Disappearance Day of Srila Rupa Gosvami
Disappearance Day of Sri Gauridasa Pandita
Disappearance Day
All day
What is the Disappearance Day of Srila Rupa Gosvami?
Srila Rupa Gosvami's disappearance day marks his departure from this world into the Lord's eternal pastimes. Traditional accounts place it on Sukla Dvadasi, which is the twelfth day of the waxing moon, in the month of Sravana. In 2027 the day falls on Friday, 13 August.
Significance
Srila Rupa Gosvami is named first among the six Gosvamis of Vrindavan, whom Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami calls his own instructing spiritual masters. At Prayaga, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu empowered Rupa and sent him to Vrindavan with two tasks: to find and preserve the lost holy places of Vraja, and to write the theology of devotion. Krishnadasa Kaviraja describes that meeting at Prayaga:
… the Lord instructed Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī and empowered him in the philosophy of devotional service.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 19.114
Srila Prabhupada later presented Rupa Gosvami's Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu as The Nectar of Devotion and his Upadesamrta as The Nectar of Instruction. Before going west, Srila Prabhupada lived at the Radha-Damodara temple in Vrindavan, where Srila Rupa Gosvami's bhajana-kutira and samadhi are found. There he prayed for the power to carry out his spiritual master's order, and he regarded that samadhi as the most sacred place in the universe.
How to observe it
Read from Srila Rupa Gosvami's books, above all The Nectar of Instruction, and hear how Lord Caitanya taught him at Prayaga. Devotees also remember Sri Gauridasa Pandita, whose disappearance falls on the same day.
Questions
When is the disappearance day of Srila Rupa Gosvami in 2027?
It falls on Friday, 13 August 2027. Traditional accounts place his disappearance on the twelfth day of the waxing moon in the month of Sravana.
Who was Srila Rupa Gosvami?
He was one of the six Gosvamis of Vrindavan, whom Srila Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami honours as his instructing spiritual masters. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu empowered him at Prayaga to write the theology of devotion and to recover the lost holy places of Vraja.
What books did Srila Rupa Gosvami write?
His best-known works are Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, which Srila Prabhupada presented as The Nectar of Devotion, and Upadesamrta, presented as The Nectar of Instruction. He also wrote Ujjvala-nilamani, Laghu-bhagavatamrta, Vidagdha-madhava and Lalita-madhava.
Where is the samadhi of Srila Rupa Gosvami?
Srila Rupa Gosvami's samadhi is at the Radha-Damodara temple in Vrindavan, where he did his devotional writing. Srila Prabhupada also lived there before leaving for the West.
Reviewed by ISKCON Kurukshetra · Updated
Key facts
- Date
- Friday, 13 August 2027
- Also on this day
- Disappearance Day of Sri Gauridasa Pandita
- Instructed by
- Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
- Author of
- Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu and Upadesamrta
- Samadhi
- Radha-Damodara temple, Vrindavan
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