SIX GOSWAMIS OF VRINDAVAN – SRI RUPA GOSWAMI
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(Part-1 has been given below and PART -2 at the end. To go to Part-2 instantly without schrollng, CLICK HERE.)
SRI RUPA GOSWAMI – PART-1
(1) Lord Caitanya gave four orders to Sri Rupa Goswami and his elder brother Sri Sanatana goswami.
(i) Find and mark the places of importance in the lilas of Krishna in Vrindavan.
(ii) create the places of worship.
(iii) Write the scriptures related to devotion.
(iv) Spread the Bhakti Yoga.
(2) Both of them came to Vrindavana to fulfill four orders of Lord Chaitanya in the year 1517.
(FIVE PRIMARY DUTIES OF A DEVOTEE RECOMMENDED BY SRI CAITANYA MAHA PRABHU! READ HERE!)
(3) Sri Rupa is visible in simple form always absorbed in the pastimes of Sri Radha Govinda, wearing just kaupin and kanth , ie, a loincloth and patchwork quilt.
(4) He established Sri-Sri Radha-Govinda deities.
(5) Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu instructed Sri Rupa Goswami empowering him to explain His love and devotion to the world.
(6) He was honoured as “Bhakti-Rasacharya” that means the guru of devotional mellows because of his outstanding devotional classics, Bhakti-rasamrta sindhu, Ujjvala Nilamani, Lalita Madhava and others.
(7) Hearing (studying), chanting and strictly following the teachings of Shri Rupa Goswami and praying to Sri Rupa Goswami will help the devotees attain prema-bhakti.
(8) Sri Rupa Goswami established the Deities of Radha-Govinda in Vrindavana.
(Sri Caitanya, Acharyas & Krishna devotees visiting Other Temples -Proofs! READ HERE!)
(9) Sri Rupa Goswami has been attributed with the honor of being the person who realized the mano-‘bhistam, the innermost heart’s desire, of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
(10) Sri Rupa Goswami, the foremost of the six Goswamis of Vrindavan, was an incarnation of Rupa Manjari, the most important of the eight confidential maidservants of Srimati Radharani.
(11) Without taking shelter of Sri Rupa Goswami one cannot enter into the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya.
(12) Without taking shelter of Rupa Manjari one cannot enter into the confidential loving pastimes of Sri Sri Radha Krishna.
(13) Sri Rupa Goswami’s ancestors were of the Bharadvaja gotra and were learned in the Yajur Veda.
(14) Sri Rupa Gosvami’s family lineage:
(i) Sarvajna, a brahmana and a king
(ii) Sarvajna’s son Anirudhdha
(iii) Anirudhdha’s sons Harihara and Rupeshvara
(Why Sri Nityanandha Prabhu broke the sanyasa Danda of Sri Caitanya? READ HERE!?)
(iv) Rupeshwars’s son Padmanabha.
(v) Padmanabha had 18 daughters and 5 sons.
(vi) Out of these 5 sons, the youngest was Mukungta.
(vii) Mukunta’s son Kumaradeva.
(viii) Kumaradeva’s three sons were: Santosha (Rupa Gosvami), Amara (Sanatana Gosvami) and Shrivallabha (Anupama).
(15) All these three brothers studied the Nyaya-shastras (treatise on rhetoric) from the famous logician Vasudeva Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya and they also studied Sanskrit, Arabic and Persian.
(16) Rupa and his elder brother Sanatana were later added into the government service by the Sultan of Bengal, Alauddin Hussein Shah (1493-1519)
(17) Rupa became the Sultan’s chief secretary (dabir khas), while Sanatana became the state revenue minister (sakara mallika).
(18) They prayed to the Lord Caitanya to somehow rescue them for their bonded state.
(18) Lord Chaitanya assured them that they would soon be delivered and would be able to join His sankirtana movement.
(SRI CAITANYA MAHA PRABHU LIFE HISTORY – DIARY AND SIKSASHTAKAM – READ HERE!)
