Chapter Fifteen
K®ß√a’s Beauty is Unsurpassed
tan-manaskås tad-ålåpås
tad-vice߆ås tad-åtmikå˙
tad-gu√ån eva gåyantyo
nåtmågårå√i sasmaru˙
Çrîmad-Bhågavatam (10.30.43); B®had-bhågavatåm®ta
(2.7.134)
Those vraja-gopîs, who had fully given
their hearts to Çrî K®ß√a,
would imitate His manner of speaking and
His activities. Since they
had offered their very souls to Him and
always sang His glories,
they completely forgot themselves and
their family interests.
In the gradual development of bhakti, from
ni߆hå comes ruci,
where it becomes tasteful. From ruci comes
åsakti, where one will
have no desire to leave it. Then comes bhåva,
and then prema,
sneha, måna, pra√aya, råga, anuråga, and
in some cases even
mahåbhåva, where one receives the pinnacle
of experience of
K®ß√a. Possessing this mahåbhåva, the gopîs’
minds and hearts
became so absorbed in K®ß√a that they
could no longer be considered
their own. If you place a piece of cotton
on a few drops
of water, the water is immediately
absorbed into it. Similarly, the
water of the gopîs’ hearts was immediately
absorbed into the
K®ß√a-cotton in such a way that it was as
if their individual
existences were lost. If someone is
fortunate enough to receive
K®ß√a’s direct darçana or to hear about
Him from a rasika
159
Vaiß√ava, then they may also experience
this same absorption.
Singing about His virtues more and more,
they at once became
tad-åtmikå – they completely forgot their
own bodies, their
bodily relations, their homes, everything.
If we have a task to perform but due to
some obstacle we
cannot complete it, we simply return home.
But the gopîs were
searching for K®ß√a everywhere, asking the
vines, trees, tulasî and
the deer if they had seen Him; still they
could not find Him anywhere.
But did they return to their homes? Even
though they
could not find Him, their homes and
families had been completely
forgotten. They became so absorbed in
thinking of Him
that it was as if they were possessed by
ghosts. Taking on K®ß√a’s
identity, they began imitating His
activities and saying to one
another, “How beautiful is my gait? How
beautifully do I play
the flute?” At that time they didn’t know
what they were doing,
and this is what is meant by the words tan-manaskå˙.
They became
so absorbed in K®ß√a that their natures
changed like iron put into
a fire and they forgot everything.
As the gopîs searched for K®ß√a, all they
remembered were His
virtues and His pastimes with them.
Whereas we think mostly of
our material comforts and are capable of
forgetting bhakti, they
are just the opposite. We should endeavour
to become like the
eternal associates of Caitanya Mahåprabhu,
such as Mådhavendra
Purî, who would go days without eating or
even begging and
was always absorbed in remembrance of K®ß√a.
As our bhakti
increases, we will forget more and more
the demands of our
bodies and our bodily relations, and this
remembrance will also
increase. K®ß√a had left the gopîs, but
they never thought, “K®ß√a
is so cruel because He has left us!”
Otherwise they would have
given up searching for Him and returned
home, but they didn’t
do that. They continued searching for Him,
and they began
singing in glorification of His virtues,
especially His kindness:
160 Bhakti-rasåyana
pra√ata-dehinåμ påpa-karßa√aμ
t®√a-carånugaμ çrî-niketanam
pha√i-pha√årpitaμ te padåmbujaμ
k®√u kuceßu na˙ k®ndhi h®c-chayam
Çrîmad-Bhågavatam (10.31.7)
O Lord, You are very merciful. Why are You
afraid that there may
be a sinful reaction if You were to place
Your lotus feet on our
breasts? By merely remembering Your name,
all sins are destroyed.
Pra√ata means that if one surrenders
everything to Bhagavån
including one’s false ego, then all sins
are destroyed, and when all
of one’s sins are destroyed, then at once
one receives Bhagavån’s
direct darçana. Gajendra the elephant
fought with a crocodile for
thousands of years until, being partially
submerged in water, he
took a lotus in his trunk and held it up
as an offering to Bhagavån
while silently praying, “O Lord, now I am
surrendered to You,
and I am not even concerned if You save me
or if I perish.” By
the power of this surrender, all of his anarthas
and aparådhas
from so many lives were destroyed and at
once Bhagavån came.
He killed the crocodile with His cakra,
and Gajendra was released.
If someone factually surrenders to
Bhagavån, then that surrender
will be the destroyer of all of his
faults. Are we surrendered
like this? Have all of our faults and
offences been eradicated? This
is the measuring stick. Most of the
suffering that we are feeling
and the obstacles that are arising in our bhajana
are reactions to
our misdeeds in previous lives. No matter
where one goes, these
reactions to previous karma and offences
cannot be escaped, so
an intelligent man will remain in the
company of sådhus who will
gradually lead him to Bhagavån.
