Enlightening the Heart
After talking for a few minutes, Rāmānanda fell at the feet of Lord Caitanya and submitted his heartfelt realization:
eta tattva mora citte kaile prakāśana
brahmāke veda yena paḍāila nārāyaṇa
antaryāmī īśvarera ei rīti haye
bāhire nā kahe, vastu prakāśe hṛdaye
"My Lord, You have enlightened my heart with various truths and made me able to express them as the fundamental knowledge of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, the essence of divine love. Previously, you similarly enlightened the heart of Brahmā with Vedic knowledge. The Lord who is the constant companion of the living being as the Supersoul does all this out of His unbounded causeless mercy. He does not appear face-to-face outwardly, but He enlightens one from within.”
In the Bhagavad-gītā, this is confirmed. The Personality of Godhead says that in order to show special favor to His devotee, He enlightens the heart of the devotee and drives away the darkness of ignorance by the illumination of transcendental knowledge. And in the very beginning of the beautiful Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.1), the following important statement is made:
janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārteṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭ
tene brahma hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ
tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo ’mṛṣā
dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi
"The Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is the only independent self-sufficient King of all living entities. It is He only who enlightened the heart of Brahmā, who is the original poet and singer of the Vedic hymns. It is He only about whom all kinds of empiric scholars become bewildered at every moment. In Him only is the combination of the five elements earth, fire, water, air, and ether possible. And it is He alone who is recognized as the true source of the internal energy, the external energy, and the marginal energy.
Let us therefore pray for shelter under the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is free from all illusions by dint of His own energy and who is the Absolute Truth. This Absolute Truth is ascertained as the fountainhead of pure knowledge in all the affairs of creation, maintenance, and annihilation. This is the only logical conclusion to be drawn after carefully understanding the subject either directly or indirectly.”
I Have One Doubt
Rāmānanda Rāya then petitioned the Lord,
eka saṁśaya mora āchaye hṛdaye
kṛpā kari' kaha more tāhāra niścaye
pahile dekhiluṅ tomāra sannyāsi-svarūpa
ebe tomā dekhi muñi śyāma-gopa-rūpa
tomāra sammukhe dekhi kāñcana-pañcālikā
tāṅra gaura-kāntye tomāra sarva aṅga ḍhākā
tāhāte prakaṭa dekhoṅ sa-vaṁśī vadana
nānā bhāve cañcala tāhe kamala-nayana
ei-mata tomā dekhi' haya camatkāra
akapaṭe kaha, prabhu, kāraṇa ihāra
"My Lord, I have but one doubt within my heart, and I hope You will kindly remove it by Your grace. At first I saw You appear like a sannyāsī, but now I am seeing You as Śyāmasundara, the cowherd boy. I now see You appearing like a golden doll, and Your entire body appears covered by a golden luster. I see that You are holding a flute to Your mouth, and Your lotus eyes are moving very restlessly due to various ecstasies. I actually see You in this way, and this is very wonderful. My Lord, please tell me without duplicity what is causing this”
The Lord replied that those who are deeply absorbed in a loving relationship with Kṛṣṇa are all first-class devotees. As a result of their natural love of Godhead, they realize the presence of their worshipful Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa everywhere, as they look upon all varieties of moving and nonmoving objects. The objects of their observation do not appear before them as they are, but they appear differently in relationship with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Here are some quotations in this regard from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
sarva-bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyed
bhagavad-bhāvam ātmanaḥ
bhūtāni bhagavaty ātmany
eṣa bhāgavatottamaḥ
"The first-class devotee perceives everywhere the presence of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is the life of all lives, and in Śrī Kṛṣṇa they perceive the presence of all animate and inanimate objects.” (Bhāg.11.2.45)
vana-latās tarava ātmani viṣṇuṁ
vyañjayantya iva puṣpa-phalāḍhyāḥ
praṇata-bhāra-viṭapā madhu-dhārāḥ
prema-hṛṣṭa-tanavo vavṛṣuḥ sma
"The jungle trees and creepers full with their fruits and flowers bowed before the Lord with feelings that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is their vital life. In a mood of transcendental cheerfulness and ecstatic joy, the trees and creepers poured forth large amounts of honey in His presence. This was possible due to their pure love of Godhead.” (Bhāg. 10.35.9)
Lord Caitanya continued to speak:
rādhā-kṛṣṇe tomāra mahā-prema haya
yāhāṅ tāhāṅ rādhā-kṛṣṇa tomāre sphuraya
"You have deep regard for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, and as such you can perceive Their presence anywhere and everywhere.”
