VMA 1.45 :: Just behold this Vrindavan, my friends!
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| Nidhivan |
udgānonmatta-kīra-pramukha-khaga-kulaiḥ kṛṣṇa-raṅgaiḥ kuraṅgaiḥ |
divyair vāpī-taḍāgair amṛta-maya-saraḥ-sat-sarid-ratna-śailaiḥ
kuñjair ānanda-puñjair iva kalaya mahā-majju vṛndāvanaṁ bhoḥ ||
Just behold this Vrindavan, my friends!Commentary
so delightfully ornamented by great trees,
each possessed of the tremendous powers
of a million heavenly desire trees,
where the birds led by the parakeets
drunkenly sing the Shrutis and the Bhāgavata;
where the black deer are at play with Krishna,
where divine lakes, ponds and rivers
are filled with water that is divine ambrosia,
where the mountains are made of jewels,
and the forest bowers are great heaps of joy.
Our point is that we serve Vrindavan by being her stewards. We serve by treating the land as sacred and making it a worthy place for the Lord and his devotees. Where service to Vrindavan is concerned, we are servants of Vrinda Devi.
In Govinda-līlāmṛta, we first meet Vrinda Devi in the early morning as she engages the birds in singing to awaken the Divine Couple, she makes the mynah and parrots sing verses that she herself has taught them. Even the monkeys are under her command, serving a function to enhance the pleasure of the Divine Couple and their loving pastimes. She arranges for flowers to be delivered in the morning for decorating Radha’s bed and bathrooms, and for garlands.
In the pūrvāhna-līlā, when Krishna leaves Nandagaon and enters the forest with the cows and his friends, Vrinda Devi precedes him, awakening all the flora and fauna who have been numb in his separation, so that they will be ready to serve. She calls out to the forest, calling her a sakhi:
visṛja viraha-ghūrnāṁ tūrṇam ullālasīhi |
sva-guṇa-gaṇa-vikāśaiḥ sveśvarīṁ smārayāmuṁ
saphalaya nija-lakṣmīṁ cānayoḥ sad-vilāsaiḥ ||
“Oh sakhi forest! Madhava has come, so completely shake off the daze that has come of separation and quickly shine with good cheer! Remind him of your queen, his beloved Radha (sveśvarī) by showing off your glorious virtues. When their pure love games take place here that will make all your beauty a success. (GLA 6.10)
pikā bhṛṅgair gānaṁ kuruta śikhino nṛtyata mudā |
adhīdhvaṁ bhoḥ kīrāḥ sthira-cara-gaṇā nandata ciraṁ
samāyāto yuṣmān sukhayitum asau vaḥ priyatamaḥ ||
“Oh creepers, come alive! Oh trees, bloom with splendor! Oh deer, begin your skipping and prancing! Oh kokilas, sing in chorus with the bees! Oh peacocks, now twirl and dance! Oh parrots, recite the poems you have learned! Oh moving and nonmoving creatures, be elated! Just see–your dearest friend has arrived to bring you all joy!” (GLA 6.11)
Madhava is a name of Krishna that also means the spring, so just as the springtime enlivens the natural world, the coming of Krishna is like the coming of spring. It enlivens the forest of Vrindavan, making it suitable for his romantic pastimes, for Vasanta is Madana Cupid’s closest friend.
Vrindavan is unique for many reasons. Even the nonmoving entities such as the trees and creepers are fully conscious with prema for Sri Yugala Kishor. Here Vrinda Devi calls the forest itself her sakhi, for not only are the sakhis and manjaris friends engaged in serving the Divine Couple in their prema-keli pastimes, but in fact Vrinda Devi herself and the whole of her forest are also serving those pastimes. Therefore Prabodhananda Saraswati says,
jayati jayati kṛṣṇas tad-rasāpāra-tṛṣṇaḥ |
jayati jayati vṛndaṁ tat-sakhīnāṁ dvayaikyaṁ
jayati jayati vṛndā-kānanaṁ tat-sva-dhāma ||
"All glories, all glories to Radha, an ocean fathomless with the essences of love! All glories, all glories to Krishna, who has infinite thirst to drink that ocean! All glories, all glories to the gathering of sakhis, who are fully one with the Divine Couple, and all glories, all glories to Vrinda’s forest, their effulgent abode." (Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta 9.45)
These four tattvas cannot be separated.
There are many prayers and songs where the devotee prays for Krishna to enter his or her heart, that the heart may become a worthy resting place or temple for the Lord to sit in, tvaṁ bhakti-yoga-paribhāvita-hṛt-saroja asse. Vrindavan is the external manifestation of Radharani’s heart; it is the collective heart of all the devotees. There is no meaning to the community of devotees unless their collective love for Krishna, their collective service to Krishna through the mood of Radharani, is manifest in the external world as the Dham.
The devotees are the stewards of the Dham, who have been given the duty, like Rupa and Sanatan were given it by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to make it manifest:
lupteti tāṁ khyāpayituṁ viśiṣya
kṛpāmṛtenābhiṣiṣeca devas
tatraiva rūpaṁ ca sanātanaṁ ca
In the course of time, the tidings
of Krishna’s amusements in Vrindavan had been lost.
To make them known again in detail
the Lord drenched Rupa and Sanatan with his mercy
in that very land of Vrindavan.
(Caitanya-candrodaya 9.38)
The call to manifest the pastimes of the Lord does not simply mean poetry, song, drama and philosophical musings: those are the emotional basis of faith, but the call to action means to manifest it in the world, to make it a reality. The Bhāgavatam says bhāvo hi bhava-kāraṇam, the manifestation of the world follows the inner mood (bhāva), individually and collectively. So the task of changing the world begins in our own hearts and then expands to the external heart: Vrindavan. This is why Mahaprabhu ordered Rupa and Sanatan to reveal the lost holy places, to worship deities and build temples in Vrindavan as the external signs of love for Radha and Krishna.
VMA 1.44 :: Vrindavan, worshiped by munis, gods and divine beings
VMA 1.43 :: Those who die in Vrindavan are the greatest Vaishnavas
VMA 1.42 :: The Abode of the King of Rasa
VMA 1.41 :: The treasure house of the flavors of devotion
VMA 1.40 :: Only after lifetimes of piety can one live in Vrindavan
VMA 1.39 : May Vrindavan protect and transform me.
VMA 1.38 : Vrindavan can destroy the seed of sin.
VMA 1.37 : Vrindavan is the Light of the Self
VMA 1.36 : One speck of Braj dust has such glory
VMA 1.35 : The unlimited mine of nectar
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