Last day in Vrindavan: Bhagavata speakers

I started writing this while sitting in the Moscow airport. Now in Montreal, Canada.

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I just want to talk about my last day in Vrindavan. I already confessed to a wide and long detour into English language entertainments. Now that I knew I was finally leaving, I regretted all that I am missing even though present in the Dham. Even after a serious attempt in my three days in Barsana, I still hadn't finished my introduction to the Jivani, though I did make progress. I had hoped to finish it before departure, but I could not manage, though it seems tantalizingly close.

One thing that has always been difficult for me with Guru-tattva is this disagreeing with the Guru or finding flaws in the Guru. Naturally, any intelligent observer is bound by nature to apply his powers of rationality to assess the validity of information received from an authoritative source or of one's own sensory perceptions. Information from authoritative sources still has to be confirmed by experience or it remains unsubstantiated, a kind of shadow-knowledge that might not only be misleading but downright deceiving.

As I started to say in my previous post, the diversion to Occidental civilization for me was a direct consequence of studying the historical circumstances of the Bhaktivinoda/Globalization encounter. There is a decided impression that BVT concentrates on the basic teachings 's in his writings, and even his forays into what is the most essential topic, i.e., relishing the Vrindavan pastimes, especially those in the madhura-rasa, show reticence. Or, let us say that rasa is approached as a subject for rationization rather than relish. It is the label on the bottle.

For instance –

vikrīḍitaṁ vraja-vadhūbhir idaṁ ca viṣṇoḥ

śraddhānvito'nuśṛṇuyād atha varṇayed yaḥ |

bhaktiṁ parāṁ bhagavati pratilabhya kāmaṁ

hṛdrogam āśv apahinoty acireṇa dhīraḥ ||

"The wise person who faithfully listens or describes these pastimes of Lord Vishnu with the wives of Vraja, attains the highest degree of devotion and very quickly becomes free of the disease of the heart, desire." (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.33.40)

This verse gives the śruti-phala of hearing the rāsa-līlā. It is meant to awaken an interest in the process of hearing and chanting about the most confidential pastimes of madhura-rasa as the best or most effective way of overcoming lust or sensual desire. But it is not in itself the relishing of these pastimes.

Bhaktivinoda came to the edge of placing his literary skills by describing Radha and Krishna's pastimes. The Kalyāṇa-kalpa-taru ends with a series of beautiful songs describing Krishna's form, qualities and pastimes, but BVT suddenly cuts himself off with the following lines:

kena mora durbalā lekhanī nāhi sare ?

abhisāra ārambhiyā sakampa antare ||5||

milana sambhoga vipralambhādi varṇana |

prakāśa karite nāhi sare mama mana ||6||

durbhāgā nā bujhe rāsa līlā tattva sāra |

śūkara yemana nāhi cine muktāhāra ||7||

adhikāra hīna jana maṅgala cintiyā |

kīrtana karinu śeṣa kāla vicāriyā ||8||

"Why does my powerless pen refuse to move further? I started to describe the gopis' abhisāra and this made me start to tremble inwardly. My mind does not move to reveal descriptions of Radha and Krishna's meeting, their enjoying the pastimes of union, separation, etc. The unfortunate souls do not understand the essentially teachings behind the rāsa-līlā, in the same way that a hog is unable to recognize a pearl necklace. So, thinking of the benefit of those without qualifications, I have stopped my kirtan here, judging that the time is not right to do so."

The sentiment here might be appreciated, but that does not change the fact that the principal act of direct hearing, chanting and meditating primarily on these pastimes is the essence of rāgānugā practice. Everything else is secondary. The reticence to do so is understandable, but the disappointment of those who do have the adhikāra is also something that must be considered.

There are not many people who do go ahead and describe the madhura-rasa pastimes in public settings. One of the reasons that Mahanta Ananta Das Pandit Baba became the leader of the Gaudiya Vaishnava world and in particular leader of the Radha Kund virakta Vaishnava samaj was that he was a firm believer in the final verse of the rāsa-līlā (cited above) and not afraid to relish the madhura-līlā pastimes as the central practice of Gaudiya Vaishnava bhakti. He figured that if you are in Radha Kund, you must not only have the adhikāra, but also the duty to hear the glories of Radha and her maidservants, i.e., to take up the essence of all instruction.

The situation in the Gaudiya Math, etc., who share with BVT this reticence, might ultimately be laid at the feet of Jiva Goswami himself, whose six Sandarbhas are meant to build the qualifications of the aspirant. Jiva Goswami is dull to the Sahajiyas, it is heard. But nevertheless, these texts do remain in the realm of vaidhī bhakti, perhaps beneficial and preparatory, but not the thing itself. As long as we are not directly engaged in the practices of hearing, chanting and meditating on the spiritual loves of the Divine Couple, we are merely reading the label on the bottle of this bhajan and not actually tasting the heady liquor it contains.

