Sri Raghunandana Thakura
Sri
Mukunda Das, Madhava Das and Sri Narahari Sorkar Thakur were three
brothers who lived in the village of Sri Khanda. Raghunandan was the
son of Sri Mukunda Das. [C. C. Mad 15]
In the house of Sri
Mukunda Das, who lives at Sri Khanda, Lord Sri Gopinath is served with
great devotion. One day Mukunda was called out to do some work, and
then he instructed his son Raghunandan to worship the deity and asked
him to serve the Lord Gopinath that day. He explained to him that this
deity is in our family for many generations and thus He has been
worshipped by my father and his father and his father on and on, in
this way for many years. Just as your mother feeds you and I everyday,
so also He has to be fed everyday. Having explained to Raghunandan that
this is a very big responsibility and he should be very careful to give
his full attention to this service, Mukunda went out. Raghunandan
meanwhile having been instructed by his father, collected the items for
offering to Sri Gopinathji and entered into the deity room. Raghunandan
was at that time barely 5 years old and therefore, when he saw that
Gopinath hadn't eaten the offering after he had imitated how his father
offered the bhoga, he became very worried. Ultimately he simply
requested Gopinath with tears in his eyes: "Please eat! Eat!" Gopinath
became completely subjected by Raghunandan's simple request, which was
made entirely in love, and thus he stealthily ate up everything without
leaving any remnants.
After some time Raghu-nandan's father,
Mukunda, returned and asked his son if he had done as he was told? When
his son replied "Yes", then Mukunda asked him to bring some of the
prasadam. Raghunandan replied, "Prasadam? I offered everything just
like you told me, and Gopinath ate everything; so what should I bring
you now?" Mukunda was completely taken aback. "This boy is not naughty
and is always accustomed to speak the truth. I doubt if he could have
eaten everything. I wonder what actually happened?"
Musing on
this matter in this way for some time, on another day his curiosity was
so stirred that he again requested Raghunandan to offer the bhoga to
Gopinath on that day. On this day however, having gone out of the
house, he again came in by another way and remained hiding in one
place. Raghunandan was very happy to be able to serve Sri Gopinathji
again and brought everything into the deity room. As before, he again
very insistently persuaded Gopinath to take his meal. As Gopinath had
eaten half of a laddu, he espied Mukunda peering out from his hiding
spot. He didn't try to cover up the fact that he had eaten what he had,
but neither did he eat anymore. Seeing all this Mukunda was completely
immersed in ecstatic love and picked up his son and put him on his lap.
He extolled his virtues in a voice trembling with ecstasy, all the
while torrents of tears of joy falling from his eyes. Even today, those
who are greatly fortunate can still see that half-eaten laddu in
Gopinatha's lotus hand. Thus Sri Uddhav das sings the glories of
Raghunandan, who is non different from Madan(Cupid).
Raghunandan
was present at the khetori utsob. In Krsna lila he was Kandarpa manjari
& in Dwaraka lila he was Sri Krsna's son Kandarpa. Raghunandan's
son is Kanai Thakur. His descendants are still residing at Sri Khanda.
Sri Khanda can be easily reached from Katwa by bus or train. He was
born in the year 1432 Sakabda.