VMA 1.30 : Know Suffering Here to be Joy
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| Taj Bibi's samadhi in Gokul. |
manyethā adhamaiś ca duṣparibhavān saṁmānavat sattamaiḥ |
dainyāny eva mahā-vibhūtim atisallābhān alabhān sadā
pāpāny eva ca puṇyamanti yadi te vṛndāvanaṁ jīvanam||
Know suffering here to be joy.Commentary
Know ill-repute here to be the greatest glory.
Accept that being defeated here
at the hands of the lowliest people
is equal to being honored by the saints.
Know that poverty here is the greatest wealth
and the greatest pious gains here
are as nothing of any value at all.
Know too that sins here contain piety within them.
If you can know all this,
then alone will Vrindavan be your life. (1.30)
In the previous verse, Prabodhananda Saraswatipada exhorted his fellow aspirants for Braja bhakti to practice indifference to the dualities of this world. Now, however, he goes on to explain that Vrindavan is different: things here are not what they seem.
In his allegory Prema-pattanam Rasikottamsa says that there exists a glorious "city of love" or prema-pattanam, situated in the heart-sky of those who know rasa, where everything is topsy-turvy. That city of love is there half identified with Braj-Vrindavan, half as a non-physical place not to be perceived externally, but internally. There are 35 contradictions to be found in the city of love: to know the ones he lists, one should follow the above link.
It is actually an older idea. The inverted tree of saṁsāra described in Gītā 15.1 has led to the concept of a divine world that is the very opposite of this one, a world of which this one is a reflection distorted by the ego. This is the idea that appeals to Prabodhananda Saraswati.
In the previous verse, Prabodhananda talked about real life beginning when one takes refuge in Vrindavan. This verse goes on in the same way, further elucidating the relation of Vrindavan to symptoms of the liberated state; in what way is life in Vrindavan real life? It can be read in two ways: “If you can know all this, then alone will Vrindavan be your life.” Or, “Only if Vrindavan is your life will you know suffering to be joy, etc.”
Both ways of looking it are correct, since there is a reciprocal cause-effect relation between residence in Braja and the characteristics of seeing the world as topsy-turvy. But since the verse starts with imperative forms, it would seem that the kinds of knowledge described there are preconditions to experiencing life in Vrindavan fully. At the same time, if one makes Vrindavan one’s life, then alone will one be able to come to a state of complete indifference to material conditions and experience Vrindavan as we saw in the previous verse.
In other words, living in Vrindavan is both the sādhana and the sādhya. Of all the 64 sādhanas listed in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, five are identified as being the best of all:
śrīmad-bhāgavatārthānām āsvādo rasikaiḥ saha |
sajātīyāśaye snigdhe sādhau saṅgaḥ svato vare ||
nāma-saṅkīrtanaṁ śrī-mathurā-maṇḍale sthitiḥ ||
- Faith and special love for serving the Deity,
- relishing the topics of the Bhāgavata in the company of rasikas,
- keeping the company of saintly persons who share the same devotional aspirations, who are affectionate and superior to oneself,
- chanting the Holy Name and
- remaining in the region of Mathura. (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.90-92)
Living in Mathura-mandala or in Braj is the only one of these activities that is geographically specific, though one often hears that if one cannot live there in the flesh, one should do so in the mind. The mind, after all, is the focal point of spiritual practice. Living in Braj is listed as the ultimate devotional activity even though it is the least “mind” intensive.
Nevertheless, living in Braj naturally facilitates all other devotional activities. And Rupa Goswami summarizes this in his “essence of instruction”:
smṛtyoḥ krameṇa rasanā-manasī niyojya
tiṣṭhan vraje tad-anurāgi-janānugāmī
kālaṁ nayed akhilam ity upadeśa-sāram
This is the essence of all instructions: Live out your life in Vrindavan, following more advanced devotees who love Krishna, and progressively engage the tongue and mind in chanting and remembering Krishna’s names, form and pastimes. (Upadeśāmṛta, 8)
Where else but Vrindavan will one have such a grand choice of advanced Vaishnavas with whom to associate, who are anurāgis? Where else is the festival of bhakti going on 24 hours a day all around you?
Service to Vrindavan can thus have several meanings. The best meaning is that described by Rupa Goswami: serve by engaging in devotional service in the Dham. The second is to serve the devotees who wish to do so by facilitating their bhajan. That service has many dimensions including preserving the devotional heritage and an ambiance that will make residing there ever more conducive to pure bhajan. But the minimum definition of residence in the Dham as a devotional activity is that one's physical body is present in Braj-Vrindavan, nothing more. That is why it is the least mind-intensive. It is a process that works by osmosis, passively, like breathing.
And, as with all sādhanas, one has to be ready to make the sacrifice: to accept the difficulties as pleasure, to accept criticism as an honor, and the absence of worldly riches as the door to the greatest wealth of all, pure bhakti.
Some people might find the worlds pāpāny eva ca puṇyamanti challenging. How can sin contain piety, even if it is committed in Vrindavan?
The principle is simple: Sin is action performed in ignorance. Every sin contains within it the seeds of its own destruction, either through the rapid process whereby one is making an effort to purify oneself through sādhana, or through the indirect and gradual process of the whirlpool of cause and effect, whereby one gradually is enlightened through suffering. In both cases, grace is at work wherever one is in the world.
The special feature of life in Vrindavan is that although it is the most passive of practices, there grace works subliminally on one’s ignorance. Because of this, even sins should not be looked upon as sin alone. In fact there is no such thing in this world as unmixed evil, what to speak of in Vrindavan.
Ten Previous posts
VMA 1.29 : Real life is to take refuge in Vrindavan
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
Comments
I've looked on the internet for a full English translation, but can only find a Hindi translation. Would it be possible, please, to read whatever additional work you have completed on this text? Please.