Madhavi-devi

Expressions researched:
"Madhavi" |"Madhavi-devi" |"Madhavidevi"

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 10.135-136, Purport:

In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā (189) it is said that Śikhi Māhiti was formerly an assistant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī named Rāgalekhā. His sister Mādhavī was also an assistant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and was named Kalākelī. Śikhi Māhiti, Mādhavī and their brother Murāri Māhiti were all unalloyed devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu who could not forget Him for a moment of their lives.

CC Adi 10.137, Translation and Purport:

Mādhavīdevī, the seventeenth of the prominent devotees, was the younger sister of Śikhi Māhiti. She is considered to have formerly been a maidservant of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

In the Antya-līlā of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Chapter Two, verses 104–106, there is a description of Mādhavīdevī. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu considered her one of the maidservants of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Within this world, Caitanya Mahāprabhu had three and a half very confidential devotees. The three were Svarūpa Gosāñi, Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and Śikhi Māhiti, and Śikhi Māhiti's sister, Mādhavīdevī, being a woman, was considered the half. Thus it is known that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had three and a half confidential devotees.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 16.281, Purport:

The eternal vraja-vāsīs like Svarūpa Dāmodara did not even come to Vṛndāvana-dhāma. Śrī Puṇḍarīka Vidyānidhi, Śrī Haridāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīvāsa Paṇḍita, Śivānanda Sena, Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya, Śrī Śikhi Māhiti, Śrī Mādhavīdevī and Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita Gosvāmī never visited Vṛndāvana-dhāma. Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura points out that we have no authorized documents stating that these exalted personalities visited Vṛndāvana.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 2 Summary:

A devotee named Bhagavān Ācārya was exceptionally faithful to the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Nevertheless, his brother, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Ācārya, discoursed upon the commentary of impersonalism (Māyāvāda). Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, the secretary of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, forbid Bhagavān Ācārya to indulge in hearing that commentary. Later, when Junior Haridāsa, following the order of Bhagavān Ācārya, went to collect alms from Mādhavīdevī, he committed an offense by talking intimately with a woman although he was in the renounced order. Because of this, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu rejected Junior Haridāsa, and despite all the requests of the Lord's stalwart devotees, the Lord did not accept him again.

CC Antya 2.104, Translation:

Śikhi Māhiti's sister was named Mādhavī-devī. She was an elderly lady who always performed austerities. She was very advanced in devotional service.

CC Antya 2.110, Translation:

Where did you get such fine rice?” the Lord asked.

Bhagavān Ācārya replied, "I got it by begging from Mādhavī-devī."

CC Antya 2.143, Purport:

For a person engaged in devotional service in the renounced order, having intimate relationships with women is certainly hypocrisy. This chastisement was given to Junior Haridāsa as an example to future sahajiyās who might adopt the dress of the renounced order to imitate Rūpa Gosvāmī and other bona fide sannyāsīs but secretly have illicit connections with women. To teach such men, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu chastised His dear devotee Haridāsa for a slight deviation from the regulative principles. Śrīmatī Mādhavī-devī was a highly elevated devotee; therefore approaching her to ask for some rice to serve Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was certainly not very offensive. Nevertheless, just to preserve the regulative principles for the future, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu enforced the hard-and-fast rule that no one in the renounced order should intimately mix with women.