CC Antya 8 – Srila Madhavendra Puri Chastises Ramacandra Puri

Giriraj Swami: Today is the disappearance day of Sri Madhavendra Puri, who appears in the line of disciplic succession as the grand spiritual master of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Madhavendra Puri’s disciple Isvara Puri was accepted by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as His spiritual master. Sri Madhavendra Puri is very important for us, and today we shall read about his disappearance from Srila Prabhupada’s translation of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, Chapter Eight: “Rāmacandra Purī Criticizes the Lord.”

INTRODUCTION by Srila Prabhupada

The following summary of the eighth chapter is given by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya. This chapter describes the history of the Lord’s dealings with Rāmacandra Purī. Although Rāmacandra Purī was one of the disciples of Mādhavendra Purī, he was influenced by dry Māyāvādīs, and therefore he criticized Mādhavendra Purī. Therefore Mādhavendra Purī accused him of being an offender and rejected him. Because Rāmacandra Purī had been rejected by his spiritual master, he became concerned only with finding faults in others and advising them according to dry Māyāvāda philosophy. For this reason he was not very respectful to the Vaiṣṇavas, and later he became so fallen that he began criticizing Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu for His eating. Hearing his criticisms, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu reduced His eating, but after Rāmacandra Purī left Jagannātha Purī, the Lord resumed His usual behavior.

TEXT 1–6

taṁ vande kṛṣṇa-caitanyaṁ
rāmacandra-purī-bhayāt
laukikāhārataḥ svaṁ yo
bhikṣānnaṁ samakocayat

Let me offer my respectful obeisances to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who reduced His eating due to fear of the criticism of Rāmacandra Purī.

jaya jaya śrī-caitanya karuṇā-sindhu-avatāra
brahmā-śivādika bhaje caraṇa yāṅhāra

All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the incarnation of the ocean of mercy! His lotus feet are worshiped by demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva.

jaya jaya avadhūta-candra nityānanda
jagat bāṅdhila yeṅha diyā prema-phāṅda

All glories to Nityānanda Prabhu, the greatest of mendicants, who bound the entire world with a knot of ecstatic love for God!

jaya jaya advaita īśvara avatāra
kṛṣṇa avatāri’ kaila jagat-nistāra

All glories to Advaita Prabhu, the incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead! He induced Kṛṣṇa to descend and thus delivered the entire world.

jaya jaya śrīvāsādi yata bhakta-gaṇa
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu — yāṅra prāṇa-dhana

All glories to all the devotees, headed by Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura! Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu is their life and soul.

ei-mata gauracandra nija-bhakta-saṅge
nīlācale krīḍā kare kṛṣṇa-prema-taraṅge

Thus Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, at Jagannātha Purī, performed His various pastimes with His devotees in the waves of love for Kṛṣṇa.

COMMENT

The sannyasi Ramachandra Puri came to Nilacala to meet Paramananda Puri and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. When Lord Chaitanya saw Ramachandra Puri, He offered His obeisances at his feet because Ramachandra Puri was a disciple of Madhavendra Puri and a godbrother of Lord Chaitanya’s spiritual master, Isvara Puri. So, according to etiquette, He offered the same respect to Ramachandra Puri as to His spiritual master, Isvara Puri. In one line, Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami summarizes Ramachandra Puri’s behavior:

TEXT 17–21

ei ta’ svabhāva tāṅra āgraha kariyā
piche nindā kare, āge bahuta khāoyāñā

The characteristic of Rāmacandra Purī was that first he would induce someone to eat more than necessary and then he would criticize him.

pūrve yabe mādhavendra karena antardhāna
rāmacandra-purī tabe āilā tāṅra sthāna

Formerly, when Mādhavendra Purī was at the last stage of his life, Rāmacandra Purī came to where he was staying.

purī-gosāñi kare kṛṣṇa-nāma-saṅkīrtana
‘mathurā nā pāinu’ bali’ karena krandana

Mādhavendra Purī was chanting the holy name of Kṛṣṇa, and sometimes he would cry, “O my Lord, I did not get shelter at Mathurā.”

rāmacandra-purī tabe upadeśe tāṅre
śiṣya hañā guruke kahe, bhaya nāhi kare

Then Rāmacandra Purī was so foolish that he fearlessly dared to instruct his spiritual master.

