Disappearance of Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami
ISKCON NVCC Pune
7th July 2023
We should have sang first but now its a little late. However we can still ask, where is he? This is the beginning of the bhajan, je anilo. Whether it is a ‘Ye’ or ‘Ja’ at the beginning, it is an important meaning to the bhajan. The day itself is one of joyfulness or otherwise it is the disappearance day, which is one of mourning the great personality who left this world, Gaura parashad viraha.
There is agony and pain when thinking of the demise of that great Acharya. Narottama das Thakur has described this in this bhajan, Je anilo prema dhan and this is not always the case, as what is described in the bhajan but at least there should be thoughts of what is said in the bhajan. Narottama das Thakur is describing what he is going through when the Acharya’s disappear.
Je anilo prema dhana koruna pracur heno prabhu kotha gela Srila Gopal Bhatt Thakur.
je anilo prema dhana koruna pracur heno prabhu kotha gela acarya thakur
Translation
He, who brought the treasure of divine love and who was filled with compassion and mercy-where has such a personality as Advaita Acarya gone?
He who brought the treasure of divine love and distributed it also, he has today disappeared in 1531. Where has he gone? Is it Panchami today? Okay, what Maas is it now? Ashadh? There is one more in Uttar Pradesh.
Kaha mora swarup rupa kaha sanatan
Translation
Where are my Svarupa Damodara and Rupa Gosvami? Where is Sanatana?
These are the feelings of Narottam das Thakur as he finds out one by one that ‘this Acharya is now not here and that one has gone also.’ So where have they gone?
kaha dasa raghunatha patita pavan
Translation
Where is Raghunatha Dasa, the savior of the fallen?
kaha mora bhatta juga
Translation
Where are my Raghunatha Bhatta and Gopala Bhatta
this is Gopal Bhatta and Raghunatha Bhatta. Today we are observing the day of Gopal Bhatta and so there is one Gopal Bhatta and second one is Raghunatha Bhatta so yuga means two.
kaha mora bhatta juga kaha kaviraj eka kale kotha gela gora nata raj
Translation
Where are my Raghunatha Bhatta and Gopala Bhatta, and where is Krsnadasa Kaviraja? Where did Lord Gauranga, the great dancer, suddenly go?
Narottama das Thakur was a second generation Acharya and so he is remembering the Acharya’s of the first generation and feeling this pain and agony of separation. ‘Gora nata raj, Gauranga! Gauranga! Where has Gauranga gone?’ When Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left this world by entering the deity of Tota Gopinath, from that time the Gaudiya sampradaya Acharya’s also started to leave the world in great numbers. Why is this?
Pasane kutibo matha anale pasibo gauranga gunera nidhi kotha gele pabo
Translation
I will smash my head against the rock and enter into the fire. Where will I find Lord Gauranga, the reservoir of all wonderful qualities?
‘How will I attain the associates of Gauranga Mahaprabhu? I will not he able to get their association now.’
se saba sangira sange je koilo bilas se sanga na paiya kande narottama das
Translation
Being unable to obtain the association of Lord Gauranga accompanied by all of these devotees in whose association He performed His pastimes, Narottama Dasa simply weeps
‘I had association of so many of these great souls but now they are no more here. Se sanga na paiya kande narottama das, I am not getting this association anymore so now and so there is nothing else to do but weep now.’ When Gopal Bhatta Goswami was present in Vrindavan at the Radha Raman temple, he entered the lord’s eternal pastimes’s, his nitya lila. Jaya om nitya lila Gopala Bhatta Goswami Maharaja ki jai!
His Samadhi is just behind Raman Raman and his worshipable deity is Radha Raman. Radha Raman! Have you taken darshan? This is the only original deity in which is still in Vrindavan, otherwise all the original deities of Vrindavan have had to move to other places. Some are in Jaipur and where is Madan Mohan? In Karoli and Srinath Ji is in Nathdwara. Many other deities that were installed and worshipped by the sox Goswami’s are in many other places also, but this one deity, Radha Raman stayed.
Vrindavanam parityajya padam ekam na gacchati
Translation
It is said that Krsna never goes out of Vrindavana.
Ekam padam na gacchati. In this way Radha Raman didn’t take a step out of Vrindavan, he never left. He is there even today, jai Radha Raman ki! Actually only Raman is there (Krishna), and there is only one crown where Radharani should be, there is no deity of her. Gopal Bhatta Goswami had Saligram Sila’s which he was worshipping and from them, one Sila became Sri Raman. The Sila did not become Radha, only Raman.
He was born in North India and then he came to Vrindavan from Sri Rangam and he was the son of Venkatta Bhatta. Sri Rangam is where the river Kaveri flows. Kaveri Maiya ki jai! By remembering each item, each detail we become more purified. Gopal Bhatta Goswami was Ananga Manjari and Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai! I was supposed to stop with the name of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and continue the talk but I cannot stop myself from calling out ‘jai.’
