MS: We are discussing, I believe the story of Ramananda Raya displays the ultimate limits of prema. And Lord Caitanya has glorified Pradyumna Misra and then Pradyumna Misra has returned to Ramananda Raya and Ramananda Raya is speaking to him so many wonderful things. He was asking so many questions and Ramananda Raya was giving answers and they were both absorbed in ecstatic love to hear these discussions of rasa katha from Ramananda Raya’s lips and they forgot their bodily consciousness. They didn’t even know the day had ended.
Text 65
vaktā śrotā kahe śune duṅhe premāveśe
ātma-smṛti nāhi, kāhāṅ jāniba dina-śeṣe
SP: The speaker and listener spoke and heard in ecstatic love. Thus they forgot their bodily consciousness. How, then, could they perceive the end of the day?
MS: The speaker, Ramananda Raya and the listener, Pradyumna Misra in Jagannatha Puri, they heard and spoke in ecstatic love, Premavesa. And because of this, atma smriti nahi. They did not have remembrance of their atma. Atma means body, mind, existence, soul. Kahan janiba, they could not understand where is the dina-sesa. Where was the end of the day? What happened? Where did the day go? The whole day we spent.
Text 66
sevaka kahila,–'dina haila avasāna'
tabe rāya kṛṣṇa-kathāra karilā viśrāma
SP: The servant informed them, "The day has already ended." Then Rāmānanda Rāya ended his discourses about Kṛṣṇa.
MS: The servant informed them, “The day has already ended.” Then Ramananda Raya ended his discourses. So Pradyumna Misra is very happy, misra nacite lagila. He said, “I am very happy with your discussions, I am so happy, you filled me with so much enlightenment, encouragement and satisfaction.” These are the three different categories – enlightenment, encouragement and satisfaction. These are the results of actual hearing Hari Katha.
When one hears Hari Katha from a bonafide Vaisnava then the listener becomes enlightened and becomes satisfied and becomes encouraged. Becomes encouraged to go forward and surrender and encouraged to practice devotion more and more enthusiasm and becomes also enlightened and becomes satisfied, Hari tosanam. Tusyanti ca ramanti ca.
B.G. – 10.9
mac-citta mad-gata-prana bodhayantah parasparam
kathayantas ca mam nityam tusyanti ca ramanti ca
Becomes very satisfied, very joyful. So these are some of the beautiful results of simply hearing Hari katha.
And he was so satisfied, his heart was so thrilled by hearing these beautiful topics of Hari Katha and all the Gaudiya siddhanta from Ramananda Raya. That at the end of the day, they forgot everything, then finally the servant only reminded them and they said, “O! I should go now and take something to eat, return tomorrow.” Then he started exhibiting anubhava, his heart became so thrilled that he exhibited anubhava of dancing, which is a voluntary expression of great joy. He started dancing.
Text 68
ghare giyā miśra kaila snāna, bhojana
sandhyā-kāle dekhite āila prabhura caraṇa
SP: After returning home, Pradyumna Miśra bathed and ate his meal. In the evening he came to see the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
MS: After returning home, Pradyumna Misra bathed and took his meal. And in the evening time he came to see the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu, dekhite āila prabhura caraṇa.
Text 69
prabhura caraṇa vande ullasita-mane
prabhu kake,–'kṛṣṇa-kathā ha-ila śravaṇe'?
SP: In great happiness he worshiped the lotus feet of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The Lord inquired, "Have you heard topics about Kṛṣṇa?"
MS: In great happiness Pradyumna Misra worshipped the lotus feet of Mahaprabhu in Gambhira. And the Lord inquired, “Did you hear topics about Krsna today? Krsna katha sravana?
So this is like the sankirtana devotees giving the sankirtana report, at the end of the day how did you do?
So he went to Lord Caitanya –
“What’s the report? Did you hear some Hari katha?
“O, yes definitely!”
