Disappearance Day of Śrī Murāri Gupta and Śrī Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī
Excerpts from the Pañcama Siddhānta of Acintya-bhedābheda by Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja:
murāri guptere prabhu kari’ āliṅgana |
tā̃ra bhakti-niṣṭhā kahena, śuna bhakta-gaṇa ||
The Lord embraced Murāri Gupta. “Listen, devotees,” he said, “I shall tell you of his conviction in devotion.
pūrve āmi ihā̃re lobhāila bāra bāra |
parama madhura, gupta! brajendra-kumāra ||
“Previously I tried to entice him again and again. “‘Gupta! The young son of the King of Vraja is supremely sweet.
svayaṁ bhagavān kṛṣṇa—sarvāṁśī, sarvāśraya |
viśuddha-nirmala-prema, sarva-rasa-maya ||
“‘Kṛṣṇa is the original form of Godhead—He is the source of all other forms, the abode of all that is. His prema is so pure; it is immaculate. And it contains all other rasas.
sakala sad-guṇa-vṛnda-ratna-ratnākara |
vidagdha, catura, dhīra rasika-śekhara ||
“‘He is the abode of all good qualities, like a mine of all priceless gems. He is debonair and suave, calm and composed, and the crown-jewel of connoisseurs.
madhura-caritra kṛṣṇera madhura-vilāsa |
cāturya, vaidagdhya kare jā̃ra līlā-rasa ||
“‘Kṛṣṇa’s character is so sweet, and His loving pastimes are so sweet. With cleverness and refined charm He orchestrates the rasa of His pastimes
sei kṛṣṇa bhaja tumi, hao kṛṣṇāśraya |
kṛṣṇa-vinā anya-upāsanā mane nāhi laya ||
“‘You should worship that Kṛṣṇa; take shelter of that Kṛṣṇa. Do not let any other form of worship into your mind.’”
ei-mata bāra-bāra śuniya vacana |
āmāra gaurave kichu phiri’ gela mana ||
“‘Hearing Me talk like this again and again, his mind was swayed somewhat, due to his honor for Me.
āmāre kahena—āmi tomāra kiṅkara |
tomāra ājñākārī āmi nahi svatantara ||
“He said to Me: ‘I am Your servant. I follow Your orders. I am not independent.’
eto boli ghare gelo, cinti’ rātrikāle |
raghunātha-tyāga-cintāya haila bikale ||
“Saying this, he went home, fretting all night. He became overwhelmed at the thought of giving up Raghunātha.
kemone chāḍibo raghunāthera caraṇa!
āji rātrye prabhu mora karāha maraṇa!!
“‘How will I leave the feet of Raghunātha?! Just kill me, Lord, this very night!!
ei-mata sarva-rātri karena krandana |
mane soyāsti nāhi, rātri karena jāgaraṇa ||
“Like this, he wept the whole night through. His mind could find no peace, so he stayed up the whole night.
prātaḥkāle āsi’ mora dharila caraṇa |
kāndite kāndite kichu kare nivedana ||
“In the morning, he came and caught hold of My feet. Weeping and weeping, he petitioned me:
raghunāthera pāya mui beciyāchõ māthā |
kāḍhite nā pāri māthā, mane pāi vyathā ||
“‘I have sold my head at the feet of Raghunātha. I cannot cut my head off. My mind is tormented.
śrī raghunātha-caraṇa chāḍāno nā jāya |
tava ājñā-bhaṅga haya, ki kari upāya!!
“‘The feet of Śrī Raghunātha cannot be left. But then I will be disregarding Your order. What should I do?!’
tāte more ei kṛpā koro, dayāmaya |
tomāra āge mṛtyu hauka, jāuka saṁśaya ||
“‘So, O merciful one, have this mercy on me that I may die in front of You and be rid of these torments.
eto śuni’ āmi boḍo mane sukha pāilũ |
ihā̃re uṭhāñā tabe āliṅgana kailũ ||
“Hearing this gave My mind great joy. I lifted him up and embraced him.
sādhu sādhu, gupta, tomāra sudṛḍha bhajana |
āmāra vacaneha tomāra nā ṭelila mana ||
“I said, ‘Bravo, bravo Gupta! Glory to your firm dedication. My words did not shake your mind.
ei-mata sevakera prīti cāhi prabhu pāya |
prabhu chāḍāileha, pada chāḍāno nā jāya ||
“‘I want the servant to have such love for his master’s feet. Even if the master leaves the servant, the servant will not able to give up his master.