When the lord departed from Jagannath Puri and started for his tour of South India, he met Sri Ramananada Raya at the banks of the river Godavari who was personally Vishaka Sakhi herself or himself. Now the lord has gone further and reached Sri Rangam and the banks of the river Kaveri. Over there, Venkata Bhatta who had two brothers, he requested the lord to stay at his home and actually the lord was going to stay there anyway.
Whether he had been invited or not, the lord was going to stay there and the invitation just became an excuse, a reason. You understand the Chatur Masa, the four months of the rainy season? The lord’s stay in Sri Rangam for four months and his meeting Gopal Bhatta Goswami happened at the time of Chatur Masa and Gopal Bhatta Goswami’s departure from this world was also during Chatur Masa.
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was therefore anyway going to stay at the home of Venkatta Bhatta anyway and therefore this was not an accident but this was an arrangement. This is exactly what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu wanted and his desire was fulfilled when Venkatta Bhatta invited Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to his home. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed there for four consecutive months and the lord’s travelling which is described in the Madhya lila – why are you sleeping?
I have said this to one person but it is an instruction to others also. Sit properly like a Yogi and how must you not sit? Like a Bhogi. I didnt want to say this but.. You can fill in the blanks. It will be disrespectful to the Acharya’s who we are speaking of and glorifying. We are trying to speak about them and remember them, but if you totally ignore these talks of glorification then it isn’t proper, right? It’s not proper etiquette.
At that time Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami was only seven years old, I am thinking of more to speak about. This is the second Goswami who Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is meeting and the first Goswami who he met was Raghunath das Goswami. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had taken Sannyasa and lord Nityananda and Advaita Achrya Prabhu had bought the lord to Shantipura by some tricks.
That is when Raghunath das Goswami came to meet the lord from his birthplace Saptagram. This meeting indeed took place but I wont speak more in this topic now, what happened when they met and their talks, what instructions the lord gave him. So this is two. Then Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went for his tour of the whole of South India including Maharashtra and returned to Jagannatha Puri. Then again the lord departs for a tour this time of East India, Bengal.
In Bengal the lord goes to Ramakeli, where the lord meets Rupa Sanatana and at that time Jiva Goswami was a small child of maybe two years old. It is hard to say whether the lord met the child or not but certainly the lord would have seen him, who was the son of Anupama, the brother of Rupa Sanatana. So when the lord met them at Ramakeli, Jiva Goswami was a small child. That’s four right? One, two three and four. No okay and five, Jiva Goswami is number five.
Then Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu returns to Jagannatha Puri once again and then when the lord leaves Puri for Vrindavan for the third time, he goes to Varanasi where the lord meets Sanatana Goswami for the second time. He had already met Rupa Goswami at Prayagraj but over here he also meets Raghunath Bhatta at Varanasi. He is the son of Tapana Misra who was a resident of Bangladesh and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had told Raghunath Bhatta ‘go to Varanasi!’
At that time, he did not understand that he was thinking ‘why Varanasi?’ The lord then told ‘I will come there in the future and I will then meet you over there.’ Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed at Varanasi for two months and also Raghunath Bhatta was a child just like Gopal Bhatta Goswami had been a child when Mahaprabhu first met him. Jiva Goswami was not even a child he was a very small child because Rupa and Samatana were very elderly.
But Raghunath das Goswami was a young man and that’s why he was told, ‘go and get married.’ He was not a boy and he was not elderly, but rather a young man and so this is how Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu met the six Goswami’s at different times and in different places. The Lord then sent them individually to Vrindavan one by one and the first ones to be sent to Vrindavan was Lokanath Goswami and Bhugarbha Goswami and there is also the six Goswami’s, vande rupa sanatanau raghu yugau sri jiva gopalakau.
Although they are not counted amongst the team if these six Goswami’s, they are certainly very much connected with these Goswami’s. Lokanath Goswami and Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami, not Bhugarbha Goswami, they also have a special team or connection. Okay so back to Sri Rangam where Gopal Bhatt Goswami was not happy about the fact that Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had taken Sannyasa.
In solitude Gopal Bhatt Goswami was lamenting ’why? Why has he taken Sannyasa?’ At that time the lord was also leaving the home of Gopal Bhatt Goswami after having stayed there for some time. The lord was leaving Sri Rangam and actually this is what occurs, after taking Sannyasa many people are left behind. Now Gopal Bhatt Goswami was being left behind by the lord and the lord is going on elsewhere. Gopal Bhatt Goswami was not happy about this and so through a dream – not Jagannatha lila darshan, no. That lila had not started yet because the lord had only stayed for two months and had then immediately left for his tour.
The lord came in his dream in Navadwipa lila and when Gopal Bhatt Goswami listened to those lila’s he became ecstatic and so thrilled that he began to cry. So like this in a dream Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lies Gopal Bhatt Goswami on his lap and the lord is also crying and he is bathing Gopal Bhatt who is lying on the lord’s lap, with those very tears. Hari Hari. Venkatta Bhatt was in Sri Rangam where Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was staying and Venkatta Bhatt had two brothers and one of those brothers was?
Prabodhananda SarasvatI Thakur. The whole family were worshippers of Sri Lakshmi Narayana and they were Pujaris of this form of the lord. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was seeing that they were a little proud of being Pujari’s if Lakshmi Narayana and the lord was also thinking that ‘Venkatta Bhatt believes that Narayana or Vishnu is the original supreme personality of Godhead and Krishna is and incarnation of Narayana.
