20210922 Descending From Govardhana Gopāla Grants Interview to Lord Caitanya and Rūpa Gosvāmī

Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation

By His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on 22^nd September 2021 in

Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, India

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

hariḥ oṁ tat sat

Introduction: We are continuing with the compilation of Caitanya līlā book, the chapter entitled today is:

Descending From Govardhana Gopāla Grants Interview to Lord Caitanya and Rūpa Gosvāmī

Under the Section: Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s Visit to Śrī Vṛndāvana

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.39

tina-dina gopāla-darśana:—

ei-mata tina-dina gopāle dekhilā
caturtha-divase gopāla svamandire gelā

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu saw the Gopāla Deity for three days. On the fourth day, the Deity returned to His own temple.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Gopāla came to this village just to give audience to Lord Caitanya and Lord Caitanya had His darsana for three days.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.40

4rtha dine girira uparistha mandire gopālera

nṛtyagītamukhe gamana:—

gopāla saṅge cali’ āilā nṛtya-gīta kari
ānanda-kolāhale loka bale ‘hari’ ’hari’

Translation: Caitanya Mahāprabhu walked with the Deity of Gopāla, and He chanted and danced. A large and jubilant crowd of people also chanted the transcendental name of Kṛṣṇa, “Hari! Hari!”

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.41

prabhura gopāladarśana-vāñchā-pūraṇa:—

gopāla mandire gelā, prabhu rahilā tale
prabhura vāñchā pūrṇa saba karila gopāle

Translation: The Gopāla Deity then returned to His own temple, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu remained at the bottom of the hill. Thus all the desires of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu were satisfied by the Gopāla Deity.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, here it is confirmed that the Gopāla deity did this pastime just to give darśan to Lord Caitanya.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.42

mahākṛpālu gopāla-darśane bhaktera bhāva:—

ei-mata gopālera karuṇa svabhāva
yei bhakta janera dekhite haya ‘bhāva’

Translation: This is the way of Lord Gopāla’s kind behavior to His devotees. Seeing this, the devotees were overwhelmed by ecstatic love.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, how the Gopāla Deity was giving His mercy to the devotees! So they could appreciate Lord Gopala giving His special mercy to Lord Caitanya and all the other devotees.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.43

dayāmaya gopālera kona chale bhaktake darśana-dāna:—

dekhite utkaṇṭhā haya, nā caḍe govardhane
kona chale gopāla āsi’ utare āpane

Translation: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very eager to see Gopāla, but He did not want to climb Govardhana Hill. Therefore by some trick the Gopāla Deity personally descended.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, otherwise Lord Caitanya could not see the Gopāla Deity, because He was playing the part of a devotee, He could not climb the Govardhana Hill, Gopāla gave darśan by some trick.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.44

yakhana ye-sthāne thākena, tathāya āsiyā bhaktera taddarśanalābha:—

kabhu kuñje rahe, kabhu rahe grāmāntare
sei bhakta, tāhāṅ āsi’ dekhaye tāṅhāre

Translation: In this way, giving some excuse, Gopāla sometimes remains in the bushes of the forest, and sometimes He stays in a village. One who is a devotee comes to see the Deity.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, this is the secret of Lord Gopāla.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.45

śrī-rūpa-sanātanake airūpe kona chale darśanadāna:—

parvate nā caḍe dui—rūpa-sanātana
ei-rūpe tāṅ-sabāre diyāchena daraśana

Translation: The two brothers Rūpa and Sanātana did not climb the hill. To them also Lord Gopāla granted an interview.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, well it is understood by this verse that somehow Lord Gopāla came down thus gave audience to Rūpa and Sanātana.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.46

gopāladarśana vāñchāhetu śrīrūpera gopāla-darśana-bṛttānta varṇana:—

vṛddha-kāle rūpa-gosāñi nā pāre yāite
vāñchā haila gopālera saundarya dekhite

Translation: In ripe old age, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī could not go there, but he had a desire to see the beauty of Gopāla.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.47

mathurāya vallabhaputra biṭhṭhaleśbaragṛhe ekamāsa abasthāna:—

mleccha-bhaye āilā gopāla mathurā-nagare
eka-māsa rahila viṭhṭhaleśvara-ghare

Translation: Due to fear of the Muslims, Gopāla went to Mathurā, where He remained in the house of Viṭhṭhaleśvara for one full month.

Purport: When the two brothers Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī went to Vṛndāvana, they decided to live there. Following Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s example, they did not climb the hill because they considered it nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. On some pretext, the Gopāla Deity granted Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu an audience beneath the hill, and Gopāla similarly favored Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī. During his ripe old age, when Rūpa Gosvāmī could not go to Govardhana Hill because of invalidity, Gopāla kindly went to Mathurā and remained at the house of Viṭhṭhaleśvara for one month. It was then that Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī could see Gopāla’s beauty to his heart’s content.

