SRILA RUPA GOSVAMI

Srila Rupa Gosvami was extremely dear to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Through him
and his elder brother, Sri Sanatan, Mahaprabhu disseminated His own teachings,
the essential conclusions of all the scriptures. Amongst the devotees of
Mahaprabhu these two were known as His generals.

In the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, Kavi Karnapura has written that Sri Rupa Gosvami
was known as Sri Rupa Manjari during Krsna lila.

There is an anecdote as to how they came to be the ministers of the king of
Gaudadesa, Hussain Shah Badsa. Even at a very young age they had become quite
learned in all of the scriptures. The guru (maulabi) of Hussain Shah was
supposedly capable of seeing into the future. Hussain Shah inquired him about
the prosperity of his kingdom.

The maulabi replied, "There are two extremely learned brahmana boys who are
endowed with all good qualities. If you appoint them as your ministers then you
will attain a very opulent kingdom."

Having heard of the glories of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Rupa had written a
letter to Him praying for His darsan. In His reply Mahaprabhu explained to him,
"As a woman who is attached to another man makes a show of being devoted to her
husband, so you should, while being internally attached to the lotus feet of
Sri Krsna, externally make a show of being engaged in your worldly duties.
Krsna will bestow His mercy on you very soon."

While residing at Ramakeli, Sri Rupa and Sri Sanatana were visited by many
brahmanas and panditas from Navadwipa, Karnataka and various other parts of
India. They were always careful to receive these guests and serve them in a
befitting manner. They lived in a very opulent surroundings at Ramakeli. Their
court, which rivalled that of Lord Indra, was always attended by brahmanas,
panditas from many lands as well as poets, singers, musicians and dancers. At
great expense they maintained these guests and were always very careful that no
one was disrespected in any way. They were always engaged in studying the
sastras and could establish and defeat the same philosophical arguments
alternatively. Near their house were solitary gardens of Kadamba and other
trees in the middle of which were Radha-kunda and Syama-kunda. There they would
meditate on the Vrindavana pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Syama and thus, losing
their patience, a constant stream of tears would flow from their eyes. They
were always absorbed in the service of Sri Madana Mohana and constantly
assuaged their grief by praying for His mercy. Hearing of the pastimes of Sri
Gaurasundara at Nadia they were always meditating when they might get His
darsan. [B.R. 1/585].

Rupa Gosvami's worshipable Deity in Vrndavana was Sri Govinda Deva. Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu had instructed the Gosvamis to re-discover the holy places
of Krsna's pastimes in Braja and to establish worship of His Sri vigraha. One
day Sri Rupa was sitting on the banks of the Jamuna, lamenting that they hadn't
been able to properly carry out His instructions.

It was known to them that Sri Krsna's grandson Vajranabha had installed a
number of Deities in Braja, among them Hari Deva, Madana Mohana Deva, Gopinath
Deva and Sri Govinda Deva. Sri Rupa had tried to locate these Deities, but to
no avail. As he was sitting and thinking in this way a very beautiful cowherd
boy came along and asked him, "He Swamin! Why do you look so sad?" Hearing the
boy's cheerful voice, Sri Rupa's melancholy reverie was broken and his heart
felt engladdened. He replied that he was feeling sad because he hadn't been
able to follow Mahaprabhu's instructions properly. The cowherd boy told him,
"Swamin! Please come with me. I know where what you are looking for is."

Then the boy brought him to Gomatila and explained, "Everyday a cow comes on
top of this hill and pours down her milk here. There is a good chance you will
find what you are looking for inside. Now I have to go."

Sri Rupa turned to see the cowherd boy off, but found no one present. He began
to reflect, "Who was that cowherd boy and where did he run off so suddenly?"
His body thrilled with ecstatic symptoms as he intently gazed at the Mahayoga
Pith (Gomatila), and then went back to his kutir. The next morning he again
came to Gomatila and quietly waited. After a little while an exquisitely
beautiful Surabhi cow came there and poured milk down on top of the hill which
immediately disappeared inside the earth. Then she sauntered on into the
woods.

