MS: The story is titled ‘Ramananda Raya Shows The Ultimate Limit Of Pure Love’. This is taken from Antya Lila, chapter 5, verse 4-81. That’s quite a long story.
Text 4
eka-dina pradyumna-miśra prabhura carane
dandavat kari' kichu kare nivedane
SP: One day Pradyumna Miśra came to see Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, offering his respects and inquiring from Him with great submission.
MS: One day Pradyumna Misra came to see Mahaprabhu in Jagannatha Puri. This pandita Misra offered respects and inquired from Lord Caitanya with great submission, nivedane.
Text 5
"śuna, prabhu, musi dīna grhastha adhama!
kona bhāgye pānāchon tomāra durlabha carana
SP: "My Lord," he said, "kindly hear me. I am a cripple-minded householder, the most fallen of men, but somehow, by my good fortune, I have received the shelter of Your lotus feet, which are rarely to be seen.
MS: Pradyumna Misra said to Mahaprabhu. “My lord, O Prabhu, please listen to me,” suna, “I am a crippled-minded householder,” grhastha adhama. Adhama means lowest among men. “I am the most fallen among men, but somehow by my good fortune I have received the shelter of Your lotus feet which are very rare to attain,” tomara durlaba carana.
Text 6
krsna-kathā śunibāre mora icchā haya
krsna-kathā kaha more hanā sadaya”
SP:"I wish to hear topics concerning Lord Krsna constantly. Be merciful unto me and kindly tell me something about Krsna."
MS: “I wish to hear topic concerning Krsna constantly,” krsna-katha iccha. “Be merciful unto me and kindly tell me something about Krsna” – krsna-katha kaha more hana sadaya, daya means, dayalu Caitanya, dayalu Nitai. Sadaya means with the quality of daya, with compassion, with mercy. He is saying – Be merciful to me and tell me something about Krsna. So this is an expression of mercy. Someone says, “Please give me your mercy, I need your mercy.”
So if I someone tells you about Krsna then they are being merciful to you. If they are reminding, “O! Let’s hear some Hari-katha”, then that’s some stroke of mercy. Because on our own we tend to talk about mundane things, because mundane topics and activities occupy the larger part of our day and a larger part of our mentality. So whenever we sit down for a few peaceful moments, maybe to honor some prasadam or to ride somewhere together in a public conveyance with some devotees, then invariably and often times it happens that everyone starts talking about material things – computers and the latest programs and the latest surfing internet news and gizmos and gadgets and newest cell phones and the hottest items on their cell phone and all kinds of very interesting and useless topics that don’t do very much to purify our mind or the ether surrounding us.
So then our well-wishers remind us – Let’s hear something about Krsna, lets talk about Krsna. That’s being told here that this Pradyumna Misra was saying, “Please, My Lord, can You tell me something about Krsna.” So he didn’t realize who he was talking to, that Lord Caitanya is actually Krsna in Radha bhava and how much Radharani can tell about Krsna if we are qualified to hear.
Text 7
prabhu kahena,–"krsna-kathā āmi nāhi jāni
sabe rāmānanda jāne, tānra mukhe śuni
SP: Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, "I do not know about topics concerning Lord Krsna. I think that only Rāmānanda Rāya knows, for I hear these topics from him.”
MS: Lord Caitanya replied to that question, He said, “Really, I don’t know anything about Krsna! I can’t tell you, I do not know topics about Krsna. But you go to Ramananda Raya for he knows and I go to him to hear these topics.”
Text 8
bhāgye tomāra krsna-kathā śunite haya mana
rāmānanda-pāśa yāi' karaha śravana
SP: "It is your good fortune that you are inclined to hear topics regarding Krsna. The best course for you would be to go to Rāmānanda Rāya and hear these topics from him.”
MS: “It is your good fortune that you are inclined to hear topics regarding Krsna. The best course for you would be to go to Ramananda Raya and hear topics from him about Krsna.”
