Sri Pranananda Mishra’s Korcā

 

Sri Pranananda Mishra’s Korcā

Gadadhar Pran Das, whatsapp+91-7501237557

This korcā continues from where Another Side of Thakura Bhaktivinoda left off.

In ancient Bengal when Sri Gauranga’s bhauma lila was manifest in our world, a diary was called a korcā, and Svarupa Damodar, Murari Gupta and Raghunath das Goswami are amongst the foremost authors who wrote korcās to record what they witnessed in Mahaprabhu’s daily life.

But similarly, as we make notes of our Gaura lila and Krishna lila meditations (to preserve and share these adventures) Pranananda Mishra’s Korcā will become like a diary as well.

As this venture begins though we wonder: Can this personal diary be presented to a general audience? Because since most people are uninformed about how the raganuga bhakti process works (to bring about our eternal destiny with Sri Bhagavan in the spiritual world) won’t they lack appreciation for what we earnestly wish to share? But on the other hand, those who are resolute in sadhana are likely to get newer inspiration as they read this korcā. So what should we do?

Since our mind was wavering, we asked our inner voice for counsel, and after some introspection a reply came: “Don’t worry about the outcome of your writing, for won’t a few rasika bhaktas turn up to make everything successful?”

 

Introduction

 kr̥ṣṇa līlāmr̥ta sār, tār śata śata dhār

daśa dike bahe jāhā haite

se caitanya līlā hoy, sarobara akhoy

mano-hamsa corāha tāhāte

caitanya līlāmr̥ta-pūra, kr̥ṣṇa līlā sukarpūra

duhe mili hoy sumādhurjya

sādhu guru prasāde, tāhā je āsvāde

sei jāne mādhurjya prācurjya

“As the essence of Krishna’s nectar pastimes flow in hundreds of streams from every direction to enter the eternal lake of Gaura lila—just let the swan of your mind take shelter there.

"But such Gaura-lila nectar becomes far more relishable when the fine-camphor of Krishna lila is added. So by guru and Vaisnava kripa those who can relish both lilas together know where the greatest abundance of sweetness lies.”

                                                                                    — Caitanya caritamrita, Madhya 25

 Here the Kaviraja advises: “Since so many kinds of Vraja lila rasa enter Gaura lila, why not become like a swan to relish as much of the nectar as you can? But your Gaura lila relish will increase many-fold if you can combine it with your Krishna lila worship.”

 Now we could wonder: to relish such a variety of lila rasa won’t we need to have a number of siddha svarupas to do so?

 Yet suffice it to say, Jiva Goswami tells us how this happens very easily in the spiritual world:

tatra nānā-kriyādy-adhiṣṭhānatvād eva līlā-rasa-poṣāya 

teṣu prakāśeṣv abhimāna-bhedaṁ parasparam ananusandhānaṁ ca 

prāyaḥ svecchayorīkarotīty api gamyate | 

evaṁ tac-chaktimayatvāt tat-parikareṣv api jñeyam | 

“To relish various rasa-flavors Krishna displays numerous prakāśa forms, and each form has a separate mentality. Moreover, as Krishna relishes various kinds of rasa in different lila realms none of his various prakāśa forms know about what all of the others are doing.

Yet similarly, because Krishna’s eternal associates are his cid sakti, they can also display a number of prakāśa forms (each with a separate identity) in different lila realms. So as a bhakta’s various prakāśa  forms serve in Krishna’s various līlā-prakāśa, none of those prakāśa forms know about what all of the others are doing either.”

                                    — Krishna sandarbha, Krishna lila rahasya, Anuccheda 153

Isn’t this truly amazing how we can have a number of siddha svarupas to serve in Gaura and Krishna’s various lilas? And from this perspective everything becomes multi-dimensional. Yet it is Yogamaya who arranges this so expertly that Krishna, Gauranga and the bhaktas don’t have to think twice about what is going on—as everything runs so smoothly.

Pranananda Mishra’s Korcā is based on this theme: of how we can serve Sri Bhagavan in different ways in a number of siddha svarupas.

Chapter One

The Characters

Our story has five characters. In Goloka Navadvipa, Pranananda Mishra, Padmapriya Sakhi and Parama Sundari Devi appear. Then in Goloka Vrindaban Parama Sukhi Manjari and Surangini Sakhi will advent.

Now we might guess that since the name of this diary is Sri Pranananda Mishra’s Korcā is he the main character?

