THE DISCOVERY OF VRINDAVAN BY LORD CHAITANYA
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the most munificent incarnation of God, was known as the Golden Avatar, because His bodily complexion was like molten gold. He was the direct incarnation of Lord Sri Krishna and appeared on earth at the holy place known as Navadvipa in West Bengal only 500 years ago in the year 1486. The purpose of His divine appearance on earth was to reveal to the world, the yuga-dharma, or the religion for this age. He also rediscovered the most sacred places of Vrndavana which had been lost in time.
The religious process that Lord Chaitanya revealed to the world is known as the sankirtana-yajna or the congregational chanting of the Lord’s holy names:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
This is the easiest and most sublime process for God realization and even a child can follow it. In this dark age of Kali-yuga, intelligent men of the world canget true knowledge about god simply by performance of this sankirtana-yajna (sacrifice).
It was in the year 1515 that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited Vrndavana, with the purpose of locating the lost holy places associated with Lord Sri Krishna’s transcendental pastimes. Lord Chaitanya wandered through the different sacred forests ofVrndavana in a spiritual trance of divine love, sometimes laughing, sometimes crying, sometimes dancing in ecstasy and constantly chanting the holy names of Krishna. By His divine spiritual power, He was able tolocate allthe important places of Lord Krishna’s pastimes in and around Vrndavana.
When Lord Chaitanya first arrived in Vraja, He stayed at a brahmana’s house in Mathura and would walk around Vrndavana every day visiting the sacred places connected with Lord Krishna’s pastimes. Later, Lord Chaitanya moved His residence to Akrura Ghata and would daily visit Imli-tala, where He sat looking at the river Yamuna while chanting Hare Krishna on His japa beads and constantly shedding tears in an ecstatic mood of divine love.
After a few months, Lord Chaitanya left for Jagannatha Puri and directed two of His dear-most followers, Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis to proceed immediately to Vrndavana, not only to excavate the places of Lord Krishna’s pastimes but also to write books on the science of bhakti-yoga, in order to establish the teachings of Lord Chaitanya for the benefit of all future generations.
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THE SIX GOSVAMIS OF VRNDAVANA
It was the six Gosvamis who not only founded this holy city of Vrndavana but also firmly established the teachings of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu through their various writings. They explained the doctrine and pholosophy of Sri Chaitanya for the benefit of the whole world. The two brothers Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis were ordered by Lord Chaitanya in the year 1516 to go and live in Vrndavana and search out all the lost holy places connected with Lord Sri Krishna’s transcendental pastimes. He also ordered them to compile books on the great science of bhakti-yoga, the process of devotional service to God.
In their sacred mission, rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis were ably assisted by Raghunatha dasa, Raghunatha Bhatta, Gopala Bhatta and Jiva who altogether formed the famous transcendental group, the six Gosvamis of Vrndavana. Even though both rupa and Sanatana were very important ministers in the government of Bengal, by the divine inspiration of Lord Chaitanya, they completely renounced mundane family life in order to fully serve the mission of Lord Chaitanya.
When they first came to Vrndavana, it was just a large forest, and at night they would sleep under the tres. They dressed only insimple kaupins (loincloths), and subsisted on forest roots and dry chapatis obtained by begging alms (mathukari). The six Gosvamis hardly slept more than twohours a day and spent most of their time in meditation and writing books on the science of bhakti-yoga. Some of their original works, written on parchment leaves, have beenpreserved and can be seen at the Vrndavana Research Institute.
The fame of the six Gosvamis spread so far and wide that even Emperor Akbar decided to pay a visit to Vrndavana in the year 1570. Jiva Gosvami led him blindfolded into the sacred kunja of Nidhuvana. So great was the Emperor’s spiritual experience there, that to commemorate the event, he granted permission to construct four grand temples dedicated to Lord Krishna. The temples were Govindaji, Gopinatha, Madana-mohana and Jugalkisore. The Emperor also donated funds to set upa library for the preservation of the Gosvami’s books at Radha-Damodara temple. This library used tobe in the room to the left of the alter and is still known as grantha ghat (book house). Akbar even provided first class sandstone, normally reserved for the Emperor’s palaces and forts; such was his appreciation for the six Gosvamis. Unfortunately, one hundred years alter, these same temples were desecrated by the soldiers of Emperor Aurangzeb, the Muslim zealot, in the year 1670.
SRILA PRABHUPADA REVEALS VRNDAVANA TO THE WORLD
It was 500 years ago that Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu predicted that the holy names of Krishna would be chanted in every town and village throughout the world. His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appeared in this world just to fulfill the divine prophecy of Lord Chaitanya.
Acting on the order of Lord Chaitanya, Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis established Vrndavana as a sacred place of pilgrimage for the devotees of Lord Krishna. However, the people outside India had heard nothing about Vrndavana until 1965, when Srila Prabhupada sailed to America to spread the Hare Krishna movement, and simultaneously reveal to the world the most holy of all holy places – Sri Vrndavana dhama.
Today, thousands of foreigners from the world over flock to this holy city of pilgrimage place on earth, thanks to the pioneering preaching work done by Srila Prabhupada in broadcasting the glories of Vrndavana dhama.
Since the time of the six Gosvamis, many exalted devotees have come in the disciplic line of succession from Rupa and Sanatana, including such revered personalities as Raghunatha dasa, Jiva, Krishan dasa Kaviraja, Srinivasa, Narottama, Syamananda, Visvanatha, Baladeva, Jagannatha dasa Babaji, and in the modern era, Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Gaurakisora dasa Babaji and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, who allwrote and preached extensively. They established the path shown by Lord Chaitanya as the topmost process of self-realization for the whole of mankind. The culmination of alltheir hard work became manifest in the form of Srila Prabhupada, whosingle-handedly spread these teachings allover the world. In fact, Bhaktivinoda Thakura predicted at the beginning of the century; “One will soon come who will spread the holy names of Krishna throughout the world”.
It is not difficult to see that since the time of Lord Chaitanya Himself, Srila Prabhupada has become the most prominent and successful messenger of Sri Chaitanya’s teachings that the world has ever seen or is ever likely to see again.In the twelve short years from August 1965 to November 1977,Srila Prabhupada actively preached ,he established over 100 temples of Krishna worldwide, initiated more than 5,000 disciples, and distributed 100 million copies of his books on Krishna consciousness in 64 languages. Srila Prabhapadas translation of the Bhagavad-gita became the best selling edition in the world. About hid books,Srila Prabhupada said,”My books will be the spritual law books for the next 10,000 years.”srila Prabhupada also said tha “The American people will mark the day I arrived in this country, and brought the Krishna consciousness movement to America”.
This unparalleled contribution to Lord Chaitanya’s movement will go on reveberating for many,many years to come. The full impact of Srila Prabhupada’s great work will only be seen by the future generations. At this time,no one can comprehend the full extent and far reaching effect of Srila Prabhupada’s mission on earth.He ushered in a spiritual revolution that has changed the course of world history. |
