20230510 Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya Hear the Lamentation of Lord Caitanya [Part 2]

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 10th, 2023 in Dallas, Texas, USA.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

So today we are continuing from the compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book.

Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya Hear the Lamentation of Lord Caitanya
[Part 2]

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 15.22

kṛṣṇagandha-mādhuryera bala:—

kṛṣṇāṅga—saurabhya-bhara, mṛga-mada-mada-hara,
nīlotpalera hare garva-dhana

jagat-nārīra nāsā, tāra bhitara pāte vāsā,
nārī-gaṇe kare ākarṣaṇa

Translation: “The fragrance of Kṛṣṇa’s body is more maddening than the aroma of musk, and it surpasses the fragrance of the bluish lotus flower. It enters the nostrils of all the women of the world and, making a nest there, thus attracts them.

Jayapatākā Swami: I don’t think in Dallas, Texas, USA, you have any blue lotuses? So we cannot imagine what the aroma is of the blue lotus. The point is that Kṛṣṇa, He doesn’t need perfume, His body has natural fragrance. In Vṛndāvana the gopīs, they are appreciating these attractions of Lord Kṛṣṇa. As we described there are five primary relationships– śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and mādhurya. Neutrality, servitude, friendship, paternal love and conjugal love. So, actually Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu He is revealing this mādhurya-rasa. Before, that was kept very confidential. But Lord Caitanya, He described all the different rasas. So in all these different rasas, Kṛṣṇa is the center. So His friendship, He had cowherd boys and they were playing together. In parental love, Mother Yaśodā and Nanda Mahārāja, they showered Kṛṣṇa with parental love, and the conjugal love in Vṛndāvana with the gopīs and in Dvārakā with the queens. So here Rādhārāṇī is speaking to her friend Viśākhā and She is glorifying the attractive qualities of Kṛṣṇa, especially from the angle of mādhurya-rasa.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 15.23

kṛṣṇādhara-sparśa-mādhuryera bala:—

kṛṣṇera adharāmṛta, tāte karpūra manda-smita,
sva-mādhurye hare nārīra mana

anyatra chāḍāya lobha, nā pāile mane kṣobha,
vraja-nārī-gaṇera mūla-dhana”

Translation: “Kṛṣṇa’s lips are so sweet when combined with the camphor of His gentle smile that they attract the minds of all women, forcing them to give up all other attractions. If the sweetness of Kṛṣṇa’s smile is unobtainable, great mental difficulties and lamentation result. That sweetness is the only wealth of the gopīs of Vṛndāvana.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Kṛṣṇa’s lips, He smiles He plays on the flute, and in this way He is attracting the gopīs in Vṛndāvana. So Kṛṣṇa has all-attractive features and depending on the different rasas of the devotees, different features are attractive. We see that there are four Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas and that to advance in Kṛṣṇa consciousness you need to receive initiation from one of those four. The Śrī-sampradāya, they worship more Nārāyaṇa. They are in the vaikuṇṭha-rasa. In the Puṣṭimārga, Viṣṇu Svāmī, Rudra-sampradāya, they worship Kṛṣṇa in the parental rasa and both in the Four Kumāras and the Brahma-sampradāya which we are in in, they worship Kṛṣṇa - the highest realization is the mādhurya-rasa. So every sampradāya has a different, certain aspect. But everyone, they all accept Kṛṣṇa or Viṣṇu is the Supreme.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 15.24

prabhura kṛṣṇavirahe saṅgidvayera nikaṭa vilāpa

eta kahi’ gaurahari, dui-janāra kaṇṭha dhari’,
kahe,—‘śuna, svarūpa-rāmarāya

kāhāṅ karoṅ, kāhāṅ yāṅa, kāhāṅ gele kṛṣṇa pāṅa,
duṅhe more kaha se upāya’

Translation: After speaking in this way, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu caught hold of the necks of Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara. Then the Lord said, “My dear friends, please listen to Me. What shall I do? Where shall I go? Where can I go to get Kṛṣṇa? Please, both of you, tell Me how I can find Him.”

