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WORLD February 26, 1999 VNN3174 Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja Visits Perth (3) BY SRIDAM SAKHA DASA  AUSTRALIA, Feb 26 (VNN) — Srila Maharaja: "All jivas have a special relationship with Krsna. Some are in sakhya, some are in vatsalya and some are in madhurya. All have their own svarupa (eternal spiritual form) by constitution. Although it is covered, the guru knows what it is, and by mantra he gives visesa sambandha (specific knowledge of it) to the disciple."Srila Jiva Gosvami was right to cut the argument of Srila Vallabhacarya and defend his guru. But what about Srila Rupa gosvami? Was he right? How? If Srila Jiva Gosvami was right, then does it not mean that Srila Rupa gosvami was wrong? No. Srila Rupa gosvami had been trying to act in a mood of respect towards Srila Vallabhacarya and Srila Jiva Gosvami had gone against this, and this is why Srila Rupa gosvami chastised him. Srila Vallabhacarya did not feel disrespected by Srila Jiva Gosvami, but still, Srila Jiva Gosvami's behaviour reflected on Srila Rupa gosvami. Srila Rupa gosvami showed his honour for Srila Vallabhacarya by giving punishment to Srila Jiva Gosvami, in which respect he was right. But Srila Jiva Gosvami was also right for not allowing anyone to speak against his guru. Srila Rupa gosvami wanted to respect Srila Vallabhacarya, so he was also right. When Srila Jiva Gosvami had been banished, where did he go? To Nanda ghat. Actually Srila Jiva Gosvami is like a brilliant star in our disciplic line. Of all the acaryas in our Brahma Madhava Gaudiya sampradaya, he is the greatest. If you want to speak about the life and character of Srila Jiva Gosvami, then there is so much you can say. But if we want to describe what was his real designation then it was not that he was the son of Anupama. Really his designation is in being the disciple of Srila Rupa gosvami. This was his glorification. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta sarasvati Thakura Prabhupada was the son of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. But this is not his real glory. Rather his glory is that he was the disciple of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. He was the diksa disciple of Srila Gaura kisora das babaji, but his main connection was with Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura was his bhagavat guru, his bhajan guru, his sravan guru, everything. Srila Gaura kisora das babaji was his mantra guru, diksa guru. So sometimes the connection with one's siksa guru may be more prominent. "Srila Jiva Gosvami was only a baby when Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to go to Vrndavana. Srila Rupa gosvami brought him to the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But being so young, Srila Jiva Gosvami had no clear memory of this, a vague idea only. Srila Rupa gosvami managed the finances for his study, and gave so much money to his family. Even in his boyhood Srila Jiva Gosvami was a great scholar in sanskrit, especially grammar, and he also became learned in Bengali and Persian. At around the age of twelve he left home and went to Navadvipa. By now Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had left this world, and Saci mata, Visnu priya and Nityananda were all there, weeping. Lord Nityananda put his lotus feet on Srila Jiva Gosvami's head, and in this way all tattvas and transcendental knowledge were transferred into his heart. Then Srila Jiva Gosvami also began to cry for the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Nityananda took Srila Jiva Gosvami on parikrama of the nine islands of Navadvipa. Especially he showed Srila Jiva Gosvami yoga pitha and Mayapura. Srila Jiva Gosvami wanted to remain at the lotus feet of Lord Nityananda forever, but Lord Nityananda told him: 'Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said that he has given Rupa and Sanatana and all of your family to Vrndavana so you should go to join them.' Lord Nityananda went on to say: 'On your way to Vrndavana you should go to Varanasi and study the Vedanta sutra. You should learn all the explanations of the vaisnava acaryas in the four different sampradayas, and you should also learn the commentaries of Sankaracarya too.' Following these instructions Srila Jiva Gosvami departed for Kasi (Varanasi) where he met Srila Madhusudana vacaspati, the disciple of Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. Staying with Srila Madhusudana vacaspati for some time, he learnt everything from him. When he had become expert in all these teachings, Srila Jiva Gosvami went to Vrndavana and took shelter of Srila Sanatana gosvami and Srila Rupa gosvami. Because he had been instructed to do so by Sanatana gosvami Rupa gosvami gave diksa to Srila Jiva Gosvami. Srila Jiva Gosvami met many scholars in rasa sastra and learned all that was possible from them. When he had mastered all this, Srila Rupa gosvami told him to check his books for grammatical mistakes, and it was around this time that Srila Vallabhacarya came to visit Rupa gosvami. In a