The gopîs pray, “pra√ata-dehinåμ
påpa-karßa√am – O Govinda,
You are so merciful that You destroy the
sins of those who surrender
to You. We are surrendered to You, so is
it that because of
the sins of our previous lives You remain
hidden from us and do
Chapter Fifteen 161
not give us Your darçana? We are crying in
separation from You,
and today, in this world there is no one
as unhappy as us. We
have abandoned forever our homes and
families, and now we are
left with no other shelter besides You! So
won’t You destroy all
of our sins?” These are the inner
sentiments of one gopî. There
are so many different kinds of gopîs with
different sentiments,
and another gopî is saying, “You destroy
the sins of one who is
surrendered. Until tonight we have not
been able to surrender,
but having abandoned our homes, husbands,
children and the
fear of being disgraced in society, we
have come to You. So what
remains for us to surrender? Now please
give us Your darçana,
and by placing Your lotus feet on our
heads, give us the boon of
mitigating our fear of the snake of
separation from You. Those
feet are eternally served by Çrî Lakßmî,
so are we to be deprived
of the favour of serving them because we
have taken birth in
cowherding families in Gokula? Those feet
follow after the cows
in the pastures, and You are so merciful
that even without any
umbrella over Your head or any shoes on
Your feet You take
those cows, who are merely ignorant
animals, out to graze, so
who could be as kind as You?” In this way,
even though they were
anguished, they continued to sing the
glories of K®ß√a’s lotus
feet.
In the Bhramara-gîta, we find the gopîs deriding
K®ß√a and
accusing Him of being cruel and deceptive,
but still their minds
never left Him.
m®gayur iva kapîndraμ vivyadhe
lubdha-dharmå
Çrîmad-Bhågavatam (10.47.17)
“In K®ß√a’s previous life, instead of
killing the innocent Våli in
the manner of a kßatriya, He killed him
from a hidden position
like a hunter. And when a woman approached
Him with amorous
desires, being a kßatriya He should have
satisfied her; but instead,
although He was excited by her beauty, He
wanted to preserve
162 Bhakti-rasåyana
His vow to Sîtå, so He made her ugly by
chopping off her nose
and ears. He is so eager to show that He
cannot be conquered by
a woman, but in that instance we can
clearly see that He really
had been overpowered by a woman.” Even
though they were
accusing K®ß√a, could they ever stop
thinking of Him and speak
about anything else?
In the verse we are discussing here, the
words tad-ålåpå˙ mean
that the gopîs sang in melodious tones the
glories of K®ß√a’s
names (nåma), qualities (gu√a), form (rüpa)
and pastimes (lîlå).
This is symptomatic of bhakti. In the
stage of sådhana, whenever
the mind strays, it must be brought back
to Bhagavån’s nåma,
gu√a, rüpa and lîlå, and then it is real sådhana.
There is no greater
sådhana than this. Even endeavouring to
push the thoughts of
worldly enjoyment out of the mind is not
necessary. The mind
that has a tendency to ponder sense
enjoyment should simply be
engaged in hearing and describing Bhagavån’s
names, qualities,
form and pastimes and that will be all
that is necessary. Doing
that more and more, then eventually these
topics will become
fully tasteful to us.
Tad-vice߆å˙ means the gopîs sang of K®ß√a’s
activities that were
in relation to them: how He met with them,
how He fed them
tåmbüla, how He tied bells on their
ankles, how He strung garlands
of flowers for them, and how when they
became fatigued
He wiped the dust from their faces and
bodies and composed a
bed of flowers for them to rest on. Then
they became tad-åtmikå
– both internally and externally they
began glorifying Him, and
they forgot their homes and even their
very own selves. What to
speak of returning to their homes,
remembrance of the home itself
didn’t even arise in their minds.
Glorifying K®ß√a more and more
in their separation, they completely
forgot all worldly concerns.
Impersonalist yogîs don’t meditate on
anything; their minds
become attached to the void. They don’t
meditate on the åtmå, on
Chapter Fifteen 163
Paramåtmå, or on any material object
either. They are niråçraya,
without shelter, and are therefore prone
to falling down; but
devotees, who follow in the footsteps of
the gopîs and constantly
meditate on K®ß√a’s attributes are åçraya,
sheltered, and there is
no possibility of them falling down.
Next comes this verse:
gopyas tapa˙ kim acaran yad amußya rüpaμ
låva√ya-såram asamordhvam ananya-siddham
d®gbhi˙ pibanty anusavåbhinavaμ duråpam
ekånta-dhåma yaçasa˙ çriya aiçvarasya
Çrîmad-Bhågavatam (10.44.14 ); B®had-bhågavatåm®ta
(2.7.135)
[The ladies of Mathurå said:] Which
austerities did the vraja-gopîs
perform by which they could always drink
through their eyes the
nectar of Çrî K®ß√a’s form – which is the
very essence of loveliness,
which is unequalled or unsurpassed, which
is perfect in itself and
always appears new and fresh, which is
extremely rare to behold
and which is always the exclusive shelter
of all fame, splendour
and opulence?
