Sri Shyamananda Prabhu was a servant of a servant of Subala in Krishna-lila. He was the disciple of Hridayananda or Hriday Chaitanya, who was a disciple of Gauri Das Pandit. Gauri Das was Subala in Krishna-lila.
Shyamananda Prabhu was born on the full moon day of Chaitra in 1456 of the Shaka era (1534 AD) in the town of Dharenda Bahadurpura, which is near the Kharigapura railway station in Medinipura. His father was Sri Krishna Mandal and his mother, Durika. Krishna Mandala’s home town was Dandeshvara which lies on the banks of the Suvarnarekha River.
Shyamananda Prabhu’s parents performed the appropriate rituals when the time came: the first eating of solid food, the cutting of hair, etc. As he grew older, he studied Sanskrit grammar, etc. His parents were overjoyed to see his talents and his religious proclivity.
After having carefully listened to the glories of Gauranga and Nityananda from devotees, he was able to repeat them to others. When listening to the activities of Gaura-Nitai or those of Radha and Krishna, tears would flow in waves from his eyes.
He also devotedly served his parents and they told him to get initiated so that he could fully commit himself to the service of the Lord. Duhkhi agreed and told them that he wished to take diksha from Hridaya Chaitanya, the disciple of Nityananda.
When Duhkhi arrived in Ambika Kalna, he threw himslf at the feet of Hridaya Chaitanya, who upon learning his identity, happily gave him Krishna-mantra and named him Krishna Das. From then on Duhkhi was known as Duhkhi Krishna Das. Hridaya Chaitanya ordered him to go to Vrindavan to engage in bhajana.
In Vrindavan, Duhkhi Krishna Das studied the Vaishnava scriptures under Sri Jiva Goswami, who was the leading scholar of the sampradaya. When Hridaya Chaitanya heard of the enthusiasm with which Duhkhi Krishna Das was leading the devotional life in Vraja, he wrote a letter to Jiva Goswami in which he said that Duhkhi should consider Jiva to be an extension of himself.
Jiva gave titles to his three most prominent students, Srinivas, Narottama and Duhkhi Krishna Das, bestowing Shyamananda on the latter. The reasoning behind this name was that he brought great joy to Radha and Shyamasundar.
An extraordinary incident, which took place in Vrindavan prior to his being ordered by Jiva to return to Orissa, demonstrates how dear Shyamananda was to Radharani. One day, Shyamananda Prabhu was sweeping the Rasa-mandala in Vrindavan, absorbed in ecstatic trance.
Suddenly, by Radharanis transcendental mercy, he found her ankle bracelet lying on the ground. In his excitement, he touched the ankle bracelet to his forehead, where it left a mark which is preserved to this day as the tilaka marking of the disciple descendants of Shyamananda. It is known as nupura-tilaka.
Shyamananda Prabhu lived the last part of his life in Nrisinghapura in Orissa where he continued preaching Vaishnavism. His earthly pastimes came to an end on the first day of the waning moon in the month of Asharh in 1552 of the Shaka era (1630 AD).
Source: http://www.ramaiswami.com/sri-shyamananda-pandit-appearance/
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