village near Prayaga Rupa gosvami had met Srila Vallabhacarya previously, and so they were well acquainted. At that time, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was also present, and very good discussions took place between them. "So Srila Vallabhacarya had asked Rupa gosvami if he could see his book, and then he saw this sloka. Mukti is not a witch but sprha, the desire to have mukti is. But Srila Vallabhacarya had not understood this thing. Srila Jiva Gosvami although being only a little boy taught it to Vallabhacarya. Srila Vallabhacarya was so much impressed by him, and he praised him to Srila Rupa gosvami. Afterwards Rupa gosvami told Jiva Gosvami: 'You should be tolerant, he is a vaisnava, a brahmana, he is learned.' So for Srila Rupa gosvami to chastise Jiva Gosvami was correct. Srila Jiva Gosvami is an eternal associate of Radha-Krsna, he could not make any mistake. If anyone is cutting our guru, then we must follow Srila Jiva Gosvami's example. But still, by chastising and banishing Jiva Gosvami, Rupa gosvami was showing honour to Vallabhacarya. To act like this out of respect for a vaisnava is also correct. Srila Rupa gosvami was not angry from heart, but only showed it by his external behaviour. "After some time, when Srila Sanatana gosvami had heard what had happened he became so worried and went to search for Jiva. When he came to the area where Srila Jiva Gosvami was staying, all the villagers told him 'Oh, a new baba has come here, he is very young and always weeping in love of Srimati Radharani and Krsna. He's even more qualified than you.' Then Srila Sanatana gosvami knew it must be Srila Jiva Gosvami. "Srila Jiva Gosvami was about to die. He was not eating, bathing, or anything, only weeping, weeping for guru. So Sanatana gosvami took him away from there, and hid him somewhere in Vrndavana. Then he went to Srila Rupa gosvami to speak with him. 'What is our duty to all jivas?' he asked Rupa. Continuing, he said: "We must be very kind. Then this Jiva is not a jiva? Why are you so unkind to him?' Hearing these words, Srila Rupa gosvami started to weep. Sanatana brought Jiva Gosvami to Rupa gosvami, and Srila Rupa gosvami could see that Jiva was so diseased that he was about to die. So Rupa started to nourish him and give him medicine, and in time Jiva became completely cured. "When Rupa and Sanatana gosvami left, Srila Jiva Gosvami became the most prominent acarya of that time. He was the first acarya of the Visva Vaisnava Raja Sabha. But really, this is another name for the eternal Krsna consciousness movement, which first manifested in this world by Brahma. "Narada, Vyasa, Madhva, Raghunatha das, Krsna das kaviraja these are the real acaryas of Krsna consciousness. Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja also represented this, only by a different name, "ISKCON". Krsna is the root of all gurus, so really it is coming from Him. So actually Srila Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaja did not establish ISKCON, because ISKCON is eternal. But he is a prominent acarya in this line. Srila Jiva Gosvami wrote so many books to firmly establish siddhanta, so that Gaudiya vaisnavism could be protected from any contamination. Srila Jiva Gosvami had two kinds of followers, those who wanted to follow in the mood of svakiya, and those who wanted to follow in the mood of parakiya. For his svakiya followers especially, who were not so qualified, he wrote the Gopal campu. Those in parakiya mood, following raganuga are a more high class of vaisnava. To teach raganuga bhakti Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu came, taking the inner moods of Srimati Radharani, and preaching through Harinama sankirtana. After Srila Jiva Gosvami had left this world, some dispute about his teachings arose between his two different groups of followers. But really, there was no dispute. Krsna will never cross the limits of sastra. In his Gopal campu, Srila Jiva Gosvami explained that because Srimati Radharani and the gopis are all are manifestations of Krsna's svarupa-sakti, they are all married to Him. Krsna is the origin of all, so everything is His rightful property, there is no question of parakiya. From the point of view of tattva vicara it is quite correct. But later on, Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakura presented these topics in the light of rasa vicara as well, and he established the supremacy of parakiya bhava. But there was no difference between him and Srila Jiva Gosvami, both were right. Although Srila Visvanath Cakravarti Thakura was teaching this, he also accepted what Srila Jiva Gosvami had said. Everywhere in Srimad Bhagavatam parakiya is prominent. Parakiya must exist in Goloka or we would not see it in this world. There is not any difference between Jiva Gosvami and Rupa or Raghunatha das gosvami." --end-- All of the tours completed to date are archived at the following site: http://www.igvp.com/tours Comment on this Story This story URL: http://vaishnava-news-network.org/world/WD9902/WD26-3174.html
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