Śrī Lokanātha Gosvāmī Disappearance Day

Identity in the spiritual world

lokanāthākhya gosvāmī śrī līlā mañjarī purā

Lokanātha Gosvāmī was known as Līlā mañjarī in Kṛṣṇa Līlā [Śrī Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 187].

Śrīla Lokanātha Gosvāmī meets Mahāprabhu

Lokanātha Gosvāmī renounced the householder āśrama in 1510 and came to meet Mahāprabhu in Navadvīpa. Mahāprabhu immediately told him to go and live in Vṛndāvana, telling him that it was His own intention to take sannyāsa very shortly and go there Himself. Lokanātha Gosvāmī started to cry when he imagined the Lord with His beautiful curly hair shorn and the distress the devotees would feel at His sannyāsa. When the Lord saw Lokanātha Gosvāmī’s anxiety, He embraced him and consoled him with His mystical words, and Lokanātha Gosvāmī surrendered completely to Him. When Bhūgarbha Gosvāmī (Lokanātha Gosvāmī’s paternal uncle) saw how unhappy Lokanātha Gosvāmī was, he decided to accompany him to Vṛndāvana. The two companions walked through Rajmahal, Tajpur, Purnia, Ayodhya, Lucknow and many holy places before finally arriving in Vraja.

Though he had come to Vṛndāvana on Mahāprabhu’s order, Lokanātha Gosvāmī constantly felt intense separation from the Lord, and shed copious tears in his desire to see Him again. When he received the news that Mahāprabhu had taken sannyāsa and gone to Puri and from there to the South on pilgrimage, Lokanātha Gosvāmī hurried to southern India in order to join Him. When he arrived in the south, he heard that Mahāprabhu was no longer there, but had gone to Vṛndāvana. Lokanātha Gosvāmī immediately set off for Vṛndāvana, hoping to see the Lord there, but by the time he arrived, he heard that the Lord had gone to Prayag. Disappointed, but still determined to see the Lord, Lokanātha Gosvāmī decided to set off again for Prayag.

This time, however, Mahāprabhu appeared to Lokanātha Gosvāmī and in a dream and told him to stop moving about and remain in Vṛndāvana to perform his bhajana. Not long afterwards, Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī and other of the Lord’s associates started coming to live in Vraja. Their association brought Lokanātha Gosvāmī immense joy.

When Rūpa Gosvāmī was getting old, he found it difficult to walk all the way to Govardhan to take darśana of Gopāla. Seeing his intense desire, Gopāla came to stay at the house of Viṭṭhaleśvara in Mathura, ostensibly out of fear of Muslim iconoclasts, but actually to show His mercy to Rūpa Gosvāmī. The deity stayed there for a month, during which time Rūpa Gosvāmī came for His darśana with Lokanātha Gosvāmī and other Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas.

Lokanātha Gosvāmī worshipped Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in deep separation, and with extreme renunciation. He was afraid of the slightest amount of fame. Thus he forbade Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī to write anything about him in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta, with the result that nothing was written about him there other than his name. Sanātana Gosvāmī also mentioned his name in the maṅgalācaraṇa to the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, as well as in his Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī commentary to the Tenth Canto of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam.

vṛndāvana-priyān vande śrī-govinda-

padāśritān śrīmat-kāśīśvaraṁ lokanāthaṁ

śrī-kṛṣṇa-dāsakam

“I pay obeisance to Kāśīśvara Paṇḍita, Lokanātha Gosvāmī and Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, who have taken shelter of Lord Govinda’s lotus feet and to whom residence in Vṛndāvana is very dear.”

Lokanātha Gosvāmī and Rādhāvinoda

Lokanātha Gosvāmī constantly traveled throughout Vraja, ecstatically visiting the various holy places where Kṛṣṇa had engaged in His pastimes. Once, he went to Khadiravana. Then he visited Kishori kuṇḍa, near the village of Umarao by Chatravan. He stayed there for some time to do his bhajana in isolation. He developed a deep desire to worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in their deity form. The Lord knows the desires of His devotees and feels Himself obliged to fulfill them. He came personally to give Lokanātha Gosvāmī a deity, telling him before disappearing that its name was Rādhāvinoda.

Lokanātha Gosvāmī was astonished at seeing the appearance of the deity and started to wonder who gave him the deity. Rādhāvinoda cast His sweet glance on Lokanātha Gosvāmī and said to him, “I have been living in this village of Umarao on the banks of Kishori kuṇḍa. I saw your eagerness to serve Me, and so I came here on My own. Who else but Me could have brought Me to you? I am very hungry. Quickly prepare something for Me to eat.”

When Lokanātha Gosvāmī heard these words, tears began to flow from his eyes. He quickly started cooking for Rādhāvinoda and then made an offering that the deity ate with great satisfaction. Lokanātha Gosvāmī then made Rādhāvinoda a bed of flowers upon which he placed Him, fanned Him with branches and joyfully massaged His feet. Lokanātha Gosvāmī devoted himself to Rādhāvinoda in body, mind and soul.

Lokanātha Gosvāmī 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 Rādhāvinoda’s temple. Wearing the bag around his neck, he was able to keep his worshipable deity close to his heart like a necklace. When they saw the affectionate relationship between Lokanātha Gosvāmī and his Lord, the people of Vraja were attracted to him and asked if they could build a house for him and Rādhāvinoda, but Lokanātha Gosvāmī refused. His spirit of renunciation was so strong that he declined to accept anything but what he absolutely needed for the deity’s service.

Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura becomes the disciple of Lokanātha Gosvāmī

After spending some time at Kishori Kunda, Lokanātha Gosvāmī came to Vṛndāvana. He learned that Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī had ended their pastimes in this world and lamented their departure in great sadness. At around this time, Narottama Dāsa, who was the son of Rāja Kṛṣṇānanda Datta of Gopalpur in Rajshahi (now in Bangladesh), came to Vṛndāvana and met him there. Many years earlier, Nityānanda Prabhu cried in divine ecstasy on His way to Nīlācala. Mahāprabhu stored this divine love with the Padmāvatī River for Narottama Ṭhākura’s benefit. Since then, the place has come to be known as Prematali. Years later, when Narottama Ṭhākura 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 Vṛndāvana.

Upon his arrival in Vraja, Narottama Ṭhākura received the grace of Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī and Lokanātha Gosvāmī. He received Lokanātha Gosvāmī’s special mercy, for he became his one and only disciple. Lokanātha Gosvāmī was extremely renounced and had made a vow not to accept any disciples. But Narottama Dāsa also made a vow – to take initiation from no one other than Lokanātha Gosvāmī. Narottama Ṭhākura repeatedly asked Lokanātha Gosvāmī to give him initiation, but Lokanātha Gosvāmī was firm in his refusal. In order to win his favor, Narottama Ṭhākura went in the middle of the night to clean the area he used as a toilet. Lokanātha Gosvāmī was so surprised to see that the place was being kept clean and free from the bad odor that he became curious to find out who was doing this service. One night, he went and hid there in some bushes, chanting japa the entire night. At midnight, Lokanātha Gosvāmī saw someone come and begin cleaning the place. When he saw who it was, Lokanātha Gosvāmī was astonished that Narottama Ṭhākura, the son of a king, was engaged in doing such a filthy task. He felt embarrassed and asked him what his purpose was in doing it. Narottama Ṭhākura immediately began to cry. He fell at Lokanātha Gosvāmī’s feet and said, “My life is useless unless I obtain your mercy.” When Lokanātha Gosvāmī saw Narottama Ṭhākura’s humility and pain, his resolve to never give anyone initiation softened and he imparted mantras to him. This is a perfect example of how one can win over the worshipable deity through honest and selfless service. Narottama Dāsa took initiation from Lokanātha Gosvāmī on the full-moon day of the month of Śrāvaṇa. Since then Narottama Ṭhākura was engaged in selfless and sincere service to Lokanātha Gosvāmī. However, for the benefit of the entire world, and especially to the people of northern Bengal, Lokanātha Gosvāmī sent Narottama Ṭhākura for preaching there.

Lokanātha Gosvāmī was a much renounced Vaiṣṇava, but he saw in Narottama Ṭhākura someone who not only had a cultured background but an enthusiasm and taste for dealing with people. As a result, he asked him to go back to his homeland to preach Kṛṣṇa 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 has no enthusiasm for engaging in activities for the welfare of people on the bodily platform. When a devotee of Narottama Dāsa’s caliber goes against this principle, then such activities themselves are honored, and they increase in prestige. So Narottama Ṭhākura returned to northern Bengal on the order of his spiritual master and began to preach pure devotional service and thus delivered the people of his homeland. In his collection of songs known as Prārthanā, Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura has written:

aneka-duḥkhera pare, layechile vraja-pure

kṛpa-ḍore galāya bāndhiyā

daiva-māyā-balātkāre, khasāiyā sei ḍore

bhava-kūpe kileka ḍāriyā

“After suffering much sadness, O Lord, You brought me to Vraja, pulling me by the rope of mercy, which You had tied around my neck. Māyā and fate forced me back into the well of material existence by cutting loose that rope of mercy.” Lokanātha Gosvāmī left this world somewhere around 1589 on the eighth day of the dark moon in the month of Āṣāḍha. His samādhi tomb is found in the Rādhā Gokulananda temple in Vṛndāvana. His beloved Rādhāvinoda deity continues to be served in the same temple.

Important lessons

1. By refusing to have his name mentioned in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Śrīla Lokanātha Gosvāmī teaches that true spiritual progress involves humility and detachment from worldly recognition, encouraging devotees to serve quietly and selflessly, focusing on pleasing the Lord rather than gaining personal recognition.

2. Lokanātha Gosvāmī worshipped Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa with deep feelings of separation, shedding copious tears in his desire to see the Lord. This shows how experiencing feelings of separation from the Lord can deepen one’s devotion and longing for spiritual connection, fueling greater dedication in service and sādhana.

3. Though initially refusing to accept disciples, Lokanātha Gosvāmī was moved by Narottama Dāsa Ṭhākura’s humility and dedication, ultimately accepting him and guiding him in devotional service. Spiritual mentors recognize and nurture sincere seekers, offering guidance and support, while aspiring devotees by their humility, perseverance, and a genuine desire for spiritual advancement.

4. The arrival of Rūpa Gosvāmī, Sanātana Gosvāmī, and other associates in Vṛndāvana brought immense joy to Lokanātha Gosvāmī. This highlights the value of association with like-minded, advanced devotees, providing support, inspiration, and strength in one’s spiritual journey.

5. Lokanātha Gosvāmī sent Narottama Ṭhākura to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness in northern Bengal, recognizing his capacity for outreach. This encourages devotees to share their spiritual knowledge and experiences with others, spreading the message of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to benefit society.

6. Lokanātha Gosvāmī’s life was marked by simplicity and minimalism, accepting only what was necessary for the service of his deity. This teaches that leading a simple life focused on spiritual goals rather than material accumulation helps in cultivating a deeper connection with the Lord and remaining undistracted in one’s devotional practices.