SRI RUPA GOSVAMI – PART-2
(19) After some months both Rupa and Anupama were freed from service.
(20) Rupa with his brother Anupama distributed all his wealth. Since they heard the news that Mahaprabhu had already left Puri for Vrindavan, they too decided to go there.
(21) They wrote a letter to Sanatana telling him of their plans and asking him to join them in Vrindavan. They also told him that they had left 10,000 gold coins in case he was in need of financial help. Later, when Sanatana was thrown into prison by the Sultan for disobedience, he used this money to bribe the jailer and escaped to Varanasi to meet there with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
(22) On his return trip from Vrindavan, at the historic Dasasvamedha Ghat in Prayaga (Allahabad), Sri Chaitanya imparted confidential instructions to Rupa Goswami and explained in detail all the fundamental principles of the Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
(23) After the disappearance of Lord Chaitanya in 1534, Rupa became the undisputed leader of all the Gaudiya Vaishnavas in the world.
(SRI ADVAITA ACHARYA – LIFE HISTORY – DIARY : PART-1 ! READ HERE!)
(24) After spending some time in Vrindavan, Rupa and Anupama left to visit Lord Chaitanya in Puri. On the way, Anupama left his body.
(25) In a village named Satyabhamapur in Orissa, he had a dream wherein a beautiful woman (Sathyabhama) appeared before him and asked him to write a separate drama about her. So, He decided to write a drama about the Lord’s Dwaraka leela.
(26) On his arrival at Jagganatha Puri, Rupa met Lord Chaitanya and showed the Lord the outline of his two dramas. The Lord confirmed that writing two dramas mixing the lilas of Vrindavan and Dwaraka was not proper as their was a vast difference between them. In Vrindavan the Lord enjoys the parakiya-rasa, where as in Dwaraka He enjoys the Swakiya-rasa.
(27) Rupa Goswami stayed ten months in Puri and received further instructions on devotional service from Lord Chaitanya. The Lord then asked Rupa to return to Vrindavan and complete the task of rediscovering the lost holy places of Lord Krishna’s pastimes.
(25 BHAKTI TIPS BY SRILA BHAKTI SIDDHANTHA SARASVATi! READ HERE!)
(28) Then, Rupa visited Vrindavan again and he discovered the following: (i) Brahma Kunda the Deity of Vrinda Devi, from who the town of Vrindavan gets its name (This Deity was later moved to Kamyavana). (ii) Govindev ji Deity and immediately established Lord Govindaji’s worship on a grand scale.
(29) Then, Rupa and Sanatana Goswamis were joined by Ragunatha dasa Goswami, Gopal Bhatta Goswami, Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami and Shrila Jiva Goswami. These great personalities become famous as the six Goswamis of Vrindavan.
(30) Jiva Goswami, who was the son of Rupa’s brother Anupama, became the most important disciple of Rupa Goswami.
(31) In the Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika, Kavi Karnapura has written that Shri Rupa Goswami was known as Shri Rupa Manjari during Krishna lila.
(32) Both became the ministers of the king of Gaudadesha, Hussain Shah Badsha.
(33) Some of the literatures compiled by Sri Rupa Goswami:
Shri Hamsaduta Kavya,
Sgri Uddhava-sandesh,
Sgri Krishna-janma-tithi-vidhi,
Brhat Radha-Krishna-ganoddesha-dipika,
Laghu Radha-Krishna ganoddesah-dipika,
Stavamala,
Vidagha-madhava,
Lalita-madhava,
Dana-keli-kaumudi,
Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu,
Ujjvala-nilamani,
Prayuktakhyata-manjari,
Mathura-mahima,
Padyavali,
Nataka chandrika,
Laghu-Bhagavatamrta.
(Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura – Diary of 40 Life Events! READ HERE!)
(History of Sri Rupa Goswami ended. A Story related to him are given as separate post HERE)