The Hope for Vrindavan and Prema



I have been working for some time on Harilal Vyasa’s monumental commentary to Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi. About 170 verses of the 270 total have been completed. There will be two files in all cut exactly in half. Apparently Vyasa took a four year hiatus before doing the second half of the work. One feature that is more noticeable in the second half is the addition of many more verses from Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta.

Three simple verses from Harilal Vyasa's conclusion to the Rasa-kulyā commentary:

yatra yatra janur me syāt tatra tatra sadā tvayi |
prītir nirargalā bhūyān prārthaye bhūri-bhūriśaḥ ||23||
śrīmad-vṛndāvane vāsaṁ dehi dehi vaneśvari |
yadi naitādṛśaṁ bhāgyaṁ mā kurv āśā-vināśanam ||24||
āśā-nāśaṁ sarva-nāśam āśaiva paramaṁ dhanam |
nārake'pi janur me'stu tvad-vanāśā vased dhṛdi ||25||

I pray profusely, O Radhe, that wherever I take my next birth, I should always have unbound love for you.

O Queen of Vrindavan, please grant me residence in glorious Vrindavan. And if you do not bestow such fortune, then at least don't destroy my hopes.

Loss of hope is total perdition; hope is the most valuable treasure of all. Even if I should be born in hell, let me keep the hope of being in your forest alive in my heart.

Reminds me of this one, quoted as the introduction to Mañjarī-svarūpa-nirūpaṇa by Kunja-bihari Dasji:

yasya sphūrti-lavāṅkureṇa laghunāpy antar munīnāṁ manaḥ
spṛṣṭaṁ mokṣa-sukhād virajyati jhaṭity āsvādyamānād api
premṇas tasya mukunda sāhasitayā śaknotu kaḥ prārthane
bhūyāj janmani janmani pracayinī kintu spṛhāpy atra me

O Mukunda, giver of liberation!
Who in the world is there with the courage
to pray for the gift of sacred love,
of which even the slightest manifestation,
when brushing against the minds of the great sages,
makes them forget the happiness of liberation?

My prayer therefore to you is this:
that I should simply desire for such prema,
and that this desire should increase forever,
in this world, birth after birth.

(Rupa Goswami, Aṣṭādaśa-chandaḥ, Vastra-haraṇa, 2)



Comments

Anonymous said…
Pondering on the three elements which comprise the title of this blog "Hope for Vrindavan and Prema", I've broken things down like this:

Considering the fiasco that Obama has turned into, the term Hope has certainly taking on a new, unintended meaning. Hope will never again be about desirable things happening but about the worst not repeating itself. Or yet to come.

Vrindavan. When we hope for Vrindavan these days we do literally hope for the ideal Vrindavan: the earth manifest Vrindavan has been sold out to Sri Ji and such corporations of India - what hope is there now for this Vrindavan?

Prema remains the ideal, probably a bit farther removed though, a bit delayed, as it were.
Monday, 14 December, 2009
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