The following is a transcription of a discourse delivered by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja in Perth, Australia, in 1998
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: All jīvas (spirit souls) have a special relationship with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. 
Some are related with Him in the mood of friendship. Others have a relationship in the mood that “Kṛṣṇa is my son,” and that is called parental mood (vātsalya). Moreover, some have the mood that “Kṛṣṇa is my beloved.” All jīvas have their own original, eternal relationship with Kṛṣṇa. In this material world, that eternal relationship is covered. Śrī Guru can see the soul’s real form and nature. He knows the speciality of that person’s relationship with Kṛṣṇa and bestows this special relationship by mantra.
Did Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī do the right thing when he defeated the arguments of Śrī Vallabhācārya and defended his Gurudeva?
Devotees: He was right.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: But what about his Gurudeva, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī? Was he right or wrong?
Devotees: He was right.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: How is that? If Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī did the right thing, then Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī must be wrong. How can Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī be right?
Devotee: Because he is a Guru, he has the qualifications to correct…
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: This is not a good argument.
Devotee: Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is Guru. He is:
tṛṇād api sunīcena
taror api sahiṣṇunā
amāninā mānadena
kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ
Śikṣāṣṭaka 3
[“One can chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking himself lower than the straw in the street. One should be more tolerant than the tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige and ready to offer all respects to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly.”]
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī wants to respect everyone without desiring respect for himself. But Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī could not tolerate that his Gurudeva was criticized.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: This is not the answer. This logic is not correct.
Devotee: Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī sent Jīva Gosvāmī away because he wanted to increase Jīva Gosvāmī’s love by making him feel separation.
Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: No. The answer is that Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī wanted to respect Śrī Vallabhācārya, but his disciple, Jīva Gosvāmī, disrespected him. This was wrong. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī considered, “Śrī Vallabhācārya may think, ‘Rūpa Gosvāmī is not openly disrespecting me, but he is disrespecting me through his disciple.'” Therefore, some blame might come to Rūpa Gosvāmī. By punishing his disciple, Jīva Gosvāmī, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was giving respect to Śrī Vallabhācārya.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was right, and Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī was also right. A disciple should not tolerate anything against his Gurudeva. Thus, both the guru and disciple were right. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī wanted to respect Śrī Vallabhācārya, and he did.
After Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī told him to leave, where did Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī go? He went to Nanda-ghāṭa.
(Correcting a devotee who had been called on to speak in the class) Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī’s designation is not that he is the son of Anupama. His designation is that he is the disciple of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Don’t say this. If you are explaining his life in great detail and have a lot of time, then you can tell this; otherwise, not. This is his glory – his glorification – and nothing else. He is the disciple of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.
If we say, “Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is the son of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura,” this is not Śrīla Prabhupāda’s glorification. His real glory is that he is the disciple of Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura. Actually, he is the disciple of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, but in the disciplic line, we say that he is the disciple of Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura was his bhagavata-paramparā-guru, śravaṇa-guru and bhajana-guru; and Śrīla Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī Mahārāja was his mantra-guru, or dīkṣā-guru.
Sometimes the bhagavata-paramparā-guru, the bhajana-guru, is superior to the dīkṣā-guru. If the dīkṣā-guru is also the bhajana-guru, then he is also exalted.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī is a brilliant star in our disciplic line. He is a brilliant and learned ācārya – the greatest scholar – in the Brahmā-Madhva-Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya. When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was on his way to Vṛndāvana, he met with Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī in Rāmakeli, near Kanāī Nāṭaśāla.
Jīva Gosvāmī was only a baby at that time. Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī brought that baby and placed him at the lotus feet of Mahāprabhu, who then touched him with His lotus feet. Playing the role of an ordinary sādhaka, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī said in Navadvīpa that he did not remember this so vividly. He said he only vaguely remembered when he touched the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī later made arrangements for Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī’s education. He gave money to Jīva Gosvāmī’s family so that they could help him with his studies. Thus, even in boyhood, Jīva Gosvāmī became a great scholar in Bengali, Sanskrit, Urdū, Arabic and Farsi. He was an unparalleled scholar of Sanskrit, especially of Sanskrit grammar.
