opened his own grammar tol by the order of His guru.
His tol was held at the house of Mukunda Sanjoy in the
GANGA DASA PANDITA
My obeisances to Sri Gangadasa Pandita, who is the
disciple of the husband of Sarasvati, the master of the
Vedas. [C.B.Mad 1.283]
After the ceremony in which Sri Gaursundara was
invested with the sacred thread, He took up his
studies at home, under the tutorship of his father.
When Sri Jagannatha Misra saw that his son was very
eager to be admitted to an academic institutution, his
father took him to the house of Sri Ganga dasa Pandita,
to get Him admitted into Ganga dasa Pandita's tol. In
Krsna-lila Ganga dasa Pandita was the teacher of
Balarama and Krsna, Sandipani Muni.
When he saw Jagannatha Misra had come to his house,
Ganga dasa got up to respectfully receive him and
after embracing him, he very affectionately
requested him to take his seat. Jagannatha Misra
addressed him, "I have brought my son to you.
Please become his teacher and instruct him how to
read and write." Sri Ganga dasa Pandita replied, "Only
unless one is greatly fortunate does he get the chance to
instruct a child who is endowed with the symptoms of
such a high-souled saintly person. I will teach him
to the best of my ability."
Thus Sri Jagannatha Misra presented his son Nimai
into the hands of Ganga dasa Pandita and then returned
home.
While looking at his new disciple, Gangadas became
immersed in great happiness and kept Nimai with him
just as if he was his own son.
[C.B. Adi 8.32]
Ganga dasa could undestand by the divine appearance
and nature of this boy that he was not ordinary, and so
he began to carefully instruct him while treating him
just like his own son. The boy Nimai had such a
miraculous intellect that after hearing the sutras only
once, he had completely committed them to the
memory. Within a few days he came to occupy the seat
at the head of the class. Gradually it came to pass that
sometimes Nimai would explain the sutras even
better than his teacher. Not one amongst hundreds and
hundreds of students in the tol could rival him. Ganga
dasa undestood very quickly that Nimai was his best
student. Whatever pastimes the Lord enacts He does
so to the penultimate degree.
Amongst the better students of the Pandit was Sri
Kamalakanta, Murari Gupta, Sri Krsnananda and
others, to whom Nimai would pose many tricky
questions. Their discussions would usually end up at the
bathing ghat at the Ganga with loud arguments and
eventually pushing and mud slinging. Nimai would
establish one conclusion, then defeat that by
establishing another, and then establish the original
conclusion again with better arguments. Seeing his
genius the other students were simply struck with
wonder and Ganga dasa Pandita was in total ecstasy.
After practising logic and rhetoric for some days under
the tutelage of Ganga das Pandit, Sri Nimai then
pavilion where they conducted Durga Puja. Day by day
his students increased and even at such a young age he
attained such proficiency in scholarship that everyone
including even Ganga dasa Pandita was simply amazed.
While He engaged in His pastimes of learning His
mother Saci Mata was very happy. Eventually the time
came for Him to go to Gaya under the plea of offering
rites for His deceased father. After being initiated by Sri
Isvari Puri He returned from there a changed person.
Now he explained all the sutras in relationship to Sri
Krsna. Besides that, he knew nothing else. Finally his
students went to Ganga dasa Pandita to inform him of
the new developments.
That afternoon when Nimai came to offer his respects
to his guru, Ganga dasa Pandita very affectionately
blessed him saying, "Bap Visvambhara (Bap is an
affectionate term which literally means father, but which
is used loosely even by mothers to address their sons),
now hear my words. The scholarship of brahmanas is
not a matter of small fortune. On both sides of your
family Nilambara Cakravarti, your maternal
grandfather, and your father Jagannath Misra
weren't uneducated fools. You are also very qualified to
explain ins and outs of logic. If by giving up teaching
one attains devotion, then why didn't your father and
grandfather give it up? Were they not devotees?
Considering all this, please continue your studies.
By study one becomes a Vaisnava brahmana. If a
brahmana becomes a fool then how will he distinguish
between good and bad. Reflecting on these matters you
should pursue your studies and continue to teach your
students nicely. On my honor I am stating this, that
you might not explain things in a contrary fashion."
Nimai replied, "By your mercy, there is not a soul in
Navadwipa who can defeat me in philosophical debate.
Let me see which of these great panditas can refute the
explanations of the sutras that I will now give. I am
going to the tol to begin instructing these points just
now." Hearing these words of Sri Gaurasundor, Ganga
dasa was pleased. Thus Mahaprabhu took the dust of
his lotus feet and went of to the tol.
(Then what happened?)
"What is left for Ganga dasa to accomplish, who has
most worshipable person in the fourteen worlds as his
disciple?"