Another side of Bhaktivinoda 18 ::Sri Nityananda’s Guru Puja
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| Gadadhar Pran painting Gorachand and Nitai Chand |
In Chapter Seventeen, Sri Gaurasundar's most personal bhakti treasure, unnata ujjvala madhura rasa, was discussed in context with how it can be attained in Vraja. In this chapter we will investigate where it is found in Goloka Nabadwip, with a brief study of the other rasas.
Sri Nityananda’s Guru Puja
After returning to Ramai's Manohara Kunj, the bhaktas disclose their eagerness to perform our last guru-pūjā within Nitai Chand's garden abode, which is our guru pūjā to him. But we will need to take Jahnava's shelter to do it. And to approach her, Ramai's help will be required. So in hearing about our desire, Ramai becomes thoughtful as he brings us to sit down with him under the shade of a flowering madhavi lata. “I could surely go to meet Ma Jahnava and tell her about your wish,” Ramai says. “And even if Nitai is enjoying pastimes with Gorachand and the bhaktas elsewhere, I know that she can bring him back. But we have a duty to perform first, however, because now our Krishna Balaram are scheduled to unite with Radha and Revati in Rajaballabha’s Mohan Kunja. So would you like to help?
Radha - Revati and Krishna - Balaram's Jugal Milan
As the bhaktas unanimously agree, Ramai starts offering us various kinds of seva: Some bhaktas go to decorate Krishna-Balaram's puṣpa ratha , some fashion puspa malas and puspa ornaments. Then the best kirtaniyas prepare to sing Vraja lila sangita as expert musicians will play flutes, vinas, mridangas, and other instruments when the procession heads for Mohan Kunja. But some bhaktas have already gone there to assist in Radha and Revati's seva.
When the pūjāris carry Krishna-Balaram from the mandira's alter to the puṣpa ratha – various conchshells, bells, gongs, and loud ulu vibrations all fill the sky with tumult! Then as the vigrahas are seated upon the ratha's golden singhasan, Ramai offers them a sāṣṭāṅga-praṇāma and feelingly prays to Krishna:
he kṛṣṇa he capala he karuṇaika-sindho
he nātha he ramaṇa he nayanābhirāma
hā hā kadā nu bhavitāsi padaṁ dṛśor me ||40||
Everyone is watching Ramai. As he looks to Krishna-Balaram’s yugala vigraha, a great feeling of sakhya rasa awakens in him, and he begins singing:
rākhāla bherala lākhe lākhe
“O look! Krishna's our rākhāla rāja Shyam and Balaram – Who has lakhs of cowherd boys surrounding Them!”
Seeing Ramai's incredible bhāva, the kirtaniyas and the musicians all join in – and a pulsating kirtana begins. O my, when everyone starts dancing, a wonder takes place: the puṣpa ratha turns into a bullock cart and the vigrahas really manifest as Krishna and Balaram!
Aho! The crowd goes wild! Amidst the cheering we see that everyone has become a cowherd boy! This must be Krishna and Balaram's desire, because as the bhaktas submerge in sakha rasa, limitless kamadhenus appear – as we find ourselves dancing down the path to Govardhan. Ramai then sings the song's first line:
keha nāce keha gāya gīta
“In euphoria some sakhās behave like baby elephants or pretend to be horses as everyone sings and dances down the road with Krishna and Balaram.”
bālāi haila tāra mita
“Other sakhas are playing bugles or playing flutes. O look! Our Kanai has become the forest raja, and Balai reigns as his closest friend.” As every sakha joyfully plays with Krishna, they each perceive that Krishna is looking directly at them. Thus everyone surmises: “O surely, Krishna loves me the most!”
cāhato chala chala dīṭhe
baṁśībadana kahe, kānu mukha heri heri
pucha nācāota pīṭhe
“The dhenus (cows) run up to Krishna while perking their ears. Vamsivadan says: “As the dhenus glance at Kanu with their moist loving eyes their tails come sailing upwards!”
