Appearance Day of Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami

What is the appearance day of Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami?

Devotees observe the appearance day of Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami on Tuesday, 26 January 2027, which is also the disappearance day of Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja. Gopala Bhatta appeared in Sri Rangam, South India, as the son of Venkata Bhatta.

Significance

Touring South India, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spent the four rainy-season months of Caturmasya in the home of Venkata Bhatta, and the boy Gopala served Him personally. Srila Prabhupada writes that Gopala Bhatta later received initiation from his spiritual master (and uncle) Prabodhananda Sarasvati, then went to Vrindavana and met Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami. Mahaprabhu asked them to accept Gopala Bhatta as their younger brother.

Under their instruction he installed the Radha-Ramana Deity, one of the seven principal Deities of Vrindavana. Srila Sanatana Gosvami, out of affection for him, compiled the Hari-bhakti-vilasa, which sets out Vaishnava conduct and worship, and published it under Gopala Bhatta's name. The Caitanya-caritamrta says of him:

Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches of the tree.

Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 10.105

How to observe it

Devotees hear how Gopala Bhatta Gosvami served Mahaprabhu as a boy and later served Sri Sri Radha-Ramana, chant the holy names, and read Adi-lila 10.105 with its purport. A Gaudiya biography says he performed bhajana in Vrindavana for forty-five years, mostly at Radha-kunda. His samadhi is within the Radha-Ramana temple compound, behind the place where the Deity appeared.