Sri Sri Radha Gopinath

Sri Sri Radha Gopinath

Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, pratibhu vigrahas (Vrindavan);

       Sri Krishna´s grandson Vajranabha had three deities carved according the descriptions of Krishna given by Parikshit´s mother Uttara. When they were finished, Uttara confirmed that Govinda Deva had the same lotus face as Krishna, Madanmohan had the same strong and shapely legs, and Gopinath had the same broad shoulders and chest. Thousands of years later the same deity of Gopinath was rediscovered at Vamsi Vat in Vrindavan by Gadadhar Pandit´s disciple Paramananda Bhattacharya. Later the seva was taken over by Sri Madhu Pandit, whose samadhi is located in back of the temple premises.

Radha-Gopinath, original deities (Jaipur);

       In the hall leading to Radha-Gopinath´s current altar there is a doorway on the right leading down a step into a small temple room. This is the old temple where the original deities of Radha-Gopinath lived before the Mughal invasion when they were moved to Jaipur.  Now the deity being worshipped here is ¨Muralidhar Mahaprabhu,¨ a form of Goursundar playing the flute. The temple Gosvami says of the deity, ¨This deity was installed after the Mughal invasion. Mahaprabhu holds the flute, for the sake of the general populace who don't know about Mahaprabhu´s svarup. His color is golden  like Radharani, but he holds the flute to show that he is also Krishna; He is Radha and Krishna in one form.¨

Old Gopinath Temple;

     Today the pratibhu or non different replacement deities of Radha-Gopinath reside in a new temple connected to the old one.  According to the direct order of Nityananda-shakti Sri Jahnava Thakurani, Gopinath stands with Ananga-manjari to his left, and Radharani to his right.  Lalita and Visakha flank them on both sides.

New temple entrance;

        In one book about the temples of Vrindavan, the Padma Purana is quoted saying that to get the full vision of Sri Krisna, pilgrims have to visit and offer obeisances to all three Deities during a single day, while the sun is still up.

     Sri Govinda and Sri Gopinath are now in Jaipur, and Madana-Mohan is in Karoli, a small town in Rajasthan and this triple darsan seems to be possible even today, if you are efficient traveler, of course...

Samadhi of Madhu Pandit Goswami

Madhu Pandit´s samadhi (tomb);

     Madhu Pandit was a disciple of Gadadhar Pandit. He established the temple of Gopinath in Vrindavan and lived here until his sacred body was entombed here.