VMA 2.51 : The wealth, intelligence and praiseworthiness of the Vrindavan sadhaka

Prabodhananda Saraswatipada continues his glorification of the Vaishnava sādhaka who has love for Braj Vrindavan. In this verse the word iha indicates one who actually dwells in Vrindavan but not necessarily so. As we saw in the previous verse, one who simply recognizes the glories and good fortune of one who lives in the Dham is a beneficiary of the Dham's mercy. In this verse, Saraswatipada ups the conditions and shows three kinds of glory of one who loves Vrindavan or who resides in Vrindavan with rati. 

Akbar and Tansen having darshan of Swami Haridas in Nidhivan.

kuberāṇāṁ koṭīr hasati dhana-sampattibhir aho

tiraskuryād varyān api sura-gurūn buddhi-vibhavaiḥ |

aśocyaḥ strī-putrādibhir asama īḍyo hari-rasāc

chuka-prahlādādyai rati-kṛd iha vṛndāvana-vane ||2.51||

One who has here given his love to Vrindavan forest
mocks millions of Kuberas
with his treasures and riches;
by the opulence of his intelligence,
he eclipses countless gurus of the gods;
he is not to be lamented by wife, children and others,
for his experience of Krishna rasa
makes him the unequaled object of worship
for great devotees like Shukadeva and Prahlad.

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Prabodhananda Saraswatipada continues his glorification of the Vaishnava sādhaka who has love for Braj Vrindavan. In this verse the word iha indicates one who actually dwells in Vrindavan but not necessarily so. As we saw in the previous verse, one who simply recognizes the glories and good fortune of one who lives in the Dham is a beneficiary of the Dham's mercy. In this verse, Saraswatipada ups the conditions and shows three kinds of glory of one who loves Vrindavan or who resides in Vrindavan with rati. The following verses will build on this glorification, showing higher states of good fortune attained by the Vrindavan sādhaka.

There is a legend about the emperor Akbar and Swami Haridas, who is considered by his followers to be an incarnation of Lalita Sakhi. Akbar's court musician Tansen was Swami Haridas' student and he often praised his teacher to the emperor. Akbar became curious to hear the heavenly singing of Haridas, who is said to be the originator of the dhrupada style of classical Hindu vocal music. So Tansen brought Akbar to Nidhivan in Vrindavan in order to hear the guru sing. Haridas eschewed the limelight and would only practice in the dark of night for the pleasure of the Lord and so they had to hide and eavesdrop to relish his musical compositions in glorification of his dulārī, Kunja Bihari.

The king was so impressed that he offered to give Swami Haridas any amount of great riches as a reward. Swami Haridas, however, had renounced all material things and did not want to take anything from the emperor. In fact, he found Akbar to be puffed up with riches and power. When Akbar insisted, Swami Haridas finally said, "Go then to Keshi Ghat where some of the steps leading to the Yamuna have been damaged and replace them."

Akbar thought that was an easy enough task, but when he went to look at the ghat, by the grace of Swami Haridas, he was suddenly given the vision to see it was made of gold and the most precious jewels, rich beyond mortal imagination. He became humble, realizing that all his opulence was as nothing compared to the wealth of those who had entered the real Vrindavan and had the divine eyes to see it as it is. bhūmiś cintāmaṇi-gaṇamayī.

Another story is told of Sanatan Goswami and of other Vrindavan saints as well. A poor but pious brahmin from Benares was performing austerities and worshiping Lord Vishwanath in order to attain riches in the hope that his miserable condition in this world would be abated. Lord Vishwanath took mercy on his devotee and appeared to him in a dream. He told the brahmin to go to Vrindavan and to seek out Sanatan Goswami. He said that Sanatan had in his possession a magic stone that turned iron into gold. If the brahmin only had this stone, he would never need for anything ever again. The brahmin followed Lord Shiva's instruction, but on arriving in Braj was surprised to find Sanatan living in extreme poverty under a tree. After all, he was living like a homeless pauper and it was from him that he was to ask for the philosopher's stone!

When the brahmin asked Sanatan Goswami for the magic stone, the sage directed him to a nearby garbage heap and told him to look for it there. The brahmin happily rummaged in the refuse and found the stone, thinking that his great fortune had finally been found. But as he started home, the doubt revisited him: If this was indeed such a valuable possession, why had Sanatan Prabhu discarded it in the refuse pile? He speculated that one only gives up one kind of wealth for another, better one -- paraṁ dṛṣṭvā nivartate. So he went back and asked the sage what that greater wealth was. Sanatan then revealed to him the opulences of Vrindavan Dham and it became clear to the brahmin that loving service to Radha and Krishna was the greatest wealth. So he asked Sanatan for initiation into the worship of Vrindavan Dham and the Divine Couple. Sanatan made the condition that he should throw the mystical stone into the Yamuna where it would be lost forever. The brahmin did so and became a great bhajananandi in the shelter of the Holy Dham.