When K®ß√acandra entered the wrestling
arena with Balaråma,
the ladies of Mathurå spoke this verse in
glorification of the
gopîs. They said, “In this assembly,
irreligious activity (adharma)
is taking place, so we should not remain
here.” One should not
remain in a place where sinful activities
are being committed.
When the attempt was made to disrobe
Draupadî, that was also
an assembly of adharma, and men of good
values should not have
stayed there. So why then did Grandfather
Bhîßma remain there?
At that time sinful reaction did not come
to him because he
knew well the greatness of Bhagavån and
His devotees, and he
remained silent so that their greatness
would be shown. He could
have taken a stand against the evil men
who were offending
Draupadî, and he was certainly capable of
killing them all singlehandedly;
but even though Draupadî implored him to
help her,
164 Bhakti-rasåyana
he remained silent. He was a jñåni-bhakta,
and he knew that if
someone was surrendered to Bhagavån, then
He would protect
them accordingly. That was his thinking,
but what were those
evil men thinking? “What will Bhagavån do?
He has no power to
stop us, so we will do as we please” and
they tried to disrobe her.
And what about the På√∂avas? Four of them
were infuriated, but
Yudhi߆hira Mahåråja remained silent.
Being a jñåni-bhakta also,
he knew that K®ß√a would protect Draupadî
appropriately, but
Bhîma and Arjuna, who had less awareness
of K®ß√a’s divinity and
saw Him more as a common friend in sakhya-bhåva,
were furious.
At the wrestling arena, the ladies of
Mathurå saw how those
fearful wrestlers, whose massive bodies
were like mountains and
as if made of iron, wanted to kill soft
and tender K®ß√a. They saw
how Baladeva’s face was red with anger,
and how K®ß√a was smiling
even though He was also angry. Considering
that an injustice
was about to take place, they felt that it
would be shameful if they
remained there. There was no one present
who could prevent it:
Ugrasena had been imprisoned, and other
elders like Akrüra
remained hidden.
The meaning of this verse is, “What
austerities did the gopîs
perform by which they could see such a
beautiful and sweet form
of Çrî K®ß√a as He freely wandered in the
forests and kuñjas of
Vraja with a happy heart?” There the gopîs
received the darçana
of lovely, rasika K®ß√a playing the flute
and wearing a peacock
feather in His crown. But in the wrestling
arena, the ladies of
Mathurå did not see that beautiful form of
K®ß√a; instead they
saw Him in a fighting mood, after He had
broken the tusks of an
elephant and was decorated with drops of
blood.
What is the nature of K®ß√a’s form? Låva√ya-såram
asamordhvam
– it is the very essence of loveliness,
and its beauty is unequalled
and unsurpassed. Råma is beautiful, Nåråya√a
is beautiful and all
other incarnations of Bhagavån are
beautiful, but their beauty
Chapter Fifteen 165
does not surpass or even equal K®ß√a’s
beauty. Ananya-siddham –
if K®ß√a is wearing an ornament, He
becomes more beautiful and
if He removes that ornament, He becomes
even more beautiful.
Then if He becomes decorated with dust, He
becomes even more
beautiful again. In all circumstances He
is the most beautiful;
there is no necessity of His wearing any
ornament such as an earring
or a flower to increase His beauty. We
feel a need to increase
the attractiveness of our appearance – how
do we appear when we
are not wearing tilaka or when we are
wearing soiled clothing?
But because K®ß√a has no necessity of
trying to increase His
beauty, He is ananya-siddham.
D®gbhi˙ pibanty anusavåbhinavam – the
ladies of Mathurå are
saying, “That beautiful form of Çrî K®ß√a
which we have never
seen, the gopîs have seen in Vraja.”
Suppose we have a desire to
see someone whose appearance is very
beautiful. Upon seeing
their face just once, we become satisfied
and there is no need to
look again. But upon seeing K®ß√a, one
will have no desire to
remove their gaze from Him because He
always appears new and
fresh. One will perpetually remain thirsty
to drink the nectar of
His appearance and will never desire to
look away. His form is
the ekånta-dhåma – the exclusive shelter
of fame, beauty and
opulence as well as the three other
qualities of Bhagavån that are
not mentioned in this verse. So the ladies
of Mathurå are saying,
“Aho! What austerities did the gopîs perform
to receive darçana of
that form of Çrî K®ß√a? We are seeing K®ß√a
as He is angrily
attacking His enemies, but they saw Him as
the attractor of even
Cupid himself.”
