Rupa Goswami (1489–1564) was an Indian devotional teacher (guru), poet, and philosopher from the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Hinduism. Alongside his brother Sanatana Goswami, he was considered the leader of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan associated with Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the Hindu saint believed to be the Avatar of Krishna in Kali Yuga.^{[citation needed]}

Rupa's lineage can be traced back to Karnataka in South India where his Saraswata Brahmana ancestors held influential positions. Rupa Goswami's nephew, Jiva Goswami has explained in his Laghu Tosani that Rupa's ancestors were of the Bharadvaja gotra and were learned in the Yajur Veda. A brahmana called Sarvajna was seventh in the ascending genealogical line of Rupa Goswami and was known by the title 'jagad-guru' (Universal teacher) being both a learned scholar and king. His son, Aniruddha was also an acclaimed scholar and had two sons, named Harihara and Rupesvara. While Rupesvara was knowledgeable in the Vedic literatures, his brother became expert in weaponry and politics. When their father died, the kingdom was divided between the two sons. However, Harihara took Rupesvara's land by force and forced the family to migrate to Paurastyadesa. Padmanabha relocated his family to Nabahatta (Naihati) on the banks of the Ganges River. Padmanabha had eighteen daughters and five sons, the youngest son being named Mukunda.

Kadamba Kanana Swami is a Hare Krishna guru and one of the senior members of ISKCON. He is a member of the faculty at Bhaktivedanta College where he teaches in the subject area titled Reflections on Chaitanya Charitamrita. Kadamba Kanana Swami has also been teaching courses on Vaishnavism at Mayapur Institute for Higher Education and Learning.

Kadamba Kanana Swami is of Dutch nationality. He joined ISKCON in 1978 in Amsterdam. From 1985 to 1990 he was in charge of the construction of Srila Prabhupada's Pushpa Samadhi Mandir in Mayapur. From 1990 till 1995 he was serving as a temple president of the renowned Krishna Balarama Mandir in Vrindavan. There was an attempt to murder him in 1995 and after recovery he took sannyasa from his guru, Jayadvaita Swami and is presently an initiating spiritual master within ISKCON. He is the first of a few diksa gurus in ISKCON who were not initiated by ISKCON's founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Kadamba Kanana Swami is also a member of the Vrindavan Executive Board, the Governing Body Commission for ISKCON Vrindavan.

Sanatana Goswami (1488-1558 CE) was a principal disciple of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Sanatana wrote a number of important works in the bhakti tradition of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and was the seniormost of the influential Six Goswamis of Vrindavan, among whom was his brother Rupa Goswami.

Sanatana, or Santosha as he was named at birth, was born in Jessore in East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) in 1488 as the son of Mukunda, the private secretary of the Sultan of Bengal, Jalaluddin Fateh Shah (ruled 1481-1487 CE). Sanatana was the eldest son of Mukunda, and his younger brothers were Amara (Rupa Goswami) and Srivallabha (Anupama).

Sanatana and his brothers studied Nyaya (rhetortic) and Vedanta from the famous logician Vasudeva Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya. They also studied under Sarvabhauma's brother, Madhusudana Vidyavacaspati, from whom Sanatana took initiation in his childhood.

On the death of his father, Sanatana was forced to take up the post of Sakara Mallika (treasurer) to the new ruler of Bengal, Alauddin Hussein Shah (ruled 1493-1519 CE), while his brother Rupa was given the post of Dabir-i-khas (private secretary).