Shri Gaurang Mahaprabhu


Amiya nimai mahaprabhu Sri Sarvabhauma Madhusudan Goswami was a devoted in the discipleship of Srila Gopal Bhatt Goswami and a worshiper of Shri Radha Ramanji in Vrindavan.During his life, he with some other Goswamis traveled across India spreading the teachings of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Madhusudan Goswami was completely dedicated to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He and his disciples installed many deities of Mahaprabhu in different places. It is said that it was partly due to inspiration from Sri Madhusudan Goswami that Sri Shishir Kumar Ghosh wrote his famous books, Sri Amiya Nimai Charita in Bengali and Lord Gauranga in English. He is also credited with inspiration from Sri Krishna Gopal Duggal in his Urdu language book about Mahaprabhu’s life. In Nabadwip, Sri Madhusudan Goswami obtained a very old and life-sized deity from Mahaprabhu, who he called “Sri Amiya Nimai Gauranga Mahaprabhu”. By order of Sri Madhusudan, his disciple Sri Radha Govinda Goswami installed the deity in a temple in the Bagh Bazar district of Kolkata. Radha Govinda Goswami was born into an upper-class Brahman family, and his ancestors were great devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Highly qualified musician, lived teaching music. What I earned, I spent at Mahaprabhu service. Radha Govinda Goswami didn’t see Amiya Nimai as a deity. In his dealings with the Lord,
he saw and worshiped him as a living demonstration of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. When Radha Govinda Goswami began to grow old, he began to worry about the future cult of Amiya Nimai. There was no successor in his family. Once, in a condition of powerlessness, Sri Goswami Ji asked Mahaprabhu: ” In the future, how and for whom your service will be performed?” That night, Mahaprabhu came to him in a dream and said, ” Stop worrying. Take me to Vrindavan, where your guru’s son lives”. After receiving this order from the Lord, Sri Radha Govinda Goswami wrote a letter to the son of his guru, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Goswami. He explained the instructions Mahaprabhu had given him, and requested: Please make arrangements to take Amiya Nimai to Vrindavan “. In November 1936, a group of devotees including Sri Krishna Chaitanya Goswami, Sri Ramdas Baba Ji Maharaj from Path Bari and others took Amiya Nimai from Kolkata to Hathras in a reserved train coach was brought to Vrindavan by truck. When Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu originally came to Vrindavan, Kartik’s full moon day of the month came. On that day, November 26, 1926, Kartik’s full moon day, the deity of Sri Amiya Nimai Mahaprabhu arrived in Vrindavan AIl Vrindavan vaishnavas met and gave an unprecedented welcome with tumultuous kirtan. As there was no suitable place immediately available to install such a large deity of Mahaprabhu, Amiya Nimai was temporarily worshipped outside the main gate of Radha Raman Temple, in an area known as the raasmandal. Amiya Nimai stayed there for four or five years. Then, Sri Shah KS Gupta, the current server of Sri Shah Ji Mandir, Vrindavan and his grandmother Srimati Rama Devi, built two large rooms on the shore of the Yamuna in what was then the garden of Shah Ji temple, also known as Jugal Bagicha, and the deity was moved there. For about sixteen years, Amiya Nimai stayed there. As the years passed, Sri Krishna Chaitanya Goswami thought, ”
Mahaprabhu must have his own temple where his worship can be carried out smoothly and regularly “. Sri Goswami owned a property in Gopinath Bazar, Vrindavan. There, around 1954, the construction of a temple for Amiya Nimai began. After the departure of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Goswami, her only son, Sri Vishwambhar Goswami, assumed the responsibilities of Amiya Nimai service. After Sri Vishwambhar Goswami, his children Sri Padmanabh Goswami and Sri Padmalochan Goswami continue the service sincerely.