Radha Kunda

Glories of Radha Kunda     Appearance of Radha Kunda in the Material World
Lord Chaitanya Rediscovers Radha and Syama Kundas
Raghunatha dasa Goswami Excavates Radha and Syama Kundas
Bathing at the Kundas     Goswami Temples at Radha Kunda
Ma Janava's Sitting Place     Raghunatha dasa Goswami's Samadhi
Krishna dasa Kaviraja's Bhajan Kutira     Panca Pandava Ghat
Srila Bhaktivinode Thakur's Bhajan Kutira      The Sangam
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Sitting Place    Giriraja Maharaja Mandir and Caran Cinha

Raghunatha dasa Gosvami Samadhi

Here is the samadhi of Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami who was affectionately known to all the Gaudiya Vaisnavas as dasa Gosvami, he was one of the most intimate, as well as important followers of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Raghunatha dasa was born in Bengal in the year 1494, as the son of a very wealthy landowner. During his youth he heard about the glories of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and his only desire was to join the Lord and serve His lotus feet.

On one occasion Raghunatha dasa met Lord Nityananda at Panihati, The Lord ordered him to organize a big festival where various preparations of cida-dadhi (flat rice and yogurt) were distributed to thousands of devotees. Lord Nityananda blessed Raghunatha that in the future he would get the mercy of Lord Chaitanya.

Even though Raghunatha dasa came from a very wealthy family, he had absolutely no interest in material affairs. On a number of occasions, much to the consternation of his loving parents, Raghunatha dasa tried to run away from home and join Lord Chaitanya in Jagannatha Puri.

Feeling disturbed by their son’s behaviour, Raghunatha’s parents arranged his marriage to a very beautiful girl in the hope that it would help him settle down, but Raghunatha had absolutely no interest in family life and at the age of nineteen, managed to escape from home, and made his way to Jagannatha Puri where he took shelter of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

At Jagannatha Puri, Lord Chaitanya placed Raghunatha under the care of Svarupa Damodra Gosvami, the Lord’s principle secretary. Raghunatha dasa was the embodiment of renunciation and only ate enough to keep his body and soul together. It is said that his strict regulative principles were exactly like lines etched in stone, as such lines can never be erased. Raghunatha dasa continued to render confidential service to Lord Chaitanya up until the end of the Lord’s manifest pastimes on earth, in the year 1534.

After the disappearance of Lord Chaitanya, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami journeyed to Vrndavana to meet Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis. Raghunatha who was feeling great separation from Lord Chaitanya, had decided to end his life by jumping down from Govardhana Hill. Rupa and Sanatana convinced him to join their company, accepting him as their younger brother.

Lord Chaitanya had presented Raghunatha dasa His own Govardhana-sila to worship as well as a gunja-mala, sacred to Radharani. Rupa and Sanatana took this as a sign that Raghunatha should take shelter of Govardhana Hill and reside on the banks of Radha-kunda. On their advice, Raghunatha spent the rest of his life at Radha-kunda.

In the year 1583, after almost forty eight years of performing bhajana on the banks of the sacred kunda. Raghunatha dasa Gosvami finally entered samadhi. In those days of the repressive Mogul rule, it was decided to burn the sacred body of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, so that the Muslim fanatics could not at some time in the future, dig up his sacred body and desecrate it. Srila Jiva Gosvami personally performed the last rites and had the sacred ashes of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami placed in samadhi here at this spot on the banks of Radha-kunda.

The Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika says that Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was Rasa-Manjari in Krishna’s pastimes. Sometimes it is said he was Rati-manjari. In the sacred memory of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, a twenty-four hour akhand kirtana is being performed next to his samadhi.

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