Srila Rupa Gosvami's Disappearance

The Disappearance Day Of Srila Rupa Gosvami
Spoken by Srila BV Narayana Maharaja
At Radha-Damodara
On 23 August 1999
translated from Hindi into English by Manjulali dd, typed by Madhavi dd

[spoken outside Jiva Gosvami's samadhi]: This is the bhajana kutira of Krsna dasa Kaviraja and this of Jiva Gosvami. Here Jiva Gosvami did his bhajana, serving the lotus feet of Srila Rupa Gosvami, his Gurudeva. You are so fortunate to visit the bhajana kutira and samadhi sthali of Srila Jiva Gosvami. After Rupa and Sanatana, Srila Jiva Gosvami was the acarya, of entire Braja mandala, Ksetra mandala and Gaura mandala. How did they follow the guidance of the guru-varga? They put their lives on the line for their guru. Nowadays such dedication to guru is diminishing and drying up. If you want to learn, then learn from Srila Jiva Gosvami.

You should learn under the guidance of Srila Jiva Gosvami, Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, and Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami and then you can realize all these things. If we have no faith, 'nishta' on guru and vaisnavas, then what will happen to us? So try to understand how to do service for vaisnavas and guru by coming to Krsna das Kaviraj Gosvami, etc. What was the true condition of Raghunatha Dasa when Rupa and Sanatana left? His life air dried up, he was dying in separation, and we have no faith in guru and vaisnavas.

sunyayitam mahagostham
girindvo ajgaraye te
vyaghra tundaya te kundam
jivatu rahitasya me

meaning - "Today in the absence of Sri Rupa Gosvami, Vrajabhumi seems completely empty and void, Giriraja Govardhana seems like a big snake about to swallow me and even Radha-kunda seems like a tiger who is ready to eat me.

But I am still alive."

So after giving puspanjali to the samadhi of these two Mahapurusas we will go to the samadhi of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Prabhupada.

[spoken outside Rupa Gosvami's samadhi]: Today is the disappearance day of Srila Rupa Gosvami who is a close and dear associate of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and of the life and soul of the Gaudiya Sampradaya. Srila Rupa Gosvami is the backbone of our sampradaya. Do you know that he fulfills the desire or mano bhista of Caitanya Mahaprabhu? What is this mano bhista of Mahaprabhu? If we meditate on the internal desire of Mahaprabhu we will be completely astonished. When Krsnacandra wrapped up His manifested pastimes here and went back to Goloka He was thinking, "See, I am God of Gods. I am Svayam Bhagavan. There's no higher paratattva in this world than me. There's no one more beautiful than me in this world, there's no one more merciful than me.

There's also no one more sweet or madhura in this world than me. But the people of this world remain deprived of my darsana and till my eyes don't get darsana of Srimati Radhika they always remain unsatisfied. Her sight is cooling to My eyes and when I touch Her, my heart becomes soothed. On hearing my vamsi the people of this world are attracted, but when I hear Srimati Radhika I forget how to play my vamsi. Gopis are actually my prema-guru. They are also my friends, gurus, disciples and beloveds." Krsna says, "On seeing Radhika I become intoxicated and on touching Her feel refreshed. But there's a contradiction here. Radhika satisfies Me because She is more qualified. But She is more affected by seeing Me than I am on seeing Her. This is contradictory. There must be something in Me which captures the gopis so much. But I don't know what. Is it my vamsi (flute) or my smiling face; or is it my sweetness? I cannot understand this speciality in me. No one understands better then Srimati Radhika about this special attraction I possess. Only Radhika, by Her prema can taste all my sweetness.

The pranaya of Srimatiji for me which goes up to mahabhava. Madana is only present in Her. I don't possess this madana-bhava." Krsna has adhirudha-bhava, citra-jalpa and even dirgonmad but He doesn't have anything above that. "So if I don't take the bhava's of Radhaji I won't understand the ecstatic joy She experiences on seeing Me. I can only understand My own joy on seeing Her. On hearing the vamsi Radhika seems to be completely maddened in prem. What is this joy that She experiences? I want to taste that. That's why I must take Her bhava.

sri radhayah pranayah mahina kirdrshovarnayava
svadyo yenadbhuta madhurima kidrsova madiya
saukhyam casya madana bhavatah kidrsam vetti lobhat
tad bhavadhya sannijani saci garbha sindho harinduh