Rasa Analysis
Here we see how Krishna's madhurāśrita bhaktas sometimes get a chance to relish sakhya-rasa. And while playing with Krishna, Balaram, and the sakhas, their own bhāvas become enriched. Krishna does all this to allow them a wider range of rasa to relish so they can understand him more deeply. For isn't sakhya-rasa contained within madhura rasa? When Ramai Thakur brought Krishna-Balaram from Vraja-mandala and established their sevā-pūjā at Sripat Baghnapara, it was first carried out in sakhya and vātsalya-rasa. When Ramai’s nephew-disciple Rajaballabha later became Their pūjāri, however, Radha and Revati also arrived then. Hence, thereafter, the tradition at Baghnapara has been to worship Krishna-Balaram in sakhya and vātsalya during the day, and in madhura rasa at night when they unite with Radha and Revati. As our story is unfolding in Goloka Nabadwip, however, the vigrahas can unite at any time in the aṣṭa-kāla as Govinda-līlāmṛta presents. We may note that Vamsivadan composed the song that Ramai sang. Vamsi was a very prolific and accomplished pada-kartā, poet of Gaura lila and Krishna lila poetry which is meant to be sung in Kirtana. Yet because Vamsivadan and Ramai are the same person in different roles, it is only befitting that Ramai bring Vamsi's poetry to life.
When Ramai's song ends, it's amazing that the bullock cart disappears and the Krishna-Balaram vigrahas reappear on the puṣpa-ratha! Now as the procession enters Mohan Kunja, and Radha-Revati's maṇimaya mandira comes into view, the bhaktas almost forget how they were just playing with Krishna and Balaram in sakhya rasa.
As the rath comes to a halt in the mandira's courtyard, the vigrahas are brought to stand on two jeweled vedis. Then suddenly the mandira's doors open and when viewing the Krishna-Balaram vigrahas, Radha and Revati personally manifest from their mūrtis! Without wasting time, they both take beautifully fashioned vaijayantī mālās in hand to worship their prāṇa-vallabhas. Seeing this stuns the bhaktas! So as the band party plays on they stand like mannequins to blissfully observe what is going on.
When Radha comes before the Krishna vigraha, and Revati stands before Balaram's vigraha, they clasp their malas to their heads offering with bhakti a pranam. Then they begin to circumambulate the vigrahas seven times. when they at last come to stand before them – they lovingly place their garlands around the vigrahas’ necks. Then a wonderful thing happens: Krishna and Balaram assume their original forms to embrace them! aho! flower petals fall from the sky, conchshells resound, the bhaktas cheer in unison and stirring ulu vibrations commence!
The crowd is simply amazed as Krishna lifts Radha into his arms and Balaram carries Revati to enter the mandira and close the doors behind them. We should mention that for their vilāsa keli two superb flower petals beds have been arranged there.
Then comes another surprise: Jahnava Thakurani suddenly appears to congratulate Ramai, saying: “I am very happy to see your yugala-sevā expertise. May you always go on serving them in this way, I pray.”
Ramai humbly answers: “O Gurudevi, today the seva was abridged because the bhaktas are eager to perform your Swami devatā's caraṇa pūjā.”
“But that is why I have come,” Jahnava answers with a smile. “Prabhu knows about your wish, and thus He has requested me to bring everyone.”
As we follow behind Jahnava, the bhaktas are reminded of how serene and graceful she is. And upon entering Nitai's palace we admire its architectural beauty. The crystal floors cast reflections of the golden ceiling and golden doors, which are studded with diamonds and rubies. Beside each doorway there are jeweled statues of beautiful apsarā women holding ghee lamps.
Coming to a special baithaka (sitting room), we see Vasudha relaxing with Bircandra and Ganga. Thus we carefully offer them a reverential pranam -- as a feeling of divine bliss comes from their merciful kripa ashirvada! Upon seeing a huge golden door ahead, Jahnava says: “This is the baithaka of my Prabhu.” Before going in, however, she turns to the bhaktas, and says: “By our Jagat Guru Sri Nityananda's causeless mercy, today we will see how he serves his prana Gauranga in all of the rasas. Yet when I perform his arati your seva will simply be to observe how his opulences manifest.”