Text 9
krsna-kathāya ruci tomāra–bada bhāgyavān
yāra krsna-kathāya ruci, sei bhāgyavān
SP: "I see that you have acquired a taste for hearing talks regarding Krsna. Therefore you are extremely fortunate. Not only you but anyone who has awakened such a taste is considered most fortunate.
MS: “I see that you have acquired a taste for hearing talks regarding Krsna, you have katha ruci.” Nama ruci, katha ruci, seva ruci. So if we want to get katha ruci, first we develop taste for seva, from seva ruci comes nama ruci, seva ruci and nama ruci give us taste for katha. We find hari-katha very tasty and relishable.
It says vaisnava seva, jiva daya, nama ruci. So this is the progression. When we become compassionate and loving towards others then this pleases the Lord. So this is the daya aspect and then we can get nama ruci. Vaisnava seva then there is daya, the kindness for the jivas, jiva daya. How do you show kindness for the jivas? You can feed them prasadam, you can speak to them and remind them about Krsna, get them a book about Krsna and then this will bring us to the platform of nama ruci also. Jiva daya, vaisnava seva, serving the Vaisnavas, so that is what is being said here that Lord Caitanya is appreciating Pradyumna Misra, He says, “You have krsna-katha ruci. You have a taste for hearing Hari-katha that means you have bada bhagyanan, you are very fortunate.”
This is real fortune – not by money, or possessions, power, land, control. But at least Lord Caitanya is measuring fortune or bhagya, by how much you are… He says bada bhagyavan. He says, “You are so fortunate.”
We have heard Bhagavan, who possess so many opulences, so bhagyavan means one who possess fortune, and He says bada, big fortune, you have so much fortune. What is your fortune? That you love to hear topics about Krsna, this is bhagya.
krsna-kathāya ruci, sei bhāgyavān – Not only you but anyone who has awakened such a taste is considered most fortunate. So it’s a universal principle; it’s a pastime, as far as lila vicara or daivik vicara. It’s all about Lord Caitanya and His associate and He is simply speaking to him that you have ruci for hari-katha. That also applies as a principle. Anybody who has taste for hari-katha he becomes very fortunate, so we want that fortune. So this is what we must pray when we meet a saint – ‘O! You have a great taste for hari-katha, can you please bless me so that I can have some taste, some ruci for hari-katha?’
So Lord Caitanya goes on, this of course is from Srimad Bhagvatam.
Text 10
dharmah svanusthitah pumsām
visvaksena-kathāsu yah
notpādayed yadi ratim
śrama eva hi kevalam
SP: "A person who properly performs his regulative duties according to varna and āśrama but does not develop his dormant attachment for Krsna or awaken his taste to hear and chant about Krsna is certainly laboring fruitlessly.' "
MS: śrama eva hi kevalam – useless waste of time and energy. “A person who properly performs his regulative duties according to varna and asrama but if he does not develop his dormant attachment for Krsna or awaken his taste for hearing and chanting about Krsna, he is certainly working without any fruit – laboring fruitlessly.”
So this is what Lord Caitanya is backing it up and saying – you may work so hard as a good varni or good asramite, but if that work doesn’t bring you to the point of tasting Krsna or desiring to taste Krsna then it is useless. srama eve hi kevalam – It is verily a waste of time, srama, parisrama – this is a word in Hindi which means lots of labor, hard work, fatigue.
Text 11
tabe pradyumna-miśra gelā rāmānandera sthāne
rāyera sevaka tānre vasāila āsane
SP: Pradyumna Miśra, being thus advised by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, went to the home of Rāmānanda Rāya. There the servant of Rāmānanda Rāya gave him a proper place to sit down.
MS: Thus being advised by Caitanya Mahaprabhu Pradyumna Misra went to the home of Ramananda Raya and the servant of Ramananda Raya gave him a proper place to sit.
Text 12
darśana nā pāsā miśra sevake puchila
rāyera vrttānta sevaka kahite lāgila
SP: Unable to see Rāmānanda Rāya immediately, Pradyumna Miśra inquired from the servant, who then gave a description of Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya.
MS: Unable to see Ramananda Raya immediately, Pradyumna Misra enquired from the servant who then described what Ramananda Raya was doing at that time.
