Transcendental Nature Of Lord Rsabhadeva

Transcendental Nature Of Lord Rsabhadeva by Srila Jiva Goswami

Even in the form of the empowered āveśa-avatāra, Lord Rsabhadeva is transcendental in nature. This is confirmed by the following verse of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.5.19) where Lord Rsabhadeva says:

idaṁ śarīraṁ mama durvibhāvyaṁ
sattvaṁ hi me hṛdayaṁ yatra dharmaḥ
pṛṣṭhe kṛto me yad adharma ārād
ato hi mām ṛṣabhaṁ prāhur āryāḥ

“My transcendental body (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha) looks exactly like a human form, but it is not a material human body. It is inconceivable. I am not forced by nature to accept a particular type of body; I take on a body by My own sweet will. My heart is also spiritual, and I always think of the welfare of My devotees. Therefore within My heart can be found the process of devotional service, which is meant for the devotees. I have abandoned irreligion (adharma) and non devotional activities far from My heart. They do not appeal to Me. Due to all these transcendental qualities, people generally pray to Me as Rsabhadeva, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the best of all living entities.”

In this verse Lord Rsabhadeva says: ‘My transcendental body (sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha) looks exactly like a human form, but it is not a material human body (śarīraṁ). Itis inconceivable (durvibhāvyaṁ). Within My heart (me hṛdayaṁ ) can be found the process of devotional service (dharmaḥ), which is meant for the devotees. Far from My heart have I abandoned irreligion (adharma) and non devotional activities.

In order to demonstrate the proper mode of action for a self-satisfied transcendentalist, Lord Rsabhadeva, the speaker of this verse, pretended to leave His body at the final stage of His earthly pastimes. The ordinary conditioned souls mistakenly thought that He died or left His body. Lord Rsabhadeva’s final pastimes, and His so-called ‘death’ are described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (5.6.6):

athaivam akhila-loka-pāla-lalāmo ‘pi vilakṣaṇair jaḍavad
avadhūta-veṣa-bhāṣā-caritair avilakṣita-bhagavatprabhāvo
yogināṁ sāmparāya-vidhim anuśikṣayan svakalevaraṁ
jihāsur ātmany ātmānam asaṁvyavahitam
anarthāntara-bhāvenānvīkṣamāṇa uparatānuvṛttir
upararāma.

Lord Rsabhadeva was the head of all kings and emperors within this universe, but assuming the dress and language of an avadhūta, He acted as if dull and materially bound. Consequently no one could observe His divine opulence. He adopted this behaviour just to teach yogīs how to give up the body. Nonetheless He maintained His original position as a plenary expansion of Lord Vasudeva, Krishna. Remaining always in that state, He gave up His pastimes as Lord Rsabhadeva within the material world. If, following in the footsteps of Lord Rsabhadeva, one can give up his subtle body, there is no chance that one will accept a material body again.”

Lord Rsabhadeva’s celebrated abandonment of His body is described in the devotional scripture of Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam (5.6.8):

atha samīra-vega-vidhūta-veṇuvikarṣaṇa- jātogra-dāvānalas tad vanam ālelihānaḥ saha tena dadāha.

“While He was wandering about, a wild forest fire began. This fire was caused by the friction of bamboos, which were bring blown by the wind. In that fire, the entire forest near Kutakacala and the body of Lord Rsabhadeva were burnt to ashes.”

We may note in this verse that the words saha tena (with that body) are in the instrumental case, and the subject of the sentence, ‘dāvānalah’ (a forest-fire), is in the nominative case. The trees and other residents of the forest who gave up their material bodies in that forest-fire as Lord Rsabhadeva pretended to give up His spiritual form, all attained liberation.

The associates of Lord Ramachandra also attained liberation in the same way. This is described in Śrīmad- Bhāgavatam (9.11.22):

sa yaiḥ spṛṣṭo ‘bhidṛṣṭo vā
saṁviṣṭo ‘nugato ‘pi vā
kosalās te yayuḥ sthānaṁ
yatra gacchanti yoginaḥ

“Lord Ramachandra returned to His abode, to which the bhakti-yogīs are promoted. This is the place to which all the inhabitants of Ayodhya went after they served the Lord in His manifest pastimes. This service consisted of offering Him obeisance, touching His lotus feet, seeing Him as a father-like King, sitting or lying down with Him as an equal, or even just accompanying Him.”

This is the way, Lord Rsabhadeva’s disappearance in the forest fire is described. We may also note that at the end of this chapter in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam the chapter title is given: “The Appearance of Lord Rsabhadeva”. The title clearly does not say ‘the Birth of Lord Rsabhadeva”, because the Lord was not born in the same way conditioned souls are, but rather He appeared in His transcendental body to perform His pastimes here.

—Taken from Sri Bhagavat-sandarbha of Sri Jiva Goswami, Anuccheda 52. Translated by Kushakratha Dasa. ∙