Disappearance day of Srila Jiva Goswami and Srila Jagadish Pandit. Sriman Keshavananda Prabhu and Srimati Bhakti Lalita Devi Dasi. December 21, 2017. Gupta Govardhan


English

Sriman Keshavananda Prabhu
Srimati Bhakti Lalita Devi Dasi

Disappearance day of Srila Jiva Goswami and Srila Jagadish Pandit

(December 21, 2017. Gupta Govardhan)


Keshavananda Prabhu: Hare Krishna.

Jai Giriraj! Sri Bhakti Lalita Devi ki jai!

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Jai Sriman Keshavananda Prabhu ki jai!

Keshavananda Prabhu: All the devotees ki jai!

So, we’re happily here again on a frosty evening in Chiang Mai at the lotus feet of Giriraj. And I’m happy to be here with my beloved sister and worshiper Vaishnavi Bhakti Lalita. And all the devotees here. We’ve got Maharaj’s upstairs and Maharaj’s this way. And so many new devotees initiated today here in Chiang Mai. And Srila Goswami Maharaj also initiated one man in USA today via skype. So, it was a blessed day today for those new, those new devotees just receiving that connection, receiving those holy beads, we say, receiving Harinam maha-mantra from the Guru and the connection to this beautiful descending current of sweetness and fortune.

#00:01:26#

So, we’re happy to be here. And it’s also a very auspicious day. Actually, Gurudev said, “Every day is the festival in Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.” And it’s pretty much the truth. And today is the disappearance day of Srila Jiva Goswami and Srila Jagadish Pandit.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Yes.

#00:01:56#

Keshavananda Prabhu: So, these are very great, wonderful, beautiful, magnanimous, generous, affectionate personalities in our family, in our guru-varga, in our devotional family. They are our relatives, our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great uncles, grandfathers, however. And when we think like that, we can, we can realize how stupendous, how amazing our fortune really is. That we can say that, “Srila Jiva Goswami. Yes, he is my family, he is my forebear and my family.” You know, the contemporary Sanskrit scholars say, “Jiva Goswami [is] possibly the best scholar ever, the most amazing scholar ever.” You know, he wrote, they say, perhaps half a million slokas with a piece of metal and he would compose in his, in his mind and then make on a palm leaf. So, there’s no edit function, no backspace, he has to cut it into the palm leaf.

#00:03:18#

So, in our home, in our home in Vrindavan we are within the boundary wall of the temple just the other side of Sri Radha-Damodar [temple]. Sri Radha-Damodar is the temple that grew up around the deities of Srila Jiva Goswami, Sri Sri Lalita Radha-Madhava on the altar there, the three of Them. And other deities too. So, Lalita is also represented there. And this is the favorite temple of all the devotees have special affection for Radha-Damodar. They are our neighbors and really, they are our neighbors. They will bring round, they’ve got too much yogurt, so, they’ll bring round the pot for us. Special yogurt coming from the cows and [unclear]. And Srila Prabhupad, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, we know, stayed there before he went to the western world, translating his Bhagavatam and living very simply there.

#00:04:32#

And outside his room that is still kept nicely as his place of bhajan, and his place of living. And there’s a quote from him that said, “This temple,” Srila Prabhupad saying, “This temple of Jiva Goswami is my heart and soul.” Srila Prabhupada’s affectionate attachment and love for the temple of Jiva Goswami, Sri Radha-Damodara.

#00:05:06#

And he was from South India, grew up in a Sri sampradaya family, the worshipers of Lakshmi-Narayan, worshipers of Krishna but in the mood of aishvarya or a reverence, not so intimate but majestic worship of, of Lakshmi-Narayan[1]. But Mahaprabhu as He was going around coming, around India, going everywhere, chanting Hare Krishna alingaming. He’d hug people on the road and then they would start chanting and then they’d go back to their village and people would see them and hug them and start chanting. Mahaprabhu stayed with the father of Jiva Goswami, Venkata Bhatta, in a very famous, one of the most famous temple towns of all India, Shrirangam, and these amazing temples in the south of India.

#00:05:59#

These Sri sampradaya temples are astounding big, you can see them from miles away, the gopurams rising above the palm trees. And all the whole Ramayana carved on these and painted and four gates here, and then through the wall, and another wall, and another, huge gate and another seven to go into the temple. Such opulence and majesty of the worship of Lakshmi-Narayan. So, Mahaprabhu was there and Venkata Bhatta said, “Oh, please, Mahaprabhu, You come stay with us. It’s Chaturmasya, it’s the rainy season.” Traditionally the sannyasis… Well, that nobody would travel, then it was a difficult time to travel. So, He stayed there for four months and little Jiva was running around as we see there…

#00:06:53#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Don’t you mean that’s Gopal Bhatta?

Keshavananda Prabhu: Oh, I’m telling completely wrong story. Hare Krishna.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Because Jiva Goswami was the son of Anupam and they are from Bengal.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Okay, so…

Bhakti Lalita Didi: That was maybe Raghunath Bhatta.

Keshavananda Prabhu: No. You were right, it’s Gopal Bhatta.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Gopal Bhatta from South India.

#00:07:18#

Keshavananda Prabhu: So, where did anyway. So, I went wrong there. Please forgive me, see how… thank you, Didi. Hare Krishna.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: No, it’s six Goswami. They all have their unique pastimes and yes, connections to Mahaprabhu. And Jiva Goswami was Anupam’s son and he was the nephew of Rupa and Sanatana.

#00:07:44#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yes. Yes, and he was, he was taken on Navadwip parikrama by Nityananda. So, he had good association from the beginning, good association. And then he was instructed to by Nityananda Prabhu, I think, to study Sanskrit and he went to Kashi. He went to Kashi Dham, Varanasi, Benares, to study Sanskrit. And he studied Sanskrit under someone called Madhusudan Vachin, something, or other who was a disciple of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. So, Mahaprabhu had, had these wonderful pastimes of converting Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. So, anyway. So, Jiva Goswami studied Sanskrit there and became the topmost scholar, we can say, the topmost scholar of all India perhaps of all time. It’s been said and then ultimately came to Vrindavan and took shelter of his uncle and spiritual master Sri Rupa Goswami.

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So, he was the nephew, so he was the young, he was younger, he was the youngest of the six Goswami. So, he was looking after them as they, as they became older.

