Jagat

Harilal Vyasa (HLV) has given a lengthy 157 verse introduction to his commentary in which he points out his principal intentions in his work. In it, he cites verse 146 (147 in the Gaudiya edition) as a case of rasa-bhāva-vivecanam , and the point he makes there is the following: rasopasarjanī-bhūto bhāvo mukhyo rasaḥ smṛtaḥ | bhāvaḥ śyāme raso gaure yasya sādhāraṇo na saḥ | [Since] bhāva is that which produces the rasa, rasa is therefore the more prominent [of the two]. One whose bhāva is in Shyam and rasa in Radha is not common. (103-104) This is meant to be a quick summary of HLV's understanding of the verse and a highlighting of its importance. Now let's look at the verse itself in a little more detail: na jānīte lokaṁ na ca nigama-jātaṁ kula-paraṁ- parāṁ vā no jānāty ahaha na satāṁ cāpi caritam | rasaṁ rādhāyām ābhajati kila bhāvaṁ vraja-maṇau rahasy etad yasya sthitir api na sādhāraṇa-gatiḥ || One who does not know the ways of the world, nor the scrip...

We finished Part I of this review of the last chapter of Śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtana (SKK) in the middle of a bhāva-parīkṣā ("test of love") series of songs. Radha has met Krishna and is appealing to him to accept her, but Krishna steadfastly refuses, ironically reprising many of the arguments that Radha herself used in the very beginning of the book to state the impossibility of their affair. Now Radha appeals again to Krishna, begging him not to be cruel. She concludes, bujhiteṁ nārila tiri puruṣa jāti la : "Seeing the effects this is having on my body, your heart still remains so hard. Women have not been able to understand the male species." [Of course, this line could be read the other way round: "Men have not been able to understand women." Amitrasudan Bhattacharya has the strange, "I haven't been able to understand whether you are a man or a woman." Which is also the way that Basantaranjan Ray also seems to reads it: "If you were a wom...

So we start the last of the chapters ( khaṇḍas ) of Śrī-kṛṣṇa-kīrtana , called Rādhā-viraha . I have already discussed this chapter to some extent in a previous article . That article is from two years ago, so it really shows how long I have been doing this... I have reposted some of the quotes from that here again, but will give a more detailed summary. As we have already mentioned, the last few pages (how many we don’t know) are missing from the manuscript. The most valuable introductory and concluding portions of the work are both lost and this is deeply frustrating, for reasons that will be evident. Rādhā-viraha is the second longest portion of the book, with 68 extant songs and who knows how many went missing with the last pages? As was stated with regards to the dāna-keli chapter, the length likely reflects the popularity of the theme itself. And indeed, the theme of Radha’s separation from Krishna is one that continues to influence Bengali Vaishnavism in ways that other fo...