(Kadamba Kanana Swami, Mayapur, November 2011) Lecture – Caitanya-caritamrta Part 3
The Lord was seeing how Rupa and Sanatana were devotees. He knew very well that they were living in Ramakeli and in that village they were situated close to the government. It wasn’t where the government was situated but it was their own village, which was next to the place where the government was situated. And in that village they had re-created Vrindavan.
As Bhakti-Ratnakara describes, they had built very nice cottages on the bank of the Ganges and were inviting different learned scholars from all over India to come to visit and stay with them. They were providing them with everything while they were there. Anything a brahmana could desire, in terms of a library, scriptures, and nothing to worry about since all the material things could be arranged: nice prasadam; good and clean residence; no headache. The kind of environment where all you have to do is focus on the scriptures. Something that any brahminical person would want, since they do not want to be bothered with all these material things! So Rupa and Sanatana provided that very nicely.
Therefore, Ramakeli had the greatest scholars and there was always a daily discussion taking place in the court, with Rupa and Sanatana on matters about scriptures. So Bhagavatam discussions were not only taking place during that time, but also when Santanta Goswami decided that after Rupa’s retirement, he too did not to go to work. He wanted to just hear the Bhagavatam instead. But they have always done that along with their government service. They were having such discussion as mentioned in the Bhakti-Ratnakara in great details, and that they went to places that reminded them of Vrindavan.
And in this way they were in deep meditation and you could imagine how Rupa and Sanatana were trained by their discussions on all sorts of topics with the best scholars of their time. They themselves, were scholars of great repute and were the participants in discussions on par with the great scholars of their time. Therefore, the scholarship of Rupa and Santana Goswami developed over a longer period of time in Ramakeli!