Rajashekhara Dasa
From the book “Chaurasi-kosa Vraja Mandala Parikrama”:
This is the place situated between the banks of Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda where the bhajana-kutira of Raghunatha Dasa Goswami was situated. It was here where Raghunatha Dasa Goswami lived during his stay at Radha-kunda and where he held daily discourses on the transcendental pastimes of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu that he had personally witnessed while in the Lord’s direct association at Jagannatha Puri.
Raghunatha Dasa Goswami arrived in Vrindavana in 1535, shortly after the disappearance of Lord Chaitanya and moved to Radha-kunda on the advice of Rupa and Sanatana Goswamis. When Raghunatha had first arrived at Radha-kunda, the two sacred kundas were just small muddy pools of water about twelve feet in diameter situated in the middle of two adjacent paddy fields. Raghunatha Dasa could understand that in the near future, many Vaishnavas would come on pilgrimage to Radha-kunda and take bath in these sacred kundas, just as Lord Chaitanya had done when He discovered the kundas during His famous parikrama of Vraja in 1515.
When Raghunatha Dasa Goswami first thought about removing the thick mud and building stone bathing ghatas around the two kundas, he began thinking from where all the money needed for such a project would come from. As he began to ponder the funding of the excavation work, he suddenly checked himself, feeling disgusted that he was now simply thinking about getting money and immediately gave up the idea. At that moment, far away in the Himalayan Mountains, a very wealthy merchant named Samarpana had gone to Badrinatha Dhama for darshana and was also planning to donate a large sum of money to the temple of Lord Badri-narayana. During the night, the merchant had a dream in which Lord Badri-narayana appeared before him and told him to go instead to Radha-kunda, and donate the money to a very exalted Vaishnava saint named Raghunatha Dasa, and concluded by saying this would make Him (Lord Badri-narayana) extremely happy. The next day after darshana the merchant started on his journey to Vrindavana and after finding Raghunatha Dasa, donated a very considerable sum of money to him. After receiving the donation, Raghunatha Dasa immediately called Jiva Goswami to Radha-kunda to begin the excavation work.
Shrila Jiva Goswami was able to purchase the two paddy fields where Radha-kunda and Shyama-kunda were located in the year 1545 and Raghunatha Dasa immediately started the excavation work on the kundas. When all the mud had been removed from Radha-kunda, the ancient Kanchana-kunda, created by Radharani and the gopis became visible along with the stone ghatas surrounding it that was built by Vajranabha Maharaja. Raghunatha enlarged the area of the kunda and constructed stone ghatas on all four sides. When the mud was removed from Shyama-kunda, the kunda created by Krishna became visible along with the stone ghatas surrounding it built by Vajranabha Maharaja. Raghunatha also enlarged the area of Shyama-kunda and constructed stone ghatas around its sides.
In the beginning Raghunatha Dasa simply lived under the trees situated around the sacred kundas but later a simple bhajana-kutira was built by some of the devotees for his protection. There are many famous stories about how Raghunatha Dasa was so absorbed in bhajana that he would be totally unaware of his surroundings. One day Sanatana Goswami arrived at Radha-kunda to meet him and from a distance saw Raghunatha sitting next to the kunda totally immersed in the holy names of the Lord, and completely oblivious that two large tigers were drinking water from the kunda right next to him. Sanatana also saw someone standing there in order to protect Raghunatha in case the tigers turned violent. As he watched in amazement, Sanatana realized it was Lord Krishna Himself who was standing there to make sure that Raghunatha came to no harm. Lord Krishna turned and smiled at Sanatana Goswami and then disappeared. Sanatana immediately told Raghunatha what he had just witnessed and asked him if it was necessary that Lord Krishna had to come in person to protect him while he performed his bhajana, and implored him to accept a bhajana-kutira for his own safety.
On another occasion Sanatana Goswami once again arrived at midday to meet Raghunatha Dasa and saw him sitting in the blazing sun, immersed in a trance-like state while shedding tears in ecstatic love. Sanatana also saw standing behind Raghunatha, a beautiful young girl who was holding her vale over Raghunatha’s head in order to shade him from the sun’s powerful rays. Due to the intense heat of the midday sun, the girl was perspiring so much that her clothing was completely soaked and puddles were forming around her feet which had caused the ground to become somewhat muddy. At that moment the girl turned to Sanatana and smiled very sweetly and suddenly disappeared. Sanatana immediately realized it was non-other than Radharani Herself, who had been protecting Raghunatha from the blazing sun. Sanatana rushed to tell Raghunatha what he had just witnessed, but Raghunatha could not believe that Radharani had personally come there to shade him from the sun. To prove his words, Sanatana pointed to the two small foot-prints in the wet mud directly behind the place where Raghunatha sat. Upon seeing Radha’s foot-prints in the mud, Raghunatha broke down and began rolling back and forth on the ground while sobbing piteously at the thought of causing so such trouble to Radharani. After these incidents, Raghunatha Dasa readily agreed to accept a bhajana-kutira.
There is another wonderful story about how deeply absorbed Raghunatha Dasa was in pure Krishna consciousness. Every afternoon, the devotees would gather at Raghunatha’s bhajana-kutira to hear him talk about the pastimes of Lord Chaitanya that he had personally witnessed when he lived at Jagannatha Puri. On one particular afternoon, all the devotees waited patiently outside the kutira, but Raghunatha did not come out and everyone became worried. Sensing something was amiss; one of the devotees came to the doorway and enquired whether everything was alright. From inside the kutira, Raghunatha replied in a rather weakened voice, saying that unfortunately his material body was feeling somewhat indisposed. One of Raghunatha’s followers named Vitthalanatha, the son of Vallabha Bhatta, immediately ran to fetch the local doctor. Within a short time two very experienced doctors arrived and entering the kutira, began to examine Raghunatha. The devotees were expecting the doctors to say that Raghunatha was not eating enough, as he only took one leaf-cup of buttermilk daily. After a thorough examination, both the doctors declared that Raghunatha was suffering due to overeating sweet-rice pudding (khira), and as such, he was experiencing a bloated stomach. The devotees could not believe what they were hearing from the doctors, as everyone knew very well that Raghunatha had not eaten solid food in years. Understanding the utter confusion in the minds of the devotees, Raghunatha explained to everyone what had happened. Apparently, he had entered into in a deep trance while meditating on offering sweet-rice pudding to Radha and Krishna. The nectarine aroma of the sweet-rice was extremely pleasing and after the offering, in his ecstasy of honoring the prasadam remnants, he had eaten far too much of the pudding, and this was the reason for his being indisposed. The devotees were completely astonished to hear Raghunatha’s incredible explanation and all the devotees felt thoroughly blessed to be in the association of such an exalted nitya-siddha Vaishnava like Raghunatha Dasa.
Besides performing parikrama of Govardhana Hill, Raghunatha Dasa would also circumambulate Radha-kunda as part of his daily observances. Whoever he met while on parikrama he would offer his obeisance’s to them regardless of who they were. Therefore, besides chanting a hundred thousand names of God, he would also offer hundreds of obeisance’s to Vaisnavas, the local Vrajavasis, and pilgrims, every day while traversing the parikrama path. During his life at Radha-kunda, Raghunatha Dasa Goswami also wrote three important books namely: Stavavalli (which also contains Manah Siksa and Vilapa-kusumanjali), Mukta-carita and Dana Keli Cintamani, which are greatly cherished by all Gaudiya Vaishnavas.
