The Mercy of Srila Rupa Goswami

om ajnana timirandhasya jnananjana salakaya
caksur unmilitam yena tasmai sri gurave namah

O Gurudeva, you are so merciful. I offer my humble pranama unto you and am praying from the core of my heart that, with the torchlight of divine knowledge, you open my eyes which have been blinded by the darkness of ignorance.
Today I am sharing some more nectar about Srila Rupa Goswami. My last post was about Srila Rupa Goswami in his manjari form, where he serves Srimati Radhika very intimately in the form of a young gopi girl. This post will be about Srila Rupa Goswami in his sadhaka form, who heard from Mahaprabhu and knew His moods.

For example, when Mahaprabhu recited a mundane poem at Rathayatra about a person missing their lover, Rupa Goswami knew the true, deeper, inner meaning behind Mahaprabhu reciting this verse. He wrote the following in response:

priyah so’yam krsnah sahacari kuru-ksetra-militas tathaham sa radha tad idam ubhayoh sangama-sukham tathapy antah-khelan-madhura-murali-pancama-juse mano me kalindi-pulina-vipinaya sprhayati


"My dear friend, now I have met My old and dear friend Krsna on
this field of Kurukshetra. I am the same Radharani, and now we are
meeting together. It is very pleasant, but I would still like to go to
the bank of the Yamuna beneath the trees of the forest there. I
wish to hear the vibration of His sweet flute playing the fifth note
within that forest of Vrndavana.”

Srila Gurudeva spoke a class in Vrndavana in 1998 about the cleverness and excellency of Srila Rupa Goswami, his writings, and his mood for Srimati Radhika:

"All of the associates of Krsna act as if they are dumb when it comes to expressing themselves about their own loving exchanges with Sri Krsna. They personally relish Krsna’s pastimes, but they cannot tell anything about their experiences. Radhika will also not tell anything about how She meets with Krsna. Sometimes, in the early morning, Syamala visits Srimati Radhika and asks, “I want to hear something from You. I want to take bath in hearing Your krsna-katha; I want to hear how You met with Krsna last night.” Srimati Radhika replies, “I don’t remember. I went there and I saw Him, and then I fainted, and I don’t know anything about what happened after that.”

Srila Rupa Gosvami's samadhi at the Sri Radha-Damodara Mandira in Vrndavana

"If Candravali asks what happened, Radhika’s sakhis tell the opposite of what actually transpired. They will not reveal what incidents actually took place. Whenever they are asked this question, all act as if dumb. Neither Lalita nor Visakha nor any other sakhis will tell, and even Krsna will not tell what happened. They will relish their pastimes together, but not tell others about them.

Caitanya Mahaprabhu has said:

na prema-gandho ’sti darapi me harau
krandami saubhagya bharam prakasitum
vamsi vilasy anana lokanam vina
bibhrami yat prana patangakan vrtha

(Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 2.45)

[“My dear friends, I have not the slightest tinge of prema within My heart. When you see Me crying in separation, I am just falsely exhibiting a demonstration of My great fortune. Indeed, not seeing the beautiful face of Krsna playing His flute, I continue to live My life like an insect, without purpose.”]

"Mahaprabhu said, “I have not a scent of that prema.” In this way, He is also as if dumb.

"In Srila Raya Ramananda’s conversation with Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (Ramananda-samvada), Raya Ramananda – who is Visakha in Krsna’s pastimes – barely told anything. He was simply replying to Mahaprabhu’s questions, one after another. In Mahaprabhu’s instructions to Srila Sanatana Gosvami (Sanatana-siksa), what did He tell? He did not say anything about the confidential pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna, nor did He reveal how the gopis serve Them.

"What has Mahaprabhu told in His instructions to Srila Rupa Gosvami in Sri Rupa-siksa? He told next to nothing regarding Radha and Krsna’s pastimes. And finally, He ordered Rupa Gosvami to reveal all that He Himself could not.

"Even Rupa-manjari cannot tell anything. Only Rupa Gosvami can tell; he tells everything.

...

"He tells us what he has seen: In the form of Rupa-manjari he is serving Krsna and Srimati Radhika. He is obeying the orders of Srimati Radhika and stopping Krsna from entering Her kunja. He is seeing how Krsna, being so much pleased, is begging her to be allowed to enter Radhika’s kunja and is placing His head at her (Rupa-manjari’s) own lotus feet to attain her (Rupa-manjari’s) mercy.

Sri Rupa Manjari

"Srila Rupa Gosvami is very clever. He has written all his prayers as though he has not already experienced the fruit of those prayers. Although he has actually experienced his personal services to Radhika, he is writing prayers as if he has never experienced this – for us. What he felt in the form of Rupa-manjari, he has very cleverly shared with us by means of his prayers.

"Rupa Gosvami has personally taken darsana of Radha and Krsna, but for the true, sincere sadhaka, he has written this verse in his prayer, “Gandharvika Prarthan-astakam”:

vrndavane viharator iha keli kunje
matta dvipa pravara kautuka vibhramena
sandarsayasva yuvayor vadanaravinda
dvandvam vidhehi mayi devi krpam prasida (1)

[“O devi Radhike! Like the intoxicated king of elephants sporting with his queen elephant, Sri Krsna and You are constantly enjoying Your ambrosial amorous pastimes in the lush pleasure groves of Vrndavana. Therefore, O Gandharvike, be pleased with me and mercifully grant me the darsana of Your two lotus-like faces.”]

"Srila Rupa Gosvami is teaching by his own example how a rupanuga Vaisnava prays to Srimati Radhika. Those who want to follow him never pretend to have already attained ekadasa-bhava (gopi-bhava, or manjari-bhava). Those who pretend to be already on that platform when they are actually not so, are actually mad; they have no sense at all. We should always pray as Srila Rupa Gosvami prayed. Then, by the mercy of the gopis and by the mercy of Srimati Radhika, we can realize all the truths hidden within Rupa Gosvami’s prayers. Srimati Radhika will give this realization. She will at once be pleased and give Her service.

"Srila Rupa Gosvami teaches us how to pray: “Vrndavane viharator iha – O, when will that time come? O my dear Srimati Radhika-devi, You are very merciful, so please be merciful to me. Please sprinkle Your mercy upon me.”

"...If Srimati Radhika hears these prayers uttered from the core of one’s heart, Her heart will melt and She will bestow Her mercy.

"Srila Rupa Gosvami has skillfully written prayers such as this, filled with the pastimes of Krsna. He is Rupa-manjari, a prominent nitya-siddha (eternally perfect) associate of Radha and Krsna, but in the form of a sadhaka he is explaining to us the pastimes and the process to understand and enter them, so that we may be helped. This is his mercy."

Source link [entire class]: August 6, 1998: "The Mercy of Srila Rupa Goswami"

Srila Rupa Goswami ki JAI!!! So much mercy!! Tomorrow is Lord Balarama's appearance day! Jai!!