CC Madhya 8.312
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 312
dāmodara-svarūpera kaḍacā-anusāre
rāmānanda-milana-līlā karila pracāre
SYNONYMS
dāmodara-svarūpera—of Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī; kaḍacā—with the notebooks; anusāre—in accordance; rāmānanda-milana-līlā—the pastimes of the meeting with Rāmānanda; karila—have done; pracāre—distribution.
TRANSLATION
I have tried to preach the pastimes of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s meeting with Rāmānanda Rāya in accordance with the notebooks of Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara.
PURPORT
At the end of every chapter, the author admits the value of the disciplic succession. He never claims to have written this transcendental literature by carrying out research work. He simply admits his indebtedness to the notes taken by Svarūpa Dāmodara, Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī and other authoritative persons. This is the way of writing transcendental literatures, which are never meant for so-called scholars and research workers. The process is mahā-jano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ: one has to strictly follow great personalities and ācāryas. Ācārya-vān puruṣo veda: one who has the favor of the ācārya knows everything. This statement made by Kavirāja Gosvāmī is very valuable for all pure devotees. Sometimes the prākṛtā sahajiyās claim that they have heard the truth from their guru. But one cannot have transcendental knowledge simply by hearing from a guru who is not bona fide. The guru must be bona fide, and he must have heard from his own bona fide guru. Only then will his message be accepted as bona fide. Lord Kṛṣṇa confirms this in the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 4.1):
- śrī-bhagavān uvāca
- imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayam
- vivasvān manave prāha manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt
“The Supreme Lord said, ‘I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.’” In this way the message is transmitted in the bona fide spiritual disciplic succession from bona fide spiritual master to bona fide student. Śrīla Kavirāja Gosvāmī therefore as usual concludes this chapter by reasserting his faith in the lotus feet of the six Gosvāmīs. Thus he is able to set forth this transcendental literature, Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta.