Gauḍīya Goṣṭhī Pati Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda has said that— “rūpānuga-bhajan is our final target, but surely not at this condition.”
Can we expect more and more merciful sādhu than Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura who is well known as the seventh Gosvāmī or paramahaṁsa-ācārya-varyā Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda who can give more and more deep feeling about rāgānugā-bhakti to us? That is the most vital question of the day. The exact teachings of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu can only be had through viśuddha-gauḍīyā -guru-paramparā like Sad Gosvāmīs, Śrīla Vrindavan Das Ṭhākura Mahāsaya, Kṛṣṇa dāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartipad, Śrīla Baladeva Vidyabushan, Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura (who is well known as seventh Gosvāmī) or paramahaṁsa-ācārya-varyā Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda the lion ācārya and also through those who all are following the line of our paramahaṁsa–gauḍīyā-guru-varga in toto. That is why the utility of perfect guru-paramparā is so much important. Those prākṛta-sahajiyās—they are always busy to break the exact flow of teachings of Śrīman Mahāprabhu to establish their own mentally concocted vichars, which is really impractical.
It is true that time to time Supreme Lord sending His own personal associates to establish the lost flow of bhāgavata-dharma or to establish some special siddhānta-vichar, like Śrī Nimbarka Ācārya, Śrī Vishnu Svami, Śrī Ramanuja Ācārya, Śrī Madhava Ācārya etc. All big big exalted ācāryas like them came down here on this earth from the eternal abode according to the desire of the Supreme Lord to establish some special siddhānta-vichars. But all their respective duty and sevā were specified by the Supreme Lord up to certain point, so they could not cross their respective limit. But when Śrīman Mahāprabhu the Supreme Lord (svayaṁ-rūpa, Bhagavan Himself) came to give braja-prema or more analytically we can say– to give gopī-prema—which is the most secret treasure of Goloka dhāma —the ultimate goal of gauḍīyā-bhajan, which was never given before. The highest objective of human life in the history of whole human civilization, in that case we cannot expect anything more than that, because as Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi –1. 3
yad advaitaṁ brahmopaniṣadi tad apy asya tanu-bhā
ya ātmāntar-yāmī puruṣa iti so ‘syāṁśa-vibhavaḥ
ṣaḍ-aiś varyā iḥ pūrṇo ya iha bhagavān sa svayam ayaṁ
na caitanyāt krṣṇāj jagati para-tattvaṁ param iha
What the Upaniṣads describe as the impersonal Brahman is but the effulgence of His body, and the Lord known as the Supersoul is but His localized plenary portion. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa Himself, full of six opulence’s. He is the extreme limit of para-tattva, and no other tattva is greater than or equal to Him.
That means Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the extreme limit of para-tattva.
Though as per all authentic scriptural evidence svayaṁ-rūpa Bhagavan Nanda Nandan Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself came, but still the highest gift of gopī-prema was only given by Śrīman Mahāprabhu—which is the extreme limit of our expectation as human being. That is why Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has written in his Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta the following slokas in favor of this perfect siddhānta-vichar—
rādhā-kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir ahlādinī śaktir asmād
ekātmānāv api deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau
śrī-caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam
āptaṁ rādhā-bhava-dyuti. – suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa-svarūpam
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 1.5)
“The loving affairs of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are changed as the transcendental manifestations of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency. Although Radha and Kṛṣṇa are one in Their identity, They separated Themselves eternally. Now these two transcendental identities have again united, in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. I bow down to Him, who has manifested Himself with the sentiment and complexion of Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself.”
Also from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu he has quoted the secret siddhānta-vichar of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpad in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta —
anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalua
samarpayitum unnatojvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam
hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti sada hrdaya-kandare
sphuratu vah saci-nandanah
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 1.4)
May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Śrīmati Saci Devi (Śacīnandana), be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service (unnata ujjvala-rasa), the mellow of very special conjugal love (with parakīyā-bhāve).
Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu being the extreme limit of para-tattva, and more especially because He came with rādhā-bhāva, so we can never expect anything more than what he wanted to give Himself or through Sad Gosvāmīs or Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Kaviraj Gosvāmī or Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod Ṭhākura (the seventh Gosvāmī) or through the great lion Ācārya – Gauḍīyā Gosthi Pati Paramahaṁsa ācārya -varyā Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda from whom we have received all the secret treasure of viśuddha -gauḍīyā -siddhānta-ratnas—just favorable for rūpānuga-bhajan. If at all Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī appears in front of us (though we know it is quite impossible) what all sevā-siddhānta -vichars She is supposed to advise us, all the same we have received from Śrīla Prabhupāda Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura, no less than that at all. So how dare we can expect more than what already given by our viśuddha-paramahaṁsa-gauḍīyā-guru-varga. Only those prākṛta sahajiyās can expect more than that to go to hell for infinitive period, because they are always busy with some addition and alteration program of viśuddha-gauḍīyā-siddhānta-vichars.
Now another very important point should be discussed very analytically to avoid the misunderstanding regarding the ancient followers of bhāgavata-dharma, like twelve mahājanas and our present viśuddha-gauḍīyā-guru-paramparā flow. Now whom to follow and how to follow? This is the main question.