“tumi — pūrṇa-brahmānanda, karaha smaraṇa
brahmavit hañā kene karaha rodana?”

“If you are in full transcendental bliss,” he said, “you should now remember only Brahman. Why are you crying?”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

As stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā: a Brahman realized person is always happy. Na śocati na kāṅkṣati: he neither laments nor aspires for anything. Not knowing why Mādhavendra Purī was crying, Rāmacandra Purī tried to become his advisor. Thus he committed a great offense, for a disciple should never try to instruct his spiritual master.

COMMENT

Although Ramachandra Puri had some knowledge of the scripture, he could not understand the behavior of Madhavendra Puri. He knew from the Bhagavad-gītā that brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā: one who is on the brahman platform becomes joyful. Most of us are on the material platform. We identify with the body, and because of such bodily identification we have to suffer. We suffer disease. The body is always subject to disease, and some diseases are extremely painful, and when we feel the pain sometimes we cry. We see how easily children cry, but even grown adults may cry like children when they identify with the body and feel pain. And sometimes the pain we experience within the mind is worse than the pain we suffer in the body. Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if our mother or father, or our husband or wife, or our child, dies, we feel so much pain; we may cry more for the death of some loved one than for our own body. But when we realize “I am not the body; I am spirit soul, part and parcel of Krishna,” we are relieved. We don’t have to cry for the body or mind. 

Srila Prabhupada gave the example that if someone is riding in his car and another car hits it, he will jump out of his car and shout, “You hit me!” Why does he say to the other driver “You hit me?” Actually, the other car hit his car; it didn’t hit him. But he is saying “You hit me” because he identifies with the car. In the same way, if someone hits us, he is actually not hitting us, he is hitting only the body, but because we falsely identify with the body, we think, “Oh, he hit me; he hurt me.” Now, suppose an acquaintance was in the car that was hit. The acquaintance would not be so disturbed, because he doesn’t identify with the car. Actually, neither person was hit—only the automobile was hit—but the person who identifies with the car is disturbed, whereas the person who doesn’t remains undisturbed. 

Ramachandra Puri thought that his spiritual master was crying because his master was not fixed on the spiritual platform. So he advised him not to cry. “You should think of brahman,” he said. He could not understand the difference between spiritual lamentation and material lamentation, or spiritual hankering and material hankering. In the material world we hanker for material things, and if we don’t get them we cry. A girl wants a boy, and if she doesn’t get him she cries, or vice-versa—whatever it may be. Madhavendra Puri was crying, “I could not achieve Mathura. I could not achieve the goal of my life. My life is useless. What is the value?” He was hankering for Mathura and lamenting because he could not achieve it. So Ramachandra Puri thought, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati: “He should be fixed in brahman; he should neither hanker nor lament. But he is doing both! He is hankering for Mathura and lamenting because he could not achieve it.” Thus Ramachandra Puri foolishly dared to instruct his spiritual master. 

How did his spiritual master respond? Actually, there are many important instructions to be derived from this incident, about how we should see and serve our spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada.

TEXT 22

śuni’ mādhavendra-mane krodha upajila
‘dūra, dūra, pāpiṣṭha’ bali’ bhartsanā karila

Hearing this instruction, Mādhavendra Purī, greatly angry, rebuked him by saying, “Get out, you sinful rascal!”

