Jiva Goswami—who is Jiva Goswami? We have heard from the Vaishnavas that he is a personal associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He is one of the prominent goswami of the Six Goswamis (Sad-Goswami). And we remember him every day when we utter the names of the preceptorial channel, praying for the grace of Jiva Goswami and Raghunatha.

Jiva Goswami, in Krishna-lila pastimes, is Vilasa Manjari. He is not an ordinary person. You will find in the holy scripture written by Kavi Karnapura, Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, the identity of the associates of Gauranga Mahaprabhu in Krishna-lila. Kavi Karnapura was the son of Sivananda Sena. Jiva Goswami is Vilasa Manjari, not an ordinary human being.

He appeared in Ramakeli village, where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu first met Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, and Anupama Mallik. Jiva Goswami was the son of Anupama Mallik. His original name was Vallabha, but Mahaprabhu gave him the name Anupama. He was the younger brother of Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami.

When Chaitanya Mahaprabhu went to Ramakeli village in Maldah, the Muslim ruler Hussain Shah was the emperor, and the capital was situated there in Maldah. Near the capital, Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami used to stay in a palace. Sanatana Goswami was the prime minister in Hussain Shah's court, while Rupa Goswami was a high-ranking officer. Anupama Mallik, the father of Jiva Goswami, was also serving in the royal court.

It has been written by Kavi Karnapura about Jiva Goswami: "Susilah panditah." Who is Jiva Goswami? It is said that he had a very amiable, pleasant, and gentle nature – “Susilah”. “Susilah” is a Sanskrit word. Every Sanskrit word is used in Bengali. If you use any Sanskrit word, Bengalis will not say, "This is not Bengali." They may say that it is difficult, but if you use a word from Urdu, they may immediately say, "This is not Bengali." But if you use Sanskrit words, it is considered Bengali. Almost every Sanskrit word is used.

Those who have knowledge of Sanskrit can understand Bengali very swiftly; it is not difficult. So here, "susilah" and “Panditah.” “Pandita” means very learned, an erudite scholar - In a worldly sense. “Vallabha-atmajaha” means the son of Vallabha.

Anupama Mallik was a great Vaishnava, but his object of worship was Lord Ramachandra. He had one-pointed devotion.

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu visited Rāmakeli, some say that Jīva Gosvāmī was still a small boy. Others say that Jīva Gosvāmī had not yet been born when Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu visited Rāmakeli.

After having darshan of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Sanatana Goswami and Rupa Goswami immediately wanted to renounce their positions, including their responsibilities as prime minister and other royal duties. Sanatana Goswami was the prime minister. Nowadays, to become the prime minister, you will find people engaging in so many political activities; everybody wants to become prime minister.

Hussain Shah liked Sanatana Goswami very much, but after seeing Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sanatana Goswami wanted to renounce all his properties and everything else, including his position as prime minister. Rupa Goswami also wanted to renounce his palatial buildings, property, and everything else.

Actually, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu told them, "When I shall go to Vrindavan, then you renounce everything and join Me."

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu proceeded towards Vrindavan after taking sannyasa. Then Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami—first Rupa Goswami and Anupama Mallik left, and afterward Sanatana Goswami, who had been imprisoned, also proceeded after being released from prison.

Then Jiva Goswami became the sole proprietor of everything there in Ramakeli village—all the property, all the palatial buildings, and everything else. But after Sanatana Goswami, Rupa Goswami and Anupama Mallik left, he became indifferent to everything and experienced extreme separation from them.

This property, all this fortune, all the comforts of eating good food, all these fine clothes, and all this luxury became just like poison to him.

"How shall I renounce all this? I don't want it. When Sanatana Goswami and Rupa Goswami have left, what remains here? Why should I remain? I don't like this."

So, he became completely indifferent to all this fortune, property, and material comforts.

Even at a young age, he used to worship Krishna with his playmates. He would prepare bhoga to offer to Krishna, play with them in relation to Krishna, and engage others in His service.

We want to acquire paternal property like this and may even fight for it. But here, Jiva Goswami wanted to give up all these things.

By the grace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he had a dream in which he saw Chaitanya Mahaprabhu performing pastimes with His devotees and personal associates. He saw Him dancing and chanting the holy name of the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. Then Jiva Goswami became overwhelmed with spiritual emotion and immediately renounced his property and everything else.