#00:09:29#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: The guardian Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj always talked about him being a guardian of the sampradaya, protecting the sampradaya. And in the role of filtering out any unwanted things and anything under undesirable and potentially threatening the prestige of Rupa and Sanatana, remember that past time with that pandit who tried to make Rupa sign, he was defeated. He got in trouble for that.

#00:10:14#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yes, yes, because Mahaprabhu gave the instruction to Rupa, Sanatan and by talking with them, Mahaprabhu not writing someone, we have the Shikshashtakam to come that’s really about it. And Mahaprabhu had other, other concern or His own internal movement. So, it was left to the Goswamis to receive what they heard from Mahaprabhu and then present that to the whole world ultimately, to the whole world and back it up and show how what Mahaprabhu’s is saying is bona fide and the real thing and can be shown with this shastra, and this sloka and this one here, and this one here. So many things so the business of the Goswami’s was that really, they were writing so many, so many books. And Jiva Goswami gave us principally many books, he gave the Sat-sandarbha, he gave the Gopal-champu, and he wrote many commentaries on other books, tikas, he wrote on Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu of Rupa Goswami and Ujjvala-nilamaniю Many things he’s showing as did he’s saying, he’s showing, he’s giving all the evidence why when Mahaprabhu says this, this. We can see this is right because of this, this is and keeping everything what was the word use finally clearly defined.

#00:12:01#

And open so it’s not to be misinterpreted or misread is that right? And when I was looking today and these pieces of Guru Maharaj, the few words that came up several times was that, that we see in the Bhagavad-Gita as the definition of Bhagavan as bhajaniya guna-vishishta, guna-vishishta. So rather than Guru Maharaj saying there’s many types of Infinite. But the Infinite we’re talking about is that, that substance, that person who is so beautiful and so charming that you have no option but to run and to offer yourself, to serve that Infinite and he says, “And that is Krishna.” And so, in Guru Maharaj has that in his Gita, one of the purports in the Gita, he talks about this bhajaniya guna-vishishta, this Jiva Goswami saying, “This is so many ways we can conceive the Infinite but really this is the most central and beautiful conception of that.”

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Bhakti Lalita Didi: The devotees have requested that we sing the Goswami-ashtakam.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Oh, so go.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Yeah, so please you sing that one.

#00:13:35#

Keshavananda Prabhu: So, I finished talking about Gopal Goswami.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Everyone has the book open to the right page. And for our online viewers: maybe you have a copy of the Sri Sri Shad-Goswami-ashtakam. You can pull that up online. Kṛṣṇotkīrttana-gāna-narttana-parau—it’s the first line.

#00:14:07#

Keshavananda Prabhu:

kṛṣṇotkīrttana-gāna-narttana-parau premāmṛtāmbho-nidhī
dhīrādhīra-janapriyau priya-karau nirmatsarau pūjitau
śrī-chaitanya-kṛpā-bharau bhuvi bhuvo bhārāvahantārakau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

nānā-śāstra-vichāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau
lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau tri-bhuvane mānyau śaraṇyākarau
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-padāravinda-bhajanā-nandena mattālikau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

śrī-gaurāṅga-guṇānuvarṇana-vidhau śraddhā-samṛddhy-anvitau
pāpottāpa-nikṛntanau tanu-bhṛtāṁ govinda-gānāmṛtaiḥ
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaika-nipuṇau kaivalya-nistārakau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucha-vat
bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau
gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhur
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

kūjat-kokila-haṁsa-sārasa-gaṇā kīrṇe mayūrākule
nānā-ratna-nibaddha-mūla-viṭapa-śrī-yukta-vṛndāvane
rādhā-kṛṣṇam ahar-niśaṁ prabhajatau jīvārthadau yau mudā
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

saṅkhyā-pūrvvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-kṛtau
nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau chātyanta-dīnau cha yau
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-guṇa-smṛter madhurimā-nandena sammohitau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

rādhā-kuṇḍa-taṭe kalinda-tanayā-tīre cha vaṁśīvaṭe
premonmāda-vaśād aśeṣa-daśayā grastau pramattau sadā
gāyantau cha kadā harer guṇa-varaṁ bhāvābhibhūtau mudā
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

he rādhe vraja-devīke cha lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ
śrī-govardhana-kalpa-pādapa-tale kālindī-vanye kutaḥ
ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

Jai Vaisnava Thakur!

#00:26:16#

Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu tirobhav-mahotsav ki jai!

So today in Radha-Damodara temple is a big festival, two-day festival. And the first day, which I believe is today, all the local Vaishnavas come, all the brija-basis, and brahmins, and sadhus, and they’re chanting this song and the Guru-ashtakam has to come the songs that we sing every day these, these jewels of devotional heart. And we’re fortunate to sing them too. And then they have a big feast on the roof which is always very hilarious because there’s no cage for the monkeys. So, they have boys with sticks posted around and everybody’s filing up many sittings want to. So, you go up the steps and find somewhere to sit and you’re sitting there and on the buildings across and the buildings here there’s monkeys waiting. And what are they waiting for? They’re waiting for the same thing all the devotees are waiting—for puris.

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And then they come in running up the steps with the big baskets of puris the servitors and they come out onto this roof and then it’s hit and run. Monkey’s just running through grabbing the puris. It’s very funny. So, this is the day today in a Radha-Damodar. It will be monkey frolics and they will take prasadam too. And a grand festival in remembrance of Srila Jiva Goswami and festival day of Gopal Bhatta Goswami will be on another day.

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Bhakti Lalita Didi: Raghunath Bhatta is the son of… Mahaprabhu stayed with him in Benares.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Venkata Bhatta? No. Okay, I don’t know.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Tapan Mishra’s son is Raghunath Bhatta. He was very expert in reciting the Bhagavatam, singing beautifully. And Mahaprabhu came to stay with them and Raghunath Bhatta would assist and stay massage the Lord’s feet, and then eventually came later to Vrindavan, and then when Mahaprabhu went to South India with Venkata Bhatta Goswami stayed with Gopal Bhatta also massaging the Lord’s feet eventually came to Vrindavan. But all six of them [Goswamis], this beautiful song is glorifying them, and the first line I like very much because describing how exalted these six Goswamis were, how detached and renounced and ecstatic, and scholarly, and full of auspicious qualities. And so exalted and humble and friends with the scholars and the great Vaishnavas but also friends with the… word here is ruffians. That’s another just like the misscreans, the bad guys. They were friends with the good and the bad guys.