Text 13
"dui deva-kanyā haya parama-sundarī
nrtya-gīte sunipunā, vayase kiśorī
SP: "There are two dancing girls who are extremely beautiful. They are very youthful, and they are expert in dancing and singing.
MS: These kisoris, these deva-kanyas, they were parama sundari, very, very beautiful. The servant said, “Listen Pradyumna Misra, Ramananda Raya is busy right now, he has two dancing girls, who are extremely beautiful and they are very youthful kisoris, and they are expert in dancing and singing.”
Text 14
sei dunhe lasā rāya nibhrta udyāne
nija-nātaka-gītera śikhāya nartane
SP: "Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya has taken these two girls to a solitary place in his garden, where he is teaching and directing them to dance according to the songs he has composed for his drama.”
MS: “Srila Ramananda Raya has taken these two girls to a solitary place in the garden,” nibhrta udyane, “where he is teaching and directing them to dance according to the songs he has composed for his drama,” known as Jagannatha Vallabha Nataka. These songs of this drama and dances were meant for the pleasure of Lord Jagannatha therefore Ramananda Raya was personally giving instructions on how to sing and dance for the drama.
Text 15
tumi ihān vasi' raha, ksaneke āsibena
tabe yei ājnā deha, sei karibena"
SP: "Please sit here and wait for a few moments. As soon as he comes, he will execute whatever order you give him."
MS: “Please sit here and wait for a few moments. As soon as he comes, he will execute whatever orders you give him.”
Text 16
tabe pradyumna-miśra tāhān rahila vasiyā
rāmānanda nibhrte sei dui-jana lasā
SP: While Pradyumna Miśra remained seated there, Rāmānanda Rāya took the two girls to a solitary place.
MS: While Pradyumna Misra remained seated there, Ramananda Raya took the two girls to a solitary place.
Text 17
sva-haste karena tāra abhyanga-mardana
sva-haste karāna snāna, gātra sammārjana
SP: With his own hand, Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya massaged their bodies with oil and bathed them with water. Indeed, Rāmānanda Rāya cleansed their entire bodies with his own hand.
MS: With his own hand, sva-haste, Ramananda Raya massaged their bodies with oil and bathed them with water. Indeed Ramananda Raya cleansed their entire bodies with his own hands.
Text 18
sva-haste parāna vastra, sarvānga mandana
tabu nirvikāra rāya-rāmānandera mana
SP: Although he dressed the two young girls and decorated their bodies with his own hand, he remained unchanged. Such is the mind of Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya.
MS: Although Ramananda Raya dressed the two young girls and decorated their bodies with his own hand, he remained unchanged. Such is the mind of Ramananda Raya.
So young girls, teenage girls, he is massaging their bodies, rubbing oil onto their bodies, all the parts of their bodies, dressing and decorating them and bathing them, and his mind was never becoming moved or anxious or disturbed.
This is quite an unusual nature or svabhava.
Text 19
kāstha-pāsāna-sparśe haya yaiche bhāva
tarunī-sparśe rāmānandera taiche 'svabhāva'
SP: While touching the young girls, he was like a person touching wood or stone, for his body and mind were unaffected.
MS: While touching the young girls, he was like a person touching wood or stone for his body and mind were unaffected.
Pretty good control. Just see the contrast between Ramananda Raya and Saubhari muni. Saubhari muni was so powerful and austere, what a yogi! Can you imagine? He was living in the Yamuna, fortunately he was living in Vrndavana. He was living under the water of the Yamuna, somehow maintaining his life being a great yogi and breathing somehow and performing intense austerities. I don’t know whether he was drinking, because it's easier to drink under water, but he certainly wasn’t eating. And some fish rubbed up against his private parts and he became agitated by the contact of those fish. Sometime it says like that or sometimes it is told that he saw some fish engaged in union and became disturbed mentally and physically and then he gave up his meditation. Just boop! He gave up his meditation!