To help understand these things, Ananta Das Pandit summarizes five different devotional practice in terms of their desirability for sādhakas of mañjarī-bhāva in his Mañjarī-sādhana-paddhati, according to Radha Krishna Goswami (Daśa-ślokī-bhāṣya) and Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur (Rāga-vartma-candrikā 1.13-14).

Radha Krishna Goswami

(1) svīya-sādhana, “personal, individualized practice”
(2) sajātīya-sādhana, “practice with a similar basis”

(3) vijātīya-sādhana, “practice with a different basis”

(4) taṭastha-sādhana, “neutral practices”

(5) viruddha-sādhana, "detrimental practices"

Vishwanath Chakravarti

(1) svābhīṣṭa-bhāva-maya-sādhana, "practices wholly connected to one’s desired mood"
(2) svābhīṣṭa-bhāva-sambandhī, "related to one’s desired mood"
(3) svābhīṣṭa-bhāvānukūla, "favorable to one’s desired mood"
(4) svābhīṣṭa-bhāvāviruddha, "not unfavorable to one’s desired mood"
(5) svābhīṣṭa-bhāva-viruddha, "inimical to one's desired mood"

For those who are wholeheartedly engaged in rāgānugā bhajan as described by these two acharyas, the personal individualized practices that are wholly identified with one's desired mood are the only ones that are directly desirable. In other words, one should tailor his bhajan around a core of such practices. Other practices might be helpful in various degrees, but without the svīya-sādhana or svābhīṣṭa-bhāva-maya-sādhana, one will not achieve success.

This is what Rupa Goswami is getting at with his statement, sādhanaughair anāsaṅgair aprāpyā sucirād api (BRS 1.1.35). ("Even with copious performance of devotional practice, prema-bhakti is not attainable if there is no specific personal attachment to a particular relationship with Krishna.

So, if one is living in Vrindavan, following the "essence of instruction," one should make up one's mind to follow this kind of practice. This is the authentic process, and eventually absorption in activities that are external to it, many dharmas, even including philosophical discourse that is only a negation of material life, might eventually be viruddha or detrimental.

In view of the effects on me of contemplation of the history of the British in India and Bhaktivinoda Thakur's interaction with them, I have to consider them to fall into this category, at least not in the most preferable. I do them because I am hoping to "pass" on to a higher stage, but I am saddled with a sense of duty that it has been given a task that I must complete.

All this to say that for my last days in Vrindavan I had begun to feel remorse at the time I had wasted over the last year, for though I have been living in the holy land, that I had not been taking the greatest advantage of the opportunities it affords and had even become absorbed in the "not-Vrindavan," like a fool.

So, in a desperate attempt to grasp a few gasps of grace on my last day, I cycled over to Madan Ter to hear Hit Premananda Govinda Sharanji speak. I wrote a piece about him in Vrindavan Today last year but hadn't been there since. It is a sad thing that such speakers are inaccessible to the international audience because so few people take the trouble to learn Hindi or Bengali. The only subject that is of interest to Premananda Dasji and other teachers from the Radha Vallabha sampradāya like Hita Ambarishji is Radha dasya. They seem to be the ones that take the concept of svīya-sādhana or svābhīṣṭa-bhāva-sambandhī sādhana most seriously. I think that no speaker can hide the level of their adhikāra or level of immersion in the lila.

Hit Premananda Dasji speaks daily from 7.30-9. He has completed his serious of discourses on Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta like before and was reading from a compilation of Vani songs from the Hari-traya tradition (Hita Harivansh, Swami Haridas and Hariram Vyas). The context was the rainy season and Radha and Krishna's swing pastimes (jhulana) – a little out of season perhaps, maybe wishful thinking as we are in the height of the hot season. Premananda Baba weaves his reading in and out of singing the verses with his disciples responding. He has the powerful spirit of pure vairagya. His voice is rough, but the subject matter is pure madhurya. The number of attendees is only increasing, perhaps 400-500 are there every day in the natural surroundings, all listening with extreme attention.

Most people only see him on a TV screen because he gives his lecture in the small room that is very hard to get access to. Only about 50-60 people can squeeze in there, nearly all of them wearing with the signature yellow chadar, Radha Vallabh tilak with Radha Kund mati, and Braja-raja on forehead or saffron-colored chandan smeared across the forehead.

Premananda Das is himself growing his hair and beard, which are slowly becoming a most impressive nimbus. It seems to be a popular style these days in Braj. One who has a taste for this rasa will never go anywhere.

