THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION

Prabhupada Visits Radha Damodar Mandir
(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada and disciples, Radha Damodar Mandir, 1972)

Devotee: ...tell us a little bit about the temple as we move?

Prabhupāda: Yes. This temple was constructed by Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī, one of the first disciples of Lord Caitanya, and this is Narottama samādhi. Here is Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī entombed, and here is Rūpa Gosvāmī entombed. Later on, several other devotees, they are not entombed like them. Flowers from their body, they were placed. It is called puṣpa-samādhi. But here, the original bodies.

Devotee (2): Ah. This is Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja's body?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Devotee (2): Original bodies.

Prabhupāda: And that side, the original body of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī. (break)

Devotee: ...a well?

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is the original well.

Lady passer-by: (Hindi with Prabhupāda)

Devotee (2): Did the Gosvāmīs drink from this well, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: Yes. This is... This well water is used for cooking, for... (break)

Devotee (2): And Jīva Gosvāmī and Rūpa, they drank from this well?

Prabhupāda: (Hindi with lady passers-by) This is the place for dining. The Gosvāmīs, they used to dine here, this room.

Devotee (2): Is this building four or five hundred years old? This very room?

Prabhupāda: Huh? Oh, yes.

Devotee (2): This is the original building?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Not less than four hundred and fifty years.

Devotee: And they used to meet here daily?

Prabhupāda: Yes. They, all the Gosvāmīs, used to sit down here. And Rūpa Gosvāmī's bhajana, he was dancing here, and after his passing away, he was entombed there. But that tomb is Lokanātha Gosvāmī. He is also one of the important Gosvāmīs.

Devotee (2): (indistinct) Gosvāmī.

Devotee: Rūpa Gosvāmī.

Prabhupāda: (Hindi with passers-by) (break) House tax.

Devotee (2): House tax? There were not for any buildings on house tax?

Prabhupāda: (Hindi with Indians) (breaks)

Devotee: Could you tell us any stories about Rūpa Gosvāmī while we are sitting here, or any...

Prabhupāda: (Hindi to gosāi of temple) Rūpa Gosvāmī was a minister. So after retirement he, under the instruction of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, he came to Vṛndāvana.

Indian man: (Hindi)

Prabhupāda: Rūpa Gosvāmī. So formerly they were living under trees. That I have already described in Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Later on, when Jīva Gosvāmī constructed this temple, his nephew and disciple, at that time Rūpa Gosvāmī also, he lived with his disciple. Actually, this temple belongs to Jīva Gosvāmī, and Rūpa Gosvāmī's temple is at...

Devotee: We saw it.

Prabhupāda: ...Govindajī.

Devotee: Yeah.

Prabhupāda: And Sanātana Gosvāmī's temple is at Madana-Mohana. But when Jīva Gosvāmī was here, naturally—they were elder uncle— so lived together, and because they, all of them lived here, so other Gosvāmīs, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, all of them used to meet here. And Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī used to live... and all other Gosvāmīs used to be here. And this is explained, Rūpa Gosvāmī's bhajana, they chant.

Indian man: (Hindi with Prabhupāda) (break)

Devotee: Are those rooms you live in, were they formerly inhabited by the Gosvāmīs, Jīva or Rūpa Gosvāmī, those rooms you have now?

Prabhupāda: These rooms?

Devotee: Yes.

Prabhupāda: No.

Devotee: These came after that time.

Prabhupāda: This is..., rooms were existing, but they used to sit down here.

Devotee: Was Vṛndāvana mostly...?

Prabhupāda: (Hindi) In this place, all the six Gosvāmīs used to sit down and read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Devotee: And, and did...

Indian man: (Hindi)
Prabhupāda: Ah.

Devotee: At that time Vṛndāvana was existing as a village, or mostly open area?

Prabhupāda: Formerly, before Lord Caitanya's coming here, this was open field. Nothing was here.

Devotee: So everything has been built up.

Prabhupāda: Since the Gosvāmīs. (Hindi) So after the Gosvāmīs came here, practically, all this Vṛndāvana city has developed. Before that, it was open field.

(Srila Prabhupada Morning Walk, Vrindavan, October 15, 1972)

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