The Author of Sri Chaitanya-Charitamrita.

From SREE SAJJANA-TOSHANI
THE HARMONIST July, 1929

His Ashram.

A WORSHIPPER of the family Deity Sri Madan Gopal, Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami had an innate devotion to Vishnu as revealed in his dealings with his brother with whom he severed all connections. It cannot be known for certain whether he lived the life of a house-holder while at Jhamatpur. His brother showed want of faith in Lord Nityananda the all- pervading and all-permeating Oversoul and the Prime Cause of all existence, thereby courting self annihilation or, in other words, turned an infidel atheist.

By the order of Lord Nityananda he went Holy Brindaban, and was freed from the evils of worldly affinity; this clearly shows that he entered into a new phase of life (ashram). There are different opinions regarding his mode of life even before that. Some say that it is easy for one to renounce the world and go to Holy Brindaban while still a Brahmachari (a bachelor student); otherwise we would have heard from him much of how difficult it is to tear asunder the knotty ties of the world. Others hold that he did not mention it, as it is not at all proper for one who has cut off his connection with family life to recount them; so he did not give even a hint on his past life. Whatever sort of life might he have lived before he left for Brindaban, it is sure that after he had gone there he spent the whole time in the service of Krishna and was utterly indifferent to worldly matters. This is last stage of life which should be solely devoted to the service of the Supreme Lord. It was when he attained the status of a Paramahamsa (the highest spiritual plane) after passing all the stages of life that he composed Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita a masterpiece of world literature.

In pious circles he is commonly known by the name of Kabiraj Goswami. Thakur Narottam styled him the cynosure of the devotees who had gone to Brindaban. At the end of each chapter of Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita he calls himself the humblest follower of Sri Rupa Goswami and Sri Raghunath Das Goswami-- the two pioneers of the religious renaissance of the age. In his time he was known as one of the most prominent followers of Sri Rupa Goswami and looked upon as the esoteric teacher of the Lord's own who flourished in later ages. He speaks of the six Goswamis of Braja as his own spiritual guides. Sri Nityananda the saviour of the world conferred on Krishnadas the service of the Divine Couple Sri Radha Gobinda the Transcendental Lord and His Transcendental counterwhole. It was by His Grace alone that he won the favour of Sri Rupa Goswami, Sri Sanatana Goswami, Sri Raghunath Das Goswami and Sri Jiva Goswami. He was, as it were, the very life of those devotees who resided at Brindaban and was cordially attached to Sri Raghunath Das Goswami who was the very heart, as it were, of Sri Damodar Swarup the second embodiment of the Supreme Lord Sri Chaitanya.

So far as his relations with the members of his family are concerned we know only this that he severed his connection with his brother who was disloyal to his spiritual guide Lord Nityananda. As regards other family matters he is quite silent. None but those who were assiduously devoted to the supreme Lord Sri Chaitanya Chandra were regarded by him as his own people.

His Character

As an intimate servant of the Supreme Lord he belonged to the highest order of devotees. Sri Raghunath Das Goswami's as well as Krishna Das's own writing bear testimony to his attachment and loving devotion to Sri Raghunath. Though a towering personality of sterling worth, an erudite scholar and a literary genius, he was still the very embodiment of humility--humbler than a blade of grass.

Even a most cursory reader of Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, however much might be his conceit and vanity, cannot fail to be impressed with the spirit of humility infused into every letter of the sacred book. "I am," says the author, "a worse sinner than Jagai and Madhai, and more insignificant than the worm on the dung-hill. Whosoever hears my name is bound to find his pious inclinations on the wane, commits sin."

The author was assiduously attached and devoted to the Supreme Lord and is held in the highest esteem in the Vaishnava world. All pious accomplishments are ever found in full perfection in a Vaishnava and Kabiraj Goswami was avowedly a Vaishnava of the highest order. These accomplishments are twenty-six in number. Kabiraj Goswami enumerates them in Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Middle part, Ch XXII 75-77. They are clemency, harmlessness, integrity, equanimity, immaculate character, magnanimity, mildness, purity, selflessness, benevolence, self-control, absolute surrender to Krishna only disinterestedness, want to selfish activities, calmness, control over the six appetites, temperance, sobriety, modesty, humility, gravity, compassion, friendliness, wisdom, dexterity, and reticence.

Every line of his writing is suffused with his transcendental spirit and reveals his ethics and devotion.

He was also an adept in the art of the administration of culinary condiments and cherished a pious craving for offering the best foods to his Divine Master--not to enjoy them-- but to conduce to the enjoyment of Him who is the Sole enjoyer of all things in the universe. This is the only way to get rid of the degenerating tendency to satisfy the palate; but, unfortunately for us, we are not inclined to listen to the words of the saint--that physician who possesses knowledge enough to prescribe the regimen for us who are diseased morally and mentally.

The vast learning of this great author, his keen insight into the transcendental reality, his masterly way of argumentation, his wonderful tact and capacity for making abstruse matters clear to the common run of humanity and his study of Poetry, Rhetoric, Epics and Mathematics not only places him high in the estimation of the literary world, but has enabled him to embellish his works with a combination of materials, rarely available elsewhere and fill it with a crowd--a host of perpetual and perennial novelties--so much so that linguists hold that the elite of the whole world will one day strive to learn this neglected language if only to have an acquaintance with this monumental piece of literature.