#00:29:54#

And showing their merciful nature, all-inclusive and very loving. Especially Sanatana Goswami was. Everyone in Vrindavan called him, ‘Baba,’ he was everyone’s father. And very affectionate to everybody and would check on all the family, “Everyone’s okay, the cow’s okay, your daughter got married, everything’s fine.” And it’s a tradition in India when the father leaves the world, when the father passes that the sun will shave his head in, it’s a tradition, a custom of India, and then when Sanatana Goswami passed, he disappeared from the world, the whole town of Vrindavan, all the braja-basis shave their head in honor their father passed. So, these great, inconceivable Goswamis have very affectionate warm, fatherly and brotherly, and friendly side to them like you said our family, they’re our family members we can think of them that way.

#00:31:24#

So, the first line here: “They are just like the ocean of love of God, and they are popular both with the gentle and with the ruffians, because they are not envious of anyone. Whatever they do, they are all-pleasing to everyone, and they are fully blessed by Lord Chaitanya. Thus, they are engaged in missionary activities meant to deliver all the conditioned souls in the material universe.”

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So, this was written by Srinivas Acharya who was following a follower of Jiva Goswami and Narottam, and Shyamananda, the three of them. All working together in the service of the sampradaya as Jiva Goswami was their acharya, their guide and empowered them on their preaching mission.

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And today is also Srila Jagadish Pandit’s disappearance day. I just know a little. That he lived very near to Mahaprabhu’s house in Mayapur, Navadwip. He was a neighbor of the Jagannath Mishra and Shachi Devi. And one Ekadashi day the Lord was crying uncontrollably as a child Nimai and He wouldn’t stop crying until He got prasadam from Jagadish Pandit’s house. That was the only thing that would stop His crying—rice from Jagadish Pandit’s house.

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And on that day, He [Mahaprabhu] revealed His form of Krishna to Jagadish Pandit. And then when Mahaprabhu went to Jagannath Puri He asked Jagadish Pandit to preach and distribute nam-sankirtan and come and join the preaching mission and later established a Jagannath deity in his village is one of one village in the district of Nadia, I believe.

#00:33:57#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yes, I was talking about that earlier with Madhusudan Maharaj. And he said, “Oh, I think I went there one time. Gurudev sent me there with he was taking Puri Maharaj somewhere in a car and went there.” So, he, he had that darshan of that Jagannath.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Was that in Nadia district?

#00:34:12#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Somewhere. Yes, yes, in Nadia. And he, and he anyway so. So, we have a connection again to our family members to that deity of Jagannath of Jagadish Pandit.

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Bhakti Lalita Didi: And if you go on Navadwip Dham parikrama you can see all these places are still being honored and worshiped, and places of pilgrimage. And whenever we go on Navadwip Dham parikrama we follow the Navadwip-Dham-mahatmya which is the, the parikrama of Nityananda Prabhu and Jiva Goswami. And we follow along with the narration of their parikrama. That’s by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote.

#00:35:21#

So, such also these disappearance days they’re more sober festivals because it’s the day they disappeared from this world, these great souls like Jiva Goswami and Jagadish Pandit. Sunrise and sunset. Appearing like the sunrise and disappearing like the sunset. They don’t take birth and die like ordinary people. So, it’s a sober setting of the sun a day we honor and worship and remember them and pray for their grace and invoke their name, and memories of them, and what we’ve heard from our Gurus.

#00:36:21#

And like Keshavananda Prabhu is based in Vrindavan most of the year or a good part of it, more than six months like eight months of the year, taking care of our devotees and temple. And we’re right next door to Radha-Damodara, on the other side of our wall is Jiva Goswami samadhi, Rupa Goswami samadhi. And all many deities, not just Radha-Damodar. Who else is there?

#00:36:54#

Keshavananda Prabhu: There is Radha-Vrindavan-Chanja of Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. So, in that Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami Memorial Building, that came to Gurudev which was a place where Krishnadas Kaviraj stayed and almost certainly wrote some of those slokas of the Chaitanya-charitamrita though he put that picture in the, no, not in the center, he put the picture to the one side of Radha-Vrindavan Chanja. And in the middle, he put the picture that had come to him some years before, and he was puzzled as to why one young girl had drawn a picture, copied a picture of Jiva Goswami one of those classic pictures.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: It’s Kaviraj.

#00:37:44#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m doing it again. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. [She] made a picture of Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami and given it to Gurudev, Srila Govinda Maharaj.

#00:37:53#

And Srila Govinda Maharaj accepting that but little. Why? She could have drawn anybody but she drew Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. So, he kept it in his room and for some time, some years, and finally when Krishnadas Kaviraj’s place came to us in Vrindavan then he took that picture. That, that young girl enjoyed put it on the altar there. Now he is in his home place. So, though his deities are is Radha-Damodar and Radha-Madhava of Jayadev Goswami, the great singer and right composer of the Gita Govinda which Gurudev was very fond of, you know, he used to sing sometimes. And Sri Radha-Chalchikan which are the deities of Bhugarbha Goswami.

#00:38:50#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Whose samadhi is also there.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Whose samadhi is also there and was a good friend of Lokanath Goswami. And they also went they actually went first to Vrindavan starting to look everywhere to find these places of Krishna’s pastime. So many deities on here it’s just very beautiful temple.

#00:39:14#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Bhugarbha means ‘underground’. That Goswami he lived like under underneath.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Somehow, yeah.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: In the cave or something.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Cave exactly. Shyamananda also in the Radha-Shyam-Sundar temple, there’s a place under the ground where you can go that he was said to perform his bhajan there. So really, it’s like the heart of Vrindavan and this is in Seva-kunja, this area of the, this area of Vraja-dham, of Vrindavan, is Seva-kunj. So, all that area was the groves and trees, and peacocks, and the area of the rasa dance. It’s that place that the Goswamis were moving so softly through. And just completely focused in their service to the Holy Name and to Mahaprabhu in given us so many literatures glorifying and expanding upon and showing so sweetly and wonderfully, the achintya-bheda-bheda, sweet conception of, Krishna conception of Mahaprabhu and His, who He is. So, they did that.

#00:40:56#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: There’s that gigantic Giriraj-Govardhan in Radha-Damodar that was.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Oh, yeah.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: There’s a story behind that.

