With this blog, I would like to focus on the importance of Srila Rupa Goswami for the bhajan of the Gaudiya Vaishnavas.

He truly plays a key role in our bhajan life.

In our external body, we follow him and in our spiritual body (the siddha deha), we follow his eternal identity in Vraja-lila, Sri Rupa Manjari.

Gaudiya Vaishnavas are not only raganuga bhaktas, but RUPANUGA-bhaktas, following with a dedicated heart Srila Rupa Goswami and Sri Rupa Manjari.

My beloved Gurudeva writes:

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda is the crown jewel of Vaiṣṇavas.

In order to fulfill some special desires in Vraja-līlā, the Original Personality of Godhead Śrī Vrajendra nandana, Who is the abode of matchless beauty and sweetness, has become Gaura, accepting Śrī Rādhā’s feelings and complexion. He had two desires on His mind — one for Himself and one for the world. His own desire is primary and His desire for the world is secondary or auxiliary. Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya has told Śrīman Mahāprabhu — nija gūḍha kārya tomāra prema āsvādana; ānusaṅge premodoy koile tribhuvana
(C.C.)

“Your own secret agenda is to relish Your own love, and as a concomitant factor You filled the three worlds with prema.”

kaichana rādhā premā kaichana (mora) madhurimā, kaichana bhāve tiho bhora  -“How is Rādhā’s love for Me? How is My sweetness, and how is She absorbed in this?”

Accepting Rādhā’s feelings, Śrī Caitanya Deva fulfilled these three desires in so many ways. While relishing this mental desire after the sweetness of Rādhā’s love Himself, He had it established and preached to the world by His own dear associate Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda, in whom the desire had arisen to make the people of the world also relish it in the form of a maidservant of Śrī Rādhā.     

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda has written in his commentary on this verse:
śrī caitanya mahāprabhor mano’bhīṣṭaṁ mano’bhilaṣitaṁ śrīmad bhagavad bhakti rasa śāstraṁ bhūtale yeno rūpeṇa sthāpitaṁ nirūpitam:

“Śrī Rūpa established this desire of Śrī Caitanya on the surface of the earth in the form of his bhagavad-bhakti rasa-śāstras.”

The purport of this is that, although in the pre-Caitanya era different bhakti rasa śāstras were written, the special gift of Śrīman Mahāprabhu in the form of brilliant amorous devotion in allegiance to the beautiful girls of Vraja is now being preached to the world by Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda in his books Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu, Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi, Vidagdha Mādhava, Lalita Mādhava Nāṭaka, Stavamālā and so. That amorous mellow of Vraja that was previously inaccessible to Brahmā, Śiva, Uddhava and others, is now, by Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s grace, described by the mantra-draṣṭā ṛṣi (wise seer) of vraja rasa, Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda, in his rasika books and dramas, made relishable for all ordinary persons in the age of Kali. No one other than the proprietor is able to give one’s own property to others. rasa is the very essence of Godhead, if He does not appear in the world in the form of the deeply compassionate Śrī Gaurāṅga to distribute this, it would never be attainable to the ordinary people. That Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda was inspired by Śrīman Mahāprabhu Himself to preach the principles of rasa was described by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda himself in the opening of his book ‘Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu’ —

hṛdi yasya preraṇayā pravartito’haṁ varāka rūpo’pi
tasya hareḥ padakamalaṁ vande caitanya devasya

“I praise Lord Caitanya’s lotus feet. Although I am an insignifant soul I have begun the undertaking of composing bhakti rasa scriptures because of the inspiration offered by Him.”

Śrīman Mahāprabhu inspired His beloved associate Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda to write books on vraja rasa, which was His desire, to the world. Therefore, those who exclusively desire to relish sweet vraja rasa, which is the highest class of transcendental bhāgavad rasa, should take shelter of the lotus feet of Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda, the dear associate of Śrī Gaurasundara, who is filled with blissful pastimes and who distributed this rasika subject to all and everyone, and study his rasika books.

Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda became a bonafide ācārya of the path preached by Śrīman Mahāprabhu by composing different books and establishing devotion to Kṛṣṇa, the principles of love for Kṛṣṇa, the devotee and Vaiṣṇava-conduct, teaching them through his own example.

In his two books Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu and Ujjvala Nīlamaṇī, Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda has wonderfully outlined the successive stages of attaining loving devotion, from faith and associating with saints to engagement in bhajana, then the successive stages of more advanced loving devotion, from sneha and māna up to praṇaya and mahābhāva, and finally the emotional depth of the various manifestations of mahābhāva — rūḍha, adhirūḍha, modana, mohana and mādana.

