𝗠𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗵𝘂 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗿𝗶 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗺
Knowing that Mahaprabhu would leave, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami asked if he could accompany Him, but Mahaprabhu said, "Your parents are Vaisnavas; serve them. Once they have passed away, then go to Vrndavana." In this way, Mahaprabhu pacified Gopala.
The thought that Mahaprabhu would leave Sri Rangam after four months of Caturmasya plagued the three brothers Trimalla, Venkata, and Sri Prabhodananda. They wondered how they would be able to spend their days after Mahaprabhu had left. "Who will joke with us," they asked each other, "who will go with us to bathe in the Kaveri? With whom will we perform sankirtana in the temple of Ranganatha and who will distribute the jewels of devotion to worthless fellows like us? Without Mahaprabhu, Sri Rangam will become empty."
Tears streamed silently down their faces, but they did not speak their mind to anyone. At the end of the four months of Caturmasya, before Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu departed, He approached Venkata Bhatta and asked his permission to leave. Hearing Mahaprabhu's request, Venkata Bhatta, Trimalla, and Sri Prabhodananda cried out in anguish and fell on the ground at His feet. Mahaprabhu affectionately embraced the three brothers and pacified them.
Venkata Bhatta wanted to go with Mahaprabhu and not return home, but with great endeavor Mahaprabhu bade him farewell and left. Out of separation from the Lord, Venkata Bhatta fell unconscious.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu then continued His journey further South. After traversing for many days Mahaprabhu returned to Nilacala, where He was united with His devotees. Sometime later, Mahaprabhu visited Bengal and traveled to Vrndavana, meeting many of His followers. After visiting Vraja, Caitanya Mahaprabhu returned to Jagannatha Puri.
Venkata Bhatta and his two brother's sadness increased out of separation from the Lord. Gopala Bhatta's separation from Mahaprabhu was beyond description. He remembered Mahaprabhu's promise that soon his desire would be fulfilled and that He would come to see him in Vrndavana.
Immersed in love of Sri Gauracandra, he felt happiness speaking Mahaprabhu's glories.
Gopala Bhatta is an intimate maidservant of Srimati Radhika, whom Mahaprabhu had instructed to preach and establish pure vaisnava-dharma. Therefore, along with serving his parents, he spent his time preaching pure devotional service. Even learned scholars would come and listen to him. Everyone became attracted by his saintly qualities and accepted his conclusions on bhakti. Over time, Gopala uprooted the mayavada doctrine and made everyone inclined to pure devotion. He bestowed nama-prema to countless jivas.
Educated persons praised Gopala Bhatta and were amazed how he had quickly become so learned. One person said, "Not only is Gopala greatly learned, he is also kind hearted." Another person said, "Sri Gopala's erudition is beyond compare. This is all due to the mercy of Sri Prabhodananda, who taught him since his birth." Another person said, "Day and night, he always thinks of Sri Krsna-Caitanya." In this way, everyone glorified Sri Gopala Bhatta.
Gopala responsibly looked after his parents, who were always happy with him. They felt themselves blessed to have a son who was completely surrendered to the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Before they passed on to the spiritual world, they blessed their son, saying, "Gopala, you have our blessings to go to Vrndavana and serve Caitanya Mahaprabhu." Remembering the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu, Gopala Bhatta's parents departed this world.
Gopala Bhatta Gosvami left Sri Rangam and arrived in Vrndavana, where he met with Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami, the commanders in chief of Mahaprabhu's preachers, the crest-jewels of all learned and renounced personalities, and the sun of the dynasty of maha-bhagavatas and Gaudiya-Vaisnava acaryas. Gopala Bhatta began staying under their guidance and went on darsana with them to all the pastime places in Vraja. Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami showed him special affection, like he was their own brother. Gopala's heart swelled with love for Rupa and Sanatana. He would spend his time with them discussing the loving pastimes of the Lord. The other devotees showered their affection on Gopala Bhatta. He became dear to everyone in Vrndavana.
Although Mahaprabhu was in Puri at the time, because He was the Supreme Lord, He understood that Gopala had gone to Vrndavana. One day, Mahaprabhu inquired from the devotees if they had heard any news from Vraja. Shortly after this, a letter arrived from Rupa and Sanatana in Vraja, informing Him of Gopala Bhatta's arrival there. Bhakta-vatsala Gaurahari began to describe Gopala's glories to His devotees, as if He had a hundred mouths.
"During My trip to the South, I stayed at the house of Venkata Bhatta. There I met his son Gopala, who was learned in all scriptures. He would always remain in My company. Sri Krsna has now mercifully sent him to Vrndavana into the association of Rupa and Sanatana. They have kindly sent Me news of Gopala's arrival there."