They believed that all other incarnations were from Narayana, Vishnu. ‘Narayana is the original personality of Godhead!’ This misunderstanding many people have and so Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu must have had many discussions with Venkatta Bhatta and out of these, in one discussion Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed ‘oh why is this? Your Lakshmi is such a well known chaste wife of lord Vishnu. So why is that that she is always following Krishna and that she wants to be with him? She is in Sri Ban and Bela Ban and is performing many austerities to get association with Lord Krishna.’
Anyway it’s quite a long discussion and Venkatta Bhatta said’ it’s the same thing, it’s the same. Narayana and Krishna are the same personality.’ Then Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained in great detail that this was not the case. In Vrindavan the lord is known as Nanda Nandan.
Aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa tanayas tad dhama vrndavanam
Translation
the most worshipable form of the Lord is that of Sri Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaja. Vrindavan dhama is the topmost worshipable abode
The most worshipable form of the lord is Vrajendra Nandan and how is the lord worshipped in Vrindavan?
aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa tanayas tad dhama vrndavanam ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena va kalpita srimad bhagavatam pramanam amalam prema pum artho mahan sri caitanya mahaprabhor matam idam tatradarah na parah
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaja, is worshipped along with His transcendental abode Vrndavana. The most pleasing form of worship for the Lord is that which was performed by the gopis of Vrndavana. Srimad Bhagavatam is the spotless authority on everything and pure love of Godhead is the ultimate goal of life for all men. These statements, for which we have the highest regard, are the opinion of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. (Caitanya-matta-manjusa by Srila Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The worship of the gopi’s, the Vraja Vadhu’s is performed with such devotion and it is the Gopi’s who are the performers of the topmost worship. If one wants to perform worship then they should follow the footsteps of the Gopi’s and Srimati Radharani. Worship should be performed in the bhava, the mood of Radharani and the Gopi’s. The lord continued ‘your Lakshmi, ours is Radharani and
Lakshmi is yours. Your Lakshmi wanted to remain in her position as the opulent goddess of fortune in Vaikuntha and at the same time enter into the pastimes of Krishna, where sweetness and beauty are superior to power and opulence, this is not possible.’ Seva adhikara diye koro nija dasi. What is before this part? Ei nivedana dhara, sakh?ra anugata koro
Ei nivedana dhara, sakh?ra anugata koro seva adhikara diye koro nija dasi
(Tulasi Arati 4)
Translation
I beg you to make me a follower of the cowherd damsels of Vraja. Please give me the privilege of devotional service and make me your own maidservant
So what must one do? He must beg, nivedana, at the lotus feet of Tulasi Maharani, for what? May i become a maidservant, anugata of the Gopi’s. ‘Your Lakshmi indeed wants to enter the pastimes of the rasa lila of Radha and Krishna but whoever wants to do this must do two things. The first thing is that that personality must have a form like the Gopi’s, Gopi Rupa and secondly, one must have the feelings of the Gopi’s who are maidservants themselves of Lord Krishna.
‘But your Lakshmi wanted to remain in her opulent position with all her ornaments and wonderful dress.’ Whenever Krishna played his flute, the Gopi’s would run to him as soon as they heard the flute. One Gopi would only have an earring in one ear and wouldn’t have had a chance to put the other one on when suddenly the flute’s sound would be heard. The Gopi would then run towards the sound of the flute and leave all the dressing and adornment unfinished.
Whereas Lakshmi would hear the sound of the flute and say ‘oh okay, let it sound but I have not finished adorning myself yet. I am not ready, he has to wait for me.’ This is the difference in feelings and it shows that there is some difference in love for the lord. Also Krishna is known as Rasaraj Krishna and he is an ocean of Rasa’s, mellows of the sweet taste of Bhakti, devotion.
This is all described in the Gaudiya literatures and Sri Krishna who is the centre of the five main rasas or mellows of devotional service and seven indirect mellows, he tastes these mellows of devotion. This lord is Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also and so how much is five and seven? Have a little think about it so that you don’t fall asleep because sleep comes when they’re thinking stops. That is why it’s better to have a little interaction and some exercise.
Narayana tastes two and a half rasa’s and Krishna how many? Twelve Rasa’s. It was a little surprising to hear that lord Narayana tastes two and a half mellows when I saw this reference and read it. For four months these conversations took place and there was also Kirtan
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
This Harinama kevalam is sufficient on its own and many other residents of Sri Rangam in those days came in many crowds, well no crowds is not the what we should call it. Many people would come in large groups to take darshan of the lord and Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was liberating many souls in this way. Having said this, his main focus was on this family and by the lord’s association and mercy the whole family became a family of Gaudiya Vaishnava’s!
