CC Madhya 8.233–288 – Talks Between Lord Chaitanya and Ramananda Raya—Part 02

Giriraj Swami:

CC Madhya 8.251

‘śreyo-madhye kona śreyaḥ jīvera haya sāra?’
‘kṛṣṇa-bhakta-saṅga vinā śreyaḥ nāhi āra’

TRANSLATION

Then Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu asked, “Out of all auspicious and beneficial activities, which is best for the living entity?”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Rāmānanda Rāya replied, “The only auspicious activity is association with the devotees of Kṛṣṇa.”

According to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.30):

ata ātyantikaṁ kṣemaṁ pṛcchāmo bhavato ‘naghāḥ
saṁsāre ‘smin kṣaṇārdho ‘pi sat-saṅgaḥ śevadhir nṛṇām

“We are asking you to tell us what is the most perfect welfare activity. I think that in this material world, association with devotees — even if it be for a moment — is the greatest treasure house for mankind.”

COMMENT

There are so many questions and answers. Well, you think about it. We will just read the conclusion.

TEXT 267

eka saṁśaya mora āchaye hṛdaye
kṛpā kari’ kaha more tāhāra niścaye

TRANSLATION

Rāmānanda Rāya then said that he had but one doubt within his heart, and he petitioned the Lord, “Please be merciful upon me and just remove my doubt.”

TEXT 268

pahile dekhiluṅ tomāra sannyāsi-svarūpa
ebe tomā dekhi muñi śyāma-gopa-rūpa

TRANSLATION

Rāmānanda Rāya then told Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “At first I saw You appear like a sannyāsī, but now I am seeing You as Śyāmasundara, the cowherd boy.

TEXT 269

tomāra sammukhe dekhi kāñcana-pañcālikā
tāṅra gaura-kāntye tomāra sarva aṅga ḍhākā

TRANSLATION

 “I now see You appearing like a golden doll, and Your entire body appears covered by a golden luster.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Śyāmasundara is blackish, but here Rāmānanda Rāya says that he saw Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appear golden. The lustrous body of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was covered by the bodily complexion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.

TEXT 270

tāhāte prakaṭa dekhoṅ sa-vaṁśī vadana
nānā bhāve cañcala tāhe kamala-nayana

TRANSLATION

“I see that You are holding a flute to Your mouth, and Your lotus eyes are moving very restlessly due to various ecstasies.

TEXT 271

ei-mata tomā dekhi’ haya camatkāra
akapaṭe kaha, prabhu, kāraṇa ihāra

TRANSLATION

 “I actually see You in this way, and this is very wonderful. My Lord, please tell me without duplicity what is causing this.”

TEXT 272

prabhu kahe, — kṛṣṇe tomāra gāḍha-prema haya
premāra svabhāva ei jāniha niścaya

TRANSLATION

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied, “You have a deep love for Kṛṣṇa, and one who has such deep ecstatic love for the Lord naturally sees things in such a way. Please take this from Me to be certain.

TEXT 273

mahā-bhāgavata dekhe sthāvara-jaṅgama
tāhāṅ tāhāṅ haya tāṅra śrī-kṛṣṇa-sphuraṇa

TRANSLATION

 “A devotee advanced on the spiritual platform sees everything movable and inert as the Supreme Lord. For him, everything he sees here and there is but a manifestation of Lord Kṛṣṇa.

TEXT 274

sthāvara-jaṅgama dekhe, nā dekhe tāra mūrti
sarvatra haya nija iṣṭa-deva-sphūrti

TRANSLATION

“The mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, certainly sees everything mobile and immobile, but he does not exactly see their forms. Rather, everywhere he immediately sees manifest the form of the Supreme Lord.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Due to his deep ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, the mahā-bhāgavata sees Kṛṣṇa everywhere and nothing else. This is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.38): premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti.

A devotee who has purified his existence through devotional service sees only Kṛṣṇa in every step of life. This is also explained in the next verse, which is a quotation from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.2.45).