I fell into a trance listening to his descriptions of the Radha and Krishna, unmoving lightning on a black cloud, becoming drenched in the rain, singing malhar raag.

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Actually, my reflections on hearing began a couple of weeks ago when I popped into Bhagawat Niwas to list to Gaurahari Das. I had heard about him, as one of Babaji's regular hearers at Jiva also attends programs at Bhagavat Niwas. He told me that Gaurahari Das Baba's influence was becoming strong in the ashram. For instance, the public can only come on the grounds between 3 and 6 p.m. He has been improving the standards and has removed many of the less serious practitioners. I had heard he was a good speaker and so when I noticed he was giving Bhāgavata-saptāha, I went in to listen. Even though I missed the first two days, I still made it a point to listen to the end after I heard the first day.

The Bhāgavata-saptāha system is often criticized in some circles because the Bhāgavata itself says that one should listen regularly (nityaṁ bhāgavata-sevayā, 1.2.18). Giving Bhāgavata-saptāhas is a difficult discipline, since it requires completing the entire text in only seven days. That is a severe constraint, as there is plenty of material for discourse. The first day I went, Babaji Maharaj was talking about Kapila Muni's instructions to Devahuti. I remarked right away that he had a Gaudiya sensibility, as every story was told with precise reference to the important verses selected by our acharyas as being its essential teaching. The first day I was very please to hear him select the verses from BhP 3.31 about the jiva after taking birth and falling into bad association -- namely with womanizers --

yady asadbhiḥ pathi punaḥ

śiśnodara-kṛtodyamaiḥ

āsthito ramate jantus

tamo viśati pūrvavat

If  the living entity again takes to the path of unrighteousness, influenced by sensually-minded people engaged in the pursuit of sexual enjoyment and gratification of the palate, he again enters the darkness as before. (3.31.31)

Gaurahari Das's discourse on the verses that follow this one was impressive. I have noticed that such verses are often circumvented by those who find the verses misogynistic. Gaurahari Das did not sidestep these verses, but spoke on them with good humor and the power of truth. I immediately became a fan and went for the full saptaha. The only thing was that he spoke so rapidly in order to get everything in that it was a bit hard to digest. If I stopped to think on what he had said, I found myself getting left behind and when I came to attention, the topic would have entirely changed.

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After Madan Ter, I wanted to take darshan of Radha Damodar and the Goswami's and Prabhupada's bhajan kutir. As I was walking towards the Damodar temple, I heard a lecture on the microphone. It was Gaura Das who was speaking on Radha-rasa-sudhā-nidhi for three days nearby. [I did not catch the name of the place.] I had never heard him speak before even though I have noticed that he is become very popular locally. Gaura Dasji is in the Nitai Gaur Radhe Shyam line, so I had been curious to hear his approach. So I decided to take the opportunity today when he was speaking on RRSN 3.

Gaura Dasji is in the Nitai Gaur Radhe Shyam line, so I had been curious to hear his approach. It is a bit unusual for a Gaudiya to be popular in the wider Braj society as a speaker, but  he does Bhakta-māla kathā as well as Bhāgavata in places like Hit Ashram. Not long after I sat down, Albeli Sharan Baba from Gaudelal Kunj, a highly respected authority on the Swami Haridas sect came in and after garlanding the speaker sat down in the front row to relish Radha katha.

brahmeśvarādi-sudurūha-padāraviṁda-

śrīmat-parāga-paramādbhuta-vaibhavāyāh |

sarvārtha-sāra-rasa-varṣi-kṛpārdra-dṛṣṭes

tasyā namo'stu vṛṣabhānu-bhuvo mahimne ||3||

I bow down to the glories of the daughter of Vrishabhanu, the supremely astonishing opulence of whose lotus feet dust is incomprehensible to the gods like Brahma and Shiva and so on, and whose compassion soaked glances rain down the nectar of the essence of all human goals. (RRSN 3)

I noticed that perhaps because of his Bhakta-māla kathā experience, Gaur Das spoke unabashedly about our six Goswamis, etc. He even told stories about Ramdas Babaji and Rajani Baba, one of his disciples whose ashram was established in Govinda Kund, Vrindavan. I had to get up before the end of the class because I did not want to miss Damodar. I was too late for Radha Raman, though.

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I concluded my tour of the town with a visit to FOV and Jagannath Poddar. He posted the picture to Facebook with the comment: "Gave farewell to Jagat ji on his last day in Vrindavan. It was his love that he came to see me before going. He left for his native country as his visa is expiring. I shall miss him deeply. He is the guiding force, and handed over the important mission of Vrindavan Today to me."

And then I went to Sadhu Maharaj's for prasad. Altogether a good last day.

--o)0(o--