They all became Pujari’s of Radha Krishna, so in this way one was Gopal Bhatta who later became a Goswami and then Venkatta Bhatta and Prabodhananda Saraswati Thakur both left Sri Rangam and went straight to Vrindavan to reside there. Vrindavan dham ki jai! There they will worship Vrindavan also
aradhyo bhagavan vrajesa-tanayas tad-dhama vrndavanam ramya kacid upasana vraja-vadhu-vargena va kalpita srimad bhagavatam pramanam amalam prema pum-artho mahan sri-caitanya mahaprabhor matam idam tatradarah na parah
(Caitanya-matta-manjusa by Srila Viswanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna, the son of Nanda Maharaja, is worshipped along with His transcendental abode Vrndavana. The most pleasing form of worship for the Lord is that which was performed by the gopis of Vrndavana. Srimad Bhagavatam is the spotless authority on everything and pure love of Godhead is the ultimate goal of life for all men
They would all worship the lord in the mood of the Gopi’s, Gopi Bhava. Gopala Bhatta Goswami is Ananga Manjari anyway. In Kama Vana there is a Surabhi Kunda and there Prabodhananda Saraswati made his small cottage and started staying at the banks of this Kama Vana. He write many books there and remained one of the main associates or followers of lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
And Gopal Bhatta Goswami then became his disciple, his paternal uncle from whom he took initiation. Then Gopal Bhatta Goswami began to reside in Vrindavan and you can call it the order or desire of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that the six Goswami’s will recover the pastime places of the lord. I will not go into detail of what they would need to recover or found due to the attacks of the Muslims. There was a time when the deities of Vrindavan had to be moved or hidden and therefore nobody was coming to do Parikrama, Yatra to Vrindavan.
Parikrama’s were closed and therefore Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu again wanted to revive the glory of Vrindavan. Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ki jai! People had forgotten which pastime had taken place where, where the pastime places were and so the six Goswami’s of Vrindavan would have to find these lost pastime places, that’s one thing. Then secondly the temples would have to be reestablished and deities would be once again installed and worshipped.
Then they would have to write many scriptures, that is three, then much preaching must happen, that is four. There must be preaching, hearing, chanting. And so Gopal Bhatta Goswami was engaged in all these activities and before he had even reached Vrindavan, Lokanath Goswami was already there and so were Rupa and Sanatana. When Gopal Bhatta Goswami reached Vrindavan, Rupa and Sanatana became so happy and they immediately send a message to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who was at that time in Puri.
‘Gopal Bhatta Goswami is here!’ We don’t know how the messages were taken five hundred years ago, they may have had postmen who came and went from Vrindavan and Jagannatha Puri. Then lord then learnt that Gopal Bhatta had reached Vrindavan and then Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s joy knew no bounds, he was so joyful. It is written about Gopal Bhatta Goswami in his lifetime biography and there is a description in Bhakti Ratnakara taht Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had sent his own kaupin and outer garments of the babaji order, as symbols of renunciation to Vrindavan! Haribol!
Gopal Bhatta also wrote the great scripture Hari Bhakti Vilas and he also wrote a commentary on Bilvamangal Thakur’s famous writing Krishna Karnamrita. Jiva Goswami writes that he had a lot of help in writing the Sad Sandarbhas from Gopal Bhatta Goswami and ‘Only by taking his help was I able to write the six Sandarbhas.’
The other Goswami’s all had their own worshippable deities but Gopal Bhatta Goswami only had shalagram shilas. He had twelve shilas which he used to keep them in a cloth bag hung round his neck. He had gone to Nepal and got them from the Gandaki river and he actually got these Shila’s because even when he went once to out them back in the river, he tried to to put them back but just as soon as he put them back they jumped back again into his hands.
In this way the Shila’s were taking their rightful place and they did not want to leave Gopal Bhatta Goswami. Maya does not want to leave us but here we see that Krishna did not want to leave him. So the worship of the Shila’s was continuing but Gopal Bhatta Goswami had a great desire that ‘i may one day have a deity to worship then I will also put a flute on my deity as well as so many other ornaments which I would offer my lord.’
The lord understood this desire of his pure devotee and one day by the desire of the lord one rich merchant like Keshava Prabhu (laughter). These merchants always give something for the lord, some ornament like a crown for the deity, just like they give Gopal Krishna Maharaja for his worship of his deities. So one merchant came with wonderful ornaments and outfits of the deity and gifted them to Gopal Bhatta Goswami.
The Goswami accepted all these byt he was thinking ‘what will I do with all this? My deity is just a Shila. So that same night he put his Shila’s to rest and then he himself lay down to rest and the next day he woke up and saw
uttisthottistha govinda uttistha paramesvara uttistha kamala kanta trailokyam mangalam kuru
Translation
O Govinda, O Paramesvara, O beloved of Laksmi, please rise and bestow good fortune on all the three worlds
He must have prayed like this, ‘wake up oh lord, wake up.’ When he awakes the Shila’s he see’s that one Shila is not a Shila anymore but has instead become Sri Sri Raman. What an occurrence! Is there anything to question whether the lord exists or not? Is there such a thing as God? He became an enchanting three fold bending deity and this news reached everywhere very quickly. Rupa and Sanatana Goswami ran over to the place where the lord had manifested.