They want to know what austerities were
performed by the
gopîs to attain darçana of that form, but
only by aspiring to serve
K®ß√a in the mood of the gopîs can this be
attained. Without an
intense hankering for that, it is very,
very difficult. No performance
of ordinary austerities can bestow the darçana
of that form
166 Bhakti-rasåyana
of K®ß√a that was seen by the gopîs. There
are so many of us who
chant one låkha of harinåma daily, and we
haven’t received that
darçana yet, so what to speak of others?
There are many wellknown
austerities, but none of them can bestow
this fruit. Some
persons sit in the middle of fires in the
hot season, and others
bathe at four in the morning in the Yamunå
in the cold season
and then return home in wet cloth
regardless of whether it is
windy, raining, snowing, whatever. But are
there any austerities
by the practice of which we can attain
Bhagavån?
årådhito yadi haris tapaså tata˙ kiμ
nårådhito yadi haristapaså tata˙ kim
antar bahir yadi haristapaså tata˙ kiμ
nåntar bahir yadi haris tapaså tata˙ kim
Nårada-pañcaråtra
What is the value of austerities performed
by sages like Durvåså
if they haven’t worshipped Bhagavån, and
if they don’t see
Bhagavån everywhere? And if one does see
Bhagavån within every
living entity and everywhere outside as
well, then what is the use
of any other austerities besides that form
of worship? For them
there is no necessity of performing any
austerities other than
observing devotional vows like those for
Ekådaçî, Janmå߆amî
and so on. Besides chanting the holy name
and hearing and
meditating on hari-kathå, there is no
method to attain K®ß√a’s
darçana. The objective of performing
austerities is to concentrate
one’s mind, but catching hold of the wind
is easy in comparison
to subjugating the wicked mind, so how
will it be accomplished?
It can only be achieved by serving Vaiß√avas,
hearing hari-kathå,
loudly chanting the holy name and
meditating on Bhagavån.
Because the ladies of Mathurå were seeing
K®ß√a with prema,
He appeared ever-new and fresh. There were
others present in
that arena such as the wrestlers, but did
they see Him in the same
way? They were not pleased upon seeing Him
and instead merely
Chapter Fifteen 167
became angry. Did Hira√yakaçipu enjoy
hearing Bhagavån’s
name, which is sweeter than sweetness
itself? So the ladies of
Mathurå are saying that the gopîs drank
the ever-fresh, enchanting
form of K®ß√a with their eyes just as one
drinks nectar with
the mouth. His form is the essence of låva√ya,
loveliness. It is as
if He is the very embodiment of all
loveliness.
A lion that is kept in a cage does not
appear very beautiful, but
when it is set free in the forest, then
the entirety of its beauty,
power and everything are apparent.
Similarly, all of K®ß√a’s beauty
and sweetness are exhibited only “in the
forest” of Vraja. He was
not as beautiful in the wrestling arena
with drops of the elephant’s
blood spattered on His face. In this
connection Sanåtana Gosvåmî
quotes this verse from Çrîmad-Bhågavatam (3.2.12):
yan-martya-lîlaupayikaμ sva-yogamåyå-
balaμ darçayatå g®hîtam
vismåpanaμ svasya ca saubhagarddhe˙
paraμ padaμ bhüßa√a-bhüßa√å∫gam
By His Yogamåyå potency, Bhagavån Çrî K®ß√a
appeared in this
world to lead the conditioned souls back
to Him, and He exhibited
a form which, upon being seen, would
enchant them all. That
form is the best of all, the ornament of
all ornaments, and seeing
it is the pinnacle of good fortune.
168 Bhakti-rasåyana
Chapter Sixteen
The Nature of the Gopîs’ Mahåbhåva
No one can taste K®ß√a’s beauty as the gopîs do. What is the
reason? Only in Vraja, where K®ß√a’s rüpa-mådhurî,
lîlå-mådhurî,
ve√u-mådhurî and prema-mådhurî are all
present, is He overpowered
by the prema of His associates. Of the
many devotees there,
none overpower Him as the gopîs do, and
amongst them, Çrîmatî
Rådhikå overpowers Him the most.
Concerning this point,
Sanåtana Gosvåmî has written a special
philosophical conclusion
in his commentary to this verse. As he
said before, Çrî K®ß√a, the
source of all incarnations, performs
unlimited pastimes in unlimited
dhåmas, but the pinnacle of His mådhurî flows
in Vraja and
nowhere else. Because the anuråga of the
residents there is forever
increasing, the entirety of His sweetness
is exhibited there. K®ß√a
is mådhurya, sweet, but if the gopîs were
not there, His sweetness
would not reach its highest point. No
other devotees can experience
yåvad-åçraya-v®tti, which is a special
characteristic of the
gopîs’ mahåbhåva.
To the degree that there is love for
something, it can be tasted,
and if there is no love, it cannot really
be tasted. The meaning of
yåvad-åçraya-v®tti is that the gopîs’
prema reaches as far as and
even further than anyone can possibly
describe it. If you stretch
a rubber band it will snap at a certain
point, but their prema, and
only theirs, increases unlimitedly.
