Jagat

Once again, after a series of meditations on the sādhaka devotee living in the worldly Vrindavan to a sphūrti of the Divnie Couple and then of the kinkaris serving them, Prabodhananda Saraswati returns to a glorification of the Dham itself. It is the beauty and sweetness of the Dham itself and its residents that reveal Radha and Krishna to the devotee who has taken up a vow of residence there.

The word smara in verse 59 is taken by most interpreters as a second-person singular imperative of √smṛ, to remember. The plural imperative was used in the previous verse, however, so I think the plural verb should be carried over to this one. In that case, smara would be taken as a name for Kamadeva (Eros).

It is almost impossible to be entirely  svārasikī  or  mantramayī  in one's  upāsanā . Some aspects of the one have a way of entering into the other. It is impossible for the  līlā  to remain still, since the movement of time no matter how limited is a necessary part of līlā . On the other hand, every verse of any  svārasikī  text like  Govinda-līlāmṛta  is a meditation in itself, a still picture as it were, just as a film is made up of a series of still images.

After describing the  bhāva-bhakta , Prabodhananda Saraswati suddenly has an inspiration, a  sphūrti  of his  siddha-svarūpa , as if glorifying such devotees bestows such grace.  Of the eleven aspects of the siddha identity, one is to be the protected servant of one of the senior sakhis. What pleasure it is to get such an order from the sakhis!

In VMA 2.34 ( The fortunate, the more fortunate, and the most fortunate of all ), Prabodhananda Saraswatipada gave a hierarchy of spiritual attainments in view of the object of worship. In the current set of verses, he has been giving a hierarchy on the basis of their levels of  sādhana . After saying  in the previous verse  that one who has renounced everything to take shelter of Vrindavan is the most fortunate, he now shows the fruits of this good fortune by describing a devotee who is on the stage of  bhāva  and  prema , the two aspects of   sādhya-bhakti,  the goal of  sādhana. 

Saraswatipada continues to describe a hierarchy of good fortune, finally arriving at the superlative "one who is most fortunate of the fortunate" ( dhanya-dhanyaḥ ). It is not easy to renounce, and often it seems unnecessary, especially when one has a wife or husband who is decorated with all the virtues beginning with devotion. But Prabodhananda gives so much importance to the Dham that he would even sacrifice a devotional life outside of Vrindavan for one there, even if it were to be in the company of those speaking mundane subject matters. 

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 . 

Prabodhananda Saraswatipada changes subject here after many verses dominated by visions of the divine abode and its Lord and Lady. Ending with the prayer for his mind and vision to be transformed by the grace of the Dham, he now turns to the  sādhaka  devotees and glorifies them over the next five verses (2.50-55). 

Today's three verses are grouped together around the theme set by the words kiśorayor dvayam , "the pair of adolescent lovers." Syntactically, they are separate sentences and so are not a  sandānitaka , but nevertheless, we have decided to take them as a single unit. Later in this book there are several cases of long groupings of verses with as many as 50 verses to be taken as a single unit. These are called kulaka . ananta-ratimat priya-cchavi vilāsa-saṁmohanaṁ mahā-rasika-nāgarādbhuta-kiśorayos tad dvayam | vicitra-rati-līlayā nava-nikuñja-puñjodare smarāmi viharan-mahā-praṇaya-ghūrṇitāṅgaṁ mithaḥ || kadā kanaka-campaka-dyuti-vininditendīvara- varaṁ nava-kiśorayor dvayam agādha-bhāvaṁ mithaḥ | puraḥ sphuratu manmatha-kṣubhita-mūrti vṛndāṭavīṁ mamādhivasato mahā-sarasa-divya-cakṣur-yujaḥ ||2.48|| premānandojjvala-rasa-maya-jyotir-ekārṇavāntas tādātmyena sphuratu bahudhāścarya-vṛndāvanaṁ me | kuñje kuñje madhura-madhuraṁ tatra khelat-kiśora- dv...