As Jahnava escorts us inside we are overtaken by an effulgence brighter than a million suns! She then touches her Prabhu's lotus feet and utters a prayer:
yasyecchayā tat-svarūpam jñāne'pi nirūpyate
“I offer my pranam to Sri Nityananda-ishwara, whose incredible aiśvarya is overwhelming and limitless. By your mercy even an illiterate fool can fathom your glories." (C.C Adi 5:1)
As Nityananda Rama's effulgence disappears, we see him seated upon a majestic singhasan, and reverentially fall to offer our pranam. We also notice that countless dasas and dasis are serving him. Jahnava doesn't hesitate to begin her Prabhu's arati and Suryadeva's wife, Savitri, helps by lighting a seven-tier ghee lamp. Turning to the bhaktas, Jahnava says: “Although my Swami devata's divine opulences are limitless, let us first focus on how he serves Gauracandra in śānta-rasa:
“As the cit-śakti, Nityananda is the cause of everything.” (C.C. Adi 5.42)
By Jahnava's mercy, we see that Nityananda's sakti forms the entire Nabadwip Dham. For the sky, the earth, the Ganga, the forests, the bhaktas' palaces and mandiras – as well as every moving and non-moving object is Nitai!
Then we see Gauranga blissfully wandering through Nabadwip's forests beside the Ganga. And as he admires every forest tree and lata, lovingly glances to the animals and to the birds, and relishes the cooling Malayan breeze – he remembers that this beautiful environment is non-different from Vrindavan – and a manifestation of his own cit-śakti.
To offer the conchshell's water, Vasudha’s daughter appears. As she is Ganga, herself, she calls all of the sacred rivers to come and enter the conchshell along with her sanctified water. As Jahnava starts to offer it, however, we can see how Nityananda awards the bhaktas' Gauranga's seva in dāsya-rasa. Such seva includes: offering water, fanning with a chamara, preparing pan, massaging the Lord's body, bathing him, dressing him, picking flowers, making garlands, fashioning flower ornaments, cleaning the Lord's home, delivering messages, serving maha prasad, massaging the Lord's feet, and many more.
Then Nabadwip's Nikunja Lakshmi arrives to provide a soft towel for the arati with a basket of fresh scented flowers. As Jahnava starts to offer the towel, and then the flowers, by her mercy the bhaktas receive the darshan of Gauranga's sakhya-rasa pastimes:
Nitai is sitting under a huge banyan tree beside the Ganga, and surrounding him are some of Vraja's leading sakhas – Gauridas (Subal), Abhirama (Shridham), Sundarananda (Sudama), and Sridhar (Madhumangal). As they play hide-and-seek with Nimai, everyone has been searching all over for him, but no one can find him. Around this time some brahmins come to pick lotus flowers for their noontime pūjā. As they detect a golden lotus strangely moving amidst the other flowers – this alerts Sridhara who cries out – “Hoosh!” [We found you!] Then Nimai submerges under water and quickly swims far away. So Nitai and the others dive in to search for him. After a while, however, Nitai starts to feel tired and floats on his back, and remembers: “I am Ananta sesh.” When noticing Nitai floating like an air mattress, Nimai can't remain aloof. He swiftly swims over to lie upon him, remembering, “I am Vishnu.”
In seeing the fun, the sakhas can't figure out what is going on, and that's when they catch Nimai!
To offer the arati's fan, Vayu deva's wife, Svasti, arrives to present Jahnava a chamara and a peacock fan. Thus when Jahnava takes up the chamara, She tells the bhaktas: “Let's now observe how Nitai serves Gauranga in vātsalya-rasa: Vishvarupa and Isvarapuri are different forms of Nityananda's śakti, and they both eternally reside in Goloka Nabadwip. As an elder brother, Vishvarupa is like Nimai’s siksha guru. And as Gauranga's diksha guru, Isvarapuri also offers him loving guidance.
Although Mother Sachi and Jagannath Mishra are Gauranga's parents, the elderly men and woman of Nabadwipa also look to him as if he were their own son, and always act for his welfare. Some of the other leading vātsalya-rasa bhaktas who have great paternal affection for Gauranga are: Advaita Acarya and Sita Thakurani, Shrivas Thakur and Malini Devi, and Candrasekhar Acarya and Sarvajaya.
After offering a peacock fan, Jahnava's concludes the arati by blowing the conchshell that Varuna deva's wife, Varuni, gave her. Then she comes to sit on her husband's left side upon the opulent singhasan.
Unnata ujjvala madhura rasa sevā in Goloka Nabadwip
As the bhaktas sit before Jahnava and Nityananda they feel a bit puzzled, and Ramai can understand why. Thus he humbly questions:
“O Gurudevi, during the arati you showed us various example of how Nityananda serves Gauranga in śānta, dāsya, sakhya and vātsalya rasa. But why didn't you mention madhura rasa? Jahnava says: “O son, your previous siddhānta in Anaṅga-mañjarī-sampuṭikā (1.29) nicely answers your question:
bāhye tu bahurūpī cāntara-guru-rūpakaḥ
The nitya līlās are of two kinds, the external and the internal. Although the external pastimes take on many forms and can be directly seen, the internal pastimes are kept secret.