Therefore they alone fully
relish the rasa of K®ß√a’s four types of mådhurî.
169
The tendency to relish the unsurpassed
beauty of K®ß√a’s form
is yåvad-åçraya-v®tti, another name for
which is mahåbhåva. K®ß√a
is rasaråja, and the gopîs are mahåbhåva,
and when they meet, the
gopîs relish He who is the very embodiment
of rasa. But the
dynamic nature of this meeting is that
sometimes K®ß√a becomes
yåvad-åçraya-v®tti, and the gopîs become rasaråja.
This is not possible
for anyone else but the gopîs; being
overpowered by their
prema, K®ß√a begins serving and attending
them.
Suppose there is a young boy who is lame,
ugly and unable to
speak properly. It is doubtful that others
will be very affectionate
towards him, but his mother will always
love him. Why? Because
she possesses anuråga, spontaneous love
for him, and although
that is simply a reflection of the genuine
sentiment, anuråga is
the root cause of love. Because the gopîs’
anuråga for K®ß√a
expands unlimitedly, it is called yåvad-åçraya-v®tti.
Upon receiving
K®ß√a’s darçana, the gopîs’ love
multiplies millions of times –
this is the v®tti, tendency, of their anuråga.
But this only occurs
when they see the unsurpassed mådhurya of K®ß√a’s
form; it does
not happen when they see anyone else,
including Uddhava, who
looks so much like K®ß√a.
The ladies of Mathurå lamented that
although they were
seeing K®ß√a directly, they did not
possess the quality of prema
for Him by which they could see His form
of unsurpassed beauty
as the gopîs always did. A person eats
something with great pleasure
when they are hungry. And if someone isn’t
hungry, they
may pinch a bit of the preparation off
with their nails, examine
it, find fault with it and not desire to
eat it. But if one is hungry,
he will consider any preparation to be
tasteful, even if it is stale.
Then what to speak of that preparation
which is unlimitedly
sweet? In this way, the gopîs’ “hunger”
for K®ß√a is such that as
they taste K®ß√a’s mådhurya, their mahåbhåva
increases so much
that it knows no upper limit. Even though
there is no space for
170 Bhakti-rasåyana
it to increase any further, still it
increases. In the upper stages
of mahåbhåva known as mådana and modana,
it perpetually
increases and feels ever-new and fresh.
In our present condition we cannot
estimate even a fraction of
that, but when our faith in the spiritual
master, the Vaiß√avas
and Bhagavån is sufficiently developed, then
as we become free
from the influence of our anarthas, ni߆hå
will come. Even if we
possess some çraddhå and ni߆hå in partial
form, still, our ruci
must become deep. For now our minds may
not remain steady,
but someday bhåva will come to us, and
precisely when it will
come is not in our hands. It is solely in
the hands of Bhagavån
and those devotees who possess that bhåva,
and only when they
bestow their mercy will it come to us. At
that time even the experience
of mahåbhåva will come to a deserving soul
automatically,
even though he may have not previously
known anything of that
tendency. It may seem that there is no
hope of it ever coming and
no space whatsoever for it in our hearts,
but still it will come
automatically. Then by its wonderful
influence one will easily
cross over whatever seemingly
insurmountable obstacles may
exist in this world.
The ladies of Mathurå speak of mådhurya K®ß√a
who had come
to Mathurå from Vraja. Why didn’t He bring
His flute with Him
to Mathurå? Because if He were to play the
flute in Mathurå, no
lady would leave her home and family in
the dead of night to
come to Him; there was no qualified
recipient for the flute-song
in Mathurå. The ladies there saw His
beautiful form, but would
they ever leave their husbands to go to
Him? Would it happen in
Dvårakå? All would be afraid of
transgressing their dharma and
being disgraced in society. Because mahåbhåva
and yåvad-åçrayav
®tti do not exist there, no one would
come.
In this regard Sanåtana Gosvåmî says in
his commentary
that a devotee will perform kîrtana and
hear hari-kathå of his
Chapter Sixteen 171
worshipful deity, but direct experience of
Him will only come in
the dhåma. A devotee may meditate on K®ß√a,
become absorbed
in remembrance of Him, and gain some
attachment for the
bhåva of Vraja, but direct experience of
K®ß√a can come only
in V®ndåvana, whether it is Gokula or
Goloka. In other places
meditation and remembrance are possible,
but direct experience
of Him is available only in V®ndåvana.
Therefore K®ß√a’s eternal
associates in Dvårakå and Mathurå may also
be able to estimate
the mådhurya of K®ß√a in Vraja to a
certain degree, but could
they ever achieve direct experience of it?
Would they ever be able
to abandon everything and come to K®ß√a in
the dead of night?
No, and neither would K®ß√a ever enter the
royal assembly hall
in Dvårakå in His Vraja attire.