So much then for the wealth of Kubera. As for intelligence, in this world of today there is a great deal of faith in the power of the intellect to assess the truth. Rationality is seen as the enemy of religion and so the latter is doubted as intellectually dishonest. This is demonstrable when so many believe what they want to believe and disregard evidence to the contrary, a disease that isis especially rampant nowadays, even when so much information is available. Faith is thus deemed as blind and a disruption to effective communication and decision making.

If intelligence is the capacity to determine the truth then we must first of all recognize that there are different levels of truth. For the Vaishnava, and indeed for most of the revelations of the ancient world, death is recognized as the overriding truth that can be established without a doubt. The truth of death casts a shadow over everything else that we know or think we know. But other than that, the Vedanta establishes the unassailable truths of existence, consciousness and innate happiness. Intelligence, or buddhi, is perfected when one recognizes the truth of transcendent existence.

In the light of these fundamentals, all other truths have only functional, relative or apparent value. The ground of being, God, is the ultimate truth, and the spiritual path is to contemplate this highest truth -- satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi.

The more that one becomes other-worldly while approaching imminent death -- which is really the end game of one who has cultivated transcendence -- the only intellectual honesty is the recognition that this world is an impermanent place that is only a shadow of Reality. As one becomes fixed in the Reality, everything else, including historical and scientific "truth," the legalistic and mythological aspects of religion, etc., all disappear like mist in the morning sun.

Obviously not everyone is on that level, and so there are a million and one interim positions that appear to be truth at one time or another and lead to conflict and dispute. One situated in knowledge sees those scurrying about in pursuit of some relative truth such as knowledge, wealth or material happiness with conviction and a sense of absolute purpose as being lamentable.

prajñā-prasādam āruhya aśocyaḥ śocato janān |
bhūmiṣṭhān iva śaila-sthaḥ sarvān prājño’nupaśyati ||

[A yogi,] having climbed up the palace of wisdom,
is no more to be grieved for.
He will observe with his wisdom the grieving people
like one on a mountain top
viewing those on the ground below. (Pancashikha, YS 1.47)

satya-vrataṁ satya-paraṁ tri-satyaṁ
satyasya yoniṁ nihitaṁ ca satye
satyasya satyam ṛta-satya-netraṁ
satyātmakaṁ tvāṁ śaraṇaṁ prapannāḥ

We take shelter of you, Krishna,
you, who are true to your vow,
who value the truth above all,
who are the unchanging truth that pervades past, present and future.
You are the womb of truth;
You are hidden in all truth;
You are the very Truth that makes all truth true.
You are the eye of truth in the cosmic law.
Your very essence is truth. (BhP 10.2.26)

This is the truth that is ever victorious.

satyam eva jayate nānṛtaṁ
satyena panthā vitato deva-yānaḥ
yenākramanty ṛṣayo hy āpta-kāmā
yatra tat satyasya paramaṁ nidhānam

Truth alone is victorious, and never falsehood. Through truth evolves the path leading to divinity. In the past seers transcended by following this path, attaining all desires, arriving there where Truth resides in all its fullness. (Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 3.1.6)

Thus true intelligence is to pursue all truth to its ultimate goal. Intellectual honesty in even small matters is helpful in attaining it. But one must not lose sight of the above-mentioned fundamentals.

etāvad eva jijñāsyaṁ tattva-jijñāsunātmanaḥ
anvaya-vyatirekābhyāṁ yat syāt sarvatra sarvadā

One searching after the Supreme Absolute Truth
must go on looking for it
through both direct and indirect reasoning,
until he is firmly fixed in Truth
through all time and circumstance. (2.9.35)

Krishna ends his instructions to Uddhava by confirming this last verse of the Four Seed Verses of the Bhagavatam:

eṣā buddhimatāṁ buddhir manīṣā ca manīṣiṇām |
yat satyam anṛteneha martyenāpnoti māmṛtam ||

This is the intelligence of the intelligent and wisdom of the wise that through the mortal and temporary body a person attains Me who am the Truth and Immortal. (11.29.22)

Vrindavan is the culmination of this search for Truth and therefore all the sages of past, present and future glorify the sādhaka who has found love for the practice of devotion to the Divine Couple in the Dham. Such a fortunate person should never be considered lamentable by his family. A son, wife or husband who decides that love for the Truth is more exalted than any material goal should be recognized as worshipable and a source of joy and salvation for the whole family.

VMA 2.50 : Respect for the residents of Braj, even from afar, leads to the greatest benefit
VMA 2.47-49: May that pair of adolescent lovers manifest before my eyes
VMA 2.44-46: Vrindavan is the celestial stage for the Divine Couple's dance of love
VMA 2.41-43: The service activities of the manjaris.
VMA 2.40 : Taking shelter of the handmaids of Radha