They ran to take darshan of Sri Raman and a great festival took place and since then every year on this day when the Shila became lord Raman, there is a great festival on this day in Vrindavan. It is the day after Nrsimha Chaturdasi and it is called Purnima day. That is the day when Gopal Bhatta Goswami’s Shila became a deity. There is also a story that one day Gopal Bhatta Goswami goes to a place in Uttar Pradesh called Saharan and he meets one Brahmana there. This Brahmana was a little distressed and the cause of his distress was that he had no son.
Gopal Bhatta Goswami understood the reason of his distress and so he blessed the brahman with a great benediction. So he didn’t bless him to have eight sons but he said ‘you will have a son.’ Then this Brahmana actually had a son and he had previously said to the Goswami that if I truly get a son then I will give him to you for your service.’ This Brahman’s son was called Gopinath and he became known as Gooinath Pujari. Today on the disappearance day of Gopal Bhatta Goswami, and after his disappearance this Gopinath Pujari took birth in Saharanpura.
He became the Pujari and actually he probably was even when Gopal Bhatta Goswami was here, but even after he continued the service to the deity of Sri Raman. He continued to serve Radha Raman and so in this way the associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the some Goswami’s stayed in Navadwipa. There was one team of them in Jagannatha Puri and the third group was where? Sri Vrindavan Dham ki jai!
The team of Vrindavan, especially the six Goswami’s of Vrindavan, they were given special power, intelligence and strength because through them the Gaudiya Vaishnava’s wanted to expand and spread the teachings of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the disciplic succession. We have Madhavendra Puri and Iswara Puri in our succession and from Iswara Puri lord Chaitanya took initiation and after the lord it is the six Goswami’s of Vrindavan who carried on this disciplic succession.
When we think and we see who the Acharya’s of our Parampara are, there is lord Chaitanya himself and thereafter the six Goswami’s of Vrindavan. And what should we say of the six Goswami’s? They have done everything including re-establishing the principles of religion and in such a way as to ensure that preaching of Dharma continues for a long time. They have planted the seeds of the foundation of this preaching and of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
The most junior of the six Goswami’s was Srila Jiva Goswami and one by one all the Goswami’s leave this material world and nobody is left apart from Jiva Goswami. At one time he was in charge of the Gaudiya Vaishnava lineage, he was the instructing spiritual master of many great stalwart Vaishnava’s. After the demise of the sox Goswami’s, three great Vaishnava’s came about who were known as the ‘three Acharya’s.’
They were Narottama das Thakur ki jai. Next, Shymananda Pandit ki jai! That’s two and then? Srinivas Acharya ki jai! Srinivas Acharya became the disciple of Gopal Bhatta Goswami and Narottama das Thakur becomes the disciple of Lokanath Goswami and Hridaya Chaitanya of the place called Ambila Kalna who is also known as Hridaya Ananda becomes the spiritual master of Shyamananda.
At one time all three of these personalities were in Vrindavan and Jova Goswami was their instructing spiritual master, Siksa Guru. At one time Jiva Goswami sent all three of them, ‘now if you go! Go and preach.’ The only means of preaching is books, books are the basis. So they filled a whole cart with Gaudiya literature and they were told by Srila Jiva Goswami, ‘go to Bengal and preach!’ So these three Goswami’s went to Orissa and Bengal and they preached extensively in this part.
After these three Acharya’s, we can say that the place for the next Acharya was empty for a while and for some time we dont hear of a great Acharya coming. Then Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur ki jai! After two hundred and fifty or three hundred years after this, Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur comes and his disciple is Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. So first there were six Goswami’s and after them there were three Acharya’s.
Then there was the team of these two great Acharya’s, Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur and Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana. Baladeva Vidyabhusana gave many people faith in the Gaudiya Vaishnava movement when by the blessings and order of his spiritual master and Sri Govinda also, he went to Jaipur and wrote a commentary, Sri Govinda bhashya. Many books have been written by Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur and therefore he has contributed so much also to Gaudiya Vaishnava literature.
So in this way books are the basis and we can see that Visvanatha Chakravarti Thakur has therefore written many books and commentaries and also after him we cam say a hundred and fifty years later, there is another team of three Acharya’s and they are Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur and Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada ki jai!
Krishna consciousness had to be spread throughout the whole world and alongside this, there is the prediction of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Prthivite ache yata nagaradi grama: sarvatra pracara haibe mora nama
(Chaitanya Bhagavad Antya khanda 4.126)
Translation
In every town and village throughout the world
This prediction had to be made true and that is why all the Acharya’s have given their own prediction and for four hundred years there were arrangements being made. Just like we often say that Srila Prabhupada started making arrangements in 1922 when order, ‘hey you! Go to the western countries and preach there! You!’ When someone soeaks like this we get a little scared, ‘is he talking to me?’ That’s what one started thinking.
So it is our understanding that to follow that order Srila Prabhupada spent a lifetime in separation because the order was given to him in 1922. Then eleven years later Srila Prabhupada took initiation in 1933 and in another eleven years in 1944 Prabhupada started distributing books and his back to godhead magazine. Then after another eleven years in 1954 Prabhupada took to Vanaprastha ashram and then we see that after around eleven years there is a new occurrence.