 A luminous example of how successful Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was in establishing the desire on Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s mind, by the Lord’s own grace, is given in the discussion between the Lord and Śrī Rāmānanda after Śrīman Mahāprabhu and His associates heard Rūpa’s dramas in the cottage of nāmācārya Śrī Haridāsa in Nīlācala (Puri)—

eto śuni rāya kohe prabhura caraṇe; rūpera kavitva praśaṁsi sahasra vadane
kavitva nā hoy ei amṛtera dhāra; nāṭaka lakṣaṇa sab siddhāntera sāra
prema paripāṭī ei adbhuta varṇana; śuni citta karṇera hoy ānanda ghūrṇana
kiṁ kāvyena kaves tasya kiṁ kāṇḍena dhanuṣmataḥ
parasya hṛdaye lagnaṁ na ghūrṇayati yac chiraḥ

“Hearing all this, Rāmānanda Rāy submitted to the Lord’s feet, praising Rūpa Gosvāmī’s poetry with a thousand mouths: “This is not poetry — it is a stream of nectar! It carries all the hallmarks of drama and the essence of our philosophy. These wonderful narrations show the expertise of love. When hearing this, the ears and the heart whirl of ecstasy! What is the use of this poet composing poetry if it does not make the heads of others whirl after it sticks to the heart? What is the use of an archer firing an arrow if the arrow does not hit another person’s heart and make his head whirl of intense pain?”

tomāra śakti vinu ei jīve nahe vāṇī; tumi śakti diyā kohāo heno anumāni
prabhu kohe — prayāge ihāra hoilo milana; ihāra guṇe ihāte āmāra tuṣṭa hoilo mana
madhura prasanna ihāra kāvya sālaṅkāra; aiche kavitva vinu nahe rasera pracāra
sabe kṛpā kori ihāre deho ei vara; vraja līlā prema rasa varṇe nirantara

“This individual soul can never speak like that without being empowered by You. Hence I suppose that he speaks with Your power.” The Lord said: “When I met him at Prayāga (Allahabad) My mind was pleased with his qualities. I am very pleased with his sweet poetry with all its embellishments; without such poetry there can be no preaching of rasa. Everyone should be merciful to him and bless him with this boon – let him always describe the loving flavours of Vraja-līlā!”
(Cait. Car. Antya Ch.1)

When one hears, sings and remembers the loving rasika poetry of Śrī Rūpa, that was revealed to him by Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s grace, material love appears to be very disgusting and the hearer and chanter of this transcendental relish will be swiftly blessed.

Śrī Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī writes that all the rāgānugā Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava devotees do their bhajana in allegiance to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī.

rāgātmika bhakti mukhya vrajavāsi jane;
tāra anugata bhaktira ‘rāgānugā’ nāme
…
rāgamayī bhaktir hoy rāgātmikā nāma;
tāhā śuni lubdha hoy kon bhāgyavān
lobhe vrajavāsi bhāve kore anugati;
śāstra yukti nāhi māne – rāgānugāra prakrti

“The eternal associates of Kṛṣṇa in Vraja are the main rāgātmika devotees, and devotion that follows in their wake is called rāgānugā bhakti. Devotion full of rāga (transcendental fervour) is called rāgātmika bhakti.
…
A fortunate soul who becomes greedy after hearing about this will start following the mood of the people of Vraja, who are these rāgātmika devotees. The nature of such rāgānugā devotees is that they do not care about scriptural injunctions and logical arguments.”

bāhya antara ihāra dui to sādhana;
bāhya – sādhaka dehe kore śravaṇa kīrtana
mane – nija siddha deha koriyā bhāvana;
rātri-dine kore vraje kṛṣṇera sevana
nijābhīṣṭa Kṛṣṇa preṣṭha – pāchete lāgiyā;
nirantara sevā kore antarmanā hoiyā

“There are two kinds of devotional practice – external and internal. Externally one practises hearing and chanting in one’s physical body and internally, that is mentally, one conceives of one’s spiritual body in which one serves Kṛṣṇa in Vraja day and night. In this meditation one follows in the footsteps of one’s favorite devotee of Kṛṣṇa and always performs mental devotional service.”

The rāgānugā sādhaka attains perfection in the Vraja-rasa by following in the footsteps of the eternally perfect devotees of Vraja. Those who are mañjarī bhāva upāsakas externally follow in the footsteps of, for instance, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī by residing in Vraja and hearing and chanting the glories of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and in their mentally conceived spiritual bodies they follow in the footsteps of Śrīmatī Rūpa Mañjarī and think of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes and the service they are to perform in these pastimes.

This is why Śrī Raghunātha dāsa says: “May my uncontrollable mind mount the horse of spotless thoughts about Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī that is mounted by the strong desire to serve the lover of the son of the lord of the village of cowherders”.

In other words: “Let me be engaged in the mentally performed service of Śrī Rādhā that I desire so much, following in the footsteps of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī. By Śrī Rūpa’s grace my uncontrolled mind will certainly be engaged in this meditative service of Śrī Rādhā”.

