By the time Prataparudra first asked to meet Him, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had already been living at Jagannatha Puri for some time. He had already turned the kingdom's greatest scholar, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, into one of His own followers. Sarvabhauma was now the Lord's devotee, not merely the King's chief pandit. It was he who carried the King's request forward. For his effort, he received one of the sharpest refusals recorded anywhere in the Chaitanya-charitamrita.
| Detail | Description |
|---|---|
| Who asked first | Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, on the King's behalf |
| The Lord's stated reason | A sannyasi meeting a king is as dangerous as meeting a woman |
| Verse quoted | Chaitanya-chandrodaya-nataka 8.23-24, quoted by the Lord Himself |
| Who eventually softened the ground | Ramananda Raya, on his return from Vidyanagara |
| What stood in for a direct meeting | The Lord's used cloth, sent through Nityananda Prabhu's request; later, the King's own son |
| Outcome of this stage | No direct meeting yet; that came only at Ratha-yatra |
A Rule Mahaprabhu Made for Himself #
The rule was not aimed at Prataparudra in particular. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu held every sannyasi of His own circle, Himself included, to a strict standard. Above all, they had to avoid two things: wealth and the company of women. This also meant avoiding the company of the wealthy and powerful, whose lives revolve around both. A king, however sincere his devotion, was by his very position a man surrounded by money, land and political power. So the Lord treated close association with such a person as harmful to a sannyasi's spiritual life, whatever that person's own qualities might be. This was not just theory for Him. It shaped how He behaved for the rest of His time at Puri, as the pages on His years at Jagannatha Puri describe.
Sarvabhauma's Request and the Covered Ears #
When Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya first raised the subject, "There is a king named Pratāparudra Rāya. He is very anxious to meet You," Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's response was immediate. He covered His ears with His hands. "Since I am in the renounced order," He said, "it is as dangerous for Me to meet a king as to meet a woman. To meet either would be just like drinking poison." He went further and quoted a verse from Kavi Karnapura's Sri Chaitanya-chandrodaya-nataka. The verse speaks of a sannyasi who is genuinely trying to cross the ocean of material existence. For such a person, it says, seeing a materialist or a woman is even worse than willingly drinking poison (Chaitanya-charitamrita, Madhya-lila 11.7-8).
"Like a Venomous Snake" #
Sarvabhauma tried again, pointing out that this was no ordinary king but a great devotee and servant of Lord Jagannatha. The Lord did not disagree about the King's devotion, but He refused to let it change the rule: "Although it is correct that the King is a great devotee, he is still to be considered a venomous snake... just as one is immediately frightened upon seeing a live serpent... one endeavoring for self-realization should similarly fear a materialistic person" (Madhya-lila 11.10-11). Then He warned Sarvabhauma plainly that if the request were raised again, the Bhattacharya would never see Him at Puri again. Frightened, Sarvabhauma went home to think the matter over.
Ramananda Raya's Homecoming Softens the Ground #
The turning point came from an unexpected direction. Ramananda Raya was Prataparudra's own governor of Vidyanagara, and the Lord had personally asked him to resign his post and live at Puri. When he finally arrived, he went straight to see the Lord. He described how the King had wept with joy on hearing that Ramananda wished to serve Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The King had granted him a full pension without hesitation, and had called himself unfit even to hope for an interview in this lifetime. When the Lord heard, through Ramananda, of the King's humility, His attitude clearly warmed: "Because the King has shown so much love for you, Lord Krishna will certainly accept him" (Madhya-lila 11.27). This small scene clearly shows a principle that the Lord told Ramananda directly that same day. Devotion to a devotee of Krishna is itself a path to Krishna's mercy.
A Used Garment and a Threat to Become a Yogi #
The King's own devotees kept trying. Word reached the devotees that Prataparudra had grown so desperate that he was threatening to give up his kingdom completely and become a wandering holy man if he could not see the Lord. Then Nityananda Prabhu stepped in on the King's behalf. He asked the Lord's servant Govinda for one of the Lord's used cloths and sent it to the King through Sarvabhauma. Prataparudra received it as if it were the Lord Himself and began to worship it. Around the same time, Ramananda Raya pressed once more for a direct meeting, but the Lord again refused. He compared the King's single flaw of birth to the one drop of liquor that spoils an entire pot of milk: "The King certainly possesses all good qualities, but simply by taking up the name 'king,' he has infected everything" (Madhya-lila 12.54).
The Prince Who Reminded Him of Krishna #
The Lord was unable to refuse Ramananda Raya outright, so He offered a compromise. In its way, it was also a joke about His own rule: bring Me the King's son instead, since scripture holds that a son represents his father. The teenaged prince arrived, dressed in yellow, with dark, almond-shaped eyes. Seeing him, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was at once reminded of Krishna Himself, and He embraced the prince without holding back. This did not satisfy the King's own longing. But it was the first sign that the Lord's resistance, though real, still left a door open somewhere.
The Lesson Within the Refusal #
Read on its own, this part of the Chaitanya-charitamrita can look like simple stubbornness. But read together with what happens next, at The Disguise at Ratha-yatra, it shows something else. The Lord's mercy could not be obtained by rank or by wealth. It could not be obtained even when His own most confidential devotees pleaded for the rule to be bent. It came only through a service so complete that, for a moment, it removed the very distinction that the rule was made to guard against.
