(2/6) Extraordinary Qualities of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Kolkata—Worldwide, 14 February 2021, part 2

Materialistic people, especially here in Bengal, do Saraswati Puja on this day – those who want to capture knowledge and education worship Saraswati Devi, the minister of education, or knowledge. All Bengal is worshipping this day, but devotees are worshipping this day as Vasanta Panchami and the appearance day of Srimati Vishnupriya Devi. This day is also the appearance day of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami, a very great Vaishnav.

জয় রূপ সনাতন ভট্ট রঘুনাথ ।
শ্রীজীব গোপালভট্ট দাস রঘুনাথ ॥

jaya rupa sanatana bhatta raghunatha
sri-jiva gopala-bhatta dasa raghunatha

‘All glory to Sri Rupa, Sanatan, Raghunath Bhatta, Sri Jiva, Gopal Bhatta and Raghunath Das!’

(Srila Narottam Das Thakur)

You all know the history of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami’s life. He left everything like stool and urine. People always pass urine and stool and reject it hatefully; in a similar way, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami left everything – all his property, all his name, fame, everything he had.

Srila Raghunath Das Goswami was born in Adisaptagram, a place in the Hooghly district (it is not very far from our temple in Tarakeshwar). He met Mahaprabhu for the first time at Srila Advaita Prabhu’s house when he was just five years old. At that time, Mahaprabhu had just taken sannyas and came to Srila Advaita Prabhu’s house in Shantipur. Srila Raghunath Das Goswami is a very extraordinary personality. He was extremely humble, tolerant and always gave honour to others. He had all these qualities.

Actually, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami tried and tried so many times to come to Mahaprabhu, but Maya Devi always gave some trouble to him. Finally, he got Nityananda Prabhu’s mercy, and after that he was able to come to Mahaprabhu – Mahaprabhu accepted him and made him a servitor of Srila Svarup Damodar Prabhu. He gave him this service, saying, ‘Stay and serve Svarup Damodar.’ So, when Srila Raghunath Das Goswami stayed in Puri, he served Srila Svarupa Damodar Prabhu, and everybody called him ‘Svarup’s Raghu’ – he became famous throughout Puri as Svarup’s Raghu.

When Srila Raghunath Das Goswami stayed in Puri, he always paid obeisances to all Vaishnavs – he could see the same Vaishnav ten times during one day, and each time he saw him he would pay obeisance. Such was his quality.

At first, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami’s father sent him some money and Srila Raghunath Das Goswami used that money to make vaishnav-seva. But after some time he understood that Mahaprabhu did not like it because he was taking a materialist’s money and used it to make vaishnav-seva, as a result of which some ego (abhiman, ahankar) could come to him, ‘Oh, I am spending my father’s money! I am doing vaishnav-seva!’ So, Srila Raghunath Das Goswami rejected his father’s money and started begging instead. At first, he would stand in front of Lord Jagannath’s temple and beg for alms, but then he thought, ‘Simha-dvare bhiksa-vrtti – vesyara achara (Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.284). I need to get some food for my stomach, and I am standing here like a prostitute! It is not good!’ So, he started going to the place where food was sometimes distributed to beggars.

When Srila Raghunath Das Goswami left for Puri, he walked for twelve days, and I sometimes think how much austerity he got at that time. We walked recently for four days, visiting 120–130 houses every day, and we sometimes felt tired, our legs sometimes swelled, but I was thinking that we were walking wearing shoes, but Srila Raghunath Das Goswami went to Puri barefoot, without any shoes. Not only that, as he walked for twelve days, he took rice only three times during that time. We walked for four days and took prasadam three times a day but still felt very tired. Srila Raghunath Das Goswami walked continuously for twelve days – he only stopped during the night and slept somewhere outside or maybe in somebody’s cowshed, and he took rice (something solid) only three times during those twelve days. Such was his quality. He had an extremely strong attraction to Mahaprabhu – he had the highest, the strongest desire to come to Mahaprabhu, and when he got the mercy of Nityananda Prabhu, he immediately went to Him. His desire to get service was extremely strong.

