His family lineage can be traced to Indian State of Karnataka and Naihati in the district of North 24 Parganas in present-day West Bengal, India.
Both brothers inherited the administration of the state after their father died, but Harihara soon snatched all the power, causing Rupesvara and his wife to travel to Paulastha-desa, where Sikharesvara befriended him and convinced him to settle there.
He left Sikharabhumi and settled on the bank of the Ganges in the village Navahatta (present-day Naihati, West Bengal, India[5]), where he had eighteen daughters and five sons.
Among Kumara's many sons, Sanatana (eldest), Rupa (middle), and Vallabha (youngest) were the life of the Vaishnava community and great devotees, all three becoming well known for their academic genius and devotion, and eventually settling in the village Ramakeli in Gauda (present-day Maldah, West Bengal[6]).
[citation needed] Vallabha's son, Jiva Goswami, was very talented, completing his studies in vyakarana and other subjects within a very short time, grasping vast spiritual knowledge with a sincere and devotional endeavor.
On the way to join his uncles in Vrindavana, he first met with Nityananda Prabhu in Nabadwip for a few days, then studied from Madhusudana Vacaspati in Kasi and became expert in Nyaya Vedanta and other scriptures.
He was born in Ramakeli in the district of Maldah, West Bengal as the son of Srivallabha Mallika (also known as Anupama), the younger brother of Rupa and Sanatana; his mother's name is unknown.
He had a strong affinity to the worship of Krishna even from his childhood and excelled in his education completing his studies in Sanskrit Vyakarana (grammar) and Kavya (poetics) within a very short period.
Jiva's father, Anupama, also met with Chaitanya at this time and followed in the footsteps of his elder brothers and proceeded to travel with Rupa to Vrindavana.
[7] Jiva helped to edit the writings of Rupa and Sanatana and assisted them in their work in propagating Gaudiya Vaishnavism and excavating the lost holy places of Vrindavana.
In 1558, Jiva instructed his students, Narottama Dasa, Srinivasa Acarya and Shyamananda, to go to Bengal and propagate the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy and to take with them the original manuscripts that had been written by Rupa and Sanatana.
Jiva proceeded to “extend the scope of the Veda to include the epics and the Purānas,” and concluded that the Bhagavata Purana was “scripture par excellence”.
In fact, he shifted “the locus of scriptural authority from the Veda to the Bhāgavata,” which had important, if controversial, consequences for the subsequent development of Hindu theology.
Recent work in comparative philosophy "we should add the word mystery (which is from the Latin mysterium and the Greek mustērion) to the many ways acintya might be translated within the context of Jīva’s thought.
"[11] There are at least 25 literary works attributed to Jiva Goswami,[12][7][13][14] which can be classified into four types: treatises, commentaries, grammar and rhetoric, and poetry, with the best-known in each category being Sat-sandarbhas, Durgama-sangamani, Hari-namamrita-vyakarana and Gopalachampu, respectively.
Radha-Krishna-archana-dipika (Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-arcana-dīpikā), Radha-krishnarchana-dipika (Rādhā-Kṛṣṇārcana-dīpikā), Radha-krishnarchana-chandrika (Rādhā-Kṛṣṇārcana-candrikā): Intensely theological work describing the process of worshiping Radha and Krishna together in deity form, a significant contribution to the Chaitanyite sampradaya.
Padma-puranastha Yogasara-stotra-tika (Yogasāra-stotra-ṭīkā), Yogasara-stavaka-tika (Yogasāra-stavaka-ṭīkā) Padma-puranokta Krishna-pada-padma-chihna (Kṛṣṇa-pada-padma-cīhna): An elaborate description of the insignia found on Krishna's feet according to Padma Purana.
Hari-namamrita-vyakarana (Hari-nāmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa), Harinamamrita-vyakarana (Harināmāmṛta-vyākaraṇa): A work on Sanskrit grammar, wherein each and every word, syllable and grammatical rule is explained in relation to Krishna and his pastimes.