CC Adi 10.84 – Srila Rupa Gosvami—Rupotsava

Host (Prasanta devi dasi): Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Host (Prasanta devi dasi): All right, looks like we had a little discrepancy with the sound system. So I would like to again welcome everyone to this wonderful festival commemorating the appearance and disappearance of Srila Rupa Gosvamipada whom Srila Prabhupada says is directing the Krishna consciousness movement. We are very fortunate to hold this festival since 1999. We will have a three-day celebration beginning today with kathā, hearing the glories of Srila Rupa Gosvami. For this, we have many devotees who are present with us, who are going to speak of various aspects of his pastimes, and teachings, and so on. Tomorrow is yet another day during which we will hear of the political works of Srila Rupa Gosvami. And on the third day, we shall be in Ter Kadamba, the place where Srila Rupa Gosvami spent a lot of time doing bhajan, it is called the Rupa Gosvami bhajan-sthali, and that is also the place where he wrote some of these books including the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu.

So we would like all of you to join in this wonderful celebration. We are very happy to welcome as our first speaker, His Holiness Giriraj Maharaja who will be speaking on the appearance and early life of Srila Rupa Gosvami. So let us begin immediately, let the kathā flow, and let the nectar enter our ears in remembrance of this wonderful personality descended from the spiritual world to spread the movement of Lord Chaitanya. 

Hare Krishna. 

Giriraj Maharaja, please accept our humble obeisances and we offer you a most warm welcome. Hare Krishna.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna. Thank you. So I will sing the maṅgalācaraṇa prayers and lead a short kirtan and then speak about Srila Rupa Gosvami. 

[Prayers]

Hare Krishna. It is a great honor and privilege and pleasure to be with you for the most auspicious occasion of Srila Rupa utsava. 

What we know about the life of Srila Rupa Gosvami comes to us mostly from Krishnadasa Kavirāja Gosvami’s biography of Lord Chaitanya, Caitanya-caritāmṛta, and from Narahari Cakravarti’s account of the lives of Lord Chaitanya’s followers, Bhakti-ratnākara. Bhakti-ratnākara traces six generations of Sri Rupa’s lineage. He was born into a family of respectable Sarasvati brahmans from the southern province of Karnataka. His great grandfather, Rupeshwar, after a quarrel with his brother Hariha, migrated to the east, and his grandfather Padmanabha settled on the bank of the Ganga at Naihati, West Bengal. Rupa’s father, Sri Kumar, moved further east into what is now the Jashore district of Bangladesh and had several sons, the last three of whom he named Amar (later Sanatana), Santosh (later Rupa), and Vallabha (Anupama). These three brothers were from childhood attracted to devotional service. Amar and Santosh were especially attracted to Krishna, and Vallabha to Lord Ramachandra. 

As adults, the brothers proved extremely competent scholars and managers. Impressed by their ability, the mogul tyrant of Bengal, Nawab Hussain Shah, compelled them into government service. Amar was appointed a Nawab’s Prime Minister, and Santosh the Assistant Minister, and Vallabha the State Treasurer. In this way, the Nawab freed himself from military expeditions by turning most of the responsibility of governing over to the three brothers who established their residence in the town of Ramakheli, near the Nawab’s capital. By this time, Santosh was known by his official title Dabir Khas, and Amar was called Sakar Malik. But despite their powerful positions, their only real joy in life lay in serving Krishna and His devotees. They made their wealthy estate a suitable place for remembering Krishna by planting groves of kadamba and other trees that grow in Vrindavan, and by building replicas of Krishna’s favorite ponds, the sacred Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda. The brothers also hosted many pundits and discussions of the Bhāgavatam and other shastras went on constantly in their assembly. 

The three brothers had heard about Lord Chaitanya who was still living as a family man in Navadvipa, and despite feeling utterly unqualified, were eager to meet him. They considered themselves degraded and untouchable for although their father, Kumaradeva, had been so strict in his brahmanical principles that if he even saw the face of a meat eater he would fast for the day, they were now paid servants of a meat-eater, the yavana king. Nonetheless, their enthusiasm impelled them to begin corresponding with Lord Chaitanya, and in one letter the Lord encouraged them to be patient. 

CC Madhya 1.211

para-vyasaninī nārī

vyagrāpi gṛha-karmasu

tad evāsvādayaty antar

nava-saṅga-rasāyanam

TRANSLATION

“If a woman is attached to a man other than her husband, she will appear very busy in carrying out her household affairs, but within her heart she is always relishing feelings of association with her paramour.”

COMMENT

That was Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, (1.211). 

So that was a very instructive quotation that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu sent them to continue being expert in their worldly duties, but to internally be absorbed in Krishna consciousness.

Soon after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left home to enter the renounced order, he decided to go to Vrindavan, followed by large crowds he proceeded north and stopped at Ramakheli. Meanwhile, Hussain Shah received news that this sannyasi was creating a stir in the countryside, but by consulting with Dabir Khas and other ministers, the Nawab decided that Chaitanya was a worthy state or even God Himself, and ordered that no one interfere with his doings. Still, Dabir Khas worried that Hussain Shah capricious as he was, could change his mind and turn against Lord Chaitanya. Thus in the middle of the night Dabir Khas and Sakar Malik went incognito to warn the Lord of the potential danger. 

So my topic is “The Appearance and Early Pastimes of Srila Rupa Gosvami,” and my dear esteemed godbrother Deenbandhu Prabhu will be speaking after me about the first meeting between Rupa Goswami and Lord Chaitanya. So I will not discuss that, but I will read a section from Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta gives a beautiful description of the three brothers, Sri Sanatana, Sri Rupa, and Anupama. 

This is Ādi-līlā, Chapter Ten, Text Eighty-four.