Mahåbhåva is unlimitedly variegated.
Ordinarily it is said that
mahåbhåva is of two varieties, rü∂ha and adhirü∂ha,
but thousands
of variations of each of them are
possible, some in meeting and
some in separation. But all varieties of mahåbhåva
are embodied
in Çrîmatî Rådhikå, or they are manifest
in Her expansions as
the sakhîs. She is the svayaμ-rüpa of mahåbhåva,
as K®ß√a is the
svayaμ-rüpå and source of the tad-ekåtma, svåμçaka,
vilåsa, åveça,
pråbhava-prakåça, vaibhava-prakåça and gu√a
expansions. The
gu√a-avatåras are Brahmå, Viß√u and Ça∫kara,
and the åveçaavatåras
include P®thu, Nårada, Vyåsa, Kapila and
Paraçuråma.
They all possess specific natures or
empowerments. Then when
K®ß√a expands into forms that are fully sac-cid-ånanda
and sarvaçaktimån,
it is called tad-ekåtma-rüpa.
As all these personalities expand from Him
and perpetually
exist within Him, Rådhå embodies all of
the three hundred and
sixty varieties of heroines. Due to this
She always attracts K®ß√a’s
mind. If K®ß√a desires a specific bhåva, and
in one gopî it is found
to be insufficient, He can attain it by
associating with another
172 Bhakti-rasåyana
gopî. But none of them can completely
mystify and enchant Him
as only Rådhikå can.
Because unlimited feelings and desires
arise within K®ß√a,
as the best lover and the hero of all
women He is sometimes
dhîrodåtta (grave and gentle), sometimes dhîra-çanta
(peaceful
and forbearing), sometimes dhîra-lalita (carefree
and jovial) and
sometimes dhîroddhata (proud and
restless). He is all of these at
the same time, and when there is the
necessity for only one of
these moods, He manifests that specific one.
In the same way,
Çrîmatî Rådhikå manifests whatever mood is
necessary, sometimes
becoming dhîra (grave), sometimes måninî (pouting)
and
sometimes dakßi√a (clever). As the crown
jewel and very embodiment
of the three hundred and sixty varieties
of heroines, She
relishes the sweetness of K®ß√a to the
utmost. Because She can
manifest all the qualities of all the
varieties of heroines, She is
known as mådanåkhya-bhåva-vatî.
While meeting with K®ß√a She experiences mådana,
and in
separation from Him She experiences mohana.
Çrî Caitanya
Mahåprabhu showed something of these
elevated states of Hers
to the world, and besides Him there has
never been anyone in
this world who could exhibit these things.
However, when He
was exhibiting these states, Råya
Råmånanda and Svarüpa
Dåmodara, due to being His intimate
associates, could also relish
something of them. Besides them no one
else could comprehend
these sentiments, but later Mahåprabhu
invested the potency to
understand them directly into the heart of
Rüpa Gosvåmî,
saying, “He will manifest My bhåva in this
world through his
writings.”
As Rådhikå experiences unlimited pastimes,
the twenty varieties
of ecstatic symptoms beginning with kila-kiñcita
arise in
Her simultaneously. She Herself cannot
comprehend all these
Chapter Sixteen 173
sentiments, and the appropriate sentiment
is always manifest in
Her at the correct time for K®ß√a’s
pleasure. Because of this, She
is eternally the beloved of K®ß√a in His svayaμ-rüpa.
He never
appears to Her as any kåya-vyüha expansion,
or simply by sphürti
(arising in Her meditation), but is always
with Her in His original
form – in both meeting and separation.
Once, Rådhikå was seated somewhere in
Vraja meditating on
K®ß√a more and more until She suddenly
became completely
overwhelmed. Then from behind someone
placed their hands
over Her eyes. She called out, “Lalitå?”
But the hands were not
removed; only when She called out the name
of the person covering
Her eyes would the hands be removed. “Viçåkhå?
Citrå?
Kundalatå?” She called out the names of
all Her sakhîs, but still
the hands were not removed. When She said,
“Çyåmasundara!”
then He removed His hands and joyfully sat
beside Her. Sanåtana
Gosvåmî comments on this pastime that
Rådhikå thought that
K®ß√a appeared by sphürti – in Her
meditation, or that because
at that time He was present in Mathurå or
Dvårakå in His original
form, He must have come there by assuming
a kåya-vyüha
expansion. But he concludes that K®ß√a
must have appeared there
in His svayaμ-rüpa, because otherwise
Rådhikå would not be
fully satisfied. This is the wonderful
conception of Sanåtana
Gosvåmî.
If Mahåprabhu is in Purî, but in Navadvîpa
Mother Çacî is
crying while making an offering to Him,
would she be satisfied
if He were to appear there in a mere kåya-vyüha
expansion?
