Sri Sri Radha Vinoda temple, locally known as Vinodilal temple, is one of the main Gaudiya Vaishnava temples. It hosts the Radha Krishna deities personally served by Srila Lokanatha Goswami.
During 1670 AD, due to Aurangzeb’s attack on Vrindavana, the important Gaudiya deities served by Vaishnava Acharyas, were moved to Rajasthan. These deities were moved to Jaipur- Radha Govindadeva, Radha Vinoda, Radha Damodara, Radha Vrindavanachandra, Radha Gopinatha and Radha Madhava.
Radha Vinoda temple is a small temple but it has the deities served by the most exalted devotees- Srila Lokanatha Goswami, Srila Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakura and Baldeva Vidyabhushana.
History of The Deities
Lokanatha Goswami was one of the most intimate associates of Lord Caitanya. He took active part in Navadvipa pastimes of Mahaprabhu.
Lord Caitanya instructed Lokanatha and Bhugarbha Goswami, his twe close associates to go to Vrindavana to discover the holy places of the area.
Both were reluctant as they didn’t want to leave the association of Lord.
Lord Caitanya consoled them by saying, “O Lokanatha, O Bhugarbha, you are assigned with most important responsibility. Vrindavana is the place where I in the form of Krishna performed pastimes. Go and re-discover the holy sites of the region.”
“I am always with you. You are always under My protection. And for that matter I also don’t want to part with you but it is a very important work, which only you can do. I will soon send more devotees to help you.”
So Lokanatha and Bhugarbha came to Vrindavana in northern India from far east in Navadvipa in Bengal. They arrived at Vrindavana in 1509 AD, and became the first disciples of Lord Caitanya to come in the holy dhama.
Lokanatha and Bhugarbha re-discovered many holy pastime places in Vraja Mandala and engaged themselves in continuous chanting of holy names of Lord. They became closest of companions.
They were soon joined by Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Gosawami, Prabodhananda Saraswati, Subuddhi Raya, Raghunatha Dasa Goswami, Gopala Bhatta Gosawami, Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Jiva Goswami and other devotees of Lord Caitanya.
Almost all the devotees in Vrindavana served their own set of Radha Krishna deities. Bhugarbha served Radha Chailchikan. Lokanatha also had a desire to serve the deities of Radha Krishna.
One day he was doing bhajana at Kishori Kunda. His desire to serve the deities was getting stronger and stronger.
Lord Krishna seeing the desire of his devotee, decided to fulfill it. He assuming form of a brahmana came to Lokanatha handing over him a sac. The brahmana vanished the next moment.
Lokanatha was shocked at this. Who was that man? What is in the bag? Where did he disappear?
Lokanatha opened the sac, and saw Krishna or Vinoda deity. Finally he could serve Krishna deity. He immediately understood that the man was none other than Lord Himself, and he came only to satisfy Lokanatha’s desire.
Lokanatha engaged himself in the service of the deity. He built a hut at Keshi Ghata, Vrindavana as a temple for the deities.
Vaishnavas of Vrindavana came regularly to have darshana of Radha Vinoda. And Later Jahnava Mata, the wife of Nityananda brought a deity of Radha as consort for Vinoda, from Puri.
After Lokanatha’s disappearance the other Vaishnavas continued the service of Radha Vinoda.
In 1650’s Srila Vishwanatha Chakravarti Thakura, the then leader of Gaudiya Sampradaya, assumed the responsibility of serving the deities. He engaged his disciples in building a proper temple for Radha Vinoda. He also established his Radha Gokulananda deities in that temple. The temple is still in Vrindavana.
In 1670 the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb attacked Vrindavana and began destroying the magnificat temples here. So Vishwanatha with help of his disciple Baladeva Vidyabhushana and Rajput king of Jaipur transported the deities to safe places.
Radha Vinoda, Radha Govinda, Radha Damodara and some more deities were moved to the city of Jaipur. Here the Vaishnava king Sawai Jai Singh built large temples for the deities.
So this is how Sri Sri Radha Vinoda came to Their present location.
Practical Guide
The temple is not easy to find in the big city of Jaipur unless one knows the proper address. It is marked as Shop No. 295 (opposite Tripoliya Gate) at Tripoliya market in Jaipur.
There are a large number of auto-rikshaws in the city which can take you to this temple when you will give them this location.
Jaipur is a city of almost 4 million people and it has all facilities. It is a tourist city with good accomodation, hospitals and restaurants.
It is the capital of Indian state of Rajasthan, and is 265 km from National Capital Delhi.
The Other Places of Interest in Jaipur
Jaipur is famous for its palaces, forts, and temples. The other Gaudiya temples in the city are Govindadevaji temple, Radha Damodara temple, Kanak Vrindavana, Galtaji, ISKCON Giridhari Dauji temple, and Radha Gopinatha temple.
City palace, Amber fort, Nahargarh fort, Jaigarh fort, Jal Mahal lake palace, Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar and Garh Ganesha temple are other worth visit sites in the city.
Jaya Radha Vinoda!
Jaya Lokanatha Goswami!