Text 70
miśra kahe,–"prabhu, more kṛtārtha karilā
kṛṣṇa-kathāmṛtārṇave more ḍubāilā
SP: Pradyumna Miśra said, "My dear Lord, You have made me extremely obliged to You because You have drowned me in a nectarean ocean of talks about Kṛṣṇa.
MS: He said, “My dear Lord, You have made me extremely obliged to You because You have drowned me in the nectarean ocean of talks about Krsna.” Kathamrtanave more dubaila. So the arnava, the ocean of katha, Krsna, the nectar ocean of Kṛṣṇa katha amrta arnave dubaila. Drowning in the nectarean ocean of Krsna katha.
Text 71
rāmānanda rāya-kathā kahile nā haya
'manuṣya' nahe rāya, kṛṣṇa-bhakti-rasa-maya
SP: "I cannot properly describe the discourses of Rāmānanda Rāya, for he is not an ordinary human being. He is fully absorbed in the devotional service of the Lord.
MS: Pradyumna Misra confided in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, “O My Lord, I cannot properly describe the discourses that I received from Ramananda Raya. He is not an ordinary man, 'manuṣya' nahe. He is fully absorbed in the devotional service of the Lord Krsna bhakti rasamaya.
So this is, Ramananda Raya is acting as bhajan siksa guru for Pradyumna Misra and so his admission here upon associating with him, hearing Hari katha from him and observing the transformations that he experienced in the association of Ramananda Raya and experiencing the transformations of Ramananda Raya. And most importantly the quality of the Hari Katha and the influence the Hari Katha had on his mind and heart to fill him with ulhas. And as I said, encouragement, satisfaction and enlightenment. Then he is remarking his assessment of the position of his teacher, his bhajan siksa guru, Ramananda Raya. Pradyumna Misra is giving his appreciation, now that he understands clearly, to some extent, the proper identity of the teacher. Initially when he met the teacher, he said, “O, who is this guy? What is this guy? He is massaging these ladies, devadasis, and they are naked and he is bathing them! I don’t want to hear from him”. And he left there.
Firstly he was thinking in his mind, I am Pradyumna Misra, I am a high class cultured, educated, prestigious and famous brahmana and I am being sent to Ramananda Raya. Raya is the title of a lower caste person and I heard he was a gorverner of Madras, he is a kayastha, and he is lower class. Anyway, Lord Caitanya is sending me there, must be a good reason for it. But then when I went there, my mind was already full of samsaya, doubts about his qualification or his adhikar to give me Hari katha which I am looking for.
And then when I went there –
“Aah! Forget it! His servant informed me, he could not come and see me first of all because he was busy bathing some naked girls.”
“Excuse me, panditji can’t meet you right now because he is a little busy”.
“O, is he studying sastras? Is he chanting his Gayatri, anik? Or is he perhaps doing puja, thakurji’s puja? Salagram’s puja?”
Then the servant said,
“Well! sort of doing some kind of puja, you could call it a puja.”
“What do you mean sort of?”
“Well it’s a different kind of puja?”
“Really! What is your master doing?”
“Well he is rubbing oil on the private parts of some dancing girls.”
“Accha!”
“Yes, not only that but their whole bodies, their arms, their limbs, their back. Then he is bathing them. Then he is dressing them and decorating them very particularly with all the proper alankar and ornamentation, painting their faces. And then he is teaching them how to dance, move in different dance steps and show different mudras and different facial expressions and different movements of the eyes. And then he is teaching them.”
“Accha! Well I guess, I will go now, may be I will see you some other time.”
“O, who should I say came to see him.”
“O, never mind, it doesn’t really matter, its not so important.”
And he goes back to Lord Caitanya.
“Did you meet Ramananda Raya?”
“O, ya, ya, I met him. Ramananda Raya. Thanks. Nice joke. You got a good joke on me Mahaprabhu.”
“He didn’t speak anything?”
“No, he was busy today? Should I go back again tomorrow?”
