Text 1931 Talks Between the Lord and Bāmānanda Rāya
bodily senses or mental speculation. Our identification with the gross body and subtle mind is different from spiritual understanding. Since the intelligence and mind are material, the loving affairs of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are beyond their perception. ( sarvopādhi-vinirmuktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam ): when we are free from all material designations and our senses are completely purified by the  bhakti  process, we can understand the sense activities of the Absolute Truth ( hṛṣikeṇa hrṣikeśa-sevanaṁ bhaktir ucvate ).
The spiritual senses are beyond the material senses. A materialist can think only of the negation of material variety; he cannot understand spiritual variety. He thinks that spiritual variety simply contradicts material variety and is a negation or void, but such conceptions cannot even reach the precincts of spiritual realization. The wonderful activities of the gross body and subtle mind are always imperfect. They are below the degree of spiritual understanding and are ephemeral. The spiritual mellow is eternally wonderful and is described as  pūrṇa ,  śuddha ,  nitya-mukta —that is completely purified and eternally liberated from all material conceptions. When we are unable to fulfill our material desires, there is certainly sorrow and confusion. This may be described as  vivarta . However, in spiritual life there is no sorrow, inebriety or imperfection. Śrīla Rāmānanda Rāya was expert in realizing the spiritual activities of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa, and Rāmānanda’s spiritual experience was placed before Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as he inquired whether the Lord approved his realization of spiritual truth.
There are three books prominent in this connection. One was written by Bhakta dāsa Bāula and is called  Vivarta-vilāsa . Another was compiled by Jagadānanda and is called  Prema-vivarta . Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya's book is called  Prema-vilāsa-vivarta . The  Vivarta-vilāsa  by Bhakta dāsa Bāula is completely different from the other two books. Sometimes a university student or professor tries to study these transcendental literatures and attempts to put forth a critical analysis from the mundane view, with an end to receiving degrees like a Ph. D. Such realization is certainly different from that of Rāmānanda Rāya. If one actually wants to take a Ph. D. degree from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and be approved by Rāmānanda Rāya, he must first become free from all material designations ( sarvopādhi-vinir-muktaṁ tat-paratvena nirmalam ). A person who identifies with his material body cannot understand these talks between Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Man-made religious scriptures and transcendental philosophical talks are quite different. Indeed, there is a gulf of difference between the two. This subject matter has been very diligently described by Śrīman Madhvācārya. Since material philosophers are situated in the material  prema  of  vilāsa-vivarta , they are unable to realize the spiritual  prema-vilāsa-vivarta . They cannot accommodate an elephant upon a dish. Similarly, mundane speculators cannot capture the spiritual elephant within their limited conception. It is just like a frog's trying to measure the Atlantic Ocean by imagining it so many times larger than h