Rasikanand

Sri Gopal Guru Goswami, who was the dearest one of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, called Sri Rasikananda Prabhu as “Nava Chaitanya”.Srila Hriday Chaitanya Adhikari Thakura, the spiritual master (Gurudev) of Sri Shyamananda Prabhu also called Sri Rasikananda Prabhu as “Gour Sundar (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu)”. This fact is unknown to most of the followers of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Not only that, Lord Sri Krishna, Vaikunthadhipati  Sri Narayan,  Sri Aniruddha (One of the quadruple expansions of Lord Sri Krishna), Sri Srivas Pandit, Sri Bramha and Sri Paramatma etc were also subtly present in his body. Along with briefly describing the supernatural pastimes- this treatise, under the head “Tattva or spiritual identity of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu’ provides many evidences to support this view. 

Sri Rasikananda Prabhu was born at a place called Rohini on the first lunar day of the bright fortnight of the month of Kartik in the year 1590 AD. His father was Sri Achutananda Dev and the mother was Queen Bhavani Devi. His father was the King of the State of Mallabhoomi having its capital at Rohini. Right from his birth, the newborn gave enough indications of an elevated soul. Just by hearing the holy name of Lord Sri Krishna, all the asta-sattvik-vikaras (Eight transformations of an elevated Vaishnava) used to appear in his body. Even as a child, he induced many people to chant the name of Lord Sri Krishna. 

He received early education from Sri Vasudeva, Sri Mimansa Mandan, Sri Balabhadra Sen, Sri Anukul Chakravarty, Sri Kavichandra and Sri Yadunandan Charavarty. Sri Jagannath Mishra and Sri Hari Dubey taught him Srimad Bhagwatam.

Once, loudly chanting the name of Lord Sri Krishna, he lost external consciousness. Entering a dense forest, and beneath a tree; tears of separation started flowing incessantly from his eyes. He started calling loudly for Lord Sri Krishna. Tigers, Lions, Elephants, Deers and other wild animals- ignoring their inborn animosity- encircled him and started echoing the name of Sri Krishna along with him. Sri Rasikananda Prabhu thus spread the love of Lord Sri  Krishna even to the wild animals.

Later, he married to Srimati Ichchhadevi (Shyam Dasi)- partial expansion of Sri Laxmiji and daughter of the ruler of Hijli, Sri Balbhadra Deva. Even the demigods participated incognito in the marriage.

Sri Shyamananda Prabhu, then lovingly serving Sri Sri Radha-Shyamsundarji at Sridham  Vrindavan, received orders thrice from Lord Sri Krishna to go to Utkal(Odisha), initiate Sri Rasikananda Prabhu and jointly inundate the love of Lord Sri Krishna to people there who were suffering in the era of quarrel and hypocrisy called Kaliyuga. Pursuing this order, Sri Shyamananda Prabhu initiated Sri Rasikananda Prabhu along with his family at Ghantashila in the year 1608 AD.

Sri Rasikananda Prabhu visited Sridham Vrindavan in the year 1611 AD. After visiting all the twelve forests, groves etc of Vrajmandal, he reached Sri Govardhan. Realizing that following precedence of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu will not set his foot on Sri Govardhan, Sri Gopalji climbed down in the guise of a Vrajvasi, to give his darshan to Sri Rasikananda Prabhu.

After returning from Vrindavan, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu found that his father, King Sri Achyutananda Devji had gone back to Godhead. All of his brothers were fiercely fighting for the inheritance of the property. Considering the property as a speck of dust and carrying only his family deity, he left Rohini for Kashipur along with his wife to rigorously practice all the sixty-four parts (angas) of the devotional service. In the year 1614 Sri Shyamananda Prabhu arrived to Kashipur and renamed the family deity to Sri Gopiballav Royji, In consonance with the new name of the family deity, Kashipur was renamed as Gopiballavpur. Thereafter, all the eight mystic powers (astasiddhi) and nine opulence (navanidhi) started staying there all the time to serve Chaitanyavatar Sri Rasikananda Prabhu. Later, conforming to the instructions of Lord Sri Jagannathji, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu installed the deity of  Sri Radha Govindaji at Sripat Gopiballavpur.

