Srila Prabhupada glorifies Gopala bhatta Goswami
Sri Gopala Bhatta Tirobhava tithi [disappearance day] Wednesday, July 28, 2021 [Mayapura, West Bengal, Bharata bhumi]
Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami 1503-1578
Gopala Bhatta Goswami (1503–1578) is one of the foremost disciples of the Vaishnavasaint, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and a leading historical figure in the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta. He was part of a group of Vaishnava devotees known collectively as the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan, who were influential in establishing the philosophical basis of the Gaudiya tradition in formalised writings. śrī-gopāla bhaṭṭa eka śākhā sarvottamarūpa-sanātana-saṅge yāṅra prema-ālāpana SYNONYMS śrī–gopāla bhaṭṭa—of the name Śrī GopālaBhaṭṭa; eka—one; śākhā—branch; sarva–uttama—very exalted; rūpa—of the name Rūpa; sanātana—of the name Sanātana; saṅge—company; yāṅra—whose; prema—love of Godhead; ālāpana—discussion. TRANSLATION Śrī GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches of the tree. He always engaged in discourses about love of Godhead in the company of Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī. PURPORT Śrī GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī was the son of Veṅkata Bhaṭṭa, a resident of Śrīraṅgam. GopālaBhaṭṭa formerly belonged to the disciplic succession of the Rāmānuja-sampradāya but later became part of the Gauḍīya–sampradāya. In the year 1433 śakābda (A.D. 1512), when Lord CaitanyaMahāprabhu was touring South India, He stayed for four months during the period of Cāturmāsya at the house of Veṅkata Bhaṭṭa, who then got the opportunity to serve the Lord to his heart’s content. GopālaBhaṭṭa also got the opportunity to serve the Lord at this time. Śrī GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī was later initiated by his uncle, the great sannyāsī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. Both the father and mother of GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī were extremely fortunate, for they dedicated their entire lives to the service of Lord CaitanyaMahāprabhu. They allowed GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī to go to Vṛndāvana, and they gave up their lives thinking of Śrī CaitanyaMahāprabhu. When Lord Caitanya was later informed that GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī had gone to Vṛndāvana and met Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī, He was very pleased, and He advised Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana to accept GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī as their younger brother and take care of him. Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, out of his great affection for GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, compiled the Vaiṣṇavasmṛti named Hari–bhakti–vilāsa and published it under his name. Under the instruction of Śrīla Rūpa and Sanātana, GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī installed one of the seven principal Deities of Vṛndāvana, the Rādhāramaṇa Deity. The sevaits (priests) of the Rādhāramaṇa temple belong to the Gauḍīya–sampradāya. When KṛṣṇadāsaKavirāja Gosvāmī took permission from all the Vaiṣṇavas before writing ŚrīCaitanya–caritāmṛta,GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī also gave him his blessings, but he requested him not to mention his name in the book. Therefore KṛṣṇadāsaKavirāja Gosvāmī has mentioned GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī only very cautiously in one or two passages of the Caitanya–caritāmṛta. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī has written in the beginning of his Tattva–sandarbha, “A devotee from southern India who was born of a brāhmaṇa family and was a very intimate friend of Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī has written a book that he has not compiled chronologically. Therefore I, a tiny living entity known as jīva, am trying to assort the events of the book chronologically, consulting the direction of great personalities like Madhvācārya, Śrīdhara Svāmī, Rāmānujācārya and other senior Vaiṣṇavas in the disciplic succession.” In the beginning of the Bhagavat–sandarbha there are similar statements by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī. Śrīla GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī compiled a book called Sat–kriyā–sāra-dīpikā, edited the Hari–bhakti–vilāsa, wrote a forword to the Ṣaṭ-sandarbha and a commentary on the Kṛṣṇa–karṇāmṛta, and installed the Rādhāramaṇa Deity in Vṛndāvana. In the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, verse 184, it is mentioned that his previous name in the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa was Anaṅga–mañjarī. Sometimes he is also said to have been an incarnation of Guṇa–mañjarī. Śrīnivāsa Ācārya and GopīnāthaPūjārī were two of his disciples. Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta Adi-Lila 10.105 Śrī Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa was a Vaiṣṇavabrāhmaṇa and an inhabitant of Śrī Raṅga–kṣetra. He belonged to the disciplic succession of Śrī Rāmānujācārya. Śrī Raṅga is one of the places of pilgrimage in the province of Tāmil Naduś. The inhabitants of that province do not retain the name Veṅkaṭa. It is therefore supposed that Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa did not belong to that province, although he may have been residing there for a very long time. Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa was in a branch of the Rāmānuja-sampradāya known as Baḍagala-i. He had a brother in the Rāmānuja-sampradāya known as Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. The son of Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa was later known in the Gauḍīya–sampradāya as GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, and he established the Rādhāramaṇa temple in Vṛndāvana. More information about him may be found in a book known as Bhakti-ratnākara, by NarahariCakravartī. Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta Madhya-Lila 9.82 Many devotees of Lord Caitanya like Śrīla Vṛndāvanadāsa Ṭhākura, Śrī Locanadāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīla KṛṣṇadāsaKavirāja Gosvāmī, Śrī Kavikarṇapūra, Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī RaghunāthaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, Śrī GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunāthadāsa Gosvāmī and in this latter age within two hundred years, Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Śrī Baladeva Vidyābhūṣana, Śrī Śyāmānanda Gosvāmī, Śrī Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Śrī Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and at last Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura (our spiritual master) and many other great and renowned scholars and devotees of the Lord have prepared voluminous books and literatures on the life and precepts of the Lord. Such literatures are all based on the śāstras like the Vedas, Purāṇas, Upaniṣads, Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata and other histories and authentic literatures approved by the recognized ācāryas. They are unique in composition and unrivaled in presentation, and they are full of transcendental knowledge. Unfortunately, the people of the world are still ignorant of them, but when these literatures, which are mostly in Sanskrit and Bengali, come to light the world and when they are presented before thinking people, then India’s glory and the message of love will overflood this morbid world, which is vainly searching after peace and prosperity by various illusory methods not approved by the ācāryas in the chain of disciplic succession. Srimad-Bhagavatam Intruduction If a person is Kṛṣṇa conscious, he can work like a young man even if he is seventy-five or eighty years old. Thus, the daughter of Kāla (Time) cannot overcome a Vaiṣṇava. Śrīla KṛṣṇadāsaKavirāja Gosvāmī engaged in writing Caitanya–caritāmṛta when he was very old, yet he presented the most wonderful literature about the activities of Lord Caitanya. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī began their spiritual lives at a very old age, that is, after they retired from their occupations and family lives. Yet they presented many valuable literatures for the advancement of spiritual life. This is confirmed by Śrīla Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, who praised the Gosvāmīs in this way:nānā–śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad–dharma-saṁsthāpakau
lokānāṁ hita-kāriṇau tri–bhuvane mānyau śaraṇyākarau
rādhā–kṛṣṇa-padāravinda-bhajanānandena mattālikau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī–jīva-gopālakau “I offer my respectful obeisances unto the six Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī RaghunāthaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Śrī Raghunāthadāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī and Śrī GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, who are very expert in scrutinizingly studying all the revealed scriptures with the aim of establishing eternal religious principles for the benefit of all human beings. Thus they are honored all over the three worlds, and they are worth taking shelter of because they are absorbed in the mood of the gopīs and are engaged in the transcendental loving service of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.” Srimad-Bhagavatam purport 4.27.24Sri Gopala Bhatta Goswami as instructor guru of Krsna dasa Kavirajaśrī-rūpa, sanātana, bhaṭṭa-raghunāthaśrī-jīva, gopāla-bhaṭṭa, dāsa-raghunātha SYNONYMSśrī–rūpa—Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī; sanātana—Sanātana Gosvāmī; bhaṭṭa–raghunātha—RaghunāthaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī; śrī–jīva—Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī; gopāla–bhaṭṭa—GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī; dāsa–raghunātha—Śrīla Raghunāthadāsa Gosvāmī. TRANSLATION The instructing spiritual masters are Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī BhaṭṭaRaghunātha, Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, Śrī GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Raghunāthadāsa Gosvāmī.Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta Adi-Lila 1.36 Sri Gopala Bhatta Goswami and Prakasanana SarasvatiIn this connection it may be mentioned that sometimes the sahajiyā class of devotees opine that PrakāśānandaSarasvatī and Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī are the same man. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī was a great Vaiṣṇava devotee of Lord CaitanyaMahāprabhu, but PrakāśānandaSarasvatī, the head of the Māyāvādīsannyāsīs in Benares, was a different person. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī belonged to the Rāmānuja-sampradāya, whereas PrakāśānandaSarasvatī belonged to the Śaṅkarācārya-sampradāya. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī wrote a number of books, among which are the Caitanya-candrāmṛta, Rādhā–rasa–sudhā–nidhi, Saṅgīta–mādhava, Vṛndāvana-śataka and Navadvīpa-śataka. While traveling in southern India, CaitanyaMahāprabhu met Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, who had two brothers, Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa and Tirumalaya Bhaṭṭa, who were Vaiṣṇavas of the Rāmānuja-sampradāya. GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī was the nephew of Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. From historical records it is found that Śrī CaitanyaMahāprabhu traveled in South India in the year 1433 śakābda (A.D. 1511) during the Cāturmāsya period, and it was at that time that He met Prabodhānanda, who belonged to the Rāmānuja-sampradāya. How then could the same person meet Him as a member of the Śaṅkara-sampradāya in 1435 śakābda, two years later? It is to be concluded that the guess of the sahijiyā-sampradāya that Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī and PrakāśānandaSarasvatī were the same man is a mistaken idea. Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta Adi-Lila 7.149 Sri Gopala Bhatta Goswami constructed the temple of RadhaRamanaWhen Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī went to Vṛndāvana, there was not a single temple, but by their preaching they were gradually able to construct various temples. Sanātana Gosvāmī constructed the Madana–mohana temple, and Rūpa Gosvāmī constructed the Govindajī temple. Similarly, their nephew Jīva Gosvāmī constructed the Rādhā–Dāmodara temple, Śrī GopālaBhaṭṭa Gosvāmī constructed the Rādhā–ramaṇa temple, Śrī Lokanātha Gosvāmī constructed the Gokulānanda temple, and Śyāmānanda Gosvāmī constructed the Śyāmasundara temple. In this way, many temples were gradually constructed. For preaching, construction of temples is also necessary. The Gosvāmīs not only engaged in writing books but also constructed temples because both are needed for preaching work. Sri Caitanya-Caritamrta Adi-Lila 7.164