This is also a sandānatikā , or a group of three verses forming one syntactical sentence.. ekaṁ citra-śikhaṇḍa-cūḍam aparaṁ śrī-veṇī-śobhādbhutaṁ vakṣaś candana-citram ekam aparaṁ citraṁ sphurat-kañcukam| ekaṁ ratna-vicitra-pīta-vasanaṁ jaṅghānta-vastropari bhrājad-ratna-sucitra-śoṇa-vasanenānyac ca saṁśobhitam||2.44|| itthaṁ divya-vicitra-veśa-madhuraṁ tad gaura-nīlaṁ mithaḥ- premāveśa-hasat-kiśora-mithunaṁ dig-vyāpi-citra-cchaṭam | kāñcī-nūpura-nāda-ratna-muralī-gītena saṁmohayat śrī-vṛndāvana-cid-ghana-sthira-caraṁ raṅge mahā-śrīmati ||2.45|| anv-ālī-mukha-śabdake maṇimaye mīlan-mṛdaṅga-dhvanau protsāryaiva praviṣṭavaj javanikām utkīrya puṣpāñjalīm | atyāścarya-sa-nṛtya-hastaka-mahāścaryāṅga-dṛg-bhaṅgimot- tuṅgānaṅga-rasotsavaṁ bhajati me prāṇa-dvayaṁ kaḥ kṛtī ||2.46|| One wears a peacock feather crown, and the other has wonderfully braided hair. One's chest is decorated with sandalwood designs and the other wears a splendid bodice. One wears jewel-studded yellow garme...

Rajendra Dasji is a talented musician and singer, like many of the leading Bhagavata speakers of Vrindavan. Spent my Janmashtami at the Hindu temple in Dollard des Ormeaux. Was really made to feel at home by Dharampal Sharma, the priest. I really enjoyed the family atmosphere with the children dressed up as gopas and gopis and having a lot of fun with their dancing program. I am a bit sorry that I did not go there earlier as I feel much more in the spirit with the Indian bhaktas. Muraliika Devi and Pundrik Goswami have both given Bhagavata at this temple in the recent past, so the Braj Bhava is a stronger there than where Western neo-Vaishnavas dominate. I visited an old Iskcon friend the other day and gave him a hard copy of Vrindavan Today magazine. He appreciated it but felt in that he did not recognize or know anybody whose picture was in it, since there were no Iskcon devotees there. So he felt alienated, as though I had left Iskcon behind. I told him to read my editoria...

The next three verses form a single unit ( sandānitaka ), with the subject and verb in the last line of the third verse. The rest of the verses contain the object of the verb, giving various descriptions of the gopis and their service. kāścic candana-gharṣiṇīḥ sa-ghusṛṇaṁ kāścit srajo granthatīḥ kāścit keli-nikuñja-maṇḍana-parāḥ kāścid vahantīr jalam| kāścid divya-dukūla-kuñcana-parāḥ saṁgṛhṇatīḥ kāścanā- laṅkāraṁ navam anna-pāna-vidhiṣu vyagrāś ciraṁ kāścana ||2.41|| tāmbūlottama-vīṭikādi-karaṇe kāścin niviṣṭā navāḥ kāścin nartana-gīta-vādya-sukalā-sāmagri-sampādikāḥ | snānābhyaṅga-vidhau ca kāścana ratāḥ saṁvījanādye sadā kāścit saṁnidhi-sevanātimuditāḥ kāścit samastekṣikāḥ ||2.42|| kāścit sva-priya-yugma-ceṣṭita-dṛśaḥ stabdhā sva-kṛtye sthitāḥ kṣiptvānyāli-pravartitā dayitayoḥ kāścit sukhelā-parāḥ | itthaṁ vihvala-vihvalāḥ praṇayataḥ śrī-rādhikā-kṛṣṇayor dāsīr adbhuta-rūpa-kānti-vayaso vṛndāvane'nvīyatām ||2.43|| Some gopi girls are grinding sandalwood p...

