Radha Raman means the lover (
ramana) of Sri Radha. The temple was established over 500 years ago by
Gopala Bhatta Goswami. At the age of thirty, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami came to Vrindavana. After
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's disappearance, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami felt intense separation from the Lord. To relieve his devotee from the pangs of separation, the Lord instructed Gopala Bhatta in a dream "If you want My Darshan then make a trip to Nepal". In
Nepal, Gopala Bhatta bathed in the famous
Kali-Gandaki River. Upon dipping his waterpot in the river, he was surprised to see several
Shaligrama Shilas enter his pot. He dropped the
Shilas back into the river, but the S
hilas re-entered his pot when he refilled it.
Gopala Bhatta Gosvami found twelve Shaligrama S
hilas. It is believed that once a wealthy man came to Vrindavan and offered Gopala Bhatta a variety of clothes and ornaments for his Shaligramas in charity. However, Gopala Bhatta couldn't use these for his round-shaped Shaligramas. He advised the donor to give the deity decorations to someone else. It is believed that the donor refused to take them back and Gopala Bhatta kept the clothes and ornaments with his shilas. On the
Purnima (full moon) day, in the evening after offering
naivedhya to his Shaligrama S
hilas, Gopala Bhatta put them to rest covering Them with a wicker basket. Late in the night, Gopala Bhatta took a little rest. in the early morning he went to take bath in the Yamuna river. Returning from his bath, he uncovered the Shaligramas in order to render
puja, and saw amongst them a Deity of Krishna playing the flute. There were now only eleven S
hilas and a Deity. The "Damodara shila" had manifested as the beautiful three-fold bending form of
Tri-Bhangananda-Krishna. In this way Radha Raman emerged in a perfectly shaped deity form from a sacred Shaligrama
Shila. Devotees consider this image to be alive and that he grants a chosen family the privilege of assisting him in his daily schedule. As a narrative account of actualized Krishna-
bhakti, Radharamana's appearance story highlights the divine-human relationship of love as the ontologically central category of ultimate reality. The
Prasad for Shri Radha Raman Ji is prepared by the male members of the Goswami families in the temple kitchen. The fire in the kitchen lit in early days of the temple still continues today. The Goswami families are allotted a calendar in advance for their personal
seva (service) period and they perform
seva accordingly. They also invite their disciples during their period and celebrate major family functions and ceremonies. Inside the temple complex, the
samadhi of Srila Gopal Bhatta Goswami is also situated. There the rarely available
Unag vastra of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is kept. ==See also==