As per the directive of Sri Shyamananda Prabhu to spread the Holy Name of Lord Sri Krishna & Love of Godhead for the welfare of the living entities, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu first initiated the cruel land lords of Dharenda named Bhima and Srikara in the year 1615 AD. Later, he distributed the priceless gift of the holy name to hundreds of thousands of people, who took shelter at his lotus feet and thus became eligible for the rare, love of Godhead. He did this without differentiating between powerful Kings or helpless Poor, Brahmin or Chhatriya or Vaishya or Sudras or Muslims. The King of Sridham Puri, Gajapati Sri Narasingha Deva- who renovated the Sun (Surya) Temple of Konark – was one of his disciples.

Once, in the midst of honouring the prasadam, a letter- personally handwritten by his spiritual master reached Sri Rasikananda Prabhu directing him to call on  Sri Shyamananda Prabhu immediately.  Despite the morsel of food still in his mouth, he got up instantly and departed to meet his spiritual master without even washing hands and mouth. Later, on way, he washed his hands and mouth in river Suvarnarekha. This complete surrender to the spiritual master amazed even Sri Shyamananda Prabhu.

Earlier, the river Suvarnarekha was some distance away from Sripat Gopiballavpur, causing inconvenience to Sadhus who would use it for taking bath etc. Complying to the order of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu, the river changed its course and started flowing in close proximity to Gopiballavpur. 

On another occasion, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu was taken aback to find that the midday offerings of the Lord were not ready on time because Srimati Shyamdasiji- his wife-  had  to  breast feed their hungry son Brajananda. Extremely sad and fuming with anger, because the motherly affection of Srimati Shyamdasiji to elevate the hunger of their son had resulted in delayd offerings and making the lord hungry, Simultaneously, this was a grave seva aparadha (offence). He cursed his own wife “Until you serve Lord Sri Krishna without committing any offence, all your children will keep prematurely departing from the material world and you will remain childless”. Soon, Brajananda passed away. Sacrificing his only son and subjecting welfare of future progeny subservient to faultless service of Lord Sri Krishna, he set a Himalayan high standard of deity worship.

Owing to the curse of a sati Brahmin to an ancestor king Sri Bireswar Bhanj, all the male members of the Royal family of Mayurbhanj used to die on  the age of sixteen years. Then ruling King of Mayurbhanj, Sri Vaidyanath Bhanj, along with his brothers- all of them below the age of sixteen at that point of time- submitted to Sri Rasikananda Prabhu who instructed them to surrender to Lord Sri Krishna, serve the Sadhus & Vaishnavas or, in short, become good Vaishnavas. Sure enough, these esteemed Vaishnavas survived even beyond the age of sixteen. In the year 1617 AD, when the King reached the mature age of twenty-five, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu initiated the King along with his brothers in Sri Krishna Mantra. Later, all of them became exalted Vaishnavas. The Royal family was thereafter absolved from the curse by the grace of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu.

Under instructions of Sri Shyamananda Prabhu to propagate the sweetest pastimes of Sri Radha-Krishna, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu organized a huge Raasa Festival in Sripat Gopiballavpur in the year 1621 AD, in which a very large number of Sadhus and Vaishnavas from Sri Vrindavan, Sri Ayodhya, Sri Dwarka, Sri Nilachal and numerous other places participated. Charanamrita of lakhs of participating Vaishnavas was collected, and is still preserved at Sri Sri Radha-Shyamsundar Temple at Sridham Vrindavan and Sripat Gopiballavpur. In the midst of this Raasa festival, a venomous snake bit Sri Rasikananda Prabhu. Instead of calling a vaidya (Ayurvedic doctor) for cure, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu fully surrendered to incessant chanting of the holy name of Lord Sri Krishna. Sure enough, the deadly poison was neutralized and exhibited to the world at large, the mercy potential of the holy name of Lord Sri Krishna.

In the year 1623 AD, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu initiated a huge and destructive Gajaraj (the king of elephants) and named him Gopal Das. From literally a death personified, he became a humble Vaishnava. Sporting Tulsi Kanthimala, he would continuously serve sadhus who were always accompanying him. In the previous life, Gopaldas was a human named Harihar and was resident of Banpur in odisha.  Observing him committing a grave offence by offering uncooked (raw) rice to Shaligram, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu cursed him to become an elephant along with his family members. Later, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu reappeared as (Chaitanyavatar) Sri Rasikananda Prabhu and showered his mercy on Harihar/Gopaldas.

