Rupa Goswami [1493–1564] is known as bhakti-rasacharya, the expert in the tastes of pure devotional service to Krishna. He and his elder brother, Srila Sanatana Goswami, left high posts in the government of Nawab Hussein Shah to join Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Empowered by Lord Chaitanya, Srila Rupa Goswami wrote many practical, yet profound books about the science of Krishna consciousness. A summary study of his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu is available as The Nectar of Devotion, and his Upadeshamrita is available as The Nectar of Instruction.
More About Rupa Goswami
Gaudiya Vaishnavas (Vaishnavas in the line of Lord Chaitanya) are known as rupanugas, followers of Sri Rupa Goswami. Every Gaudiya Vaishnavas aspires to become a servant of Rupa Goswami.
Narottama dasa Thakura says that to understand the love of Radha and Krishna, one must serve the lotus feet of Sri Rupa Goswami with intense eagerness, by hearing, studying, chanting, and strictly following the teachings of Sri Rupa Goswami.
In Chaitanya-chandrodaya, Sri Kavi Karnapura says that Rupa Goswami is the form of true love and devotion. Sri Chaitanya empowered him to explain His own love and devotion, and to spread it in the world. Rupa Goswami received the title bhakti-rasacharya (guru of devotional mellows) for his devotional classics, of which Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu gives the essence of all Vedic scriptures regarding the kingdom of bhakti.
He met Haridasa Thakura in Jagannatha Puri, where he also met Lord Chaitanya and His other associates. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu used to praise the handwriting of Rupa Goswami. Srila Rupa Goswami could compose verses according to the desires of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and by His direction he wrote two books named Lalita-madhava and Vidagdha-madhava.
In the Bhakti-ratnakara there is a list of the books Sri Rupa Goswami compiled. Of all his books, the following sixteen are very popular among Vaishnavas: (1) Hamsaduta, (2) Uddhava-sandesha, (3) Krishna-janma-tithi-vidhi, (4 and 5) Radha-krishna-ganoddesha-dipika, Brihat (major) and Laghu (minor), (6) Stavamala, (7) Vidagdha-madhava, (8) Lalita-madhava, (9) Dana-keli-kaumudi, (10) Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu
Sri Rupa Manjari Pada the Feet of Sri Rupa Manjari
Text One
The lotus feet of Sri Rupa Manjari are my treasure, my devotional service, and my object of worship. They give my life meaning, and they are the life of my life.
Text Two
They are the perfection of rasa, and they are perfection worthy of attainment. They are the very law of the Vedic scriptures for me. They are the meaning of all my fasts and penances and my silent uttering of my mantras. They are the basis of religion and activities.
Text Three
By the purifying process of favorable devotional service one will attain perfection and with these two eyes be able to see. His transcendental form is shining like moonlight in my heart, and my heart therefore shines and reciprocates. In other words, the ordinary moon lights up the night, and its shine illuminates other objects; but the moon of the effulgence of the form of Sri Rupa Manjari shines into the heart and makes the heart also shine back to the spiritual sky. This moon shines not only in the nighttime, but day and night.
Text Four
Your absence from my vision is like a dose of strong poison, and I will suffer till the end of my life. Narottama dasa Thakura says: "Please give me your mercy and the shade of your lotus feet."
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