CHAPTER 1

Srila Rapa Gosvami’s
Second Meeting with the Lord

A summary of the First Chapter is given by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in his
Amrta-pravaha-bhasya as follows. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu returned to
Jagannatha Puri from Vrndavana, all His devotees from other parts of India, upon
receiving the auspicious news, came to Purusottama-ksetra, or Jagannatha Puri.
Sivananda Sena took a dog with him and even paid fees for it to cross the river.
One night, however, the dog could not get any food and therefore went directly
to Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Jagannatha Puri. The next day, when Sivananda
and his party reached Jagannatha Purl, Sivananda saw the dog eating some
coconut pulp offered to it by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. After this incident, the
dog was liberated and went back home, back to Godhead.

Meanwhile, Srila Ripa Gosvami reached Bengal, after returning from
Vrndavana. Although he could not follow the Bengali devotees, after some time
he then came to Jagannatha Puri, where he stayed with Haridasa Thakura. Srila
Ripa Gosvami composed an important verse, beginning with the words priyah so
‘yam, and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu relished it very much. One day when Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Ramananda Raya and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya went to
see Haridasa Thakura, the Lord saw the verse Ripa Gosvami had composed as an
introduction to his books Lalita-madhava and Vidagdha-madhava. After examin-
ing the manuscripts of these two books, Ramananda Raya approved and appreci-
ated them very much. After the period of Caturmasya, all the devotees who had
come from Bengal returned to their homes. Srila Ripa Gosvami, however,
remained at Jagannatha Puri for some time.

TEXT 1

ARS MOIATS Catone FraiaScae fisy |
TF] SHR’ ACH PRCHSHPATAY tS

pangum langhayate sailarn
mUtikam avartayec chrutim

yat-krpa tam aha vande
krsna-caitanyam isvaram