No, not really, for all of the five characters are equally important. So let us begin to tell something about each one of them:

1) As a close relative of Gadadhar Pandit, Pranananda Mishra lives next to him in Goloka Navadvipa’s southwest section. And just as every dhama-vasi is a premika Vaisnava, his three sons, three daughters and devoted wife are endowed with prema. So when joining together (to serve as a team) we then become able to lovingly receive and appropriately serve Gauranga and his bhaktas when they visit our home. Here is an example:

Since the setting is Goloka Navadvipa, our palace’s opulence outmatches that of Vaikuntha. For here in our manimaya mandir the life-size vigraha worship of Radha-Kelicanda, Ananga Manjari and the ashta sakhis is always going on. Yet the murtis actually become jagrata, and come alive, upon receiving the prema seva of our three daughters who appear just like manjari gopis.

Thus when coming for darshan Mahaprabhu and the bhaktas often become overwhelmed in bhava as they dance and perform kirtan before the vigrahas. But at such times our three sons and some other great musicians join in to expertly sing and play various instruments which transport everyone to an incredible state of divine enrapture (as they are well-versed in ragas and raginis that enhance the Lord’s internal mood).

But when stepping outside (to relax after the kirtana), everyone cannot help but become lured by the beautiful gardens which remind them of madhura Vrindavan. Thus a host of enchanting pastimes begin—such as vasanta holi, jhulan, madhupan, and prema keli. But because the Alakananda Ganga flows beside these nikunjas (where many gemstone ghatas have their steps leading into the crystal clear stream), everyone’s desire next awakens to bathe and enjoy jala keli.

During this time, however, my wife has been assisting Vishnupriya and Jahnava in the kitchen, as they have come today to help prepare Radha-Kelicanda’s bhoga offering. For soon Gaura, Nitai and the bhaktas will be taking prasada. Thus, as the time for mid-day bhojan draws near, our family members go to serve Radha-Kelicanda’s maha prasada to the Lord and his associates. And as they dine in the various jeweled pavilions which line the Alakananda’s picturesque shore, the meal turns out to be a wonderful mahotsava.

In this way, during various times throughout the six-seasons of the year, our family remains busy in offering a variety of prema seva to Gauranga and his bhaktas.

2) When our gurudeva mercifully gave us a manjari svarupa with the name Paramasukhi, he indicated that she will reside in Goloka Vrindaban near Srimati Radharani’s raja mandir at Varshana—and her gopa father and mother’s name will be Mahabhata and Parul gopi. “But when you become a kishori,” he added, “you will marry Khipra gopa and reside in Yavat village. Nevertheless, after sneaking away from home, you will lovingly engage in your yuthesvari Radha’s  ashta-kala-seva.”

In our parampara, though Ananga Manjari and Radha are both yuthesvari gopis. Thus the privilege to serve in both groups is there. In having a close tie with Visakha, however, we serve under her guidance as her palya-dasi (fostered maidservant). And because she and Radha were born the same day, Visakha’s mood and nature almost resembles Radha’s. But I would say that Visakha’s heart can be softer. Because when Krishna misbehaves and Radha chases him away, Visakha often arranges that notorious Shyam come and beg forgiveness at Rai’s lotus feet—and this sets their sambhoga lila back into motion.

Since Parama Sukhi is Visakha’s palya-dasi, she receives a kunja residence within her very expansive Madan Sukhada Kunja at Radha Kund. And with Visakha’s sangita training she can sing wonderfully composed solos during the rāsa-līlā. Moreover, Parama Sukhi has a special talent for dressing the Divine Couple, especially in flower outfits with flower ornaments. But her most cherished seva is in massaging Radha’s lovely body with scented oil, and sometimes she also gets to massage Krishna.

3) Returning to Goloka Navadvipa, we next assume a beautiful kishori svarupa to serve Vishnupriya Devi, as she is our guru parampara’s leading Acarya. In this special lila prakasa Priyaji is more dear to us than our very life, and here our sakhi name is Padma Priya. Since Amita (one of Vishnupriya’s ashta-sakhis) is Vishakha in Vraja, Padma Priya has the good fortune to serve closely beside her. Even so, Vishnupriya often becomes eager to arrange our milan with Gaurasundar, as this gives her more pleasure than when she unites with him herself.