Knowing that she would only be satisfied
if He came in His
original form, He does just that, and it
is the same with Çrîmatî
Rådhikå. In His original form K®ß√a always
remains by the side
of Rådhikå, and is never able to be
separated from Her. Sanåtana
Gosvåmî says that because the vraja-devîs possess
the paramount
mahåbhåva – yåvad-åçraya-v®tti – how could
K®ß√a ever leave
174 Bhakti-rasåyana
them? Even while residing in a foreign
land He visits them in
V®ndåvana in His original form – and only
them, not others such
as the sakhås.
råkhite tomåra jîvana, sevi åmi nåråya√a,
tå∫ra çaktye åsi niti-niti
tomå-sane krî∂å kari’, niti yåi yadu-purî,
tåhå tumi månaha mora sphürti
mora bhågya mo-vasaye, tomåra ye prema
haye,
sei prema-parama prabala
lukåñå åmå åne, sa∫ga karåya tomå-sane,
praka†eha ånibe satvara
Çrî Caitanya-caritåm®ta (Madhya-lîlå 13.154–5)
Sitting alone with Rådhå in Vraja, K®ß√a
says, “My dearest
Çrîmatî Rådhikå, in the distant land of Dvårakå I have married
many ladies, but in reality I don’t love
any of them as I love You.
I searched the entire universe for one kiçorî
whose beauty, complexion
and nature was like Yours. I found
Satyabhåmå, but
I remain with her only because she reminds
Me of You; and similarly
I have married sixteen thousand queens
because each of
them reminds Me of the gopîs. If somehow
that remembrance of
You were to be lost, I would leave them
all at once. You say
that when we are apart You feel as if You
are dying, but I am
constantly meditating on how to save Your
life, and for this purpose
I worship Nåråya√a. By His mercy and
mystical potency,
I am able to come to V®ndåvana every day
to enjoy Your company.
You consider My appearance to be in Your
meditation or in a
kåya-vyüha form but I come to V®ndåvana in
My original form.
My great good fortune is the immense love
that You have for Me.
Unknown to everyone in Dvårakå and in
V®ndåvana, I come here
to You, and hopefully very soon I will
also be visible to everyone
else here.”
In the verse we are discussing are the
words amußya rüpam,
Chapter Sixteen 175
meaning “that very form”. The ladies of
Mathurå are saying, “We
are seeing K®ß√a, but why are we not
feeling the highest prema?
What austerities did the gopîs perform to
be able to see with the
eyes of mahåbhåva the original form of K®ß√a
– adorned with a
peacock feather in His crown, and as the
very essence of all loveliness?”
Unable to see that form of K®ß√a that the gopîs
see and
unable to experience the mahåbhåva of the gopîs,
they wanted to
know which austerities they could perform
to become similarly
fortunate.
Not everyone will be able to feel such
elevated bhåva. When
our gurudeva, Çrîla Bhakti Prajñåna Keçava
Gosvåmî Mahåråja,
would dance, he would move in an
exceptionally sweet and lovely
way. With his eyes turned upwards and
holding his sannyåsada√∂
a in his hand, he would dance immersed in bhåva.
I have
never seen such dancing as his in all my
life. Whenever he would
hear K®ß√a’s pastimes he would become
emotional and begin
weeping, and if we perform bhajana sincerely
with resolute determination,
we may also one day experience some of
this bhåva. We
desire these feelings as do the ladies of
Mathurå who lamented,
“Håya! Håya! We are seeing K®ß√a directly,
yet we cannot experience
the bhåva of the gopîs. Our lives are
useless!”
Sanåtana Gosvåmî says that only in Vraja
can the sweet form
of K®ß√a as the essence of loveliness and
the emporium of rasa be
seen, and only in Vraja can such a sweet bhåva
be experienced.
Outside Vraja, K®ß√a’s original form
cannot be seen directly, and
this bhåva cannot be directly relished. In
other places one may
possibly see K®ß√a by meditation or in one
of His expansions, but
direct experience of Him is not possible.
Next comes this verse:
176 Bhakti-rasåyana
yå dohane ’vahanane mathanopalepapre∫
khe∫khanårbha-ruditokßa√a-mårjanådau
gåyanti cainam anurakta-dhiyo ’çru-ka√†hyo
dhanyå vraja-striya urukrama-citta-yånå˙
Çrîmad-Bhågavatam (10.44.15); B®had-bhågavatåm®ta
(2.7.136)
The gopîs are extremely fortunate, because
their hearts are always
so absorbed in Çrî K®ß√a that while
milking cows, churning
yoghurt, applying candana and other
decorations to their bodies,
comforting crying babies, washing their
floors and performing all
other household duties, tears of love flow
from their eyes as they
continuously sing about His purifying
fame.
