Jagat

The first verse of the  Gīta-govinda has been a source of confusion to scholars and devotees probably since it first appeared. There are a number of problems with it, all of which can be summarized as "it does not fit" what we know about the Radha-Krishna story in any source, Puranic or folk, prior to GG. Moreover, it seems to have little to do directly with the rest of GG.

Manuscript painting from Gita-govinda. Photo from Jayadeva Foundation Trust . (5) Rasa-niṣpatti Now we come to last verse in our series. This is also the last verse that Rupa Goswami quotes from an external source in Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi . The context is the following verse, which is the last "idea" that Sri Rupa presents in his discussion of madhura-rasa . vidagdhānāṁ mitho līlā-vilāsena yathā sukham | na tathā samprayogeṇa syād evaṁ rasikā viduḥ || Clever lovers find that there is more pleasure in all the varieties of their mutual dealings than there is in sexual union per se. This is the conclusion of the knowers of rasa. (15.253) Jayadeva's verse is given as an illustration of this point: pratyūhaḥ pulakāṅkureṇa niviḍāśleṣe nimeṣeṇa ca krīḍākūta-vilokite’dhara-sudhā-pāne kathā-narmabhiḥ ānandādhigamena manmatha-kalā-yuddhe’pi yasminn abhūd udbhūtaḥ sa tayor babhūva suratārambhaḥ priyambhāvukaḥ As the battle of the love arts began, there...

Jayadev Foundation Trust (4) Radha, the Empress of Love Our fourth essential verse of the Gīta-govinda  or Gita-govinda pañca-ślokī, comes in the final chapter and summarizes the last prabandha or song 24. racaya kucayoś citraṁ patraṁ kuruṣva kapolayor ghaṭaya jaghane kāñcīṁ mugdha-srajā kavarī-bharaṁ | kalaya valaya-śreṇīṁ pāṇau pade maṇi-nūpurāv iti nigaditaḥ prītaḥ pitāmbaro’pi tathākarot || Radha said, "Draw pictures on my breasts, decorate my cheeks with dots of musk, tie a sash of bells around my hips, braid my hair with a charming garland. Place bangles on my wrists and jeweled ankle bells on my feet." So being told, the yellow-robed Krishna, being pleased, did so. (12.25) This is the last verse that contains a description related to the overall dramatic theme of the Gīta-govinda . Rupa Goswami quotes it at UN 5.93 as an example of the svādhīna-bhartṛkā . As we have been saying, the eight situations of the heroine are the principal theme ...

From Jayadev Foundation Trust . (3) Radharani's māna viharati vane rādhā sādhāraṇa-praṇaye harau vigalita-nijotkarṣād īrṣyā-vaśena gatā'nyataḥ kvacid api latā-kuñje guñjan-madhu-vrata-maṇḍalī mukhara-śikhare līnā dīnāpy uvāca rahaḥ sakhīm|| When Radha saw Hari frolicking in the forest, treating all the women with equal affection, she felt her own special status had melted away. Envy and anger arose in her, and she went off. Somewhere, in a vine covered bower, where bees buzzed in circles overhead, she hid, and forlorn in her solitude, confided to her friend. If the first two verses of our five described Krishna as the viṣaya and then as the āśraya of love; now this verse points to the essential mechanism that transforms him from the one role to the other. This will be further explained in our analysis of the fifth verse. The third verse of the Gīta-govinda pañca-ślokī appears in the latter portion (verses 25-35) of BRS 3.5, the abbreviated chapte...

(2) Krishna, the Lover of Radha Our second verse is taken from Gīta-govinda 's third chapter— kaṁsārir api saṁsāra-vāsanā-baddha-śṛṅkhalām | rādhām ādhāya hṛdaye tatyāja vraja-sundarīḥ || Krishna, the enemy of Kamsa, took Radha, who is the link that makes all his hopes for happiness possible, into his heart and left aside all the other cowherd beauties. (3.1) The context in GG is provided by the next verse we will cite. Radha has seen Krishna as described in verse 1.48 and is not pleased. She has become overwhelmed by jealous anger and has left the scene of the rāsa . We shall discuss this further in the appropriate place. In Rupa Goswami's categorization of the madhura-rasa in Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu , this verse is given as an example of kṛṣṇa-rati, which in this case does not mean (as is customary in BRS) love for Krishna, but Krishna's own love for another, in this case Radha. Although from the theological point of view it goes without saying that God ...

