MS: We heard yesterday how Lord Caitanya was glorifying, so many nice glories He was saying, with great relish He was glorifying Ramananda Raya, what an exalted devotee he is. And then Lord Caitanya stepped aside, He said anyone…
Because what was happening was Ramananda Raya was teaching these devadasis to illustrate the rasa of Jagannatha Vallabha Natakam and Gita Govinda which are like rasa lila and then Lord Caitanya stepped aside and said, Ramananda Raya is very advanced and so advanced that no one can imitate but there is also a way to become advanced. We become advanced if one has faith, one hears from proper authority. He hears Krsna’s rasa lila then he can become as Lord Caitanya says, “The heart disease of lust can be diminished and he can become very peaceful.”
And then Lord Caitanya says, “Tasting transcendental effulgent sweetly ecstatic love of Krsna, such a person can enjoy life 24 hrs a day in the transcendental bliss of the sweetness of Krsna’s pastimes.” Then Lord Caitanya quoted a verse from Bhagavatam saying, “Anyone who hears rasa lila, he will become free from lust.” First, param bhakti labhyate, a beautiful vraja prema will come in his heart and he will so much enjoyment and so much absorption from that, that automatically he will lose with material activities, they will become pale and insignificant. This is the blessing from Sukadeva Goswami. So then Lord Caitanya goes on in verse 50 to say this about
Text 49-50
ye śune, ye paḍe, tāṅra phala etādṛśī
sei bhāvāviṣṭa yei seve ahar-niśi
tāṅra phala ki kahimu, kahane nā yāya
nitya-siddha sei, prāya-siddha tāṅra kāya
SP: "If a transcendentally situated person, following in the footsteps of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, hears and speaks about the rāsa-līlā dance of Kṛṣṇa and is always absorbed in thoughts of Kṛṣṇa while serving the Lord day and night within his mind, what shall I say about the result? It is so spiritually exalted that it cannot be expressed in words. Such a person is an eternally liberated associate of the Lord, and his body is completely spiritualized. Although he is visible to material eyes, he is spiritually situated, and all his activities are spiritual. By the will of Kṛṣṇa, such a devotee is understood to possess a spiritual body.
MS: He is telling Pradyumna Misra that if a transcendentally situated person follows in the footsteps of Rupa Goswami and he hears and speaks about the rasa dance of Krsna and is always absorbed in the thoughts of Krsna, while serving the Lord day and night within His mind, what shall I say about the result? It is so spiritually exalted that it cannot be expressed in words. Such a person is an eternally liberated associate of the Lord and his body is completely spiritualized. Although it is visible to material eyes, he is spiritually situated and all his activities are spiritual. By the will of Krsna such a devotee is understood to posses a spiritual body, prāya-siddha tāṅra kāya. His kāya, manovakya kāya, his body is prāya, means practically siddha, practically perfect.
So here of course He is saying, you saw Ramananda Raya, he looked like you, he looked like he had a material body, but he is siddha. He is existing internally, completely in pure consciousness identifying as visakha sakhi who he is in Krsna lila and he is serving these devadasis who are also female externally and he is not being disturbed or agitated or least bit attracted, because he doesn’t have any purusa bhava or enjoying spirit within him. He is only teaching them how to please Lord Jagannatha.
That’s the whole basis of Vrndavana. He said, everyone is co-operating together to please Krsna. No one is drawing any account, no one is taking any pay, no one is working for pay, everyone is co-operating to bring pleasure to Krsna, because everyone is in the mood of prakriti bhava, seva.
Text 51
rāgānuga-mārge jāni rāyera bhajana
siddha-deha-tulya, tāte 'prākṛta' nahe mana
SP: "Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya is situated on the path of spontaneous love of Godhead. Therefore he is in his spiritual body, and his mind is not materially affected.
MS: Srila Ramananda Raya is situated on the path of spontaneous love of Godhead, therefore he is in his spiritual body and his mind is not materially affected, rāgānuga-mārge jāni rāyera bhajana. So He says he is on raganuga marga and doing bhajan there and he is in his siddha deha. Prakrta nahi mana, he doesn’t have any mind, his mind is not material, his mind is totally purified.
