Jiva Goswami remembered on his ‘Tirobhav’ anniversary

• Grand procession and Nagar Sankirtan was taken our in the city
• Jiva Goswami proves that the Bhagvata Purnan is the natural commentary of Vedanta sutra: Mahant Dr. Satyanarayan Das Babaji

2024.01.14 (Vrindavan Today News): Shrila Jiva Goswami Pada’s Tirobhav Mahotsava was celebrated with great devotion on Sunday at Shri Radha Damodar Mandir. A joyous procession along with Nagar Sankirtan enlivened the streets of Vrindavan on this occasion. The festivities began from 9 am on Sunday and the temple was beautifully decorated with flowers, balloons and festoons. The thankful followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism paid tribute to the Great Acharya on his disappearance day.

Several events were organized in various places of Vrindavan in memory of Shrila Jiva Goswami pada. A grand celebration was held at Damodar Mandir, where Shrila Jiva Goswami’s Samadhi is situated. Special puja was conducted at the Samadhi of Jiva Goswami, following the puja rituals of Thakur Shri Radha Damodar ji. A Mahabhishek was held for Shri Damodar ji and other deities in the temple with panchamrita.  The Shrila jiva Goswami’s deity was also bathed with milk, curd, honey and the herbs and offered elaborated worship.

On this occasion there was a programme of Suchak Kirtan, in which the life of Jiva was sung by the Babajis.  Kirtan and devotional songs reverberated through the temple campus for the entire day.

Shrila Jiva Goswami Disappearance Day is an auspicious day on which the great Acharya left his physical abode to merge with the holy dust of Vrindavan. It is observed on Shukla Paksha Tritiya in Paush Month as per North Indian Hindi calendars.

Srila Jiva Goswami is one of the most important philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava Shool of Vedanta tradition. He produced various prominent works on the theology and practice of Bhakti Yoga. He was one of the  Six Goswamis of Vrindavan. He was the nephew of Shri Rupa Goswami and Shri Sanatan Goswami.

Sri Jiva Goswami Disappearance day was also celebrated with utmost devotion at Jiva Institute, Surma Kunj, Iskcon and other places of Vrindavan.

At Jiva Institute the program began with the recitation of stutis in glorification of Srila Jiva Goswami and the other Goswams. This was followed by arati and pushpanjali. Many of the students of the institute spoke in Sanskrit highlighting the works of Jiva Goswami. Mahant Shri Narayan Das Babaji Das, the Mahant of the Sonar Gauranga Mandir said that our sampradaya is the only sampradaya that has its own grammar system. Everyone else has to study Panini or some other grammar. The greatness of Shri Jiva Goswami’s grammar, called Harinamamrita, is that every sutra contains the name or names of Shri Krishna. Therefore while memorizing sutras one is naturally chanting the holy names which is very pleasing to Vaishnavas.

Jiva Institute’s President Mahant Dr. Satyanarayan Das Baba ji Maharaj spoke about the greatness of Jiva Goswami’s Sat Sandharbhas. He explained how Shri Jiva Goswami proves that the Bhagvata Purnan is the natural commentary of Vedanta sutra.

Baba stressed the need to study the works of Jiva Goswami. In his address Baba ji said, “Shri Jiva Goswami wrote these books for us not for himself. The best way to glorify him is to study his works and apply his teachings in our life. People in our sampradaya think that by doing bhajan (by which they mean chanting) is most important thing. But according to Shri Jiva Goswami, the word bhajan means to do service. Moreover to do bhjan one must know the theory of bhajan from the work of Jiva Goswami. The quality of one’s bhajan will improve if one is clear about siddhanta.

A grand feast was organised during this occasion in which hundreds of sadhus took prasad at Jiva Insititute. Mahant Dr. Satyanarayan Das Babaji Maharaj distributed gifts among the sadhus.