Raghunath Das Goswami's Path

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
8 October 2011

Today is a very good day, a day of Vaishnav seva—today is Srila Raghunath Das Goswami's, Srila Raghunath Bhatta Goswami's and Srila Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami's disappearance day.

We have no qualification to serve the Vaishnavs, we have no quality to serve the Vaishnavs. If we do not got mercy from Vaishnavs, we cannot acquire, or get, service from the Vaishnavs. That is why we always make Vaishnavs' tirobhav (disappearance) festivals and remember such days.

As you know, Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami wrote Chaitanya-charitamrita, and Raghunath Das Goswami also got mercy from Nityananda Prabhu—after getting Nityananda Prabhu's mercy, he got service from Mahaprabhu.

When he was a young boy, Raghunath Das Goswami had tried to go to Mahaprabhu many times. He had always been visaya-udasa (বিষয়া উদাস, had no attachment to any mundane things) since his childhood. His father and uncle were very big landlords and Raghunath Das Goswami was the only son in the family, so his parents and his uncle always thought how to protect their family and property and always worried that their son could become a sannyasi. Because of that, Raghunath Das Goswami's father was always angry and anxious, and he and his uncle kept so many security guards with him.

Every time Raghunath Das Goswami came to Mahaprabhu, Mahaprabhu would tell him, "Go back to your home! Do not become crazy, go back to your home! Yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana (যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা): you can fulfil your father's desire but without any asakti, without any desire or attachment."

আসক্তিরহিত সম্বন্ধসহিত ।
বিষয়সমূহ সকলি মাধব ॥

'asakti-rahita,' 'sambandha-sahita,'
visaya-samuha sakali 'madhava'

"When you are free from material attachment and establish relationship with the Lord, then you will see that everything around you is Lord Madhav Himself."

('Vaishnav ke?' verse 12)

Asakti-rahita: we always do some material work, we have a relationship with material things, but we do everything without attachment, understanding that everything is the Lord's property—we do everything for the Lord, for our Guru, for Nityananda. There is a relation (sambandha-sahita), but without attachment (asakti-rahita)."

We must serve with a relation,

বিষয়ে যে প্রীতি এবে আছয়ে আমার ।
সেই মত প্রীতি হউক চরণে তোমার ॥

visaye ye priti ebe achhaye amara
sei-mata priti hauk charane tomara

"May I have the same affection and attraction to your feet that I now have for material things."

(Gitavali, 4.5, Srila Bhakti Vinod Thakur)

You have some love and affection for your wife, for you children, for your parents, etc. but if you get that kind of love and affection to your Guru, to the Lord, then it is called devotion.

So, Mahaprabhu said to Das Goswami Prabhu, "Go back to your home! It is not necessary to show Me your false renunciation (markata-vairagya)! Yatha-yogya visaya bhunja' anasakta hana: you can do your job, do what your parents want you to do. Antare nistha kara, bahye loka-vyavahara (অন্তরে নিষ্ঠা কর, বাহ্যে লোক-ব্যবহার): you can worship Me in your heart without showing anything to Me. You must do it internally, inside, secretly, not for a show or showing it externally. Nistha: you must be sincere in your heart. You can show you have some family life, do everything like others, and then achirat Krsna tomaya karibe uddhara (অচিরাৎ কৃষ্ণ তোমায় করিবে উদ্ধার): Krishna will rescue you from this kind of material environment very soon. It is not necessary to show Me false renunciation—you can serve Me with your heart and soul, from your house, that is not a problem."

Das Goswami Prabhu asked, "Prabhu, how will I then come out from there? There are too many security guards, too many mundane things!" Mahaprabhu replied, "You do not need to think about it. Follow what I am telling you to do." Then, Mahaprabhu assured him, "Krsna-krpa yanre, tare ke rakhite pare (কৃষ্ণকৃপা যাঁরে, তাঁরে কে রাখিতে পারে, Cc, 2.16.241): if somebody has got mercy from the Lord, mercy from their Guru, then no one can tie them, no one can stop them. One day you must come, I am telling you it is sure."

Das Goswami Prabhu followed what Mahaprabhu had told him. He went back to his house, got married, but he had no attachment to his family.

Later, one day, Sriman Nityananda Prabhu came to Panihati, a place near Kolkata. When Das Goswami Prabhu heard that Nityananda Prabhu had come there, he got his father's permission and went there. He made a big feast, Vaishnav seva, there, and Nityananda Prabhu put His leg on his head and said, "Now you can go! Now you can go to Puri and to Mahaprabhu!"

When Raghunath Das Goswami came to Puri, Mahaprabhu accepted him and said, "I can give you to Svarup Damodar, you can serve him. And from today, your name will be Svaruper Raghu (Svarup's Raghu)." (There are many other Raghunaths, that is why Mahaprabhu gave that boy this name.)

Today is a very good day. There is a song "Ki rupe paiba seva muni durachara"—it is a nice Vaishnav song, and it is good to sing it today...

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