Jagat

dhanyo loke mumukṣur hari-bhajana-paro dhanya-dhanyas tato'sau dhanyo yaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāmbuja-rati-paramo rukmiṇīśa-priyo'taḥ | yāśodeya-priyo'taḥ subala-suhṛd ato gopī-kānta-priyo'taḥ śrīmad-vṛndāvaneśvary-atirasa-vivaśārādhakaḥ sarva-mūrdhni || Fortunate in this world are those who aspire for liberation; Yet more fortunate are those who have dedicated themselves to Lord Hari's worship; More fortunate than they are those who have become attached to Sri Krishna’s lotus feet. and those who love Rukmiṇī's king are above even them, Those dear to the son of Yashoda, those who are friends to Subal's friend, and then those who love the Lord, lover of the gopīs, are progressively more fortunate. Yet, standing at the head of all devotees in the creation are those who worship him, as one whose thoughts have been washed away by the flood of sacred rapture emanating from the daughter of King Vrishabhanu. This is a verse we hav...

sthūlaṁ sūkṣmaṁ kāraṇaṁ brahma-turye śrī-vaikuṇṭha-dvārakā-janma-bhūmiḥ | kṛṣṇasyātho goṣṭha-vṛndāvanaṁ tad gopy-ākrīḍaṁ dhāma vṛndāvanāntaḥ || Within this abode of Vrindavan you can find the gross, the subtle, the causal, and the fourth state of consciousness, Brahman; you can find Vaikuntha, Dwaraka and the birthplace, Mathura; you can find the Vrindavan of Krishna’s pasturing fields and his play garden with the gopis. (1.8) Commentary This hierarchy of spiritual abodes corresponds to the concept of Radha and Krishna as the supreme form of the Divinity. In order to understand this verse properly, one will have had to read through all the shastras, especially Kṛṣṇa-sandarbha . and the two Bhāgavatāmṛtas . The acharyas are all concerned with hierarchies. Although it is understood that everyone is at their own level of qualification and cannot exceed that, still the search for the Absolute Truth automatically indicates that one must compare and contrast, evalua...

brahmānanda-rasād ananta-guṇito ramyo raso vaiṣṇavas tasmāt koṭi-guṇojjvalaś ca madhuraḥ śrī-gokulendro rasaḥ | tac cānanta-camatkṛtiṁ pratimuhur varṣad rasānāṁ param śrī-rādhā-pada-padmam eva madhuraṁ sarvasva-bhūtaṁ mama || Countless times more relishable than the flavor of Brahmananda is that connected to Vishnu. Millions of times brighter than that is the sweet rasa related to the Lord of Gokula. Raining down infinite astonishment are the topmost of all rasas, the sweet lotus feet of Srimati Radharani. They alone are my life and soul. Following on from the previous posting . Check the label " hierarchies of prema " for more on this general subject.  By the way, the word "raining down" is appropriate, as today was the first day of the real monsoon here in Rishikesh. We had plenty of pre-monsoon rain, but the sky today is grey, the atmosphere is almost clammy with humidity, and the mountains will be covered in mist for the next fe...

This could be a huge topic, but I am not going to get into it in detail. This is a followup to yesterday's post, Harilal Vyasa, a few observations . HLV (Harilal Vyasa) quotes the following verse from VMA ( Vṛndāvana-mahimāmṛtam ), and there are many similar verses. I will probably add to this post in the course of time, and anyone who has noticed verses of the same genre can add a comment pointing me in that direction. Anyway, the comment about Radha-vallabha and Sphuṭa-vāṇī made in the previous post shows that PS (Prabodhananda Saraswati)/HHV (Hita Harivamsa), i.e., the author of Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi (RRSN), makes a distinction between Radha worship and worship of Krishna, Radha's lover. This point is made in VM as follows: dhanyo loke mumukṣur hari-bhajana-paro dhanya-dhanyas tato’sau dhanyo yaḥ kṛṣṇa-pādāmbuja-rati-paramo rukmiṇīśa-priyo’taḥ | yāśodeya-priyo’taḥ subala-suhṛd ato gopa-kāntā-priyo’taḥ śrīmad-vṛndāvaneśvary-atirasa-vivaśā- rādhakaḥ sarva-mūr...