By Giriraj Swami
We shall discuss the conversation between Sri Ramananda Raya and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ramananda-samvada, recorded in Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila, Chapter Eight: “Talks Between Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya.”
TEXT 1
sancarya ramabhidha-bhakta-meghe
sva-bhakti-siddhanta-cayamrtani
gaurabdhir etair amuna vitirnais
taj-jnatva-ratnalayatam prayati
TRANSLATION
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is known as Gauranga, is the ocean of all conclusive knowledge in devotional service. He empowered Sri Ramananda Raya, who may be likened to a cloud of devotional service. This cloud was filled with the water of all the conclusive purports of devotional service and was empowered by the ocean to spread this water over the sea of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself. Thus the ocean of Caitanya Mahaprabhu became filled with the jewels of the knowledge of pure devotional service.
COMMENT by Giriraj Swami
According to revealed scriptures, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself, the origin of all knowledge—perfect knowledge. Here, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the ocean of knowledge of the conclusive purports of devotional service, is taking the part of a student and asking questions, and He has empowered Sri Ramananda Raya to give perfect answers. Thus, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is compared to an ocean and Ramananda Raya to a cloud that draws water from the ocean and then showers the water upon the ocean as rain.
TEXT 243
anyonye mili’ dunhe nibhrte vasiya
prasnottara-gosthi kahe anandita hana
TRANSLATION
Thus they met time and time again, sitting in a secluded place and jubilantly discussing devotional service by the question-and-answer process.
TEXT 244
prabhu puche, ramananda karena uttara
ei mata sei ratre katha paraspara
TRANSLATION
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu asked the questions, and Sri Ramananda Raya gave the answers. In this way they were engaged in discussion throughout the night.
TEXT 245
prabhu kahe,—“kon vidya vidya-madhye sara?”
raya kahe,—“krsna-bhakti vina vidya nahi ara”
TRANSLATION
On one occasion the Lord inquired, “Of all types of education, which is the most important?”
Ramananda Raya replied, “No education is important other than the transcendental devotional service of Krsna.”
PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada
Texts 245 to 257 are all questions and answers between Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Ramananda Raya. In these exchanges there is an attempt to show the difference between material and spiritual existence. Education in Krsna consciousness is always transcendental and is the best of all forms of education. Material education aims at increasing the activities of material sense gratification. Beyond material sense gratification is another negative form of knowledge called brahma-vidya, or impersonal transcendental knowledge. But beyond that brahma-vidya, or knowledge of the impersonal Brahman, is knowledge of devotional service to the Supreme Lord, Visnu. This knowledge is higher. And still higher is devotional service to Lord Krsna, which is the topmost form of education. According to Srimad-Bhagavatam (4.29.49), tat karma hari-tosam yat sa vidya tan-matir yaya: “Work meant for pleasing the Supreme Lord is the best, and education that enhances one’s Krsna consciousness is the best.”
Also, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.5.23–24):
sravanam kirtanam visnoh
smaranam pada-sevanam
arcanam vandanam dasyam
sakhyam atma-nivedanam
iti pumsarpita visnau
bhaktis cen nava-laksana
kriyeta bhagavaty addha
tan manye ’dhitam uttamam
This is a statement given by Prahlada Maharaja in answer to a question raised by his father. Prahlada Maharaja said, “To hear or chant about Lord Visnu, to remember Him, to serve His lotus feet, to worship Him, to offer prayers to Him, to become His servant and His friend, to sacrifice everything for His service—all these are varieties of devotional service. One who is engaged in such activities is understood to be educated to the topmost perfection.”
COMMENT
This is the first in the series of questions and answers, and it seems appropriate in this environment of education, but as Srila Prabhupada says at the beginning of the purport, these questions and answers are meant to highlight the difference between the material and the spiritual. Material existence begins from the basic misconception that “I am the body and everything in relation to the body is mine.” More or less everyone is in this bodily concept of life. They identify with the body and are deeply attached to things related to the body. And because they identify with the body, they think the goal of life is to give pleasure to the senses of the body. Whatever they do is more or less for the sake of the body.
Srila Prabhupada gives the example that if you are performing a mathematical calculation and you make a mistake in the first step, then even if you perform all the other steps perfectly, you will likely stray further and further away from the actual answer or solution. If we begin from the mistaken premise that “I am the body,” even if everything else we do is perfect in terms of the body, because we made the most fundamental error in the very first step, we will end up further and further away from the actual goal.
The body itself is full of miseries. As soon as we accept a material body, we accept the miseries of birth, death, old age, disease (janma-mrtyu-jara-vyadhi), and so many others (tapa-traya). Everyone wants relief from these miseries, but as long as they are in the body—in the bodily concept of life—although they may adopt some measures that may give some temporary relief, ultimately they cannot escape the miseries of material existence, and often the remedies they accept are more troublesome than the troubles they are meant to address.
That is the basic situation in material life, but because of maya, people are not aware of their actual position. Maya has two potencies: one throws us down, and the other covers us. Because we are covered, we think we are happy, even though any sane or sober person can see that we are not, that we are always subjected to various types of miseries. But because of the covering potency of maya, we think we are happy. Of course, things are getting so bad that it is becoming harder and harder to maintain the illusion of happiness, but even then, if you ask, “How are you doing?” most people will say, “Fine.”
Srila Prabhupada gives the example of a patient in a hospital. The patient has suffered a severe trauma and has tubes attached all over his body; his arm is in a cast, his leg is in traction; he has so many contraptions around him meant to counteract the suffering. But if you ask him how he is, he will say, “I’m okay; I’m doing good.”
