SRI PURI DHAM MAHATMYA-MUKTA-MALA

(26) About Ramachandra Puri

Sri Madhavendra Puripad had two famous disciples, Sri Iswar Puri and Sri Ramachandra Puri. In his last days, Madhavendra Puri always cried relishing this verse:

ayi dina-dayardra natha he
mathura-natha kadavalokyase
hrdayam tvadaloka-kataram
dayita bhramyati kim karomyaham

‘O gentle-hearted Lord, ever-gracious upon the destitute, O Lord of Mathura, when shall I see You again? In Your absence my broken heart trembles. Beloved! what shall I do now?’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 2.4.197)

‘O Master of the destitute! O Lord of Mathura! When will I be able to behold You? Not being able to see You, my heart knows no peace! Beloved, what shall I do now? O Lord! Where am I to go to find You?’

One day, Ramachandra Puri came to Madhavendra Puri and said, ‘Prabhu, you possess the knowledge about Brahman – you know everything about this universe – why do you cry then? If you just meditate on Brahman, your sadness will be gone.’

Hearing his words, Madhavendra Puri became angry.

‘Get out, sinner! If I see your face, I will be ruined! O Lord, I am dying because I cannot find You, and this fool comes to give me even more pain!’

After that, Ramachandra Puri gave up his guru and came to Puri. Actually, there are three kinds of disciples: guru-bhogi (who use their guru), guru-sevi (who serve their guru) and guru-tyagi (who reject their guru). Ramachandra Puri was a guru-tyagi.

When he came to Sri Puri Dham, he always criticised all the Vaishnavs. Everybody told Mahaprabhu, ‘Why do You give him so much honour? He always criticises everybody – he even criticises You! But You always give him a higher place.’ Mahaprabhu did not listen to all this because His teachings are:

trnad api sunichena taror iva sahisnuna
amanina manadena kirtaniyah sada harih

‘One who is humbler than a blade of grass, more tolerant than a tree and who gives honour to others without desiring it for themselves is qualified to always chant the Holy Name of Krishna.’

(Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita, 3.6.239)

Sri Iswar Puri is Mahaprabhu’s guru, and Ramachandra Puri and Iswar Puri were godbrothers, that is why Mahaprabhu always gave honour to Ramachandra Puri. So, whenever devotees complained about him, He would not say anything.

One day, Ramachandra Puri came secretly to Gambhira and saw that there were ants in Mahaprabhu’s room. He came out and told Mahaprabhu,‘What is this, new sannyasi? You have got ants in Your room – You must be eating a lot of sweets!’

What will Mahaprabhu say? He never kept sweets in His room, and everybody knows that ants always go wherever they want. So, Mahaprabhu replied, ‘Yes, Prabhu. My tongue has become so naughty that I cannot control it, that is why I always eat sweets.’ He thought to Himself, ‘I have heard before that he criticised Me behind My back, but now I see that he is talking nonsense right to My face.’ But He did not say anything to him.

The devotees in Puri always invited Mahaprabhu to their houses to take prasad, but nobody liked Ramachandra Puri, so they never invited him. One day, Mahaprabhu came to one devotee’s house to take prasad. Suddenly, Ramachandra Puri turned up there, too.

‘My my! A sadhu eats so much!’ he said, looking at Mahaprabhu’s plate.

‘You are right,’ Mahaprabhu told the devotees. ‘From today do not invite Me again. I will not go to anybody’s house to eat now. And if anybody wants to feed Me, then they must cook only one–two dishes – I will not eat anything else.’

All the devotees were sad to hear the Lord’s words. Then, they all went to Lord Jagannath and prayed, ‘O Lord, please remove Ramachandra Puri from here. He is giving so much pain to our Lord, he is criticising Him so much!’

Lord Jagannath heard the devotees’ prayers and very soon Ramachandra Puri left Sri Puri Dham. As the result of his offences to his guru and as the result of his criticism of Vaishnavs, he lost everything – losing the shelter of his guru and without his guru’s mercy, he was removed from service and went to hell.

We must always be careful.

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