Jagat

Gadai Gauranga Kunj, Ishodyana, Mayapur Now let's return to the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi story about Mani Manjari. But this time we will put a sakhi named Surangini in Mani Manjari's place. In other words, Radha has just sent a sakhi to arrange Surangini's first private meeting with Krishna. [First private meeting: Although Surangini is Krishna's eternal consort, Yogamaya has arranged that she forget all of her past affairs so that today's adventure appears like her first milana with Krishna. This is to heighten the rasa's pleasure.] Let's enter the scene and see what happens next: The sakhi exclaims, "Hey Surangini! Just hear the message that Radha has sent for you. She is saying that since the pleasure of Krishna's rati-saṅga is incomparable, why don't you try it once? You may consider that just as the sakhis share both friendship with Me and loving pastimes with Krishna, you may also take up this mood. Why should you remain behind th...

A praveśikā is an introduction, in this case an introduction to an article that I will publish tomorrow by Gadadhar Pran Das called Kāntā-bhāva bhajana . As many of you may know, my Godbrother Gadadhar Pran Das is a longtime sādhaka of the rāgānugā mārga , who has written numerous books on various aspects of this rāgānugā bhajana . He has lived for over 35 years continuously in Gadai Gauranga Kunj, serving his Gaura-Gadadhar deities and practicing svārasikī līlā-smaraṇa . In this essay, he will discuss in a forthright manner the sambhogecchātmikā branch of kāmānugā bhakti practice. Although most Gaudiya rāgānugā sādhakas today emphasize mañjarī-bhāva to almost absolute exclusivity, even going so far as to blaspheme the kāntā mood, anyone who studies the principal descriptions of madhura-rasa as found in texts like Caitanya-caritāmṛta and Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi will immediately recognize that they deal primarily with the kāntā. In fact, it was not until the 20th century that Kunj...

Manuscript painting from Gita-govinda. Photo from Jayadeva Foundation Trust . (5) Rasa-niṣpatti Now we come to last verse in our series. This is also the last verse that Rupa Goswami quotes from an external source in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi . The context is the following verse, which is the last "idea" that Sri Rupa presents in his discussion of madhura-rasa . vidagdhānāṁ mitho līlā-vilāsena yathā sukham | na tathā samprayogeṇa syād evaṁ rasikā viduḥ || Clever lovers find that there is more pleasure in all the varieties of their mutual dealings than there is in sexual union per se. This is the conclusion of the knowers of rasa. (15.253) Jayadeva's verse is given as an illustration of this point: pratyūhaḥ pulakāṅkureṇa niviḍāśleṣe nimeṣeṇa ca krīḍākūta-vilokite’dhara-sudhā-pāne kathā-narmabhiḥ ānandādhigamena manmatha-kalā-yuddhe’pi yasminn abhūd udbhūtaḥ sa tayor babhūva suratārambhaḥ priyambhāvukaḥ As the battle of the love arts began, there...

A couple of years ago, I started summarizing the three ratis from  Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi   I never completed the series, but the first two articles can still be found here: Samañjasā and Sādhāraṇī . I will now try to complete this project by working on  samarthā rati . This may require more than one article, and I intend to tie it in with some other ideas. I will start off this discussion by simply quoting verbatim my translation of  Mañjarī-svarūpa-nirūpaṇa , completed in 1983. ======== The dominant mood of erotic sacred rapture is also given the name of samarthā rati (“competent affection”). Kṛṣṇa is the greatest lover in the supernatural affaires-de-coeur of the sacred land of Vrindavan and there, the supreme among his lady-loves are the cowherd girls. Here Viśvanātha Cakravartin makes some relevant comments about samarthā rati in his commentary on Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi : This samarthā rati is extremely potent and exists eternally in the gopīs; it does not dep...

In the viṣkambhaka (or introductory interlude) of Dāna-keli-kaumudī , Vrinda Devi speaks a couple of verses in glorification of Radha. She starts out with an expression of humility, anālocya vrīḍāṁ yam iha bahu mene bahu-tṛṇaṁ tyajann īrṣāpannāṁ madhuripur abhīṣṭām api ramām | janaḥ so’yaṁ yasyāḥ śrayati na hi dāsye’py avasaraṁ samarthas tāṁ rādhāṁ bhavati bhuvi kaḥ ślāghitum api || , Even though to give me honor, the enemy of Madhu shamelessly abandoned the Lakshmi Devi he cherishes, like nothing more than so much grass, despite her jealousy, I have never had the opportunity to serve Radha. Who then on this earth can possibly praise her adequately? (DKK 11) Vrinda Devi appears to be refering to her marriage to Shalagram in the form of Tulasi Devi, with whom she is identified. Here, though, she shows that like Radha's other sakhis, despite their own personal glorious attainments, she has put aside any such claims in order to give recognition to Radha’s vast superiority...

This article was written over several days in April 2004 . I am republishing it mainly for the two UN verses that are quoted further down, as the subject of Chandravali came up in a Facebook conversation yesterday. It is always a curiosity to read old articles. Some interesting points, but the main thing I wanted was the verses from UN near the bottom. The other day I was inspired to telephone an old Iskcon acquaintance who is an accomplished classical musician and composer. I thought I could sell him the idea of composing a work based on the rāsa-līlā according to the way I see its structure. Unfortunately, this devotee, who is now committed to the Ritvik camp, was very negative, even hostile. Barely had the words rāsa-līlā come out of my mouth than my friend said, "We don't consider ourselves advanced enough to discuss such things." I made a few attempts to pierce the thick defensive wall he had thrown up, but he said, "We have made a decision to only liste...