#00:41:04#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yes, that was for Sanatana Goswami, it’s a big Govardhan-shila because many… He’s, Sanatan Goswami, he was one of the older Goswamis, the other, and I think, perhaps, the oldest. And Jiva was the youngest. And he was going to, going to Govardhan every day which is some distance. And then that, you know, it’s hard to measure these things but it takes some hours to walk around Govardhan. And he was old, he’s an old man and walking miles and miles, kilometers and kilometers, just to get there because it was his bow that every day. I will go to Govardhan and I will do parikrama to Giriraj, “He is my life and soul.” And eventually I can’t actually remember I think it was one of these young boys that sometimes pop up, you know, a young boy popped up or anyway basically Krishna came and said, “Sanatana, you don’t have to do this. You are too old to walk so far.” And He gave some big Govardhan-shila and it’s a beautiful shila, and it’s got Krishna’s footprint in and His flute is there, and a hoof print of a cow. He said, “You walk around these four times a day, four times, and it’s the same as doing full Govardhan parikrama.”

#00:42:26#

So, all the devotees now do that in Radha Dham. They go around four times because if you go around this shila four times it’s like you’re doing twenty-two kilometers around Govardhan. But Madhusudan does make the point about the [unclear]. That he didn’t tell that to us. He told it to Sanatan Goswami, “If you go around four times, it’s like doing…” Anyway, it’s the tradition there to go around the Govardhan-shila. And the family there who are looking after the temple the servitors of Radha-Damodar are very affectionate to us and they know as well, they knew Srila Govinda Maharaj well.

#00:43:13#

And they look out, they know, they’re like family, they know us, you know, we’re their next-door neighbors. So, our fortune is just unique, the more we appreciate, the more we realize how glorious and infinite it is really.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Maybe we have a question? Anything.

Nityananda Prabhu: We’re referring to Giriraj as soon as we mention.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Today’s topic. If they are…

#00:43:47#

Keshavananda Prabhu: And this also Bankhandi Mahadev which is another temple close to us which was also… Sanatana Goswami was going to Chakaleshwar, another Shiva temple by Manasi Ganga and Govardhan, and he was old. And Chakaleshwar himself appeared in a dream to Sanatan, giving some [instruction], said, “You go to this, this… I will appear as Bankhandi Mahadev. This shila, this is Me, same as Me. You don’t have to…” So, the Lord looking at the, looking after His devotees. You know, the whole of, the whole of Madan-Mohan temple arose because Sanatan was just eating little, like balls of dough cooked in the fire, not even a roti, like a hard piece of ball put in the fire, and then all black and taking that. And Madan-Mohan’s like, “What am I going to do? My devotee, he’s living on.” So, He starts, you know, He starts His campaign to feed His devotee.

#00:45:01#

“Well, I need some salt. You give some salt at least, you’re only offering Me this dough. Please you give Me some salt.” And Sanatan, “I’m a poor man. I don’t have any salt. And anyway, if I give You salt today, tomorrow You’re going to want cake. What am I going to do then?” And anyway, that on another story. Anyway, the salt came in a big way and with it a rich merchant who was so, so, indebted and melted heart by Sanatan Goswami and Radha-Madan-Mohan, that he built this wonderful temple for Him. So, another example of why this Krishna consciousness is such a rare and wonderful thing because the Lord Himself is at the beck and call of His devotees, actually although they never want that but He’s clever to do that.

#00:46:20#

And all the places we visit there are directly sprung out because of Mahaprabhu and because of the Goswami’s, they were lost, they were gone. The jungle had come time and time had gone on since the pastimes of Radha and Krishna. They were and it was Mahaprabhu and his Gaudiya devotees who through their internal, through their surrender and their internal ability to read reality. Who were able to say, “Yes, Mahaprabhu, this little puddle of water in the middle of a rice field it’s Radha Kunda.” And He’s jumping in there and bathing and the local people were [unclear]. And rediscovered these places of pilgrimage, these places of divine play. And so, anything we see there today all the temples, all the places they’re only, they’re only showing anything of themselves to us because of, because of Mahaprabhu and because of the six Goswami. It’s Mahaprabhu’s mercy.

#00:47:42#

So, we’re always remembering that that we are mercifully trying to serve under in his family, in the family of Mahaprabhu, Nimai, Nitai-Gauranga. Wonderful given everything we sing this song of Vasudeva Gosh:

#00:48:08#

jadi gaura nā ho’to, tobe ki hoito,
          kemone dhoritām de
rādhāra mahimā prema-rasa-sīmā
            jagate jānāta ke?

Nobody would know anything about these most confidential, most, you know, most sweet and beautiful, most pure, most innocent, most wonderful pastimes. And if it was for Mahaprabhu and His, and His devotees. So just to sing this song, these songs were incredibly fortunate to sing these songs, that are being sung today in Radha-Damodar and around the world. And to read, the read the translations and to offer our obeisances and offer our everything actually to try and follow in there, their guidance to follow, their guidance, and follow in the footsteps of the previous acharyas, follow them as, as best we can. It’s our prayer on these days.

#00:49:29#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: And on these disappearance days we sing Viraha-giti.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Viraha-giti, a song of separation…

Bhakti Lalita Didi: …a song of separation written by Srila Narottam Das Thakur:

#00:49:57#

je ānilo prema-dhana koruṇā prachura
heno prabhu kothā gelā āchārya-ṭhākura

kā̐hā mora svarūp rūpa kā̐hā sanātana
kā̐hā dāsa raghunātha patita-pāvana

kā̐hā mora bhaṭṭa-juga kā̐hā kavirāja
eka-kāle kothā gelā gaurā naṭa-rāja

pāṣāṇe kuṭibo māthā anale paśibo
gaurāṅga guṇera nidhi kothā gele pābo

se-saba saṅgīra saṅge je koilo vilāsa
se-saṅga nā pāyā kānde narottama dāsa

#00:54:06#

Jai Vaishnav Thakur!

[sankirtana]

#00:59:46#

[Jai Dhvani]

#01:01:21#

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Captured by Ananta Krishna Das
Edited by Tradish Das



1  Keshavananda Prabhu makes the mistake of talking about Jiva Goswami. This is Gopal Bhatta Goswami.





←  «Зов Кришны». Шрила Б. Р. Шридхар Дев-Госвами Махарадж объясняет, что двигало Шриманом Махапрабху, когда Он принимал санньясу | “Krishna’s Call.” Srila B. R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj explains Sriman Mahaprabhu’s motivations for taking sannyas ·• Архив новостей •· «День разлуки со Шри Дживой». Шрила Б. Р. Шридхар Дев-Госвами Махарадж. 11 декабря 1956 года | “The Day of Separation from Sri Jiva.” Srila B. R. Sridhar Dev-Goswami Maharaj. 11 December 1956  →

English

Sriman Keshavananda Prabhu
Srimati Bhakti Lalita Devi Dasi

Disappearance day of Srila Jiva Goswami and Srila Jagadish Pandit

(December 21, 2017. Gupta Govardhan)


Keshavananda Prabhu: Hare Krishna.