TEXT 275

sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyed
bhagavad-bhāvam ātmanaḥ
bhūtāni bhagavaty ātmany
eṣa bhāgavatottamaḥ

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “ ‘A person advanced in devotional service sees within everything the soul of souls, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Consequently he always sees the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the cause of all causes and understands that all things are situated in Him.’

COMMENT

Alright, several verses in the Eleventh Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about different categories of devotees. So here, the topmost devotee is described. He sees only Krishna everywhere, nothing but Krishna. Everything is Krishna. The intermediate devotee, he sees Krishna, he sees Vaishnavas, he sees innocent persons, and he sees envious person. Next is the neophyte; he only sees the deity and the spiritual master, but he cannot see anything else.

TEXT 276

vana-latās tarava ātmani viṣṇuṁ
vyañjayantya iva puṣpa-phalāḍhyāḥ
praṇata-bhāra-viṭapā madhu-dhārāḥ
prema-hṛṣṭa-tanavo vavṛṣuḥ sma

TRANSLATION

 “ ‘The plants, creepers and trees were full of fruits and flowers due to ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa. Indeed, being so full, they were bowing down. They were inspired by such deep love for Kṛṣṇa that they were constantly pouring showers of honey. In this way the gopīs saw all the forests of Vṛndāvana.’ ”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse (Bhāg. 10.35.9) is one of the songs the gopīs sang during Kṛṣṇa’s absence. In Kṛṣṇa’s absence the gopīs were always absorbed in thought of Him. Similarly, the mahā-bhāgavata, the advanced devotee, sees everything as potentially serving the Lord.

COMMENT

In other words, the gopis were in mahā-bhāva, and in mahā-bhāva they saw that everyone was full of love for Krishna like them, and that everyone was serving Krishna better than them. Everyone was more fortunate to serve Krishna more than them.

PURPORT (continued)

Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī states:

prāpañcikatayā buddhyā hari-sambandhi-vastunaḥ
mumukṣubhiḥ parityāgo vairāgyaṁ phalgu kathyate

(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.126)

The advanced devotee does not see anything as unconnected with Kṛṣṇa. Unlike the Māyāvādī philosophers, a devotee does not see the material world as false, because he knows that everything in the material world is connected to Kṛṣṇa. A devotee knows how to utilize everything in the service of the Lord, and this is characteristic of the mahā-bhāgavata. The gopīs saw the plants, creepers and forest trees loaded with fruits and flowers and ready to serve Kṛṣṇa. In this way they immediately remembered their worshipable Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa. They did not simply see plants, creepers and trees the way a mundaner sees them.

COMMENT

So in mahā-bhāva, the gopīs saw that all creatures of Vrindavan were more fortunate than them. The other creatures could serve Krishna better than them. Certainly, every living entity has the potential to serve Lord Krishna, and even the mahā-bhāgavata, when he comes into the material world, sees the potential in everyone for the service of Lord Krishna. He tries to engage everyone and everything in the service of the Lord. So devotees are not like Mayavadis who reject things even if they can be used in the service of the Lord, for fear that the things are material and that if they deal with the things, they will become contaminated. But as long as the devotee is conscious of the fact that everything is the energy of Krishna, everything is the property of Krishna, including himself, then he can never become entangled in material complexity. Although living in the material world, so-called, and working in the material world, so-called, but actually he sees everything as the energy of Krishna, meant to be engaged in the service of Krishna, and he tries to use everything in Krishna’s service. So he is not entangled.

In the early days in New York, in the apartment where Srila Prabhupada was staying, the landlord was named Mr. Trudy. One time, Mr. Trudy asked Srila Prabhupada, “What is maya?” He had heard the word maya; he wanted to understand. Srila Prabhupada replied that, “Just like I see your wife, as long as I am conscious that she is your wife, I can speak to her and deal with her, and there will not be any difficulties. But as soon as I forget that she is your wife, then there may be so many problems. And that is maya.” So as long as we see everything as the energy of Krishna, there will be no problem, because we can engage everything in the service of the Lord. But as soon as we forget that it is the energy of Krishna and want to enjoy it for ourselves and take it for ourselves, then we fall into maya. We become implicated, and we have to suffer so much.