TEXT 10.84

anupama-vallabha, śrī-rūpa, sanātana

ei tina śākhā vṛkṣera paścime sarvottama

TRANSLATION

On the western side were the forty-third, forty-fourth and forty-fifth branches — Śrī Sanātana, Śrī Rūpa and Anupama. They were the best of all.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śrī Anupama was the father of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and younger brother of Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī and Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī. His former name was Vallabha, but after Lord Caitanya met him He gave him the name Anupama. Because of working in the Muslim government, these three brothers were given the title Mullik. Our personal family is connected with the Mulliks of Mahatma Gandhi Road in Calcutta, and we often used to visit their Rādhā-Govinda temple. They belong to the same family as we do. Our family gotra, or original genealogical line, is the Gautama-gotra, or line of disciples of Gautama Muni, and our surname is De. But due to their accepting the posts of zamindars in the Muslim government, they received the title Mullik. Similarly, Rūpa, Sanātana and Vallabha were also given the title Mullik. Mullik means “lord.” Just as the English government gives rich and respectable persons the title “lord,” so the Muslims give the title Mullik to rich, respectable families that have intimate connections with the government. Thus the title Mullik is found not only among the Muslims but also among the Hindu aristocracy. This title is not restricted to a particular family but is given to different families and castes. The qualifications for receiving it are wealth and respectability.

Sanātana Gosvāmī and Rūpa Gosvāmī belonged to the Bharadvāja-gotra, which indicates that they belonged either to the family or disciplic succession of Bharadvāja Muni. As members of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement we belong to the family, or disciplic succession, of Sarasvatī Gosvāmī, and thus we are known as Sārasvatas. Obeisances are therefore offered to the spiritual master as sārasvata-deva, or a member of the Sārasvata family (namas te sārasvate deve), whose mission is to broadcast the cult of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (gaura-vāṇī-pracāriṇe) and to fight with impersonalists and voidists (nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādi-pāścātya-deśa-tāriṇe). This was also the occupational duty of Sanātana Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī and Anupama Gosvāmī.

The genealogical table of Sanātana Gosvāmī, Rūpa Gosvāmī and Vallabha Gosvāmī can be traced back to the twelfth century Śakābda, when a gentleman of the name Sarvajña appeared in a very rich and opulent brāhmaṇa family in the province of Karṇāṭa. He had two sons, named Aniruddhera Rūpeśvara and Harihara, who were both bereft of their kingdoms and thus obliged to reside in the highlands. The son of Rūpeśvara, who was named Padmanābha, moved to a place in Bengal known as Naihāṭī, on the bank of the Ganges. There he had five sons, of whom the youngest, Mukunda, had a well-behaved son named Kumāradeva, who was the father of Rūpa, Sanātana and Vallabha. Kumāradeva lived in Phateyābād (Fateyabad), an area bordering Bāklācandradvīpa in East Bengal (now Bangladesh). The present-day village of Prembagh, which lies near Ramshara in the Jessore district of Bangladesh, is said by many to be the site of Kumāradeva’s house. Of his many sons, three took to the path of Vaiṣṇavism. Later, Śrī Vallabha and his elder brothers Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana came from Candradvīpa to the village in the Maldah district of Bengal known as Rāmakeli. It is in this village that Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī took birth, accepting Vallabha as his father. Because of engaging in the service of the Muslim government, the three brothers received the title Mullik. When Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu visited the village of Rāmakeli, He met Vallabha there. Later, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, after meeting Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, resigned from government service, and when he went to Vṛndāvana to meet Lord Caitanya, Vallabha accompanied him.

COMMENT

So yes, Srila Prabhupada explains the full name of the Nawab of Bengal, Hussain Shah, was Alauddin Sayeda Hussain Shah Sharifa Makka, and he ruled Bengal for twenty-three years, from 1420 to 1443, Śakābda era, that is 1498–1521, common era. 

Now there is a very interesting incident that took place, that really was the impetus for Rupa Gosvami to resign from the government’s service and take fully to the mission of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The story is that, one night it was raining very heavily, it was a very stormy night, and very late at night, you could say almost in the middle of the night, we will call him Rupa Gosvami although that wasn’t how he was known then, but Rupa Gosvami was running on a path during that stormy night. And as he was running he overheard a couple who lived near that path say that, “Who could be running so late at night in such a stormy night? It could only be,” we will say Rupa, “It could only be Rupa, he is like a slave of the Nawab.” And somehow those words entered deep into Sri Rupa’s heart, and at that moment, he resolved that he was no longer going to be a slave of the Nawab Hussain Shah, and that he would resign from government service, which he did, which is good for us.

And I personally have had the opportunity to visit Ramakheli and I saw the ponds that Rupa and Sanatana had constructed to be, you could say, replicas of Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda. It was a very moving and touching experience to visit Ramakheli and I took the opportunity of bathing in those sacred ponds.

So on this occasion, we pray to Srila Rupa Gosvami to be merciful to us. We need his mercy in every respect. Once when I was in Vrindavan, I went to Rupa Gosvami’s well, both his samadhi and bhajana-kuṭira at the Radha-Damodara temple, and I prayed to him to help me in my service of writing because Srila Prabhupada had instructed me to write as my first business. And I felt, maybe it was my imagination, but I felt that the merciful Rupa Gosvami said he would help me. He imparted the message in my heart that he would help me. So I am grateful to him at every step for giving us all the wonderful literature he has given us beginning with Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu and so many others, and for the inspiration he has given us by his example, and for the personal inspiration he has given me in my service, humble attempt, feeble attempt at writing.

Srila Rupa Gosvami, ki jaya. Srila Prabhupada, ki jaya.