Śrīla Raghunātha takes a firm vow to become attached to the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, his teacher of rāgānugā-bhakti endowed with regulative principles. At the end of his Stavāvalī, in the Abhīṣṭa Sūcanam (2), Śrī Raghunātha himself says:

yad yatnataḥ śama damātma viveka yogair adhyātma lagnam avikāram abhūn mano me
rūpasya tat smita sudhāṁ sadayāvalokam  āsādya mādyati hareś caritair idānīm

“Through the efforts of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī my mind has become equipoised (śama), controlled (dama) and absorbed in transcendence through the practice of ātma viveka (spiritual discrimination) and yoga. Because of attaining his merciful glance and his nectarean smile my mind has now become maddened by Śrī Hari’s pastimes!”

In different other places in his books Śrī Raghunātha showed his topmost faith in and devotion for Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī – ādadānas tṛṇaṁ dantair idaṁ yāce punaḥ punaḥ; śrīmad rūpa padāmbhoja dhūliḥ syām janma janmani (Muktā Carita) ādadānas tṛṇaṁ dantair idaṁ yāce punaḥ punaḥ; śrīmad rūpa padāmbhoja rajo’haṁ syāṁ bhave bhave (Dāna Keli Cintāmaṇi)

“Taking a straw between my teeth, I pray again and again that I may become a speck of dust at Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmī’s lotus feet, birth after birth!”

In Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇojjvala Kusuma-keli (44) he has written:

idaṁ rādhā-kṛṣṇojjvala kusuma keli kali madhu
priyālī narmālī parimala-yutaṁ yasya bhajanāt
mamāndhasyāpyetad vacana madhupenālpa gatinā
manāg ghrātaṁ tan me gatir atula rūpāṅghrija-rajaḥ

“By worshiping the matchless dust of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s lotus feet, the limping bumblebee of the words of an ignorant and arasika person like me is now able to smell a little of the fragrance of the honey of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s playful and brilliant flower quarrel, that is scented by the words of Their dearest girlfriends. This matchless foot dust is my only goal!”

In Vraja-līlā Śrīmat Rūpa Gosvāmīpāda is the leader of all mañjarīs, Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī.

She has descended as Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s beloved associate to preach the confidential truths of mañjarī bhāva practice, that are so dear to and desired for by Śrīman Mahāprabhu, in this world, and to bless everyone by taking them along to the secret bower-palaces of Vraja and granting them Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s loving service. Hence the sādhakas that wish to attain the loving service of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava in mañjarī bhāva on the path of rāgānugā, follow the Gosvāmīs like Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana in their present practitioner’s bodies and render service in their mentally conceived siddha dehas in allegiance to Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī and others. By constantly staying with them, even in the stage of perfection, and rendering service to their chosen deities according to their orders they will become blessed. 

So, Sri Rupa Manjari is the closest manjari to Srimati Radhika.
Srila Rupa Goswami is the leader of the 6 Goswamis and Sri Rupa Manjari is the leader of the manjaris.

Sri Rupa Manjari is the bud of Srimati Radhika´s form.
Srimati Radhika is the fully blossomed flower, Sri Rupa Manjari is the bud of that most wonderful form.

Sri Rupa Manjari is always with the Divine Couple.

Manjari bhava is not possible without following rupanuga bhakti (following Srila Rupa Goswami / Sri Rupa Manjari).

Srila Narottama das Thakur prays:

śrī rūpa mañjarī pada, sei mora sampada,
sei mora bhajana pūjana sei mora prāṇa dhana,
sei mora ābharaṇa, sei mora jīvanera jīvana

“The lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī are my treasure, my bhajana, and my pūjā. ‘
They are the treasure of my heart, my ornaments and the life of my life.”

sei mora rasa nidhi, sei mora vāñchā-siddhi,
sei mora vedera dharama sei vrata sei tapa,
sei mora mantra japa, sei mora dharama karama

“They are my treasure of rasa, the fulfillment of my desires and my Vedic principles. They are my vows, my penance, my recitation of mantra, my religious principles and duties.”

anukūla hobe vidhi, se pade hoibe siddhi,
nirakhibo e dui nayane se rūpa madhurī rāśi,
prāṇa kuvalaya śaśī, praphullita hobe niśi dine

“When fate becomes favorable this perfection will be attained and I can see them with my own two eyes. The abundant sweetness of her form is like the moonlight on the lily of my heart, that will thus blossom day and night.”

tuyā adarśane ahi, garale jāralo dehi,
cira dina tāpita jīvana hā hā prabhu koro doyā,
deho mora pada chāyā, narottama loilo śaraṇa (39)

“This embodied soul is scorched by the hot poisonous bite from the snake of your separation and thus my life constantly burns on. O Lord, be kind to me and give me the shade of your lotusfeet! Narottama took shelter of you!”

Without taking shelter of Sri Rupa Manjari [via the kripa of our Guru Manjari], we can´t become kinkaris of Srimati Radhika. This is the essence of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and this was the highest gift Sriman Mahaprabhu came to give: Radha Dasyam under the shelter of Sri Rupa Manjari.