The Prabhupada went to the western countries in 1966 and found med Iskcon and then after another eleven years Srila Prabhupada entered into the eternal pastimes of the lord. So we call this a lifetime in preparation but even before Srila Prabhupada all these Acharya’s were preparing, getting ready. Then Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur made a master plan, he made a blue print in Godrumadwipa, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur’s Godruma Kalpatavi.
The Thakur writes a book about preaching at Nama Hatta and he writes the whole outline in a book. And also the very year Srila Prabhupada took his birth, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur sent his book overseas to the western world. His book distribution had started then and so Bhaktivinode Thakur had started distributing the message of the Gaudiya Vaishnava’s.
He had writing a book about Parikrama and was known as the seventh Goswami. There are the six Goswami of Vrindavan and then there was one more Goswami, Bhaktivinode Thakur who was known as the seventh Goswami of Navadwipa. Bhaktivinode Thakur was the one who had trained Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and that is the reason he had become Bhakti Siddhanta Dharine, possessor of all knowledge of the science of Bhakti, devotional service.
Bhaktivinode Thakur was like a social scientist, you can say and he knew all the different sects of Siddhanta, especially the bogus aula, baula, kartabhaja, Gauranga Nagari’s who were all Sahajiya’s. This was all pointed out by Bhaktivinode Thakur and so what did Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur do in his lifetime? He worked to get rid of and fight all these bogus sectionsof so called Vaishnava’s and Mayavadi’s also.
Paritranaya sadhunam, and what else? Vinasaya ca duskrtam, he annihilated the miscreants.
paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
(Bhagavad Gita 4.8)
Translation
In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium
The lord does this when he appears in this material world but when he is not present then his work is done through his Acharya’s who are his own. These are the Acharya’s who Sri Krishna himself speaks of, ‘acaryam mam vijaniyan, I am myself the Acharya.’
acaryam mam vijaniyan
navamanyeta karhicit
na martya buddhyasuyeta
sarva deva mayo guruh
(Srimad Bhagavatam 11.17.27)
Translation
One should know the acharya as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods
The lord descends to the material world at intervals, sambhavami yuge yuge and then what does he do?
paritranaya sadhunam
vinasaya ca duskrtam
dharma samsthapanarthaya
sambhavami yuge yuge
(Bhagavad Gita 4.8)
Translation
In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium
The lord himself is doing this work but when he is not physically present to do it, the lord empowers the Acharya’s of the disciplic succession do this work. Bhaktivinode Thakur created a blue print, a plan of how to preach Krishna consciousness throughout the whole world and he had also made a prediction that a great soul, Mahapurush would appear soon and he would preach in every country of the world.
Also those who would hear this message throughout the world will take it up and would return back to India and they will all get together with the people of India and together what will they sing? Jaya Sacinandana Jaya Sacinandana Jaya Sacinandana Gaura Hari. So like this, Bhaktivinode Thakur was preparing so this Hare Krishna movement may reach the whole world.
Then Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakur took this preaching to a greater extent and he even established the Gaudiya Maths which totalled sixty four and sixty of these were in India and four were established outside India. He was sending different disciples to other countries such as England and Germany and some other European countries but he they didn’t get any recognition there. Then finally Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada ki jai! He was the devotee military commander, Senapati Bhakta of lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu.
Lord Gauranga had given birth to many soldiers, some in America, South America, Africa, Australia but when we say the devotee military commander, Senapati Bhakta, there is an army and so Prabhupada went overseas to New York by sitting on a boat. If there is an army then a boat is needed, no? So sitting on the Jaladuta was a Deva duta, Srila Prabhuoada, a messenger of the God’s. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada deva duta ki jai! Senapati Bhakta ki jai!
And where was he going? New York and why New York? Some devotees say and I also keep saying that New York is the capital city of Kali Yuga, it is the base, the kingdom of Kali Yuga. That is why Srila Prabhupada made it the first place if his attack and he has reached this place. As soon ads he reached he has thrown time bombs in the form of his books and the holy names.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
Due to the effect of this bomb, many people got effected, they got hurt and actually the bad elements in these persons were killed due to these bombs. These people were protected and they became devotees. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had given birth to this army and therefore wherever Srila Prabhupada went, fourteen times around the world, his army met him and with the help of these army soldiers, this Hare Krishna movement was preached, spread and established far and wide.