The following description concerning Viṭhṭhaleśvara is given in the Bhakti-ratnākara (Fifth Wave):

viṭhṭhalera sevā kṛṣṇa-caitanya-vigraha
tāhāra darśane haila parama āgraha

śrī-viṭhṭhalanātha—bhaṭṭa-vallabha-tanaya
karilā yateka prīti kahile nā haya

gāṭholi-grāme gopāla āilā ’chala’ kari’
tāṅre dekhi’ nṛtya-gīte magna gaurahari

śrī-dāsa-gosvāmī ādi parāmarśa kari’
śrī-viṭhṭhaleśvare kailā sevā-adhikārī

pitā śrī-vallabha-bhaṭṭa tāṅra adarśane
kata-dina mathurāya chilena nirjane

Śrī Vallabha Bhaṭṭa had two sons. The elder, Gopīnātha, was born in 1432 Śakābda Era (A.D. 1510), and the younger, Viṭhṭhaleśvara, was born in 1437 (A.D. 1515) and died in 1507 (A.D. 1585). Viṭhṭhaleśvara had seven sons: Giridhara, Govinda, Bālakṛṣṇa, Gokuleśa, Raghunātha, Yadunātha and Ghanaśyāma. Viṭhṭhaleśvara completed many of his father’s unfinished books, including his commentary on the Vedānta-sūtra, the Subodhinī commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Vidvan-maṇḍana, Śṛṅgāra-rasa-maṇḍana and Nyāsādeśa-vivaraṇa. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Vṛndāvana before the birth of Viṭhṭhaleśvara. As previously mentioned, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was very old at the time Gopāla stayed at the house of Viṭhṭhaleśvara.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Gopāla stayed for one month in the house of Viṭhṭhaleśvara in Mathurā. At that time Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī had the Deity's darśana.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.48

mathurāya biṭhṭhaleśbara-gṛhe ekamāsa saparikare .

śrī-rūpera gopāla-darśana:—

tabe rūpa gosāñi saba nija-gaṇa lañā
eka-māsa daraśana kailā mathurāya rahiyā

Translation: Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and his associates stayed in Mathurā for one month and saw the Gopāla Deity.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Rūpa Gosvāmī taking advantage of the Deity's presence in Mathurā stayed for one month to have the darśana of the Deity while He was there in Mathurā.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.49

saṅge gopāla-bhaṭṭa, dāsa-raghunātha
raghunātha-bhaṭṭa-gosāñi, āra lokanātha

Translation: When Rūpa Gosvāmī stayed at Mathurā, he was accompanied by Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī and Lokanātha dāsa Gosvāmī.

Purport: Śrī Lokanātha Gosvāmī was a personal associate of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and a great devotee of the Lord. He was a resident of a village named Tālakhaḍi in the district of Yaśohara (Jessore), in Bengal. Previously he lived in Kāṅcaḍāpāḍā. His father’s name was Padmanābha, and his only sibling was a younger brother named Pragalbha. Following the orders of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Śrī Lokanātha went to Vṛndāvana to live. He established a temple named Gokulānanda. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura selected Lokanātha dāsa Gosvāmī to be his spiritual master, and Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura was his only disciple. Because Lokanātha dāsa Gosvāmī did not want his name mentioned in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, we do not often see it in this celebrated book. On the E.B.R. Railroad, the Yaśohara station is located in Bangladesh. From the railway station one has to go by bus to the village of Sonākhāli and from there to Khejurā. From there one has to walk or, during the rainy season, go by boat to the village of Tālakhaḍi. In this village there are still descendants of Lokanātha Gosvāmī’s younger brother.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the way that one can reach the birthplace of Lokanātha dāsa Gosvāmī is mentioned above. I saw the birthplace is near to Jessore, also near the birthplace of Rūpa and Sanātana. ISKCON has a temple there Rūpa-Sanātana Smṛti tirtha, one day in the future we will try to get the birthplace of Śrīla Lokanātha Gosvāmī.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.50

bhūgarbha-gosāñi, āra śrī-jīva-gosāñi
śrī-yādava-ācārya, āra govinda gosāñi

Translation: Bhūgarbha Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, Śrī Yādava Ācārya and Govinda Gosvāmī also accompanied Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, all the transcendental personalities who accompanied Rūpa Gosvāmī is mentioned above and also below.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.51

śrī-uddhava-dāsa, āra mādhava—dui-jana
śrī-gopāla-dāsa, āra dāsa-nārāyaṇa

Translation: He was also accompanied by Śrī Uddhava dāsa, Mādhava, Śrī Gopāla dāsa and Nārāyaṇa dāsa.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.52

‘govinda’ bhakta, āra vāṇī-kṛṣṇadāsa
puṇḍarīkākṣa, īśāna, āra laghu-haridāsa

Translation: The great devotee Govinda, Vāṇī Kṛṣṇadāsa, Puṇḍarīkākṣa, Īśāna and Laghu Haridāsa also accompanied him.