"I shall not remain here."

Soon thereafter he left his home. He had some companions who went with him as far as Fatehabad from Bakla Chandradvipa, but from there he continued alone to Navadvipa Dhama. He came to Navadvipa Dhama and met Nityananda Prabhu, the most munificent form of Godhead. With tears in his eyes, he took shelter at His lotus feet.

Nityananda Prabhu, out of extreme affection, embraced him, placed the holy dust from His feet upon Jiva Goswami's head, blessed him, and showed him all the holy places of Navadvipa Dhama. He also ordered him, "You should go to Vraja Dhama. Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami have gone to Vraja Dhama. Your place is Vraja Dhama. Go there."

By His order, after seeing all the holy places of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes in Navadvipa Dhama, by the grace of Nityananda Prabhu Jiva Goswami proceeded toward Vrindavan. On the way, he first reached Kashi, or Varanasi, where he learned all the scriptures from Madhusudana Vachaspati.

This was the pastime of his learning all the authentic scriptures from Madhusudana Vachaspati.

He then proceeded toward Vrindavan. When he reached there, Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami were already there. In spiritual relationship, Rupa Goswami and Sanatan Goswami were his Gurudeva. He was under their guidance.

At that time, a Digvijaya Pandit came. Digvijaya Pandit means a world-conquering pandit, an erudite scholar who claims to have conquered scholars everywhere.

"Digvijaya" means going to different places and defeating scholars in debate. He would say, "If you have the capacity, argue with me. If you do not have the capacity, write that 'I am defeated.'"

Everyone was afraid of him. Most people would simply say, "Yes, we are defeated."

He came to Vrindavan Dhama, where many learned persons were present, and approached them: "I am a world-conquering pandit. If you have the courage to argue and debate with me, do it."

They were also afraid and said, "You should go to Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. They are our leaders and the greatest pandits. If you can defeat them, then we shall accept that you are a world-conquering pandit."

Then he went to Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami and said, "I have been traveling throughout the world, conquering scholars, and I have now come here. If you want to debate with me, I shall do so. If you do not have the courage to debate with me, then write that 'I am defeated.'"

Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami thought, "This person has no interest in worshipping the Supreme Lord. He wants only name and fame. Why should we waste our time?" So, they said, "Yes, we accept defeat," and wrote, "I am defeated."

They simply neglected him and, outwardly, wrote the statement of defeat.

That person took the document to the other pandits and said, "You told me to go to Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. They had no courage to argue with me. Here is the document."

Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami did not like to spend even a single moment without worshipping Krishna. Therefore, they refused to speak with him and neglected him, thinking, "This person is unfortunate and deceived."

The people there thought that this should not be propagated throughout the world. They told the paṇḍita, “Yes, there is another person—a young disciple of Rūpa Gosvāmī. His name is Jīva Gosvāmī. He is a very spirited person and a learned scholar. If you can defeat him, then we shall see.”

"Oh, Jiva Goswami? His Gurudeva had no courage to speak with me, and you are sending me to his young disciple?"

"Yes. If you can defeat him, then..."

"All right!"

Then he went to Jiva Goswami.

"Oh, you are a young boy. You see, I am a world-conquering pandit. I have traveled from one place to another, conquering all the pandits, and now I have come to conquer the pandits of Vrindavan. They sent me to their pandits, Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. I approached them. If you want to argue with me, I shall argue with you. If you do not have the courage, then make a document stating, 'I am defeated,' and have it signed. Your Gurudeva has already accepted defeat."

Jiva Goswami thought, "If this record remains in this world, the whole world would commit an offense against Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami. People will not understand their humility. I cannot allow the whole world to commit an offense against them."

"I shall accept your challenge. I shall speak with you. I have one condition: if you can defeat me, that is all right; but if you cannot defeat me, I shall tear up this paper."

The Digvijaya Pandit thought, "Who is this young boy? He has so much audacity. All right!"

They started arguing, and that pandit passed urine and stool. He was completely defeated at every step.

But when Sanatana Goswami heard about this, he said, "You should not have done this. Why? He has a desire to obtain name and fame. Why did you do this?"

He reproached his disciple.

