Braj Darshan with Vrindavan Today (Day 9): Shri Radha Gokulananad Temple
The courtyard houses the samadhis of Shri Loknath Goswami, Shrila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur and Shrila Narottam Das Thakur.
Vrindavan, 2021.10.24 (Vrindavan Today News): Shri Radha Gokulanand Temple which is one of the sapta devalayas of Vrindavan houses three main Deities that were served by illustrious Vaishnavas. These include Shri Radha-Vinod of Loknath Goswami, Shri Radha Gokulanand of Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur, and Baldev Vidyabhushan’s Vijaya Govinda (tallest one).
नमो अरूप रूपाय, सर्वरूप प्रकाशिने।
श्रीलोकनाथ नाथाय, नमो राधाविनोदिने।।
According to some accounts, the Giriraj Shila given by Chaitnaya Mahaprabhu to Raghunath Das Goswmai of Radhakund is also giving darshan here. The shila is impressed with Mahaprabhu’s fingerprints. However, others believe that the Girindra Bihari Shila in Bhagvat Niwas is the one. The temple also houses the deity of Shri Chaitanya that was personally worshiped by Narottam Das Thakur.
Earlier all these deities were worshiped individually in Their small, sometimes even makeshift temples, until this one was built. In fact, Shri Loknath Goswami ji used to carry Radha Vinod in his ‘jhola’ (bag) wherever he went. At night, he would hang the ‘jhola’ on the branches of trees. After long, a small, humble temple was built for the Him at Vanshivat.
Similarly, before moving to Vrindavan, Vishwanath Cakravarti worshiped the deities of Shri Radha Gokulananda at Radha Kunda. He then moved to Vrindavana and stayed with Loknath Goswami. The place where the temple is located today used to be Loknath Goswami’s bhajan kutir. When the original temple of Radha-Vinod fell apart, Vishwanath Cakravarti had the Gokulanand temple built. Both the deities of Radha-Gokulananda and that of Radha-Vinod were worshiped here.
The temple is located to the north of Radharaman Mandir. The courtyard houses the samadhis of Shri Loknath Goswami, Shrila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur and Shrila Narottam Das Thakur.