Purport: Laghu Haridāsa should not be confused with Junior Haridāsa, who committed suicide at Prayāga. Generally a devotee is called Haridāsa, and consequently there are many Haridāsas. The chief was Ṭhākura Haridāsa. There was also a Madhyama Haridāsa.

In the Bhakti-ratnākara (Sixth Wave), there is a list of many of the chief devotees who accompanied Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

gosvāmī gopāla-bhaṭṭa ati dayāmaya
bhūgarbha, śrī-lokanātha—guṇera ālaya

śrī-mādhava, śrī-paramānanda-bhaṭṭācārya
śrī-madhu-paṇḍita—yāṅra caritra āścarya

premī kṛṣṇadāsa kṛṣṇadāsa brahmacārī
yādava ācārya, nārāyaṇa kṛpāvān

śrī-puṇḍarīkākṣa-gosāñi, govinda, īśāna
śrī-govinda vāṇī-kṛṣṇadāsa aty-udāra

śrī-uddhava—madhye-madhye gauḍe gati yāṅra
dvija-haridāsa kṛṣṇadāsa kavirāja

śrī-gopāla-dāsa yāṅra alaukika kāya
śrī-gopāla, mādhavādi yateka vaiṣṇava

“The following Vaiṣṇavas were present with Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī: the merciful Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī; Bhūgarbha Gosvāmī; Śrī Lokanātha dāsa Gosvāmī, a reservoir of good qualities; Śrī Mādhava; Śrī Paramānanda Bhaṭṭācārya; Śrī Madhu Paṇḍita, whose characteristics are all wonderful; Premī Kṛṣṇadāsa; Kṛṣṇadāsa Brahmacārī; Yādava Ācārya; the merciful Nārāyaṇa; Śrī Puṇḍarīkākṣa Gosvāmī; Govinda; Īśāna; Śrī Govinda; the magnanimous Vāṇī Kṛṣṇadāsa; Śrī Uddhava, who occasionally visited Bengal; Dvija Haridāsa; Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja; Śrī Gopāla dāsa, whose body is completely spiritual; Śrī Gopāla; Mādhava; and many others.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Rūpa Gosvāmī had many devotees with him, and they all saw the Gopāla Deity for one month.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.53

ei saba mukhya-bhakta lañā nija-saṅge
śrī-gopāla daraśana kailā bahu-raṅge

Translation: It was with great jubilation that Rūpa Gosvāmī visited Lord Gopāla, accompanied by all these devotees.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Rūpa Gosvāmī and all the other devotees took advantage of the presence of Lord Gopāla in Mathurā for one month. Otherwise out of respect they were not climbing up the Govardhana Hill.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.54

māsānte gopālera sahita śrīrūpera sva-sva-sthāne pratyābartana:—

eka-māsa rahi’ gopāla gelā nija-sthāne
śrī-rūpa-gosāñi āilā śrī-vṛndāvane

Translation: After staying at Mathurā for one month, the Gopāla Deity returned to His own place, and Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī returned to Vṛndāvana.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, it is understood that normally Rūpa Gosvāmī stayed in Vṛndāvana and his samādhi mandir is in Rādhā-Dāmodara temple. His Divine Grace AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda would see the samādhi of Rūpa and Sanātana from his window.

Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 18.55

mahāprabhura kāmyavane āgamana:—

prastāve kahiluṅ gopāla-kṛpāra ākhyāna
tabe mahāprabhu gelā ’śrī-kāmyavana’

Translation: In the course of this story, I have given a description of Lord Gopāla’s mercy. After seeing the Gopāla Deity, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu went to Śrī Kāmyavana.

Purport: Kāmyavana is mentioned in the Ādi-varāha Purāṇa:

caturthaṁ kāmyaka-vanaṁ vanānāṁ vanam uttamam
tatra gatvā naro devi mama loke mahīyate

Lord Śiva said, “The best of all forests is the fourth of these, named Kāmyaka. O goddess Devī, any person who goes there is eligible to enjoy the glories of my abode.”

In the Bhakti-ratnākara (Fifth Wave) it is also said:

ei kāmyavane kṛṣṇa-līlā manohara
karibe darśana sthāna kuṇḍa bahutara
kāmyavane yata tīrtha lekhā nāhi tāra

“In this Kāmyavana, Kṛṣṇa performed enchanting pastimes. Here you will be able to take darśana of many ponds and other transcendental spots. I cannot even describe in writing all the sacred tīrthas found at Kāmyavana.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, I stayed overnight in Kāmyavana in a tent and there were so many monkeys there. They came and knocked on my tent. This place is very special that Kṛṣṇa performed many pastimes in Kāmyavana.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Descending From Govardhana Gopāla Grants Interview to Lord Caitanya and Rūpa Gosvāmī

Under the Section: Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s Visit to Śrī Vṛndāvana

Transcribed and Verified by JPS Archives 23^rd Sep 2021