But our Prabhupad, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Goswami Thakura, explained that the Sahajiyas did not understand this. They think that this was Jiva Goswami's audacity, that he was proud and lacked humility.

Prabhupad explained that they could not understand that Jiva Goswami was actually humbler than a blade of grass. He had preserved the dignity of the Vaishnava cult and saved the whole world from committing offenses against Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami, who were great personal associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Those so-called Sahajiyas thought, "Oh, Jiva Goswami did this. His Gurudeva did not speak with that person, but Jiva Goswami spoke with him and defeated him. This is not Vaishnava behavior."

But Prabhupad explained, "An actual Vaishnava is the humblest person."

How can we understand this? They do not understand it.

Again, another incident happened.

When Rupa Goswami was writing Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu, Jiva Goswami was fanning him and removing the flies and so forth while he was writing.

In the meantime, Vallabhacharya came.

"What is this, my brother? What are you writing? Let me see."

In the Mangalacharana—Mangalacharana means praying to the Supreme Lord for His grace and benediction.

While examining the Mangalacharana, Vallabhacharya said, "This is a mistake."

Rupa Goswami asked, "Oh, what is the correct understanding?"

But Jiva Goswami was very disappointed.

"What is this? This person has found a defect in the Mangalacharana?"

All right. Because Rupa Goswami was giving respect to Vallabhacharya and did not want to hurt him, he accepted his comments respectfully.

But Jiva Goswami thought, "Why? Where has he found this? I shall speak with him."

He heard that Vallabhacharya had gone to the Yamuna River to take his bath. Jiva Goswami also went there. During the time of taking bath, he asked him, “You have corrected some of the Mangalacharan prayers. What defect have you found?” Then he refuted Vallabhacharya’s arguments with scriptural evidence.

Oh God! There is so much knowledge there. Correct!

He came back to Rupa Goswami and said, “He will not edit it. Whatever you have written is correct. He will not edit it.”

On this, Rupa Goswami gently rebuked Jiva Goswami, telling him to return to Bengal and to come back to Vrindavan only when he had calmed down.

Thus banished from his presence, Jiva Goswami left Rupa Goswami’s dwelling and went to Nanda Ghata, a nearby village.

All the Vrajavasis had great respect for Jiva Goswami. Seeing him there, they wanted to serve him. Sometimes they would force him to accept something, but he would always refuse to take anything. He became very lean and thin.

The Vrajavasis greatly respected Sanatana Goswami Babaji. They told him, “He is not taking anything. Please make him understand! Why is he refusing? How will he survive? He will die.” Sanatana Goswami saw Jiva Goswami, and then he understood.

Then he took Jiva Goswami to Rupa Goswami. He said, “You should accept him. Don’t be angry. Both are correct. Rupa Goswami is also correct, and Jiva Goswami is also correct. Rupa Goswami says that those who want to perform bhajan should not spoil their time in arguments and all these things. They should not spoil their time trying to gain name and fame in this world. I am one conqueror; they should not do that.” Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami practiced this. Right?

But Jiva Goswami also had this record: those ignorant persons—how could they understand the personal associates of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu?

If he had not contributed, there would have been a great menace to the whole world, and people would have been deprived. For that reason, for the service of the world, for maintaining the dignity of the world, and for saving the whole world, his contribution was of the highest importance. It was not for his name and fame. So both were correct.

According to other sense-obsessed fornicators, Srila Jiva Goswami should not be accepted as an authority because, in his treatises, he did not accept Rupa Goswami’s pārakīyā-vāda idea, but rather supported the svakīya-vāda. They say that he cannot be accepted as a rasika-bhakta or a devotee who is knowledgeable in the divine sentiments.

The fact is that during Jiva Goswami’s lifetime, some of his followers demonstrated a preference for the svakīyā-vāda. Jiva Goswami recognized their limitations and so, for their benefit and for the benefit of those in the future who would be unable to comprehend the transcendental nature of the pārakīyā-rasa and would themselves take up adulterous relationships in imitation of Krishna, he gave credence to the svakīyā doctrine. This is a sign of his acting appropriately as an ācārya. One should not take this as evidence of his being opposed to the transcendental pārakīyā-rasa, however, for he is the topmost of Rupa Goswami’s followers and one of Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami’s spiritual teachers.