Now Sri Rupa was positive that Sri Govinda Deva must be within the earth here.
He came very quickly to the village of cowherds nearby and excitedly told them
everything that had happened. The cowherd men hurriedly gathered up some spades
and hatchets and came running to Gomatila. Digging where Sri Rupa indicated
they saw, after removing a small amount of earth, the all-enchanting form of
Sri Govinda appeared. They all erupted in shouts of ecstasy, "Hari! Hari! Sri
Govinda has again manifested Himself." Sri Rupa with tears flowing from his
eyes fell down at the lotus feet of Sri Govinda bowed to offer his obeisances,
all the while reciting prayers and hymns.

Very quickly the news spread and the other Gosvamis, floating in an ocean of
joy, came there also. Soon an incessant flow of people from all quarters began
to arrive, carried by waves of joy. Lord Brahma and the other demigods, having
assumed mortal appearances, mixed in with the other people and gazed upon the
body of Sri Govinda. There was not a lull in the crowd for even a moment as
people continued to pour in from places unknown. Sri Rupa Gosvami immediately
sent word to Mahaprabhu in Puri concerning this auspicious event. Sri
Gaurasundara along with His associates couldn't contain their ecstasy on
receiving this happy news. Meanwhile the brahmanas performed the abhiseka of
the Deity and began to prepare offerings of bhoga from the milk, yogurt, rice,
flour and vegetables which the villagers were bringing. Mahaprabhu sent
Kasisvar Pandit from Puri to assist in worshiping the Deity.

Sri Govinda Deva is presently being worshiped in Jaipur, Rajasthan, which is
easily reached by bus from Vrindavana. One has to proceed by rickshaw to Sri
Sri Radha-Govinda Mandir from the bus stand.

Overjoyed that Sri Govindaji and Madan Mohan had re-appeared and thus the
responsibilities which Mahaprabhu had given them were gradually being carried
out, Sri Rupa and Sanatan began to compose the Bhakti-sastras, in compliance
with Mahaprabhu's further instructions.

After completing Vidagdha-madhava, Lalita-madhava, and various other books, Sri
Rupa began to work on Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu.

One day Sri Vallabhacarya (of the Visnuswami sampradaya) came to visit Rupa
Gosvami. After offering him a seat the two of them began to discuss
Krsna-katha. In the house of their conversation, Sri Rupa presented the opening
verse of Bhakti-Rasamrta-Sindhu to Vallabhacarya to read. After studying this
verse for some time Vallabha commented that there were a few mistakes. At this
time Sri Jiva, who had arrived from Bengal a few days before, was fanning his
uncle Sri Rupa. He was extremely learned in all the sastras and was unsatisfied
with Vallabha's remark.

When Vallabhacarya went to the Jamuna to take his bath, Sri Jiva also came
there on the pretext of fetching some water. He inquired from the acarya as to
what actually were the mistakes in that verse. Vallabhacarya, after discussing
some points with him, was amazed at the boy's scholarship.

After a few days Vallabha again came to Sri Rupa. After inquiring about the boy
scholar, he greatly praised his learning. After Vallabha had gone to his
residence, Sri Rupa called Jiva and spoke to him, "Those whom we respect as our
Guru and to whom we offer our obeisances you are ready to debate with on an
equal level? This is not at all polite. What he spoke was for my benefit but
you couldn't tolerate that. You should return home and when you can control
your mind then you can come back to Vrindavana." [B.R. 5.1643]

Hearing this decision of his uncle Sri Jiva left that place and decided to
proceed eastwards. When he came to an old dilapidated temple at Nanda-ghat, he
sat down and began to cry. Soon the villagers began to worry: "Such a handsome
young man, but he sits there crying for so long without taking food."

After a while, Sri Sanatana Gosvami came by and the villagers informed Sanatana
of the boy's presence at the old temple. Sanatana went there and saw his
nephew, who looked very pale from not eating. Sanatana picked him up from the
ground and affectionately asked him what was the matter. Sri Jiva explained
everything that had happened. Sanatana Gosvami pacified him and, taking his
nephew with him, went to see his brother.

