Some years after Madhavendra Puri's disappearance, Ramachandra Puri travelled to Jagannatha Puri, where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was by then living as a sannyasi among His closest devotees. He arrived as a guest with a real claim on respect: a direct disciple of Madhavendra Puri, and so a godbrother of the Lord's own guru, Srila Ishvara Puri. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and the elder devotee Paramananda Puri both received him warmly, with obeisances and embraces, "and thus remembered Krishna" (Antya-lila 8.9). It is the last entirely happy moment in his stay.
Testing Jagadananda Pandit #
Jagadananda Pandit invited the three of them to share a meal of Jagannatha's prasadam. Ramachandra Puri ate well, then turned to Jagadananda, urged him again and again to keep eating, and personally served him more. Only once Jagadananda had finished and washed his hands did Ramachandra Puri deliver the point of the exercise: "I have heard that the followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu eat more than necessary. Now I have directly seen that this is true... a sannyasi who eats this much, his renunciation is destroyed" (Antya-lila 8.15-16). Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami names the pattern outright: "first he would induce someone to eat more than necessary and then he would criticize him" (Antya-lila 8.17).
The Ants in the Room #
After testing a disciple, Ramachandra Puri turned his attention to the Lord Himself. He quietly gathered information about His meals, sleep, and daily movements, "interested only in finding faults," but for some time he could not find any (Antya-lila 8.43). Then, one morning, he visited Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's room and saw ants on the floor. "Last night there was sugar candy here," he announced. "Therefore ants are wandering about. Alas, this renounced sannyasi is attached to such sense gratification!" (Antya-lila 8.49). He said this in front of others and left. Ants, as Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami dryly notes, crawl about everywhere. Nothing in the text suggests that his accusation was true.
Cutting the Meals in Half #
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had already heard rumors of Ramachandra Puri's criticism. Now He heard it directly, from a godbrother of His own guru. He became worried about how His conduct might be seen, and He acted at once. He called His servant Govinda and fixed a new rule. He would accept only a quarter-pot of Lord Jagannatha's prasadam and a small portion of vegetables each day. He warned that Govinda would not see Him again in Puri if he brought more (Antya-lila 8.53-54). The devotees were, in the text's own words, "as if their heads had been struck by thunderbolts" (Antya-lila 8.55). A host brahmana had prepared a full invitation, and when only a quarter-portion was accepted, he struck his own head in despair (Antya-lila 8.57-58). Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Govinda ate only half the food they needed, and out of love for Him the other devotees stopped eating properly as well.
An Unrepentant Return #
Ramachandra Puri learned what his single remark had led to, and he came back. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu still offered him obeisances. Ramachandra Puri saw that the Lord had clearly become thinner, but he did not take back his position. Instead, he said more. He quoted the Bhagavad-gita's verse on regulated yoga practice (Gita 6.16-17) to argue that a sannyasi should eat neither too much nor too little. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's answer was simple submission: "I am just like an ignorant boy and am like your disciple. It is My great fortune that you are instructing Me" (Antya-lila 8.69). Only after Ramachandra Puri left satisfied did Paramananda Puri and the other devotees approach the Lord. They said plainly what Ramachandra Puri's method really was: he urged people to overeat and then condemned them for it. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was pressed to eat properly again, but He would not fully change His decision. He agreed to eat half His original amount, "the cost for the food fixed at two panas of cowries" (Antya-lila 8.87), and He kept to that measure for the rest of Ramachandra Puri's stay.
Departure and Relief #
Ramachandra Puri eventually left Jagannatha Puri to continue his pilgrimage. Chaitanya-charitamrita records the devotees' reaction without any pretense of politeness: they felt, "as if a great load of stones had suddenly fallen from their heads to the ground" (Antya-lila 8.97). Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu resumed accepting invitations as He had before. What this whole episode meant, both as a caution about criticism and as an example of restraint even toward a flawed senior, is drawn out in The Lesson and Its Legacy.