“O, yes,yes, you didn’t hear Hari Katha, you should go back tomorrow!”
So then he went back and now that same person who was so full of samsaya, doubts and confusion and speculations about the identity or position of Ramananda Raya. Now he is saying, “manusya nahi raya! This Raya is not a man, he is not a manusya, he is not any kind of man of this world and I have heard the katha from him.”
“And what is his identity Mahaprabhu asked.
“What I surmise is this, what little bit I can put together and understand, he is Krsna bhakti rasamoya. Moya means made of, he is saturated with, he is constituted of, nothing but rasa. He is an ocean of a dripping moist, unlimitedly deep and surging ocean full of waves of ecstatic bliss of bhakti rasarnava. He is an ocean of rasa and he has only sprinkled me with a few drops and I am completely drowning. Just a few drops of mercy he is bestowed to me by Your kind mercy. I cannot properly describe My Lord the Hari katha I heard from Ramananda Raya, definitely he is not an ordinary being, he is fully absorbed in devotional service of the Lord.”
Somehow it’s hard, I could never imagine a 100 years trying to translate Bengali and Sanskrit into understandable English for the ordinary hippy of 1975, which Prabhupada did.
Krsna bhakti rasamoya becomes ‘absorbed in devotional service of the Lord’. So someone is just joined the temple and they are working day and night, they don’t sleep, they are working on Ratha Yatra – painting and cooking and this that, building, running to get permits and everything and they are preparing and they are sleeping one or two hours, it seems like a night, it seems like they are fully absorbed in devotional service.
So you could say, “O, he is serving Prabhupada’s order, he is fully absorbed.” But can you say he is Krsna bhakti rasamoya! So it is very difficult. Krsna bhakti rasamoya is like very high extraordinary state.
Krsna bhakti rasamoya. He is saturated with bhakti rasa. This blissful ananda, ecstatic mood of feeling Krsna’s presence and seeing Krsna’s form, pastimes every moment, Krsna bhakti rasa. This bhakti rasa, this experience of divine rapture comes not at the level of a totally absorbed new devotee but this bhakti rasa is tasted at the level of prema and even someone at the level of prema gets a few drops but to be Krsna bhakti rasamoya is like gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhur. Six goswamis, they were gopi bhava rasa. Krsna bhakti rasa is gopi bhava rasa. Rasamrta, just swimming and diving in the waves.
So now Pradyumna Misra understands, my guru is not ordinary. Ramananda Raya, my bhajan siksa guru is extremely extraordinary. Gurudev Srila Prabhupada gives his tika. One is forbidden to accept a guru or a spiritual master as an ordinary human being, (gurusu nara-matih). Nara means naraka. Well it also means that. That if he thinks that then he goes to hellish mentally. But nara means human being, matih means the intelligence or concept. He conceptualizes the guru as a nara, that he is a human being, narahari. He is an ordinary human being. This is forbidden.
When Ramananda Raya spoke to Pradyumna Misra, then Pradyumna Misra could understand that Ramananda Raya was not an ordinary human being. A spiritually advanced person who is authorized to act as a spiritual master speaks as the Supreme Personality of Godhead dictates within his heart. Thus it is not he that is personally speaking. So when the guru speaks or when the bhajan siska or diksa guru speaks, he is not speaking, God is speaking. When a pure devotee or a spiritual master speaks, what he says should be accepted as having been directly spoken by God himself in a parampara system.
Pradyumna Misra goes on to say
Text 72
āra eka kathā rāya kahilā āmāre
'kṛṣṇa-kathā-vaktā kari' nā jāniha more
SP: "There is one other thing Rāmānanda Rāya said to me. 'Do not consider me the speaker in these talks about Kṛṣṇa.
