124. RAMACANDRA KAVIRAJA:

    He was an intimate friend of Sri Narottama Thakura, they
were practically inseparable.  Sri Ramacandra also received a lot
of mercy from Srinivasa Acarya.  His parents were Sri Ciranjiva
and Sri Sunanda devi.  Sri Ciranjiva lived in Kumara nagara until
he married the daughter of Damodara poet and came to live in
Srikhanda.  Sri Ciranjiva was a great devotee and Sri Narahari
loved him more than his own life.  Sri Mukunda dasa, Sri
Narahari, Sri Raghunandana and Sri Ciranjiva lived in Srikhanda
and were extremely close friends.  Every year they visited Puri
together for the Rathayatra, where they danced and sang in front
of the Ratha after having the darsana of the lotus feet of Lord
Caitanya.

    Sri Ciranjiva was born in a Vaidya community and had two
sonsSri Ramacandra and Sri Govinda, who were both very
meritorious.  After receiving the mercy of Srinivasa, the
brothers came to live in Teliabudhuri village in the Mursidabad
district.
j      ܌  Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja was extremely intelligent,
enterprising and handsome.  His maternal grandfather was the
great poet Sri Damodara Kaviraja, who was a Sakti worshiper. 
Because Ramacandra and Sri Govinda stayed at their grandfather's
house after their father's death, they were both influenced by
the Sakta religion.  Sri Ramacandra Sen was a physician and a
great poet.

    After Ramacandra's marriage ceremony he passed through the
streets of Yajigrama on his way home.  There he saw Srinivasa
Acarya sitting on the veranda of his house discussing topics of
Krsna.  Simply by seeing Srinivasa, Ramacandra suddenly
experienced ecstatic emotions.  Srinivasa was also moved by the
presence of Ramacandra and inquired about him from his disciples. 
Hearing about him, Srinivasa smiled slightly.

    When Ramacandra arrived at his house he felt extremely
restless and as soon as the night arrived, he left for Yajigrama. 
After spending the night in a brahmana's house, Ramacandra
arrived the next morning at the Acarya's house and fell prostrate
in front of him.  Srinivasa, who had also been eager to meet
Ramacandra, embraced him with great joy saying, "Birth after
birth you are my dear friend.  In a similar way, in Vrndavana the
Supreme Lord arranged that I meet Sri Narottama."  (BRK. 8.530532,574)

    Sri Ramacandra happily began studying the Gosvamis books
under the guidance of Srinivasa, who was extremely pleased by
Ramacandra's persistence and piety.  After some time, at an
auspicious time, Srinivasa Acarya initiated Ramacandra in RadhaKrsna mantra.

    After spending some time in Yajigrama, Ramacandra returned
to his home.  Seeing that Ramacandra had accepted the Vaisnava
religion, the Saktas became furious.  Oblivious to there
complaints, Kaviraja continued to decorate his body with tilaka
and chant the holy name of Sri Hari in front of everyone.  One
When Sri Ramacandra was returning to his house after taking his
bath, the Saktas confronted him and asked why he had rejected his
grandfathers religion and accepted Vaisnavism.  Sri Ramacandra
replied, "Siva and Brahma are "Gunatmaka Avatars" of Sri Krsna. 
Sri Krsna is the root of all avatars, so by worshiping Lord
Krsna, the purpose of worshiping all others is fully served. 
Prahlad, Dhruva, Bibhisana and others were devotees of Sri Krsna,
therefore Siva and Brahma were very pleased with them.  But
Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Bana and others were worshipers of Lord
Siva, yet they were against the supremacy of Sri Hari, thus Lord
Siva Himself destroyed them.  It is written in the sastras
at
by virtue of worshiping Sri Visnu, Brahma was able to create the
world; and by virtue of keeping Ganges on His head, Siva was able
to benefit the worldas the Ganges in the water which has washed
the feet of Visnu."  Hearing this the astonished Smarta panditas
were unable to say anything further. 
j      ܌  Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja was extremely eager to visit
Vrndavana and meet the Gosvamis there.  After receiving
permission from Sri Raghunandana Thakura and other Vaisnavas, Sri
Ramacandra started his journey to Vrndavana on an auspicious day. 
Along the way he visited Gaya, Kasi, Prayaga and other holy
places.  When he finally arrived in Mathura he went to Visram
Ghat and took bath in the Yamuna, then visited the birth place of
Sri KrsnaAdi Kesava.  At that time Srinivasa Acarya was living
in Vrndavana, thus when Ramacandra arrived there he first
worshiped the feet of Sri Acarya and Sri Jiva Gosvami, and
conveyed the news of the devotees in Bengal.  As desired by Sri
Jiva Gosvami, he visited Sri Govinda, Sri Gopinatha, Sri
Madanamohana and the samadhi of Sri Sanatana.  He also visited
Sri Gopala Bhatta, Sri Lokanatha, Sri Bhugarbha and other
Gosvamis.  Observing Ramacandra's excellent poetical talent, the
devotees honored him with the title "Kaviraja."  (Bhaktiratnakara
9
214)

    After spending some time in Vrndavana, Ramacandra took
permission from the Gosvamis and returned to Bengal.  He visited
Srikhanda, Yajigrama, Khardaha, AmvikaKalna and finally arrived
in Navadvipa Mayapura.  At that time the very old Isana Thakura
was staying in the house of Jagannatha Misra in Mayapura.  Sri
Ramacandra introduced himself and worshiped his lotus feet,
Isana, in turn, kindly bestowed his mercy upon him.  Sri
Ramacandra was extremely dear to both Srinivasa Acarya and Srila
Narottama dasa Thakura.

    Once some Smarta brahmanasfollowers of Sakticame to
Kheturi with the idea of defaming the Vaisnavas by defeating Sri
Narottama Thakura.  Raja Narasimha and Sri RupaNarayana were
amongst those panditas.  Upon hearing of their intentions, Sri
Ramacandra and Sri Ganganarayana Cakravarti became determined to
defeat those scholars.  They devised a unique scheme which easily
defeated the socalled panditas.

    Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja purified many fallen conditioned
souls.  He also took the leading role in the festival at Kheturi. 
After being advised by Narottama and Srinivasa, Ramacandra again
went to Vrndavana.  However, during his absence from Vrndavana,
the Gosvamis had all passed away.  Thus Ramacandra was
overwhelmed with grief.  After some time in Vrndavana he to
passed away on the third day of the dark fortnight in the month
of Pausa (DecJan), while remembering the lotus feet of Sri Krsna
and Sri Radhika.

    Sri Harirama Acarya was one of his disciples.  (Also see
Bhaktamala 19.1)


