Leaving Varanasi #
Raghunatha Bhattacharya, later known as Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, had just finished his education in Varanasi when he gave up all his other duties and set out to see Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu again. Chaitanya-charitamrita describes the departure almost bluntly: he simply left, taking only a servant to carry his baggage, and took the road through Bengal toward Jagannatha Puri.
A Traveler Going the Same Way #
Somewhere along that road, Raghunatha crossed paths with another traveler making the same journey for the same reason. Chaitanya-charitamrita introduces him carefully. He was Ramadasa Vishvasa, a man of the kayastha caste and one of the king's own secretaries in the government accounting department. The text calls him vishvasa-khanara kayastha. Srila Prabhupada's purport explains this as the standard title for a clerk or secretary serving kings and governors of that era. Despite his worldly post, Chaitanya-charitamrita says, he was "very learned in all the revealed scriptures." He was a teacher of Kavya-prakasha, the classical Sanskrit text on poetics. He was also known as a great devotee and worshiper of Lord Ramachandra. Like Raghunatha, he had renounced his household to see Lord Jagannatha. The text says that he chanted Rama's holy name twenty-four hours a day as he walked.
An Uncomfortable Offer of Service #
On learning that his fellow traveler was a brahmana, Ramadasa did something that visibly unsettled Raghunatha: he took Raghunatha's baggage onto his own head and began carrying it, and went further still, massaging his legs at rest stops along the way. Raghunatha, a young man clearly aware of how much learning and social standing Ramadasa actually possessed, tried repeatedly to stop him. "You are a respectable gentleman, a learned scholar and a great devotee," he said. "Please do not try to serve me. Just come with me in a happy mood."
"I Am a Shudra, a Fallen Soul" #
Ramadasa's reply, kept almost word for word in Chaitanya-charitamrita, shows most clearly how he understood his own place in the world: "I am a shudra, a fallen soul! To serve a brahmana is my duty and my own religious principle. Do not be hesitant. I am your servant, and when I serve you my heart becomes jubilant." Whatever his caste as a kayastha meant for his social rank, he insisted on seeing the relationship in terms of dharma, not status. For him, service to a brahmana was closer to worship than to duty. Raghunatha, for his part, kept objecting. Chaitanya-charitamrita notes that he felt real hesitation (sankucita mana) at accepting service from a man so clearly his equal or better in learning. Ramadasa carried the baggage anyway, all the way to Jagannatha Puri, chanting Rama's holy name the entire distance. Chaitanya-charitamrita records that the two men filled the miles with talk about scripture as they walked. This was a natural exchange between a young Sanskrit scholar who had just finished his studies at Varanasi and an older one who taught Kavya-prakasha for a living. But neither of them yet knew how differently Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu would receive each of them at the end of the journey.
Arriving at Nilachala #
Traveling together in this way, the two men reached Jagannatha Puri. There Raghunatha went at once to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's feet, and Chaitanya-charitamrita says he was received "in great delight." Raghunatha then introduced his unusual traveling companion to Mahaprabhu Himself. The reception the two men received turned out to be very different. What happened, and why, is told in No Special Mercy at Nilachala.
