HH Sivaram Maharaja speaks about Gopal Bhatta Goswami, whose disappearance day is observed tomorrow.

(see below image for link to special page on Gopal Bhatta Goswami)

Gopal Bhatta Goswami

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GOPAL BHATTA GOSWAMI

Before writing Chaitanya-charitamrita, Shrila Krishnadas Kaviraj asked all the senior devotees of Vrindavan for their blessings. Naturally, Shri Gopal Bhatta Goswami (1503-1578) was one of these devotees. However, Gopal Bhatta specifically requested Shrila Krishnadas Kaviraj that in exchange for his blessings he not use his name in Chaitanya-charitamrita. As a result of this humility, Gopal Bhatta’s name is mentioned in only one or two passages of that great work, and little else about him is known. Biographical information is still available, however, in the Bhakti-ratnakara, and much can be gleaned, too, by studying the life of Shri Chaitanya.
According to Krishnadas Kaviraj’s Chaitanya-charitamrita, Shri Chaitanya began His walking journey throughout

South India in the summer of 1510. After many days, He came to Shri Rangam, a small city located on the banks of the Kaveri River in the district of Tanjore (about ten miles west of Kum-bhakonam). Famous as one of the most important centers of Krishna worship in all of India, it is more accurately a center for the worship of Lakshmi and Narayana, an expansion of the divine couple Radha and Krishna. Nonetheless, Shri Rangam’s main temple is the largest Vishnu (Narayana) temple in all of India, and pilgrims come from hundreds of miles to see Ranganath Swami, the Deity of Narayana in the main sanctum.
It was here that Shri Chaitanya met Vyenkata Bhatta and his brothers, Prabodhananda Saraswati and Tirumalla Bhatta. These were brahmanas of vast learning, and they welcomed Shri Chaitanya, the travelling sannyasi mendicant, to be a guest in their home. At this time, too, Shri Chaitanya met Vyenkata’s seven year old boy, Gopal Bhatta, who would one day be known as Gopal Bhatta Goswami.

The three brothers and young Gopal Bhatta lived near the Ranganath temple and, consequently, as brahmanas, were dedicated servants of the Deity. This being the case, they were naturally aligned with the Shri (Ramanuja) sampradaya, one of the four authentic lineages of disciplic descent. As such, they favored the aishvarya feature of the Lord, worshiping His grandeur and majesty. In fact, their sincere devotion to the awe-inspiring and opulent Lakshmi-Narayana manifestation of the Supreme was so pure that Shri Chaitanya felt great satisfaction for them (prabhura tushta haila mana), even though He was teaching the worship of Radha and Krishna. Despite being pleased with their high level of devotion, Shri Chaitanya could not help promoting the original Vedic perspective of Shri Krishna’s supreme and original position. Consequently, He once jokingly said to Vyenkata Bhatta: “Your worshipable Goddess of Fortune, Lakshmi, always remains at the chest of Narayana, and She is certainly the most chaste woman in creation. However, My Lord is Lord Shri Krishna, a cowherd boy who is engaged in tending cows.
“Why is it” Shri Chaitanya continued, “that Lakshmi, being such a chaste wife, wants to associate with My Lord? Just to associate with Krishna, Lakshmi abandoned all transcendental happiness in Vaikuntha [the kingdom of God] and for a long time accepted vows and regulative principles and actually performed unlimited austerities.”

