Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami
From the book “Sri Vraja-maṇḍala-parikramā”:
Near Luk-lukī-kuṇḍa, in a secluded, but naturally beautiful location is Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī’s place of bhajana. Śrī Prabhodhānanda was the spiritual master and paternal uncle of Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. He was a transcendental poet, well-versed in all the holy scriptures. Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi, Śrī Navadvīpa-śataka and Śrī Vṛndāvana-śataka are some of the works of this great personality. In his famous Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpika, Śrī Kavi Karṇapūra has mentioned that Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī is the very talented Tuṅgavidyā Sakhī, one of the eight main sakhīs in Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes.
After Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī heard Śrīman Mahāprabhu speak kṛṣṇa-kathā in Śrī Raṅgam, he left the Śrī sampradāya to become a follower of Mahāprabhu. When Śrīman Mahāprabhu left Śrī Raṅgam, Prabodhānanda came to Vraja and stayed for some time at this secluded place where he performed bhajana. In his last days, he came to Kālīya-daha in Vṛndāvana. There he entered his eternal pastimes while performing bhajana. Today, one can take darśana of his place of bhajana and his samādhi there.
Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
The very beautiful and tranquil Surabhi-kunda is the place where Prabhodananda Saraswati Goswami performed his bhajana for some period of time before he moved to Kaliya Ghata in Vrindavana. Prabhodananda Saraswati was a devoted follower of Vaishnava Dharma and a prominent spiritual teacher belonging to the Shri sampradaya of Ramanujacharya; he hailed from Srirangam (Rangapatnam) in Southern India and was the uncle as well as initiating spiritual master of Gopala Bhatta Goswami.
Shrila Prabhodananda Saraswati Goswami first met Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at Srirangam in Andhra Pradesh during the Lord’s tour of South India, when He spent the rainy season staying at the house of Gopala Bhatta’s father, Venkata Bhatta, who was Prabhodananda’s brother. At that time, Prabhodananda had the opportunity to associate with Lord Chaitanya and became so convinced about the Lord’s mission and philosophy, that he left the Shri sampradaya and joined Mahaprabhu’s Gaudiya sampradaya. After leaving Shrirangam and moving to Vrindavana, Prabhodananda stayed in the holy dhama for the rest of his life. He was an intimate associate of the Six Goswamis and wrote a number of important books on the science of bhakti-yoga. His samadhi is at Kaliya Ghata in Vrindavana where he also performed bhajana during the latter part of his life. The Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika says that Prabhodananda Saraswati was one of the ashta-sakhis named Tungavidya Devi in Krishna’s Vrindavana pastimes.
