20221203 Rāmānanda Rāya Trains the Two Deva-Dāsīs How To Dance part 2

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on December 3rd, 2022 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

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

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Dear Devotees! Today we will continue with the compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book, Today's chapter is entitled as:

Rāmānanda Rāya Trains the Two Deva-Dāsīs How To Dance, [Part 2]

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.15

miśrake kichukṣaṇa upaveśanārtha prārthanāḥ —

tumi ihāṅ vasi’ raha, kṣaṇeke āsibena
tabe yei ājñā deha, sei karibena”

Translation: “Please sit here and wait for a few moments. As soon as he comes, he will execute whatever order you give him.”

Jayapatākā Swami: So, the servant informed like this to Pradyumna Miśra.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.16

miśrera pratīkṣāḥ—

tabe pradyumna-miśra tāhāṅ rahila vasiyā
rāmānanda nibhṛte sei dui-jana lañā

Translation: While Pradyumna Miśra remained seated there, Rāmānanda Rāya took the two girls to a solitary place.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.17

ātmārāma-rāmānandera sākṣāt śrī-rādhāra cinmayī sevāḥ—

sva-haste karena tāra abhyaṅga-mardana
sva-haste karāna snāna, gātra sammārjana

Indeed, Rāmānanda Rāya cleansed their entire bodies with his own hand.

sva-haste parāna vastra, sarvāṅga maṇḍana
tabu nirvikāra rāya-rāmānandera mana

Translation: Although he dressed the two young girls and decorated their bodies with his own hand, he remained unchanged. Such is the mind of Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, normally one would be affected by training two young girls but here it is specifically mentioned that Rāmānanda Rāya’s mind was not at all affected because he was ātmārāma or self-satisfied spiritually .

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.19

jaḍabhogavirakta vidvat-sannyāsi-śiromaṇi bijita-ṣaḍvega śrī-rāmānanda-gosvāmīra svabhāvaḥ—

kāṣṭha-pāṣāṇa-sparśe haya yaiche bhāva
taruṇī-sparśe rāmānandera taiche ’svabhāva’

Translation: While touching the young girls, he was like a person touching wood or stone, for his body and mind were unaffected.

Jayapatākā Swami: Rāmānanda Rāya was completely spiritual, he was not affected at all by the external situation.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.20

svīya aprākṛta siddhadehe gopībhāve rāgātmika-bhaktiyājī mahā-bhāgavata rāyera nijeśvarī śrī-rādhāra aprākṛta cidvilāsa-kaiṅkaryaḥ—

sevya-buddhi āropiyā karena sevana
svābhāvika dāsī-bhāva karena āropaṇa

Translation: Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya used to act in that way because he thought of himself in his original position as a maidservant of the gopīs. Thus although externally he appeared to be a man, internally, in his original spiritual position, he considered himself a maidservant and considered the two girls gopīs.

Purport: Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura writes in his Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya: “Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya composed a drama named Jagannātha-vallabha-nāṭaka, and he engaged two young girls who were professional dancers and singers to demonstrate the ideology of the drama. Such girls, who are called deva-dāsīs, are still employed in the temple of Jagannātha, where they are called māhārīs. Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya engaged two such girls, and because they were meant to play the parts of gopīs, he taught them how to awaken thoughts like those of the gopīs. Because the gopīs are worshipable personalities, Rāmānanda Rāya, who considered the two girls gopīs and himself their maidservant, engaged in their service by massaging their bodies with oil to cleanse them completely. Because Rāmānanda Rāya always placed himself in the position of a maidservant of the gopīs, his rehearsal with the girls was actually on the spiritual platform.”

Because there was no question of personal sense gratification when Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya was serving the girls, his mind was steady and his body untransformed. This is not to be imitated, nor is such a mentality possible for anyone but Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya, as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu will explain. The example of Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya is certainly unique. The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta has given this description because in perfect devotional service one can attain such a position. Nevertheless, one must understand this subject very seriously and never attempt to imitate such activities.

Jayapatākā Swami: Since Rāmānanda Rāya was a gopī in Kṛṣṇa-līlā, he maintained that consciousness in training the young devī dāsīs, we cannot imitate Rāmānanda Rāya .