The exact solution given by Śrīla Narottama Mahāshaya in his kirtan—
mahajanera jei patha tate habe anurata
purbapara kariya bicara
sadhana-smarana-léla ihate na kara hela
kaya mane kariya susara
(Prem Bhakti Chandrika 2.2)
The essence of sādhana-bhakti should be carefully considered to follow the path displayed by the previous and the present mahājanas (great personalities) with full analytical judgment. One should not neglect the practice of remembering the pastimes of the Lord, for devotional service should be performed with the mind as well as the body.
Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāshaya giving us advice that though all our past ancient mahājanas and our present mahājanas (though we know that all of them are eternally present, still for our easy understanding we are bound to use these two words like “ancient” or “present”) basically all they are the followers of śrī–bhāgavata-dharma in common, so naturally all they are our guru-varga, so we can never dishonor them at all, but by the will of the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu in course of time finally we are lucky to get the highest conception of rasa-tattva in the form of rūpānuga-bhakti-dhara. So we will have to find out the secret harmony in between both the ancient and the present mahājanas and their teachings very perfectly and carefully to accept their teachings in a very favorable way, and of course we should pay full attention to all the teachings of our paramahaṁsa-gauḍīyā-guruvarga. The following śloka from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam given below—
svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kapila manuḥ
prahlādo janako bhīṣma balir vaiyāsakir vayam
dvādaśaite vijānīmo dharmaṁ bhāgavataṁ bhaṭāḥ
guhyaṁ viśuddhaṁ durbodhaṁ yaṁ jñātvāmṛtam aśnute
(SB 6.3.20/21)
Lord Brahmā, Bhagavān Nārada, Lord Śiva, the four Kumāras, Lord Kapila [the son of Devahūti], Svāyambhuva Manu,Prahlāda Mahārāja, Janaka Mahārāja, Grandfather Bhīṣma, Bali Mahārāja, Śukadeva Gosvāmī and I myself (Yama) know the real religious principle of bhāgavata-dharma. My dear servants, this transcendental religious principle, which is known as bhagavata-dharma, or surrender unto the Supreme Lord and love for Him, is uncontaminated by the material modes of nature (viśuddha). It is very confidential and very difficult for ordinary human beings to understand, but if by chance one fortunately realizes it, he immediately became qualified to get the amṛta (nectar).
To understand the most basic fundamental teachings of bhāgavata-dharma and to get enough maturity, and also to grow our realization power we must follow our dvadash-mahājans (12 mahājans) and their teachings, because this is the basic teachings of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. He always used to hear, prahlāda–caritra or dhruva-caritra repeatedly from Śrīla Gadadhara Paṇḍit. Though the final teachings of Śrīman Mahāprabhu is—
nāhaṁ vipro na ca nara-patir nāpi vaiśyo na śūdro
nāhaṁ varṇī na ca gṛha-patir no vanastho yatir vā
kintu prodyan-nikhila-paramānanda-pūrnāmṛtābdher
gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 13.80)
“I am not a brāhmaṇa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a vaiśya or a śūdra. Neither am I a brahmacārī nor householder, or not a vānaprastha or not a sannyāsi. I identify Myself only as the servant of the servant of the servant of the lotus feet of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the protector of the gopīs. He is like an ocean of nectar, and He is the cause of universal transcendental bliss. He is always existing with brilliance.”
So as a gauḍīyā-devotee surely it is our final goal to attain gopī-prema through rāgānugā-bhakti-dhara. It is the standing instruction of Śrīman Mahāprabhu that one should not ignore the dignity of previous mahājanas. Śrīman Mahāprabhu told to Śrīla Sanatan Gosai with full confirmation that—
jagadānanda priya āmāra nahe tomā haite
maryādā-laṅghana āmi nā pāroṅ sahite
(Cc Antya 4.166)
“My dear Sanātana, please do not think that Jagadānanda is dearer to Me than you. However, I cannot tolerate transgressions of the standard etiquette.
Also, when Vallabh Ācārya wanted to express some audacity out of his false ego to violate the dignity of Śrīla Śrīdhar Svamipad by saying that I cannot accept the commentary of Śrīla Śrīdhar Svamipad on Bhagavatam, so I have written a fresh commentary, then in that case Śrīman Mahāprabhu was bound to say that –
prabhu hāsi’ kahe, — “svāmī nā māne yei jana
veśyāra bhitare tāre kariye gaṇana”
(Cc Antya 7.115)
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu smilingly replied, “One who does not accept the Svāmī [husband] as an authority I consider him or her a prostitute.”
“He who is not ready to accept Svami with honor, I count him as a pross.”—That was the comment of Śrīman Mahāprabhu in front of Vallabha Ācārya. So, the perfect standard of achar-acharan or siddhānta-vichars set by Śrīman Mahāprabhu is the final, we should never try to violate that criterion.
Śrīla Saccidananda Bhaktivinod has said that–“rāgānugā-bhakti or rūpānuga-bhajan can never be taught by anybody. If someone claim that “Come on! I can teach you rāgānugā-bhakti or rūpānuga-bhajan.”—then in that case be sure that he is a fraud.” So we should not express that kind of audacity to violate our paramahaṁsa-gauḍī-gāuruvarga and their viśuddha -siddhānta-vichars to establish personal vichar.