Mogul Emperor Shahjahan and his son Shah Sooja - was then the Nawab of Bengal,  hearing supernatural activities of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu, requested him to supply some excellent breed elephants. Sri Rasikananda Prabhu ordered his disciple elephant Gopaldas, who in turn arranged for fourteen elephants, which were then offered to Mogul Emperor Shahjahan through his son Shah Sooja. Extremely impressed by the supernatural powers of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu, Mogul Emperor Shahjahan and his son Shah Sooja worshiped Sri Rasikananda Prabhu directly as Sri Narayan and donated huge movable & immovable properties for the service of Lord Sri Krishna and Sadhus.

Once, while propagating the name of Lord Sri Krishna, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu, along with a horde of devotees, lost way in the dense forest of, so called Varaha Bhoomi. Suddenly, obstructing the way, two huge tigers appeared in front of the Vaishnavas. Moving towards them, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu preached devotional service of Lord Sri Krishna and initiated them by chanting Sri Harinaam Mahamantra in their ears. Both the lions surrendered to the lotus feet of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu and safely led the group out of the forest. Sri Chaitanyavtar Sri Rasikananda Prabhu had thus showered his mercy, reformed many wild animals of the forest and send them back to Godhead.

On reaching, so called, Sekhar Bhoomi, the local King requested Sri Rasikananda Prabhu to elevate the miseries of his subjects, caused by the absence of rain in the kingdom for the previous three years. Thereafter, on the order of Chaitanyavatar Sri  Rasikananda Prabhu, Lord Indra showered such a prolonged and heavy rain that one would see only greenery in all the directions of Sekhar Bhoomi. The grateful King and the inhabitants of Sekhar Bhoomi surrendered to the lotus feet of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu and became good Vaishnavas.

Once, thousands of Vaishnavas were honouring Prasadam simultaneously during “Dwadas Festival” at Sripat Gopiballavpur. Suddenly, dense clouds gathered causing lightening, heavy rain and stormy conditions. The fearful vaishnavas were about to leave the venue. Sri Rasikananda Prabhu intervened, gave appropriate orders to Lord Indra, which resulted in a near miraculous scenario- Torrential rain all over but not a drop of water in the midst i.e. at the venue of the grand feast. The grateful vaishnavas started applauding this stupendous foot! This pastime- along with several others- demonstrate that even demigods used to feel honored to serve Sri Rasikananda Prabhu.

Sri Suryananda, the mahanta of Galta gaddi of Sri Vaishnavas, came to Sripat Gopiballavpur along with fourteen thousand Naga sadhus. The transcendental personality, dedication & surrender to the Lord, service to the Sadhus etc of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu motivated him (Sri Suryananda) to appear in next birth as his son. With the consent of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu, Sri Suryananda later took birth as Sri Nayanananda Deva Goswami Prabhupada, the first son of his eldest son Sri Radhananda Deva Goswami Prabhupada.

In the year 1626 AD, one Muslim fakir (ascetic) from Vasantiya, named Machhandra Shah, arrived to Sripat Gopiballavpur riding on a tiger to exhibit his supernatural powers. Grasping the real purpose of the ascetic’s exploit, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu sent one of his disciples-Sri Nagari Uddhav- who was riding on a dilapidated wall- to welcome him. The overwhelmed fakir, realizing the futility of his petty prowess- concluded that the master, whose mere disciple can ride on a broken, old and immobile wall- could be nobody other than Sri Narayan himself. He surrendered to the lotus feet of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu and accepted the Vaishnava Tradition.

Before returning to the eternal spiritual abode, in the year 1630 AD, Sri Shyamananda Prabhu made Sri Rasikananda Prabhu as the sole inheritor, so-called Mahanta, of all the Three thousand and Five hundred Maths and Temples forming Shyamanandi Gosthi (Tradition) by marking his forehead with Tilak and tying turban on his head. From that day, Sri  Rasikananda Prabhu and his Goswami Prabhupada descendents are guiding the entire Vaishnava community as the torchbearer of Sri Shyamanandi Gosthi.

Sri Rasikananda Prabhu used to offer the highest respect- a tad higher than even Lord Sri Krishna- to Sadhus, Saints and Vaishnavas. His residence always used to house large number of these guests. He would always offer them the most exquisite delicacies, perform their Arati, solve their problems and put his best efforts to make them comfortable. He used to store Vaishnava Charanamrita at an elevated platform, which he would regularly worship, perform arati, pay obeisance, circumambulate, all with the highest degree of devotion.

