Relationship with the Supreme Lord 249

Therefore Ramananda Roy stated that it is better to give up the result
of fruitive activities. Ramananda Roy understood the purpose of Lord Chait-
anya. He quoted a verse from Srimad Bhagavad Gita, Ninth Chapter, 37th
verse. The Lord says there that, whatever one does, whatever one eats, whatever
one sacrifices, whatever one gives or whatever austerity one undergoes for
a certain achievement—everything should be dedicated to the service of the
Supreme Lord. Srimad Bhagwatam also, Eleventh Canto, Second Chapter,
36th verse, has a similar passage, in which it is stated that one should submit
everything, the result of his fruitive activities, either by his body, by his
speeches, by his mind, by his senses, by his intelligence, by his soul, or by his
practical natural modes of Nature—everything should be surrendered to the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayan.

Lord Chaitanya rejected this second statement of Ramananda Roy,
and He said, “If you know something higher, state it.” The instructions of the
Bhagavad Gita and the Srimad Bhagwatam, to offer everything to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, is a better proposal than the impersonal idea of the
Supreme Lord, and making the Supreme Lord subject to our work. But it is
still short of surrendering activities to the Supreme Lord. The worker’s
identification with material existence is not changed without proper guidance.
Such activity of the fruitive worker will continue his material existence. He
is simply instructed here to offer the fruitive result of his work to the Supreme
Lord, but he has no idea of how to get out of the material entanglement.
Therefore Lord Chaitanya rejected this proposal.

After this second rejection by Lord Chaitanya, Ramananda proposed that
one should forsake his occupational activities, and by such detachment rise
to the transcendental plane. This is, in other words, renunciation of one’s
worldly life. In this connection Ramananda Roy gave two evidences from the
Shastras: in the Srimad Bhagwatam, Eleventh Canto, Eleventh Chapter, the
Lord says, “In the religious Scriptures I have described ritualistic principles,
and how one becomes situated in devotional service. That is the highest
perfectional stage of religiousness.” Similarly, in the Bhagavad Gita, Eighteenth
Chapter, 67th verse, the Lord says: “You give up all kinds of religiousness
and just surrender unto Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. I shall
protect you from all sinful reactions, and you have nothing to be aggrieved
over.”

On hearing this from Ramananda Roy, Lord Chaitanya rejected it again.
By rejecting Ramananda Roy’s third proposal, Lord Chaitanya wanted to
demonstrate that simple renunciation is not sufficient. There must be positive
