VMA 1.33 :: The most fortunate person residing in Vrindavan

June 18, 2019

kara-nihita-kapolo nityam aśrūṇi muñcan

parihṛta-jana-saṅgo’rocamānānuyānaḥ |

pratipada-bahulārtyā rādhikā-kṛṣṇa-dāsye

vasati parama-dhanyaḥ ko’pi vṛndāvane’smin ||

Resting his cheek upon his hand
while constantly releasing tears,
abandoning the company of non-devotees,
without any taste for keeping servants or followers,
and with intense emotion at every moment
performing service to Radhika and Krishna,
some most fortunate person resides
here in this Vrindavan.

Commentary

Many of the verses in Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta with ambiguous references to “some person” are thought to refer to Hit Harivams, the founder of the Radha Vallabha sampradāya and close associate of Prabodhananda Saraswati in Vrindavan.

He could also be making a reference to himself. In either case, he is presenting the ideal resident of Vrindavan, in keeping with those same principles of indifference to material honor and dishonor, etc., that have been mentioned in the last few verses, but combined with great emotional attachment to the service of Radha and Krishna. Great good fortune is not, in Prabodhananda’s eyes, big temples or numerous followers, but the tears of love, even the deep pain of separation from the Lord and Lady of Vrindavan Dham.

This verse is typical of Prabodhananda’s methodology, of switching back and forth from the sādhaka abhimāna to siddha abhimāna, from the manifest Vrindavan to the nitya Vrindavan. Which is in perfect accord with Rupa Goswami’s description of rāgānugā bhakti.

sevā sādhaka-rūpeṇa siddha-rūpeṇa cātra hi
tad-bhāva-lipsunā kāryā vraja-lokānusārataḥ

The devotee desiring intensely to attain the rāgātmikā mood of one or the other Vrajavāsī associate of Krishna should engage in the practices of devotional service in his external body as an aspirant and internally in his spiritual body, in both cases following in the footsteps of the residents of Braj. (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.295; CC 2.22.158)

Here Prabodhananda paints a picture of the ideal sādhaka residing in Vrindavan, i.e., the resident of Braj he follows in the sādhaka-deha, who shows by example how the taste for bhajan transforms one’s consciousness. Rupa Goswami writes,

rucim udvahatas tatra janasya bhajane hareḥ |
viṣayeṣu gariṣṭho’pi rāgaḥ prāyo vilīyate ||
One who has begun to develop a taste for Hari bhajan loses nearly all attachment for the sense objects, even if it is very great. (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 1.2.254)

Why? Because, as Jiva Goswami reminds us in his commentary, the two are incompatible.

"Earlier (1.2.248-9, cited in VMA 1.31) it was stated that for the new devotee entering the path of bhakti-yoga, renunciation was considered to be of an inferior value because it hardened the heart. Doesn't this mean that he should engage in enjoying the senses? But that goes against the scriptures, which say,

viṣayāviṣṭa-cittasya kṛṣṇāveśaḥ sudūrataḥ |
vāruṇī-dig-gataṁ vastu vrajan naindrīṁ kim āpnuyāt ||
For one who is absorbed in the sense objects, absorption in Krishna is very distant, for how can an object headed towards the West ever reach the East? (verse attributed to ViP, but not found there).

"In response, it is said that even a small amount of taste for bhakti will cause one's attachment to the sense objects to be reduced. therefore it does not require the kind of rigidity that is typical of the culture of renunciation. That is being answered in this verse. By saying "nearly all" the author indicates that the end result will be that all such desire is completely dissolved. By extension, the acquisition of knowledge also arises as a side effect of devotion. As stated in the Bhāgavatam,

vāsudeve bhagavati bhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥ |
janayaty āśu vairāgyaṁ jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam ||
"When taken up, the process of devotional yoga to the Supreme Lord Vasudeva (Krishna) quickly produces renunciation and knowledge, without any other causal factor." (BhP `1.2.7)

What is the point of being in Vrindavan if one’s mind is elsewhere? But the process of bhakti, especially rāgānugā bhakti is that one emphasizes the attraction to Radha and Krishna, the taste for the Dham and for devotional service over the separate effort to renounce the world. Renunciation does not imply bhakti, but bhakti does imply renunciation.