My friend Braj Khandelwal, a senior journalist of the Times of India, whom I had met through Jagannath Poddar, invited me to be a part of the Taj Literature Festival. It was being held in Vrindavan for a special session about Braj literature. Several notable persons were honored on this occasion and for some reason I was also chosen for a minor award.
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"Are you quite sure?"Taj Literature Festival honor by
Cinestar and Member of Parliament Smt. Hema Malini |
My friend Braj Khandelwal, a senior journalist of the Times of India, whom I had met through Jagannath Poddar, invited me to be a part of the Taj Literature Festival. It was being held in Vrindavan for a special session about Braj literature. Several notable persons were honored on this occasion and for some reason I was also chosen for a minor award.
I say "for some reason" because I have not done that much work in Braj Bhasha despite being so long in contact with Braj. I went into some Radhavallabhi texts when researching Prabodhananda Saraswati. But it is hardly my specialty.
There are many Gaudiya writings in Braj bhasha, worth a look. And even a few of the early writers of the Radhavallabhi sampradaya were Gaudiyas (Bhagavanta Mudita in particular). Premdas, the commentator on Bhaktamal is a Gaudiya in the Gopala Bhatta line. And then you have Gadadhar Bhatta whose vani is in Braj.
I was asked to come to the podium and speak and had just finished one verse of my mangalacharana when our local MP (or Samsad) Hema Maliniji arrived. That was the end of my speech! All the other people on the stage were completely forgotten in her presence. And when she left, the entire audience left. That is the power of Hema Malini.
For those who don't know, Hema Malini is a Bollywood superstar, and though she is my age she is remarkably young looking and still a very active performer as a classical dancer. She is a devotee and has even released a record of bhajans. One of her biggest roles came in 1979 as Meera when she played
Meera Bai. She only became MP in 2014 when she was recruited by the BJP and swept the election in Mathura district.
In her talk she recounted that when she was playing the part of Meera Bai she came to Vrindavan and visited the Meera temple in Govinda Bagh in
order to get Meera's blessings. She said that she wanted to do the film so
badly that she even accepted compensation far below her usual rate. Prahlad Goswami of the Meera temple was also present on this day and spoke of that occasion.
I found it on Youtube. Pandit Ravi Shankar did the music for the film.
Of course, it was a bit different kind of talk she gave this
time. She said herself, I am an actress and performer first and only recently
became a Samsad. So most of the time when I come to Mathura [her first home is in Mumbai], people are talking to me
about fixing roads and drains, etc., but the subject of Braj Bhasha is closer to my heart.
It is the language of devotion and poetry and still
many of the popular songs, even those used in Bollywood, are taken from the
Braj tradition.
Other speakers also lamented, as is usual, the loss of Braj
Bhasha as a spoken and literary language as it has been buried under the
overwhelming influence of Khari Boli (i.e., modern Hindustani). This is not
only true of Braj but of all north Indian vernaculars in the Hindi belt --
Maithili, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani, etc., etc.
I was somewhat amazed that she is still of such interest. After all, she has been all over the place in Braj-Vrindavan since she became MP. But had I had the chance, one of the things that I might have said to her would
have been to appreciate the attention that she and the BJP have attracted to
Vrindavan in the past year. It has really been phenomenal.
2017
We are learning, through the process given us by our gurus, to create our own reality. In the case of the Gaudiya Vaishnava parampara, how to create a world of love. This is our task.
2016सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः
सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु मा कश्चिद् दुःखभाग् भवेत्
सर्वेषां स्वस्तिर्भवतु सर्वेषां शान्तिर्भवतु
सर्वेषां पूर्णं भवतु सर्वेषां मङ्गलं भवतु
sarve bhavantu sukhinaḥ sarve santu nirāmayāḥ
sarve bhadrāṇi paśyantu mā kaścid duḥkhabhāg bhavet
sarveṣāṁ svastir bhavatu sarveṣāṁ śāntir bhavatu
sarveṣāṁ pūrṇaṁ bhavatu sarveṣāṁ maṅgalaṁ bhavatu
May everyone in Mayapur continue their service to Srila Prabhupada's and Sri Chaitanya's sankirtan movement. May the Holy Names reveal their brilliant divine form to all without exception.
May all those who wish to stay and live and visit the Dham be unobstructed in their coming and going and staying. May India's leaders welcome those who seek to plumb the depths of her spiritual traditions, with clarity and without confusion.
May all those who seek the divine grace of the Holy Dhams be given an open channel of access, so that grace shines through like the sunshine through an open window.
May my love for Radha and Krishna, guru and Gauranga, the Vaishnavas, the Braja vasis, and the Holy Dham of Vrindavan grow ever strong, that I may ever float on the waves of Prema Bhakti, that I may honor my guru varga by my service, and that I may be a friend to the devotees and a guide to the seekers.
Jai Sri Radhe.
rādhā puraḥ sphurati paścimataś ca rādhā
rādhādhisavyam iha dakṣiṇataś ca rādhā |
rādhā khalu kṣiti-tale gagane ca rādhā
rādhā-mayī mama babhūva kutas tri-lokī ||
I see Radha in front, Radha behind; I see Radha to my left and Radha to my right. Radha is on the ground and Radha is in the sky. How is it that I see the three worlds all filled with Radha alone? (Vidagdha-mādhava 5.18)
2015: Sent to me by Meenaketan Ramdas who took this photo on a Polaroid in 1982. Then he tried to capture it with his phone's camera. So not great quality. At the time I was spending Karttik in Tin Kori Prabhu's ashram at Radha Kund.
It would be great if I had a better quality as it is very valuable to me, as are the ones he took of me with Prabhu. I was so glad he was there to record these moments of my past, they are conjuring up amazing memories of the good fortune I have known in my life.
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