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sri-rupa-raghunatha-pade yara asa
caitanya-caritamrta kahe krsnadasa
SYNONYMS
sri-rupa—Srila Rupa Gosvami; raghunatha—Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami; pade—at the lotus feet; yara—whose; asa—expectation; caitanya-caritamrta—the book named Caitanya-caritamrta; kahe—describes; krsnadasa—Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami.
Praying at the lotus feet of Sri Rupa and Sri Raghunatha, always desiring their mercy, I, Krsnadasa, narrate Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, following in their footsteps.
Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila, Fifth Chapter, describing how Pradyumna Misra received instructions from Ramananda Raya.
The Meeting of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami A summary of this chapter is given by Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his Amrta-pravaha-bhasya as follows.
When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu went into transcendental fits of ecstatic love, Ramananda Raya and Svarupa Damodara Gosvami attended to Him and satisfied Him as He desired.
Raghunatha dasa Gosvami had been attempting to come to the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu for a long time, and finally he left his home and met the Lord.
When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu had gone to Santipura on His way to Vrndavana, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami had offered to dedicate his life at the Lord’s lotus feet in the meantime, however, a Mohammedan official became envious of Hiranya dasa, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami’s uncle, and induced some big official court minister to have him arrested.
Thus Hiranya dasa left his home, but by the intelligence of Raghunatha dasa the misunderstanding was mitigated.
Then Raghunatha dasa went to Panihati, and, following the order of Nityananda Prabhu, he observed a festival (cida-dadhi-mahotsava) by distributing chipped rice mixed with yogurt.
The day after the festival, Nityananda Prabhu gave Raghunatha dasa the blessing that he would very soon attain the shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
After this incident, Raghunatha dasa, with the help of his priest, whose name was Yadunandana Acarya, got out of his house by trickery and thus ran away.
Not touching the general path, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami secretly went to Jagannatha Puri.
After twelve days, he arrived in Jagannatha Puri at the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu entrusted Raghunatha dasa Gosvami to Svarupa Damodara Gosvami.
Therefore another name for Raghunatha dasa Gosvami is Svarupera Raghu, or the Raghunatha of Svarupa Damodara.
For five days Raghunatha dasa Gosvami took prasada at the temple, but later he would stand at the Simha-dvara gate and eat only whatever he could gather by alms.
Later he lived by taking alms from various chatras, or food distributing centers.
When Raghunatha’s father received news of this, he sent some men and money, but Raghunatha dasa Gosvami refused to accept the money.
Understanding that Raghunatha dasa Gosvami was living by begging from the chatras, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu presented him with His own gunja-mala and a stone from Govardhana Hill.
Thereafter, Raghunatha dasa Gosvami used to eat rejected food that he had collected and washed.
This renounced life greatly pleased both Svarupa Damodara Gosvami and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
One day Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took by force some of the same food, thus blessing Raghunatha dasa Gosvami for his renunciation.