Adi-lila, Chapter 7 11

a servant of the senses, and cannot become a spiritual master. A spiritual master
who actually has control over the mind and senses is called gosvami. Although the
gosvami title has become a hereditary designation for unscrupulous men, actually
the title gosani or gosvami began from Sri Rapa Gosvami, who presented himself as
an ordinary grhastha and minister in government service but became gosvami when
he was actually elevated by the instruction of Lord CaitanyaMahaprabhu. Therefore
gosvami is not a hereditary title but refers to one’s qualifications. When one is
highly elevated in spiritual advancement, regardless of wherefrom he comes, he
may be called gosvami. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri
Advaita Gosafii Prabhu are natural gosvamis because They belong to the Visnu-
tattva category. As such, all of Them are prabhus (‘‘predominators”’ or ‘‘masters’’),
and They are sometimes called Caitanya Gosani, Nityananda Gosani and Advaita
Gosanfii. Unfortunately Their so-called descendants who do not have the qualifica-
tions of gosvamis have accepted this title as a hereditary designation or a professional
degree. That is not in accord with the sastric injunctions.

TEXT 14

OF TUG, HA AF FEI |
Be AG Aca FAAGA al 38 UN

eka mahaprabhu, ara prabhu duijana
dui prabhu sebe mahaprabhura carana

SYNONYMS

eka mahaprabhu—one Mahaprabhu, or the supreme predominator; ara prabhu
duijana—and the other two (Nityananda and Advaita) are two prabhus (masters);
dui prabhu—the two prabhus (Nityananda and Advaita Gosani); sebe—serve;
mahaprabhura—of the supreme predominator, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu; carana—
the lotus feet.

TRANSLATION

One of them is Mahaprabhu, and the other two are prabhus. These two prabhus
serve the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu.

PURPORT

Although Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Nityananda Prabhu and Sri Advaita
Prabhu all belong to the same Visnu category, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is neverthe-
less accepted as the Supreme, and the other two prabhus engage in His transcenden-
tal loving service to teach ordinary living entities that every one of us is subordinate
to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In another place in Caitanya-caritamrta (Adi.5.142) it
is said, ekala isvara krsna, ara saba bhrtya: the only supreme master is Krsna, and all
others, both Visnu-tattva and jiva-tattva, engage in the service of the Lord. Both the
Visnu-tattva (as Nityananda Prabhu and Advaita) and the jiva-tattva (Srivasadi-gaura-
bhakta-vrnda) engage in the service of the Lord, but one must distinguish between
