Saint Raghunatha dasa Goswami

‘’’Raghunāthadāsa Gosvāmī’’’ was a disciple of Śrī Yadunandan Ācārya (see Vilāpa Kusumānjali, verse 4, Caitanya-Caritāmṛta Ādi chapter 12 and Antya 6) one of the apostle of the Vaishnava saint, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the principal six of whom are renowned as the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan. Together the Six Goswamis codified the philosophy and records which became the theological basis of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. Among them, Raghunāthadāsa was renowned for his qualities of simplicity and renunciation. Born as the son of a wealthy Kayastha landlord Govardhana Dāsa from Saptagram in Hooghly District of present-day West Bengal, Raghunātha Dāsa is said to have shown a particular disinterest in everyday pleasures and an interest in more religious pursuits from a relatively young age. This was much to the displeasure of his parents, who eventually took to hiring guards in order to prevent Raghunātha Dāsa from leaving the family home with the aim of having a spiritual life. Eventually Raghunātha Dāsa escaped their home and made a journey to Jagannath Puri where he met his guru, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. A major event that Raghunath Das Goswami organized was the Chira-Dahi festival at Panihati. Raghunath was visiting Panihati to meet Lord Nitai, who is incarnation of Baladeva, and his associates. Nitai requested him to feed chuda-dahi (curd mixed with chipped rice) to all the devotees who were present there. Raghunath arranged for the ingredients from the neighboring villages, and helped by his associates, prepared two kinds of chuda-dahi. One contained chipped rice mixed with curd, sugar and bananas; the other contained chipped rice mixed with condensed milk, sugar, ghee, and edible camphor. Then the preparations were served out, and everybody enjoyed it.