Srila Gurudeva: What does Guru want? Rupa Gosvami is the highest disciple in the whole world. There is no one like Rupa Gosvami. Why? Because he knows the heart of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Who is Caitanya Mahaprabhu? He is actually Krsna, but He is taking the heart and beauty of Srimati Radhika. He is always thinking that, “I am Srimati Radhika.” Taking Her beauty, He has adopted a golden complexion.
Now He is called Caitanya Mahaprabhu or Sacinandana Gaurahari. What was the mood of His heart? What did He want? The only person in the world who knew this was Rupa Gosvami. Anyone did not know what He wanted, what Sacinandana wanted. What did He want? Not just anyone could fulfill this. It
is a very, very high thing. Anyone can massage His feet, like Govinda dasa. He can massage Him. Also anyone can give some prasadam to Him. Anyone can carry His danda kamandalu, like Kala Krsnadasa. Also the brahmana, Balabhadra Bhattacarya, who helped Him go to Vrndavana. They have served Him. Also Sanatana Gosvami has served Him. But Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to honor Rupa Gosvami so much. He used to slap Rupa Gosvami on his back and say, “How did you know My heart? How can you read My heart?”
He was fulfilling His hearts desire. What is that? What is that thing? What has Rupa Gosvami done? He has fulfilled the mano-bhista, the interior desire of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. What is that? What is His interior mood? He gave this krsna-prema to all classes of jivas. He even gave it to tigers and bears. What was that? Parakiya-bhava. Only Srimati Radhika and Her companions, the gopis, have this parakiya-bhava. That mood that, “I am not His wife, but I am His beloved and He is my beloved.” This mood is not even found in Sita, Rukmini, or Satyabhama, nowhere. It is not anywhere. This is only in the gopis. Mahaprabhu wanted to sprinkle this thing to the whole world, to those without any qualification, even those having no pot. Caitanya Mahaprabhu came for this.
But what did Rupa Gosvami do? He established this. What Caitanya Mahaprabhu wanted to give, He gave it to all of those who were blind. He opened the eyes of everyone. He explained to the world what this krsna-prema is, what is sakhya, vatsalya, and madhurya. Who is Krsna? Who is Srimati Radhika? Who are the gopis? He explained all of this in Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, Ujjvala-nilamani, and Vidagdha-madhava, and Lalita-madhava. He thus gave this thing to the whole world. We are now knowing something of these things. How are we knowing about this? Only by the mercy of Rupa Gosvami. So Rupa Gosvami has established the mood of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
[Spoken by Srila Gurudeva on January 28th, 1998, Malaysia, published as part of the Bhakta Bandhav Anthology, Volume 25]