ei-mata tomāra niṣṭhā jānibāra tare |
tomāre āgraha āmi kailũ bāre bāre ||
“‘It was to test this conviction of yours that I pressured you again and again.
sākṣāt hanūmān tumi śrī rāma-kiṅkara |
tumi kene chāḍibe tā̃ra caraṇa-kamala ||
“‘You are Hanumān himself, the servant of Śrī Rāma. Why would you ever leave His lotus feet?
sei murāri-gupta ei mora prāṇa sama |
ihā̃ra dainya śuni’ mora phāṭaye jīvana ||
“This is that Murāri Gupta. He is like My own life itself. When I hear his humility, I feel as if I will rip apart at the seams.”
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Gauḍīya Maṭha edition) Madhya-līlā, 15.137–157)
Here the upāsya (worshipful deity) of the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇavas and Śrīla Murāri Gupta are not the same. Besides that, he could not put sixteen annas worth of faith in the words of Svayaṁ Bhagavān Śrīman Mahāprabhu Himself. Nevertheless, even Vidyāvinoda Mahāśaya has been compelled to accept him as one of the main and authoritative ācāryas of the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇavas. Murāri Gupta’s kaḍacā is one of the main sources of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Therefore, even though he had a difference of opinion (mata-bheda) with Śrīman Mahāprabhu, Śrīla Murāri Gupta cannot be said to be a Vaiṣṇava of another sampradāya.
Another thing to note is that some say Madhvācārya appeared as Murāri Gupta. Why? In Śrīla Kavi Karṇapūra’s Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, Śrīla Murāri Gupta has been described to be the one-pointed servant of Śrī Rāmacandra, Śrī Śrī Hanūmat-svarūpa. And Śrīman Madhvācārya is unanimously accepted to have been Hanūmān during Rāma’s pastimes. Thus, tattvataḥ, or constitutionally, Śrī Madhvācārya and Śrī Murāri Gupta are one. There is no difference between them. The author of this Vāda book, Sundarānanda Vidyāvinoda Mahāśaya, has quoted several verses from the Vāyu Purāṇa and described Madhvācārya as “the first avatāra of Vāyu renowned by the name Hanumān, who is foremost in the service of Rāma.” Even Sundarānanda’s vidyā-guru, Ananta-Vāsudeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Mahāśaya has also written: “In the maṅgalācaraṇa to every book in the Śrī Mādhva tradition, we see the following namaskāra: ‘śrīmad-hanumad-bhīma-madhvāntargata-rāma-kṛṣṇa-veda-vyāsātmaka-lakṣmī-hayagrīvāya namaḥ – Obeisance unto Śrī Hanumān’s antaryāmī Śrī Rāmacandra, Śrī Bhīmasena’s in-dwelling Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and Śrī Madhvācārya’s antaryāmī Śrī Veda-vyāsa, who are nondifferent from Hayagrīva Viṣṇu accompanied by Lakṣmī Devī.’ This Hayagrīva Viṣṇu is the protector and explainer of the Vedic scriptures.”
madhvācārya-sthāne āilā yā̃hā tattvavādī |
uḍupīte kṛṣṇa dekhi’ tāhā̃ haila premāsvādī ||
narttaka-gopāla dekhe parama-mohane |
madhvācārye svapna diyā āilā tā̃ra sthāne |
gopī-candana-tale āchila diṅgāte |
madhvācārya-ṭhā̃i āilā kona-mate ||
madhvācārya āni’ tā̃re karilā sthāpana |
adyāvadhi sevā kare tattvavādī-gaṇa ||
kṛṣṇa-mūrti dekhi’ prabhu mahāsukha pāila |
mahā-premāveśa bahuta nṛtya-gīta kaila ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya 9. 245–249)
[He came to Madhvācārya’s place, that of the Tattvavādīs. In Uḍupī, He saw Kṛṣṇa and there began to relish the divine ecstacy of prema. Seeing the supremely charming form of Nartaka Gopāla who had appeared to Madhvācārya in a dream. The deity had been concealed in a chunk of gopī-candana that was being transported by boat and came to Madhvācārya in a miraculous manner. Madhvācārya brought the deity (back to Uḍupī) and established a temple for Him there. Till this day, the Tattvavādīs serve that deity. Seeing the deity of Kṛṣṇa, the Lord felt great bliss. Greatly absorbed in prema, He sang and danced profusely.]