The mrs were four principals in the preaching as well. No illicit sex life, no intoxication, no gambling, and no meat eating. Due to following these principles , we can easily say that the bad qualities if the candidates were destroyed. No more! The sinful activities which were being performed were stopped and they became pious souls
srnvatan sva kathah krsnah
punya sravana kirtanah
hrdy antah stho hy abhadrani
vidhunoti suhrt satam
(Srimad bhagavatam 1.2.17)
Translation
Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead, who is the paramatma (supersoul) in everyone’s heart and the benefactor of the truthful devotee, cleanses desire for material enjoyment from the heart of the devotee who has developed the urge to hear His messages, which are in themselves virtuous when properly heard and chanted
In this way the mission to spread lord Chaitanya’s Sankirtan movement was established by Srila Prabhupada, and we do keep saying that Prabhupada is the founder but actually the original founding father of this movement are Gauranga Mahaprabhu and Nityananda Prabhu. Sankirtan eka pitarau.
ajanu lambita bhujau kanakavadhatau sankirtanaika pitarau kamalayataksau visvambharau dvija varau yuga dharma palau vande jagat priyakaro karunavatarau
(Caitanya-bhagavata 1.1.1)
Translation
I offer my respects unto Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Sri Nityananda Prabhu, whose arms extend down to Their knees, who have golden yellow complexions, and who inaugurated the congregational chanting of the Holy Names. Their eyes resemble the petals of a lotus; They are the maintainers of all living entities; They are the best of brahmanas, the protectors of religious principles for this age, the benefactors of the universe, and the most merciful of all incarnations
The founding fathers of this movement are indeed Gauranga and Nityananda Prabhu who are krishna Balaram themselves, who are Rama and Lakshman. Prabhupada was made the instrument. Nimitta matram bhava savya sacin
tasmat tvam uttistha yaso labhasva
jitva satrun bhunksva rajyam samrddham
mayaivaite nihatah purvam eva
nimitta-matram bhava savya sacin
(Bhagavad Gita 11.33)
Translation
Therefore get up and prepare to fight. After conquering your enemies you will enjoy a flourishing kingdom. They are already put to death by My arrangement, and you, O Savyasacin, can be but an instmment in the fight
The establishment of this Hare Krishna movement was done through Srila Prabhupada by the lords Gauranga and Nityananda Prabhu’s. Prema Dharma was established through this movement and actually the holy name Hare Krishna Hare Krishna is what Dharma? Prema Dharma. You are all members of international society of Krishna consciousness and so continue to be a part of this society and performing these devotional activities. Dharmam tu saksad bhagavat pranitam
dharmam tu saksad bhagavat pranitam
na vai vidur rsayo napi devah
na siddha mukhya asura manusyah
kuto nu vidyadhara caranadayah
(Srimad Bhagavatam 6.3.19)
Translation
Real religious principles are enacted by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although fully situated in the mode of goodness, even the great rsis who occupy the topmost planets cannot ascertain the real religious principles, nor can the demigods or the leaders of Siddhaloka, to say nothing of the asuras, ordinary human beings, Vidyadharas and Caranas
golokera prema dhana hari nama sankirtana rati na janmila kene taya
Translation
The only remedy is hari nama sankirtana, the chanting of the Hare K???a maha mantra, which is imported from the spiritual world, Goloka Vrindavana. How unfortunate I am that I have no attraction for this
namo maha vadanyaya krishna prema pradaya te, da means dena, to give. And pradaya, pra means prakrishta rupena, or complete. So that personality who has given such wealth of love is Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
namo maha vadanyaya krishna prema pradaya te
krishnaya krishna caitanya namne gaura tvishe namah
Translation
O most munificent incarnation! You are Krishna Himself appearing as Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Srimati Radharani, and You are widely distributing pure love of Krishna. We offer our respectful obeisances unto you
So this wealth of live is the topmost because love of Godhead is the topmost and has been called the fifth and final dharma. Srila Vyasadeva had written many books but he was not satisfied by doing so, there was no job satisfaction. What was his job? To write all the books on transcendental subject matters which he did but he was not satisfied. When he heard Narada Muni ask him at Badrika Ashram, ‘what is the matter? You look very distressed.’
Not you all, no this is what Narada Muni asked Vyasadeva and it was morning time and they were sitting on the banks of the river Saraswati at Badrika Ashram. Vyasadeva’s face was looking distressed and therefore Narada Muni asked the reasons for this distress. Then Vyasadeva answered that ‘I have written so many books on spiritual knowledge but I am not satisfied. Maybe there are some shortcomings, some mistakes, faults or defects in the books I have written.’
Having said this, he gave all the books to Narada Muni who is also the spiritual master of Srila Vyasadeva. Both of them are also the supreme lord, Vyasadeva is the empowered incarnation of the supreme lord and Narada Muni also. But still one has become the disciple of the other so Vyasadeva requested, ‘please do a book review of all the books which I have written. You may make some corrections and I would like to hear some observations or comments.’ That is when Narada Muni has said vasudevasya mahima hy anuvarnitah
yatha dharmadayas cartha
muni varyanukirtitah
na tatha vasudevasya
mahima hy anuvarnitah
(Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.9)
Translation
Although, great sage, you have very broadly described the four principles beginning with religious performances, you have not described the glories of the Supreme Personality, Vasudeva
You have not emphasised the glories of Vasudeva and instead you have given importance to the four principles of religion namely religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and liberation. You have spoken so much on karma kanda, jnana kanda, kevala visera bhanda.
