126 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Antya-lila, Ch. 5

kastha-pasana-sparse haya yaiche bhava
taruni-sparse ramanandera taiche ‘svabhava’

SYNONYMS
kastha—wood; pasdna—stone; sparse —by touching; haya—there is; yaiche—
as; bhava—menta! position; taruni-sparse—by touching the young girls; rama-
nandera—of Ramananda Raya; taiche—like that; svabhava—nature.

TRANSLATION

While touching the young girls, he was like a person touching wood or
stone, for his body and mind were unaffected.

TEXT 20

CAB-gfe AicAAM ScAA CAA |
groifas wiateta BEAN HTATAS Ro I

sevya-bujhi dropiyd karena sevana
svabhavika dasi-bhava karena dropana

SYNONYMS
sevya-bujhi aropiya—considering worshipable; karena sevana—engages in ser-
vice; svabhavika—by his natural position; dasi-bhava—as a maidservant; karena
4ropana —considers.

TRANSLATION

Srila Ramananda Raya used to act in that way because he thought of himself
in his original position as a maidservant of the gopis. Thus although externally
he appeared to be a man, internally, in his original spiritual position, he con-
sidered himself a maidservant and considered the two girls gopis.

PURPORT

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura writes in his Amyta-pravaha-bhasya: “Srila Rimanan-
da Raya composed a drama named Jagannatha-vallabha-nataka, and he engaged
two young girls who were professional dancers and singers to demonstrate the
ideology of tne drama. Such girls, who are called deva-dasis, are still employed in
the temple of Jagannatha, where they are called mahdris. Sri Ramananda Raya
engaged two such girls, and because they were meant to play the parts of gopis,
he taught them how to awaken thoughts like those of the gopis. Because the
gopis are worshipable personalities, Rimananda Raya, who considered the two
