Govardhana Hill
Glories of Govardhana Hill
Appearance of Govardhana Hill
Krishna's Lifting of Govardhana Hill
Govardhana Parikrama Kusuma
Sarovara Manasi-ganga
Sanatana Goswami Bhajana Kutira Aniyora
Village Govinda Kunda
Sanatana
Goswami's Bhajana
Kutira
 Right next to the Cakalesvara Mahadeva temple is the bhajana
kutira of Srila Sanatana Goswami.
During the last years of his life, Sanatana Goswami came to this place at
Cakra-tirtha and performed bhajana.
When Sanatana Goswami first stayed here, there were so many mosquitoes he
decided to move elsewhere. Just at that moment as he was packing up his few
belongings, Chakalesvara Mahadeva (Lord Siva) appeared before him in the guise of
a brahmana and asked him why he was
going away. Sanatana explained that the mosquitoes were a constant source of
disturbance and he found it very difficult when he was writing his books.
The brahmana informed Sanatana
that from now on the mosquitoes would no longer disturb him and he could
continue staying here at Cakra-tirtha. Sanatana stayed and found that he was no
longer bothered by the mosquitoes. Local people still say that even today no
mosquitoes can be found at Cakra-tirtha.
Even at the advanced age of nearly seventy, Sanatana
Goswami would daily
go on parikrama of Govardhana Hill.
One day Lord Krishna appeared before Sanatana in the guise of cowherd boy. Krishna
informed Sanatana that as he was now very old it was no longer necessary to go
on parikrama around Govardhana Hill.
Sanatana replied that he could not give it up as it was part of his daily vows.
Seeing that Sanatana was determined to continue, Krishna brought a rock from
Govardhana Hill and gave it to Sanatana. Impressed upon the rock was the lotus
footprint of Sri Krishna, the hoof print of a calf, and Krishna’s flute and stick
for herding cows. Krishna informed Sanatana that circumambulating the rock seven
times would be equal to doing parikrama
of Govardhana Hill.
On seeing the wonderful Govardhana-sila, Sanatana felt ecstatic love, and
tears flowed from his eyes. By the time he regained his composure the cowherd
boy had disappeared. Sanatana then realized that He was none other than Lord
Sri Krishna in the guise of a cowherd boy. Sanatana shed even more tears and
condemned himself for not being able to recognize his most worshipable Lord.
Sanatana then took the sila to
his bhajana kutira and, following the Lord’s instructions, began to
circumambulate this sila everyday for
the rest of his life. After his disappearance the Govardhana-sila was kept at
the Radha Damodara temple in Vrindavana. Another sila (the size of a finger tip) was also found amongst the
possessions of Sanatana Goswami. This tiny
sila is now being worshipped by the Gosain of Vrindavana’s New Madan-Mohan
Mandira.
Sanatana
Goswami established the temple of Madan-Mohan in Vrindavana and
wrote a number of important books including Hari-bhakti-vilasa,
Brhad-bhagavatamrta, Brhad-vaisnava-tosani-tika, Lila-stava, Dasami-carita
and a commentary on the Tenth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam
known as Dasami-tipani. Sanatana Goswami was the seniormost amongst the six
Goswamis and was regarded as the
spiritual master of all the followers of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Even the
Vrajavasis who loved him dearly, considered him to be their guru.
 On the Guru-Purnima, it was the
custom of the devotees from Vrindavana to offer worship to Sanatana Goswami.
Headed by the Goswamis Rupa, Raghunatha dasa, Raghunatha Bhatta, Gopala Bhatta
and Jiva, they all came to Sanatana’s bhajana
kutira at Cakra-tirtha and requested
him to lead them on parikrama of
Manasi-ganga as he had done every year. When they saw that after a long time
Sanatana Goswami did not move but simply sat silently, they realized he had
entered into samadhi.
A great cry of lamentation rent the air as the devotees shed tears in
separation of their beloved Sanatana. That was in the year 1558. Sanatana Goswami was the first of Lord Chaitanya’s disciples to leave the world, and his
disappearance sent shock waves throughout the whole of Vraja as well as Bengal.
The Goswamis brought the sacred body of Sanatana Goswami in a great procession
to Vrindavana and entombed it in a beautiful garden next to the Madan-Mohan
Mandira on the side of Dvadasaditya Hill.
top
of page
|