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.21

gaura-bhaktera acintya māhātmya, tanmadhye śrī-rāye bhāva-prema-bhaktira avadhi vidyamānaḥ—

mahāprabhura bhakta-gaṇera durgama mahimā
tāhe rāmānandera bhāva-bhakti-prema-sīmā

Translation: The greatness of the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is exceedingly difficult to understand. Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya is unique among them all, for he showed how one can extend his ecstatic love to the extreme limit.

Jayapatākā Swami: Lord Caitanya's associates are all very special, they demonstrated different aspects of pure love for Krsna. And among them, Rāmānanda Rāya was very special and He extended Kṛṣṇa-prema to deliver. Therefore, we can understand that Lord Caitanya descended from Goloka Vṛndāvana with various transcendental associates.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.22

śrī-jagannātha-sammukhe sva-kṛta ‘jagannātha-vallabha’ -nāṭakera abhinayārtha Jagannātha-vallabhodyāne abhinaya-śikṣā-dānaḥ—

tabe sei dui-jane nṛtya śikhāilā
gītera gūḍha artha abhinaya karāilā

Translation: Rāmānanda Rāya directed the two girls how to dance and express the deep meaning of his songs through dramatic performances.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.23

sañcārī, sāttvika, sthāyi-bhāvera lakṣaṇa
mukhe netre abhinaya kare prakaṭana

Translation: He taught them how to express the symptoms of continuous, natural and transitional ecstasies with the movements of their faces, their eyes and the other parts of their bodies.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, having the devī dāsīs perform this nāṭaka, drama and express the transcendental emotions through their expressions, is something that Rāmānanda Rāya alone could do.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.24

bhāva-prakaṭana-lāsya rāya ye śikhāya
jagannāthera āge duṅhe prakaṭa dekhāya

Translation: Through the feminine poses and dances they were taught by Rāmānanda Rāya, the two girls precisely exhibited all these expressions of ecstasy before Lord Jagannātha.

Jayapatākā Swami: In the spiritual world the gopīs, they have natural transcendental love and attraction for Lord Kṛṣṇa, which Kṛṣṇa reciprocates. So, these things are displayed in the drama written by Rāmānanda Rāya.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.25

bhojana-sampādanānte deva-dāsī-dvayake ajña akṣajadraṣṭā samālocakera maṅgalārtha gopane gṛhe preraṇaḥ—

tabe sei dui-jane prasāda khāoyāilā
nibhṛte duṅhāre nija-ghare pāṭhāilā

Translation: Then Rāmānanda Rāya fed the two girls sumptuous prasādam and sent them to their homes unexposed.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 5.26

mahā-bhāgavata rāyera siddhadehe nijeśvarīra sevā-ceṣṭā, tarkapanthijīvera akṣajajñāne agamyāḥ—

prati-dina rāya aiche karāya sādhana
kon jāne kṣudra jīva kāṅhā tāṅra mana?

Translation: Every day he trained the two deva-dāsīs how to dance. Who among the small living entities, their minds always absorbed in material sense gratification, could understand the mentality of Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya?

Purport: Rāmānanda Rāya’s service to the gopīs for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa is purely an affair of the spiritual world. Unless one is fully situated in the spiritual atmosphere, the activities of Rāmānanda Rāya are most difficult to understand.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, in the material world everyone thinks that they are the body and they try to enjoy sense gratification of the body, this is called preyas, but in the spiritual world there is actually desire to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, and one does not desire his own sense gratification. But someone in the material world would not be able to understand this. This is something of the spiritual world.

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Rāmānanda Rāya Trains The Two Deva-Dāsīs How to Dance, part 2

Under the section: How Pradyumna Miśra Received Instructions from Rāmānanda Rāya

Today is the Gītā Jayantī day, the day that Kṛṣṇa explained Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna. Someone asked that usually the day appears on Ekādaśī, how come Ekādaśī is tomorrow? Then it was explained that today is Ekādaśī, due to some astrological deficiency tomorrow is Māhā-dvādasī so we observe the fast tomorrow. Since the fast day is tomorrow, I was able to give class today by Srila Prahupada'ś mercy.