Jiva Goswami explains in Bhakti Sandarbha that raganuga bhakti is basically an activity of the mind, not so much activity externally although one may engage in some puja of Govardhana sila or Radha & Krsna deities. But the primary activity of raga marga is mental and it requires a very pure and peaceful mind and Jiva Goswami says if one is trying to meditate on Krsna’s lila and if he is not able to then he has to fall back and chant more holy name, continue chanting namam till the mind becomes pure and still so it can actually stay fixed for a long periods of time on Krsna’s pastimes. So that’s why He is saying – prakrta nahi mana. His mana, his mind was not affected by the material energy, by material forms, by material sights, smells, tastes, thoughts, memories. These are all material and they tend to drag us away from Krsna. The external impression, the external objects that we see or perceive or the internal impressions we have.
When we close our eyes, so many internal impressions come to deviate us from the subject of Krsna’s pastime. Try to meditate on Krsna’s form and pastimes and we can see how difficult it is. If it is not difficult and you can mediate for hours on end without leaving the subject matter then you can understand that you have a very pure and peaceful mind that you received from last life, good practices of bhakti yoga.
The general case is ceto darpana marjanam, lots of purification is required. We can try and it’s also recommended but we should not expect too much fantastic result until the mind becomes sufficiently purified. Lord Caitanya goes on…
Text 52
āmiha rāyera sthāne śuni kṛṣṇa-kathā
śunite icchā haya yadi, punaḥ yāha tathā
SP: "I also hear topics about Kṛṣṇa from Rāmānanda Rāya. If you want to hear such topics, go to him again.
MS: Lord Caitanya is telling Pradyumna Misra, because originally Pradyumna Misra came to Lord Caitanya and said, “You are so famous You have some huge following here in Jagannatha Puri, everyone comes to see You all over India. You toured all over India and You are a great pandita.”
And may be his understanding is, He is also God. So Pradyumna Misra came to Lord Caitanya and said, “Can You tell me something about Krsna?”. He said, “No I can’t tell but you go to Ramananda Raya, he can illuminate you on these subjects.”
And then he was rather bewildered because Ramananda Raya couldn’t see him immediately when he came to see him, and he heard about everything Ramananda Raya was doing and he became disturbed. So now Lord Caitanya is saying, “Listen, I also hear Krsna katha from Ramananda Raya. Even Me. I go to him. So if you really want to hear such topics of Hari katha, you should go back to him.”
Text 53
mora nāma la-iha,–'teho pāṭhāilā more
toṁāra sthāne kṛṣṇa-kathā śunibāra tare'
SP: "You can take My name before him, saying, 'He has sent me to hear about Lord Kṛṣṇa from you.'
MS: “Listen Pradyumna Misra when you return to Ramananda Raya you mention My name before him. You should say this, “Mahaprabhu has sent me to hear about Krsna from you”. So Lord Caitanya is giving him specific lines to use as his introduction so that he would have more success. So now he goes.
Lord Caitanya says…
Text 54
śīghra yāha, yāvat teṅho āchena sabhāte"
eta śuni' pradyumna-miśra calilā turite
SP: "Go hastily while he is in the assembly room." Hearing this, Pradyumna Miśra immediately departed.
MS: Go quickly quickly, he is in his assembly room. Hearing this Pradyumna Misra immediately departed. So you can see how Bhagavan Sri Krsna Caitanya Mahaprabhu, rasaraja Mahaprabhu, He can see all phases of time and He is always sending the devotees in the right direction.
This is something we can see by the story that Mahaprabhu is sending the devotees in the right direction. Pradyumna Misra has approached Lord Caitanya for some solace, some inspiration, some Hari katha, some guidance and now He is sending him to devotee. And you can see that He is sitting in Gambhira, and with His transcendental vision He can see, “Listen, now I know, what he is doing now, he is in his assembly room, he is sitting in his dinning room or whatever. His seating room, like achena sabha. Like vaisnava rajya sabha where people meet, like we say nowadays conference room.
“Where is Mr. Smith? Is he in his office?”