He came out on the land over by Lohavana and he went to the kingdom of King Mandatta and he said, “I am really anxious now and I have disturbed my mind, I would like to marry your daughters,” which he had fifty of them. The king was quite productive, he had fifty daughters which means he had many queens also, may be he had fifty queens so it was not so bad.
But anyway, the story is there, you can read about it. So now on the other side is Ramananda Raya. He is with two girls. They are totally naked human personalities and not fish and he with his own hands, sva-hasta, he is bathing them, he is anointing their bodies with oil, he is dressing them and his mind is peaceful, santi santi, inconceivable. And it was just like he was just touching a piece of wood. If I touch a piece of wood, if I touch this table, I don’t get excited, it doesn’t really do much, no disturbance. So that was how the nature of his mind.
Text 20
sevya-bujhi āropiyā karena sevana
svābhāvika dāsī-bhāva karena āropana
SP: Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya used to act in that way because he thought of himself in his original position as a maidservant of the gopīs. Thus although externally he appeared to be a man, internally, in his original spiritual position, he considered himself a maidservant and considered the two girls gopīs.
MS: Srila Ramananda Raya used to act in that way because he thought of himself in his original position as the maidservant of the gopis. svābhāvika dāsī-bhāva karena āropana. He was in dasi bhava, he wasn’t in kama bhava, he was not in purusa bhava.
Just like we hear Lord Siva tried to enter the rasa dance one time and he was blocked entrance because the gopis said, “Excuse me dear Mahadeva, but this rasa dance, there is only one purusa here, Sri Krsna, and everyone else is prakrti, sakhi, gopi bhava, sakhi bhava. So you are not allowed entrance because you are enveloped in purusa bhava. You think that you are the master and you are Bhutanatha, the Lord of the Bhutas and mode of ignorance. That won’t make it over here, you have this purusa bhava, this enjoying mentality, so long as you have purusa bhava, enjoying mentality, then you cannot enjoy the rasa dance, you have to have dasi bhava, the mood of a maidservant, in his prakriti bhava. So of course it is a long story and he meditated and was rewarded with a gopi deha and his name became Gopisvara. Gopisvara Mahadeva ki jai! So in that form of the female, he was able to get a brief glimpse of rasa dance.
So these ladies, these young girls, Ramananda Raya was thinking of himself as the maidservant of the gopis. Of course we know that Ramananda Raya is Visakha sakhi.
Although externally Ramananda Raya appeared to be a man, internally in his original spiritual position, he considered himself a maidservant and considered the two girls gopis. So I don’t think, this should be recommended, for any man to think – “Yes, I am a gopi and you are also gopi and I massage you or bathe you or dress you, or decorate you or teach you to sing songs for Jagannatha’s pleasure.” It is not recommended.
So Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in his purport that in the drama Jagannatha Vallabha Nataka, Ramananda Raya engaged two young girls who were professional dancers and singers to demonstrate the ideology of the drama. These girls in those days, five hundred years ago were called deva-dasis and they were employed in the temple of Jagannatha where they were called maharis. Ramananda Raya engaged two such girls because they are meant to play the parts of gopis. He taught them how to awaken the thoughts like those of the gopis, which means the gopis’ svabhava, the gopis’ mentality, the gopis’ line of thinking and the gopis’ line of seeing.
And of course that is also what is desirable for the followers of Lord Caitanya that are inclined towards Vraja bhakti and especially in the mood of madhura rati or conjugal love. So they are advised to follow Ramananda Raya and Svarupa Damodara, Ramananda Raya’s teachings are given very particularly, in the Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya lila chapter 8, it is titled – Conversation Between Ramananda Raya and Lord Caitanya. It's called Ramananda samvada, and there he describes very much about the extreme glories of the gopis’ love and how much they are absorbed and surrendered to Krsna’s service.
So these girls, they were professional dancers, of course that practice of deva-dasis has been outlawed. They are no longer doing that work. He taught them to act like gopis, because the gopis are worshipable personalities. Ramananda Raya who considered himself as their maid servant, he engaged in the service of these two girls by massaging their bodies with oil to cleanse them completely.
