FB Memories March 1

Krishna always tells Radha that he is merely a servant of the god of love, who is the real king of Vrindavan. And who are we? Servants of the goddess of love, the real queen of Vrindavan. How, indeed, will Love be served? Furthermore, the Guru of Vrindavan is a woman, Paurnamasi, who also serves Love and teaches God Himself service to Love. Strange, complex symbols. (12 years ago)

7 years ago

This nice memory of Kushakratha Dasji deserves to be recycled. Kushakratha was one of ISKCON's pioneers in Sanskrit. He published nearly all the Goswamis books after translating them himself, and many of these are still in circulation in edited form. So he certainly made a big impact on the movement and deserves to be remembered with gratitude.

In memoriam: Kusakratha Das

I was sad to learn of the passing of our dear friend several years ago. He was very magnanimous while with us in this life. I recall his putting me through his crash course in Sanskrit grammar when I first joined the BBT Sanskrit Department in LA. I thought learning the basics was a daunting task because it takes 20 years to fully master (on average for most people) all of Vedic and classical Sanskrit grammar and its nuances. But, he showed me how within weeks one could with diligent study a few hours a day get to the point of reading any text with a grammar book and dictionary handy. Together we redesigned the curriculum for Sanskrit class at the Gurukula in New Dwaraka, which at the time was limited to children learning only the Sanskrit alphabet. We saw that was a waste of their potential and that they should be learning much more than that (if you think about it, didn't we all master the English alphabet in Kindergarten or 1st Grade?).

Kusa dedicated his life to bringing forth the works of the Goswamins Rupa, Santana and Jiva to us in English, and he was extremely prolific in that translation effort. I remember him sitting at his typewriting in Los Angeles and the tick-ticking of the keys all afternoon as he worked on his latest translation of some Gaudiya text. I have many other fond memories of the time we spent together in that little 2 bedroom apartment that was the hub of Sanskrit department at that time.

Hey Kusa! Give us a hand down here and pull us up to Goloka with you!

Sevak,

Ramdas

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6 years ago

Some of this was posted in this article on the blog: "Archetypes: Remembering the Essence" and "VMA 2.26: Vrindavan the Essence of All Things."

नयनयुगविधाने राधिकाया विधात्रा

जगति मधुरसाराः सञ्चिताः सद्गुणा ये।

भुवि पतिततदंशस्तेन सृष्टान्यसारै-

र्भ्रमरमृगचकोराम्भोजमीनोत्पलानि॥१००॥

nayana-yuga-vidhāne rādhikāyā vidhātrā

jagati madura-sārāḥ sañcitāḥ sad-guṇā ye |

bhuvi patita-tad-aṁśas tena sṛṣṭāny asārair

bhramara-mṛga-cakorāmbhoja-mīnotpalāni ||

“The Creator collected the essence of every beautiful object in the universe to make Radha’s eyes. But when the leftover portions fell to the ground they became the bumblebees, the chakoras, the lotuses and their finest species, the indivara.” (Govinda-līlāmrita 11.100)

mathyate tu jagat sarvaṁ brahma-jñānena yena vā |

tat-sāra-bhūtaṁ yad yasyāṁ mathurā sā nigadyate ||

The name Mathurā has been given to this land because the manifest essence of the knowledge of Brahman by which the entire universe has been churned appears there. (GTU 2.26)

(VV) Nārāyaṇa now explains the meaning of the word Mathurā. That by which the entire universe is churned is called matha, or knowledge of Brahman. That knowledge of Brahman is the person of Gopāla.

Alternatively, the word vä found in the verse suggests that the universe is also churned by Madanagopāla. Mathurä is the site where pure knowledge, i.e., where erroneous understanding of the universe comes to an end, is manifest in its essential form.

(The following is common to both Prabodhananda and Jiva Goswami's commentaries): P 81,J 66: By giving the etymology of the word Mathurā, Brahmā reveals more of the glories of the location where one should perform the aforementioned meditation. The act of churning produces butter from cream; similarly, knowledge of the supreme person, the personal form of Brahman, is revealed through the churning of the entire universe.

The word vä (“or”) indicates an alternative which is not openly mentioned in the verse, namely bhakti-yoga. The place where both these (i.e., knowledge of the Lord and bhakti-yoga) are revealed in their fullest, most perfect manifestation, is known as Mathurā, i.e., the word mathura refers to the practices of knowledge and devotion (jñāna-bhakti-sādhanam). This meaning can be established from the Ūnādi-sūtra.

lāvaṇya-sāra-rasa-sāra-sukhaika-sāre

kāruṇya-sāra-madhura-ccavi-rūpa-sāre |

vaidagdhya-sāra-rati-keli-vilāsa-sāre

rādhābhidhe mama mano'khila-sāra-sāre ||26||

लावण्यसाररससारसुखैकसारे

कारुण्यसारमधुरच्छविरूपसारे।

वैदग्ध्यसाररतिकेलिविलाससारे

राधाभिधे मम मनोऽखिलसारसारे॥२६॥

May my thoughts always rest in her who is named Radha, who is the essence of loveliness, the essence of rasa, the single essence of all happiness; who is the essence of compassion, the essence of all charming depictions of beauty, the essence of cleverness in the arts of love, the essence of amorous love-play, indeed who is the essence of the best of everything. (RRSN 26).

The word sāra appears 30 times in RRSN. This verse is the sāra of them all.

dṛṣṭvā rādhāṁ nipuṇa-vidhinā suṣṭhu kenāpi sṛṣṭāṁ

dhātā hrīlaḥ sadṛśam anayā yauvataṁ nirmimatsuḥ |

sāraṁ cinvann asṛjad iha tat svasya sṛṣṭeḥ samāsyā

naikāpy āsīd api tu samabhūt pūrva-sṛṣṭir nirarthā ||143||

दृष्ट्वा राधां निपुणविधिना सुष्ठु केनापि सृष्टां

धाता ह्रीलः सदृशमनया यौवतं निर्मिमत्सुः।

सारं चिन्वन्नसृजदिह तत् स्वस्य सृष्टेः समास्या

नैकाप्यासीदपि तु समभूत्पूर्वसृष्टिर्निरर्था॥१४३॥

Lalita Sundari exclaims, “Seeing Radha’s exquisite form, the Creator desired to make more beautiful women like her. But after collecting his best ingredients and employing his finest artistic ability—he became depressed; not one of them could match Radha!

Thus ashamed, he thought: “The lotus and the moon are in no way comparable either !” Hence, just as one crosses out a misspelled word, the creator splotched the lotus with swarms of bees, and scribbled a deer-spot over the moon !”