Not For Ordinary People
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the most important of all the gopīs, and Her specific loving service is the highest expression of mādhurya-premā. Therefore, it is better that the neophyte practitioners in the devotional field not try to understand the intimacies of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s confidential service. However, expecting that submissive and bona fide devotees will understand Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s service in the future, these confidential discussions are described by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswāmī in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
Devotees who have been fortunate enough to rise to the spontaneous service of Godhead, rāgānugā-bhakti, and who have developed an attraction for mādhurya-premā, may follow in the footsteps of the confidential associates of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and their assistants called the mañjarīs.
The ecstasy that was felt by Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī when She met Uddhava in Vraja in Her mournful mood of separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa is personified in Lord Caitanya. Nobody should imitate Lord Caitanya’s transcendental feelings because it is impossible for a living being to reach that stage. However, at a stage of developed consciousness one can simply follow in His footsteps. These are the hints given by experienced and self-realized devotees in the line of Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmī.
Distinguished Cowherd Girl
Rāmānanda Rāya then explained a śloka from the Padma Purāṇa:
yathā rādhā priyā viṣṇos
tasyāḥ kuṇḍaṁ priyaṁ tathā
sarva-gopīṣu saivaikā
viṣṇor atyanta-vallabhā
"Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is the most beloved cowherd girl of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Not only Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, but the lake known as Śrī Rādhā-kuṇḍa is as dear to Śrī Kṛṣṇa as Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī Herself.”
Rāmānanda Rāya then quoted another śloka from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.30.28):
anayārādhito nūnaṁ
bhagavān harir īśvaraḥ
yan no vihāya govindaḥ
prīto yām anayad rahaḥ
"My dear friends, the cowherd girl who has just been taken in privacy by Śrī Kṛṣṇa, leaving us all aside, must have rendered more valuable service to Him than ourselves.”
Śrī Rādhā is the specific name of the distinguished cowherd girl who has rendered the most obliging services to Śrī Kṛṣṇa. On hearing these two statements by Rāmānanda, Lord Caitanya felt an ecstasy of His own and said to Rāmānanda:
prabhu kahe—āge kaha, śunite pāi sukhe
apūrvāmṛta-nadī vahe tomāra mukhe
"Please continue. I am feeling too much happiness by your mode of explanation. It is something like a transcendental river of bliss flowing from your tongue.” Lord Caitanya added:
curi kari’ rādhāke nila gopī-gaṇera ḍare
anyāpekṣā haile premera gāḍhatā nā sphure
"Śrī Kṛṣṇa stole away Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī because the nature of love that He had for Her was disturbed in the presence of the other gopīs. If Kṛṣṇa can give up the company of all other gopīs for the sake of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, I know that He is especially attached to Her love.”
When the transcendental pastime of rāsa-līlā continued, Śrī Kṛṣṇa thought that in the presence of all the gopīs, confidential and secluded love affairs with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī would not be possible. He thought that in the presence of others the intensity of private love affairs could not be relished. For this reason, Śrī Kṛṣṇa abducted Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī from within the assembly of all the other gopīs and became separated from them all.
The Search of Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Rāmānanda Rāya said that there is no comparison to Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s love within the universe. Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī did not like to be equal with all the other gopīs. Thus in a mood of erotic anger, She left the arena of the rāsa-līlā. It was the desire of Śrī Kṛṣṇa that Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī fulfill His necessity for rāsa-līlā, but when She went away, Śrī Kṛṣṇa became disturbed and in a mood of moroseness He left the rāsa-līlā arena to search for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Rāmānanda Rāyślokas from the Gīta-govinda (3.1, 2):
kaṁsārir api saṁsāra-
vāsanā-baddha-śṛṅkhalām
rādhām ādhāya hṛdaye
tatyāja vraja-sundarīḥ
itas-tatas tām anusṛtya rādhikām
anaṅga-vāṇa-vraṇa-khinna-mānasaḥ
kṛtānutāpaḥ sa kalinda-nandinī
taṭānta-kuñje viṣasāda mādhavaḥ
“The enemy of Kaṁsa (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) became afflicted with the desire to liberate His parents Vasudeva and Devakī from imprisonment in Mathurā and left the company of the beautiful damsels of Vraja, keeping Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī within His heart."
