Srila Lokanath Goswami
Srila Lokanath Goswami was the only Goswami to meet Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when he was still Nimai Pandit in Navadwip before he took sannyasa. Srila Lokanath Goswami is considered to be Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s direct disciple and associate. Prior to coming to Nabadwip, he lived in the village of Talkhori in the Jessore district of present-day Bangladesh. Prior to that, he resided in Kanchra Para. His father’s name was Padmanabha Chakravarti and his mother’s name was Sita Devi. This is confirmed by the Bhakti-ratnäkara:
çrémad-rädhä-vinodaika-
sevä-sampat-samanvitam |
padmanäbhätmajaà çrémal-
lokanätha-prabhuà bhaje ||
I worship Lokanath Prabhu, the son of Padmanabha, whose life revolved around the wealth of service he possessed to his deity RadhaVinoda. (Bhakti-ratnäkara 1.297)
The descendants of Lokanath’s brother, Pragalbha Bhattacharya are still living in Talkhori. Bhugarbha Goswami was Lokanath’s closest associate and constant companion. He was Prema Manjari in Vraja (Gaura-gaëoddeça-dépikä 187). According to the Sädhana-dépikä, Bhugarbha was Lokanath’s paternal uncle.
Srila Lokanath Goswami renounced his householder ashram in 1510 (1431 of the Çaka era) and came to meet Mahaprabhu as Nimai Pandit in Nabadwip. Mahaprabhu told him that he should go live in Vrindavan and discover the location of all Krishna’s pastime places in Vraja. Mahaprabhu then confided in him that it was His intention to take sannyasa very shortly and after meeting him there Himself. Srila Lokanath Goswami started to cry when he imagined the Lord without His beautiful curly hair and the acute distress the devotees would feel at His departure. When the Lord saw Srila Lokanath Goswami’s anxiety, He embraced him and consoled him with various spiritual instructions and Lokanath surrendered completely to Him. When Bhugarbha saw how unhappy Lokanath was, he decided to also accompany him to Vrindavan. The two companions walked through Rajmahal, Tajpur, Purnia, Lucknow, and many holy places before finally arriving in Vraja.
Although he had come to Vrindavan on Mahaprabhu’s order, Lokanath constantly felt intense separation from the Lord and felt great anguish shedding copious tears in separation to see Him again. When he received the news that Mahaprabhu had taken sannyasa and gone to Puri and from there to south India on pilgrimage, Lokanath hurried to Southern India in order to join Him. When he arrived in the South, he heard that Mahaprabhu was no longer there, but had gone to Vrindavan. Lokanath immediately set off for Vrindavan, hoping to meet the Lord there, but when he arrived, he heard that the Lord had gone on to Prayag. Disappointed, but still determined to see the Lord, Lokanath decided to set off once again for Prayag.
This time, however, Mahaprabhu appeared to him in a dream and told Lokanath to stop moving here and there and remain in Vrindavan to discover Krishna’s pastimes places and perform his bhajan. Not long afterward, Sri Rupa, Sri Sanatan, and Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami’s as well as other associates of the Lord started coming to live in Vraja on the Lord’s order. Their association brought Lokanath Goswami immense joy.
When Sri Rupa was getting old, he found it difficult to walk all the way to Govardhan to take the darshan of Gopal. Out of his intense desire, Gopal came to stay at the house of Bitthalesvara in Mathura, ostensibly out of fear of Muslim iconoclasts, but actually to show his mercy to Sri Rupa Goswami. The deity stayed there for a month, during which time Sri Rupa came for his darshan, along with Lokanath and other Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
Srila Lokanath Goswami worshiped Radha and Krishna in deep separation, which increased the intensity of his renunciation. He was always afraid of the slightest amount of fame. Thus, he forbade Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami to write anything about him in the Chaitanya Charitamrita, with the result that nothing was written about him there other than his name. Sri Sanatan Goswami also mentioned his name in the maìgaläcaraëa to the Hari-bhakti-viläsa, as well as in his Vaiñëava-toñaëé commentary to the tenth canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam.
Srila Lokanath Goswami constantly traveled throughout Vraja, ecstatically discovering the many holy places where Krishna had engaged in His pastimes. Once, he went to Khadiravan. Then he visited Kishor Kund near the village of Umarao by Chatravan. He was so impressed by the beauty of the site that he stayed there for some time to do his bhajan in isolation. After being absorbed in Nam bhajan for some time, Lokanath Goswami developed a deep desire to worship Radha and Krishna in their deity form. The Lord always knows the desires of his devotees and feels obliged to fulfill them. He thus came personally to give Lokanath a deity, telling him before disappearing that its name was Radhavinoda.
Lokanath’s first reaction was astonishment at seeing the beautiful deity; then he became filled with anxiety at the thought that the Lord himself had to personally come to him. But Radhavinoda cast his sweet glance on Lokanath and said to him, “I have been living here in this village of Umarao on the banks of Kishor Kund. I saw your eagerness to serve me and so came here by my own desire. Who else but I could have brought me to you? Now I am very hungry, so quickly prepare some nice preparations for me to eat.”