“No he is in the conference room.”
GBC conference room. They have such things in ISKCON, they have something called like a GBC conference room.
So Ramananda Raya was in his conference room. Of course he wasn’t a GBC. May be gopi bhava club. Svarupa Damodar, Ramananda Raya and Lord Caitanya – gopi bhava club. GBC. The original conference room in Gambhira.
So Lord Caitanya could see that he was there. He said, “Go there and you will fulfill your desire.” So this is our good fortune that we have Lord Caitanya directing us. Our guardians from above are saying, “Go there, you will get something, you will be satisfied there”
Text 55
rāya-pāśa gela, rāya praṇati karila
'ājñā kara, ye lāgi' āgamana haila'
SP: Pradyumna Miśra went to Rāmānanda Rāya, who offered him respectful obeisances and said, "Please order me. For what purpose have you come?"
MS: Pradyumna Misra went there and Ramananda Raya offered obeisances to him. Because Pradyumna Misra is quite an exalted and respected brahmana socially and Ramananda Raya despite his internal identity as Visakha absorbed in madhurya bhava and being in nitya siddha parishad, this is not known to Pradyumna Misra. Socially speaking Ramananda Raya is Kayastha, Kayastha class which is quite low, very low, lower than a Brahmin or lower than a Ksatriya, even lower then a Vaisya.
So Ramananda Raya offers his obeisances to Pradyumna Misra and then he said, “Please order me, 'ājñā kara, ye lāgi' āgamana haila'. Please give me your order, what is your request? How may I serve you? Why have you come here?”
This is the general attitude of all the devotees. Because they are in seva bhava, they are in kinkara bhava. That if some devotee approaches you, then you say, “O, please accept my obeisances. My greetings. Welcome. Radhe radhe. Whatever. How are you? How may I serve you? What may I do to please you? kim kaormi? How may I serve you?
In other words devotees get to the point. Because basically social interactions are based on exchanges; exchanges of thoughts, exchanges of money, exchanges of emotions. We are all social beings and we interact socially or social intercourse on the basis of exchanges. Give and take. So if someone is coming to you, they are coming either to give you something or to take something or to share something. Right?
No one just comes before and says,
“Hello, Hari Bol!”
And then.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing!”
“I just want to look at you.”
“Ok fine. Now you looked? Ok bye.”
Of course this is the principle in Indian culture that people want to take darsan, they want to take darsan of thakurji, thakurji darsan or sadhu darsan. Of course in the ultimate issue, darsan means not only to see but to hear philosophy. The word darsan also means philosophy.
So when a materialistic person or a non-devotee or whatever, they go to take darsan of a sadhu, they do see him. Thats pavitra darsan, Govinda visram pavitra darsan. Because a great elevated devotee, and there are many in the world today, they are always absorbed in Govinda, Govinda visram. Govinda is always resting in their heart. When we go to see them, then we become purified. Pavitra darsan.
Our mind becomes purified by seeing a saintly person. And then if they are merciful to us, they will speak some Hari katha. They will guide us. And if we are intelligent and witty or lets say, not so much witty but smart, we may be so bold, if we have that relationship with the sadhu. We might say,
“O baba! O Maharaja!”
Whoever they are.
“Can you do me one favor?” And they may say,
“Yes or no.”
And if they say yes, then say
“Can you think of me because you are a great saintly person? Although you don’t really know me but can you just think about me for a moment? And then whatever you are inspired to speak, whatever Krsna tells you to speak, the super soul – Gauranga, Radha, your Gurudev, you, whatever. Just can you speak something direct and frank and transcendental to illuminate me, or elevate me, or to improve my life?”
You can make this request, provided you have some introduction and you are not nervous or shy or afraid. And then the sadhu generally, they quite appreciate such a question and they say,
“Alright I will think about you.”
And they even close their eyes sometimes.
“Yes you should do your bhajan in front of thakurji”.
And then you say,
“Anything else?”
“No. That’s it.”