Because Ramananda Raya always placed himself in the position of the maidservant of the gopis, his rehearsal with the girls was actually on the spiritual platform, because Ramananda Raya is Visakha sakhi. Because there was no question of personal sense gratification when Sri Ramananda Raya was serving the girls, his mind was steady and his body untransformed.
So this is the point. Here it is very succinctly told by Srila Prabhupada, the reverse point could be drawn, that when our mind is directed to personal sense gratification, contemplation of sense gratification, some pleasure for myself or my senses or body or the actual engagement in sense pleasure then what is the result? Well, one result is that the mind becomes unsteady and the body becomes agitated, transformed by agitation or physical disturbance and mental disturbance.
But this is not the case with Ramananda Raya, so this proves that because there was no question of personal sense gratification, his mind was steady and his body untransformed. Of course this is not to be imitated because no one can have this type of mentality except Ramananda Raya as Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu explains Himself, Krsnadasa Kaviraja has described this incident in perfect devotional service to illustrate how in pure devotional service, one can attain a unique position of peacefulness and the steadiness of the mind. This is the teaching that Ramananda Raya is giving because he is himself the exemplar of suddha bhakti.
So suddha bhakti brings rewards, something to look forward to, something to strive for – pure devotion. That’s one of the main things that people often ask, they say – “O! You are practicing spiritual life, do you find – are you peaceful? Does it make you peaceful?” Because generally everyone in the material world is agitated, they are disturbed. Agitated by one thing or another, so then they meet you and you look a little different, and you seem to be acting a little different – first question they ask, “Are you peaceful? Is it bringing you peace?”
So we have to understand this subject very seriously as Srila Prabhupada mentions. The example of Ramananda Raya is certainly unique – one in perfect devotional service can attain such a position, nevertheless one must understand this subject very seriously and never attempt to imitate such activities. So this is the limit of love.
Text 21
mahāprabhura bhakta-ganera durgama mahimā
tāhe rāmānandera bhāva-bhakti-prema-sīmā
SP: The greatness of the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is exceedingly difficult to understand. Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya is unique among them all, for he showed how one can extend his ecstatic love to the extreme limit.
MS: bhāva-bhakti-prema-sīmā – Sima means the absolute limit of prema, and bhava bhakti means the ecstatic devotion.
The greatness of devotees of Mahaprabhu is extremely difficult to understand. Sri Ramananda Raya is unique among all the devotees of the Lord, for he showed how one can extend his ecstatic love to the extreme limit. So he showed the furthest reaches of ecstatic love, Ramananda Raya.
Text 22
tabe sei dui-jane nrtya śikhāilā
gītera gūdha artha abhinaya karāilā
SP: Rāmānanda Rāya directed the two girls how to dance and express the deep meaning of his songs through dramatic performances.
MS: Rāmānanda Rāya directed the two girls how to dance and express the deep meaning of his songs through dramatic performances.
Text 23
sascārī, sāttvika, sthāyi-bhāvera laksana
mukhe netre abhinaya kare prakatana
SP: He taught them how to express the symptoms of continuous, natural and transitional ecstasies with the movements of their faces, their eyes and the other parts of their bodies.
MS: He taught them how to express the symptoms of continuous, natural and transitional ecstasies with the movements of their faces, eyes and the other parts of their bodies.
Text 24
bhāva-prakatana-lāsya rāya ye śikhāya
jagannāthera āge dunhe prakata dekhāya
SP: Through the feminine poses and dances they were taught by Rāmānanda Rāya, the two girls precisely exhibited all these expressions of ecstasy before Lord Jagannātha.
MS: Through the feminine poses and dances these two deva-dasis or kanyas were taught by Rāmānanda Rāya, the two girls precisely exhibited all these expressions of ecstasy before Lord Jagannātha.
So this was the practice in Jagannatha Puri five hundred years ago, that these young virgin girls would… there is a little more to it that what’s told here, but these kisoris or these virgin girls would be given in marriage to Lord Jagannatha. A marriage ceremony would be performed and they would be considered His wives and His servants for the rest of their lives and they would not marry anyone else. So they were part of the temple pujari section, or worshippers of the Lord and nightly, they would dance and illustrate the different verses from Gita Govinda especially. They would sing the Gita Govinda of Jayadeva Gosvami and these ladies would enact the drama.