MS: “There is one other thing Ramananda Raya said to me. Do not consider me the speaker in these talks about Krsna, 'kṛṣṇa-kathā-vaktā kari' nā jāniha more. Don’t think its me. It’s not me vaktā kari. Vag like Vagisvara, vagisvara means the controller of speech, vagisha, vagisha is a name for Saraswati. There is Saraswati of the material world and there is transcendental divya Saraswati, the wife of Lord Narayana. Vagisha, so she is the goddess of speech. vaktā kari' nā jāniha more, I am not speaking Krsna katha, Krsna is speaking Krsna katha.
Of course this brings up a very well known anecdote or pastime, whatever you want to call it. An anecdote in the life of Srila Prabhupada, that one disciple came one evening to see him, his guru, and he was very surprised, because Srila Prabhupada was sitting in Mayapur at his desk and with great enthusiasm, he was reading the Krsna book. It was evening time, Prabhupada was drinking some hot milk. There may be some Ayurvedic herbs or medicines in it. And he was drinking like we all do, drink hot milk, as he instructed us to do. And then he was drinking hot milk and reading Krsna book with great excitement on his face. Great interest and delight seen in his eyes as he was reading, really absorbed. No one else was there in the room, one servant came to attend to his sleeping arrangements and he noticed that Prabhupada was totally engrossed in reading the Krsna book and that disciple very humbly said to Srila Prabhupada, rather in amazement.
“Srila Prabhupada, you are reading Krsna book?
And Prabhupada said
“Yes.”
The disciple said
“But this is your book, you wrote this book. You wrote this book for us, this is for your disciples”
And Prabhupada said
“No, no, I did not write this book. Krsna wrote this book and I am relishing what Krsna wrote.”
So Prabhupada said the same that Ramananda Raya is reminding Pradyumna Misra. You may consider or think, “O Ramananda Raya you are speaking such wonderful Krsna katha, such wonderful siddhanta and lila katha. You are such a wonderful speaker and a greatly advanced devotee and so compassionate towards me. So Ramananda Raya detected that sort of thinking in his student Pradyumna Misra, so he want to check that saying don’t give any praise to me or any glorification to me. I don’t want such pratistha.
But all glories to Srila Prabhupada, as we say it. We may say it from our lips and we may say it from our heart, there is a vast difference. Anatomically the distance between the lips and the heart is only 8-9 inches, but in terms of bhava the distance between the lips and the heart is lifetimes. So one person saying all glories to Srila Prabhupada may be lip deep and another person says ALL GLORIES TO SRILA PRABHUPADA, then it goes heart deep over many lifetimes over many hearts compiled upon top of each other.
For example in the mornings in prema dhavni some devotees, they say – “All glories to the assembled devotees”
“All glories to the assembled devotees”
“All glories to the assembled devotees”
And you can understand that they don’t really feel in their heart that the devotees are glorious, they don’t really appreciate the devotees sitting amongst them, in any particular temple, are very exalted surrendered serious personalities, divinely inspired jivas that have turned their faces towards Krsna and are attending in their own sincere way to go to Krsna and surrender to Krsna.
ALL GLORIES TO THE ASSEMBLED DEVOTEES OF KRSNA. When you feelingly and lovingly, when you actually appreciate those devotees and you respect those devotees and love those devotees and serves those devotees. They are your life. They are your prana. Vaisnava seva, jiya doya, nama ruci. So then you can really heartly say Nitya-lila-Pravista Om Vishnupada-Paramahamsa Parivrajakacharya Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Swami jai and then you go one…ALL GLORIES TO THE ASSEMBLED DEVOTEES. ALL GLORIES TO THE ASSEMBLED DEVOTEES. ALL GLORIES TO THE ASSEMBLED DEVOTEES.
They are glorious and by their mercy I will be blessed. I need them, I depend on them, they are my everything. Without devotees I am nothing. Without shelter, support and association of the devotees we are nothing.
ALL GLORIES TO THE ASSEMBLED DEVOTEES.