Generally, when a kani߆ha-adhikårî goes
to visit a mahåbhågavata
Vaiß√ava, he first thinks “He is a kani߆ha-adhikårî
just
like me.” At first, Sarvabhauma Bha††åcårya
ridiculed Råya
Råmånanda, thinking that he spoke too
highly about women –
Sarvabhauma considered the gopîs to be
ordinary women. He
only respected the scholarship of the four
Kumåras, the renunciation
of Çukadeva Gosvåmî and the impersonal
conception of
Ça∫karåcårya. Therefore if one isn’t of a
higher type himself, he
won’t be able to understand the bhåva of
higher devotees. And
only a great, perfected personality who is
rågåtmikå, a devotee
who is in the final stage of rågånuga-sådhana,
will understand the
prema of the gopîs. Even devotees such as
Bhîßma who were contemporary
with them could not fully understand the
exalted
nature of their prema. Only those who were
near them could
understand something of it. For instance,
Uddhava had to leave
Dvårakå and go to Vraja to understand
something about how
exalted the gopîs were; if he had remained
in Dvårakå, he would
have never understood.
This verse and the previous one were
spoken by the ladies of
Mathurå, and because Mathurå is only five
miles from Vraja,
sometimes the spiritual greed of the
devotees of Vraja would find
Chapter Sixteen 177
its way to Mathurå. Besides Uddhava,
sometimes tradesmen and
others would travel back and forth between
Vraja and Mathurå,
and in this way the residents of Mathurå
would be able to understand
something of the bhåva of Vraja; but those
who lived far
away from Vraja understood nothing of it.
Even in separation from K®ß√a, the gopîs were
always meeting
Him. While looking after their children,
milking the cows,
churning yoghurt, applying candana and
doing housework, they
always received His direct darçana through
singing about Him,
and therefore kîrtana is the best
devotional activity. Singing in
unison in a soft morning råga, they saw
K®ß√a with the eyes of
bhåva, even though not abandoning their
duties. Similarly, a
sådhaka will observe all the rules and
regulations of vaidhî-bhakti,
but internally his bhåva should be of rågånuga-bhakti.
Externally
he will appear to be the same, but
internally his bhåva will be different.
The greed of rågånugå will take one to
Vraja, whereas
vaidhî-bhakti will take one only to Vaiku√†ha.
Because the ladies
of Mathurå are in close proximity to Vraja
and therefore the
bhåva of Vraja, they are praying that they
will also experience the
bhåva of the gopîs.
At the time of the råsa-lîlå, K®ß√a and
the gopîs were singing
together. In beautiful melodies saturated
with rasa, the gopîs
defeated K®ß√a by singing “K®ß√a sådhu, K®ß√a
sådhu” in a note
higher than K®ß√a could sing. As the
ladies of Mathurå contemplated
pastimes such as this which the gopîs enjoyed
with K®ß√a,
they said, “Whereas we can only see K®ß√a
here in a fighting
mood, the gopîs perpetually see Him in His
form as the crown
jewel of vidagdha. We have never received
such good fortune!”
Vidagdha means witty and ingenious, but
when applied to K®ß√a
it means He who is rasika-catura –
supremely clever and skilful
in relishing rasa. These ladies of Mathurå
were not even as fortunate
as the Pulinda girl, who often heard the
vibration of K®ß√a’s
178 Bhakti-rasåyana
flute. Even the deer of Vraja heard the
melody of His flute, but
the ladies of Mathurå could only imagine
it.
All of our duties should be performed
while singing nåmasa∫
kîrtana. Suppose there is a pitcher of
water. If we simply add
some lemon juice and some sugar, it
immediately becomes
nectar. Similarly, we must perform so many
worldly duties, but
if, following in the bhåva of our
spiritual master, we meditate on
Bhagavån while carrying them out, they
will all become nectar. In
the conditioned state, we are always
considering what is favourable
and what is unfavourable to our bhakti.
Because we are in the
beginning stages, everything appears to be
unfavourable to us,
and therefore our minds are disturbed. But
to the degree which
we progress in sådhana-bhajana means to
that degree the vision
of what is unfavourable will diminish. And
when one reaches the
stage of bhåva, he will perceive
everything that he previously considered
to be unfavourable as favourable.
Actually, nothing in this world is
unfavourable to us; it is only
due to our present weaknesses and anarthas
that we see our environment
as unfavourable. Whatever obstacles we are
currently
facing are due to our own previous
misdeeds, and are not the
fault of any other person.
In this verse, the rasika ladies of
Mathurå say urukrama-cittayånå
˙: the gopîs’ minds flow spontaneously
towards Urukrama-
K®ß√a. Uru means a strong, continuous
current, and because their
minds spontaneously flow towards K®ß√a
with great speed and
force, they are fortunate, and thus K®ß√a
comes to them directly
while they are singing. So if while
carrying out our household
duties our minds and hearts are absorbed
in K®ß√a’s nåma, rüpa,
gu√a and lîlå,
then very soon we will receive His direct darçana.
Om Tat Sat
(Continued...)
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