When Lokanath heard these words, tears began to flow from his eyes. He quickly started cooking for Radhavinoda and then made an offering that the deity ate with great satisfaction. Lokanath then made Radhavinoda a bed of flowers upon which he placed him, fanned him with leafy branches, and joyfully massaged his feet. Thereafter, Lokanath devoted himself fully to Radhavinoda in body, mind, and soul.
Lokanath wondered where he would keep his deity, as he was constantly wandering through the land of Vraja. Finally, he decided to make a large bag, which he made into Radhavinoda’s temple. Wearing the bag around his neck, he was able to keep his worshipful deity close to his heart like a necklace. When people saw the depth of intimate affectionate between Lokanath and Radhavinode, the Vrajavasis were attracted to him and offered to build a house for him and Radhavinoda, but Lokanath refused. His spirit of renunciation was so strong that he declined to accept anything but what he absolutely needed for the deity’s service.
After spending some time at Kishore Kund, Lokanath came to Vrindavan. He learned that Sri Rupa and Sri Sanatan had ended their pastimes in this world and lamented their departure in great sadness. At around this time, Narottam Das, who was the son of the Raja Krishnananda Datta of Gopalpur in Rajshahi (now in Bangladesh), came to Vrindavan and met him there.
Many years earlier, when Mahaprabhu was traveling through Bengal, He cried in ecstasy after telling Nityananda to go to Puri. This took place at a spot on the banks of the Padmavati River that is now known as Prematali. In fact, Mahaprabhu was storing His divine love there for Narottam’s later benefit. Years later, when Narottam took his bath in the river at Prematali, he was immediately overcome with Prema and was inspired to cut off all family ties and go to Vrindavan.
Upon his arrival in Vraja, Narottam met with Lokanath. He received Lokanath’s special mercy, for he became his one and only disciple. Lokanath was extremely renounced and had made a vow not to accept any disciples. But Narottam Das also made a vow—to take initiation from no one other than Lokanath. Narottam repeatedly asked Lokanath to give him initiation, but Lokanath was firm in his refusal. In order to win his favor, Narottam went in the middle of the night to clean the area he used as a toilet. Lokanath was so surprised to see that the place was being kept clean every day and he became curious to find out who was doing this service. So one evening he went and hid in some bushes silently chanting Japa the entire night waiting to see who was this unknown person rendering service to him.
At midnight Lokanath saw someone approach and begin cleaning the area. When he saw who it was he was astonished that Narottam, son of King Krishnananda Datta, was engaged in doing such a lowly task. Lokanath felt embarrassed and asked for what purpose was he doing this. Narottam immediately began to cry and fell at Lokanath’s Goswami’s feet in distress “O’ master my life is useless unless I obtain your mercy.” When Lokanath realized the depth of Narottam’s humility and saw his anguish, Lokanath’s resolve to never accept anyone for initiation softened and he accepted Narotama as his only disciple and imparted Vaisnava mantras to him.
This is a perfect example of how one can win over the worshipful deity through honest and selfless service. Narottam Das took initiation from Lokanath on the full moon day of the month of Shravan (July-August period). Sri Lokanath and Sri Narottam engaged in this pastime to show to the whole world the value of selfless and sincere service and especially to the people of Northern Bengal.
Lokanath was a very renounced Vaishnava, but he saw in Narottam someone who not only had an educated and cultured background but enthusiasm and taste for expanding Sri Chaitanya sankirtan mission. As a result, he ordered him to go back to his homeland and propagate Krishna’s consciousness.
When one has taken full shelter of the Supreme Lord and is situated on the transcendental platform in full service to the Lord, then he usually has no enthusiasm for engaging in activities for the welfare of people on the bodily platform. When a devotee of Narottam Das’ caliber goes against this principle, then such welfare activities themselves are honored and they increase in prestige. So Narottam returned to Northern Bengal on the order of his spiritual master he began to preach pure devotional service and thus delivered the people of his homeland.
In his collection of songs known as Prärthanä, Narottam Das Thakur has written:
aneka-duùkhera pare, layechile vraja-pure
kåpä-òore galäya bändhiyä
daiva-mäyä balät-kare, khasäiyä sei òore
bhava-küpe kileka òäriyä
After suffering much sadness, O Lord, you brought me to Vraja, pulling me by the rope of mercy you had tied around my neck. Maya and fate forced me back into the well of material existence by cutting loose that rope of mercy.
Lokanath Goswami left this world somewhere around 1588-9 AD, on the eighth day of the dark moon in the month of Asharh (June –July period). His samadhi tomb is found in the Radha Gokulananda temple in Vrindavan.
(Courtsey:: https://www.prabhupadarays.com/srila-lokanath-goswami/)
Jaya Radha Vinoda!
Jaya Lokanatha Goswami!
