Let me have the greatest love for my guru, my initiation-mantra, the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the greatest of all Lords, who has appeared from the womb of mother Śacī,
Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, his devotees and his elder brother Sanātana Gosvāmī, the king of hills Govardhana, Gāndharvikā’s lake Rādhākuṇḍa, Mathurā-dhāma,
the forests of Vraja, the meadows of Vraja and the inhabitants of these meadows.

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā:
…
After this Śrīla Raghunātha prays for love for Śrī-Śrī Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu’s lotus feet. He is himself one of Mahāprabhu’s eternal associates and his extraordinary rati or anurāga for Mahāprabhu is world-famous, but still he humbly and insatiably prays for love for the Lord’s lotus feet to engage the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava-aspirants in Śrī Gaura-bhajana. The root cause of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas’ love for the lotus feet of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is loving worship of Śrī Gaurāṅga’s lotus feet.

gaura prema rasārṇave,
se taraṅge yebā ḍube,
se rādhā-mādhava antaraṅga
(Prārthanā).

In his Śrī Caitanya Candrāmṛtam (88) Śrīpāda Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī has written:

yathā yathā gaura padāravinde
vindeta bhaktiṁ kṛta puṇya rāśiḥ
tathā tathotsarpati hṛdy akasmat
rādhā padāmbhoja sudhāmbu rāśiḥ

    “When a very fortunate soul experiences devotion for Lord Gaura’s lotus feet, the nectar-ocean from Rādhā’s lotus feet suddenly floods his heart.”

Particularly in this present age of Kali the confidential worship of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava is the great merciful gift of Śrīman Mahāprabhu. Śrī Gaurasundara has given that sweet Vraja-worship, which was unattainable for even the greatest sages of the (relatively purer) ages of Satya, Tretā and Dvāpara, to the unfortunate, sin-stained people of the age of Kali, thus raising them to the most elevated platform! Therefore, without taking shelter of His lotus feet the sweetness of Vraja can never be relished!

Kṛṣṇa līlāmṛta sāra,
tāra śata śata dhāra,
daśa dige bohe yāhā hoite
se caitanya līlā hoy,
sarovara akṣaya,
manahaṁsa carāho tāhāte

    “Śrī Caitanya’s pastimes are like a shoreless lake from which hundreds and hundreds of rivulets of Kṛṣṇa-pastimes, which are the quintessence of nectar, flow in all directions.
Make your mind a swan that swims in that lake!”

caitanya līlāmṛta pūra,
Kṛṣṇa-līlā sukarpura,
doṅhe meli hoy sumādhurya
sādhu-guru prasāde,
tāhā yei āsvāde,
se-i jāne mādhurya prācurya
ye līlā amṛta vine,
khāya yadi anupāne,
tabhu bhaktera durbala jīvana
(C.C.)

    “This nectar of Caitanya-pastimes becomes even more sweet when the nice camphor of Kṛṣṇa-pastimes is added to it. Anyone who relishes this by the grace of the saints and the guru knows its abundant sweetness. If a devotee simply eats and drinks without drinking this nectar of Caitanya’s pastimes, his life will be weakened.”

    It is not that one must take shelter of Gaura-worship just to relish the sweetness of Śrī-Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes. The lotus feet of Śrī Gaurāṅga and Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava are simultaneously worshiped by the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas and They are both their final goal. hethā gauracandra pābo, sethā rādhā-Kṛṣṇa (Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāsaya).

By calling Śrīman Mahāprabhu ‘Śacīgarbhaja’, Śrī Raghunātha humbly indicates that he has attained mercy from Him like one can only get from the mother, but that unfortunately he could not become permanently attached to the worship of this most merciful Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s lotus feet.

    Mahāprabhu became carefree when He placed Raghunātha dāsa in the care of Svarūpa Dāmodara and called him ‘Svarūpa’s Raghu’. Here Śrī Raghunātha prays for attachment to the lotus feet of this Svarūpa Dāmodara. Out of shyness and awe Śrī Raghunātha would not freely speak about his most intimate problems. Instead he would tell the Lord through the medium of Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara. prabhu āge kathā mātra nā kore raghunātha; svarūpa govinda dvārā kohāya nija bāta When Svarūpa Dāmodara submitted Raghunātha’s questions to Mahāprabhu, the Lord smiled and told Raghu:

hāsi mahāprabhu raghunāthere kohilo; tomāra upadeṣṭā kori svarūpere dilo
sādhya sādhana-tattva śikho ihā sthāne; āmi toto nāhi jāni iha yoto jāne
(C.C.)

    “I’ve given you Svarūpa Dāmodara as a teacher. Learn the means and the goal from him! I don’t know as much as he knows!” In this way the Lord made Raghunātha Svarūpa Dāmodara’s pupil in all respects. Raghunātha humbly thought: “The Lord has given me Svarūpa Dāmodara as an invaluable jewel, but alas! Unfortunately, I have not become attached to his lotus feet!” Hence Raghunātha takes a firm vow to worship the lotus feet of Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara.

    After that, Śrīla Raghunātha takes a firm vow to become attached to the lotus feet of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, his teacher of rāgānugā-bhakti endowed with regulative principles.

At the end of his Stavāvalī, in the Abhīṣṭa Sūcanam (2), Śrī Raghunātha himself says:

yad yatnataḥ śama damātma viveka yogair adhyātma lagnam avikāram abhūn mano me
rūpasya tat smita sudhāṁ sadayāvalokam āsādya mādyati hareś caritair idānīm

    Through the efforts of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī my mind has become equipoised (śama), controlled (dama) and absorbed in transcendence through the practice of ātma viveka (spiritual discrimination) and yoga. Because of attaining his merciful glance and his nectarean smile my mind has now become maddened by Śrī Hari’s pastimes!”

In different other places in his books Śrī Raghunātha showed his topmost faith in and devotion for Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī – ādadānas tṛṇaṁ dantair idaṁ yāce punaḥ punaḥ; śrīmad rūpa padāmbhoja dhūliḥ syām janma janmani (Muktā Carita) ādadānas tṛṇaṁ dantair idaṁ yāce punaḥ punaḥ; śrīmad rūpa padāmbhoja rajo’haṁ syāṁ bhave bhave (Dāna Keli Cintāmaṇi) – “Taking a straw between my teeth, I pray again and again that I may become a speck of dust at Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmī’s lotus feet, birth after birth!”

In Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇojjvala Kusuma-keli (44) he has written:

idaṁ rādhā-kṛṣṇojjvala kusuma keli kali madhu
priyālī narmālī parimala-yutaṁ yasya bhajanāt
mamāndhasyāpyetad vacana madhupenālpa gatinā
manāg ghrātaṁ tan me gatir atula rūpāṅghrija-rajaḥ

    “By worshiping the matchless dust of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s lotus feet, the limping bumblebee of the words of an ignorant and arasika person like me is now able to smell a little of the fragrance of the honey of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa’s playful and brilliant flower quarrel, that is scented by the words of Their dearest girlfriends. This matchless foot dust is my only goal!” In this way Śrī Raghunātha shows his topmost devotion for Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Still, he humbly says here that he has no love for these lotus feet at all and prays that he may become attached to them once.