So Ramai, because our Nitai relishes madhura rasa in hiding, we shall now discuss this matter separately. Please remember, though, as Balaram serves Krishna in dāsya, sakhya and vātsalya rasa in a male form, and assumes a female form in madhura rasa, you may know that my Nitai serves Gauranga in a similar way. I once quoted these verses to your father. They are from the Purāṇa's Dharaṇī-śeṣa-saṁvāda:
mahā-saṅkarṣaṇo nāma sarva-śakti-samṛddhimān
ātape nirmalaṁ chatraṁ nidāghe śītalo'nilaḥ
śayane divya-paryaṅkaḥ ramaṇe prāṇa-vallabhā
nitya-śrī rādhikā nāma ānandah kṛṣṇa-vigrahā
ubhayor melana-nāma nityānanda vasundhare
Krishna’s second bodily expansion Balaram is Maha Sankarshan who wields limitless śakti, and assumes many forms. To protect Krishna from the scorching sun he becomes his umbrella, and during the heat of summer, he becomes the cooling wind. When the Lord sleeps, he becomes his divine bed stead, and for the Lord's ramaṇa-krīḍā, He becomes his prāṇa-vallabhā (divine consort). Although the name of this eternal sakti which gives Krishna conjugal pleasure is Sri Radhika , when they both unite, such pleasure is called nityānanda.”
Rasa Analysis
Because Nityananda's mādhurya-rasa- tattva is unknown to many, let us investigate this topic from the versions of his closest bhaktas, Jahnava Thakurani and Vrindavan Das Thakur. When Jahnava came to initiate Ramai and take him from home (in Muralī-vilāsa's fourth chapter) she quoted the above verse from the Purāṇas to Ramai's father. Hence we can know that it is authorized. In Caitanya-bhāgavata, Vrindavan Das reveals the following secret:
sarba bhābe karite dharaye prabhura śakti 2.23.526
sei anurūpa rūpa nityānanda dhare 2.18.218
nirabadhi sei dehe karena bihāra 1.1.17
Nityananda's bhakti for Gauranga is such that he can worship him in śānta, dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, and madhura rasa. So in whatever mood that Gauranga assumes, Nityananda can manifest an appropriate form and seva mood to reciprocate. There is no one more dear to Gauranga because Nitai always relishes (conjugal) loving pastimes with Nitai's divine (female) form.
Vrindavan Das wrote Caitanya-bhāgavata at a place called Dhenur. Coincidentally, the previous Dhenur Mahanta, Sri Haridas, who is Vrindavan Das' descendant, wrote a Caitanya-bhāgavata commentary at this place almost 450 years later, calling it the Vyāsābhiprāya-ṭīkā, "Sri Vyasa Avatara's intention." I think it will be interesting to see how he comments on these verses:
“Here Vrindavan das has become intoxicated to reveal his iṣṭa-devatā, Sri Nityananda’s Prabhu’s glories to the world. In this Avatara only those who receive Gauranga's special kripa can understand Nityananda’s madhura-rasa-tattva. So by saying śrī-caitanya nirabadhi sei dehe karena bihāra, he means that the unnata ujjvala rasa-maya pirīti that Nitai offers to Gaura is truly relished by him. Although Nitai is a puruṣa in direct view, he secretly takes on the form of a beautiful female. In other words, to ideally serve Gaurasundar in madhura-rasa, Nityananda becomes the full manifestation of the hlādinī and the sandhinī śakti in a hidden female form. This is also stated in the Brahmāṇḍa-purāṇa:
śayane divya paryaṅke ramaṇe prāṇa-vallabhā
gamane pādukā rūpī rahasye sakhī-rūpakaḥ
Although Nityananda serves Gauranga as a male in direct view, he takes on a female form in hiding. Nitai is the divine bedstead in which Gauranga takes rest, and then he becomes the divine consort with whom the Lord makes love. As Gauranga walks, Nitai becomes his shoes, though He secretly becomes a sakhi.”
For a long time Nitai has been steeped in bhāva, but now he breaks his silence to ask: “Has anyone brought Gadadhar's gift for me?”