When he was about twenty years old, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī left his home and went to Navadvīpa. At that time, Śrī 
Caitanya Mahāprabhu had already left this world. Śrīmatī Śacī-maiyā, Śrīmatī Viṣṇupriyā and Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu were present in Navadvīpa at that time, and they were all weeping for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. When Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī arrived there, Śrīla Nityānanda Prabhu put His feet on the head of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī and inspired in his heart all tattva (knowledge and realization). Jīva then began to cry for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu said, “Come with me. I will take you on parikramā of the sixteen krośas (thirty-two square miles) of Śrī Navadvīpa-maṇḍala.” He then took Jīva to the nine islands of Navadvīpa: Antardvīpa, Sīmantadvīpa, Godrumadvīpa, Madhyadvīpa, Koladvīpa, Ṛtudvīpa, Jahnudvīpa, Modradrumadvīpa and Rudradvīpa. He especially showed him Śrī Yogapīṭha, the birthplace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, situated on the island called Māyāpura.
Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī told Nityānanda Prabhu, “I want to stay here, at Your lotus feet.” But Nityānanda Prabhu said, “Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu told Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, “I am giving you and your whole family to Vṛndāvana.” So you should also go to Vṛndāvana to be with Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī.
“On the way, you should stop in Vārāṇasī, and there you should study the Vedānta-darśana (another name for Vedānta-sūtra). You should learn the explanations of Śaṅkara, Madhva, Viṣṇusvāmi, Nimbāditya and Rāmānujācārya, and then you should go to Vṛndāvana.”
Thus, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī went to Kāśī (Vārāṇasī), where he met the disciple of Śrī Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya named Madhusūdana Vācaspati. This disciple had studied Vedānta under the guidance of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. He had learned everything that Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya had received from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he now taught that to Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī.
After Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī became an expert in all these topics, he went to Vṛndāvana and took shelter at the 
lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī. Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī told Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, “You should initiate him.” So Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī initiated that boy.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī then taught Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī about everything he himself had written – Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Śrī Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi, Śrī Vidagdha-mādhava, Śrī Lalita-mādhava and so on.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s books are rasa-śāstra (scriptures delineating topics regarding Śrī Kṛṣṇa and His beloved associates), and thus Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī became a learned scholar in that as well. When Jīva Gosvāmī fully mastered all topics taught to him by his guru, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī engaged him in proofreading his books and checking his writings for grammatical mistakes.
One day, Śrī Vallabhācārya came to see Rūpa Gosvāmī. They were well acquainted because when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu had met with Rūpa and Anupama in Aḍaila-grāma, their native place near Prayāga, Vallabhācārya was present. Excellent discourses took place at that time.
Śrī Vallabhācārya now inquired, “Are you writing any book?”
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī answered, “Oh yes, I am writing.”
Śrī Vallabhācārya then asked, “Which book you are writing?”
“Śrī Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu,” Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī replied.
“Oh, that is a very good book. May I see it?” Śrī Vallabhācārya requested.
Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī agreed and Śrī Vallabhācārya took the book. Reading it, he saw this verse:
bhukti-mukti-spṛhā yāvat
piśācī hṛdi vartate
tāvad bhakti-sukhasyātra
katham abhyudayo bhavet
Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (1.2.22)
[“The material desire to enjoy the material world and the desire to become liberated from material bondage are considered to be two witches, and they haunt one like ghosts. As long as these witches remain within the heart, how can one feel transcendental bliss? As long as these two witches remain in the heart, there is no possibility of enjoying the transcendental bliss of devotional service.”]
Vallabhācārya read Rūpa Gosvāmī’s explanation: that mukti (liberation) is not like a witch. It is the desire to achieve mukti that is like a witch. Vallabhācārya did not understand this, so Jīva, a youth of only sixteen years, explained it to him.