So Ramananda Raya is saying, “Its not me O Pradyumna, I am not speaking, He is speaking His topics because you want to hear about Him. He is using me as the amplifier. 'kṛṣṇa-kathā-vaktā kari' nā jāniha more. Don’t think it’s me. It’s not me. I am not the speaker of these topics. 'kṛṣṇa-kathā-vaktā.
Text 73
mora mukhe kathā kahena āpane gauracandra
yaiche kahāya, taiche kahi,–yena vīṇā-yantra
SP: "Whatever I speak is personally spoken by Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Like a stringed instrument, I vibrate whatever He causes me to speak.
MS: Ramananda Raya is continuing to speak, “Pradyumna, whatever I speak is personally spoken by Lord Gauracandra. Like a stringed instrument I vibrate whatever He causes me to speak, vina-yantra.”
Interesting, he picks a vina, which is Radharani’s instrument. As you know Krsna is vamsidhari, muralidhar, He plays a flute. That is His characteristic instrument. Of course He plays the pan pipe also and then the singa, buffalo horn. These three instruments He plays. Radharani, She plays vina. She plays the vina so expertly. She captivates Krsna with Her vina playing.
Ramananda Raya of course is Visakha and I believe Visakha plays mrdanga or pakvaj – a type of drum in rasa lila. But here Ramananda Raya, Visakha is saying, its not me. Gauracandra, He is speaking these topics. I am like a stringed instrument, I vibrate whatever He causes me to speak. This is vina yantra. Yantra means machine.
Yantra undani mayaya, Krsna says in Bhagavad Gita, this body is a yantra, is a machine. So this vina yantra means that Radharani, Mahaprabhu is in mahabhava and Mahaprabhu is entering into Visakha and Visakha is playing vina instead of mrdanga. When Visakha is by herself in rasa lila, she plays mrdanga. But now in Gaura lila she is playing the vina. She is playing the vina of Radharani’s words narada muni bhajan vina radhika ramana name.
So Narada Muni’s vina is vibrating Radhika nama. narada muni bhajan vina radhika ramana name. radhika ramana name.
So this is vina. It’s like one of those Casio electric synthesizers, you press a button and it plays itself. So this vina is vibrating nama. So this is the same thing, Ramananda Raya is saying, “I am a vina yantra. That Gauranga, Radharani is using me as Her vina. Radharani picks up the vina, when Radharani plays Her vina, what comes out of the vina? Radhika Ramana nama. When She plays the vina, She calls the name of Krsna, Rama, Radhika Ramana – the lover of Radhika. One who gives confident intimate bliss to Radharani. Raman means amorous pleasure, raman, ramani, radhika raman.
So Radhika, She derives amorous pleasure from Krsna and She provides amorous pleasure to Krsna. Radhika Ramana. So Radharani is plays Her vina, She is vibrating Her vina and the vina is sending out beautiful songs to please Krsna. Beautiful vibrations, ragas. They say ragas. Raga means attachment, color, love. So everything about Radharani is to attach Krsna to Her and everything She does, every sound She speaks, every word She vibrates, every song She sings and every note of Her vina – Ting (Krsna), tang (Shyam), ding (Damodar), ding (Madhava), ding (Radhika Ramana).
So Ramananda Raya is saying, “I am Visakha but Mahaprabhu in Radha bhava has turned me into vina yantra. Like a stringed instrument, specifically a vina, I vibrate whatever He causes me to speak.” So it simply says in English – like a stringed instrument, I vibrate whatever He cause me to speak and in Bengali it says, yaiche kahāya, taiche kahi,–yena vīṇā-yantra.
I am the vina in the hands of Radharani appearing as Gauranga and even the word that he says is Gauraga. Gauracandra. And even the word, he doesn’t use, Prabhupada says the word Lord Caitanya. And the verse says, Gauracandra, that one Who has a golden face. That personality who has a beautiful golden moon-like face. Gauracandra.
