vyūhas trtīyah pradyumnah priya-narma-sakho’bhavatcakre līlā-sahāyam yo rādhā-mādhavayor vraje śrī-caitanyadvaita-tanuh sa eva raghunandanah
The third member of the catur-vyūha, Pradyumna, took part in Radha Madhava’s lila in Vraja as Krishna’s intimate friend or priya-narma-sakhā. He has now appeared as Raghunandan, whose body is not different from that of Chaitanya. (Gaura-ganoddeśa-dīpikā 70)
Mahaprabhu gave Raghunandan the service of deity worship. Raghunandan’s work is to serve Krishna. He has no interest in anything other than serving Krishna. (Chaitanya Charitamrita 2:15:131) From his early childhood, Raghunandan would feed the family’s Gopinath deity laddus. Uddhava Das has written a song in which this lila is described:Mukunda Das, Raghunandan’s father lived in the village of Srikhanda, where his household deity was named Gopinath. One day he had to go somewhere for work and he called Raghunandan to do the service. He said, “In this house we worship Krishna, so I want you to be sure to give him something to eat.” and then he left. Raghunandan did as his father had ordered and made the offering to the deity. Raghunandan was just a child and in his simplicity, he said to Gopinath, “Eat! Eat!” Krishna is controlled by love, and so He did as the child told Him and ate everything on the plate without leaving a grain of rice.When Mukunda Das returned, he asked the boy to bring him the prasad from the offering he had made. The child answered, “Father, Krishna ate everything and left no remnants.” Mukunda was so astonished at his child’s wonderful words that on another occasion he asked him again to make an offering. This time after he left the house, he returned and hid to watch what his son would do.
Raghunandan joyfully placed a laddu in Krishna’s hand and said in a commanding voice, “Eat! Eat!” When Krishna had eaten half of the laddu, Raghunandan saw MukundaDas in the doorway. Mukunda saw that Krishna did not take another bite and that the half-eaten laddu remained in His hand. Seeing this, love swelled up in Mukunda’s heart. He embraced his child as tears of joy rained from his eyes and spoke to him in a broken voice. To this day, fortunate people come to Srikhanda to see the half-eaten laddu in Gopinath’s hand. Raghunandan is not different from Cupid himself, says Uddhava Das with great feeling.
The Associates of Lord Caitanya
HDG Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Thakur