Gopala Guru Gosvami
Gopal Guru Goswami was born in an Orissan Brahmin family. His father’s name was Murari Pandit. His mother’s name is unknown. While still a child, he had the opportunity to serve Mahaprabhu through Govinda, the Lord’s servant. His original name was Makaradhvaja Pandit, but Mahaprabhu used to affectionately call him Gopal. His name is found in neither the Chaitanya Charitamrita nor the Chaitanya Bhagavat.
He was initiated by Vakresvara Pandit, one of the Lord’s close associates living in Jagannath Puri. This is confirmed in the book Vakresvara-carita, where the following passage is found: There are five branches in the lineage descending from Vakresvara Pandit--those coming from Chandrasekhara, Shankararanya Acharya, Govindananda, Devananda and Gopal Guru, whose qualities are beyond description.
From the book Guru-pranai, which is published by the Radhakanta Math, we learn that Gopal Guru Goswami’s identity in Vraja-lila was as the sakhi Maïjumedha.