Even you will find such appropriate behaviour in the words of our Paramgurudev Srila Bhakti Siddhartha Saraswati Thakur Prabhupad. On Radhashtami Tithi, in Kolkata, in the morning, I was going through the sermons of our Paramgurudev. In 1924, at Bagh Bazaar Gaudiya Math, on Radhashtami, he was there. What did he write?

You should carefully think about this. You should think carefully. Don’t be prejudiced!

Because you could not accept the teachings of our Bhakti Siddhartha Saraswati Goswami Thakur, who was the founder of Chaitanya Math and the Gaudiya Maths, you may commit an offense.

Don’t think it will be something insignificant.

First he offered obeisances to the perceptual channel, the entire perceptual channel—from Krishna to Brahma, from Brahma to Narada, and innumerable obeisances. Then he started.

He wrote, “Radharani is the absolute, complete potency of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna. The predominant aspect is Krishna, and the predominating potency is Radharani.”

There are some persons who put forward this question: Srimad Bhagavatam is the quintessence of all scriptures. Veda Vyasa Muni could not get bliss by expanding the Vedas, writing the eighteen Puranas, writing Mahabharata, Gita, etc. Ultimately, he wrote Srimad Bhagavatam following the instructions of his Gurudev Sri Narada Goswami at Badarikashrama. After writing Srimad Bhagavatam, he experienced eternal bliss. But he has not mentioned the name of Radharani in Srimad Bhagavatam. Why?

Our Paramgurudeva in regard to this has said, “Radharani is not merely secret; She is supremely secret, most, most, most secret and concealed. Those who are ordinary, ineligible, or incompetent persons (we have to underline the word ‘anadhikari’), for their eternal benefit, Radharani, being the highest hidden entity, should not be divulged, because those people will not be able to understand, and they will lose their spiritual life. Therefore, Her name should not be clearly mentioned.”

But to say that Veda Vyasa Muni has not said anything about Radharani is also not correct. But for Paramahamsa Bhaktas—underline this word—those who are Paramahamsa Bhaktas, for them it is mentioned indirectly.

Paramahamsa means—as you heard yesterday—hamsa means a swan. What is the capacity of a swan when milk and water are mixed? The swan has the capacity to separate the milk from the mixture of milk and water. Vaishnavas are Paramahamsas. You cannot easily find Paramahamsa Vaishnavas. Paramahamsas are those who take the essence and the good qualities and give up the rest.

Enslaved jivas only see disqualifications in others and see all the qualities in themselves. This is the cause of their spiritual fall. Nobody can become a Paramahamsa Vaishnava so easily.

anayārādhito nūnaṁ
bhagavān harir īśvaraḥ
yan no vihāya govindaḥ
prīto yām anayad rahaḥ
(Srimad Bhagavatam 10.30.28)

“Among all these gopis, this gopi served Krishna so much that when that gopi left us, Krishna also left us.”

Leaving all the millions of gopis, Krishna left searching for Her in a secluded place. Veda Vyasa Muni has described indirectly.

She is the highest object of worship! But you have to follow the proper procedure to know about Her. If you do not follow the procedure, you will get the opposite result.

We had the opportunity to hear about this from our Gurudeva, our Puri Goswami Maharaj. And clearly, our Gurudev never spoke about this publicly. Never. In public, he would say, “An ineligible person will commit an offense.”

I had been to his room. He was uttering all these things which I had not heard him speak about publicly. He did not speak about this because they would misunderstand it.

Even when I had been to Saint-Tropez in France—Saint-Tropez, Bindu Madhav, and we stayed there with a rich person, and they arranged a talk. All of them understood English, and Bindu Madhav was there to interpret. There were some people who understood English, but some did not understand. At that time, after I finished my talk, one lady devotee, a lady listener, said, “Swamiji, I like Divine Love. It is very attractive, Divine Love, very good, whatever you say...” They had understood Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; They had understood Divine Love to mean a male-female connection, a sexual relationship. They thought sex was Divine Love!

Hearing this, I was astounded! I said, “No, no, no! What you understand is not Divine Love. This is transcendental Divine Love! You have misunderstood what Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught. If you understand it as a sexual relationship, it is dangerous. What is this? So, I am now using the words ‘transcendental Divine Love’ because otherwise they would misunderstand.