Here, Ramananda Raya asked Lord Chaitanya, “Why he saw Him.” Ramananda Raya, saw Lord Chaitanya as Shyamasundara, in a blackish complexion, playing upon a flute. Lord Chaitanya is not actually disclosing His identity to Ramananda Raya. He is just saying that because you are mahā-bhāgavata, you see Krishna everywhere. So you also see Krishna in Me.

TEXT 277

rādhā-kṛṣṇe tomāra mahā-prema haya
yāhāṅ tāhāṅ rādhā-kṛṣṇa tomāre sphuraya

TRANSLATION

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu continued, “My dear Rāya, you are an advanced devotee and are always filled with ecstatic love for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Therefore whatever you see — anywhere and everywhere — simply awakens your Kṛṣṇa consciousness and appears to you to be Radha and. Krishna.”

TEXT 278

rāya kahe, — prabhu tumi chāḍa bhāri-bhūri
mora āge nija-rūpa nā kariha curi

TRANSLATION

Rāmānanda Rāya replied, “My dear Lord, please give up all these serious talks. Please do not conceal Your real form from me.”

TEXT 279

rādhikāra bhāva-kānti kari’ aṅgīkāra
nija-rasa āsvādite kariyācha avatāra

TRANSLATION

Rāmānanda Rāya continued, “My dear Lord, I can understand that You have assumed the ecstasy and bodily complexion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. By accepting this, You are tasting Your own personal transcendental mellow and have therefore appeared as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

“My dear Lord, You have descended in this incarnation of Lord Caitanya for Your own personal reasons. You have come to taste Your own spiritual bliss, and at the same time You are transforming the whole world by spreading the ecstasy of love of Godhead.

“My dear Lord, by Your causeless mercy You have appeared before me to grant me liberation. Now You are playing in a duplicitous way. What is the reason for this behavior?”

COMMENT

What is the duplicity of Ramananda Raya accused Lord Chaitanya, that He is playing in a duplicitous way? Actually, He is Krishna, Lord Chaitanya is Krishna but He is not admitting the fact. He is trying to cover the facts by saying that you are an advanced devotee, so you see Krishna everywhere. And Ramananda said, “When I looked at You, I saw Krishna. So who are You?” Then Lord Chaitanya didn’t admit that He was Krishna, but He said that you are an advanced devotee, so you see Krishna everywhere.

TEXT 282

tabe hāsi’ tāṅre prabhu dekhāila svarūpa
‘rasa-rāja’, ‘mahābhāva’ — dui eka rūpa

TRANSLATION

Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the reservoir of all pleasure, rasa-rāja, and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the personification of ecstatic love of Godhead, mahā-bhāva. These two forms had combined as one in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This being the case, Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu revealed His real form to Rāmānanda Rāya.

COMMENT

Although Lord Chaitanya tried to cover His actual identity but He could not do so. Ramananda Raya understood who He was. When Ramananda Raya identified, Lord Chaitanya was caught. Finally, He displayed His original form to Ramananda Raya.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This is described as rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa-svarūpam. Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was absorbed in the features of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. This was disclosed to Rāmānanda Rāya when he saw Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. An advanced devotee can understand śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya, rādhā-kṛṣṇa nahe anya. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, being a combination of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā, is nondifferent from Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa combined. This is explained by Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī:

rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād
ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau
caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ
rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa-svarūpam
(Cc. Ādi 1.5)

Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is one. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency combined. When Kṛṣṇa exhibits His pleasure potency, He appears to be two — Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. Otherwise, Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one. This oneness may be perceived by advanced devotees through the grace of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This was the case with Rāmānanda Rāya. This realization is possible for the advanced devoptee. One may aspire to attain such a position, but one should not try to imitate the mahā-bhāgavata.

