Rāmānanda Rāya

kā vidyā hari-bhaktir eva na punar vedādi-niṣṇātatā

kā vidyā hari-bhaktir eva na punar vedādi-niṣṇātatā
kīrtiḥ kā bhagavat-paro’yam iti yā khyātir na dānādijā |
kā śrīḥ tat-priyatā na vai dhana-jana-grāmādi-bhūyiṣṭhatā |
kiṁ duḥkhaṁ bhagavat-priyasya viraho no hṛd-vraṇādi-vyathā ||8||
bhagavān: bhadram | ke muktāḥ?
rāmānandaḥ: pratyāsattir hari-caraṇayoḥ sānurāge na rāge
prītiḥ premātiśayini harer bhakti-yoge na yoge |
āsthā tasya praṇaya-rabhasasyopadehe na dehe
yeṣāṁ te hi prakṛti-sarasā hanta muktā na muktāḥ ||9||
bhagavān : bhavatu |
kiṁ geyaṁ vraja-keli-karma kim iha śreyaḥ satāṁ saṅgatiḥ
kiṁ smartavyam aghāri-nāma kim anudhyeyaṁ murāreḥ padam |
kva stheyaṁ vraja eva kiṁ śravaṇayor ānandi vṛndāvana-
krīḍaikā kim upāsyam atra mahasī śrī-kṛṣṇa-rādhābhidhe ||10||
bhagavān: bhadram |
(Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.8–10; cited in Alaṅkāra-kaustubha: 8.233–234, 236)

“Bhagavān: What is knowledge?
“Rāmānanda: Hari-bhakti alone [is knowledge], and not, rather, expertise in the Vedas and so on.
“Bhagavān: What is glory?
“Rāmānanda: The renown, ‘He is devoted to Bhagavān’ [is glory] and not that produced by giving and so on.
“Bhagavān: What is wealth?
“Rāmānanda: Fondness for him [i.e., Bhagavān, is wealth], and certainly not an abundance of money, people [i.e., relatives, friends, followers, man-power, or otherwise], villages [i.e., land, property, social influence, etc.] and so on.
“Bhagavān: What is suffering?
“Rāmānanda: The separation of one dear to Bhagavān [is suffering], and not the pain of a wound in the heart or otherwise.
“Bhagavān: Very well. Who is liberated?
“Rāmānanda: Hanta! Those of rasa-laden disposition [alt., nature] who have close contact with [alt., affinity (āsakti) for] those possessed of loving attachment (anurāga) to Hari’s feet and not [rather close contact with or affinity for] attachment (rāga) [to objects of the senses (viṣaya)], [who] have fondness (prīti) for bhakti-yoga filled with a profusion of prema related to Hari, and not [rather] for yoga [i.e., jñāna-, karma-, or aṣṭāṅga-yoga, etc.], and [who] have conviction in the body suitable for he of fervent love (praṇaya) and not [rather conviction] in the [worldly] body, are liberated, and not [rather] the liberated [i.e., those who think themselves liberated].
“Bhagavān: Let it be. What is to be sung?
“Rāmānanda: The acts of play in Vraja.
“Bhagavān: What is the highest good (śreyas) here [in this world]?
“Rāmānanda: The association of the sat.
“Bhagavān: What is to be remembered?
“Rāmānanda: The name of Agha’s Foe.
“Bhagavān: What is to be meditated upon?
“Rāmānanda: The feet of Mura’s Foe.
“Bhagavān: Where is one to be stationed?
“Rāmānanda: In Vraja alone.
“Bhagavān: What is delighting to the ears?
“Rāmānanda: The play in Vṛndāvana alone.
“Bhagavān: What is the object to be approached [i.e., worshiped] here?
“Rāmānanda: The object of worship is the [two-fold] brilliance known as Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā.
“Bhagavān: Very well.”

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pahilahi rāga nayana-bhaṅga bhela

pahilahi rāga nayana-bhaṅga bhela |
anudina bāḍhala—avadhi nā gela ||
nā so ramaṇa nā hāma ramaṇī |
du̐hu mana manobhava peṣala jāni |
e sakhi! se-saba prema-kāhinī |
kānu-ṭhāme kahabi, vichuraha jāni ||
nā kho̐jalu̐ dūtī, nā kho̐jalu̐ āna |
du̐hukeri milane madhya ta pā̐cabāṇa ||
aba soi virāga, tu̐hu bheli dūtī |
supurukha-premaki aichana rīti ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.8.193)

[Rādhā:] “Rāga first arose with a sidelong glance;
It increased daily,
And reached no limit.
He was not the male lover,
And I was not the female lover;
It was as though Manobhava ground our minds [together].
O sakhī! Tell Kānu this whole tale of prema;
May you not forget.
We did not seek a messenger;
We did not seek anyone;
In our [first] meeting [only]
Pā̐cabāṇa was the intermediary.
Now he is void of rāga,
And you have [thus] become the messenger.
Such is the nature of that fine man’s prema.”

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nirupadhi hi prema kathañcid apy upadhiṁ na sahata iti

nirupadhi hi prema kathañcid apy upadhiṁ na sahata iti pūrvārdhe bhagavatoḥ kṛṣṇa-rādhayor anupadhi-prema śrutvā tad eva puruṣārthīkṛtam | bhagavatā mukha-pidhānaṁ cāsya tad-rahasyatva-prakāśakam |
(Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.17)

“Guileless prema does not tolerate any sort of guile. After hearing of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā’s guile-free prema in the first half [of the verse], Bhagavān determined it to be the puruṣārtha, and Bhagavān’s covering his [i.e., Rāmānanda’s] mouth is indicative of its [i.e., the statement in the first half of the verse’s] confidentiality [alt., it is indicative of the confidentiality between them, i.e., Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa].”

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dhṛta-phaṇa iva bhogī gāruḍīyasya gānaṁ

dhṛta-phaṇa iva bhogī gāruḍīyasya gānaṁ
tad-uditam atiratyākarṇayan sāvadhānam |
vyadhikaraṇatayā vānanda-vaivaśyato vā
prabhur atha kara-padmenāsyāpy adhatta ||
(Caitanya-candrodaya-nāṭakam: 7.16)

“Like a snake with its hood drawn out listening to the song of a snake-charmer, Prabhu listened attentively with great delight to his [i.e., Rāmānanda Rāya’s] statement and then stopped him [from speaking any further] with his lotus hand either because of incongruity [i.e., because this was not the time he wanted this secret revealed] or because he was overwhelmed with bliss.”

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tataḥ sa gītaṁ sarasāli-gītaṁ

tataḥ sa gītaṁ sarasāli-gītaṁ
vidagdhayor nāgarayoḥ parasya |
premno’tikāṣṭhā-pratipādanena
dvayoḥ paraikya-pratipādy avādīt ||
(Caitanya-carita-mahākāvya: 13.45)

“Then he [i.e., Rāmānanda Rāya] sang a song full of rasas which, by explaining the ultimate climax of the expert lovers’ supreme prema, explained their supreme oneness.”

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sañcārya rāmābhidha-bhakta-meghe

sañcārya rāmābhidha-bhakta-meghe
sva-bhakti-siddhānta-cayāmṛtāni |
gaurābdhir etair amunā vitīrṇais
taj-jñatva-ratnālayatāṁ prayāti ||
(Caitanya-caritāmṛta: 2.8.1)

“The ocean Gaura filled the bhakta cloud named Rāma with the waters [lit., nectars] of the siddhānta regarding his own bhakti [alt., bhakti to himself] and then with these [waters] poured forth by him became an abode of the jewel of knowledge of them.”

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