Rāmānanda Rāya was not, however, satisfied at heart with this answer given by Lord Caitanya, although the words of the Lord were certainly correct according to śāstra. Thus he said,
raya kahe—prabhu tumi chāḍa bhāri-bhūri
mora āge nija-rūpa nā kariha curi
rādhikāra bhāva-kānti kari' angīkāra
nija-rasa āsvādite kariyācha avatāra
nija-gūḍha-kārya tomāra—prema āsvādana
ānuṣaṅge prema-maya kaile tribhuvana
āpane āile more karite uddhāra
ebe kapaṭa kara—tomāra kona vyavahāra
"My Lord, please give up this roundabout way of revealing Your true personality. Kindly do not try to hide Your real identity. I know who You are: You are Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself covered by the complexion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. You have descended to relish the ecstasy of Your transcendental pastimes with Her. The main purpose of Your appearance is to relish the feelings of Your devotees’ love for You and simultaneously to distribute that love throughout the three worlds. You have come to me out of Your own accord, so how is it that You want to hide Yourself now?”
Lord Caitanya Revealed
At this, Lord Caitanya smiled and revealed Himself as Rasa- rāja, the King of all divine rasas, and also as His other Self, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, who is Mahābhāva, love of Godhead personified. Then He revealed Himself in one form as the unity of the Divine Couple—Śrī Kṛṣṇa appearing with the sentiment and color of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī.
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
"The loving affairs of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are transcendental manifestations of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency. Although Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one in Their identity, They separated Themselves eternally. Now these two transcendental personalities have again united in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. I bow down to Him, who has manifested Himself with the sentiment and complexion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself.”
Lord Caitanya revealed Himself as the one that is two and the two that are one. This is a most unique manifestation of the Absolute Truth. Only those who are fortunate enough to know Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, as well as Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, by the grace of Rāmānanda Rāya, can serve the eternal forms that have united in one.
Rāmānanda Rāya fainted in ecstasy upon seeing the unique manifestation of the divine form of Lord Caitanya, and he became overwhelmed with transcendental emotion. In a swoon, he collapsed to the ground.
At that moment, Lord Caitanya touched the body of Rāmānanda and brought him back to his external senses. Rāmānanda was again astonished to see Lord Caitanya in the form of a sannyāsī. The Lord then embraced Rāmānanda and pacified him by saying that other than Rāmānanda Rāya, nobody had ever seen that transcendentally combined form.
Lord Caitanya said that nothing is unknown to Rāmānanda Rāya about His pastimes, and as such He showed him the unique manifestation of His form.
gaura aṅga nahe mora—rādhāṅga-sparśana
gopendra-suta vinā teṅho nā sparśe anya-jana
tāṅra bhāve bhāvita kari' ātma-mana
tabe nija-mādhurya kari āsvādana
tomāra ṭhāñi āmāra kichu gupta nāhi karma
lukāile prema-bale jāna sarva-marma
gupte rākhiha, kāhāṅ nā kario prakāśa
āmāra bātula-ceṣṭā loke upahāsa
āmi—eka bātula, tumi—dvitīya bātula
ataeva tomāya āmāya ha-i sama-tule
"O Rāmānanda, I am not merely a person of fair complexion appearing before you. I am the selfsame personality Śrī Kṛṣṇa and I eternally exhibit this form, which is imbued with the bodily hue of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. Nobody can touch Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī except Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Therefore I adorn Myself with the sentiments of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and thereby enjoy Myself. In this eternal form of Mine, I also relish the sweetness of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. But please do not disclose this secret of mine! Ordinary men may laugh at Me in my mad attempt. In this matter, I am certainly the number one madman and you are number two. And as both of us are in the same category, there is no difference between yourself and Myself.”
A Mine of Nectar
The Lord thus enjoyed the company of Rāmānanda Rāya while discussing about Śrī Kṛṣṇa continuously for ten days. Those conversations that took place between Rāmānanda Rāya and Lord Caitanya were very, very confidential talks about Vraja-dhāma, the place where the transcendental pastimes of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Śrī Kṛṣṇa are eternally manifest. In those conversations, the ecstasy that flows in Vraja-dhāma was thoroughly discussed. There were also many other talks between Rāmānanda and Lord Caitanya, which are impossible for anyone to understand. In short, the whole topic was just like a mine of gemlike information, which produced one gem after another for the benefit of all humankind. The mine of that conversation is compared to an unfathomed, deep metallic reservoir. As the mine was being excavated, precious metals of different categories came out in the form of copper, bell metal, silver, gold, and lastly touchstone.