The devotees present, like Svarupa Damodara, Raya Ramananda, Kasisvara, Gadadhara Pandita, and other intimate devotees, were happy to hear Mahaprabhu recollect His trip to the South. The Lord praised Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami and sent a reply back to them, saying, "I am very pleased that Gopala has come. Consider him to be your younger brother." He also gave His mercy by sending His own cloth seat (asana) and personal clothes (dor-kaupina and bahir-vasa) to Gopala.
Having received the merciful gifts from the Lord, Gopala would embrace them to his chest and weep loudly, remembering Mahaprabhu. He thought, "How can I sit on that asana that Mahaprabhu has used?"
Therefore, he carefully preserved it, along with the other cloth. Remembering how Mahaprabhu had sent them to him, his heart would melt in prema, tears of love would flow from his eyes, and his heart would become restless in separation.
𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗵𝗮-𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮
On the advice of Rupa and Sanatana, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami went to all the pilgrimage places of North India. He came to the banks of the Gandaki River in Nepal, where he took his bath. As he was bathing, a large damodara-sila, twelve fingers in size came into his water pot. Gopala Bhatta placed it back into the water and refilled his water pot with water. To his astonishment, the salagrama-sila appeared in his water pot again. When he placed it back in the water again, for the third time the sila came into his water pot. He then meditated on Mahaprabhu. Remembering the Lord's instructions to worship Krsna in Vraja, and accepting the sila to be non-different from the Lord Himself, Gopala Bhatta brought the salagrama to Vrndavana. He started doing bhajana near Nidhuvana, which later became the place for the temple of Sri Radha-ramana. Gopala began serving the damodara-sila according to Mahaprabhu's moods and line of thought, worshiping the sila as Vrajendra-nandana Krsna Himself.
Once, in the summer, during the month of Vaisakha, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami was fasting and performing kirtana, while observing the holy day of Nrsimha-caturdasi. That evening, he became immersed in remembrance of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and His associates, and began weeping in feelings of separation, remembering how Mahaprabhu had promised that He would come and see him. That night, he fell asleep while performing his bhajana and saw a vision of Caitanya Mahaprabhu surrounded by His associates, performing sankirtana on their way to see him. Early the next morning, on the full moon day, to his astonishment, he saw that a beautiful deity of Krsna had manifested from the salagrama. Krsna had a three-fold bending form, two hands holding a flute, and was a very sweet Vraja-kisora. Gazing at the deity, Gopala realized that it was the exact same form that Sri Gauranga had revealed to him earlier in Sri Rangam.
Sri Svarupa Damodara has explained that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krsna Himself, resplendent with the luster and intrinsic mood of Srimati Radhika: "radha-bhava-dyuti-suvalitam naumi krsna-svarupam (Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 1.5)."
The Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.8.13) also explains this fact:
𝑎𝑠𝑎𝑛 𝑣𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑜 ℎ𝑦 𝑎𝑠𝑦𝑎 𝑔𝑟ℎ𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑜 '𝑛𝑢𝑦𝑢𝑔𝑎𝑚 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑢ℎ 𝑠𝑢𝑘𝑙𝑜 𝑟𝑎𝑘𝑡𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑎 𝑝𝑖𝑡𝑎 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑚 𝑘𝑟𝑠𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑚 𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑎ℎ
[Gargacarya spoke to Nanda Baba: Your son Krsna appears in every yuga. Previously He assumed three different colors-white, red, and yellow-and now He has appeared in a blackish color.]𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎ℎ 𝑘𝑟𝑠𝑛𝑎𝑚 𝑏𝑎ℎ𝑖𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑚 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑎𝑑𝑖-𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑏ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑚 𝑘𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑦𝑎𝑖ℎ 𝑠𝑚𝑎 𝑘𝑟𝑠𝑛𝑎-𝑐𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑠𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑎ℎ
Tattva-sandarbha 2
[I take shelter of Sri Krsna Caitanya, who is outwardly Gaura, of fair complexion, but is inwardly Krsna Himself. In Kali-yuga He displays His associates, servitors, and confidential companions, while performing sankirtana.] In Vrndavana, in the mood of Krsna, Mahaprabhu hid Radha's golden complexion and mood inside Himself and outwardly manifested His krsna-varna, blackish complexion. Because the Deity is the combined form of Radha and Krsna-sri krsna caitanya radha krsna nahi anya-He is called Radha-ramana. The other Deities in Vrndavana may or may not be spoken of along with Radha's name, but when calling Radha-ramana, Radha's name can never be excluded. Now that the Lord of his heart had come, Gopala Bhatta began worshiping Radha-ramana as non-different from Gauranga Mahaprabhu. He would dress the deity in kaupinas and because Mahaprabhu is a sannyasi, he did not establish Sri Radha's Deity by His side. Therefore, Radha-ramana stands alone without Radharani. Instead, a symbol of Radharani, in the form of a silver crown, is placed on His left side. Seeing Gopala Bhatta Gosvami's sincerity and eagerness for seva, and being overwhelmed by his worship laden with rasa and intimate moods of prema, Mahaprabhu manifested as Sri Radha-ramana. When Rupa and Sanatana heard the news that Sri Radha-ramana had so mercifully appeared from the salagrama, they came at once with all the devotees for darsana. Seeing His beautiful three-fold bending form, dark complexion, and smiling face, they were overwhelmed in ecstatic love. Who can understand Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami's great fortune, by which Sri Radha-ramana became self-manifest to him? Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami drank the nectar of Radha-ramana's beauty to his heart's content. His eagerness to serve Him increased day by day and he worshiped Radha-ramana understanding that all the three primary Deities of Vrndavana were manifest in the form of Radha-ramana. His feet resemble Madana-mohana's feet, His face resembles Govinda-deva's face, and His chest resembles Gopinatha's chest. The deity of Radha-ramana is extremely beautiful. Those who have his darsana are most fortunate. His beautiful form is famous throughout the three worlds. Sri Radha-ramana was Gopala Bhatta Gosvami's life and soul, and while sleeping or awake, he knew nothing but His service. Being enchanted by the Deity's beauty, Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami decorated Radha-ramana with different flower ornaments and decorations. While serving, Gopala Bhatta's happiness increased moment by moment. He constantly remembered Sri Gaurasundara. Being moved by the memory of his service to Mahaprabhu, he shed tears profusely while gazing at his beautiful Radha-ramana. Sometimes he would have a vision of Mahaprabhu in His beautiful youthful form, which was more attractive than Cupid, and which enchanted the whole world. Seeing the beauty of Sri Gaurasundara, Gopala Bhatta's heart would overflow with joy and he would call out, "What am I seeing," and faint on the ground. With tears streaming from his eyes, he joyfully glorified Sri Radha-ramana and Sri Gauranga. 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝘁 The land of Vraja is full of spiritual moods and is tran_scendental and unattainable to even great sages. Desiring to engage in his eternal service as Guna Manjari, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami went and made his bhajana-kutira at Sanket in front of the rasa-sthali. Sanket is in between Nandagaon and Varsana. From there, Guna Manjari engages in her service collecting signals (sanket) to arrange for the meeting of Radha and Krsna. Many pastimes then take place, like rasa-lila, jhulan-lila, and so forth. Guna Manjari is Radhika's svapaksa-gopi. Guna Manjari stays in a place between Radhika's and Krsna's residence and meets with both of them to collect news and messages and then arranges for Their hidden meetings. Gopala Bhatta also performed bhajana at Sri Radha-kunda, where his place of worship still remains to this day. 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗼𝗽𝗮𝗹𝗮 The Caitanya-caritamrta descibes that when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to Vraja, He was very eager to see the Gopala Deity of Madhavendra Puripada, but did not want to climb on top of Govardhana where the Deity was situated. Therefore, by some trickery, the Gopala Deity personally descended. In this way, on some pretext, Gopala sometimes hides in the bushes of the forest, and sometimes He stays in a village. Whenever Mahaprabhu's devotees had the chance to see the Deity, they would become overjoyed in bliss. The two brothers Rupa and Sanatana did not want to climb Giriraja, therefore Gopala came down from the hill to grant them His audience. When Srila Rupa Gosvami was elderly, he had a desire to see the beauty of Gopala. Due to the oppression of the Muslims, Gopala was transferred to Mathura, where He hid in the house of Viththalesvara, the son of Sri Vallabhacarya, for one full month. Srila Rupa Gosvami and his associates stayed in Mathura for one month and saw the Gopala Deity. When Rupa Gosvami stayed in Mathura, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami accompanied him, and became ecstatic upon seeing the beautiful Deity of Gopala. The other devotees accompanying them where Lokanatha dasa Gosvami, Bhugarbha Gosvami, Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Jiva Gosvami, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, Govinda Gosvami, Yadava Acarya, Uddhava dasa, Madhava, Gopala dasa, Narayana dasa, Govinda, Vani Krsnadasa, Pundarikaksa, Isana, Laghu Haridasa, Paramananda Bhattacarya, Madhu Pandita, Premi Krsnadasa, Krsnadasa Brahmacari, Dvija Haridasa, and many others. It was with great bliss that Rupa Gosvami visited Gopala in the company of all these devotees. After staying at Mathura for one month, Gopala returned to His own place at Govardhana, and all the devotees headed by Sri Rupa Gosvami returned to their respective places of bhajana. Gopala Bhatta Gosvami always remained under the guidance of Sri Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami. After the disappearance of Rupa and Sanatana, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami spent his time working toward fulfilling the desires of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In this way, he continued his service, despite the intense pangs of separation. [Excerpted from the Bhakta Bandhav Publication "Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami"]