COMMENT

So, in the verse quoted here by Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, it says that originally there was one, and when Krishna wanted to expand His pleasure, He became two: Radha and Krishna. Then again, the two Radha and Krishna combined to become one, and that is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

TEXT 283

dekhi’ rāmānanda hailā ānande mūrcchite
dharite nā pāre deha, paḍilā bhūmite

TRANSLATION

Upon seeing this form, Rāmānanda Rāya almost lost consciousness in transcendental bliss. Unable to remain standing, he fell to the ground.

TEXT 284

prabhu tāṅre hasta sparśi’ karāilā cetana
sannyāsīra veṣa dekhi’ vismita haila mana

TRANSLATION

When Rāmānanda Rāya fell to the ground unconscious, Caitanya Mahāprabhu touched his hand, and he immediately regained consciousness. But when he saw Lord Caitanya in the dress of a sannyāsī, he was struck with wonder.

TEXT 285

āliṅgana kari’ prabhu kaila āśvāsana
tomā vinā ei-rūpa nā dekhe anya-jana

TRANSLATION

After embracing Rāmānanda Rāya, the Lord pacified him, informing him, “But for you, no one has ever seen this form.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.25) Lord Kṛṣṇa states:

nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ
mūḍho ‘yaṁ nābhijānāti loko mām ajam avyayam

“I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency [yogamāyā], and so they do not know Me, who am unborn and infallible.”

The Lord always reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone. The devotees, however, are always engaged in the service of the Lord, serving with the tongue by chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra and tasting mahā-prasādam. Gradually the sincere devotee pleases the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the Supreme Lord reveals Himself. One cannot see the Supreme Lord by making personal efforts. Rather, when the Lord is pleased by the service of a devotee, He reveals Himself.

TEXT 286

mora tattva-līlā-rasa tomāra gocare
ataeva ei-rūpa dekhāiluṅ tomāre

TRANSLATION

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu confirmed, “All the truths about My pastimes and mellows are within your knowledge. Therefore I have shown this form to you.

“Actually My body does not have a fair complexion. It only appears so because it has touched the body of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. However, She does not touch anyone but the son of Nanda Mahārāja.

TEXT 288

“I have now converted My body and mind into the ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī; thus I am tasting My own personal sweetness in that form.”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Gaurasundara here informed Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya, “My dear Rāmānanda Rāya, you were actually seeing a separate person with a fair-complexioned body. Actually I am not fair. Being Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the son of Nanda Mahārāja, I am blackish, but when I come in touch with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī I become fair-complexioned externally. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī does not touch the body of anyone but Kṛṣṇa. I taste My own transcendental features by accepting the complexion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Without Rādhārāṇī, one cannot taste the transcendental pleasure of Kṛṣṇa’s conjugal love.” In this regard, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura comments on the prākṛta-sahajiyā-sampradāya, which considers Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya to possess different bodies. They misinterpret the words gaura aṅga nahe mora in Text 287. From that verse and the present verse we can understand that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Both are the same Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the form of Kṛṣṇa, the Lord enjoys spiritual bliss and remains the shelter of all devotees, viṣaya-vigraha. And in His Gaurāṅga feature Kṛṣṇa tastes separation from Kṛṣṇa in the ecstasy of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. This ecstatic form is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is always the transcendental reservoir of all pleasure, and He is technically called dhīra-lalita. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the embodiment of spiritual energy, personified as ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa; therefore only Kṛṣṇa can touch Her. The dhīra-lalita aspect is not seen in any other form of the Lord, including Viṣṇu and Nārāyaṇa. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is therefore known as Govinda-nandinī and Govinda-mohinī, for She is the only source of transcendental pleasure for Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the only person who can enchant His mind.

[Discussion]