Disappearance Day of Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami
Disappearance Day
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What is the Disappearance Day of Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami?
Srila Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, one of the six Gosvamis of Vrindavana, appeared in Sri Rangam in South India. Each year devotees remember the day he entered the Lord's eternal pastimes. At Kurukshetra the Vaishnava calendar places it on Saturday, 24 July 2027.
Significance
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu spent the four rainy-season months of Caturmasya at the home of Gopala Bhatta's family in Sri Rangam, and the boy served Him there. Gopala Bhatta's spiritual master (and uncle), Srila Prabodhananda Sarasvati, trained him, and in Vrindavana, at the Lord's wish, Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami received him as a younger brother. Srila Prabhupada explains that Srila Sanatana Gosvami, out of affection, published the Hari-bhakti-vilasa under Gopala Bhatta's name, and that Gopala Bhatta installed Radha-ramana, one of the seven principal Deities of Vrindavana.
Humbly, he asked Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami not to mention him in the Caitanya-caritamrta, so the book names him only with great caution. One verse that names him reads:
“Śrī Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, the forty-seventh branch, was one of the great and exalted branches of the tree. He always engaged in discourses about love of Godhead in the company of Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī.”
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 10.105, translation
How to observe it
Read Srila Prabhupada's purport to Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila 10.105, for his story. Chant a few extra rounds of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra and pray to serve the Lord with the quiet devotion he showed.
Questions
When is Gopala Bhatta Gosvami's disappearance day in 2027?
It falls on Saturday, 24 July 2027 at Kurukshetra, according to the Vaishnava calendar.
Who was Gopala Bhatta Gosvami?
He was one of the six Gosvamis of Vrindavana, and he appeared in a Sri Vaishnava family of Sri Rangam. He met Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu as a boy, later joined Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami in Vrindavana, and installed the Radha-ramana Deity.
What books did Gopala Bhatta Gosvami write?
Srila Prabhupada lists the Sat-kriya-sara-dipika, a commentary on the Krishna-karnamrta and a foreword to Srila Jiva Gosvami's Sat-sandarbha. He also edited the Hari-bhakti-vilasa.
What is the Radha-ramana Deity?
Radha-ramana is one of the seven principal Deities of Vrindavana. Gopala Bhatta Gosvami installed Him on the instruction of Srila Rupa and Sanatana Gosvami, and Gaudiya history says He appeared from one of Gopala Bhatta's salagrama-silas.
Reviewed by ISKCON Kurukshetra · Updated
Key facts
- Date
- Saturday, 24 July 2027
- Deity installed
- Sri Radha-ramana
- Disciples
- Srinivasa Acarya and Gopinatha Pujari
- One of
- The six Gosvamis of Vrindavana
Seva for this day
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