That is our position, and when one becomes a little sober and actually realizes his or her position, he or she will try to make a solution, to get out of the material miseries, the bondage of material existence. He or she will inquire, as Sanatana Gosvami inquired of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, ke ami, kene amaya jare tapa-traya?—“Who am I? Why do the threefold miseries always give me trouble? How can I get relief?” That is the beginning of human intelligence. Until we make such inquiry, we are engaged just like animals—eating, sleeping, enjoying sense gratification, and arranging for shelter and defense.
When one actually inquires, as Sanatana Gosvami did of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, one is considered to be a human being. And in answer to the question “Who am I?” Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu replied, jivera ‘svarupa’ haya—krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’: “The constitutional position of the living entity is to be an eternal servant of Krishna.” Krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’ means that we are servants of Krishna even after liberation.
Between the karmis, who work to earn money and spend it for gross and subtle enjoyment, and the bhaktas, who understand that they are eternal servants of Krishna and engage in devotional service—in between the karmis and the bhaktas are the jnanis. Because the jnanis recognize the miseries of material existence and want to escape them, they are more elevated than the karmis, but because they do not have knowledge of Krishna or of the living entity as the eternal servant of Krishna, their approach is negative. They think, “I am an individual and am suffering, so if I give up being an individual, I won’t have to suffer. I have desires and by pursuing them I suffer, so I will give up desire. I have thoughts and my thoughts lead to misery, so I will give up thinking. I have feeling and my feeling leads to misery, so I will give up feeling.” They want to negate their individual existence—no more feeling, no more thinking, no more desiring, no more working—and to merge and become one with God.
Ultimately, the principle is the same. The karmis want to become the chief (just like now there is so much competition to see who will become the president), and the jnanis, the impersonalists, also want to become the chief—by merging and becoming one with the Supreme. But the real solution is to become the servant of the Supreme (jivera ‘svarupa’ haya—krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’). That is real knowledge. Therefore Sri Ramananda Raya says that other than knowledge of devotional service, which is the constitutional activity of the living entity, there is no real knowledge. The rest is illusion. And Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura says that material education makes one more and more foolish, because it is based on the body. To identify with the body is foolish, and mundane education, which reinforces the bodily concept of life and ultimately teaches one how to earn money and enjoy the body, makes one more foolish. The only real knowledge is knowledge of devotional service.
Before I met Srila Prabhupada and the devotees, I had been seeking. And when I met Prabhupada, I understood that he was the teacher for whom I was searching. And I surrendered to him. Without surrender, one cannot get knowledge. We see in the Bhagavad-gita that it was only after Arjuna surrendered that Krishna began to instruct him. Arjuna said,
karpanya-dosopahata-svabhavah
prcchami tvam dharma-sammudha-cetah
yac chreyah syan niscitam bruhi tan me
sisyas te ’ham sadhi mam tvam prapannam
“Now I am confused about my duty and have lost all composure because of miserly weakness. In this condition I am asking You to tell me for certain what is best for me. Now I am Your disciple, and a soul surrendered unto You. Please instruct me.” (Gita 2.7)
Krishna immediately assumed the position of teacher and chastised His disciple:
asocyan anvasocas tvam
prajna-vadams ca bhasase
gatasun agatasums ca
nanusocanti panditah
“While speaking learned words, you are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Those who are wise lament neither for the living nor for the dead.” (Gita 2.11)
First is surrender. Without surrendering to an authority, a spiritual master, one cannot get transcendental knowledge.
tad viddhi pranipatena
pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam
jnaninas tattva-darsinah
“Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized souls can impart knowledge unto you because they have seen the truth.” (Gita 4.34) Pranipatena means “by offering obeisances”—by surrendering.
So, I surrendered to Srila Prabhupada, and after serving in the Boston temple for some months, I got a letter from him: “I enclose a letter from your father, which will speak for itself. From this letter it appears that you are a good scholar with a good background in your education. So if you wish to make further progress in your educational career, that will be a nice asset for our Krishna consciousness movement.” He continued, “You have a taste for psychology and divinity studies, and this is very nice. Of course, our Krishna consciousness movement is on the line of divinity, and we have got so many books about the science of divinity.” Srila Prabhupada used the word divinity. Religious studies had not really begun or become very popular yet, but there were schools of divinity. Finally, he concluded, “I like the idea that you should make a thorough study of all theological schools, and in the future if you can explain our Krishna consciousness movement as the post-graduate presentation of all theological theses, it will be a great accomplishment.”
When I received the letter, I was unsure how to proceed. I did not want to go back to the university, but I knew that the order of the spiritual master was the first and highest consideration. Still, I wasn’t sure if Prabhupada was giving me an order or just offering an option. I consulted my temple president, and he also couldn’t say. So, we concluded that I should write and ask Prabhupada directly. I wrote, “If you are instructing me to pursue my studies, then I will gladly do whatever you say, but if you are giving me the choice, then I would rather stay in the temple with the devotees and worship the Deities and go out for sankirtana.” A week later I heard back from Srila Prabhupada. “Yes,” he wrote, “there is no need of any further education. . . . When Lord Chaitanya was discussing with Ramananda Raya who is the best-educated man, the answer was that a person who is Krishna conscious is the topmost educated man. Similarly, Prahlada Maharaja stated before his father that one who has taken to Krishna consciousness is the best-educated man. I think therefore that in all circumstances you should steadfastly continue your Krishna conscious engagement, rather than joining any more universities.”
Read more: https://girirajswami.com/blog/?p=18900
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