Sri Sri Radha Gokulnanda Temple, Vrindavan Mathura

Sri Sri Radha Gokulnanda Temple, Vrindavan Overview

Situated between Keshi Ghat and Radha Raman Temple in Vrindavan, Radha Gokulananda Temple was created by Lokanath Goswami and contains idols of Radha Vinoda, Radha Gokulananda and Lord Chaitanya. Although the temple has no elaborate structure, it still holds great significance amongst Hindus and Lord Krishna devotees. For god-lovers, it is a perfect place to be as the eternal chants of aarti and immense purity fills the atmosphere and one can feel the calmness around.

The Radha Gokulnanda temple houses a Govardhana-shila that was given by Lord Chaitanya to Raghunath Dasa Gosvami. This shila bears the thumbprint of Lord Caitanya. Originally, there was no Deity of Radharani in this temple. Jahnava Devi had a deity of Radha made in Jagannatha Puri and installed it next to Radha-Vinoda. This original deity of Radha-Vinoda is now being worshipped in Jaipur.

Architecture of Gokulnanda

Sri Sri Radha Gokulnanda temple was built with the help of Vishwanath Chakrabati. There are deities of Radha-Vinoda, Vijaya Govinda, Radha Gokulananda and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Before Vishwanath brought all the deities under one temple, they were worshipped at different places.

Created on the concept of Hindu architectural style, the temple also houses Govardhan Shila which is a sacred stone of direct manifestation of Lord Krishna. It was given by Lord Chaitanya to Raghunath Dasa Gosvami. This Shila bears the thumbprint 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 Caitanya’s tears. He kept the Shila for three years and then gave it to Raghunatha Dasa.

History

Originally, Viswanath Chakravarti worshipped the deity of Gokulananda at Radha Kunda. He then moved to Vrindavan and stayed with Lokanatha Gosvami. This temple is located at the place where Lokanatha Gosvami would do his bhajan. When the original temple was demolished, Viswanath Chakravarti built another temple and called it the Gokulananda Temple. Both his deity of Gokulananda and Radha-Vinoda were worshipped here.

The original deity of Radha-Vinoda is worshipped in Jaipur as it was moved to the city to protect it from Muslims in Vrindavan. The temple now has the Pratibha-murtis of the original Deities. The temple also has various samadhis placed in a small courtyard of sadhus who resided there earlier namely Visvanatha Chakravarti, Narottama Dasa and Lokanatha Gosvami.

How To Reach Gokulnanda

The temple is located at Keshi Ghat in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh. To reach here, you can easily hire an auto or a cab to travel via Parikrama Marg from Keshi Ghat.