(1) Krishna, the Embodiment of the Erotic Rasa viśveṣām anurañjanena janayann ānandam indīvara- śreṇī-śyāmala-komalair upanayann aṅgair anaṅgotsavam | svacchandaṁ vraja-sundarībhir abhitaḥ praty-aṅgam āliṅgitaḥ śṛṅgāraḥ sakhi mūrtimān iva madhau mugdho hariḥ krīḍati || By his pleasure giving, he brings joy to all the worlds; With his limbs, as soft and dark as blue lotus flowers, he inaugurates the festival of love. O friend Radhe! Hari frolicks in the spring, like the embodiment of śṛṅgāra-rasa ; completely enchanted by the beauties of Braja, who surround him and wantonly embrace his every limb. Our first "essential" verse is GG 1.48, which as already stated above, is pivotal in the introduction both to the Gīta-govinda and to Rupa Goswami's treatment of the madhura-rasa . In GG, it comes after the scene has been set for the story by describing the springtime ( prabandha 3) and the rāsa dance as performed in the spring ( prabandha 4). The first two son...

I have written a fair amount about the Gīta-govinda on this blog, but mostly bits and pieces without a coherent argument. Or at least, the argument has been expressed repeatedly but without being fully defended with evidence. So I am in the process of doing so now. The general thesis is this: Prior to Rupa Goswami there are a number of different strands of the Radha-Krishna lila tradition. According to Krishnadas Kaviraj, who states it several times in his Caitanya-caritāmṛta , Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was particularly fond of five devotional works or authors through which he relished the rasas of bhakti to Krishna. To these five of course should be added the Bhāgavata itself. caṇḍīdāsa, vidyāpati, rāyera nāṭaka-gīti, karṇāmṛta, śrī-gīta-govinda svarūpa-rāmānanda-sane, mahāprabhu rātri-dine, gāya, śune — parama ānanda Night and day, in the company of Swarup Damodar and Ramananda Ray, Mahaprabhu would sing or listen to the songs of Chandidas, Vidyapati, the musical play of Ramamanan...

I was recently asked how I can see a value for love when all the scriptures teach detachment. But love, especially romantic love, even as described in Radha and Krishna's lila, is full of intense attachment. And if attachment is desired, then what is the difference between such a sadhana and any ordinary love relationship? The Gita teaches that we have to be detached from material objects and become attached to spiritual objects. When we are in a lower stage of development, these spiritual objects are usually "rocks", i.e., inanimate objects that have been endowed with sacred meaning. And as we develop in the preliminary stages of bhakti, we progressively project more consciousness to those objects. In other words, I am projecting onto the Holy Name or the Deities a dimension of my own consciousness that I identify with the Paramatma. Even thought the shastras take great pains to say that this is not a false or imaginary projection, i.e., the image of God in the templ...

Since my visa extension was refused I have been undergoing something of a revisiting of my devotional past--visiting the seven temples, seeing an old Nabadwip friend at Gokulananda. Then on Thursday going to Iskcon for Vyasa Puja. It has been a bit like a palimpsest -- scraping off layers to see what was there below. So going to Iskcon represents the beginnings of my life as a Vaishnava, and since for better or worse I am still in this game, Srila Prabhupada remains my guru. I heard several teary-eyed testimonials read by Brahmananda Prabhu from a published volume, as well as others given by a number of other Prabhupada disciples who were present. They recounted many stories of amazing achievements by young and inexperienced Prabhupada disciples, such as Gunarnava Das, who somehow during Prabhupada's presence were endowed with almost superhuman capabilities to achieve tasks like the building of the Vrindavan temple. Indeed, it is almost impossible for anyone who lived through t...

Yesterday I went to the FRRO in Mathura for my visa extension appointment. Bipin Sharma, the officer, rather gleefully refused my extension, telling me that the letters from Jiva Institute no longer had any standing with the Foreign Registrations Office because they were not an accredited officially sanctioned bonafide degree-bestowing honest-to-goodness educational institution. I had been half expecting it ever since the department chief popped into Jiva one day while I was reading Paramatma-sandarbha with Satya Narayan Dasji and were told there would be a crackdown. I was rather surprised this time when the people at Jiva seemed to think there was no problem. But Bipin told me the hammer just came down four or five days ago. Had I made my appointment just a little earlier I may have been able to squeeze in, like Kamala. But, there you go, the I Ching kept talking about me heading over "across the great water" so it seems I could not escape that destiny. Nevertheless, I...