118 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Madhya-lila, Ch. 8
“When one actually takes to the loving service of the Supreme Personality ‘of
Godhead, he gives up all duties in the material world as well as all duties
prescribed by Vedic literatures. In this way one is fixed in the service of the Lord.”
TEXT 64
AY SCR —“ cal AS, Bict FY Bla I”
AN See, —“aalafat| Sle —AleGats 1” vs |
prabhu kahe, — “eho bdhya, age kaha dra”
raya kahe, — “jfidna-misra bhakti —sadhya-sara”
SYNONYMS
prabhu kahe—the Lord said; eho—this; bahya—external; dge—ahead; kaha—
say; ara—more; raya kahe—Raya replied; jfAana-misra bhakti—devotional service
mixed with empiric knowledge; sddhya-sdéra—is the essence of perfection.
TRANSLATION
After hearing Ramananda Raya speak in this way, Lord Sri Caitanya
Mahdprabhu said, ‘‘Go ahead and say something more.” Ramananda Raya
then replied, ‘‘Devotional service mixed with empiric knowledge is the
essence of perfection.”
PURPORT
Devotional service mixed with non-Vedic speculative knowledge is certainly
not pure devotional service. Therefore Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in his
Anubhasya preached that self-realization following the execution of ritualistic
ceremonies is in the neutral stage between liberation and conditional life. It is the
place beyond this material world in the River Virajé, where the three modes of
material nature are subdued or neutralized in the unmanifest stage. However, in
the spiritual world is a manifestation of spiritual energy, known as Vaikunthaloka
where there is no anxiety. The material world is known as brahmanda. The ma-
terial universe is the creation of the external energy. Between the two creations —
the material creation and the spiritual creation—is a river known as Viraja as well
as a place known as Brahmaloka. Virajanadi and Brahmaloka are shelters for living
entities disgusted with material life and inclined to impersonal existence by way
of denying material variegatedness. Since these places are not situated in the
Vaikunthalokas or the spiritual world, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu proclaims them to
be external. In the Brahmaloka and Virajanadi, one cannot conceive of the
Vaikunthalokas. Brahmaloka and Virajanadi are also attained after difficult
austerities, but in these realms there is no understanding of the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead and His transcendental loving service. Without such spiritual