Now that’s all they say. Then now you have to think, now this is brahma satyam or Brahman satyam or brahma vaccham. That a brahmana like a guru or a sannyasi or a babaji, an elevated saintly person, Vaisnava, Vaisnavi, I have asked them something and in great sincerity and genuine mood, they even guided me or instructed me. Now what do I do with it? What does it mean? Is it appropriate? Is it valuable? Is it specific to me? And is it relevant? Of course it is, as much as we can understand.
So these gems of guidance and pearls of wisdom as they say, are residing in the treasure hearts of the advance devotees. So we can go there. As Pradyumna Misra has replied, he said, “Caitanya Mahaprabhu has sent me to hear topics about Krsna from you.”
Text 57
śuni' rāmānanda rāya hailā premāveśe
kahite lāgilā kichu manera hariṣe
SP: Hearing this, Rāmānanda Rāya became absorbed in ecstatic love and began to speak with great transcendental pleasure.
MS: Hearing this request from Pradyumna Misra, Ramananda Raya became absorbed in ecstatic love. In other words Radha-Krsna yugala has asked Visakha to speak about Krsna. Mahaprabhu is rasaraja in Radha’s mahabhava. Mahaprabhu has sent Pradyumna Misra in the mood of Radharani in viraha, separation. Go to Visakha and ask about Krsna.
Because Radharani always wants to hear about Krsna, and what does Visakha speak about? She has no branch – Visakha. She is not bahusakha, like our mind is bahusakha, many branched. She is Visakha, she has no branches. So what does Visakha talk about? She always whispers in Radharani’s ear. That’s why she is always standing next to Radharani. Visakha is born the same day as Radharani. Same time, same color, she has the same mood, everything is the same. Everything same. No difference. No branch. Visakha is always standing right next to Radharani’s ear. One side Krsna is speaking in one ear and he is speaking in the ear about Radharani. Krsna is turning to Radharani, He is saying, “O Radharani, You are this that, so sweet, so tender, so charming, so beautiful, so loving, so kind.” So this one ear of Radharani is listening to all Radha katha. And She doesn’t like very much. But Krsna likes too much to glorify Radharani.
But then in Radharani’s other ear, she is hearing Hari katha, Krsna katha because Visakha is whispering, “O Krsna has 64 qualities – He is so dhira-lilata, dhira-nayak, dhira-prashant, dhiro-dhatta and He is like this and that.” So she is more leaning like this, and She is leaning like this. If you ever see Radharani, Her head is like this. Deities of Radharani, She is like this (indicating left hand side). Krsna is like this and Radharani is also like this. Kṛṣṇa’s head is leaning towards Radharani because He wants to tell Her about Her and Radharani’s head is leaning towards Visakha because She wants Visakha to tell Her about Krsna. This is like this. Krsna to Radha…
And Radha is in the middle. She is hearing one ear Hari katha and one ear Radha katha. That is perfect. Radha-Krsna yugala katha.
So Mahaprabhu is the medium for this Radha-Krsna vilasa katha, rasa katha. So Mahaprabhu has sent Pradyumna Misra, “Go to Ramananda Raya, go to Visakha and hear about Krsna. Kṛṣṇa katha.
Text 56
miçra kahe,——‘mahäprabhu päöhäilä more
tomära sthäne kåñëa-kathä çunibära tare’
SP: Pradyumna Miçra answered, “Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu has sent me to hear topics about Lord Kåñëa from you.”
MS: So here when Ramananda Raya, when Visakha heard this order from Radharani, being carried by Pradyumna Misra. Carrying Mahaprabhu’s order means carrying Radharani’s order! So Pradyumna Misra carried the order to Visakha, Ramananda Raya. Mahaprabhu is telling, He said –
“You should tell me about Krsna!”
“Accha, I should tell you about Krsna? Krsna is prema purusottama, His prema lila is in prema dhama Vrndavana and He is the prema visaya. So I must become absorbed, premavesa, enter into premavesa, griha pravesh, mandir pravesh.”