It is important to mention though that as Radha Govinda perform ashta kala pastimes in Goloka-Vrindavan, Gaura and Vishnupriya perform those same lilas that we read about in Govinda lilamrita. So as we follow our guru parampara’s sakhi members to intimately serve Prabhu and Priyaji in their hidden “Gupta Vrindaban” abode, we feel very fortunate and grateful. Because this is a realm which is inaccessible to Gaura’s male parshadas.

4) Upon entering Goloka Vrindaban again, this time our yearning to serve Krishna in kanta bhava (consorthood) becomes fulfilled. Because Mahaprabhu imparted this form of worship to Vamsivadan (who is the second leading Acarya in our guru parampara) this bhava is available. In this līlā prakāśa  we receive a sakhi svarupa named Surangini. We will have to admit though that she is a top-notch rasika ramani, as she doesn’t hesitate to go all out to give Shyamsundar some of the most amazing sambhoga-ananda that he could ever dream of.

Let us note, however, that Surangini’s conjugal loving pastimes with Krishna take place in a separate līlā prakāśa from the realm where she serves Radha-Krishna in manjari bhava.

5) Returning to Goloka Navadvipa, we come at last to our favorite role (and most deeply felt mood), which is in our yuthesvari nagari svarupa named Parama Sundari Devi. Now as the name Parama Sundari implies, “one who is supremely beautiful,” only she can testify to how Gaurasundar becomes completely fascinated upon seeing her lovely form (which is truly the Creator’s special masterpiece). For such a large stock of beauty makes him turn impatient to enjoy her! But upon noticing his eagerness, Parama Sundari’s zeal to unite with him becomes insurmountable! So as we both nurture a great yearning to relish prema keli, this wonderful activity become the very life of our life.

On the other hand, Parama Sundari loves to arrange her sakhis’ pleasure pastimes with Gaurasundar as well. For they are just as eager to display their talents in the srngara rasa arts as she is. Thus her ashta sakhis' names are: 1) Ruci-tamra, 2) Prema sindhu, 3) Caru-vilasini, 4) Rati pramodini, 5) Madan-mohini, 6) Rati-vinodini, 7) Tunga-keli and 8) Surata-sundari.

Then to expertly assist (and expand upon) all of the premamaya seva which keep these romantic adventures going our eight leading manjaris are supremely rasika, and their names are: 1) Prema-lata, 2) Priya-lata, 3) Caru-lata, 4) Citra-lata, 5) Manju-lata, 6) Madhu-lata, 7) Sneha-lata and 8) Snigdha-lata.

Rasa Analysis 

Now isn’t more explanation needed? Because how on earth can one expect to nurture and maintain five different svarupas in the spiritual world?

We should confess though that this didn’t happen overnight. Because when we began practicing smaran sadhana in the early 80s, we didn’t know that the process would turn out to be so elaborate. For the conception that we now maintain gradually unfolded over the course of time.

From the transcendental standpoint, however, it is very natural for Gaura, Krishna and their nitya parshadas to have numerous svarupas. For this is how they relish numerous flavors of lila rasa, as Jiva Goswami clearly indicates in his previous Krishna sandarbha siddhanta. And this becomes possible because Yogamaya works imperceptibly (behind the scenes) to make sure that everything runs smoothly.

But what about us, the sadhak and sadhika bhaktas of our world who are diligently struggling to attain siddhi? How will we be able to accommodate such a wide range of lila smaran since we have only one mind and one body to work with?

Here we will have to admit (from experience) that it isn’t possible to keep tabs on so many variegated forms at once. So the process we have adopted is to meditate occasionally on our other four svarupas (to keep them simmering in the broth) as we focus more intently on the svarupa that attracts us the most. And thus we follow Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s advice in the last chapter of his Harinama cintamani:

smaraṇe bicāra eka āche to sundara

āpanāra yogya smr̥ti koro nirantara

“While performing lila smaran there is a beautiful consideration: you only need to perform the kind of smaran that you enjoy the most.”

So for us this means the smaran of Parama Sundari Devi’s prema-keli lila with her rasamaya nagar Gaurasundar. Then as far as our other four svarupas are concerned—as Pranananda Mishra, Padma Priya Sakhi, Surangini Sakhi and Parama Sukhi Manjari, we meditate on them occasionally. Now what will be the result of this?

