Jagat

Painting by Gadadhar Pran Das. preṣṭha-dvandva-prasādābharaṇa-vara-paṭa-srag-navābhīra-bālā mālālaṅkāra-kastūry-aguru-ghusṛṇa-sad-gandha-tāmbūla-vastraiḥ | vādyaiḥ saṅgīta-nṛtyair anupama-kalayā lālayantīḥ sa-tṛṣṇā rādhā-kṛṣṇāv akhaṇḍa-sva-rasa-vilasitau kuñja-vīthyām upaimi || I bow down before the young cowherd girls, adorned with the dearmost divine couple's remnants of ornaments, garlands, and garments, who by singing, dancing and playing musical instruments, and by offering garlands, musk, aguru, kunkum, fragrant scents, betel nut and garments, earnestly serve Sri Sri Radha Krishna while they enjoy unbroken pastimes in their own rasa in the groves of Vrindavan. The next few verses continue as Prabodhananda Saraswatipada meditates on the service performed by the sakhis and manjaris (2.41-43), as well as describing their beautiful forms (2.44-46). Verses 2.38-40 are an homage to these girlfriends who are also servants of Radha and her pastimes with the Di...

One of the reasons that I have been silent on this blog is because of the particular confused nature of my love life. I bifurcated my path from that of the Gaudiya Vaishnava orthodoxy and called it “Prema Prayojan.” I recognized that I was influenced by Sahajiyaism, and even called myself a Sahajiya, but at the same time I wanted to make a distinction between my own viewpoint and that which is traditionally identified with Sahajiyaism. In fact, let us face it, most people have little real knowledge of what Sahajiyaism is. Most of what has been disseminated in the orthodox or Gaudiya Math worlds is a mish-mash of criticisms that stretches over a very broad area, from the traditional practitioners of Raganuga Bhajan (like Ananta Das Mahant of Radha Kund) to those doing kirtan professionally and making displays of emotion, to those who engage in some kind of sexual practices with apparently prodigious promiscuity in the name of Radha and Krishna. In fact, I would say that Sahajiyas t...

From Jayadev Foundation Trust . (3) Radharani's māna viharati vane rādhā sādhāraṇa-praṇaye harau vigalita-nijotkarṣād īrṣyā-vaśena gatā'nyataḥ kvacid api latā-kuñje guñjan-madhu-vrata-maṇḍalī mukhara-śikhare līnā dīnāpy uvāca rahaḥ sakhīm|| When Radha saw Hari frolicking in the forest, treating all the women with equal affection, she felt her own special status had melted away. Envy and anger arose in her, and she went off. Somewhere, in a vine covered bower, where bees buzzed in circles overhead, she hid, and forlorn in her solitude, confided to her friend. If the first two verses of our five described Krishna as the viṣaya and then as the āśraya of love; now this verse points to the essential mechanism that transforms him from the one role to the other. This will be further explained in our analysis of the fifth verse. The third verse of the Gīta-govinda pañca-ślokī appears in the latter portion (verses 25-35) of BRS 3.5, the abbreviated chapte...

(2) Krishna, the Lover of Radha Our second verse is taken from Gīta-govinda 's third chapter— kaṁsārir api saṁsāra-vāsanā-baddha-śṛṅkhalām | rādhām ādhāya hṛdaye tatyāja vraja-sundarīḥ || Krishna, the enemy of Kamsa, took Radha, who is the link that makes all his hopes for happiness possible, into his heart and left aside all the other cowherd beauties. (3.1) The context in GG is provided by the next verse we will cite. Radha has seen Krishna as described in verse 1.48 and is not pleased. She has become overwhelmed by jealous anger and has left the scene of the rāsa . We shall discuss this further in the appropriate place. In Rupa Goswami's categorization of the madhura-rasa in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu , this verse is given as an example of kṛṣṇa-rati, which in this case does not mean (as is customary in BRS) love for Krishna, but Krishna's own love for another, in this case Radha. Although from the theological point of view it goes without saying that God ...

(1) Krishna, the Embodiment of the Erotic Rasa viśveṣām anurañjanena janayann ānandam indīvara- śreṇī-śyāmala-komalair upanayann aṅgair anaṅgotsavam | svacchandaṁ vraja-sundarībhir abhitaḥ praty-aṅgam āliṅgitaḥ śṛṅgāraḥ sakhi mūrtimān iva madhau mugdho hariḥ krīḍati || By his pleasure giving, he brings joy to all the worlds; With his limbs, as soft and dark as blue lotus flowers, he inaugurates the festival of love. O friend Radhe! Hari frolicks in the spring, like the embodiment of śṛṅgāra-rasa ; completely enchanted by the beauties of Braja, who surround him and wantonly embrace his every limb. Our first "essential" verse is GG 1.48, which as already stated above, is pivotal in the introduction both to the Gīta-govinda and to Rupa Goswami's treatment of the madhura-rasa . In GG, it comes after the scene has been set for the story by describing the springtime ( prabandha 3) and the rāsa dance as performed in the spring ( prabandha 4). The first two son...

The hot season is here. Satya Narayan Dasji sets off to his summer tour of Europe and America. We spent the last few weeks cramming in the last twenty or so anucchedas of Paramātma-sandarbha , and I must say it was invigorating. I will probably have occasion to talk a little more about Paramātma-sandarbha before I finish editing the translation. I was thinking of my good fortune to be here in Vrindavan and my day job is having to study and understand Jiva Goswami's Paramātma-sandarbha ! I just hope that Sri Jiva Prabhu lets me help work on the last two. In the meantime, the hot season is here, and Vrindavan is beginning to bake. But I notice that last year I had one of the most productive months where this blog is concerned. I think I did a bit of a housecleaning, like I am trying to do now also. Still trying to come up with a magnum opus out of all this. The last two days, I took a bit of a brain vacation, adjusting to the change of season, remembering a bit how much I en...

This verse from the Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi keeps coming to me— aher iva gatiḥ premṇaḥ svabhāva-kuṭilā bhavet tasmād dhetor ahetoś ca yūnor mānam udañcati The path of love is as naturally crooked at that of a snake. Therefore lovers quarrel, sometimes with good reason, and sometimes for no reason at all. (UN 15.102) This is the difference between Gaudiyas and Nityaviharis. The latter see no usefulness in māna from the point of view of rasa , whereas the Gaudiyas (a pox on them!!) do. Why? Because that is somehow at once an integral part of the essence of loving relationships, which have a permanent, innate dialectic in them. The word māna ("measure, weight" -- "self worth" -- "pride") has two different uses. One is the kind of frustrated anger and displeasure that is half explicable, half not, and seemingly causes a distance to grow between lovers. That is the meaning in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi chapter 15.74-146. The other meaning, from chapter 14, is a st...