Here the most important point to note is that Śrīman Mahāprabhu had not seen a deity of Śrī Kṛṣṇa anywhere and was thus had not really found joy in His heart anywhere. Rather, with the various worshippers of Viṣṇu-tattva, He endured a fair measure of difficulty discussing tattva and getting people to understand the supremacy of Śrī Kṛṣna’s tattva. This occured to the extent that He even felt great pain in His heart. However, as soon as He came to Madhvācārya’s Uḍupī and saw the deity of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, He experienced mahā-sukha (great joy)—“kṛṣṇa-mūrti dekhi’ prabhu mahāsukha pāila |.” Elsewhere, upon seeing the deities of Viṣṇu, Mahāprabhu danced and sang with great prema, but in this place “He relished prema.”—the prema Mahāprabhu had appeared in Nadiyā, in Śrīdhāma Māyāpura, to relish. It was only when He came to Uḍupī that He found the opportunity to relish ujjvala-rasa. He saw the presiding deity of parama-ujjvala vātsalya-rasa (supremely refulgent parental love), His cherished form of the para-tattva (Supreme Truth), Nartaka-Gopāla (Dancing Gopāla), who is holding a churning rod and dancing. Śrīman Mahāprabhu had not seen such a supremely captivating form in all His wanderings of South India. Naturally He found ātma-prasāda (soul satisfaction) upon arriving in Madhvācārya’s place.
From this it is evident that He did not accept as His predecessor ācāryas any of the South Indian Nārāyaṇa-worshipping ācāryas like Rāmānuja, or the Nṛsiṁha worshippers like Viṣṇusvāmī and others. The sampradāya that accepted Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the supreme tattva was the sampradāya He accepted, because Śrīman Mahāprabhu is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, and kṛṣṇa-tattva was the main topic of His preaching. His appearance was expressly dedicated to the purpose of adopting the moods of the gopīs and relishing kṛṣṇa-rasa. Therefore, where else but to kṛṣṇa-tattva could Mahāprabhu sell His soul?
Previously we saw that the one reason Mahāprabhu sold His soul to Guṇarāja Khā̃na was because that great poet had described Nanda-nandana Kṛṣṇa as the sole object of worship. That Nanda-nandana Kṛṣṇa, the arcāvatāra, or deity, of vātsalya-bhāva was being worshipped in the Mādhva-sampradāya in the form of Śrī Nartaka Gopāla. Śrī Kṛṣṇa personally came to His intimate associate Madhvācārya, in a dream, and then appeared before him in reality. Having travelled the whole of South India, Śrīman Mahāprabhu had not been able to see the worship and service of Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme in any other sampradāya. Thus what doubt can there be that He would sell Himself to Madhva and his lineage, to the line of his disciples and grand-disciples. This right here is Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s acceptance of a sampradāya. Why can’t Vidyāvinoda Mahāśaya understand that?
Another question may arise: In the Uttara-rāḍhī Maṭha established by Madhvācārya, the deities of Śrī Rāma and Sītā are being worshipped. This is not the worship of Kṛṣṇa. But Mahāprabhu Himself, in His Ṣadbhuja form is Rāmacandra, Kṛṣṇacandra, and Gauracandra. This is the form He showed Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya. The amazing thing is that in South India only Śrī Madhvācārya (and his followers) worship Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra and Śrī Rāmacandra. This is because Śrī Madhvācārya, as an incarnation of Śrī Śrīmat Hanūmat himself, was a one-pointed servant of Śrī Rāmacandra in dāsya-rasa. Then in the form of Śrī Bhīmasena, He served Śrī Kṛṣṇacandra in one-pointed sakhya-bhāva. Then, in Kali-yuga, to facilitate the finest service to Śrīman Mahāprabhu, Śrī Śrī Nartaka-Gopāla, who is immersed in vātsalya-rasa and holding the churning rod, appeared in Śrī Madhva’s heart via a dream and then manifested Himself from the chunk of gopī-candana. Śrī Madhva’s place of bhajana is an unprecedented amalgamation of the worship of both Śrī Rāma and Kṛṣṇa. And Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s appearance and revelation as the Ṣadbhuja-mūrti is the unprecedented union of upāsyas to be worshipped. Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s incarnation like this is the incarnation of the acintya-bhedābheda (inconceivable oneness and difference) present throughout the Viṣṇu-tattva. Śrī Madhva is the main ācārya who revealed this tattva; and that is why he is the Tattvavādī Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavācārya.