Arrival in Vrindavana

Arrival in Vrindavana

Sri Jiva had certainly not forgotten Nityananda Prabhu’s instruction to go to Vrindavana and live with his uncles. After a few years he felt a burning desire grow in him to join them; so he left Varanasi and went to Vrindavana. The year was 1533, and Jiva was twenty years old.

 

Apart from his incredible literary output (he apparently wrote no less than 400,000 verses in Sanskrit), not much is known about his stay in Vrindavana. The Bhakti-ratnakara informs us that when he arrived there, besides the other five Gosvamis, he also found Prabodhananda Sarasvati, Kasisvara Pandita and Krishnadasa Kaviraja, but there must certainly have been many other bhaktas at that time.

 

Sri Jiva would have liked to accept his elder uncle’s Vaishnava initiation, but due to his natural humility, Sanatana sent him to Rupa. Knowing well Jiva’s erudition and thinking that one day he might become arrogant, Rupa Gosvami put him to the test by engaging him in humble services. But the latter, not proud, served his uncle-guru with great modesty and commitment. Finally, Rupa accepted him as a disciple and granted him initiation.

 

Not long after Sri Jiva’s initiation, a great scholar named Rupanarayana came to Vrindavana. He was one of the greatest professors of the time and traveled continuously for the sole purpose of defeating anyone who dared to accept his challenge in public debates. The defeated then put their signature on a sheet called a jayapatra. No one could resist him and that is why he was known as Dig-vijaya. His presumption was as great as his wisdom. Meanwhile, the fame of the brothers Rupa and Sanatana as scholars had spread so much that Rupanarayana had purposely gone to Vrindavana to meet them and defeat them in the debate. But the two Gosvamis, considering such discussions useless and considering the arrogance caused by scholarship dangerous, refused to debate and signed the jayapatra, stating with great humility that they were not at his level. Blinded by vanity, at that moment Rupanarayana thought he had become invincible.

 

Before his departure he learned of the young nephew, Jiva Gosvami, who was also surrounded by the reputation of a great scholar. Thinking that his name would add credence to his already immense fame, Rupanarayana approached him and showed him the signature of his uncles. Seeing this, Sri Jiva became irritated and immediately agreed to debate. Battered, coldly sweating from the anxiety of not being able to fight the young man, Rupanarayana conceded defeat and left the same day, never to return.

 

Rupa Gosvami was not at all happy with what happened, because a renunciate must always control anger and pride. So he punished the disciple by sending him away from Vrindavana. At Mathura, where Jiva was sent, he practiced great austerities to make amends for his mistake.

 

It was Sanatana who put an end to that exile. One day, in fact, he accused his brother of not strictly following Lord Caitanya’s instructions. Rupa wanted to know what was missing and Sanatana asked him to recite Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s instructions. When he came to the word jivadaya (to be merciful to the jivas, the spirit souls), Sanatana stopped him. Rupa understood the double meaning (i.e. he had to be merciful to Jiva Gosvami) and called the disciple, who was in Mathura. It had been a year since Jiva had left Vrindavana.

This is a section of the book “Tattva Sandarbha”, in English.

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