Vyenkata Bhatta countered by saying that Krishna and Narayana are in actuality one and the same, and it is thus natural that Lakshmi would approach Krishna. After all, Krishna is simply Narayana in another dress. What was the harm if she approached Her husband in one of His other manifestations? It is still, in essence, the same person. In this way, Her action cannot be considered unchaste. Vyenkata did admit, however, that Krishna represented a superior manifestation. “Although there is in one sense no difference between the forms of Narayana and Krishna,” said Vyenkata, “in Krishna there is a special transcendental attraction due to the conjugal rasa (”relationship”), and consequently He surpasses Narayana.”
Shri Chaitanya replied: “I know that there is no fault on the part of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Fortune, but still She could not enter into the rasa dance. This was reserved only for Krishna’s most intimate devotees. We hear this from revealed scriptures.” Vyenkata Bhatta, now slightly vexed, said: “I cannot understand why Lakshmi was not allowed to join in the rasa dance. I am an ordinary human being. Since my intelligence is very limited and I am easily agitated, my mind cannot enter within the deep ocean of the pastimes of the Lord.”
Next, Vyenkata acknowledged the divinity of Shri Chaitanya and then asked Him to reveal the mystery of Lakshmi’s inability to enter into the rasa dance. After all, he (Vyenkata Bhatta), as an ordinary living entity, may be subject to misinformation or faulty interpretation, but Shri Chaitanya, he knew, was the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and, as such, had access to all information regarding these esoteric subjects.
Shri Chaitanya replied: “Lord Krishna has a specific characteristic. He attracts everyone’s heart by sweet interpersonal relationships of conjugal love. These sweet relationships reach their zenith in Vraj, the highest level of God’s kingdom, and there they may manifest in any of the primary rasas, such as that of servitude, friendship, parental expression, or, at last, conjugal love. At that point, Krishna’s Godhood becomes unimportant, and an incomparably sweet exchange ensues.
“Only those who follow in the footsteps of these inhabitants of Vraja,” Shri Chaitanya continued, “attain the Lord in His highest and original feature. There He is known as Vrajendra-nandana, or ‘the son of Maharaj Nanda.’ And there He is conquered by the spontaneous love of His most intimate servitors. The highest of these are the gopis [Krishna’s cowherd girlfriends], whose superlative love for Krishna is totally unconditional and unmotivated. In order to enter the rasa dance, one must follow in their footsteps.
“The Goddess of Fortune,” Shri Chaitanya concluded, “wanted to enjoy Krishna’s association and at the same time retain Her spiritual body in the form of Lakshmi. This form is certainly magnificent from the spiritual point of view, with all of the opulence and power of godly majesty. However, She did not follow in the footsteps of the gopis in Her worship of Krishna. Consequently, all of the opulence and power in the world could not gain Her entrance into Krishna’s most esoteric pastime.”

In this way, Shri Chaitanya succeeded in showing Vyenkata Bhatta the superiority of love over power, of sweetness over opulence, of Krishna over Narayana. It was these conversations that won not only Vyenkata Bhatta and his two brothers over to Chaitanyite Vaishnavism, but they also won over the young Gopal Bhatta Goswami, who would regularly sit and listen to these talks. After discussing with Vyenkata Bhatta for the four months of the rainy season (Chaturmasya), and allowing young Gopal Bhatta to serve Him the whole time He was there, Shri Chaitanya decided to proceed on His tour of South India. When they heard that He was leaving, Vyenkata Bhatta fainted out of separation and young Gopal cried with tears of love. Just to pacify Gopal Bhatta, Shri Chaitanya agreed to stay for a few more days.

During this time, Gopal Bhatta had a dream, although it was more like a spiritual vision. Propelled by an intense desire to see Shri Chaitanya before He started to practice the severe austerities of a renunciant, to see Him in His pre-sannyasi days, Gopal Bhatta was fortunate enough to visualize the entire Navadvip experience and, by Shri Chaitanya’s mercy, actually enter into it as a participant. In this “dream,” too, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed to Gopal Bhatta that He was in fact nondifferent from Shyamasundar, also known as Vrajendranandana, the original twoarmed form of Krishna, playing on His flute. He revealed this truth to Gopal Bhatta by appearing in this two-armed Krishna form and then transforming Himself back into His own form as Shri Chaitanya.
In this same dream-like state, Gopal Bhatta was instructed by Shri Chaitanya: “You will meet two jewellike persons, Rupa and Sanatan. I have given them My mentality (mano-vritti) in order to publish My teachings. But by your disciples, especially, these teachings will spread to every town and village.” Upon awakening, Gopal Bhatta went directly to Shri Chaitanya, to serve Him, but at that time Shri Chaitanya gave him the following instructions: “For now, stay here and serve your mother and father. After they have departed this world, you may go to Vrindavan and join Rupa and Sanatan. Always engage yourself in hearing and chanting the glories of Krishna.” With these words, Shri Chaitanya left Shri Rangam. Young Gopal Bhatta never forgot these personal instructions or the spiritual dream in which Shri Chaitanya so kindly allowed him entrance into Navadvip-lila and revealed His divinity.

