Jagat

For the occasion, and oldy but goldy from Gaudiya Discussions, July 22, 2004: olo ! āmarā rāiera dāsī ! āmarā rāiera dāsī ! āmarā rāiera sevā bhālovāsi Listen everyone! We are Radha's dasis ! We are Radha's dasis, and we love to serve Radharani. rāi jokhon je bhāve thāke, āmarā ghire basi rāi kāndile āmarā kāndi, hāsile āmarā hāsi Wherever Radha is, in whatever mood she is, we gather all around her. If she cries, we cry; and if she laughs, we laugh. rāi śyāmake bhālovāse, tāi āmarā-o bhālovāsi rāi ānugatye śyāma sevā kori, dekhe rāi boṛo ullāsī Radha loves Shyam, so we love Shyam, too. When she sees that we serve him according to her directions, she becomes ebullient. rāi śyāma-nāma bhālovāse, tāi āmarā nāme piyāsī rāi sukhe nāma kori bale, sei bhālovāse kālośaśī Rai loves Shyam's name, so that makes us thirst for it. And because we sing his name for her pleasure, she loves him even more. rāiera mukhe kṛṣṇa-kathā śuni, mora soba divāniśi ...

I find the Prema-vilāsa a bit confusing; it seems to switch times, people, voices without giving full warning. Some of it is acknowledged in the appendix (the half vilāsa ). There it says that chapters 15 and 16 have been erroneously switched around. It was already mentioned that Jahnava's two trips seem to have gotten mixed up. This confirms it. However, the appendix also confirms the contents of the chapters, putting aside any suspicions of interpolation. For instance, the case of Krishnadas Kaviraj leaving his body on hearing about the missing books is confirmed. Sometimes I think that there have been scribal errors. For instance, in chapter 17 (page 145), two Vaishnavas come back from Vrindavan and meet Ramachandra and Narottam in Khetari. Then there is this verse: rāmacandra kohe ṭhākur koho mukhe śuni more kibā rūpa gosāi jānila Ramachandra said, "Thakur, please tell me how did Rupa Goswami come to know about me?" Rupa Goswami had left this world even b...

The hammer is coming down on this reading of Prema-vilāsa . I am becoming more convinced of the importance of this book, in spite of some of the problems it presents. In general, I feel that Nityananda Das's presentation is simple and credible. He was born in 1537 in Srikhanda, was an eyewitness to many of the events he describes, such as at the beginning of chapter 14, where he recounts the meeting of Srinivas Acharya with Raghunandan Thakur in Srikhanda. रघुनन्दन रूपे भुवन मोहन । श्रीनिवासेर रूप ताहे आत्यन्त शोभन ।। देखिया मोहित हैल चित्त जे आमार । से जाने दोंहार रूप नयने लागे जार ।। He is also present in Jajigram when Ramachandra Kaviraj meets Srinivas. Vyasa Acharya is also there in Srinivasa's entourage and engages in debate with Ramachandra. There are few specifics about their discussion, but it does seem to confirm Yadunandan's account in Karṇānanda that Vyasa and Ramachandra tended to have disagreements. Nityananda Das does not recount the legend of Srinivas ...