Jiva Goswami wrote many books, twenty-five books, and there is no equal to him when it comes to the Shad-sandarbha, or Sapta-sandarbha. Now, how much time can I take?

As much as you like.

You see, one thing I want to say: When I had been to Bolpur, Shantiniketan—Rabindranath Tagore’s place; you have heard the name of Rabindranath Tagore—our Gurumaharaj had been to that place. I was there, and meetings were arranged.

Gurumaharaj had discourses on Gauranga Mahaprabhu for two days. After that, some people approached us. “You know who established this Math?”

“We have come here for the first time.”

“Sudhin Ganguly, a professor here at Visva-Bharati University, Shantiniketan, is a renowned person. You should meet him.”

“Yes, we can go.” He gave us an address. We went there and met him. He called us and gave us chairs to sit on. I shall tell you his history.

“You see, at first, I had no love or regard for the teachings of Chaitanya. I belonged to Ramakrishna; that time I considered his teachings to be the highest. I had no attraction for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I used to think His followers were fools—they were people who had no character.

“How did I develop this faith? Although at the early stage I had no faith or regard, I was a voracious reader. I developed the habit of reading books. I had great respect for Sri Brajen Shila. Such a great person in the world—it is very difficult to find someone like him. Up to matriculation, he had completed all the subjects, all the subjects of the university. There were no subjects left for him to study. What subject would he take in the end? And when he died, the British government offered a large amount of money to obtain his head in order to examine his brain. We had never seen such a learned person.

Brajen Shila has written in one of his books, “Priti-sandarbha, written by Jiva Goswami, is the highest ambrosia. Those who are deprived of going through this are deprived of a great treasure in human life and of a profound impression.”

I had great respect for Brajen Shila so I tried to find more about who wrote Priti-sandarbha?

I came to know that the author Sri Jiva Goswami is the personal associate of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Then I visited your Chaitanya Math to get Priti-sandarbha. There I was given Bhakti-sandarbha only.

After searching and searching, I found an old book in Hindi letters, Sanskrit-nagari published in Bombay. I went to him (maybe he is referring to the compiler of the book). He was also very learned. He said, “I took the help of great Pandits—Shapta Tirtha, Shastha Tirtha, Pancha Tirtha, and all these.”

They used to come and explain it on Sundays. I heard them and said, “All right, all right. I have heard from you. You should not take the trouble.”

I was not satisfied with their explanations. I changed so many Pandits. One person came to me and said, “You see, you cannot understand it through a Pandit. There is one Dayaram Tirtha. He is a great devotee. Hear from him, and then everything will be all right.

I went to him and asked, “I want to know the significance and teachings of this Priti-sandarbha. Will you explain it?”

“Yes, I shall.”

And he was explaining, referring to various verses. He had already heard that I had no respect for Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, without mentioning scriptures, he quoted some Bengali verses.

I told, “I have never heard anything like this. After hearing these verses for two or three days, I asked whose writing is he referring to?" He replied, "I am reading the writings of Kaviraj Goswami, Chaitanya Charitamrita.”

“Is there any such book?”

“Yes.”

“Clear, so impressed, nothing is unnecessary. I have never heard anything like this. Do you have Chaitanya Charitamrit?”

“I daily read Chaitanya Charitamrit. Can you read it?””

“Yes.”

I heard Caitanya Charitamrita from beginning to end. My whole understanding changed. It contained the highest philosophy and the highest teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. There is nothing equal to it! Then I started preaching, and I wrote a thesis and earned a doctorate from the university. I established this Gauranga Math with a management committee and some trustees. Nowadays, the trustees are quarreling about the property. I did not establish this property for money.”

Then we requested him, “We have a big library. You can go there and do research.”

“Yes, I should do so.” he said.

But after that, in a few days, he died. So, he could not fulfil his desire.

Initially he loudly used to say, “I have no faith in Chaitanya Charitamrit.”

But everything changed by hearing Priti-sandarbha. Jiva Goswami’s writing and Chaitanya Charitamrit had a profound influence on him.

That is our Jiva Goswami. When Rupa Goswami and Sanatana Goswami disappeared, he became the Acharya. His temple is Radha-Damodara. Our swami Maharaj stayed there.