Vallabhācārya was impressed. He went back to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and said, “Oh, your disciple is such a learned boy.” Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī could understand Jīva had defended him, and he told him, “You should have been tolerant. Śrī Vallabhācārya is a brāhmaṇa. He is learned, and he is also Vaiṣṇava. And he is visiting Me. He is my guest. Can you not tolerate him suggesting some corrections?
In this way, the behaviour of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is correct. On the other hand, it would not have been right for Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī to tolerate the fact that Śrī Vallabhācārya was attempting to correct his Gurudeva. He was right to defend his Gurudeva. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī is not an ordinary Vaiṣṇava. He is the associate of Śrī Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Goloka-Vṛndāvana. He cannot make any mistake. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī argued some points and defeated Śrī Vallabhācārya, and this was the right thing to do.
If anyone thinks he can correct the writing or teachings of our Gurudeva, we must also act like this, but when we are in the position of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, we should honour the other person and say, “You can correct me, no harm.” This is the behaviour of a Vaiṣṇava. Rūpa Gosvāmī was not angry at Jīva Gosvāmī from his heart; he only showed some anger externally and thus told him to leave.
When Sanātana Gosvāmī heard what had happened, he became very worried for Jīva Gosvāmī. When he arrived at that place, Nanda-ghāṭa, all the villagers approached him and said, “Oh, a new bābā has come here. He is very young, but he is always weeping and crying out in love for Kṛṣṇa: “Oh, Kṛṣṇa! Oh, Rādhe, Rādhe!” He weeps day and night. He is more qualified than you.”
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī thought, “Oh, he must be Jīva!” In this way, he found Jīva Gosvāmī and saw that he was about to die. Jīva Gosvāmī had given up eating and drinking, did not take baths, and continually wept for his Gurudeva.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī took him back to Vṛndāvana and hid him somewhere there. Then he went to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and asked, “What is our duty to all jīvas?” Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī replied, “We should be very kind.” Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī then said, “Well, is this Jīva not a jīva? Why are you so unkind to this Jīva?”
Rūpa Gosvāmī began to weep. Sanātana Gosvāmī called Jīva Gosvāmī and put him in Rūpa Gosvāmī’s lap. Seeing that Jīva Gosvāmī had so many diseases and was about to die, Rūpa Gosvāmī embraced him and nourished him. He gave Jīva Gosvāmī medicine, and after some days, Jīva Gosvāmī became cured. After that, Jīva Gosvāmī always remained in the service of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.
When Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī left this world, Jīva Gosvāmī became the prominent ācārya of the Viśva Vaiṣṇava Rāja Sabhā (World Vaiṣṇava Association). This is the real Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, which Lord Brahmā himself established. Śrī Nārada Muni, Śrīla Vyāsadeva and Śrīla Sukadeva Gosvāmī are ācāryas of the real Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and later, Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī became its prominent ācārya.
I saw a book today written by Śrīla Gaura Govinda [Svāmī] Mahārāja. Therein, Śrīla Gaura Govinda [Svāmī] Mahārāja made a point that I think no one in ISKCON after parama-pūjyapāda Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja had ever written before. He wrote that Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja did not establish the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Who is the establisher? It is Lord Brahmā.*
Moreover, Brahmā is not the establisher; he is also a disciple. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the root of all gurus. He is jagad-guru (the guru of the entire universe), as is Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is coming from Kṛṣṇa, and it is therefore called “Kṛṣṇa consciousness”. Parama-pūjyapāda Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja is not the establisher of Kṛṣṇa consciousness; he is one of the prominent ācāryas in this line.** We should realize all these facts.
After Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī disappeared, Jīva Gosvāmī spread the mission of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu all over the world. He wrote many books, including the Six Sandarbhas and Sarva-saṁvādinī (Jīva Gosvāmī’s commentary on the first four of his Six Sandarbhas, namely Tattva, Bhāgavata, Paramātmā, and Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha), because he wanted to protect the world from incorrect philosophical conceptions and conclusions.
Try to understand all these topics, and try to follow Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī’s philosophy. His teachings are not different from those of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. He is in their line. He has explained svakīya-vāda (Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa as a married couple). He did this for the benefit of his unqualified disciples and followers, those who are not qualified for rāgānugā-bhakti or rūpānuga-bhakti. He did this to bring them gradually to this line of parakīyā (Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa as transcendental paramours). I will explain more tomorrow.
