Rupa Gosvami

After this incident the Lord was invited by Ballabha Bhatta to the other side of the Ganges, and He went there. But wherever He used to go, Rupa Goswami would follow Him, and was staying with Him. The Lord felt inconvenience in crowded places, and therefore He asked Rupa Goswami to accompany Him to the bank of the Ganges known as Dasaswamedhaghat. And for ten days He instructed Rupa Goswami about the Truth of Krishna, the principles of devotional service, and the transcendental mellows. All was described in full detail, so that in future he could distribute the science of Krishna in his book, Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu. Srila Rupa Goswami has described this incident in the first verse of Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu which speaks about the causeless mercy of the Lord upon him. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is cognizant, All-Powerful, and, by His causeless mercy, He empowers a living entity to receive His mercy. People in general, being under the spell of conditional life, are averse to devotional service and Krishna Consciousness. They are unaware of the principles of Krishna Consciousness: namely, one's eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead; the ultimate goal of life, which is to return back to Home, back to Godhead; and the process of returning to the spiritual world. These things are unknown to the conditioned soul. Lord Chaitanya, out of His causeless mercy, instructed Rupa Goswami on the principles of devotional service, and later on Rupa Goswami distributed to the people in general the science of devotional service.    (More...)

Rupa Gosvami first met Lord Caitanya at Prayag (Allahabad, India), and on the Dasasvamedha bathing ghat of that holy city the Lord instructed him continually for ten days. The Lord particularly instructed Rupa Gosvami on the science of Krsna consciousness. These teachings of Lord Caitanya to Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada are narrated in our book Teachings of Lord Caitanya.    (More...)

Later, Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada elaborated the teachings of the Lord with profound knowledge of revealed scriptures and authoritative references from various Vedic literatures. Srila Srinivasa Acarya describes in his prayers to the six Gosvamis that they were all highly learned scholars, not only in Sanskrit but also in foreign languages such as Persian and Arabian. They very scrutinizingly studied all the Vedic scriptures in order to establish the cult of Caitanya Mahaprabhu on the authorized principles of Vedic knowledge. The present Krsna consciousness movement is also based on the authority of Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada. We are therefore generally known as rupanugas, or followers in the footsteps of Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada. It is only for our guidance that Srila Rupa Gosvami prepared his book Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, which is now presented in the form of The Nectar of Devotion. Persons engaged in the Krsna consciousness movement may take advantage of this great literature and be very solidly situated in Krsna consciousness.    (More...)