Jai Giriraj! Sri Bhakti Lalita Devi ki jai!

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Jai Sriman Keshavananda Prabhu ki jai!

Keshavananda Prabhu: All the devotees ki jai!

So, we’re happily here again on a frosty evening in Chiang Mai at the lotus feet of Giriraj. And I’m happy to be here with my beloved sister and worshiper Vaishnavi Bhakti Lalita. And all the devotees here. We’ve got Maharaj’s upstairs and Maharaj’s this way. And so many new devotees initiated today here in Chiang Mai. And Srila Goswami Maharaj also initiated one man in USA today via skype. So, it was a blessed day today for those new, those new devotees just receiving that connection, receiving those holy beads, we say, receiving Harinam maha-mantra from the Guru and the connection to this beautiful descending current of sweetness and fortune.

#00:01:26#

So, we’re happy to be here. And it’s also a very auspicious day. Actually, Gurudev said, “Every day is the festival in Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math.” And it’s pretty much the truth. And today is the disappearance day of Srila Jiva Goswami and Srila Jagadish Pandit.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Yes.

#00:01:56#

Keshavananda Prabhu: So, these are very great, wonderful, beautiful, magnanimous, generous, affectionate personalities in our family, in our guru-varga, in our devotional family. They are our relatives, our great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great uncles, grandfathers, however. And when we think like that, we can, we can realize how stupendous, how amazing our fortune really is. That we can say that, “Srila Jiva Goswami. Yes, he is my family, he is my forebear and my family.” You know, the contemporary Sanskrit scholars say, “Jiva Goswami [is] possibly the best scholar ever, the most amazing scholar ever.” You know, he wrote, they say, perhaps half a million slokas with a piece of metal and he would compose in his, in his mind and then make on a palm leaf. So, there’s no edit function, no backspace, he has to cut it into the palm leaf.

#00:03:18#

So, in our home, in our home in Vrindavan we are within the boundary wall of the temple just the other side of Sri Radha-Damodar [temple]. Sri Radha-Damodar is the temple that grew up around the deities of Srila Jiva Goswami, Sri Sri Lalita Radha-Madhava on the altar there, the three of Them. And other deities too. So, Lalita is also represented there. And this is the favorite temple of all the devotees have special affection for Radha-Damodar. They are our neighbors and really, they are our neighbors. They will bring round, they’ve got too much yogurt, so, they’ll bring round the pot for us. Special yogurt coming from the cows and [unclear]. And Srila Prabhupad, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupad, we know, stayed there before he went to the western world, translating his Bhagavatam and living very simply there.

#00:04:32#

And outside his room that is still kept nicely as his place of bhajan, and his place of living. And there’s a quote from him that said, “This temple,” Srila Prabhupad saying, “This temple of Jiva Goswami is my heart and soul.” Srila Prabhupada’s affectionate attachment and love for the temple of Jiva Goswami, Sri Radha-Damodara.

#00:05:06#

And he was from South India, grew up in a Sri sampradaya family, the worshipers of Lakshmi-Narayan, worshipers of Krishna but in the mood of aishvarya or a reverence, not so intimate but majestic worship of, of Lakshmi-Narayan[1]. But Mahaprabhu as He was going around coming, around India, going everywhere, chanting Hare Krishna alingaming. He’d hug people on the road and then they would start chanting and then they’d go back to their village and people would see them and hug them and start chanting. Mahaprabhu stayed with the father of Jiva Goswami, Venkata Bhatta, in a very famous, one of the most famous temple towns of all India, Shrirangam, and these amazing temples in the south of India.

#00:05:59#

These Sri sampradaya temples are astounding big, you can see them from miles away, the gopurams rising above the palm trees. And all the whole Ramayana carved on these and painted and four gates here, and then through the wall, and another wall, and another, huge gate and another seven to go into the temple. Such opulence and majesty of the worship of Lakshmi-Narayan. So, Mahaprabhu was there and Venkata Bhatta said, “Oh, please, Mahaprabhu, You come stay with us. It’s Chaturmasya, it’s the rainy season.” Traditionally the sannyasis… Well, that nobody would travel, then it was a difficult time to travel. So, He stayed there for four months and little Jiva was running around as we see there…

#00:06:53#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Don’t you mean that’s Gopal Bhatta?

Keshavananda Prabhu: Oh, I’m telling completely wrong story. Hare Krishna.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Because Jiva Goswami was the son of Anupam and they are from Bengal.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Okay, so…

Bhakti Lalita Didi: That was maybe Raghunath Bhatta.

Keshavananda Prabhu: No. You were right, it’s Gopal Bhatta.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Gopal Bhatta from South India.

#00:07:18#

Keshavananda Prabhu: So, where did anyway. So, I went wrong there. Please forgive me, see how… thank you, Didi. Hare Krishna.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: No, it’s six Goswami. They all have their unique pastimes and yes, connections to Mahaprabhu. And Jiva Goswami was Anupam’s son and he was the nephew of Rupa and Sanatana.

#00:07:44#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yes. Yes, and he was, he was taken on Navadwip parikrama by Nityananda. So, he had good association from the beginning, good association. And then he was instructed to by Nityananda Prabhu, I think, to study Sanskrit and he went to Kashi. He went to Kashi Dham, Varanasi, Benares, to study Sanskrit. And he studied Sanskrit under someone called Madhusudan Vachin, something, or other who was a disciple of Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. So, Mahaprabhu had, had these wonderful pastimes of converting Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. So, anyway. So, Jiva Goswami studied Sanskrit there and became the topmost scholar, we can say, the topmost scholar of all India perhaps of all time. It’s been said and then ultimately came to Vrindavan and took shelter of his uncle and spiritual master Sri Rupa Goswami.

#00:09:10#

So, he was the nephew, so he was the young, he was younger, he was the youngest of the six Goswami. So, he was looking after them as they, as they became older.

#00:09:29#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: The guardian Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Dev-Goswami Maharaj always talked about him being a guardian of the sampradaya, protecting the sampradaya. And in the role of filtering out any unwanted things and anything under undesirable and potentially threatening the prestige of Rupa and Sanatana, remember that past time with that pandit who tried to make Rupa sign, he was defeated. He got in trouble for that.