So when Krsna couldn't find answers He was disappointed. He realized He'll have to take shelter of Srimati Radhika. He would have to accept Srimati as His guru. He would even have to make Her intimate sakhis as His guru and only then would He be able to understand the bhavas of Srimati Radhika. So when Mahaprabhu came, He first took the shelter of Visakha, in the form of Raya Ramananda, as His siksa-guru and only after that, was He able to understand this subject. And then He came to the Gambhira to taste these mellows. Rupa Gosvami not only knows the internal desires of Mahaprabhu but is also the one who established them. So how did he establish this 'manobhista?' By his granthas- 'Ujjvala Nilamini, ' 'Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, ' He gave the definition of bhakti, sadhaka, bhava, anuraga, prema, raganuga, bhava and Mahabhava; described them all separately and in length. He also gave the definition of sadhana.

krti sadhya bhavet sadhya
bhava sa sadhanabhida
nitya siddhasya bhavasya
prakatyam hrdi sadhyata

When our practices will lead to the manifestation of bhava, it is actually sadhana. First understand what is bhava, then to manifest it. It is already in our hearts in a latent form, we just have to manifest it. When we do sravana, kirtana, smaranam with bhava as our ultimate goal only then is it sadhana. Right now we are all far away from sadhana. If there is no ruci (taste) and we are still doing sadhana then it is vaidhi bhakti. If greed for ragatmika bhava develops and if we do bhajana under the guidance of guru-varga then all this is a symptom of Raganuga bhakti. So Rupa Gosvami explained about bhava.

suddha sattva visesatma
prema suryansu samyabhak
rucibhir citta masrnya
krd asau bhava uiyate

How beautiful that is. The people of this world didn't know this nor did the other sampradayas. So Rupa Gosvami is the guru of all sampradayas. If this associate of Mahaprabhu, Sri Rupa Gosvami hadn't come

rupa shareer na bhari
yan kali rupa sarira na dharala
tan vraja prema mahanidhi kutarika
kaun kapata udharata?

This priceless treasure of prema brought to this world by Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Nityananda prabhu. Such a priceless wealth had never been given. This chest of Radha and Krsna prema which was sealed so well that even an ant couldn't enter it was completely opened to one and all. Like these doors are open here. [Srila Gurudeva pointed out the open door of Srila Rupa Gosvami's samadhi] Rupa Gosvami ripped open the lock and opened the chest of Mahaprabhu's wealth for one and all. All who came in this sampradaya were enriched by this wealth irrespective of their qualification.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave special mercy to Srila Rupa Gosvami, that's why it was possible for him. Rupa Manjari is even more special than Lalita and Vishaka. Rupa Manjari is especially dear to Srimati Radhika. Without the permission and blessings of Sri Rupa Manjari, it is not possible to enter the realm of bhajana. Lalita and Vishaka also come to her to ask permission to enter the kunja saying, " Can we get darshana of Sri Yugala Kisora yet?"

Rupa Manjari has the right to even stop them or make them wait longer.

That's why Mahaprabhu gave so much mercy to Srila Rupa Gosvami and instilled sakti in him in Prayag. He asked everyone, Nityananda, Svarupa Damodara, etc, to instill sakti in Srila Rupa Gosvami as well. If Rupa Gosvami didn't manifest all this would not have happened. Why are we worshipping his samadhi, and not his bhajana kutir first? Here Srila Rupa Gosvami is on the same level as Srimati Radhika, has the same form, features, heart, qualification, etc. here it is written: [on the wall of the samadhi]

priya svarupe dayita svarupa prema svarupe sahajabhi rupe

It is written by Kavi Karnapura. Who is he? He sucked the big toe of Mahaprabhu as a child so all the sakti came in him and then he wrote: priya svarupe dayita svarupe. Dayita svarupe means Rupa Gosvami surrendered completely to Mahaprabhu who accepted him and he became the dayita of Caitanya Maprabhu. He is most dear to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Prema svarupe, He is a manifestation of prema. If Srila Rupa Gosvami hadn't come who would have acted as a medium to give us this prema?

Sahajabhi rupe means he understood all the bhavas of Mahaprabhu. nijanu rupe, he is like Mahaprabhu and has the same form and qualities like him and has the ability to manifest prema like Mahaprabhu.

rasika sekhara Krsna parama kavin
ei dui hetu haite icchara udgam

Krsna is very merciful and is rasika sekhara. That's why He tasted the mellows of Srimati's bhavas and is very merciful. So what did He do? He preached raganuga bhakti. Even Krsna had not given this before. This seed of Raganuga bhakti was sown by Madhavendra Puri but manifested by Rupa Gosvami.