Once, while honouring the Charanamrita, he found the nectarine taste missing. On enquiry, he found that the servants had abstained to collect the charanamrita of a leper Vaishnava. He rushed to that leper Vaishnava, collected his charanamrita, mixed it with the previous one, partook it and found the resultant one the most relishing. He used to consider bodies of the Vaishnavas as faultless.

One day, during Sadhu seva, one Sadhu was fighting with others to collect his share (One Paaras) for the grinding stone of Bhang (Cannabis sativa, an Indian fermented brew used for hallucinogenic effect). Denied, he angrily threw his leaf plate (Pattal) containing half eaten leftovers (Jootha) on Sri Rasikananda Prabhu’s head. An absolutely calm and respectful Sri Rasikananda Prabhu, ordered his servant to provide the sadhu, double Prasad of the normal quantity (Two Paaras) because  he could grind bhang on his grinding stone (Sontha) and consume the Prasad heartily. Not only that, considered lacking in proper etiquette, the erring servant was removed, from the Sadhu Seva.

Another day, one sadhu was smoking hookkah using Hairy brown husk of the coconut. Embraced to find Sri Rasikananda Prabhu coming towards him, he sheepishly hid it.  Realizing himself as an obstacle for the pleasure of the sadhu, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu pretended as if suffering from stomach ache and told the sadhu that puffing hookkah is his only cure. The sadhu gleefully took out and presented his concealed hookkah. Sri Rasikananda Prabhu pretended to make use of it and feigned as if cured because of it. The sadhu then joyfully continued to relish his smoking without any embracement. In reality, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu had never smoked hookkah. There were numerous similar instances when Sri Rasikananda Prabhu risked his reputation by pretending as if violating a well set vaishnava Rule just to serve & please the sadhus, vaishnavas and other exalted personalities.

In the year 1637, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu, along with many fellow devotees went to Muktapur village to spread the name of Lord Sri Krishna. The indifferent villagers did not offer them a place to stay and contemptuously asked them to take shelter beneath the trees. Angry at such insulting treatment,Sri Agnidev (the demigod of Fire) emitted a fierce fire, which engulfed the whole village. Realizing the folly, the villagers surrendered to the lotus feet of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu and became good Vaishnavas- always ready to serve the devotees. This pastime demonstrate that even demigods used to feel honored to assist, in their own way, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu’s mission to propagate love of Godhead.

Sri Rasikananda Prabhu along with two to three hundred devotees left for Puri to offer their obeisance to Sri Jagannathji. On way, they sailed on a boat to cross the river Vaitarni at Jajpur. The overloaded boat was apsized in the middle of the river. To the devotees, however, the flooded river remained only knee deep to ensure the safe passage to the shore. The wonderstruck villagers considering Sri Rasikananda Prabhu as God personified, surrendered to his lotus feet and became good Vaishnava.

Sri Rasikananda Prabhu and his party was still a short distance away when the Rathyatra procession of the year 1637AD commenced at Sridham Puri. Waiting for the arrival of his dear Sri Rasikananda Prabhu, Sri Jagannathji refused to move ahead. The Rath moved forward only after the arrival of Sri Rasikananda Prabhu who gently pushed the cart by his head. A surprised King Gajapati Sri Narasingha Deva worshipped Sri Rasikananda as Sri Narayan and surrendered to his lotus feet.

Once, Sri Rasikananda Prabhu arrived to Sri Narharidev’s Ashram in Bundelkhand along with many Sadhus and Vaishnavas. To give a grand welcome to the honorable guests, Sri Narharidev wished to offer exquisite Ramchakra (Dahiwada) to the guests and soaked about 400 Kg Daal to cook the delicacy. However, even all the residents put together were inadequate to grind the daal in the stipulated time. Realizing the dilemma, Sri Sanak, Sri Sananda, Sri Sanatan and Sri Sanatkumar – the four Sons of Sri Bramhaji arrived there in the guise of Sadhus. They worked on the Grinding stone and ensured that the exquisite Ramchakra were prepared on time and were  served to the guests.

On the first day of the bright fortnight of the month of Phalgun, in the year 1653 AD, Sri  Rasikananda Prabhu reached Remuna in the Baleswar district of Orissa to spread the holy  name and love of Lord Sri Krishna. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, had entered with his body into the deity of Sri Tota Gopinth (Another version, Sri Jagannathji?). Reappearing in the form of Sri  Rasikananda Prabhu, he again entered on that day into the deity of Sri Khirachora  Gopinath at Remuna to conclude his pastime in this human body.