Raghunatha dasa Gosvami

Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami is an eternal associate of Lord Caitanya, 
and a main torchbearer of the disciplic succession in the line of Lord 
Caitanya

Regarding Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami's eternal identity, it is 
stated in the Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika (186]:

"In Krsna's pastimes in Vraja he is Rasa Manjari; other opinions hold 
that he may be Rati-manjari or Bhanumati."

Whatever may be his actual eternal identity one fact is irrefutable: 
Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami is a stalwart amongst Lord Caitanya's 
confidential associates, and he is very intimately associated with the 
conjugal dealings between Srimati Radhika and Sri Krsna. This is made 
obvious by the elevated qualities of his writings, such as Sri 
Manah-siksa.

Appearing in this material world as the sole heir to the immense 
wealth of the landowner brothers Hiranya and Govardhan Majumdar, 
Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was treated like a prince and literally fed 
with a golden spoon. His father Govardhan and uncle Hiranya owned huge 
tracts of land in the Hooghly District of what is now West Bengal. 
Their annual revenue five centuries ago amounted to two million gold 
coins; its contemporary value would be in the tens of millions of 
dollars. Yet, Raghunatha had no fascination with the phenomenal world.

Raghunatha's childhood tutor was the famous scholar and devotee Acarya 
Balarama Das. Acarya Balarama was a favorite of Srila Haridasa 
Thakura, who was appointed the Acarya of chanting the holy name by 
Lord Caitanya Himself. As a result, Haridasa Thakura made seasonal 
visits to Acarya Balarama's house. It was on these occasions that the 
fortunate young Raghunatha was able to associate with the purest of 
elevated devotees, Srila Haridasa Thakura. Any association with a pure 
devotee, even for a moment, creates immeasurable heaps of piety; what 
to speak of the direct personal association and proper spiritual 
relationship young Raghunatha must have had with Haridasa Thakura.

The greatest mark of his good fortune is that Raghunatha was renounced 
and antipathetic towards this ephemeral material life from his very 
childhood. So his encounters with the pure devotees of Krsna further 
enhanced his yearnings for spiritual fulfillment. After these meetings 
with Haridasa Thakura, where he heard intimate descriptions of Lord 
Sri Caitanya's and Lord Nityananda's exquisite beauty and sublime 
pastimes, the boy's longing to meet the Lords in person became 
uncontrollable. Yet how could his parents allow him, their dynasty's 
only hope and inheritor, to give up his unimaginable riches and become 
a renunciant?

Raghunatha was thus kept under strict surveillance to prevent him from 
running away to join the Lord. Yet at the first opportunity he managed 
to evade the guards, going straight to Shantipur and the house of 
Advaita Acarya. Soon afterward, Lord Caitanya came to Shantipur on His 
way to Vrndavana after taking the sannyasa order of life. As soon as 
Lord Caitanya saw the youthful Raghunatha prostrate before His lotus 
feet, He picked him up and firmly embraced him, thus recognizing His 
eternal servitor. Tears of ecstatic joy cascading down his cheeks, 
Raghunatha poured out his heart to the Lord - he wanted to leave home 
forever and accompany the Lord everywhere.

The Supreme Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu advented Himself in the guise 
of a devotee, not to impose His divine autocracy, but to teach the 
world the meaning of true renunciation and devotion. He instructed 
young Raghunatha not to become crazy, but to return home. By 
practicing the process of surrender to the Lord within the heart, 
while maintaining normal social dealings externally, one can easily 
attain the highest perfection of love of Godhead - even in household 
life. Lord Caitanya chose each of His personal associates to exemplify 
a different aspect of devotional surrender and spontaneous service to 
the Supreme Lord. Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was to be His 
instrument to broadcast the acme of Vaisnava renunciation. But first 
the Lord wanted to stress the point that renunciation or detachment is 
not merely an external criterion; it must be sincerely cultivated 
within the heart. Ostentatious display of spiritual opulences is 
cheating religion, which ultimately results in falldown from spiritual 
consciousness to material enjoyment.

Thus the He sent Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami back home to his 
family. He had to wait for a few more years before he could renounce 
family life and meet the Lord again. In this way, Lord Caitanya also 
demonstrated that one cannot become His direct associate without first 
attaining the mercy of Lord Nityanand. The unconquerable Supreme Lord 
happily allows Himself to be shackled by the chains of His pure 
devotees' love for Him. He willingly becomes His devotees' property, 
to be sold or given away to whomever the devotees desire. So how could 
Raghunatha - or anyone for that matter - attain Lord Caitanya's lotus 
feet directly? The scriptures state that attaining the mercy of the 
Lord without first receiving the mercy of the devotees is impossible. 
Therefore, at the famous Panihati chiradahi (chipped rice and yogurt) 
festival, Lord Nityananda showered His causeless mercy upon young 
Raghunatha, blessing him with the promise that his desires would reach 
fulfillment.

Meanwhile, Srila Raghunatha dasa's parents tried every means to keep 
their only heir under constant vigil. They even married him to an 
exquisitely beautiful, rich and cultured young girl, hoping that 
Cupid's arrow would dry up the ocean of Lord Caitanya's mercy in his 
heart. Nevertheless, soon after Raghunatha found a proper moment and 
escaped to Jagannatha Puri to take permanent shelter at Lord 
Caitanya's lotus feet.

In Jagannatha Puri, Lord Caitanya handed over young Raghunatha to the 
care of His personal secretary, Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. The 
Lord asked Svarupa Damodara to keep Raghunatha as a son or servant. 
Here Raghunatha dasa began to demonstrate the zenith of devotional 
renunciation. By leaving behind his immeasurable wealth and young wife 
more beautiful than a fairy queen he was already commendable; but 
Raghunatha was not satisfied with that.

The first five days in Puri he partook of the Lord's remnants, as Lord 
Caitanya would come daily to visit Svarupa Damodara in the afternoons 
and take Lord Jagannatha's prasada there. This windfall of good 
fortune was more than Raghunatha had dared to imagine. But on the 
sixth afternoon Raghunatha was absent. The devotees found him begging 
on the steps of the Jagannatha temple, just standing without 
approaching anyone, depending entirely upon Krsna for his needs. From 
this point on, Srila Raghunatha exhibited more and more renunciation.

Chanting Krsna's name and discussing His transcendental pastimes, 
Raghunatha filled his days and nights with Krsna katha. He hardly ate 
and slept, his heart stung with ecstatic pangs of separation from 
Krsna, and he forgot about his bodily needs. Thinking begging also to 
be meditating on bodily needs, he gave it up. Going to the back of the 
Jagannatha temple, Raghunatha collected rejected prasada from the 
drain of Lord Jagannatha's kitchen, washed and cleansed it and later 
ate it with great relish.

What can worldly-minded people understand about Raghunatha's 
renunciation and depending on the mercy of the Lord? To them, begging 
is despicable. Can they fathom the heart of a pure devotee, 
understanding the profound devotion that inspired Raghunatha dasa 
Gosvami to act in this way? Although materialists may not understand, 
Lord Caitanya was very pleased with Raghunatha, and gave him His own 
Govardhana-sila.

Raghunatha dasa Gosvami left Puri for Vrndavana once the Lord's 
pastimes became unmanifest. He found his place of bhajana in 
Radha-kunda. Here Raghunatha fully realized the exquisite dalliances 
of Srimati Radharani and Sri Krsna. Thus he saw the pastimes of the 
Lord enacted continuously before his very eyes. Using his tears of 
ecstasy as ink, he wrote the devotional poems Stavavali, Dana-carita 
and Mukta-carita. His Sri Manah-siksa forms a part of Stavavali.