Sanatana spoke with Rupa alone. When Sri Rupa happened to mention Jiva,
Sanatana explained everything. Sri Rupa immmediately called Jiva seeing
his forlorns and pale appearance, he gradually nursed him back to eat and happy
sit with him. Then he entrusted him with proofreading of various literature,
which he had composed. Just as he was very strict with hsi young nephew, so
also he was very affetionate and moving. Their relationship was an ideal
example of how the Guru and sisya behave together.

When Sri Rupa had finished writing Lalita-madhava, he gave it to Raghunatha
dasa Gosvami to read. Lalita-madhava is description of Krsna's pastimes
after he left Vrindavana and is thus full with sentiments in the mood of
separation. By reading this Dasa Gosvami began to cry day and night, having
become completely absorbed in love in separation to the point of being ready
to leave his body. [B.R5.768]. He became as though deranged in mind
from sadness and he completely lost all patience. When Sri Rupa requested
Sri Dasa Gosvami to return the manuscrip, so that he could correct it,
Raghunatha das held on it very mightly, not allowing to add anything, or
rewrite it or extract anything from it.

After considering what to do, Sri Rupa composed Dana-keli-kaumudi. He managed
to exchange this manuscript with Lalita-madhava. By reading Dana-keli-kaumudi,
full of narrations of Krsna's Vrindavan pastime, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami now
became totaly absorbed in the ecstasy of hapiness.

On another occasion the Gosvamis were having a discussion about the ecstatic
feelings of separation of Radha-Krsna and Their associates. Some of the
Vaisnavas were fainting to the ground, while Sri Rupa Gosvami began to breath
very hevily. His heart felt as though as burning. At one point, as he sighed
his breath, he happened to fall on the body of one devotee present there.
Shortly after a while ecstatic symptoms developed on that devotee's body where
Sri Rupa's breath touched it. [B.R. 5.326].

After the reappearance of Sri Govinda, Madana Mohana and the Yoga Pits, Sri
Rupa began to contemplate where Vrinda deity might be. One night she came to
him in a dream and said, I am on the banks of Brahma-kunda. You can have my
darsan there."

The next morning, after finishing his baths and puja, he came to Brahma-kunda
and began to look everywhere. Suddenly, he saw a heavenly damsel, whose
bodily effulgence defeated the luster of gold, all the directions were
illuminated by this glow and the atmosphere created by her presence was very
fine and cooling. Sri Rupa offered his dandavats and various prayers and
hymns. In this way, the Vrinda deity appeared in Vrajabhumi.

Sri Gaurasundara established the glories of Sri Vraja-dhama through His two
generals, Sri Rupa and Sri Sanatan Gosvami. Within their hearts He
awakened, through ear transmission, the knowledge of what was in His own ear.
Sri Rupa Gosvami has established in this world the mission to fulfil the
desire of Lord Caitanya. When will he give me the shelter of his lotus feet?"
[Srila Narottama dasa Thakura in his song Sri Rupa manjari-pada].

Sri Rupa Gosvami completed many literatures, among them, Sri Hamsaduta, Karya,
Sri Uddhava-sandesa, Sri Krsna-janma-titha-vidhi, Brhat Bhagavatamrta,
Krsna-ganoddesa-dipika, Laghu Bhagavatamrta, Stava-mala, Vidagha-madhava,
Lalita-madhava, Dana-keli-kaumudi, Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Ujjvala-nilamani,
Prayuktakhyaita-manjari, Mathura-mahima, Padyavali, Nataka-candra-tika,
among others.

Birth: 1493 (Christian calendar), 1415 (Sakabda)

Disappearance: 1564 (Christian calendar), 1486 (Sakabda)

Appearance day: ?

Disappearance day: 12the day of the bright fortnight of Stava (?)

Householder life: 22 years. Vraja: 51 years. Age: 73.