That Gauracandra in Krsna lila is Candramukhi Radha. Candramukhi Radha is Gauracandra. Candramukhi Radha is Radharani’s beautiful golden face like the rising moon in the sarad season, like the beautiful goldish red color, raktagaura. So Gaurangi – golden limbed Radha. Gauranga – golden limbed Gaura.
So Gaurachandra has made Ramananda Raya into a vina and now Radharani is playing the vina of Ramananda Raya making beautiful music come out and he is saying, “I am vibrating whatever She causes me to speak.”
Text 74
mora mukhe kahāya kathā, kare paracāra
pṛthivīte ke jānibe e-līlā tāṅhāra?'
SP: "In this way the Lord speaks through my mouth to preach the cult of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Within the world, who will understand this pastime of the Lord?'
MS: Ramananda Raya tells Pradyumna Misra, “In this way the Lord speaks through my mouth to preach the cult of Krsna consciousness. Within this world, who will understand this pastime of Lord Caitanya?”
Text 75
ye-saba śuniluṅ, kṛṣṇa-rasera sāgara
brahmādi-devera e saba nā haya gocara
SP: "What I have heard from Rāmānanda Rāya is like a nectarean ocean of discourses about Kṛṣṇa. Even the demigods, beginning with Lord Brahmā, cannot understand all these topics.
MS: “O My Lord, whatever I have heard from Ramananda Raya is like a nectarean ocean of discourses about Krsna. kṛṣṇa-rasera sāgara, ocean of Kṛṣṇa rasa. Even the demigods beginning from Brahma, brahmādi-devera, cannot understand all these topics, e saba nā haya gocara.
Text 76
hena 'rasa' pāna more karāilā tumi
janme janme tomāra pāya vikāilāṅa āmi
SP: "My dear Lord, You have made me drink this transcendental nectar of kṛṣṇa-kathā. Therefore I am sold to Your lotus feet, life after life."
MS: “My dear Mahaprabhu, You have made me drink this transcendental nectar of Krsna katha. Therefore I am sold to Your lotus feet, life after life.”
So this is the zenith of appreciation of Pradyumna Misra who was forced by Lord Caitanya to go hear Hari katha from Ramananda Raya against his will. He went once and came back and Lord Caitanya pushed him go once again and now he is completely transformed.
He said it is by rasa pana, I drank this rasa, janme janme tomara paya vikailana ami, I am sold to your lotus feet.
Mahaprabhu replied…
Text 77
prabhu kahe,–"rāmānanda vinayera khani
āpanāra kathā para-muṇḍe dena āni'
SP: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, "Rāmānanda Rāya is a source of all humility. Therefore he has attributed his own words to another's intelligence.
MS: “Ramananda Raya is a gold mine of great humility therefore he has attributed his own words to be another’s intelligence.”
Text 78
mahānubhavera ei sahaja 'svabhāva' haya
āpanāra guṇa nāhi āpane kahaya"
SP: "This is a natural characteristic of those advanced in devotional service. They do not personally speak of their own good qualities."
MS: Mahaprabhu said, “Pradyumna, this is a natural characteristic of those advanced in devotional service. They do not personally speak of their own good qualities.”
Text 79
rāmānanda-rāyera ei kahilu guṇa-leśa
pradyumna miśrere yaiche kailā upadeśa
SP: I have described but a fraction of the transcendental attributes of Rāmānanda Rāya, as revealed when he instructed Pradyumna Miśra.
MS: Krsnadasa Kaviraja, the author steps in. “I have described but a fraction of the transcendental attributes of Ramananda Raya as revealed when he instructed Pradyumna Misra.”
Text 80
'gṛhastha' hañā nahe rāya ṣaḍ-vargera vaśe
'viṣayī' hañā sannyāsīre upadeśe
SP: Although Rāmānanda Rāya was a householder, he was not under the control of the six kinds of bodily change. Although apparently a pounds-and-shillings man, he advised even persons in the renounced order.
