Though the Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā here indicates that Mīnaketana and Rāma Dāsa are two different people, it is clear from the Caitanya Caritāmṛta and the Bhakti-ratnākara that Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa is one single individual. Perhaps both Niśaṭha and Ulmuka, participants in Baladeva-līlā, entered into the body of Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa during Gaura-līlā.

Nothing is known about the details of Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa’s birthplace or his parents. From the account of Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, it would appear that his residence was somewhere in the vicinity of Kavirāja Gosvāmī’s home in Jhamatpur.

He was one of the associates of Nityānanda Prabhu who went to Khetarī with Jāhnavā Devī. Narahari Cakravartī writes that the three worlds are purified by the sight of Vaiṣṇavas like Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa:

All the great devotees gathered to go to Khetarī. Seeing them, the entire universe is sanctified. Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa, Abhirāma Ṭhākura, Murāri Caitanya, Jñāna Dāsa, Mahīdhara, Śaṅkara, Kamalākara Pippalāi, Nṛsiṁha Caitanya, Jīva and Kānāi Paṇḍita. (Bhakti-ratnākara 10.372, 374-5)

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī recounts some details about Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa in his Caitanya Caritāmṛta in the course of glorifying Nityānanda Prabhu. Just as Nityānanda Prabhu was an avadhūta, his follower Mīnaketana also behaved in the manner of an avadhūta. Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura discusses the word in his commentary: “The word avadhūta is defined by Śrīdhara Svāmī in his commentary to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (3.1.19) by the words asaṁskṛta-deha, or “one who does not take care of his body.” Nityānanda Prabhu is an avadhūta, and his disciple is also an eternally perfect, mahā-bhāgavata paramahaṁsa like Him, beyond the varṇāśrama system. As a result, none of the characteristics of any of the castes or states of life were manifest in his body. He was completely absorbed in the mood of Vraja and had no consideration whatsoever for the requirements of the body.” (Anubhāṣya to Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.5.161)

On one occasion, Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa was invited to attend an all-night kīrtana at Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja’s home in Jhamatpur. The other guests were impressed by his appearance and his display of transcendental emotions and came to pay their obeisances to his feet. In his ecstatic mood, he would sometimes hit the person prostrated before him with his flute, sometimes slap him. Occasionally, he would even climb onto some other devotees’ shoulders. Tears poured from his eyes like the uninterrupted flow of a river. Seeing this, other devotees’ also felt their eyes fill with tears. All the eight amazing manifestations of ecstatic love appeared in his body. When he shouted the Name of Nityānanda Prabhu in this state, all the devotees felt their hearts become full with divine ecstasy.

Guṇārṇava Miśra was engaged as a pūjārī in Kavirāja Gosvāmī’s house. This brāhmaṇa was a kaniṣṭha-adhikārī and had faith in the deity but did not have much enthusiasm to pay Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa proper respect. Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa was able to understand that this Guṇārṇava Miśra had no faith in Nityānanda Prabhu and that for this reason, he was deliberately ignoring him because he was Nityānanda Prabhu’s disciple. In order to teach the world, Rāma Dāsa said,

”Just look! A second Romaharṣaṇa Sūta (son) who did not come forward to show respect when he saw Balarāma!” (Caitanya Caritāmṛta 1.5.170)

The son of Romaharṣaṇa was seated on the Vyāsāsana and engaged in reciting the Bhāgavata at the request of the assembled sages in Naimiṣāraṇya when Lord Baladeva Himself appeared there. All the other sages stood up to show Lord Balarāma the appropriate respect, with the exception of the son of Romaharṣaṇa. For this, he was punished. Someone who is proud has no authority to speak on the Bhāgavata, nor, for that matter, is he authorized to worship the deity. The Bhāgavata is identical to Kṛṣṇa himself. However, in this case, the pūjārī Guṇārṇava Miśra did not object to Rāma Dāsa’s chastisement and he performed all the services that he was supposed to do.

At the end of the kīrtana festival, after the pūjārī left, however, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja’s brother got into an argument with Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa. Kavirāja Gosvāmī’s brother had strong faith in Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but lacked such faith in Nityānanda Prabhu. When Rāma Dāsa discovered this, he broke his flute in anger and left the place. The result of this curse was that Kavirāja Gosvāmī’s brother was doomed to destruction. Kavirāja Gosvāmī himself rebuked his brother, an act which pleased Lord Nityānanda, Who came to him in a dream and told him to go to live in Vṛndāvana.

The above account reveals how dear Mīnaketana Rāma Dāsa was to Nityānanda Prabhu. Nityānanda Prabhu’s followers are like Him: they are deliverers of the most fallen and capable of fulfilling all desires.