Mahaprabhu taught Srila Raghunath Das Goswami several things, and everybody must learn from those instructions:

গ্রাম্যকথা না শুনিবে, গ্রাম্যবার্ত্তা না কহিবে ।
ভাল না খাইবে আর ভাল না পরিবে ॥
অমানী মানদ হঞা কৃষ্ণনাম সদা ল'বে ।
ব্রজে রাধাকৃষ্ণ সেবা মানসে করিবে ॥

gramya-katha na sunibe, gramya-varta na kahibe
bhala na khaibe ara bhala na paribe
amani manada hana krsna-nama sada la’be
vraje radha-krsna seva manase karibe

‘Do not listen to village talks, do not speak about village news. Do not eat fancy food, do not wear fancy clothes. Do not expect honour from others, give all respect to others. Always chant the Holy Name of Krishna and serve Radha-Krishna in your mind.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.236–237)

Do not wear fancy clothes, do not eat fancy food. Do not gossip. This is what Mahaprabhu taught Srila Raghunath Das Goswami.

স্থির হঞা ঘরে যাও, না হও বাতুল
ক্রমে ক্রমে পায় লোক ভব-সিন্ধুকূল

sthira hana ghare yao, na hao batula
krame krame paya loka bhava-sindhu-kula

‘Go back to your home, do not become crazy. It takes time: one reaches the shore of material existence gradually.’

মর্কট-বৈরাগ্য না কর লোক দেখাঞা ।
যথাযোগ্য বিষয় ভুঞ্জ' অনাসক্ত হঞা ॥

markata-vairagya na kara loka dekhana
yatha-yogya visaya bhunja’ anasakta hana

‘Do not show your false renunciation to impress people. Use whatever material things you require, but without attachment.’

অন্তরে নিষ্ঠা কর, বাহ্যে লোক-ব্যবহার ।
অচিরাৎ কৃষ্ণ তোমায় করিবে উদ্ধার ॥

antare nistha kara, bahye loka-vyavahara
achirat krsna tomaya karibe uddhara

‘Be fixed internally and behave like everyone else externally. Krishna will rescue you soon.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.16.237–239)

‘Go back to your home, do not become crazy. It is not necessary to show false renunciation.’ Mahaprabhu gave him very good instruction. He also said that we must give respect to whatever is necessary for service: yatha-yogya visaya bhunja’ anasakta hana.

We sometimes need certain things (for example, we use a car for preaching), but somebody can say, ‘Oh, this is too much!’ Some foolish or jealous Indian people like to say, ‘Oh, Mahaprabhu walked door to door, Nityananda Prabhu also went door to door on foot, but in this Age of Kali sadhus are so degraded that they use cars and aeroplanes!’ Such people are very foolish – they do not know that everything is meant for the service of the Lord. Everything must be used for service. It is necessary to understand this.

Everybody must think about Srila Raghunath Das Goswami’s lifestyle and about how much austerity he faced. You must also remember Srila Sanatan Goswami’s character. Srila Sanatan Goswami Prabhu refused from taking new clothes. Sri Chandrasekhara Acharya wanted to give him some new clothes, but he refused. Instead, he said, ‘If you can, give me some old cloth of Mahaprabhu.’ Sri Chandrasekhara Acharya gave him a piece of Mahaprabhu’s old cloth, and Srila Sanatan Goswami tore it into two parts – he would wear one as a loincloth and use the other one as a chadar (a cover for this upper body). Such was his lifestyle.

So, I was thinking: when I am walking, my legs swell and I feel that I cannot walk anymore, but I am wearing shoes and taking prasadam three times a day; but Srila Raghunath Das Goswami went to Puri barefoot, walking non-stop for twelve days, and he took prasadam only three times during all twelve days. This is what I wanted to say to everybody. Practise what is preached. You must understand Mahaprabhu’s teachings: do not wear fancy clothes, do not eat fancy food. But we always follow the whims of our tongues (jihva-lalasa) – how fallen we are!

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READ OTHER PARTS:

1) Holy Vasanta Panchami Day
2) Extraordinary Qualities of Srila Raghunath Das Goswami
3) Hanker and Aspire
4) Keep Your Head at Vaishnavs' Lotus Feet
5) "Please Forgive Me"
6) Renounce Pride, Not Practice