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Rāmacandra Purī could not understand that his spiritual master, Mādhavendra Purī, was feeling transcendental separation. His lamentation was not material. Rather, it proceeded from the highest stage of ecstatic love of Kṛṣṇa. When he was crying in separation, “I could not achieve Kṛṣṇa! I could not reach Mathurā!” this was not ordinary material lamentation. Rāmacandra Purī was not sufficiently expert to understand the feelings of Mādhavendra Purī, but nevertheless he thought himself very advanced. Therefore, regarding Mādhavendra Purī’s expressions as ordinary material lamentation, he advised him to remember Brahman because he was latently an impersonalist. Mādhavendra Purī understood Rāmacandra Purī’s position as a great fool and therefore immediately rebuked him. Such a reprimand from the spiritual master is certainly for the betterment of the disciple.

COMMENT

After I first met Srila Prabhupada in Boston, I perceived that everything about Krishna consciousness was perfect. The philosophy was perfect; the method, chanting Hare Krishna, was perfect; the prasāda was extraordinary; and the devotees were also very special, not of this world. Everything was perfect. Every day for about ten days I came to be with Srila Prabhupada and the devotees, and then, when Srila Prabhupada was to leave for Columbus, I went with the devotees to the airport to see him off. But at the airport I saw that almost all the devotees were crying. I knew that they were feeling separation for Srila Prabhupada and were crying for him, but still some doubt came in my mind: everything about Krishna consciousness was perfect, but maybe the one defect was that the spiritual master was not always present.

I used to ask questions of some of the senior devotees (to me, all were senior), and so I asked Arundhati why everyone was crying. She answered with a statement by Srila Prabhupada: “In the spiritual world meeting and separation are the same—both are occasions of ecstasy.” And I thought that answer was perfect. On the absolute platform there is no difference between meeting and separating, no difference between laughing and crying, because all are on the platform of transcendental ecstasy. 

Srila Prabhupada said of the materialists, “Whether they laugh or cry, it doesn’t make any difference, because in both cases they are suffering. Just like if you go to the insane asylum and see the crazy people, some may be laughing hysterically and some may be crying hysterically, but it doesn’t make any difference, because they are all suffering, whether laughing or crying.”

The spiritual platform is just the opposite. On the spiritual platform sometimes the devotees laugh and sometimes they cry, but in both cases they are experiencing transcendental ecstasy. Once, Jadurani dasi saw a photo of Srila Prabhupada and said, “Srila Prabhupada, you look so sad there.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “That was a moment of ecstasy.” For a pure devotee such as Srila Prabhupada, all emotions arise from the transcendental platform, from the exalted platform of love for Krishna. All are ecstasy. Madhavendra Puri’s lamentation and hankering for Mathura were transcendental ecstasy. 

Coming back to Srila Prabhupada’s departure from Boston, I thought that the answer was very good in theory, that on the absolute platform there is no difference between meeting and separation, but I wondered whether in practice it was actually so. I was waiting and watching, and perhaps on the third day after Srila Prabhupada left, when we were on hari-nāma-saṅkīrtana in Boston—we had stopped outside a subway station and were chanting and playing mridanga and kartals—suddenly I felt Srila Prabhupada’s presence. I felt as if he was right there in our midst. My heart melted, and tears came to my eyes. I really felt that Srila Prabhupada was present—I knew that Srila Prabhupada was present—and then I thought, Yes, it is true. Everything about Krishna consciousness is perfect, not only in theory but in practice. It is true that there is no difference between meeting and separation.

Here we see in the behavior of Madhavendra Puri not only hankering and lamentation—which are considered no-no’s for Mayavadis—but also anger and harsh language, other no-no’s for Mayavadis, because apart from material anger (which is warned against in the Bhagavad-gītā), there is also transcendental anger. Here Madhavendra Puri exhibited transcendental anger. In the material world we become angry when our lust is frustrated, but in the spiritual world pure devotees become angry when there are impediments in Krishna’s service—to remove such impediments. Madhavendra Puri saw that Ramachandra Puri was infected by some impersonal conception, and he wanted to remove that obstacle from Ramachandra Puri’s heart. Therefore, to remove that obstacle, he expressed transcendental anger.

