Shyamji Goswami was an ardent devotee of Sri Krishna and a great propagator of bhakti in West Punjab. He was born in 1544 CE at Dipalpur (district Montgomery, now in Pakistan). His father died when he was nine years old. As a boy Shyamji Goswami absorbed himself in devotion to Krishna and sang hymns in his praise. He had his early initiation from Sri Krishna Das Gunja Mali. At the age of eleven, he requested his mother to permit him to go to Vrindavan sot that he could obtain practical directions on spirituality from a guru there.
In Vrindavan, he met Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Vaishnava saint of Bengal who had at that time settled in Vrindavan), and explained the object of his mission to him. Mahaprabhu accepted him as a disciple.
When Shyamji reached the age of 21, Mahaprabhu directed him to proceed to the west across the Indus (Sindhu) River and spread the gospel of Vaishnavism to the people of Dera Ghazi Khan (West Punjab).
Honoring Mahaprabhu’s wishes, Shyamji Goswami set up a center in Ghali Patan (district Dera Ghazi Khan). Afterwards, he established another center – the main one – in the city of Dera Ghazi Khan. Two huge temples of Sri Krishna, named Navnit Rai and Ramre Rai, were constructed by Shyamji and his son Lal Das. Shyamji did not accept offerings from his disciples, but earned a livelihood by sewing and selling caps. Several miracles are attributed to Shyamji. He had three special disciples who contributed a great deal in propagating Vaishnavism, one of them, Chandia Baloch was a Muslim by birth.