#00:10:14#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yes, yes, because Mahaprabhu gave the instruction to Rupa, Sanatan and by talking with them, Mahaprabhu not writing someone, we have the Shikshashtakam to come that’s really about it. And Mahaprabhu had other, other concern or His own internal movement. So, it was left to the Goswamis to receive what they heard from Mahaprabhu and then present that to the whole world ultimately, to the whole world and back it up and show how what Mahaprabhu’s is saying is bona fide and the real thing and can be shown with this shastra, and this sloka and this one here, and this one here. So many things so the business of the Goswami’s was that really, they were writing so many, so many books. And Jiva Goswami gave us principally many books, he gave the Sat-sandarbha, he gave the Gopal-champu, and he wrote many commentaries on other books, tikas, he wrote on Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu of Rupa Goswami and Ujjvala-nilamaniю Many things he’s showing as did he’s saying, he’s showing, he’s giving all the evidence why when Mahaprabhu says this, this. We can see this is right because of this, this is and keeping everything what was the word use finally clearly defined.

#00:12:01#

And open so it’s not to be misinterpreted or misread is that right? And when I was looking today and these pieces of Guru Maharaj, the few words that came up several times was that, that we see in the Bhagavad-Gita as the definition of Bhagavan as bhajaniya guna-vishishta, guna-vishishta. So rather than Guru Maharaj saying there’s many types of Infinite. But the Infinite we’re talking about is that, that substance, that person who is so beautiful and so charming that you have no option but to run and to offer yourself, to serve that Infinite and he says, “And that is Krishna.” And so, in Guru Maharaj has that in his Gita, one of the purports in the Gita, he talks about this bhajaniya guna-vishishta, this Jiva Goswami saying, “This is so many ways we can conceive the Infinite but really this is the most central and beautiful conception of that.”

#00:13:25#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: The devotees have requested that we sing the Goswami-ashtakam.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Oh, so go.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Yeah, so please you sing that one.

#00:13:35#

Keshavananda Prabhu: So, I finished talking about Gopal Goswami.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Everyone has the book open to the right page. And for our online viewers: maybe you have a copy of the Sri Sri Shad-Goswami-ashtakam. You can pull that up online. Kṛṣṇotkīrttana-gāna-narttana-parau—it’s the first line.

#00:14:07#

Keshavananda Prabhu:

kṛṣṇotkīrttana-gāna-narttana-parau premāmṛtāmbho-nidhī
dhīrādhīra-janapriyau priya-karau nirmatsarau pūjitau
śrī-chaitanya-kṛpā-bharau bhuvi bhuvo bhārāvahantārakau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

nānā-śāstra-vichāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau
lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau tri-bhuvane mānyau śaraṇyākarau
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-padāravinda-bhajanā-nandena mattālikau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

śrī-gaurāṅga-guṇānuvarṇana-vidhau śraddhā-samṛddhy-anvitau
pāpottāpa-nikṛntanau tanu-bhṛtāṁ govinda-gānāmṛtaiḥ
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaika-nipuṇau kaivalya-nistārakau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tucha-vat
bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau
gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhur
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

kūjat-kokila-haṁsa-sārasa-gaṇā kīrṇe mayūrākule
nānā-ratna-nibaddha-mūla-viṭapa-śrī-yukta-vṛndāvane
rādhā-kṛṣṇam ahar-niśaṁ prabhajatau jīvārthadau yau mudā
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

saṅkhyā-pūrvvaka-nāma-gāna-natibhiḥ kālāvasānī-kṛtau
nidrāhāra-vihārakādi-vijitau chātyanta-dīnau cha yau
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-guṇa-smṛter madhurimā-nandena sammohitau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

rādhā-kuṇḍa-taṭe kalinda-tanayā-tīre cha vaṁśīvaṭe
premonmāda-vaśād aśeṣa-daśayā grastau pramattau sadā
gāyantau cha kadā harer guṇa-varaṁ bhāvābhibhūtau mudā
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

he rādhe vraja-devīke cha lalite he nanda-sūno kutaḥ
śrī-govardhana-kalpa-pādapa-tale kālindī-vanye kutaḥ
ghoṣantāv iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair mahā-vihvalau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

Jai Vaisnava Thakur!

#00:26:16#

Srila Jiva Goswami Prabhu tirobhav-mahotsav ki jai!

So today in Radha-Damodara temple is a big festival, two-day festival. And the first day, which I believe is today, all the local Vaishnavas come, all the brija-basis, and brahmins, and sadhus, and they’re chanting this song and the Guru-ashtakam has to come the songs that we sing every day these, these jewels of devotional heart. And we’re fortunate to sing them too. And then they have a big feast on the roof which is always very hilarious because there’s no cage for the monkeys. So, they have boys with sticks posted around and everybody’s filing up many sittings want to. So, you go up the steps and find somewhere to sit and you’re sitting there and on the buildings across and the buildings here there’s monkeys waiting. And what are they waiting for? They’re waiting for the same thing all the devotees are waiting—for puris.

#00:27:28#

And then they come in running up the steps with the big baskets of puris the servitors and they come out onto this roof and then it’s hit and run. Monkey’s just running through grabbing the puris. It’s very funny. So, this is the day today in a Radha-Damodar. It will be monkey frolics and they will take prasadam too. And a grand festival in remembrance of Srila Jiva Goswami and festival day of Gopal Bhatta Goswami will be on another day.

#00:28:07#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Raghunath Bhatta is the son of… Mahaprabhu stayed with him in Benares.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Venkata Bhatta? No. Okay, I don’t know.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Tapan Mishra’s son is Raghunath Bhatta. He was very expert in reciting the Bhagavatam, singing beautifully. And Mahaprabhu came to stay with them and Raghunath Bhatta would assist and stay massage the Lord’s feet, and then eventually came later to Vrindavan, and then when Mahaprabhu went to South India with Venkata Bhatta Goswami stayed with Gopal Bhatta also massaging the Lord’s feet eventually came to Vrindavan. But all six of them [Goswamis], this beautiful song is glorifying them, and the first line I like very much because describing how exalted these six Goswamis were, how detached and renounced and ecstatic, and scholarly, and full of auspicious qualities. And so exalted and humble and friends with the scholars and the great Vaishnavas but also friends with the… word here is ruffians. That’s another just like the misscreans, the bad guys. They were friends with the good and the bad guys.