In 1971, Srila Prabhupada celebrated a huge Hare Krishna festival at Connaught Place in New Delhi. After the program, a very nice Western young man came to meet Srila Prabhupada. He was very enlivened and inspired, and he exclaimed to Srila Prabhupada, “If the Hare Krishna movement spreads all over the world, people will become peaceful, they will learn to love one another, and there will be no more hatred or anger.” Srila Prabhupada asked, “What’s wrong with anger?” He didn’t just go along with the boy’s mood; he questioned him. “What’s wrong with anger? Did someone tell you that anger is bad? What’s wrong with anger?” Srila Prabhupada proceeded to explain that in the beginning, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, Arjuna did not want to fight; Krishna spoke the whole Bhagavad-gītā just to make him angry, so that he would fight, because without being angry, how can one fight and kill? “Krishna spoke the whole Bhagavad-gītā just to make Arjuna angry,” Srila Prabhupada said, “so how can you say that anger is bad?” He explained that anything can be dovetailed in the service of the Lord, including anger. Arjuna was not angry for his own sake; he became angry for Krishna’s sake, and such anger is not bad—it is transcendental. Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta says that in the material world conceptions of good and bad are all mental concoctions. There is no good or bad; everything in the material world—everything outside Krishna consciousness—is bad, and the same thing in Krishna consciousness is good. The Kauravas presented an obstacle to Krishna’s service, and Krishna wanted Arjuna to become angry to remove that obstacle. Similarly, Madhavendra Puri exhibited transcendental anger to remove from Ramachandra Puri’s heart the misconception that was coming in the way of his relationship with his spiritual master and obstructing his advancement in Krishna consciousness.

TEXT 23

kṛṣṇa nā pāinu, nā pāinu ‘mathurā’
āpana-duḥkhe maroṅ — ei dite āila jvālā

“O my Lord Kṛṣṇa, I could not reach You, nor could I reach Your abode, Mathurā. I am dying in my unhappiness, and now this rascal has come to give me more pain.”

COMMENT

In effect, Madhavendra Puri said, “I am suffering so much pain because I could not attain Krishna and His abode, Mathura, and now my foolish disciple has come to give me more pain. So I am doubly unfortunate.”

TEXT 24

more mukha nā dekhābi tui, yāo yathi-tathi
tore dekhi’ maile mora habe asad-gati

“Don’t show your face to me! Go anywhere else you like. If I die seeing your face, I shall not achieve the destination of my life.”

COMMENT

Very strong words. Actually, one might not expect a spiritual master to speak to a disciple like this. And fortunately for us, Srila Prabhupada was extremely merciful. Although we probably did things much worse than Ramachandra Puri, Srila Prabhupada never rejected us. Once, when we were in Bombay, a devotee phoned Srila Prabhupada from Calcutta. A disciple had come from America to India and somehow fallen into smoking ganja (marijuana) and charas (hashish). Srila Prabhupada responded, “Tell him that if he does not give up smoking these things, I will reject him.” After the telephone conversation Tamal Krishna Goswami asked, “Srila Prabhupada, is it true that you will reject him if he doesn’t give up smoking?” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “No, I can never reject anyone.” Then Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “But Srila Prabhupada, there must be some limit. You must have to draw the line somewhere.” And Srila Prabhupada replied, “There is no limit to Lord Nityananda’s mercy.”

Even in his chastisement, Srila Madhavendra Puri acted only for the ultimate benefit his disciple.

TEXT 25–26

kṛṣṇa nā pāinu muñi maroṅ āpanāra duḥkhe
more ‘brahma’ upadeśe ei chāra mūrkhe”

“I am dying without achieving the shelter of Kṛṣṇa, and therefore I am greatly unhappy. Now this condemned foolish rascal has come to instruct me about Brahman.”

ei ye śrī-mādhavendra śrīpāda upekṣā karila
sei aparādhe iṅhāra ‘vāsanā’ janmila

Rāmacandra Purī was thus denounced by Mādhavendra Purī. Due to his offense, gradually material desire appeared within him.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The word vāsanā (“material desires”) refers to dry speculative knowledge. Such speculative knowledge is only material.

