Today is actually a couple of days before the disappearance of Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami and Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja. We have been very busy, so I have not had a chance to speak something about their life history. So I want to very briefly speak about Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, because he is very prominent among the six Gosvamis; Sri Rupa, Sanatana, Bhatta Raghunatha, Sri Jiva, Gopala Bhatta and Dasa Raghunatha:
‘ei chay gosair kori carana vandan
jaha hoite bighna-nas abhishta-puran’
Hari Haraye Namah Krishna (line 8)
[I offer my obeisances to the feet of these six Gosvamis. By offering them my obeisances all obstacles to devotion are destroyed and all spiritual desires are fulfilled.]
So Mahaprabhu’s eternal associates were the six Gosvamis; they fulfilled all the desires of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Among the six Gosvamis, Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami is the very nearest and dearest of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. When Mahaprabhu travelled in South India, Dakshina Bharata, He met with Sri Raya Ramananda. Then Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had a very nice discussion with Raya Ramananda. For ten days Sriman Mahaprabhu discussed krishna-tattva, jiva-tattva, maya-tattva, bhakti-tattva, prema-tattva and radha-tattva. He discussed all tattva-siddhantas with Sri Raya Ramananda. Then Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to Srirangam. In the temple Srirangam He was dancing and singing. There, Sri Vyenkata Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Trimalla Bhatta and Sri Prabodhananda Sarasvati became completely intoxicated by Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s nama-sankirtana. During the four months of Chaturmasya, Mahaprabhu stayed in their home. He shared so much intimacy and love and affection with them, as like He was one of their own family members.
Though they were Bhatta parivara, the Bhatta family, they were disciples of Sri Sampradaya. Do you understand? They were in Sri Ramanujacharya Sampradaya, where they worshipped Lakshmi-Narayana. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was staying in their home and during His stay they shared so much love and affection with Him. At the time, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was a very small boy, around five or six years old. Gopala Bhatta Gosvami became so attached with Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Every night when Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would go take rest, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami would massage Him. Once he told, “Prabhu, I want to go with You and travel with You. I want to stay with You in Jagannatha Puri.” But Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, “No, stay here and serve the Vaishnavas. Your parents are pure devotees, so you have to serve your parents. Then when your parents depart from this material world, you will go to Vrindavana. There you will perform bhajana and sadhana with Rupa and Sanatana.”
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu especially gave two instructions to Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. He instructed, “You should not marry. You have to become a perfect brahmachari. And you should also collect all of the Sri Sampradaya’s tattva-siddhantas, archana-paddhati and all the rules and regulations of Vaishnava shuddha-sadachara. You should collect all of this evidence.” For this regard, according to the instructions of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami manifested one book called Sat-kriya-sara-dipika. He also collected all of the shlokas from Sri Sampradaya and gave them to Sanatana Gosvamipada. Sanatana Gosvamipada then manifested the grantha, Hari-bhakti-vilasa.
Gopala Bhatta Gosvami became so intoxicated when Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would discuss Krishna’s supremacy and Krishna’s beauty with his parents, especially Krishna’s four madhuryas, sweetnesses – lila-madhurya, prema-madhurya, venu-madhurya, rupa-madhurya. For this regard, he wanted to leave with Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. As mentioned, the Bhatta parivara, the family of the Bhattas, Trimalla Bhatta, Prabhodananda Sarasvati and Vyenkata Bhatta worshipped Lakshmi-Narayana. But Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu changed their moods and they began worshipping the divine couple, Sri Sri Radha and Krishna.
Gopala Bhatta Gosvami carefully followed the instructions of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. When his parents departed from this material world, he proceeded to Vrindavana and on his journey there, in one very nice river, he found a shalagrama-shila. He then worshipped that shalagrama-shila in Vrindavana.
Now by the time he arrived in Vrindavana, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had already departed from this material world. Because of this Gopala Bhatta Gosvami felt the pangs of separation from Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu so much. He was crying day and night for Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. But still he continued to worship his shalagrama-shila.
During the time of Jhulana-yatra, Vrajavasis would nicely decorate their Thakuraji, Radha and Krishna. But a shalagrama-shila is shaped like rasagulla, that means it has a round shape. How can you decorate it with cloth and ornaments? So one day, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami went to get some madhukari and when he returned back, he saw his Thakuraji had manifested a tribhanga-lalita form, a threefold-bending form! The name of this deity is Radha-ramana. Bolo Radha-ramana Bihari Lala ki jaya!
You may have seen these deities, Sri Govinda, Sri Gopinatha, Sri Madana-mohana. But actually, Sri Radha-ramana is a manifestation of the combined form of Govinda, Gopinatha and Madana-mohana. This form is actually called Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and on His back is a shalagrama-shila. So for this regard, this Radha-ramana is self-manifested. That shalagrama-shila, vigraha, self-manifested into a form called Radha-ramana. You may have seen many deities, but Krishna’s teeth were never visible. In Radha-ramana you can see Krishna’s two beautiful and attractive teeth. The Bhatta parivara, Gopala Bhatta Gosvamis’ family, then worshipped that Thakuraji very nicely. Today you can still see this beautiful Thakuraji. Do you know the name of the main maha-prasada offered to this deity? Khira. Do you know what khira is? It is a type of special sweet rice. If you go to Vrindavana, you must take darshana of three deities, Govinda, Gopinatha and Madana-mohana. But if you do not take darshana of Radha-ramana, then your darshana is not complete. So if you go to Vrindavana, you have to take darshana of this deity. Bolo Radha-ramana Bihari Lala ki jaya!
Vrajavasis, the residents of Vraja, glorify Radha-ramana with so much love and affection. Please sing this song, but first read the meaning of the song. It is a very sweet song.
chhavi dekhi radha ramana ki
radha ramana ki radha ramana ki
chhavi dekhi radha ramana ki
chhavi dekhi radha ramana ki
shyam sundar ki radha ramana ki …
Chhavi Dekhi Radha Ramana Ki
[I beheld the image of Radha-ramana Devaji, of Radha-ramana, of Radha-ramana. I beheld the image of Radha-ramana Devaji, of Shyamasundara, of Radha-ramana.]
So Gopala Bhatta Gosvami fulfilled four desires of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave four instructions to His six Gosvamis. First, Mahaprabhu instructed them, “All of you have to manifest Radha and Krishna’s sweet pastime places which are now covered. You have to manifest those places.” Second, Mahaprabhu told the six Gosvamis, “When you go to Vrindavana you must also manifest the Sri Vigraha deities that have disappeared.” Third, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told them, “You have to manifest granthas. Manifest viddhi-marga and raga-marga granthas, explaining viddhi- and raga-marga-bhakti.” And fourth, Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu instructed them, “You have to manifest a shuddha-sadachara Vaishnava grantha. A grantha on the good behaviour of Vaishnavas.” So in this way, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami fulfilled the desires of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
[Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami ki jaya!]
Date: 25 January 2019 Location: Brazil
Transcriber: Sanatana dasa (USA) Editors: Sanatana dasa (USA), Damodara dasa (UK) Integrity check: Divya-premamayi dasi (Slovakia) Proofreader: Chandrika dasi (UK) Photo: Narasimhananda dasa (Russia)
Comments