Sri Sri Sad–goswami-astaka
Prayers To Our Six Goswamis
{1}
krsnotkirtana-gana-nartana-parau premamrtambho-nidhi
dhiradhira-jana-priyau priya-karau nirmatsarau pujitau
sri-caitanya-krpa-bharau bhuvi bhuvo bharavahantarakau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami,
Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami,Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami, who are always engaged in chanting the Holy Name of Krishna and dancing. They are just like the ocean of love of God, and they are popular both with the gentle and 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 various missionary activities meant to deliver all the conditioned souls in the material universe.
{2}
nana-sastra-vicaranaika-nipunau sad-dharma-samsthapakau
lokanam hita-karinau tri-bhuvane manyau saranyakarau
radha-krsna-padaravinda-bhajananandena mattalikau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri jiva-gopalakau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami,
Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami,Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami, who are expert in scrutinizingly studying all the revealed scriptures with the aim of establishing eternal religious principles for the benefit of all the 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 Gopis and are engaged in the transcendental loving service of Radha and Krishna.
{3}
sri-gauranga-gunanuvarnana-vidhau sraddha-samrdhy-anvitau
papottapa-nikrntanau tanu-bhrtam govinda-ganamrtaih
anandambudhi-vardhanaika-nipunau kaivalya-nistarakau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami,
Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami,Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami, who are very much enriched in understanding of Lord Chaitanya and who are thus expert in narrating His transcendental qualities. They can purify all conditioned souls from reactions of their sinful activities by pouring upon them loving transcendental songs about Govinda. As such, they are very expert in increasing the limits of the ocean of transcendental bliss, and they are the saviors of the living entities from the devouring mouths of liberation.
{4}
tyaktva turnam asesa-mandala-pati-srenim sada tuccha-vat
bhutva dina-ganesakau karunaya kaupina-kanthasritau
gopi-bhava-rasamrtabdhi-lahari-kallola-magnau muhur
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami,
Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami,Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami, who kicked off all association of aristocracy as insignificant. In order to deliver the poor conditioned souls, they accepted loincloths and treated themselves as mendicants, but they are always merged in the ecstatic ocean of the Gopis' love for Krishna and bathe always and repeatedly in the waves of that Ocean.
{5}
kujat-kokila-hamsa-sarasa-ganakirne mayurakule
nana-ratna-nibaddha-mula-vitape-sri-yukta-vrndavane
radha-krsnam ahar-nisam prabhajatau jivarthadau yau muda
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami,
Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami,Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami, who were always engaged in worshiping Sri Sri Radha-Krishna in the transcendental land of Vrindavan, where there are beautiful trees full of fruits and flowers which have under their roots all valuable jewels. The Goswamis are perfectly competent to bestow upon the living entities the greatest boon of the goal of life.
{6}
sankhya-purvaka-nama-gana-natibhih kalavasani-krtau
nidrahara-viharakadi-vijitau catyanta-dinau ca yau
radha-krsnam-guna-smrter madhurimanandena sammohitau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami,
Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami,Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami, who were engaged in chanting the Holy Names of the Lord and bowing down in a scheduled measurement. In this way they utilized their valuable lives, and in executing these devotional activities they conquered over eating and sleeping and were always meek and humble, enchanted by remembering the transcendental qualities of the Lord.
{7}
radha-kunda-tate kalinda-tanaya-tire ca vamsivate
premonmada-vasad asesa-dasaya grastau pramattau sada
gayantau ca kada harer guna-varam bhavabhibhutau muda
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami,
Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami,Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami,who were sometimes on the bank of the Radha-kund Lake or the shores of the Yamuna and sometimes at Vamsivata. There they appeared just like madmen in the full ecstasy of love for Krishna, exhibiting different transcendental symptoms in their bodies, and they were merged in the ecstasy of Krishna consciousness.
{8}
he radhe vraja-devike ca lalite he nanda-suno kutah
sri-govardhana-kalpa-padapa-tale kalindi-vane kutah
ghosantav iti sarvato vraja-pure khedair maha-vihvalau
vande rupa-sanatanau raghu-yugau sri-jiva-gopalakau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Six Goswamis, namely Srila Rupa Goswami, Srila Sanatana Goswami,
Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Srila Raghunatha Dasa Goswami,Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Gopala Bhatta Goswami, who were chanting very loudly everywhere in Vrindavan, shouting, “Queen of Vrindavan, Radharani! O Lalita! O Son of Nanda Maharaj! Where are you all now! Are you just on the hill of Govardhana, or are you under the trees on the bank of the Yamuna? Where are you?” These were their moods in executing Krishna consciousness.
Comments
Notice that they wear babaji-vesa, the clothes of mendicants, not of sannyasis. These great souls gave up on the notion of this varna and that ashrama, and while following all prescribed rules of purity, yet they were Babajis, totally renounced, other-worldy really, as they lived more in the spiritual Vrndavana than via the bodily presence on bhaumi-vrndavana, the non-different replica on earth. It is our great good fortune that they left the world's most exalted literatures in a poetic language that has become the world's language for drama in Sanskrita and bhakti poetry and art; Brijbasi. They wrote glorious scholarly reveled literatures of the most exalted and deep revelations attainable to liberated souls, on intimate and world-transforming topics of devotional service to Radha and Krsna. They brought us a revelation of conjugal rasas and the service of Srimati Radharani. They are our up-link in a chain of love that shines like gold and reaches up to the Diamond and Black Sapphire, Nila, of Radha and Krsna.