COMMENT

Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam: any desire other than the desire to serve and please Krishna is material. Thus, just as the desire for sense gratification is material, so too is the selfish desire for impersonal liberation. When we commit offenses, the result is that we become influenced and perhaps overwhelmed by material desires. Such material desires may be desires for gross sense gratification or subtle desires for liberation or other selfish aims.

PURPORT (continued)

As confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.14.4), a person without devotional service who simply wants to know things (kevala-bodha-labdhaye) gains only dry speculative knowledge but no spiritual profit. This is confirmed in the Bhakti-sandarbha (111), wherein it is said:

jīvan-muktā api punar yānti saṁsāra-vāsanām
yady acintya-mahā-śaktau bhagavaty aparādhinaḥ

“Even though one is liberated in this life, if one offends the Supreme Personality of Godhead he falls down in the midst of material desires, of which dry speculation about spiritual realization is one.”

In his Laghu-toṣaṇī commentary on Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32), Jīva Gosvāmī says:

jīvan-muktā api punar bandhanaṁ yānti karmabhiḥ
yady acintya-mahā-śaktau bhagavaty aparādhinaḥ

“Even if one is liberated in this life, he becomes addicted to material desires because of offenses to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”

A similar quotation from one of the Purāṇas also appears in the Viṣṇu-bhakti-candrodaya:

jivān-muktāḥ prapadyante kvacit saṁsāra-vāsanām
yogino na vilipyante karmabhir bhagavat-parāḥ

“Even liberated souls sometimes fall down to material desires, but those who fully engage in devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead are not affected by such desires.”

These are references from authoritative revealed scriptures. If one becomes an offender to his spiritual master or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he falls down to the material platform to merely speculate.

TEXT 27

śuṣka-brahma-jñānī, nāhi kṛṣṇera ‘sambandha’
sarva loka nindā kare, nindāte nirbandha

One who is attached to dry speculative knowledge has no relationship with Kṛṣṇa. His occupation is criticizing Vaiṣṇavas. Thus he is situated in criticism.

TEXT 28–32 

īśvara-purī gosāñi kare śrīpāda-sevana
svahaste karena mala-mūtrādi mārjana

Īśvara Purī, the spiritual master of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, performed service to Mādhavendra Purī, cleaning up his stool and urine with his own hand

Īśvara Purī was always chanting the holy name and pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa for Mādhavendra Purī to hear. In this way he helped Mādhavendra Purī remember the holy name and pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa at the time of death.

Pleased with Īśvara Purī, Mādhavendra Purī embraced him and gave him the benediction that he would be a great devotee and lover of Kṛṣṇa.

Thus Īśvara Purī became like an ocean of ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa, whereas Rāmacandra Purī became a dry speculator and a critic of everyone else.

Īśvara Purī received the blessing of Mādhavendra Purī, whereas Rāmacandra Purī received a rebuke from him. Therefore these two persons, Īśvara Purī and Rāmacandra Purī, are examples of the objects of a great personality’s benediction and punishment. Mādhavendra Purī instructed the entire world by presenting these two examples.

COMMENT

If we please the spiritual master—if we please Srila Prabhupada—we get the greatest benediction: love for Krishna. And if we offend the spiritual master or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, we become overwhelmed with material desires. So, we should be very, very careful in our relationship with Srila Prabhupada, that we serve him favorably and get his blessings. Otherwise, if we think that we know better than him, we may offend him, just as Ramachandra Puri offended Madhavendra Puri. And the result of such offenses will be that we will be overwhelmed with material desires.

TEXT 33

jagad-guru mādhavendra kari’ prema dāna
ei śloka paḍi’ teṅho kaila antardhāna

His Divine Grace Mādhavendra Purī, the spiritual master of the entire world, thus distributed ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. While passing away from the material world, he chanted the following verse.