Hearing Prabhu’s inquiry, I become stunned for he appears to know everything that is going on! I thus whisper a message in my gurudeva's ear, and he motions to Jahnava. On her request, then, Ramai takes the box we were holding and gives it to her.
[From Chapter Nine readers can remember that when we went to secure Gadadhar's blessing for performing our guru-pūjā, He gave us a small golden box and told us: “Please give this to Nitai.”]
As Ma Jahnava opens the golden box and sees a morsel of Mahaprabhu’s prasadi pan, She instinctively places it in her husband’s lotus mouth. But aho! Nitai becomes transported – and by his amazing śakti the bhaktas become transported along with him! Then he leads us into a secret realm that we never knew about before:
sei rūpe gora suradhuni tīre racila rasera dhāma
“Just as Krishna perform rāsa-līlā and nikuñja-vilāsa pastimes with the gopis on the Yamuna's shore, Gaurasundar enacts those same līlās on the Suradhuni Ganga's picturesque banks.”
Gaura-carita-cintāmaṇi
It's a beautiful full-noon night on the Ganga's moonlit shore, and the rasalila has already begun. So that the Lord and the bhaktas rasa-relish can ideally flourish - everyone's exquisitely beautiful female form appears by Nitai's kripa. That is when Gauranga manifests limitless prakāśa mūrtis to dance beside every bhaktas' nāgarī svarūpa!
Meanwhile, in the center, Gaura Nataraj dances up close to Gadadhar, and he is about to transfer his prasadi pan to her mouth by kissing her. But as she sees Nitai's parama sundari form, Gadadhar directs Gaura's attention to Her with an enchanting side-long glance.
As Gauranga attention goes to Nitai's rasavatī nārī svarūpa, like an intoxicated bee he is zealous to plunder the honey from her bandhuli-flower lips, and becomes spellbound! By Nitai’s amazing karuna, Gauranga's limitless prakasa murtis embrace every bhaktas’ beautiful nagari svarūpa, too, and as He kisses their lovely sweet lips – they dive into an ānanda-sāgara!
In his Stavaraja, Advaita Acarya depicts a similar meditation:
aśeṣa-rasika-sphūryan-mauli-bhūṣaṇa-bhūṣaṇam ||
“Hey Gaurasundar! You are certainly the most captivating dancer and there are millions of rasika nagaris who daily worship you as śrī nāgara-śiromaṇi, the greatest romantic of all. So to reciprocate with all of these rasika followers you pledge to loot their honey as you fondly go on kissing their beautiful sweet lips!” As it is the Paramatma who awakens romantic sentiment within every ātmā so that they wish to fall in love and live happily ever after– that inborn desire can be truly satiated when the bhaktas lovingly embrace Sri Gaurasundar to their chest in madhura pirīti. (Verse 32)
Just as Vrindavan’s rāsa-līlā includes the madhu pāna, rati-keli, jala-keli, vana-bhojana, and nikuñja śayana līlās – by Nitai's parama karuṇā, the bhaktas fortune to enjoy all of these wonderful sambhoga pastimes with their Prananath, too.
Rasa Analysis
It is wonderful to see that every kind of Gaudiya Vaishnava worship can be found within Thakur Bhaktivinoda's āmnāya siddha guru paramparā. Moreover, the topic of Gaura's kāntā bhāva worship that this chapter discusses is the counterpart of Krishna's madhura affairs with the gopis. Caitanya-caritāmṛta praises such worship as follows:
ei preme baśa kṛṣṇa kahe bhāgavate
'Kāntā-bhāva is called paripūrṇa kṛṣṇa prāpti, the highest and the most complete way to attain Krishna. For the Bhāgavatam declares: Krishna is completely subjugated by the gopis' kāntā-bhāva prema. (CC Madhya 8.88)
It is only natural that the same kind of pirīti awaken in Gaura Lila for those following Bhaktivinoda’s guru parampara. This is because during initiation, the Gopal mantra and Kama Gayatri are given for worshiping Gauranga and Krishna. In his Vishnupriya Mangal, Haridasa Goswami says:
gaura pakṣe byākhyā tāra ati camatkāra
“The essence of all rasa-bhajan can be found in the Kāma bīja and the Kāma gāyatrī. When analyzed in context with Gauranga's worship, the meaning is truly amazing!”
Parama karunamaya Sri Nitai-candra ki jaya!!
Other articles in this series by Gadadhar Pran Das Prabhu.
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