“Being afflicted by the arrow of Cupid and unhappily regretting His mistreating Rādhārāṇī, Mādhava (Śrī Kṛṣṇa) began to search for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī along the banks of the Yamunā River. When He failed to find Her, he entered the bushes of Vṛndāvana and began to lament."
All the above statements are of a very, very high standard of transcendental pastimes of the Personality of Godhead and may appear to be like the ordinary stories of a hero and heroine. The whole activity may also appear like the lusty behavior of ordinary men and women, but this is the foolishness of the mundane conception. The complete picture is of transcendental loving service to the Personality of Godhead by the pure senses, completely freed from mundane designations and cleansed of all mundane affairs. Only the highest devotee, who is absolutely purified by the regulative principles of devotional service and who has attained the stage of realizing the degraded nature of mundane erotic activities, can relish these supramundane affairs, although they are described in language that is understandable to the general populace.
The cheerfulness of Lord Caitanya in relishing the above statements by Rāmānanda Rāya is the proof that they are the highest standard of transcendental expression. Therefore, readers should be careful not to bring these topics down to a level of mundane affairs.
Rāmānanda Rāya continued to explain that by a critical study of the above two ślokas we can know that the rāsa-līlā is performed in the company of innumerable cowherd girls, but, in spite of this, the Personality of Godhead prefers to remain specifically with Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Knowing this, a devotee’s heart becomes swollen with transcendental joy, which may be compared to a mine of nectar.
Hearing about all these transcendental love affairs, the hearts of experienced devotees are filled with an inexplicable supramun- dane joy. They feel that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is equally fond of all the gopīs, but He is specifically attracted by the clever and often contradictory dealings of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Thus She contributes the most to the rāsa-līlā.
By Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s Side
It is understood from the authoritative literatures, which describe the transcendental pastimes of Godhead, that in the arena of the rasa-līlā dance, Śrī Kṛṣṇa distributed Himself in His innumerable prakāśa expansions by keeping Himself between each of the cowherd girls. He also kept Himself by the side of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. The prakāśa expansions of His transcendental body are all identical, but the personality by the side of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is His original form, svayam-rūpa. Śrī Kṛṣṇa is equal to everyone in His general dealings, but due to the conflicting ecstatic love of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī there were opposing elements. This is described in the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi as follows:
aher iva gatiḥ premṇaḥ
svabhāva-kuṭilā bhavet
ato hetor ahetoś ca
yūnor māna udañcati
"The curved ways of progressive love affairs appear like the movement of a snake. Further, two different kinds of anger, anger with a cause and anger without a cause, arise within the dealings of a young man and a young woman.”
In pursuance of the above principles, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in a mood of erotic anger left the arena of the rāsa-līlā with a feeling of devout attachment. Thus Śrī Hari also became mad after Her and perturbed in His mind out of anger without cause. Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s desire was to enjoy the transcendental pastime of the rāsa-līlā in its fullness and the cornerstone of its whole construction was Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Without Her presence, the rāsa-līlā is upset. Therefore, the absence of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī caused Śrī Kṛṣṇa to leave the arena and go in search of Her.
When Śrī Kṛṣṇa was unable to find Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī after searching here and there, He became overwhelmingly afflicted by Cupid’s arrow and began to deeply lament on account of Her absence. This fact proves that the transcendental heart of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is not satiated even by His enjoyment in the midst of so many millions of other cowherd girls. As such, the intensity of His love for Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is impossible to describe.
All the above statements regarding the transcendental līlā of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa profusely delighted Lord Caitanya and He became completely satisfied by His meeting with Rāmānanda Rāya.
prabhu kahe—ye lāgi' āilāma tomā-sthāne
sei saba tattva-vastu haila mora jñāne
ebe se jāniluṅ sādhya-sādhana-nirṇaya
āge āra āche kichu, śunite mana haya
kṛṣṇera svarūpa' kaha 'rādhāra svarūpa'
‘rasa’ kon tattva, ‘prema’—kon tattva-rūpa
kṛpā kari' ei tattva kaha ta' āmāre
tomā-vinā keha ihā nirūpite nāre
Lord Caitanya said to Rāmānanda, “I have now come to know the truth of the līlā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī for which I approached you. I have understood the truth of the highest goal to be attained and also the means to attain it. Therefore, please explain the divine nature of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and also that of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Please also let me know the truth of the mellowness of supramundane love affairs. Nobody can explain all these except your good self. Therefore, I request you to do me this favor by your unbounded mercy.”
