Gopāla Bhaṭṭa was born to the traditional shrI-vaiShNava pAncharAtrika archaka family of shrIrangam. One of 6 gosvAmI-s.
Supposed reincarnation of a gopI ( Anaṅga-mañjarī per Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā or Guṇa-mañjarī).
Meeting chaitanya 1510 CE
Caitanya Mahāprabhu met Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, who had two brothers, Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa and Tirumalaya Bhaṭṭa, who were Vaiṣṇavas of the Rāmānuja-sampradāya. Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī was the nephew of Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. …. In his gṛhastha life, Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī was a resident of Śrī Raṅga-kṣetra, and he belonged to the Vaiṣṇava Rāmānuja-sampradāya. …
In the year 1433 Śakābda (A.D. 1511), when Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu was touring South India, He stayed for four months during the period of Cāturmāsya at the house of Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa, who then got the opportunity to serve the Lord to his heart’s content. Gopāla Bhaṭṭa also got the opportunity to serve the Lord at this time. … - abhaya-charaNa-dAsaH bhaktivedAnta-svAmI
अयं चैतन्यः शाङ्कर-सन्न्यासात् परं श्रीरङ्गं प्राप्तः। कथम् अर्चकगृहे ऽवसत्? सचेलस्नाननिमित्तं तद्दर्शनं भवति खलु??
Gone to vRndAvana
This supposedly happened in mid 1530s, after chaitanya died.
Yet, others say that he was instructed (in 1510) by chaitanya to go to vRndAvana only after serving his parents till they died; and told him about rUpa and sanAtana being there many years before he even met them.
abhayacharaNa version
So, the below conflicts with that.
Both the father and the mother of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī were extremely fortunate, for they dedicated their entire lives to the service of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They allowed Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī to go to Vṛndāvana.
- abhaya-charaNa-dAsaH bhaktivedAnta-svAmI
When Lord Caitanya was later informed that Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī had gone to Vṛndāvana and met Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana Gosvāmī, He was very pleased, and He advised Śrī Rūpa and Sanātana to accept Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī as their younger brother and take care of him.
- abhaya-charaNa-dAsaH bhaktivedAnta-svAmI
Ritual input
Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī installed one of the seven principal Deities of Vṛndāvana, the Rādhāramaṇa Deity.
Mission
He was helping vaiShNava-s of north India, reeling under centuries of muslim devastation, rebuild their ritual and doctrinal knowledge as per chaitanya’s command (which did not conflict with rAmAnuja sampradAya at all).
Chaitanya can be deduced to have felt that rUpa and sanAtana themselves, being specialists deep into rasa-shAstra and bhakti extacy, were not up to the task, but would happily cooperate. Any exposure R and S might have had to vedAnta must’ve been mAdhva kind at best (C was dissatisfied with it).
Gopāla Bhaṭṭa was the designated smṛty-ācārya (and famous as such) and the link to the ancient Southern traditions.
हरि-भक्ति-विलासः was edited by him. Details at TW .
Sat-kriyāsāra-dīpikā
Composed and completed the compendious Sat-kriyāsāra-dīpikā (Source: TW) per orders of senior vaiShNava-s.
वक्ति गृहिद्विजादीनाम् अनन्यानां विशेषतः । पद्धतिं तां विवाहादेः सत्क्रियासारदीपिकाम् ॥२॥
श्रीमद्गोपालभट्टोऽयं साधूनामाज्ञया भृशम् । भगवद्धर्म्मरक्षार्थं भक्तानां वैदिकी तु या ॥३॥
विस्तारः (द्रष्टुं नोद्यम्)
ॐ श्रीरूपाय, ॐ सनातनाय ॐ भट्टरघुनाथाय ॐ श्रीजीवाय, ॐ गोपालभट्टाय ॐ दासरघुनाथाय
in vaiShNava homa are obviously later insertions - need not imply a later author for the rest of the material.
कृत्यन्तरम्
commentary on the Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta,. (per abhaya-charaNa-dAsa) - TW
shrIvaiShNavatvam
As far as he was concerned, he never stopped being an SV - no major distinction existed (gauDIya philosophy, to the tiny extant it existed, did not conflict). He starts hari-bhakti-vilAsa, which he edited.
चैतन्य-देवं भगवन्तम् आश्रये
श्री-वैष्णवानां प्रमुदेऽञ्जसा लिखन् ।
…जीयासुर् आत्यन्तिक-भक्ति-निष्ठाः
श्री-वैष्णवा माथुर-मण्डलेऽत्र ।
He took up tridaNDI sannyAsa, not ekadaNDI type like mAdhva-s or other gauDIya-s. Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is said to have reintroduced tridaNDI sannyAsa.
Harmony with chaitanya
Why would an SV not be attracted by a neo-ALvAr? His parents were devoted to chaitanya - but never became gauDIya-s (the family line continues to serve shrIranga to date).
chaitanya trusted him so much as to make him formalize his doctrines; but rUpa and sanAtana ultimately didn’t.
Break with gauDIyas
Data
When Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī took permission from all the Vaiṣṇavas before writing Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī also gave him his blessings, but he requested him not to mention his name in the book. - abhaya-charaNa-dAsa
ShaT-sandarbha abandonment, and take-over by jIva - see here.
Unlike rUpa, sanAtana and jIva, and like chaitanya, gopAla-bhaTTa took sannyAsa. Even more particularly - tridaNDI sannyAsa, like other shrIvaiShNavas, and unlike even chaitanya.
Deduction
One must consider -
Why did gopAla bhaTTa not finish what he started off with?
Though he lived long after jIva completed the project (and after rUpa and sanAtana died), why is he not acknowledged for anything more than the initial “disordered” notes?
Why did he ask the author of charitAmRta to not mention him ( as abhayacharaNa dasa states)?
Why does Sat-kriyāsāra-dīpikā differ so much from hari-bhakti-vilAsa which sanAtana published under his name?
etc..
आधुनिक-बान्धवाः
अर्वाचीन-बान्धवा अपि दीक्षा-करमदिषु बोधयन्ति गौडीयान् - 2019 1 TW।
Disciples
Śrīnivāsa Ācārya and Gopīnātha Pūjārī were two of his disciples. (per abhaya-charaNa-dAsa)
tridaNDitva
He later accepted the tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa order from his uncle Tridaṇḍipāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī (supposed author of Caitanya-candrāmṛta), per abhaya-charaNa-dAsa.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu traveled in South India in the year 1433 Śakābda (A.D. 1511) during the Cāturmāsya period, and it was at that time that He met Prabodhānanda, who belonged to the Rāmānuja-sampradāya. How then could the same person meet Him as a member of the Śaṅkara-sampradāya in 1435 Śakābda, two years later? - abhaya-charaNa-dAsaH bhaktivedAnta-svAmI
This was accepted by rUpa (and presumably sanAtana).
tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa is not distinctly mentioned in the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava literature … the first verse of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Upadeśāmṛta advocates that one should accept the tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa order by controlling the six forces
- abhaya-charaNa-dAsaH bhaktivedAnta-svAmI