TEXT 34

ayi dīna-dayārdra nātha he
mathurā-nātha kadāvalokyase
hṛdayaṁ tvad-aloka-kātaraṁ
dayita bhrāmyati kiṁ karomy aham

“O My Lord! O most merciful master! O master of Mathurā! When shall I see You again? Because of My not seeing You, My agitated heart has become unsteady. O most beloved one, what shall I do now?”

COMMENT

Earlier in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami remarked that the meaning of the verse uttered by Madhavendra Puri at the time of his passing from this world was understood by only three people: Madhavendra Puri himself, Srimati Radharani, and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Nobody except Srimati Radharani could understand Her feelings of separation from Krishna. Krishna wanted to understand Her feelings of separation, and to do so He took Her position, as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Thus, only Srimati Radharani and Lord Chaitanya could really understand how Srimati Radharani felt in separation from Krishna, and by the mercy of Srimati Radharani, Madhavendra Puri could also understand.

TEXT 35

ei śloke kṛṣṇa-prema kare upadeśa
kṛṣṇera virahe bhaktera bhāva-viśeṣa

In this verse Mādhavendra Purī teaches how to achieve ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. By feeling separation from Kṛṣṇa, one becomes spiritually situated.

TEXT 36–37

Mādhavendra Purī sowed the seed of ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa within this material world and then departed. That seed later became a great tree in the form of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

I have incidentally described the passing away of Mādhavendra Purī. Anyone who hears this must be considered very fortunate.

COMMENT

Srila Madhavendra Puri Prabhu ki jaya!

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: Why did Madhavendra Puri rebuke Ramachandra Puri? Why did he not instruct him more about Krishna consciousness after rebuking him?

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada has explained that different people learn by different methods. The most intelligent person learns by hearing; the next most intelligent learns by seeing; the next learns by experiencing; and the fourth never learns. Someone can learn about the pure devotee or about the spiritual master by hearing, but obviously, Ramachandra Puri did not understand Madhavendra Puri by hearing. Still, he could have understood by seeing the example of Isvara Puri—how Isvara Puri loved his spiritual master, how he served his spiritual master, and how his spiritual master was pleased by his service. But he could not see, either. The next alternative is to experience. 

Srila Prabhupada gives the example that someone may hear from authorities that one should not steal, but he may not understand. He may see that others who have stolen have been arrested and punished, but even by seeing this he may not understand. He may have to actually experience stealing, getting arrested, being punished, and suffering before he learns. And some don’t learn even with experience. They commit the same mistake again and again and suffer again and again. Although Madhavendra Puri’s rebuke appears to have caused harm to Ramachandra Puri (because he became filled with impersonal ideas), if one day Ramachandra Puri could understand, “I am suffering because of impersonal conceptions; I am suffering because I have offended Vaishnavas; I am suffering in so many ways,” he might realize, “Oh, I am suffering because I have offended my spiritual master.” He could consider, “How can I rectify my relationship with my spiritual master? How can I get his mercy?” And so he would be redeemed.

Dinabandhu dasa: [inaudible]

Giriraj Swami: Dinabandhu Prabhu just said that Mukunda Prabhu once went into Srila Prabhupada’s room, and Srila Prabhupada chastised him very heavily, saying, “You are living just like a karmi.” And with his left hand, Srila Prabhupada dismissed him: “Get out!” Mukunda Prabhu was very shaken. He consulted Shyamasundara Prabhu, and Shyamasundara instructed him, “Srila Prabhupada is your father, so he has the right to chastise you and correct you. Prabhupada hasn’t rejected you, but he has actually done his duty as your father to chastise and correct you. Prabhupada wants you to give up your job and surrender. You should give up your job, and don’t worry about it.” Then Dinabandhu Prabhu added, “And what wonderful service Mukunda Maharaja has been doing for so many years!”

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!
Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!