Guru of Lord Caitanya
The method of approach and the manner of humility exhibited by Lord Caitanya to Rāmānanda is the ideal for approaching a bona fide tattva-darśī or a master of transcendental knowledge. This is confirmed in the Bhāgavad-gītā (4.34):
tad viddhi praṇipātena
paripraśnena sevayā
upadekṣyanti te jñānaṁ
jñāninas tattva-darśīnaḥ
In the Bhāgavad-gītā, it is recommended that one approach the spiritual master for supramundane knowledge under the protection of service and surrender accompanied by relevant inquiries. Lord Caitanya, as the ideal teacher and practical demonstrator of the teachings of the Bhāgavad-gītā, teaches us by His approach to Rāmānanda Rāya. He shows that a person desirous of knowing the transcendental science must not be proud of his material acquisitions of education and wealth, which are very insignificant to the transcendentally situated spiritual master from whom we should be very keen to understand the science of devotion.
If somebody approaches the bona fide spiritual master with the vanity of mundane pride in respect to his heredity, wealth, education, or personal beauty and without the necessary qualifications of surrender, service, and relevant inquiry, surely such a person will be honored outwardly by the spiritual master, but the spiritual master will decline to bestow transcendental knowledge upon the student who by his attitude of mundane vanity is rendered unqualified. Such a proud student is actually a śūdra and he has no access to spiritual knowledge for want of the necessary qualifications mentioned above. Thus the śūdra student, instead of availing himself to the mercy of the spiritual master, goes to hell as a result of his mundane vanity.
Rāmānanda Rāya was born in the family of a śūdra and was also a gṛhasta in terms of the system of varṇāśrama-dharma. Lord Caitanya appeared in the family of a highly cultured brāhmaṇa of Navadvīpa and was in the topmost rank of the sannyāsa āśrama. Therefore, in terms of the varṇāśrama system, Rāmānanda Rāya was in the lowest status while Lord Caitanya was in the highest status; yet, because Rāmānanda was a master in the art of transcendental knowledge, Lord Caitanya approached him as one should approach a guru. He did so for the benefit of us all.
True Student of Truth
Lord Caitanya descended into this mortal world as the ideal spiritual master, and thus His teaching is very significant. The students who really desire spiritual upliftment may carefully note all these dealings.
Rāmānanda Rāya, as a true Vaiṣṇava, always possessed nat- ural humility, and thus when he was asked by Lord Caitanya he said,
rāya kahe—ihā āmi kichui nā jāni
tumi yei kahāo, sei kahi āmi vāṇī
tomāra śikṣāya paḍi yena śuka-pāṭha
sākṣāt iśvara tumi, ke bujhe tomāra nāṭa
hṛdaye preraṇa kara, jihvāya kahāo vāṇī
ki kahiye bhāla-manda, kichui nā jāni
“My Lord, I have no information of the transcendental world but I can simply speak that which You inspire me to utter. I am just like a parrot and I can repeat only that which You direct me to say. You are Yourself the Personality of Godhead and it is very difficult to understand what You do and how You play. The inspiration that You create in me and the vocabulary that You cause to come out of my mouth are known to You. I do not know myself what I speak and what I think.”
Lord Caitanya, again in His mood of a true student of truth, replied to Rāmānanda Rāya,
prabhu kahe—māyāvādi āmi ta' sannyāsī
bhakti-tattva nāhi jāni, māyāvāde bhāsi
sārvabhauma-saṅge mora mana nirmala ha-ila
‘kṛṣṇa-bhakti-tattva kaha,’ tāṅhāre puchila
teṅho kahe—āmi nāhi jāni kṛṣṇa-kathā
sabe rāmānanda jāne, teṅho nāhi ethā
tomāra ṭhāñi āilāṅa tomāra mohimā śuniyā
tumi more stuti kara 'sannyāsi' jāniyā
kibā vipra, kibā nyāsī, śūdra kene naya
yei kṛṣṇa-tattva-vettā, sei 'guru' haya
'sannyāsī' baliyā more nā kariha vañcana
kṛṣṇa-rādhā-tattva kahi' pūrṇa kara mana
"I am a māyāvādī sannyāsī who is an atheist by nature. As such, I always float on My theory of māyā and Brahman without any entrance into devotional science. By the association of Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, I was lucky enough to get My heart purified. When I asked him to speak about the transcendental topics of the līlā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, he asked Me to see you. He recommended you as the best among those who know this science and he regretted your absence at Purī. I have therefore come to you after hearing your glories from him. You are now praising Me because I am a sannyāsī, but it does not matter whether a person is a brāhmaṇa, a sannyāsī, or a śūdra. A person is thoroughly competent to become a bona fide spiritual master provided he knows the transcendental art and science of devotional activities. Therefore please do not try to avoid Me because I am a sannyāsī. Kindly fulfill My desire by fully describing the glories of the līlā performed by Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.”
Beyond Varṇa and Āśrama
In the teachings of Lord Caitanya, especially in this perverted age of Kali, the passage mentioned above, wherein it says that it does not matter whether a person is a brāhmaṇa, sannyāsī, or a śūdra, is important. The qualification for a spiritual master is that he must be thoroughly conversant in the art and science of devotional service. This is revolutionary to the stereotyped, so-called spiritual mastership prevailing among the masses in India. The exploitative method is herein dealt a deadly blow and this truth is established by the devout followers of Śrī Caitanya Mahā- prabhu’s conception.
The fact is that a person who is thoroughly conversant about Śrī Kṛṣṇa can become a spiritual master either as an initiator or an instructor. It does not matter whether such a person is a brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, or a śūdra. Nor does it matter whether he is a brahmacārī, gṛhastha, vānaprastha, or a sannyāsī. The only qualification of a spiritual master is his knowledge of the truth about Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The qualification certainly does not rest on his particular situation in terms of the system of varṇāśrama-dharma.
This order of Lord Caitanya, although apparently revolutionary to the non-progressive opportunists, is not at all against the injunctions of the scriptures. Following this principle, Lord Caitanya Himself took initiation from Śrīpād Īśvara Purī, and Lord Nityānanda Prabhu and Advaita Prabhu took initiation from Śrīpād Mādhavendra Purī Goswāmī. Rasikānānda Prabhu took initiation from Śrīla Shyāmananda Prabhu, who appeared in the family of a non-brāhmaṇa, and Śrī Ganga Nārāyaṇa Cakravartī and Śrī Rāmakṛṣṇa Bhaṭṭācārya took initiation from Śrīla Narottama dāsa hākura, who also happened to appear in the family of a non-brāhmaṇa. In the ancient literatures, it is written that there are no hereditary considerations for becoming a spiritual master.
In the Mahābhārata and other historical literatures, there are innumerable examples of non-hereditary gurus and determination of caste by quality and action rather than by birth. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (7.11.35), it is said that a person should be classified as belonging to a particular varṇa or caste in terms of his qualification:
asya yal-lakṣaṇaṁ proktaṁ
puṁso varṇābhivyañjakam
yad anyatrāpi dṛśyeta
tat tenaiva vinirdiśet
According to Bhāgavad-gītā, a really qualified brāhmaṇa possesses nine qualities, a kṣatriya seven qualities, a vaiśya three qualities, and a śūdra only one quality. So, wherever the particular qualities are found or developed, the person possessing these particular qualities should be regarded as such. Accepting this formula from the scriptures, the Vaiṣṇava accepts a spiritual master upon his becoming conversant in the knowledge of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The qualities of a brāhmaṇa appear naturally, and, as such, a thoroughly conversant spiritual master cannot be anything but a qualified brāhmaṇa. The false notion that without being a caste brāhmaṇa a person cannot become a spiritual master is therefore a misconception. A person born in the family of a śūdra can become a spiritual master if he has acquired the necessary knowledge about Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
Sometimes it is seen that a pure Vaiṣṇava does not undergo the formalities of the system of varṇāśrama-dharma by accepting the regulative principles thereof, but that does not mean that he is not a brāhmaṇa or a bona fide spiritual master. The Vaiṣṇavas determine the varṇa and āśrama of a person simply by their symptoms and not by their birth. Foolish people are unable to recognize such qualified Vaiṣṇavas, and as such Lord Caitanya distinctly emphasizes all the above mentioned points. There is no difference in essence between the regulative principles found in the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa and the statements of Lord Caitanya. The difference is concocted by the mental speculations of ignorant men.