SRI RAMACANDRA KAVIRAJA

Srila Narottama dasa Thakura Mahasaya has sung: "O Acarya Prabhu (Srinivasa),
please bestow your mercy upon me. I pray that I might also have the association
of Ramacandra."

Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja was the disciple of Srinivasa Acarya Prabhu and the
very intimate friend of Narottama dasa Thakura. His father was Ciranjiva Sena
and mother Sri Sunanda. Ciranjiva was originally an inhabitant of Kumaranagar,
but after marrying the daughter of Sri Damodara Kavi he moved to Sri Khanda.

"Ciranjiva Sena was a pure devotee very much loved by Narahari Sarkar and the
other residents of Sri Khanda. He was extremely learned in all matters and his
wife was very chaste and gentle. Her activities were completely
transcendental." [C.C Mad. 11/92]

Sri Mukunda, Narahari, Raghunandana and Ciranjiva, who were all residents of
Sri Khanda, were of one mind and one purpose. Every year they would come to
Nilacala to have darsan of Mahaprabhu and to chant and dance in front of Lord
Jagannatha during Ratha Yatra. Ciranjiva was from a family of physicians. His
two jewel-like sons were Ramacandra and Govinda. Later they both became
disciples of Acarya Prabhu and came to reside at Teliya Bhudari-gram in
Murshidabad.

Ramacandra was very handsome, intelligent and perseverent. His maternal
grandfather, Sri Damodara Kaviraja, was a well-known poet who was a worshiper
of Krsna's energy (sakti) and was initiated in this cult. After their father
passed away, the two brothers Ramacandra and Govinda came to live with their
grandfather, who practiced the Sakta religion. Being influenced by him, both
became inclined to worship the various personified forms of maya, Krsna's
external deluding potency.

At this time Ramacandra practiced medicine and was also quite well-known as an
accomplished poet.

After his marriage, Ramacandra was carried in a palanquin with his new bride to
his home at Kumaranagara. As the procession passed Srinivasa Acarya Prabhu's
house at Gajigram, he saw the Acarya seated on the veranda of his house,
discussing Krsna-katha with some of his disciples. Simply upon seeing the
Acarya he felt a strange new emotion dawn in his heart. It was as though he was
seeing a very dear friend after long time of separation. Similarly, Acarya
Prabhu, upon seeing Ramacandra seated in the palanquin, immediately inquired
from those who were present with him, "Who is that? What is his name? Which
varna (caste) he belong to? And where does he reside?" [B.R. 8/530]

His associates replied, "He is great scholar of the name Ramacandra. He is very
excellent poet as well as a physician and resides at Kumaranagara." Hearing
this, Acarya Prabhu simply smiled.

Ramacandra Sena, still seated within the palanquin, after seeing Srinivasa
Acarya and hearing his sweet voice, became extremely anxious to meet him. After
a short time the procession reached the house where much pomp and celebration
took place. Everyone was overjoyed to see the new bride, Ratna Mala, and a
great din and bustle ensued in welcoming her and her bridegroom into their new
home. Ramacandra's mind however was still back at Gajigram where he had seen
that divine personage. With great difficulty he somehow or other passed the day
there, but with the fall of night he returned to Gajigram, where he passed the
night in the house of one brahman.

With the approach of morning he came to Srinivasa Acarya's house and fell down
at he Acarya's feet to offer his prostrated obeisances. Srinivasa Acarya Prabhu
had similarly been continuously thinking of Ramacandra ever since he'd seen him
the day before. Upon seeing Ramacandra again, prostrated before him, he picked
him up and embraced him in deep ecstasy. Then he told him, "Birth after birth,
you are my most dear friend. In the same way that the Lord caused my meeting
with Sri Narottama dasa Thakura at Vrindavana, He has also re-united me with
another dear friend."

Ramacandra stayed with Acarya Prabhu and studied the literatures of the six
Gosvamis under his tutorship. Acarya Prabhu was extremely pleased to see his
gentle and polite behavior and his deeply spiritual nature. On the next
auspicious day he initiated Ramacandra with Radha-Krsna mantra.

After some time, Ramacandra returned to his house. When the Saktas saw he had
been initiated into Vaisnava religion they became very upset. Ramacandra,
however, was undaunted. With tilaka on his body in twelve places and a japa
mala in his hand, he sat down in front of them and began to chant the holy
names. One day, as Ramacandra was proceeding to his house after having taken
his bath, his Sakta neighbors called him.

"Kaviraja, without worshiping Lord Siva, how is it that you are going home?
Your grandfather was a great devotee of Lord Siva. Have you given up Lord
Siva's worship?"

Ramacandra replied, "Lord Siva and Brahma are incarnations of two of the
material modes created by Sri Krsna. Sri Krsna Himself is the source of all
incarnations. Therefore, by worshipping Lord Krsna everyone's worship is
performed, just as by watering the roots of a tree all the leaves and branches
become nourished. Prahlad, Dhruva, Vibhisana and others were dear devotees of
Sri Krsna. Therefore Lord Siva and Brahma were naturally favorably disposed to
them, whereas Ravana, Kumbhakarna, Banasura and other demons were only devotees
of Lord Siva and not devotees of Lord Krsna. Thus their ultimate end was to
simply be destroyed.