karma kanda, jnana kanda, kevala visera bhanda
(Narottama das Thakur)
Translation
the paths of karma kanda and jnana kanda are pots of poison
Then Srila Vyasadeva wrote one more scripture and that scripture is Srilmad bhagavatam, king of all scriptures ki jai. In this Srimad bhagavatam it is said harih sarvatra giyate
vede ramayane caiva purane bharate tatha
adav ante ca madhye ca harih sarvatra giyate
In the Vedic literature, including the Ramayana, Puranas and Mahabharata, from the very beginning (adau) to the end (ante ca), as well as within the middle (madhye ca), only Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is explained
Whether you call the lord by the name Vasudeva or Hari, vasudeva parah kriyah vasudeva para veda vasudeva param tapah vasudeva vasudeva
Vasudeva para veda
vasudeva para makhah
vasudeva para yoga
vasudeva parah kriyah
vasudeva param jnanam
vasudeva param tapah
vasudeva paro dharmo
vasudeva para gatih
(Srimad bhagavatam 1.2.28-28)
Translation
In the revealed scriptures, the ultimate object of knowledge is Sri Krsna, the Personality of Godhead. The purpose of performing sacrifice is to please Him. Yoga is for realizing Him. All fruitive activities are ultimately rewarded by Him only. He is supreme knowledge, and all severe austerities are performed to know Him. Religion [dharma] is rendering loving service unto Him. He is the supreme goal of life
So by making this literature the instrument, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu himself was most attached to listening to Srimad bhagavatam instead of any other book. And that is why Sri Krishna has said
trai gunya visaya veda
nistrai gunyo bhavarjuna
nirdvandvo nitya sattva stho
niryoga ksema atmavan
Translation
The Vedas mainly deal with the subject of the three modes of material nature. Rise above these modes, O Arjuna. Be transcendental to all of them. Be free from all dualities and from all anxieties for gain and safety, and be established in the self
The vedas deal with the subject if the three modes which are sattva guna (mode of goodness), raja guna (mode of passion), and tama guna (mode of ignorance). Even the different scriptures ate based on the different modes of nature and therefore some are in the modes of goodness, some are in the modes of passion and some in the modes of ignorance. ‘Become Nistrai gunyo, free from all the modes of material nature.’
So one scripture was written which was beyond the material modes and that was the topmost scripture srimad bhagavatam. So there are four principles of religion and above these is the fifth principle of the dharma of love, Prema. What does this movement of Sei Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu do? It gives Prema, love in charity to one and all. Each living being is searching for this Prema and this love means the supreme lord himself.
He is the embodiment of Prema. You may call it love or joy but this is what every living entity is searching for and that is why one name of the lord is Ananda, joy. Sac cid ananda vigraha, he is full of joy and his name indicates joy. Nanda ghar ananda bhayo, what happened at the house of Nanda? There was joy in the house of Nanda which means his whole mansion was filled with joy and this means that Krishna was there.
Joy means Krishna so if there is joy in the home of Nanda it means that Krishna must be present there because he is the only one who is an embodiment of joy. Krishna is the embodiment of Prema also, and therefore krishna prema pradaya te means that when one is giving out Prema, love then this is the same as giving Krishna.
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna
Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama
Rama Rama Hare Hare
This religion has to be introduced and preached everywhere otherwise there are many other man made religions which are mano dharma, mental speculation. ‘I think..’ this is what is happening most of the time. This is also called a form of gambling because people are being cheated in the name of religion and they are being told something which is only partly true.
I shouldn’t say this but the religion who has the most followers, thirty three percent of the population of the world is Christianity. Then our Muslim friend’s constitute twenty five percent of the population and so we Hindu’s are only fourteen percent. These others have played such a trick and so their preachers and their scriptures will speak mostly of sarva dharman parityajya, abandoning all varieties of religion.
How can we compare the six Goswami’s of Vrindavan and Gopal Bhatta Goswami to some religion which was founded just some fifteen hundred years ago. Then two thousand years ago there was another religion which was founded then a few hundred years later another religion was founded. So these religions were founded only a short while ago and whatever is started must come to an end. In actuality there is only one dharma, religion of all living entities.
That religion is called Sanatana dharma or Bhagavad dhama. What has Prahlad Maharaja said? Kaumara acaret prajno
dharman bhagavatan iha
Sri prahrada uvaca
kaumara acaret prajna
dharman bhagavatan iha
durlabham manusam janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam
(Srimad bhagavatam 7.6.1)
Translation
PrahladA Maharaja said: One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life, in other words, from the tender age of childhood -to practice the activities of devotional service, giving up all other engagements. The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere devotional service can give one complete perfection.
So which religion must we follow? Bhagavad dharma and that too in young age one must begin to take lessons in the path of bhakti. Each and every living entity has only one religion, Jaiva dharma. Having any other proper religion is just not possible although so many false religions continue to exist. This dharma and that dharma and then there are people who follow a certain so called religion for a short while and then they go elsewhere to follow something else.
Elo and gelo, they come and go. Who has said this? Lochan das Thakur. But Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has given us the topmost dharma and this is the o e true religion that is for all living entities and it is the religion of love, Prema dharma. This is what the world is lacking and therefore it is our duty to bring to the world this which is lacking, what people are searching for.
Gopal Bhatta Goswami will be happy with us if we preach this Krishna consciousness and also if we follow the principles of Krishna consciousness also. Nitai gaura prem anande hari haribol.