As he grew in years, Gopal Bhatta accepted his uncle, Prabodhananda Saraswati, as his spiritual master. From him, Gopal Bhatta learned poetry, rhetoric, Sanskrit grammar, and Vedanta. Remembrance of Shri Chaitanya, however, was the central driving force in his life, and he was thus able to defeat all opposing views to the theistic conclusions of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas. The Bhakti-ratnakara describes that with the combined assets he acquired from Prabodhananda Saraswati’s vast learning and the inspirational memory of Shri Chaitanya’s example and instructions, Gopal Bhatta became wellknown for his advanced knowledge and devotion. As his reputation reached unprecedented proportions, he decided that he was ready to fulfill the mandate given to him by Shri Chaitanya: he was ready to go to Vrindavan. When Gopal Bhatta finally went to that holiest of lands, he was greeted with great love by Rupa and Sanatan. Meanwhile, in Jagannath Puri, Shri Chaitanya became curious as to whether the now famous Gopal Bhatta had ever arrived in Vrindavan. Local legends and rumors were traveling fast, but Mahaprabhu wanted confirmation. So He sent a letter from His headquarters in Puri to Rupa and Sanatan, who were already in Vrindavan, and He asked them if Gopal Bhatta had indeed arrived.

A messenger soon came to Puri with Rupa and Sanatan’s response. “Yes, he is here! All the residents of Vrindavan, such as Lokanath, Bhugarba, Kashishwar Pandit, Paramananda, and Krishnadas, are getting great pleasure from Gopal Bhatta, who is telling of Your stay in Shri Rangam and Your travels throughout the south. We accept Gopal Bhatta as our own brother, for as soon as he arrived in Vrindavan he thoroughly adopted the life of a renounced mendicant.” In that same letter, Rupa described a dream in which his Deity of Govindadev had actually requested that Gopal Bhatta Goswami be His pujari (”priest”). Vrindavan tradition asserts that Gopal Bhatta may have indeed served the Govindadev Deity for some time, but it is known that he eventually began worship of his own Deity, which he named Shri Radha-Raman. Further, he eventually had a magnificent temple built in the Deity’s honor. This temple, the Radha-Raman mandir, is now considered one of the most important Gaudiya Vaishnava temples outside of Bengal. However, at the time that Rupa and Sanatan’s letter arrived in Puri, the Radha-Raman Deity (and temple) had not yet been founded. For the sake of the biographical narrative, then, the story behind this Deity and temple will be disclosed later.
When Shri Chaitanya received the letter from Rupa and Sanatan, He happily shared its contents with the devotees at Puri, such as Nityananda Prabhu, Adwaita Acharya, Haridas Thakur, and Gadadhar Pandit. He began to elaborate on the good qualities of Gopal Bhatta Goswami and told them of His four month with Gopal Bhatta’s family in Shri Rangam.
Overwhelmed with joy, Shri Chaitanya immediately dispatched a messenger with a letter for Rupa and Sanatan Goswamis. Along with this letter, He sent a package for Gopal Bhatta, which included His loincloth and other personal articles. Traditionally, such items are considered worshipable by devotees. One item in particular — a small black wooden seat, measuring about twelve inches in height and ten inches in width, used by Shri Chaitanya Himself — is still noticeably worshiped at the Shri Radha-Raman temple.

