VMA 1.29 : : Real life is to take refuge in Vrindavan

Photo Vishakha Dasi.

śrī-vastrābharaṇādibhiḥ kara-padādy-utkarta-dāhādibhir
nindā-saṁstava-koṭibhir bahu-vibhūty-atyanta-dainyādibhiḥ |
jīvann eva mṛto yathā na vikṛtiṁ prāptaḥ kathaṁcit kvacit
śrī-vṛndāvanam āśraye priya-mahānandaika-kandaṁ param||

Whether I am covered in beautiful clothes and ornaments,
or suffer from cuts and burns to my limbs;
whether I am copiously criticized or lavishly praised;
whether I live with great riches or in complete poverty,
like a dead man, I will remain unchanged
at all times and in all circumstances,
but I will definitely be alive,
for I take refuge in Vrindavan
the single supreme root of all the great joys
of my beloved Lord and Lady. (1.29)

Commentary

[This verse is where I stopped posting daily meditations from the Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta. When I reached it, I found I had written nothing previously and I hit an inspirational brick wall. So I let it sit for all this time. This time, some thoughts occurred to me.

In actual fact, I first started working on Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta a bit seriously the last time I was in Canada five years ago. There is something about being away from Vrindavan that makes the heart grow fonder. In my case, when in Vrindavan I think of the world: when in the world one I pine for Vrindavan. It is like the verse:

adṛṣṭe darśanotkaṇṭhā dṛṣṭe viccheda-bhīrutā | 

nādṛṣṭena na dṛṣṭena bhavatā labhyate sukham || 

[Oh Radhe!]
When you don't see him, then you're full of anxiety to see him.
When you do see him, you are fearful of being again separated.
So whether or not you see him, my dear girl, you are never happy.
Kāvya-prakāśe 5.128.

So today's thoughts inspired by Prabodhananda Saraswati, from a great distance]

It is said that Jesus came to "give life and give it more abundantly." This is what God offers to his devotees: the abundant life is the one that is spiritually rich. Mahaprabhu even measured a man's wealth by the number of Holy Names that he recited every day.

Here Prabodhananda Saraswatipada uses an interesting turn of phrase: jīvann eva mṛto yathā, "like a dead man while definitely remaining alive." The word eva here emphatically indicating that this is real life. What passes for real life in the world is not real life.

We have heard it said, "One must die to live." In this verse, dying means being indifferent to the various dualities of the material world. This is the very basis of all spiritual discipline, the very beginning of the Lord's teachings in the Gita and the Upanishads.

mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkhadāḥ

āgamāpāyino’nityās tāṁs titikṣasva bhārata

Through contact with the sense objects
one feels heat and cold, pleasure and pain.
Such sensations fleeting come and go —
so patient be and bear them all. (Gita 2.14)

Again and again, the Gita tells us to be indifferent to praise or blame, success or failure and to simply act. Either do works according to one's worldly duty, or commit to some other higher purpose. This is a universal principle of success. One has to fix one's purpose and stick to it, then overcome repeated failure, and then not let external success go to one's head. One who is indifferent to success and failure, happiness and distress, is fearless.

So one must apply the same principles of success to devotion. Perfection in devotion comes when one is free from all the distractions that are thrust upon one by the external energy. Krishna reminds us of this in the exercise of each of the yogas, whether it is the stoicism of chapter 2, karma-yoga in chapter 3, the rāja-yoga of the 6th chapter or the bhakti-yoga of the 12th. The difference is that only the devotee who has transcended duality is dear to Krishna.

samaḥ śatrau ca mitre ca tathā mānāpamānayoḥ |

śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkheṣu samaḥ saṅga-vivarjitaḥ ||18||

tulya-nindā-stutir maunī saṁtuṣṭo yena kenacit |

aniketaḥ sthira-matir bhaktimān me priyo naraḥ ||19||

One possessing devotion,
who behaves alike to foe and friend,
who is similarly equal to good and evil repute,
who is alike in cold and heat, pleasure and pain,
and free from attachment,
who holds equal blame and praise,
who is restrained in speech,
content with whatever befalls him,
who has no fixed abode and is firm in mind,
is dear to me. (Gita 12.18-19)

So indifference to the rewards and punishments of the external energy is the secret to the success of any spiritual practice. It is actually the secret to life. Even life in this world is fulfilled by finding a calling and dedicating oneself to it. But for a devotee, both worldly happiness and distress are equally futile. Just listen to Śaunaka R̥ṣi speaking to Suta in praise of Hari-kathā:

āyur harati vai puṁsām udyann astaṁ ca yann asau |

tasya rte yat-kṣaṇo nīta uttama-śloka-vārtayā ||

With its every rising and setting, the sun diminishes everyone's life span, except for those who take even a moment to hear the topics of the most glorious Bhagavān. (2.3.17)

taravaḥ kiṁ na jīvanti bhastrāḥ kiṁ na śvasanty uta|

na khādanti na mehanti kiṁ grāme paśavo 'pare ||

Do the trees not live? Do the bellows not breathe? Do the other animals in the village not eat and ejaculate ? (2.3.18)

jīvañ chavo bhāgavatāṅghri-reṇuṁ

na jātu martyo’bhilabheta yas tu

śrī-viṣṇu-padyā manujas tulasyāḥ

śvasañ chavo yas tu na veda gandham

A mortal being who has never contacted the dust from the feet of a devotee is a living corpse. And a human being who has never smelled the fragrance of tulasī from the feet of Bhagavān Viṣṇu is a breathing corpse. (2.3.23)

But in this verse Prabodhananda does not emphasize the negative side of this death to worldly life, he celebrates it by saying the he will definitely be living. For a devotee death is not death of the body, but immersion in worldly consciousness. Life is to be dear to Krishna.

 
The entire corpus of Vedic scriptures is ultimately about how to become dear to Krishna. Happiness means to become dear to Krishna. The secret to making Krishna happy is to become absorbed in him, to meditate on him, who is the root of all happiness. He is the supreme beauty, the supreme source of attraction, the ultimate object of love, and he is all those things just for our benefit, so that we may drink of his beauty and swim in his love.

And he manifests that beauty and love most fully when he is with Radha, surrounded by the gopis in Vrindavan Dham. Whether one is physically in the bhauma Vrindavan or not, real life is to be absorbed in Vrindavan.

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Ten Previous posts

VMA 1.28 : I will raise my ears to hear the sweet flute sounds
VMA 1.27 : …where a swarthy, lusty youth leans on a kadamba and plays the flute
VMA 1.26 : May Vrindavan be like a nourishing mother
VMA 1.25 : What business do we have with kings or gods?
VMA 1.24 : Take pleasure in the eternal joys within Vrindavan
VMA 1.23 : When will I roam in Vrindavan?
VMA 1.22 : The Upanishads do not reveal Vrindavan
VMA 1.21 : Vrindavan enchants everyone
VMA 1.20 : The gold and black jewel light
VMA 1.19 : Who's mind will not be stolen?