Here Ramananda Raya is training them to depict his Jagannatha Vallabha Natakam. But when the British became in-charge of the Jagannatha temple, they took over the administration in maybe 1960s or 1950s; in the 1900s when the British were running India, this practice of the devi-dasis had become very much degraded. They were practically prostitutes living in the house of the Lord. They were being misused by the pujaris and it kind of fell into ill-repute, the whole practice, because of Kali Yuga and ill-minded people, so that practice was stopped. The Gita Govinda is not stopped, it is still chanted every evening for Lord Jagannatha’s pleasure, but these deva-dasis, they are no more, they have retired, they are not doing that practice anymore, but it was a big, big service to the Lord in those days.
Text 25
tabe sei dui-jane prasāda khāoyāilā
nibhrte dunhāre nija-ghare pāthāilā
SP: Then Rāmānanda Rāya fed the two girls sumptuous prasādam and sent them to their homes unexposed.
MS: Rāmānanda Rāya fed the two girls sumptuous prasādam and sent them to their homes, nibhrte, secretly.
Text 26
prati-dina rāya aiche karāya sādhana
kon jāne ksudra jīva kānhā tānra mana?
SP: Every day he trained the two deva-dāsīs how to dance. Who among the small living entities, their minds always absorbed in material sense gratification, could understand the mentality of Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya?
MS: Every day Ramananda Raya trained the two deva-dāsīs how to dance. Who among the small living entities, their minds always absorbed in sense gratification – it says Ksudra, sudra, ksudra jiva, insignificant living entity, which Srila Prabhupada translate ‘small living entities’ – their minds always absorbed in material sense gratification, could understand the mentality of Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya?
So this service of Ramananda Raya for Krsna’s satisfaction is purely an affair of the spiritual world. Unless one if fully situated in the spiritual atmosphere, the activities of Ramananda Raya are the most difficult to understand. No doubt! There is anusarana and anukarana, so anukarana means imitate – do whatever the other person is doing, but this is not of course recommended here and anusarana means that you follow in his footsteps, which means that you follow the teachings of Ramananda Raya. You can’t imitate what he is doing, just like we can’t imitate Lord Siva. Lord Siva drank an ocean of poison but we can’t imitate Lord Siva, but we can follow his teachings. In fourth canto of Srimad Bhagvatam, chanting the prayers of Lord Siva, and other places where he is giving the teachings and songs glorifying Radha and Krsna. We can chant those and follow those teachings. We can’t imitate him, ‘O he drank ocean of poison, I drink ocean of poison.’
So we follow Ramananda Raya’s teachings, his siksa, Ramananda siksa, which is contained in Caitanya Caritamrta, but we don’t imitate his behavior and catch a couple of deva-dasis and teach them how to dance for ‘Krsna’s pleasure’. This is not to be imitated.
Text 27
miśrera āgamana rāye sevaka kahilā
śīghra rāmānanda tabe sabhāte āilā
SP: When the servant informed Rāmānanda Rāya of Pradyumna Miśra's arrival, Rāmānanda Rāya immediately went to the assembly room.
MS: When his servant informed him, or told Rāmānanda Rāya of Pradyumna Miśra's arrival, Rāmānanda Rāya immediately went to the assembly room.
Text 28
miśrere namaskāra kare sammāna kariyā
nivedana kare kichu vinīta hanā
SP: He offered his obeisances to Pradyumna Miśra with all respect and then, with great humility, spoke as follows.
MS: Ramananda Raya offered obeisances to Pradyumna Miśra with all respect and, with great humility, spoke as follows.
So Ramananda Raya is considered to be Kayastha class, which is sometimes defined as some type of Sudra or Vaisya, depends on different parts of India, they have different ideas about what Kayastha means. But Kayastha is certainly a much lower class than Brahmin or Ksatriya. Although he was posted as the Governor of Madras, in the southern area, he was considered to be in Kayastha class which is mentioned in this Caitanya Caritamrta.