To attain siddhi (the Lord’s suddha sattva sakti at the stage of bhava) won’t we need to fix our mind with deep attachment and anuraga on the lilas that we enjoy the most? But if our mind is splayed out and going in numerous directions, this stage can never be attained. So our first and foremost objective is to attain bhāva upon attaining which the Lord’s suddha sattva sakti  can enter our heart. This is Sri Bhagavan’s sarva prakasini svarupa sakti that will award his direct darshan. With this divine sakti we will be able to see our own svarupa and have direct visions of the lila (which are called sphurtis). Then from this stage prema will naturally come in a short time as we relish a closeness and intimacy with our beloved Lord. And our other four svarupas will also become active by the suddha sattva sakti’s divine influence.

 

Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s Guru Parivara 

In the beginning, when receiving initiation in 1980, we had only one siddha deha to meditate on—our manjari svarupa in Vraja which forms the basis of our other four svarupas.

Over the course of time, however, when learning about the other kinds of relationships with Sri Bhagavan that are found in our Guru parampara, our interest to have more than one svarupa came.

For example, because Bhaktivinoda’s guru parivara members all serve in Gauranga’s Goloka Navadvipa lila as well, our second desire awakened to become Pranananda Mishra for the privilege to serve along with them there.

Then after reading Vamsi-siksa our third desire came, to worship Krishna in kanta bhava since Mahaprabhu imparted this siksa to Vamsivadan, our sampradaya’s second Acarya. For in this worship our feelings of conjugal love for Krishna can be cultivated.

But because Srimati Vishnupriya devi is the leader and foremost Acarya of this parivara, our fourth desire awakened to serve in her madhura pastimes with her prana-ballabha Gaurasundar. Thus to become eligible we will need a sakhi svarupa—in the same way that one has to take on a gopi svarupa to serve Radha Krishna. And hence every parivara member has such a female form also.

In this way, for those receiving initiation in Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s guru parivar it won’t be surprising that they desire to cultivate a number of different svarupas.

But what about our fifth svarupa as Parama Sundari Devi (whom we feel the most attracted to)? How did our interest awaken to cultivate this form?

Perhaps we could say that the desire came after hearing about nagari bhava bhajan from our siksa guru back in 1990. But there is a deeper reason. Because have we ever stopped to seriously contemplate how we jivas can give Sri Bhagavan the greatest pleasure?

 Although this question is not easy to answer, Narahari Sarkhar wonderfully pinpoints what we wish to convey in his  Bhakti candrika’s very first line:

kantam santam asesa jiva hrdayananda svarupam param 

“In his form as our supreme conjugal lover (parama kānta) Sri Gaurasundar awards eternal peace and supreme happiness in the hearts of limitless jivas.”

Rasa Analysis

 As this important siddhanta forms a beautiful meditation, let us try to envision the internal realm that Thakura Narahari is alluding to. For this special līlā prakāśa in Goloka Navadvipaa is where Svayam Bhagavan Sri Gaurasundar reigns in his most amazing feature as the śr̥ngāra rasa rāja. In his Stavaraja Advaita Acarya also points to this realm:

koti kandarpa labanya keli lila manoramam

saksat lila-tanum keli-tanum srngar vigraham 

“Hey Madanmohan Gauranga! Your very glamorous prema keli adventures with your beautiful consorts outmatch (by far) the romantic prowess of millions of Cupids! No wonder you personify srngara (conjugal love) since your transcendental body forms the beautiful abode for all of your wonderful prema keli pastimes.”

In Caitanya-bhāgavata, Vrindaban das Thakur also supports these siddhantas when he says:

kāmalīlā korite jokhon icchā hoy

lakhārbuda banitā se koren vijay 

“When Sriman Gaurasundar desires to perform his madhura loving pastimes (kāma lila) he can defeat countless trillions of pretty damsels in prema keli.

                                                                                    — C.b. 1.12.237

Hey readers! Let us not be swayed by the modern Vaisnava trends or by what our present Vaisnava leaders preach—for we will be misled. Let us rather take shelter of Mahaprabhu’s nitya parshadas such as Narahari, Advaita and Vrindaban das—who directly take part in these wonderful pastimes.

So who can help others discover the wonderful madhurjya of Sriman Gaurasundar’s topmost lila prakasa? And who will be able to award them a suitable nagari svarupa for joining these pastimes? Hence we find another need for Parama sundari’s jhutesvari form to advent.

But this is all found within Thakura Bhaktivinoda’s guru parivara too—for aren’t his worshipable devatas Gaura and Gadadhar?

[Let us remind our readers that this korcā continues from where Another Side of Thakura Bhaktivinoda left off. So if you have previously read this book you will have a good idea about what Gaura-Gadadhar and Gaura-Vishnupriya’s worship includes.]