Rūpa Gosvāmī's Dūta Kāvyas: (1) Sources of Rupa Goswami's Authority
This is from my Introduction to Mystic Poetry , a translation of Rupa Goswami's dūta-kāvyas . Śrī-Caitanya-mano'bhiṣṭam The contributions of Rūpa Gosvāmī (d. 1568 AD) to the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradāya are manifold. Narottama dāsa's famous invocatory prayer to Rūpa in his Prema-bhakti-candrikā tells us that Rūpa understood Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mission and was successful in establishing it on this earth ( śrī-caitanya-manobhiṣṭam sthāpitaṁ yena bhūtale ). In his Caitanya-caritāmṛta , Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja writes in several places that Rūpa Gosvāmī was granted access to Mahāprabhu‘s innermost emotional state. The event that confirmed this special status took place when Rūpa was residing in Purī, probably in AD 1517. That year, during the Ratha-yātrā festival, Rūpa was amongst the many devotees of Mahāprabhu who watched him as he stood before Jagannātha's chariot, gazing in the mood of Rādhā upon the Lord of the Universe. At that time, Mahāprabhu began to ...