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya was in intense separation of Kṛṣṇa and He is teaching how to worship Kṛṣṇa in separation. Since we don’t have Kṛṣṇa, it is easy for us to worship Kṛṣṇa in separation. So, by desiring to be with Kṛṣṇa, then one naturally starts to awaken their dormant love for Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 15.25

ei-mata gaura-prabhu prati dine-dine
vilāpa karena svarūpa-rāmānanda-sane

Translation: Thus absorbed in transcendental pain, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu lamented day after day in the company of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī and Rāmānanda Rāya.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya was speaking to Rāmānanda Rāya and Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, in lamentation and desirous of meeting Kṛṣṇa. So His discussion was almost mad. He was always thinking that how I can go and see Kṛṣṇa, how I can be with Kṛṣṇa. Just like Rādhārāṇī was lamenting that Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana. So Lord Caitanya was in this mood.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 15.26

prabhura virahe svarūpa o rāmarāyera sāntvanā:—

sei dui-jana prabhure kare āśvāsana
svarūpa gāya, rāya kare śloka paṭhana

Translation: To enhance the ecstatic mood of the Lord, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī would sing appropriate songs and Rāmānanda Rāya would recite suitable verses. In this way they were able to pacify Him.

Jayapatākā Swami: Because the songs composed about Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes, would give Lord Caitanya some feeling of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. There is no difference between the name of Kṛṣṇa, the song about Lord Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa. In this way Lord Caitanya would be somewhat pacified and He would also be ecstatic. Rāmānanda Rāya did the similar thing by quoting suitable verses from the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and other verses.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 15.27

prabhura bhāvopayogi-priyagranthasamūha:—

karṇāmṛta, vidyāpati, śrī-gīta-govinda
ihāra śloka-gīte prabhura karāya ānanda

Translation: The Lord especially liked to hear Bilvamaṅgala Ṭhākura’s Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta, the poetry of Vidyāpati, and Śrī Gīta-govinda, by Jayadeva Gosvāmī. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt great pleasure in His heart when His associates chanted verses and sang songs from these books. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu expressed His burning emotions.

Jayapatākā Swami: When Jayadeva Gosvāmī was writing the Gītā-govinda in Māyāpur,in Ṛtudvīpa, at that time, he was just thinking that he was seeing that somehow Kṛṣṇa was surrendering to Rādhārāṇī, or something like that. So then he hesitated to write, because Kṛṣṇa being the Supreme Personality of Godhead how could He surrender to anyone else? Then he told his wife I am going to the Ganges to take a bath, and he left. Then, Jayadeva Gosvāmī appeared to come back and he sat down at the table where he was writing, he wrote something and then he told his wife that he would have prasāda and she fed him. He said I have to go out and see a disciple. He left. Then he came back and his wife was Padmavatī, anyway, he saw his wife eating. He said what are you doing? She said, you already ate and so I am now eating. I ate, what did I do? She said, you came in and wrote on the book. Then he went and saw, and he was thinking about it, it said Kṛṣṇa surrendered to Rādhārāṇī. He came back and asked his wife what happened. She said, “You came, you wrote something in the book and I fed you and you left”. He said to his wife, “You are the most fortunate lady in the whole world! That was Kṛṣṇa who came! He took my form, He came, He wrote in the book, He took your prasāda. You are the most fortunate lady, you personally fed Kṛṣṇa!”

So, we tell this pastime when we go to Ṛtudvīpa. Jayadeva Gosvāmī, where he was staying, now there is a Gaura Gadādhara temple. He went because he was staying near the Yoga-pīṭha, but when the king went to see him, the king was a kṣatriya and was considered inferior to brāhmaṇas. He shouldn’t go to a brāhmaṇa without asking permission. So Jayadeva said he would leave. The king told him I am sorry, please stay on the other side of the river, but don’t leave my kingdom. Then Jayadeva Gosvāmī stayed in Ṛtudvīpa. So, all these poetries by Javadeva Gosvāmī, by these other authors, they were appreciated by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. They are very confidential pastimes. Lord Caitanya, He was experiencing the pastimes of Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa would like the different affairs between Himself and Rādhārāṇī.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya Hear the Lamentation of Lord Caitanya 
Under the Section: The Transcendental Madness of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu

Haribol!