Gaura-premānande!
* [Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhaktivedānta Svāmī Mahārāja writes in his purport to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.9.6: “Thus Brahmā was initiated by the Kṛṣṇa mantra, by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, and thus he became a Vaiṣṇava, or a devotee of the Lord before he was able to construct the huge universe. It is stated in the Brahmā-saṁhitā that Lord Brahmā was initiated into the eighteen-letter Kṛṣṇa mantra, which is generally accepted by all the devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa. We follow the same principle because we belong to the Brahmā sampradāya, directly in the disciplic chain from Brahmā to Nārada, from Nārada to Vyāsa, from Vyāsa to Madhva Muni, from Madhva Muni to Mādhavendra Purī, from Mādhavendra Purī to Īśvara Purī, from Īśvara Purī to Lord Caitanya and gradually to His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī, our divine master.”
“The Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is not a new movement as people sometimes mistakenly think. The Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is present in every millennium of Lord Brahmā’s life, and the holy name is chanted in all the higher planetary systems, including Brahmāloka and Candraloka, not to speak of Gandharvaloka and Apsaroloka. The saṅkīrtana movement that was started in this world five hundred years ago by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is therefore not a new movement. Sometimes, because of our bad luck, this movement is stopped, but Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and His servants again start the movement for the benefit of the entire world or, indeed, the entire universe.” (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.15.71, Purport)
In his Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.9.6-7 purport, Śrīla Prabhupāda lists some of the other prominent ācāryas in this movement. He writes: “He (Nārada) is the son and disciple of Brahmājī, and from him the disciplic succession in the line of Brahmā has been spread. He initiated Prahlāda Mahārāja, Dhruva Mahārāja and many celebrated devotees of the Lord. He initiated even Vyāsadeva, the author of the Vedic literatures, and from Vyāsadeva, Madhvācārya was initiated, and thus the Madhva sampradāya, in which the Gauḍīya sampradāya is also included, has spread all over the universe. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu belonged to this Madhva sampradāya; therefore, Brahmājī, Nārada, Vyāsa, down to Madhva, Caitanya and the Gosvāmīs all belonged to the same line of disciplic succession.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda confirms in this next quote that he is coming in the line of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He writes: “Our original sampradāya stems from Madhvācārya. In that sampradāya there was Mādhavendra Purī, and Mādhavendra Purī’s disciple was Śrī Īśvara Purī. Śrī Īśvara Purī’s disciple was Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Thus we are coming in the disciplic succession from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and therefore our sampradāya is called the Madhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya. It is not that we have manufactured a sampradāya; rather, our 
sampradāya stems from Lord Brahmā.” (Teachings of Lord Kapila, chapter 14, text 31)]
** [“In Los Angeles many fathers and mothers used to come to see me to express their feelings of gratitude for my leading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement throughout the entire world. Some of them said that it is greatly fortunate for the Americans that I have started the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement in America. But actually the original father of this movement is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, since it was started a very long time ago but is coming down to human society by disciplic succession. If I have any credit in this connection, it does not belong to me personally, but it is due to my eternal spiritual master, His Divine Grace Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Paramahaṁsa Parivrājakācārya 108 Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Mahārāja Prabhupāda.” (Bhagavad-gītā As It Is Preface)
“I think that His Divine Grace Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is always seeing my activities and guiding me within my heart by his words. As it is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.1). Spiritual inspiration comes from within the heart, wherein the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in His Paramātmā feature, is always sitting with all His devotees and associates. It is to be admitted that whatever translation work I have done is through the inspiration of my spiritual master, because personally I am most insignificant and incompetent to do this materially impossible work. I do not think myself a very learned scholar, but I have full faith in the service of my spiritual master, His Divine Grace Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura.” (Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, concluding words, 1975 Edition)]
Source: Purebhakti.com
Image(s) made possible by Pixabay.com, Krishnapath.org and/or Bhaktiart.net
Unless indicated differently, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)