But when that first letter and package arrived in Vrindavan, all of the sadhus, especially Rupa and Sanatan, became ecstatic. Gopal Bhatta was deeply grateful that Shri Chaitanya had sent His cloth, and he treasured the sacred paraphernalia for the remaining portion of his life. Further, as Shri Rupa Goswami read the letter, he found specific instructions for Gopal Bhatta — “Do not become dependent upon security or adopt a permanent residence. Please spend most of your time assisting Rupa and Sanatan in compiling transcendental literature, and thoroughly study this literature as well.” These instructions he took to heart, and he soon wrote a book entitled Sat-kriya-sara-dipika, a classic on the tenets of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Then he edited the Hari-bhakti-vilas, which was written by Sanatan Goswami. In addition, he wrote a scholarly introduction to Jiva Goswami’s Sat-sandarbha and a commentary on Bilvamangal Thakur’s Krishna-karnamrita.

Since his most important contribution to the literature of Gaudiya Vaishnavism served to define the rites and rituals of gradual spiritual progress, a brief survey of these particular works is in order. Satkriya-sara-dipika, which roughly translates as “The Lamp that Lights the Essence of Spiritual Rituals,” deals primarily with married life. It delineates with great care the ten samskaras, or holy rites, from marriage, impregnation, and haircutting ceremony, to the beginning of learning and the study of scriptures. With this work, Gopal Bhatta Goswami sought to help the common people by giving them valuable guidance on marriage and the gradual pursuance of spiritual life, both for themselves and their offspring. Next, he compiled a work called Samskara Dipika, which elucidates on the rules of behavior and conduct for sannyasis, or renunciants. It gives details that explain Vaishnava sannyasi names and the scripturally-based rituals with which one can officially adopt the life of a traveling mendicant. Both the Sat-kriya-sara-dipika and the Samskara Dipika elaborate on fire sacrifice and initiation as originally taught in the Vedic tradition.

Of course, his most important work, the Hari-bhakti-vilas, is generally attributed to Sanatan Goswami, at least in its original form. It is said that Gopal Bhatta later produced a shortened version and added to it the Digdarshini-tika, which is the commentary of Sanatan Goswami. Some say that the original plan for the Hari-bhakti-vilas came from Gopal Bhatta, but was started by Sanatan Goswami anyway. Because of this confusion, actual authorship is controversial. Nonetheless, the mammoth work is inevitably associated with both their names.
The historical evidence in regard to authorship is admittedly confused. On Shri Gopal Bhatta’s side, the Hari-Bhakti-vilas itself states that he wrote it for the satisfaction of Raghunath Das, Rupa and Sanatan. But in the writings of Jiva Goswami and Krishnadas Kaviraj, authorship is unequivocally given to Sanatan. Narahari Chakravarti writes in his Bhakti-ratnakara that Sanatan actually wrote the Hari-bhakti-vilas but attributed the work to his younger contemporary. Nonetheless, Gopal Bhatta Goswami’s name in the text itself cannot be ignored. Consequently, modern Vaishnava historians have naturally concluded that the work was a collaboration. Shriman Manohardas, in his Anuragavalli, also says that Sanatan wrote the original treatise, but that Gopal Bhatta must have written the illustrative passages (i.e., the quotes from scriptures). Some historians suggest that Sanatan wanted his smriti to be respected by the orthodox brahmanas, and since some of them frowned upon him because of his association with Muslims (Indeed, Sanatan himself would not enter the Jagannath temple for similar reasons!), he allowed the book to be “published” by Gopal Bhatta, who was from a pucka South Indian Vaishnava family. Whether or not the above is what actually transpired, the orthodox view has come to accept a collaboration of sorts. According to His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, “The subject matter of Hari-bhakti-vilas, by Sanatan Goswami, was collected by Shrila Gopal Bhatta Goswami and is known as a Vaishnava Smriti.”

