Samadhis of Jiva and Krsnadasa Gosvamis
A Comprehensive Guide to Śrī Vṛndāvana Dhāma
Srila Jiva Gosvami
He was the son of Anupama (Vallabha), who was the brother of Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami. He established the Radha Damodara Temple. He was born in Ramkeli, Bengal in 1514 and he left his body in Vrindavana in 1618. From his childhood Jiva Gosvami was greatly fond of Srimad Bhagavatam. He went to Navadvipa to study Sanskrit and circumambulated the entire Navadvipa Dhama. He toured Navadvipa Dhama with Nityananda Prabhu. He went to Benares (Varanasi) to study Sanskrit under Madhusudana Vacaspati, a disciple of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya. After finishing his studies he went to Vrindavana and took shelter of his uncles, Sri Rupa Gosvami and Sri Sanatana Gosvami. This is described in Bhakti-ratnakara.
After the disappearance of Srila Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami in Vrindavana, Srila Jiva Gosvami became the acarya of all the Vaishnavas in Bengal, Orissa and the rest of the world. He used to guide them in devotional service. Jiva Gosvami established the worship of Radha Damodara in the Seva Kunja area in Vrindavana, in 1542. When Jiva Gosvami was still present, Krishna Dasa Kaviraja Gosvami compiled his famous Caitanya Caritamrita. Later, Jiva Gosvami inspired Srinivasa Acarya, Narottama Dasa Thakura, and Syamananda Prabhu (Duhkhi Krishnadasa) to preach Krishna consciousness in Bengal.
While Jiva Gosvami was alive, Srimati Jahnava Devi, the wife of Sri Nityananda Prabhu, came to Vrindavana with a few devotees. Jiva Gosvami was very kind to the Gaudiya Vaishnavas from Bengal.
Jiva Gosvami wrote 25 works in Sanskrit (over 400,000 Sanskrit verses) such as: (1) Sat Sandarbha, (2) Harinam Amrita Vyakaran, (3) Sarva Sambadindi, (4) Gopala Champu, (5) Kramasandarba, (6) Commentary of the Brahma Samhita, (7) Durgama Sangamani, (8) Sutra Malika - a grammatical work dealing with the derivation of words, (9) Commentary on Krishna Karnamrita, (10) Krishna Chandra Dipika.
Jiva Gosvami personally managed the Govindaji, Madana Mohana, Gopinatha and Radha Damodara temples. He assisted Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami to excavate Radha Kunda. It is believed that the Mughal Emperor, Akbar, came to see some of the Gosvamis of Vrindavana in Nidhivana, in 1573. It is said that since Jiva Goswami was the senior most Vaishnava, that Emperor Akbar came to see him. Akbar became an ardent admirer of them.
Srila Prabhupada said about Jiva Gosvami: “The Vaishnavas are by far the greatest philosophers in the world, and the greatest among them was Srila Jiva Gosvami. Prabhupada.” In the Gaura Ganoddesa Dipika it is said that Jiva Gosvami was formerly Vilasa-manjari gopi in Krishna's eternal lila.
Samadhi
The samadhis of Jiva Gosvami, Rupa Gosvami, Bhugarbha Gosvami, and the puspa-samadhis of Bhaktisiddhanta Gosvami and King Birhambhir of Vishnupur are here. It is said that the samadhi of Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami is here and it is also said that it is at Radha Kunda. The bhajan kutirs (meditation place) of Rupa Gosvami and A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada are also here. When Rupa Gosvami did bhajana here there was only forest.
Jiva Gosvami’s samadhi is to the left of the Deities through a doorway. It is then directly to your right against the temple wall. Bhaktisiddhanta’s puspa samadhi is the white marble samadhi, 5m (15 ft) in front of you as you enter the doorway. It is the first one in the second row. Rupa Gosvami’s samadhi is on the right side of the temple across from his bhajana kutir. Bhugarbha Gosvami’s samadhi is close to the wall, not far from Rupa Gosvami’s samadhi. Sakhi Charan Raya Bhakta Vijaya’s samadhi is red sandstone and is next to Bhugarbha Gosvami’s samadhi. He is a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati. He was a wealthy landlord from Bengal, who contributed to renovate the Radha Damodara temple and Imli Tala.
The Gosvamis would meet here and discuss how to spread Krishna consciousness. This temple was built by Maharaja Man Singh of Amber (Jaipur). Jiva Gosvami established a library here, where He stored all the original manuscripts of the Gosvamis. The time factor and negligence have combined to destroy a majority of these works. The Vrindavana Research Institute has been able to preserve some of the original library, including autographed manuscripts of Sanatana Gosvami and Rupa Gosvami. At one time there were over 2000 manuscripts here, many over three or four hundred years old.
Narottama dasa Thakur, Syamananda Prabhu and Srinivasa Acarya, by the order of Jiva Gosvami, took the original manuscripts of the Gosvami and brought them to Bengal to be copied. They were stolen by a gang of dacoits (thieves) under Birhambhir, the king of Vishnupur. Eventually King Birhambhir returned the sastras (scriptures) and took initiation from Srinivasa Acarya. He then renamed his capital city, calling it Vishnupur.
Jiva Gosvami's Will
In Jiva Gosvami’s will, he left all the Deities, temples and properties that he had inherited from the other Gosvamis to Sri Vilas dasa, who was Jiva’s successor as the head priest of the Radha Damodara Temple. Sri Krishna dasa was the next manager. The temple was managed by the descendants of Sri Krishna for about a century. Because Sri Krishna had no children, two of his nephews came from Bengal to do the worship of Damodaraji. The present temple proprietor (sevait) is a descendant of one of these nephews. Srila Prabhupada writes about Krishna dasa brahmacari, Jiva’s disciple in the Caitanya Caritamrita. “Krishna dasa Brahmacari was formally among the group of sakhis known as asta sakhis (eight principal gopi associates of Srimati Radhika). His name was Indulekha. Krishna dasa Brahmacari lived in Vrindavana.” The samadhi of Krishna dasa Brahmacari is within the Radha Damodara temple compound.
In 1670 Emperor Aurangzeb had some of the temples in Vrindavana destroyed or damaged. The Radha Damodara temple was not destroyed, because Aurangzeb’s soldiers thought the simply designed Radha Damodara temple was a private residence.
Direction: The Radha Damodara temple is not far from Loi Bazaar. To get to this temple from Loi Bazaar you go on the road across from Mahesh cloth shop for about 200 metres (625 ft). This road is in the middle of Loi Bazaar. You bear right at the intersection and the Radha Damodara temple is on the left after going about 50m (150 feet). Most of the local people know where this temple is located.
Temple Timings: Summer: Mangala arati - 4:30 am; Darshan: 6:30 am to 12:30 pm and 5:00 to 9:00 pm. Winter: Mangala arati - 5:00am; Darshan: 7:30am to 1:00 pm and 4:15 to 8:45pm.