Precious metals were excavated both in the preliminary as well as the concluding discussions between Rāmānanda Rāya and Lord Caitanya. In the preliminary talks, In Search of the Ultimate Goal of Life, the idea of following the moral and social divisions of society is compared to copper, the mother of metals. The idea of offering the results of one’s work to Śrī Kṛṣṇa (karma-yoga) is compared to bell metal. The idea of renouncing the world and taking karma-sannyāsa is compared to silver. The idea of devotional service mixed with empiric speculative knowledge (jñāna-miśrā-bhakti) is compared to gold, and lastly, devotional service unmixed with any empiric knowledge (jñāna-śūnya-bhakti) is compared to touchstone.
In the concluding discussions, the same comparison is made in regard to the different transcendental sentiments of devotional service. The conception of dāsya-premā is compared to copper, sakhya-premā to bell metal, vātsalya-premā to silver, and mādhurya-premā to gold. And lastly the transcendental pastimes of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are compared to touchstone.
Entrance into the above-mentioned touchstone of jñāna-śūnya-bhakti can be obtained by the persevering devotee who has the necessary energy, fortitude, good association, and honesty of purpose. With all these necessary qualifications, that touchstone is easily available.
The next day, Lord Caitanya asked permission from Rāmānanda Rāya to continue on His tour of South India. The Lord also requested him to follow His instruction, advising him as follows:
viṣaya chāḍiyā tumi yāha nīlācale
āmi tīrtha kari’ tāṅha āsiba alpa-kāle
dui-jane nīlācale rahiba eka-saṅge
sukhe goṅāiba kāla kṛṣṇa-kathā-raṅge
"Please go to Nīlācala (Jagannātha Purī), resigning from your worldly activities. I will arrive there very shortly after finishing My tour. We will stay at Nīlācala together and pass our time in great happiness by our talks about the transcendental pastimes of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.”
Saying this, Lord Caitanya embraced Rāmānanda and sent him to his home, and then He Himself went to take rest for the night. The next morning, Lord Caitanya visited the local temple of Hanumān, paid His respects to the Deity, and then left to travel throughout South India.
During the presence of Lord Caitanya at Vidyānagara, the city where Rāmānanda Rāya lived, all the scholars of different schools of philosophy were converted into devotees of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and they gave up their previous ways of thinking. After the departure of Lord Caitanya, Rāmānanda was overwhelmed with grief on account of separation from the Lord, and thus he remained aloof from all sorts of routine work while continuing to absorb himself in deep meditation on the Lord.
This is a short sketch of the meeting that took place between Rāmānanda Rāya and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The instructive and transcendental topics that were discussed between them are completely sublime and simple at the same time. Any fortunate person can take advantage of the revelations within this conversation and thus bring about the perfection of his life. Once the topic is heard with a reverential attitude, it will no longer be possible to leave aside the spiritual ambition of reaching the abode of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa.
By hearing this short narration, one can enter into the essence of transcendental romance and pure love of Godhead. The most important thing to understand from this discussion is the secret of Lord Caitanya’s appearance in this world and the essence of His saṅkīrtana movement.
Faith
Only the faithful can enter into the intricacies of these topics, and faith is the basic principle for making progress in the supramental state of transcendental love in separation. The līlā of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is transcendental and confidential. One who has faith in Lord Caitanya and His recommended process for spiritual upliftment can enter into the confidential service of the Divine Couple, which is all-attractive for the pure devotees.
It must be understood that the talks between Lord Caitanya and Rāmānanda Rāya are not a creation of mental speculators who are not in the transcendental chain of disciplic succession and who are always doubtful about the Absolute Truth. Nobody whose basic tendency is to engage in mundane arguments can enter the precincts of these topics. They are above such a materialistic approach. Because the subject matter is supramundane, it is therefore not possible to understand it without having reached the supramental state.
Nobody need try to understand these transcendental topics by strenuous academic manipulation of the brain and mind, because both the mundane brain and mind are useless when attempting to reach this supramental state. Only service to Godhead and His agents can help one to experience the revelation of the truth. Mental speculation, which produces only pseudoresults, simply creates a disturbance.
The transcendental domain discussed by Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and Lord Caitanya is solely the property of those faithful devotees of Śrī Kṛṣṇa who have a record of service in devotional life.
All glories to Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda Prabhu along with Śrī Advaita Prabhu and all the devotees of Lord Caitanya, who are known as the Gaura-bhaktas. Lord Caitanya, by the disc weapon of His exclusive mercy, delivered the inhabitants of South India, who were situated like elephants being attacked by the crocodiles of different religious sects. Thus Lord Caitanya converted them all to Vaiṣnavism and proceeded onward throughout South India, where He visited many, many holy places of pilgrimage.