The next morning, however, he found that one of the shilas, known as the Damodar shila, had transformed into an incomparably beautiful Deity of Krishna, just as he had desired. Overcome with happiness, he fell to the ground in all humility and began to offer humble prayers and profound eulogies. Hearing of the miraculous event, Rupa, Sanatan, and many other senior Vaishnavas hurried to the sacred spot where Gopal Bhatta was offering salutations of love. They were all there when he named the Deity: Shri Radha-Ramanadev. Local tradition asserts that the Deity was given this name (which refers to “Krishna, who brings pleasure to Radharani”) because the area where the Deity appeared is near that of the rasa dance, where Krishna increased Radharani’s attachment and love for Him by running away.

This Radha-Raman Deity is worshiped in the same place today, although the modern Radha-Raman Temple in Vrindavan now boasts an impressive enclosure that was eventually built just outside the northern wall of Nidhivan. The original structure of the temple has been refurbished many times, the latest being completed in 1826 by Shah Kundan Lal and his brother Shah Phundan. Although Shri Radha-Ramanadev Himself is not more than twelve inches in height, pilgrims still come from all parts of India just to see His staggering beauty. In fact, His tiny size is part of His special beauty. Moreover, of all the original Goswami Deities, only Radha-Raman is still in Vrindavan. This, too, is attributable to the Deity’s size: the temple guardians concluded that the Muslim soldiers, who were destroying all of the “Hindu idols,” would fortunately overlook Radha-Ramanadev, because He was very small in size. The well-wishers of the Deity were correct, and the Muslims never destroyed the original Deity. Curiously, there is no Deity of Radharani in the temple, but at Radha-Raman’s left side there is a small silver crown to acknowledge Her presence. Once, several years after Radha-Ramanadev first appeared to Gopal Bhatta, the Bhatta was worshiping his Deity and became overwhelmed with longing for Shri Chaitanya, feeling intensely the mood of love in separation. Remembering that he had at one time promised his father that he would worship Shri Chaitanya, he began to feel a lack of chastity in worshiping his Radha-Raman Deity. After all, although the Deity was, in one sense, non-different from Shri Chaitanya, it was still a manifestation of “Krishna,” playing on His flute.
As soon as Gopal Bhatta Goswami started to feel these emotions, the Deity manifested His feature as Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Gopal Bhatta’s tears of love began to flow like the River Ganga as he realized, once again, Shri Chaitanya’s identity as Krishna, now in the form of Radha-Ramanadev. This is a realization that he perpetually cherished and shared with others. Gopal Bhatta Goswami came to be accepted as one of the great authorities on Chaitanyite Vaishnavism, and he initiated into the order such luminaries as Shrinivas Acharya and Gopinath Pujari, the latter serving as head priest for the Radha-Raman temple as his life’s mission. Wanting his family to care for the Radha-Raman Deity for all of posterity, however, he had to deal with a serious problem: he was a lifelong celibate! Gopal Bhatta Goswami resolved the problem by requesting Gopinath’s younger brother, Shri Damodar Das to marry and create progeny. The line of Radha-Raman servants, from this family, is still continuing unbroken.

Above: Murti in samadhi of Gopal Bhatta Goswami, near the Radha Raman mandir

It was soon discovered that Gopal Bhatta Goswami was an incarnation of Ananga Manjari, the divine younger sister of Radharani, although sometimes it is said that he was an incarnation of Guna Manjari. His intense study and elaborate knowledge of scripture acquired for him a reputation as one of the most important religious scholars in India, while his love and devotion for Shri Chaitanya and Radha-Ramanadeva has catapulted him to the status of a saint. He is now remembered as one of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan, and to this day reverential followers commemorate his exemplary life by regularly visiting his tomb (samadhi) at the Radha-Raman mandir. From “Six Goswamis of Vrindavan,” reprinted with kind permission of the author, Satyaraja Dasa (Steven Rosen) (c) Folk Books, 2003. For further information about this book please contact Satyaraja at: mailto:satyaraja.acbsp@pamho.net

July 14th 2006 Posted to Podcasts, Articles
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