That is why he is so dear to Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Try to surrender yourself to Srila Rupa Gosvami and meditate on his pastimes. Here Rupa Gosvami was sitting and Jiva Gosvami was fanning him when Vallabhacarya came and offered to proof-read his grantha. Srila Rupa Gosvami, who was humility personified was then writing Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu. So this pandit picked up this sloka:

bhukti mukti sphra yavat
pisaci hrdi varttate

Bhakti will not come if there's still the desire for bhukti and mukti. The pandita proceeded to the Yamuna. Jiva Gosvami followed him and defeated him in a discussion about this sloka. This pandita was impressed. He went back and asked Srila Rupa Gosvami, "Who is this boy?" Srila Rupa Gosvami replied, "My disciple." Then the pandita said, "He is such a genuis. Now I don't need to edit. If a 16 year old disciple is so knowledgeable and genuis how high you must be." And he left. Rupa Gosvami told Jiva Gosvami, "You couldn't give this man respect. You can't live in Vrndavana. You must leave." He began writing Sandarbha at this time in separation. This was a correct stand from Srila Rupa Gosvamis view and what Srila Jiva Gosvami had done was also appropriate. If someone tries to cut our Gurudeva's words we should defeat that person completely. And Srila Rupa is a Guru who even respects a blade of grass. Srila Jiva Gosvami went to a crocodile hole, started living there and he cried day and night "Ha Gurudeva!" Sometimes he took some buttermilk.

He became so thin that his stomach and back became one. Disease afflicted his body. Villagers thought 'oh, this young babaji is so high.' One day Sanatana Gosvami went to the village. The villagers said, "This young babaji is more renounced than you." Srila Sanatana Gosvami was curious to see him and on seeing the pathetic, disease stricken body of Jiva Gosvami he began to cry. Sanatana Gosvami took him and hid him in his bhajana kutir. The next day he went to see Rupa Gosvami. A big assembly was present. Rupa Gosvami was saying one should be merciful to all jivas and help them in Krsna consciousness. Srila Sanatana Gosvami asked him, "Do you follow these instructions yourself?" Sanatana Gosvami is not only his elder brother but also his guru. He told Rupa Gosvami about the plight of Jiva Gosvami. Rupa Gosvami became very unhappy. Both went to see Jiva Gosvami. On seeing Jiva Gosvami, Rupa Gosvami began to cry. He took him on his lap, gave him a bath by his own hands, and administered medecine otherwise Jiva Gosvami would have died. So Rupa Gosvami looked after Jiva Gosvami until he recuperated.

Where are such disciples and gurus in the world today? Disciples only come for food and when there is a test they leave.

[spoken later on during the day]: Rupa Gosvami is Rupa Manjari. In Ter Kadamba Rupa Gosvami is sitting in his bhajana kutir between Yavat and Nandagaon which is full of mellows. That is why Rupa Gosvami chose that spot to live in. How did he live? Caitanya Caritamrta gives a quick glance.

Someone came from Vrndavana and met Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Puri. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked how Rupa and Sanatana are doing bhajana. The man answered, "How can I glorify the bhajana of Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami? I can only say a little something. Both brothers live with only Dor kaupin, an earthen pot to drink from and they eat from their hands, they don't even possess any utensils. Sometimes they only eat roti without salt and water.They wear torn clothes. The only thing they posses is Krsna prema which not even a theif can steal. Sometimes they will eat only one mouthful of prasadam or not even that. Sometimes they sleep for half an hour, or not at all. They give respect to everyone from highest to lowest. They sleep under a different tree every night, because under each tree Radha and Krsna have performed many different pastimes.

Once Sanatana Gosvami came to visit Rupa Gosvami, they began to discuss the pastimes of Radha and Krsna and they became so absorbed Rupa Gosvami thought, " I haven't even gone for Madhukari. Then a little girl came with raw rice and milk and says, " Oh babaji, please make yourself khira with this. My mother is calling Me so I must go." Both brothers still didn't do anything and later the girl came back and cooked sweet rice for them and requested them to quickly offer and eat it. Srila Rupa Gosvami offered it to Radhika and then when Srila Sanatana Gosvami ate it he became ecstatic with prema. He realized that it was made by Srimati Radhika Herself. Then he asked Rupa Gosvami, "Have you thought anything special today?" Srila Rupa Gosvami answered, "well I thought I had nothing to offer you." Srila Sanatana Gosvami told Rupa Gosvami, "You shouldn't have done that, Srimati Radhika came Herself to fulfill that desire. You should be serving Her, not the other way around."

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