Radha Gokulananda Temple is an ancient shrine,
located at Vrindavan, in Uttar Pradesh. It is in between the Kesi Ghat and the
Radha-Raman Temple.
In this temple there is the Radha-Vinoda Deities of Lokanatha Gosvami, the
larger Deities of Vijaya Govinda of Baladeva Vidyabhusana, and the Radha
Gokulananda Deities of Viswanath Cakravarti. The small Deity of Krishna in
front of Gokulananda and the Deity of Gauranga Mahaprabhu were worshiped by
Narottama Dasa Thakur. Viswanath Cakravarti arranged to have this temple built.
Originally, Viswanath Cakravarti
worshiped the Deity of Gokulananda at Radha Kunda. He then moved to Vrindavana
and stayed with Lokanatha Gosvami. Where this temple is located is where
Lokanatha Gosvami would do his bhajana. When the original temple of
Radha-Vinoda fell apart, Viswanath Cakravarti had another temple built and
called it the Gokulananda Temple. Both his Deity of Gokulananda and Radha-Vinoda
were worshiped here.
There is a Govardhana-shila in this temple that was given by Lord
Gauranga Mahaprabhu to Raghunath Dasa
Gosvami. This shila bears the thumb print of Lord Caitanya. He used to chant
while holding the shila, pressing it to His heart or eyes. The shila was always
moist with Lord Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s tears. He would place it on His head or smell
it. Lord Gauranga kept this shila for three years and then gave it to Raghunatha
dasa. Krishna Priya Thakurani, the daughter of Ganganarayan Chakravarti (the
disciple of Narottama dasa), got the service of worshiping Giridhara, the
Govardhana shila of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami.
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