Saints of Vraja – Sri Bhugarbha Gosvami

Mahanidhi Madan Gopal Das

A disciple of Sri Gadadhara Pandita, Sri Bhugarbha Gosvami shared an intimate friendship with Sri Lokanatha Gosvami. Inspired by Lord Caitanya, they were the first and most senior devotees to settle in Vrndavana. Before the arrival of Sri Rupa and Sri Sanatana Gosvamis they tried to uncover the lost holy places of Radha Govindaji.

Unlike the aggressive approach of modern scientists to discover the unknown, Bhugarbha and Lokanatha Gosvamis found Sri Krsna’s pastime forests by the humble method of surrender. They simply wandered around Vrndavana calling out the names of her twelve forests, “Bhandiravan, Kamyavan, Mahavan, Talavan … ” And Srimati Vrnda Devi (the maintainer of the forests and an expansion of Krsna’s pastime potency) revealed the exact location of each and every forest.

It is told that to avoid material distractions Bhugarbha would perform his bhajana underground. So, he received the name Bhugarbha (bhu means earth, garbha means cave, womb, hidden place) He is Prema manjari or Bhadra Rekhika in Radha Gopinatha’s nitya nikunja lila. His samadhi stands near Sri Rupa Gosvami’s in the Radha Damodara temple courtyard.

(An excerpt from the book Gaudiya Vaisnava Biographies and samadhis in Vrndavana by Mahanidhi Swami)