Painting by Gadadhar Pran Das. preṣṭha-dvandva-prasādābharaṇa-vara-paṭa-srag-navābhīra-bālā mālālaṅkāra-kastūry-aguru-ghusṛṇa-sad-gandha-tāmbūla-vastraiḥ | vādyaiḥ saṅgīta-nṛtyair anupama-kalayā lālayantīḥ sa-tṛṣṇā rādhā-kṛṣṇāv akhaṇḍa-sva-rasa-vilasitau kuñja-vīthyām upaimi || I bow down before the young cowherd girls, adorned with the dearmost divine couple's remnants of ornaments, garlands, and garments, who by singing, dancing and playing musical instruments, and by offering garlands, musk, aguru, kunkum, fragrant scents, betel nut and garments, earnestly serve Sri Sri Radha Krishna while they enjoy unbroken pastimes in their own rasa in the groves of Vrindavan. The next few verses continue as Prabodhananda Saraswatipada meditates on the service performed by the sakhis and manjaris (2.41-43), as well as describing their beautiful forms (2.44-46). Verses 2.38-40 are an homage to these girlfriends who are also servants of Radha and her pastimes with the Di...

śrī-vṛndā-kānane'tyadbhuta-kusuma-lasad-ratna-vallī-nikuñja- prāsāde puṣpa-candrātapa-caya-rucire puṣpa-palyaṅka-talpe | rādhā-kṛṣṇau vicitrau smara-samara-kalā-khelinau vīkṣya vīkṣyā- nandād vihvālitaṁ saṁluṭhad avani-tale vandyatām āli-vṛndam || In the Vrindavan forest in a palatial grove filled with most wondrous blossoms, where, upon a bed of petals, under garlanded awnings and and glistening vines , Sri Sri Radha and Krishna are engaged in a wonderfully playful amorous battle,   Watching over and over, Radha's sakhis are overcome and roll about on the ground in bliss! May they be ever venerated! As we have seen, the VMA has four principal subjects the supreme subject and object of divine love, Radha and Krishna. The other two are the  sakhī s and the dham itself. Together they form the single tattva . So far, we have gone into some detail about sakhī-bhāva or  mañjarī-bhāva , which distinction Prabodhananda does not make, in the fo...

śrīmad-vṛndā-kānane ratna-vallī- vṛkṣaiś citra-jyotir-ānanda-puṣpaiḥ | kīrṇe svarṇa-sthaly-udañcat-kadamba- cchāyāyāṁ naś cakṣuṣī gaura-nīle || In Vrinda's beautiful forest, sprinkled thickly with jewel vines and trees, their flowers shedding colorful joyful light, under the shade of a kadamba tree risen from golden ground, that fair and dark couple now fills our eyes. This verse strikes me as a bit of an interlude, a reversion to te kind of meditation that we saw in verses 2.30-32 , so it fits a general movement here to a meditation on the eternal abode. This is especially so since the next few verses continue a theme to which it seems Prabodhananda has been building. I have always found it difficult not to play a role in my own explanation of these verses, though it is, for all intents and purposes, freeing oneself of one's worldly identity, even that of the sādhaka-deha itself, to become immersed in that mood of the divine madhura-rasa . But I have to...

Dancing for Radha Raman in Vrindavan . Vrindavan Today . śyāma-prāṇa-mṛgaika-khelana-vana-śreṇī sadā śyāmalot- khelan-mānasa-mīna-divya-sarasī śyāmāli-sat-padminī | śyāmānaṅga-sutapta-hṛc-chiśiratā-kāri-sphurac-candrikā śyāmānanya-sunāgareṇa viharaty ekā mama svāminī || My Swamini is the forest where gambols the black buck of Shyam's life-breath ; she is the divine clear lake where glides the fish of Shyam's mind ; she is the lotus flower garden where plays the Shyam honeybee, and the brilliant moonlight that cools Shyam's burning, passionate heart. She alone dallies with Shyam, her peerless lover. This verse is unusual in the Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛta because it does not fit the usual pattern of specifically mentioning Vrindavan by name. Instead Radha is herself identified with the forest in the first line where the word vana does appear. But throughout the verse, all the manifestations of Nature, whether the lakes or lotus flower garden, o...