As a young boy, Gopala came to the lotus feet of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Shri Vakreshvara Pandit trained and initiated him. Lord Chaitanya loved Golpala and often joked with him. Once Mahaprabhu humorously called the boy "guru." The name stuck and he became known as Gopala Guru Goswami.
 
   By studying under Shri Svarupa Damodara Goswami and Shri Raghunatha Dasa Goswami he became expert in rasa tattva (the science of Radha-Govinda's loving mellows). He enlightened Shri Dhyan Chandra Goswami, his disciple, in the same. Dhyana Chandra's books explain in detail how to worship Gauranga and Radha-Govinda in raganuga bhakti.

   Gopala Guru lived with and served his guru, Shri Vakreshvara Pandit, in Jagannatha Puri in Kashi Mishra's house, where Lord Chaitanya previously stayed. Beside the Gambhira, he established a Temple for worshiping Shri-Shri Radha-Kanta. His unusual samadhi in Vrindavana is in the Dhira Samira area.