"The sastras say that Lord Brahma was able to create this world due to having
successfully worshiped Sri Visnu. Similarly, Lord Siva has become qualified to
invoke auspiciousness in this world due to having received the foot wash water
of Lord Visnu (Ganges) on his head." Having heard these various statements from
the sastras, those scholars remained speechless.

Ramacandra became very anxious to have darsana of Sri Vrindavana and the
Gosvamis there. He petitioned Sri Raghunandana and various other Vaisnavas for
their permission which they readily gave. Thus on the next day he set out for
Sri Vrindavana Dhama. After passing through Gaya, Kasi and Prayaga, he finally
arrived at Mathura. There he took bath and some rest at Visramaghat. After
taking darsana of the Adi Kesava Temple, he started for Vrindavana.

At this time his guru, Srinivasa Acarya, was present at Vrindavana. Ramacandra
offered his prostrated obeisances at the lotus feet of his guru and Sri Jiva
Gosvami and conveyed the good news of the devotees from Gaudadesa.

As ordered by Sri Jiva Gosvami, Ramacandra took darsana of Sri Govinda, Sri
Gopinatha, Sri Madanamohana and Sri Sanatana Gosvami's samadhi. Then he offered
his respects to Sri Gopala Bhatta, Sri Lokanatha and Sri Bhugarbha Gosvami, who
were very pleased with him and who offered him their benediction. Hearing some
samples of his great poetic ability, everyone decided to present him with the
title 'Kaviraja.' [B.R.9/214]

After remaining in the Gosvami's association for some days, they finally
instructed him to return to Gaudadesa. And so he returned, visiting Sri Khanda,
Gajigram, Khandaha and Kalna on the way. Finally he came to Sri Mayapura, where
he received the blessings of Sri Isana Thakur.

One time, some smarta brahmanas made a conspiracy to defame the name of Srila
Narottama dasa Thakura Mahasaya. They were very upset that though he was only a
kayastha by caste, he accepted those born in brahmana families as his
disciples. They enlisted Raja Narasimha and the conquering pandita Sri
Rupanarayana in a crusade to somehow expose Narottama dasa as a fraud. In a
large party they made their way to Kheturi, where Srila Narottama had his
headquarters.

Coming to know of this conspiracy, Sri Ramacandra and Sri Ganga Narayana
Cakravarti came forward to meet their challenge. They journeyd to Kumarapura
where they each set up two small shops in the market; one a pan and betel nut
shop and the other a store selling clay pots.

When the party of smarta brahmanas arrived at Kumarapura and sent their
disciples out to purchase wares for cooking their meals, the students came to
those shops. The 'shopkeepers' (actually Ramacandra and Ganga Narayana in
disguise) spoke to them in Sanskrit and began to raise a philosophical dispute
with them. Seeing the profound learning of those two shopkeepers, the students
were dumbfounded, but nevertheless took up the challenge. After a short time,
however, it became obvious that they were no match for these 'shopkeepers.'
They called for their gurus, who arrived on the scene with Raja Narasimha and
Rupanarayana. Rupanarayana himself was drawn into the debate and was defeated
by the Bhagavata-based arguments of Ramacandra and Ganga Narayana.

When the king requested their introduction, those two shopkeepers informed him
that they were two extremely insignificant disciples of Srila Narottama dasa
Thakura Mahasaya. Having met defeat in this village marketplace, Rupanarayana
and the smarta brahmanas were no longer interested in proceeding onward to
Kheturi. Their crusade evaporated as they all decided to return immediately to
their respective homes.

That night, after Raja Narasimha had returned to his house, he had a dream in
which Durgadevi told him, "Narasimha! You have committed a great offense at the
feet of Narottama dasa Thakura. As a result of this Vaisnavaparadha, I will
have to cut you all to pieces with this chopper. If you want to save yourself,
then you had better immediately go and take shelter at Narottama dasa Thakura's
lotus feet."

When his sleep broke the king quickly took his bath and set out for Kheturi.
Rupanarayana had a similar dream and was also proceeding towards Kheturi at the
same time. They met upon their arrival there and approached the temple of Sri
Gauranga in order to meet Narottama Thakura. Thakur Mahasaya was absorbed in
his bhajana, but when a disciple informed him of the arrival of the two guests,
he came out to meet them. Simply by seeing his transcendental form, imbued with
Krsna-prema, the two offenders became purified and fell down to offer their
obeisances at Thakura Mahasaya's feet. Thakura Mahasaya very humbly presented
himself as being a fallen soul. Finally he initiated them with Radha-Krsna
mantra.

Many sinful atheists were delivered by Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja. He was present
at the Kheturi festival. He came to Vrindavana a second time on the order of
Srinivasa and Narottama, but this time he couldn't have darsana of the Gosvamis
as they had all departed this world for Goloka Vrindavana. Feeling separation
from them, he was very distressed at heart. Unable to tolerate that pain, he
joined them in their eternal pastimes there in Vrindavana. In Vraja-lila his
name is Karuna-manjari. His disappearance is on the third day of the dark
fortnight in the month of Pausa. His principal disciple was Harirama Acarya.
The Deities worshipped by Ramcandra and Govinda Kaviraja have been brought from
Jeliya-Bhudargram to Bhagavan Gola where they are at present being worshiped by
the followers of Rama dasa Babaji. There is a station at Bhagavan Gola on the
Sealdah-Lal Gola rail line.