So when Pradyumna Misra came there to meet him, it’s described that he immediately offered obeisances. He wasn’t thinking, “Do you know who I am? I am Visakha sakhi in Krsna lila! And in this lila I am living with the Lord, I spend the whole night with the Lord, just like Visakha spends the entire night with Radharani in all Her various pastimes.” So when Radharani comes as Mahaprabhu and Krsna comes as Mahaprabhu, Visakha as Ramananda Raya spends the whole night with Lord Caitanya in the Gambhira – nourishing His ecstasies, protecting Him, watching over Him, instructing Him, helping Him. So this is a very intimate position that Ramananda Raya has with Lord Caitanya.
Nevertheless he still observes the etiquette. You may be whoever you are, you may be absolute to some people and you are relative to someone else. For example, the guru may be absolute to his disciples, represents the absolute truth but amongst his brothers he is relative, he has relationship and that relationship is – ‘This is my Godbrother, guru bhai and Srila Prabhupada is our father.’
So the decorum or the behavior with relatives is much different than with the servants. So Ramananda Raya’s absolute position is that he is the most intimate associate of Lord Caitanya in the Gambhira and he is considered to be one of the three and a half most intimate associates of the Lord – Svarupa Damodara, Ramananda Raya, Sikhi Mahiti and Madhavi Mahiti. So he is up there, he is a very, very special personality, yet that’s on the absolute platform and he is Visakha sakhi but on the relative platform, his relationship with this material world and his relationship with his ‘material body’ that he is in and the society, he is seen as a Kayastha and Pradyumna Misra is a Brahmin, ‘Misra’, we have Visvambhara Misra, Lord Caitanya, so he is also Misra. So to uphold the laws of the relative plane and to preserve the social integrity of the times and to show the Vaisnava etiquette then Ramananda Raya, it says, he offered obeisances to the visiting Brahmin, Pradyumna Misra.
With all respect he offered him namaskāra kare sammāna, sam-mana, with complete mind, sammāna. His whole mind, his thoughts, his feelings, all his regard, all his respect was humbly offered, sammāna kariyā, at the feet of this visiting Brahmin, Pradyumna Misra, for his happiness and his seva, he submitted himself utterly and completely before his guest recognizing that – “Yes, you are an exalted brahmana and I am merely a Kayastha, I am of the lower social order.” He didn’t think, ‘O, do you know who I am? I am so special.’ He said, ‘Actually on the relative plane you are much higher than me, you are a brahmana and I am a Kayastha,’ even though he is such an absolute spiritual personality.
So we can think, how does this verse apply to me? Because there is adhyamitka vicara, adibhoutika vicara and adidaivika vicara. So relative to me, we can think, ‘Well, I am a Vaisnava, I have taken vaisnava diksa, I am initiated by a siddha saint, a liberated premi bhakta of the Lord and I am engaged in this work, this and that.’
So we may have some type of designation or position on one level but on a social level, on this relative plane, we may have the opportunity to meet someone who is a high class brahmana by birth, whereas our birth by Vaisnava standards there has been some elevation, there has been some recognition, some purity, but when we look at the relative consideration on the social level then we see in terms of varna, actually this person is born in a Brahmin family, very high class dhamavasi Brahmin family and then we are in an inferior position despite our exaltation on the level of Vaisnava-hood.
So then we naturally offer obeisances to them in a humble way. So this is one point which is being told here. Vaisnava etiquette is woven throughout the scriptures in the various stories of Bhagavatam, especially Caitanya Bhagavata by Vedavyasa Vrndavana Dasa Thakura, it is very much a book of acara, Vaisnava sadacara. Whereas Caitanya Caritamrta is more siddhanta and philosophy and intimate, let’s say, esoteric points of rasa tattva and prema tattva. But nevertheless Caitanya Caritamrta also has many points on etiquette which we can think of from different angles and try to understand what is the teaching which is being given.
So we will continue this ‘Meeting Of Pradyumna Misra And Raya Ramananda’ tomorrow.