So he became absorbed in Krsna prema, because this is the way to speak about Krsna. If someone is premavesa then they can speak rasa prema katha, madhurya prema katha, sakhya prema katha, really in a genuine way and when someone hears such madhurya prema katha from a rasika Vaisnava, it really moves his heart in tremendous ways and vast ways and deep ways and profound ways. Even when ordinary devotees can respond with some abhasa of sattvika transformations when they hear Hari katha from very advance devotee. They can feel some thrill in their heart and some choking of the voice and even some tears will come if we hear Hari katha from a genuine advanced devotee.
So Ramananda Raya in premavesa, he became absorbed in ecstatic love and he began to speak with great transcendental pleasure, kichu manera hariṣe..his mind was haris.
Text 58
prabhura ājñāya kṛṣṇa-kathā śunite āilā ethā
ihā va-i mahā-bhāgya āmi pāba kothā?"
SP: "Following the instruction of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, you have come to hear about Kṛṣṇa. This is my great fortune. How else would I get such an opportunity?"
MS: Ramananda Raya said to Pradyumna Misra, “Following the order of Mahaprabhu, you have come to me to hear about Krsna, this is mahā-bhāgya, my great fortune. How else would I get such an opportunity!
Text 59
eta kahi tāre lañā nibhṛte vasilā
'ki kathā śunite cāha?' miśrere puchilā
SP: Saying this, Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya took Pradyumna Miśra to a secluded place and inquired from him, "What kind of kṛṣṇa-kathā do you want to hear from me?"
MS: Ramananda Raya took Pradyumna Misra to a secluded place and asked him, what kind of Krsna katha do you want to hear from me? Because there are many types of Krsna katha.
Text 60
teṅho kahe,–"ye kahilā vidyānagare
sei kathā krame tumi kahibā āmāre
SP: Pradyumna Miśra replied, "Kindly tell me about the same topics you spoke about at Vidyānagara.
MS: Pradyumna Misra replied, kindly tell me about the same topics you spoke at Vidyanagar. So that was the topics that he discussed with Lord Caitanya, very deep topics.
Text 61
ānera ki kathā, tumi–prabhura upadeṣṭā!
āmi ta' bhikṣuka vipra, tumi–mora poṣṭā
SP: "You are an instructor even for Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, not to speak of others. I am but a beggar brāhmaṇa, and you are my maintainer.
MS: Pradyumna Misra continued, “Ramananda Raya, you instruct even Mahaprabhu, what to speak of others, I am but a beggar brahmana, biksu vipra, and you are my maintainer.”
Text 62
bhāla, manda–kichu āmi puchite nā jāni
'dīna' dekhi' kṛpā kari' kahibā āpani"
SP: "I do not know how to inquire, for I do not know what is good and what is bad. Seeing me to be poor in knowledge, kindly speak whatever is good for me by your own good will."
MS: “I do not know how to inquire, for I do not know what is good and what is bad, seeing me to be poor in knowledge kindly speak whatever is good for me by your own good will.”
Text 63
tabe rāmānanda krame kahite lāgilā
kṛṣṇa-kathā-rasāmṛta-sindhu uthalilā
SP: Thereupon Rāmānanda Rāya gradually began speaking on topics of Kṛṣṇa. Thus the ocean of the transcendental mellow of those topics became agitated.
MS: Ramananda Raya gradually spoke on topics of Krsna and as he did so the ocean of transcendental mellows of those topics became agitated, Krsna katha rasmrta sindhu uthalila. Rasmrta Sindhu, the nectarean ocean of Kṛṣṇa katha, as he spoke more and more, became more and more agitated and excited.
Text 64
āpane praśna kari' pāche karena siddhānta
tṛtīya prahara haila, nahe kathā-anta
SP: He began personally posing questions and then answering them with conclusive statements. When afternoon came, the topics still did not end.
MS: Ramananda Raya began personally asking questions, opposing questions, then answering them with conclusive statements and the afternoon came and the topics still did not end. So this says trtiya prahara, they spoke for three praharas. That means two and half hours times three, so that’s seven and a half hours, speaking continuously for seven and a half hours.
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 and listener spoke and heard in ecstatic love. Thus they forgot their bodily consciousness. How, then, they could perceive the end of the day?
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: A servant came in a told Ramananda Raya, the day is over, then Ramananda Raya ended his discourses.