Who is Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī?
by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda
Who is Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī?
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is an eternal associate of Bhagavān. He is the spiritual master of the whole world (jagad-guru) and the emperor among the devotees. In śrī kṛṣṇa-līlā, he is the maidservant of Śrīmatī Rādhikā named Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī. Śrī Rūpa Prabhu is an intimate associate of Śrī Gaurāṅga. His existence does not stem from jīva-tattva (the existential principle of the atomic living soul), but from svarūpa-śakti-tattva (the existential principle of the supreme, internal potency of reality), which is the master of jīva-tattva. He is the beloved associate of Śrī Rādhā, the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja.
There is a speciality of Śrī Rūpa Prabhu among the other devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is extremely dear to Śrī Gaurāṅga-sundara. Śrīla Rūpa Prabhu knew the innermost moods of Śrī Gaurasundara’s heart to such an astounding degree that his calibre of excellence in service was not manifest in any of the other followers of Śrī Gaurāṅga serving as ācāryas in His mission. The innermost confidential moods of Śrī Gaurasundara have manifested only within the followers of Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara and Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī.
Everyone is indebted to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. As long as the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāyaremains manifest in this world, no one can deny Śrīla Rūpa
Gosvāmī’s extraordinary and unprecedented contribution. One’s debt to him cannot be repaid even by becoming his absolute follower.
That which is worthy of adorning the lap, chest and forehead of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, that which Śrī Kṛṣṇa bears on His shoulders and forehead at every moment, is, in truth, our eternal, worshipful Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhu. Attaining the dust of the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī is our only ambition, and finding shelter at the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is our only hope and our only purpose.
How can the position of being the servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa be attained? In answer to this question, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has explained that only by attaining the station of servant of Śrīla Rūpa-Raghunātha can the position of being the servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa be achieved.
The extent to which I am deprived of the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, my accomplishment in service is lacking. Only those in exclusive subservience to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī are the rightful owners of absolute wealth. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is the epitome of kṛṣṇānuśīlanam*. From the perspective of history, he is the disciple of his elder brother Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. But Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī also prays for the mercy of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Śrīla Sanātana Prabhu says, “Those who do not aspire for the mercy of Śrīla Rūpa can never attain a glimpse of the beauty of service to Śrī Rādhā-Govinda.
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* Perpetual, ardent endeavour meant exclusively for Śrī Kṛṣṇa. It also implies “ānukula”, “out of genuine kindness to Him”, as these words constitute the internal characteristics of the definition of uttamā-bhakti revealed by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, which begins “anyābhilāṣitā-śunyaṁ...” (Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.1.11)
When the karma-kāṇḍī and nirbheda-jñānī sampradāyas (the sect of those who strive for fruitive material gain and the sect of those who strive for the termination of individual existence by acquiring impersonal knowledge) were gathering strength to abolish bhakti, there was a need for a commander-in-chief to represent Śrī Gaurasundara and preach naiṣkarmyavāda (the path of detachment from selfish gain and the reactions of karma) in order to subdue and demolish that force.
Śrīla Rūpa and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmīs are Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s two commanders-in-chief. Śrīla Rūpa is the commander in chief and all his followers (rūpānugas) constitute his army. Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara is the leader of the Gauḍīyas, and everyone will be recruited by him alone to conquer the opposing armies: the sampradāyas of anyābhilāṣīs (those with extraneous selfish motives), karmīs(those
who are attached to the pursuit of material gain), jñānīs (those who pursue impersonal liberation) and yogīs (those who pursue superlative mastery over the material nature).
The army of rūpānugas – that is, the followers of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī – have no weapons in their hands. Their sole weapon is kīrtana. In Prayāga, Śrī Gaurasundara specially empowered the commander-in-chief Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī with His own potency, and taught him the methodology for organizing the movement against those sampradāyas that were opposed to bhakti. And He taught him how one can protect oneself from such unfavourable association.
By deliberating upon how the commander-in-chief fought along with his army, we too will be able to defeat the thoughts of sampradāyas that are opposed to bhakti. We will be able to defeat all such thoughts arising from asat-buddhi (mundane intelligence), phala-kāmana (the desire for results), karma-āgraha (insistence on performing material activities), anyābhilāṣita (desires extraneous to serving the Lord), pāṣaṇḍatā (duplicity), nāstikatā (atheism), viddha-bhāva (contradicting, mixed moods) etc.
Śrīla Jiva Gosvāmī is the lion of the army of rūpanugas. He has completely refuted all false conceptions through the infallible arrows of his thoughts. The primary followers of the commander-in-chief, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, are Śrīla Jīva and Śrīla Raghunātha.
The rare treasure that Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī left with his primary followers can be received from Śrīla Narottama Ṭhākura and Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura.
If we sincerely, from the core of our heart, aspire for that priceless treasure, only then will the treasure of Śrīla Rūpa – the treasure of divine service – be attained.
When one receives Śrīla Rūpa’s beauty, sweetness, and his exceptional, transcendental and causeless amandodaya-dayā (that most auspicious and unending compassion) – the pinnacle of his mercy in all its excellence – there no longer exists any loyalty to deformity (ku-rūpa) or perversion (vi-rūpa). In fact, everything becomes extremely beautiful (su-rūpa) and appeasing to one’s spiritual eyes through the truest form of vision (sudarśana). Thereafter, the material beauty that is madly sought after by the whole world will easily be exposed as deformity worthy of spurning.
The divine form (rūpa) in which one may render service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa is presently covered by designations. One designation is the mind, the other, the body. One who becomes opposed to that divine form (rūpa) poses instead as a materialist with separate desires, another as a jñānī, and another as a yogī. Moreover, at different stages one considers, “I am a human”, or “I am a demigod”, “a scholar”, “a fool”, “rich”, “poor”, “a father”, “a son”, “a brāhmaṇa”, “a renunciant” and so on.
The beauty (rūpa) we perceive in money, in women and in recognition is desirable and tempting to us. But will we not, even once, become greedy to receive that beauty (rūpa) described by Śrī Gaurasundara’s own Śrīla Rūpa?
The lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī can be seen through eyes imbued with a mood of serving, sincere humility, and affection (prīti). Only when we make the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī everything to us – our bhajana (transcendent, internal service), worship (pūjana), and our present and our future – will we get to see Śrī Caitanyadeva completely.
The lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī are our sole hope and aspiration. His mercy is our only support. Therefore we have this prayer –
ādadānas tṛṇaṁ dantair idaṁ yāce punaḥ punaḥ
śrīmad-rūpa-padāmbhoja-dhuliḥ syāṁ janma-janmani
Dāna Keli Cintāmaṇi (175)
by Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī
Clasping a straw between my teeth, I repeatedly beg to attain the dust of the lotus feet of Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmī, birth after birth.
Translated by the Rays of The Harmonist team
from Śrīla Prabhupādera Upadeśāmṛta
Questions re-numbered for this on-line presentation
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Śrīla Prabhupādera Upadeśāmṛta is a compilation of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda’s instructions in question-and-answer form.
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