MS: Krsnadasa Kaviraja extols Ramananda Raya. Although Ramananda Raya was a householder, grhasta, he was not under the control of six kinds of bodily changes, ṣaḍ-vargera vaśe. Although apparently he was a pound and shillings man, visayi, he was able to instruct even persons in the renounced order of life.
Text 81
ei-saba guṇa tāṅra prakāśa karate
miśrere pāṭhāilā tāhāṅ śravaṇa karite
SP: To demonstrate the transcendental attributes of Rāmānanda Rāya, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu sent Pradyumna Miśra to hear discourses about Kṛṣṇa from him.
MS: To demonstrate the transcendental attributes of Ramananda Raya, Mahaprabhu sent the exalted brahamana, Pradyumna Misra, to hear discourses about Krsna from him.
So socially according to varnasrama dharma, Ramananda Raya was grhasta and he was a kayastha. Something like a vaisya and a sudra, a wealthy vaisya, something like sudra also, far removed from the brahmana class. He is like a fourth class person and mixed up with politics and all these things. And Pradyumna Misra is a very high class brahmana.
When he came to Lord Caitanya initially for instruction, He said, “No, hear from Ramananda Raya.” So he did and he was duely satisfied and enlightened. So this is the point here that Prabhupada will discuss in this purport.
So may be a householder, a woman or whatever, but anyone who speak Hari katha, they are empowered by Lord Gauranga then they will have Katha prabhava. They will have affect, people will become changed. And don’t be sad if you preach Krsna katha and you can only change one person. Thats one person delivered from the material world.
You have to imagine, that whomever you are speaking to, they have been in the material world for millions and millions of years. They have been cultivating attachments to this material world for millions of years and if your Hari katha, your purity, and your realization and your compassion, your sincerity and your delivery of Hari katha are able to deliver one person in your sanga, back home back to Godhead, then you are fully successful in your service of Hari katha seva.
Big numbers is not a measurement but big result is a real measurement. As it says in the bible, “Many are called. Only few are chosen”. So many are called to the sound of God’s vibrations but very few are chosen for His eternal service. Krsna says the same thing in Bhagavad Gita – 7.3
manusyanam sahasresu
kascid yatati siddhaye
yatatam api siddhanam
kascin mam vetti tattvatah
SP: Out of many thousands among men, one may endeavor for perfection, and of those who have achieved perfection, hardly one knows Me in truth.
Thousands of people hear about God, thousands of people look towards God, only one makes it, because only one is truly sincere. So a pracarak of Hari katha, he is a sincere personality, he has gained the favor of the Lord. There is no one more dearer to the Lord then he, who is preaching the glories of the Lord. Krsna tells this in Gita.
He is saying, no one is more to Me then he who preaches My glories to devotees. Because someone who turns their face towards the Lord, they are Vaisnava, prakrta bhakta, Vaisnava praya, but they are not in that category yet. So this is a wonderful activity, so Ramananda Raya is showing that even though externally looking like not qualified, actually he was the most qualified. So qualified that he could even instruct God, he could even teach God about rasa katha. So Ramananda Raya was instructing Krsna, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, in the Gambhira, all about prema lila and rasa lila and Gita Govinda and dasam skanda.
So this is encouragement for all the preachers of the Lord to go on relentlessly despite of all opposition. Internal opposition from our own mind and the external opposition from the environment. Because it is the Lord we are endeavoring to please. If you want to please anyone in this world, that’s a very good proposition for those who want to stay in the material world. But those who want to leave this material world then their main focus is pleasing God and His devotees. By doing that we can gain perfection of human life, go back home back to Godhead.
Sri Ramananda Raya externally appeared to be a grhasta. He was under the influence of the external material energy. He was not a self controlled brahmachari or vanaprashta or sannyasi. Grhasthas who under the influence of external energy accept householder life for the purpose of sense enjoyment, but a transcendentally situated Vaisnava is not subjected to the influence of the senses by the Lord’s material rule of the six kinds of bodily changes (kama, krodha, lobh, moha, mada and matsarya), even when he plays the part of a grhastha. Although Ramananda Raya acted like a grhastha and he was accepted as a wealthy man, he was always absorbed in the transcendental pastimes of Lord Krsna. Therefore his mind was spiritually situated, he was interested only in the subject of Krsna. Hari Bol!
