Disappearance Day of Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami

What is the Disappearance Day of Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami?

On this day Srila Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami left this world and entered the eternal pastimes of Radha and Krishna. In 2026 the date is Friday, 23 October. Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, who wrote Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, left this world on the same lunar day, and so did Srila Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami.

Significance

He left a wealthy family and all its comforts to take shelter of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. For sixteen years at Jagannatha Puri he served the Lord and his siksa guru, Srila Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. Lord Caitanya gave him a stone from Govardhana Hill to worship.

Over time he ate less and less. Then he began to stand at the Simha-dvara gate at Jagannatha Puri, begging alms for his food. The Caitanya-caritamrta records how the Lord felt when He saw this:

Renunciation is the basic principle sustaining the lives of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s devotees. Seeing this renunciation, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is extremely satisfied.

Caitanya-caritamrta, Antya-lila 6.220

How to observe it

Devotees read his story in Antya-lila, chapter 6, of the Caitanya-caritamrta, and honour prasadam simply. His life shows that Krishna consciousness grows when the tongue is controlled and the mind is fixed on the Lord. He is said to have chanted one hundred thousand names every day, so chanting extra rounds of the holy names is a fitting offering to him.