#00:29:54#

And showing their merciful nature, all-inclusive and very loving. Especially Sanatana Goswami was. Everyone in Vrindavan called him, ‘Baba,’ he was everyone’s father. And very affectionate to everybody and would check on all the family, “Everyone’s okay, the cow’s okay, your daughter got married, everything’s fine.” And it’s a tradition in India when the father leaves the world, when the father passes that the sun will shave his head in, it’s a tradition, a custom of India, and then when Sanatana Goswami passed, he disappeared from the world, the whole town of Vrindavan, all the braja-basis shave their head in honor their father passed. So, these great, inconceivable Goswamis have very affectionate warm, fatherly and brotherly, and friendly side to them like you said our family, they’re our family members we can think of them that way.

#00:31:24#

So, the first line here: “They are just like the ocean of love of God, and they are popular both with the gentle and with the ruffians, because they are not envious of anyone. Whatever they do, they are all-pleasing to everyone, and they are fully blessed by Lord Chaitanya. Thus, they are engaged in missionary activities meant to deliver all the conditioned souls in the material universe.”

#00:31:55#

So, this was written by Srinivas Acharya who was following a follower of Jiva Goswami and Narottam, and Shyamananda, the three of them. All working together in the service of the sampradaya as Jiva Goswami was their acharya, their guide and empowered them on their preaching mission.

#00:32:37#

And today is also Srila Jagadish Pandit’s disappearance day. I just know a little. That he lived very near to Mahaprabhu’s house in Mayapur, Navadwip. He was a neighbor of the Jagannath Mishra and Shachi Devi. And one Ekadashi day the Lord was crying uncontrollably as a child Nimai and He wouldn’t stop crying until He got prasadam from Jagadish Pandit’s house. That was the only thing that would stop His crying—rice from Jagadish Pandit’s house.

#00:33:21#

And on that day, He [Mahaprabhu] revealed His form of Krishna to Jagadish Pandit. And then when Mahaprabhu went to Jagannath Puri He asked Jagadish Pandit to preach and distribute nam-sankirtan and come and join the preaching mission and later established a Jagannath deity in his village is one of one village in the district of Nadia, I believe.

#00:33:57#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yes, I was talking about that earlier with Madhusudan Maharaj. And he said, “Oh, I think I went there one time. Gurudev sent me there with he was taking Puri Maharaj somewhere in a car and went there.” So, he, he had that darshan of that Jagannath.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Was that in Nadia district?

#00:34:12#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Somewhere. Yes, yes, in Nadia. And he, and he anyway so. So, we have a connection again to our family members to that deity of Jagannath of Jagadish Pandit.

#00:34:30#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: And if you go on Navadwip Dham parikrama you can see all these places are still being honored and worshiped, and places of pilgrimage. And whenever we go on Navadwip Dham parikrama we follow the Navadwip-Dham-mahatmya which is the, the parikrama of Nityananda Prabhu and Jiva Goswami. And we follow along with the narration of their parikrama. That’s by Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur wrote.

#00:35:21#

So, such also these disappearance days they’re more sober festivals because it’s the day they disappeared from this world, these great souls like Jiva Goswami and Jagadish Pandit. Sunrise and sunset. Appearing like the sunrise and disappearing like the sunset. They don’t take birth and die like ordinary people. So, it’s a sober setting of the sun a day we honor and worship and remember them and pray for their grace and invoke their name, and memories of them, and what we’ve heard from our Gurus.

#00:36:21#

And like Keshavananda Prabhu is based in Vrindavan most of the year or a good part of it, more than six months like eight months of the year, taking care of our devotees and temple. And we’re right next door to Radha-Damodara, on the other side of our wall is Jiva Goswami samadhi, Rupa Goswami samadhi. And all many deities, not just Radha-Damodar. Who else is there?

#00:36:54#

Keshavananda Prabhu: There is Radha-Vrindavan-Chanja of Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. So, in that Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami Memorial Building, that came to Gurudev which was a place where Krishnadas Kaviraj stayed and almost certainly wrote some of those slokas of the Chaitanya-charitamrita though he put that picture in the, no, not in the center, he put the picture to the one side of Radha-Vrindavan Chanja. And in the middle, he put the picture that had come to him some years before, and he was puzzled as to why one young girl had drawn a picture, copied a picture of Jiva Goswami one of those classic pictures.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: It’s Kaviraj.

#00:37:44#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yeah, I’m sorry, I’m doing it again. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. [She] made a picture of Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami and given it to Gurudev, Srila Govinda Maharaj.

#00:37:53#

And Srila Govinda Maharaj accepting that but little. Why? She could have drawn anybody but she drew Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami. So, he kept it in his room and for some time, some years, and finally when Krishnadas Kaviraj’s place came to us in Vrindavan then he took that picture. That, that young girl enjoyed put it on the altar there. Now he is in his home place. So, though his deities are is Radha-Damodar and Radha-Madhava of Jayadev Goswami, the great singer and right composer of the Gita Govinda which Gurudev was very fond of, you know, he used to sing sometimes. And Sri Radha-Chalchikan which are the deities of Bhugarbha Goswami.

#00:38:50#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Whose samadhi is also there.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Whose samadhi is also there and was a good friend of Lokanath Goswami. And they also went they actually went first to Vrindavan starting to look everywhere to find these places of Krishna’s pastime. So many deities on here it’s just very beautiful temple.

#00:39:14#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Bhugarbha means ‘underground’. That Goswami he lived like under underneath.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Somehow, yeah.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: In the cave or something.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Cave exactly. Shyamananda also in the Radha-Shyam-Sundar temple, there’s a place under the ground where you can go that he was said to perform his bhajan there. So really, it’s like the heart of Vrindavan and this is in Seva-kunja, this area of the, this area of Vraja-dham, of Vrindavan, is Seva-kunj. So, all that area was the groves and trees, and peacocks, and the area of the rasa dance. It’s that place that the Goswamis were moving so softly through. And just completely focused in their service to the Holy Name and to Mahaprabhu in given us so many literatures glorifying and expanding upon and showing so sweetly and wonderfully, the achintya-bheda-bheda, sweet conception of, Krishna conception of Mahaprabhu and His, who He is. So, they did that.

#00:40:56#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: There’s that gigantic Giriraj-Govardhan in Radha-Damodar that was.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Oh, yeah.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: There’s a story behind that.