Ramananda Raya was not among the Mayavadi impersonalists or materialistic logicians who are opposed to the principles of Krsna’s transcendental pastime. He was already situated spiritually in the order of renounced life. Therefore he was able to turn sand into gold by his spiritual potency, in other words, to elevate a person from a material to spiritual position.
So this is Srila Prabhupada’s alchemy. This is real spiritual alchemy; this is not simply manipulating mercury and copper. Alchemy is based on combining mercury and copper to produce gold. Because by atomic structure they are similar, there is just one carbon compound’s difference between gold and copper. So mercury is that catalyst which can actually convert. If you can combine mercury and copper, you can get gold. But to do that you have to melt the copper. It has to be liquid and you have to melt the mercury. As soon as you melt the mercury it evaporates. It’s called alchemy. Remember we have heard.
They understood wow we can make a lot of gold cheap because copper is cheap. Copper pennies, they used to be. Get a bunch of gold and mercury is relatively cheap. And so close but couldn’t do it. So they tried, its called alchemy, science of making fast money. Because gold is the medium of exchange, not paper. So this is analogy. This is really alchemy, its not simply one item away, it is taking sand, which is simply mica and some calcium carbonate and some other things which make sand and then you turn that into gold that’s really alchemy.
So this is the power of Hari katha. Hari katha vibrated by a pure personality can take sand and can turn sand into gold. So Ramananda Raya, his katha was able to transform Pradyumna Misra into a rasika Vaisnava of the Lord.
So this concludes our story of Ramananda Raya shows the limits of Pure love, in his behavior, in his internal realization and in his expression of internal realization taking the shape of his preaching. At all levels he was established in the highest level of love of God. That is the greatest force behind preaching, the purity of love. Purity is the force, utility is the principle. We can be utilized. Utility is the principle means that we can be utilized to the degree of our purity. The greater the purity the greater the utilization, so the principle is Krsna wants everything and everyone in His service. Unless we are pure we can’t be utilized. So the more pure we are the more we can be utilized and the force of purity is love. So the greatest servants of Lord are lovers of God. So this is the meaning of utility is the principle. As I become more purified, I can have more utility, I can do more things. And that purity comes as we increase our attachment to Kṛṣṇa and our love for Krsna, then we become more and more pure and empowered.
kali-kalera dharma-krsna-nama-sankirtana krsna-sakti vina nahe tara pravartana.
MS: In kali yuga, this is the yuga of prema nama sankirtana. Gauranga prema nama. We are meant to carry, to accept and receive the love of Lord Caitanya and distribute to others through the means of the Holy Name, prema nama sankirtana.
And to do that, to have that empowerment, we have to have that sakti, Krsna sakti. krsna-sakti vina nahe tara pravartana. We cannot establish Krsna’s holy name in this world, we cannot establish prema nama in this world unless we have Krsna sakti. And who is Krsna sakti, prema se kaho Sri Radha.
So sarva-sakti-mayi means Radharani. Radharani’s karuna or compassion appears before us as Sri guru. Sri guru is a combination of hladini sakti and samvit sakti – Bhakti sakti. So we first get introduced to Radharani through the agency of Sri guru, that guru representing Sri and the energy of Sri, hladini and samvit, knowledge and love. The ability to love Krsna and know Krsna and surrender to Krsna and take shelter of Krsna, this is hladini. So this is krsna-sakti vina nahe tara pravartana. Vina, without this sakti there is no establishing of Gauranga prema. There is no establishing of prema nama sankirtana. There is lots of sound vibration, lots of gosti and lots of action but prema is not really established, just the framework, the building, but no people inside. So the vastu is the important thing and not the form.