam dhama
sri-krishnasya mahatmanah

One who hears this account of gopi-chandana's glories becomes exalted. He goes to the supreme abode of Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

in the Vasudeva Upanisad , Narada Muni asked Lord Krsna in Dvaraka about tilaka and Krsna explains ,

Lord Vasudeva said: To please Me, My devotees headed by the
demigod Brahma, wear Visnu-candana, which comes from the spiritual
world of Vaikuntha. Because every day the gopis anoint My limbs
with this candana and then again wash it away, it is also known as
gopi-candana. This sacred yellow candana, which holds within it My
cakra, and which is present at Cakra-tirtha, brings liberation (to
they who wear it).

So accoding to Vasudeva Upanisad even in Vrindavana the Gopis decorate Krsna with Gopichandan , later this Gopichandan manifested in Gopi Kupa in Dvaraka. Some vaisnavas claim the Gopis left for Goloka Vrindavana from the Gopi kupa.How the Gopi kupa manifested I have not found in sastra.

then Vasudeva Krsna told Narada Muni how to offer obaisences to Gopichandan: O gopi, O destroyer of sins, O candana manifested from Lord
Visnu’s transcendental body and marked with His cakra, I offer my
obeisances to you. Please give me liberation, for I am anointed
with you.

As question I have is that when Lord Caitanya took sannyasa he no longer wore Gopi chandan as He did after His sannyasa initiation by Kesava Bharati . Now Kesava Bharati may be have been a sannyasi in the Mayavadi Sampradaya but in actuality he is Sadipani Muni .In the Sri-Gaura-Ganoddesa-dipika of Kavi-karnapura, Kesava Bharati is listed as the reincarnation of Sandipani Muni.

Krsna tells Narada Muni one should use Ganga water when making tilaka:
One should go to My Ganges, take some water, bring it to My
temple, and use it to make gopi-candana paste. Then, reciting
either the mantras that begin ‘deva avantu nah’ (May the Lord
protect us), or the Visnu gayatri, or my names beginning with the
name Kesava, one should apply gopi-candana tilaka.

Then Krsna tells Narada Muni: A brahmacari or vanaprastha should, while chanting the Visnu-
gayatri or the holy names beginning with Krishna, apply this tilaka
to his forehead, chest, neck, and shoulders.

How the Visnu Gayatri mantra is chanted while putting tilaka is not described by Krsna.What is this Visnu Gayatri>
Om Narayanaya Vidhmahe Vasudevaya Dheemahe Thanno Vishnu Prachodayath.
Om, Let me meditate on Lord Narayana,

Oh, Lord Vasudeva, give me higher intellect,
And let Lord Vishnu illuminate my mind.

5 (A) Three times he should chant this mantra: O Lord who holds
the conch shell, cakra, and club in Your hands, O infallible Lord
who resides in Dvaraka, O lotus-eyed Lord Govinda, please protect
me, who have surrendered to You and taken shelter of You.
5 (B) After meditating in this way, a grhastha should, while
chanting the Visnu-gayatri or the holy names beginning with Kesava,
apply this tilaka with his ring finger to twelve parts of his body,
beginning with his forehead.

Srila Visvanath Chakaravati Thakura has described Sri Krsnas Tilaka like a half moon