#00:41:04#

Keshavananda Prabhu: Yes, that was for Sanatana Goswami, it’s a big Govardhan-shila because many… He’s, Sanatan Goswami, he was one of the older Goswamis, the other, and I think, perhaps, the oldest. And Jiva was the youngest. And he was going to, going to Govardhan every day which is some distance. And then that, you know, it’s hard to measure these things but it takes some hours to walk around Govardhan. And he was old, he’s an old man and walking miles and miles, kilometers and kilometers, just to get there because it was his bow that every day. I will go to Govardhan and I will do parikrama to Giriraj, “He is my life and soul.” And eventually I can’t actually remember I think it was one of these young boys that sometimes pop up, you know, a young boy popped up or anyway basically Krishna came and said, “Sanatana, you don’t have to do this. You are too old to walk so far.” And He gave some big Govardhan-shila and it’s a beautiful shila, and it’s got Krishna’s footprint in and His flute is there, and a hoof print of a cow. He said, “You walk around these four times a day, four times, and it’s the same as doing full Govardhan parikrama.”

#00:42:26#

So, all the devotees now do that in Radha Dham. They go around four times because if you go around this shila four times it’s like you’re doing twenty-two kilometers around Govardhan. But Madhusudan does make the point about the [unclear]. That he didn’t tell that to us. He told it to Sanatan Goswami, “If you go around four times, it’s like doing…” Anyway, it’s the tradition there to go around the Govardhan-shila. And the family there who are looking after the temple the servitors of Radha-Damodar are very affectionate to us and they know as well, they knew Srila Govinda Maharaj well.

#00:43:13#

And they look out, they know, they’re like family, they know us, you know, we’re their next-door neighbors. So, our fortune is just unique, the more we appreciate, the more we realize how glorious and infinite it is really.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Maybe we have a question? Anything.

Nityananda Prabhu: We’re referring to Giriraj as soon as we mention.

Bhakti Lalita Didi: Today’s topic. If they are…

#00:43:47#

Keshavananda Prabhu: And this also Bankhandi Mahadev which is another temple close to us which was also… Sanatana Goswami was going to Chakaleshwar, another Shiva temple by Manasi Ganga and Govardhan, and he was old. And Chakaleshwar himself appeared in a dream to Sanatan, giving some [instruction], said, “You go to this, this… I will appear as Bankhandi Mahadev. This shila, this is Me, same as Me. You don’t have to…” So, the Lord looking at the, looking after His devotees. You know, the whole of, the whole of Madan-Mohan temple arose because Sanatan was just eating little, like balls of dough cooked in the fire, not even a roti, like a hard piece of ball put in the fire, and then all black and taking that. And Madan-Mohan’s like, “What am I going to do? My devotee, he’s living on.” So, He starts, you know, He starts His campaign to feed His devotee.

#00:45:01#

“Well, I need some salt. You give some salt at least, you’re only offering Me this dough. Please you give Me some salt.” And Sanatan, “I’m a poor man. I don’t have any salt. And anyway, if I give You salt today, tomorrow You’re going to want cake. What am I going to do then?” And anyway, that on another story. Anyway, the salt came in a big way and with it a rich merchant who was so, so, indebted and melted heart by Sanatan Goswami and Radha-Madan-Mohan, that he built this wonderful temple for Him. So, another example of why this Krishna consciousness is such a rare and wonderful thing because the Lord Himself is at the beck and call of His devotees, actually although they never want that but He’s clever to do that.

#00:46:20#

And all the places we visit there are directly sprung out because of Mahaprabhu and because of the Goswami’s, they were lost, they were gone. The jungle had come time and time had gone on since the pastimes of Radha and Krishna. They were and it was Mahaprabhu and his Gaudiya devotees who through their internal, through their surrender and their internal ability to read reality. Who were able to say, “Yes, Mahaprabhu, this little puddle of water in the middle of a rice field it’s Radha Kunda.” And He’s jumping in there and bathing and the local people were [unclear]. And rediscovered these places of pilgrimage, these places of divine play. And so, anything we see there today all the temples, all the places they’re only, they’re only showing anything of themselves to us because of, because of Mahaprabhu and because of the six Goswami. It’s Mahaprabhu’s mercy.

#00:47:42#

So, we’re always remembering that that we are mercifully trying to serve under in his family, in the family of Mahaprabhu, Nimai, Nitai-Gauranga. Wonderful given everything we sing this song of Vasudeva Gosh:

#00:48:08#

jadi gaura nā ho’to, tobe ki hoito,
          kemone dhoritām de
rādhāra mahimā prema-rasa-sīmā
            jagate jānāta ke?

Nobody would know anything about these most confidential, most, you know, most sweet and beautiful, most pure, most innocent, most wonderful pastimes. And if it was for Mahaprabhu and His, and His devotees. So just to sing this song, these songs were incredibly fortunate to sing these songs, that are being sung today in Radha-Damodar and around the world. And to read, the read the translations and to offer our obeisances and offer our everything actually to try and follow in there, their guidance to follow, their guidance, and follow in the footsteps of the previous acharyas, follow them as, as best we can. It’s our prayer on these days.

#00:49:29#

Bhakti Lalita Didi: And on these disappearance days we sing Viraha-giti.

Keshavananda Prabhu: Viraha-giti, a song of separation…

Bhakti Lalita Didi: …a song of separation written by Srila Narottam Das Thakur:

#00:49:57#

je ānilo prema-dhana koruṇā prachura
heno prabhu kothā gelā āchārya-ṭhākura

kā̐hā mora svarūp rūpa kā̐hā sanātana
kā̐hā dāsa raghunātha patita-pāvana

kā̐hā mora bhaṭṭa-juga kā̐hā kavirāja
eka-kāle kothā gelā gaurā naṭa-rāja

pāṣāṇe kuṭibo māthā anale paśibo
gaurāṅga guṇera nidhi kothā gele pābo

se-saba saṅgīra saṅge je koilo vilāsa
se-saṅga nā pāyā kānde narottama dāsa

#00:54:06#

Jai Vaishnav Thakur!

[sankirtana]

#00:59:46#

[Jai Dhvani]

#01:01:21#

vāñchā-kalpatarubhyaś ca
kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca
patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo
vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Captured by Ananta Krishna Das
Edited by Tradish Das



[1] Keshavananda Prabhu makes the mistake of talking about Jiva Goswami. This is Gopal Bhatta Goswami.



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