Shri Karnananda
BY: SUN STAFF
Sep 04, 2011 — CANADA (SUN) — Shri Karnananda – Seven Extracts by Srila Yadunandana Dasa.
FOURTH EXTRACT - PART TWO
The king also heared the most confidential episode from Ramchandra that what Rup Manjari wished to do for Shri Radha was the wish of Prabhu who always prayed to Radha and to worship Radha and wanted to beat her service constantly. He wished to ne a confidante of Rasha like her other confidantes and the permission of serving her always. He had nothing more to demand for. The lotus-like eyes of Radha attracted him and trose in hi
He addressed Shri Radha as Vrndavaneswari and wished to dye her feet with liquiefied lac. Ramcandra told king that if he wished to worship Radha Krishna in Vrndavana, he should have to worship passionately their feet jointly. Ramcandra wished to live in Shri Vrjamandala in his present life and the lives following so he could nurse Radha and Krishna constantly. If he succeeded in getting the favour of Swarup, Rupa, Sanatana Gosvamis and Gopala Vatta, he could also get the divine grace of Radha and Krishna. To get the favour of Krishna and Radha, he should involve in Samkirtana and meditation everyday, should nurse the Vaishnavas and worship the divine hill, Govardhana.
Shri Rupa Manjari and Shri Guna Manjari were two favourite [confidants] of Radha who wished to be loved by Krishna. So when the Rasa festival began, Shri Radha humourously sent Krishna to a hiding place where Shri Gunamanjari had been waiting for Krishna, and requested Krishna to kiss Shri Guna Manjari. Shri Raghunath Dasa Goswami Narrated all these events in his book. He explained all these points in the hymns of Shri Vishkhananda. His opinion was that only that persons could realise the hymns who could get favour from Shri Rupa Goswami.
Being ordered by Shri Rupa Sanatana, he began to live near the Radhakunda. The Goswami used to follow very stiff and hard rules of worship as if the lines of rules were written on stone. He methodically used to recite hymns in praya to his Guru, Krishnanama and hymns in praya to Shri Chaitanya. He regarded Swarup Goswami and Shri Rupa Sanatana as his elder brothers. he had great devotion to Shri Girindra, Gandharvi Sarovara, Shri Mathura mandala and Shri Vrndavana. He had great confidence in Shri Vrjamandala and devotion to Vrjavasis.
Parakiya Leela is very confidential, a deep Vaishnava philosophy of love which unfortunate and undevotional persons can never grasp in their lives. If the king desired to realise this doctrine he had to worship his Guru sincerely everyday. Shri Kaviraj Goswami had realised it to the full extent and had discussed it in his book. The activities of Mahaprabhu were of this kind of doctrine which only Swarup and others were able to realise. Mahaprabhu used to cite hymns of this doctrine while dancing in Samkirtana, the meaning of which was only clear to Swarup. When Mahaprabhu came to Nilacala, Shri Rupa Goswami realised the significance of the slokas regarding this doctrine and feeling the [mind] of Mahaprabhu he wrote some slokas. The Slokas dealt with the episode of the marriage of Radha Krishna during their childhood, which took place in the Vetasivana. As ordained by God, they were married but it did not last long. Radha was married to another man. After this marriage of Radha, Krishna and Radha again were united but they did not get public consent. So the love which united them is known as parakiya prema which is very difficult to understand. Mahaprabhu cultivated the conception of this type of love which Shri Rupa Gosvami after realising fully had expressed in his Slokas.
Shri Vrindavana always attracted Mahaprabhu because there He could get the constant company of His intimate followers and He could feel the constant presence of Shri Radha and Krishna. Parakiya prem of Shri Radha and Krishna could only he found in Shri Vrindavana. It could not be found elsewhere. Listening [to] all these from Ramcandra the king was full of satisfaction. The king then most humbly requested Ramcandra to explain to him that in this vast eternal world which is the best of all the holy places and where Krishna always used to remain. Ramcandra explained it that Krishna is the God of Gods who lives in eternal Vaikuntha. It is the licing place of all living beings of this eternal world and Vrajendranandana is the eternal and omniscient and ever blessful God of all and is full of all worldly and heavenly riches, beauties and powers who is to be worshipped by hymns of kama Gayatri and krma Vija. He who tries to follow this method of worship sincerely is sure to obtain Vrajendranandana. Shri Krishna is the Absolute Being who lives in Golaka. Krishna is the root of all divine pleasures which cannot be perished and those who are his devotees possess the quality of six-fold supernatural power obtained through asceticism.
As Krishna himself always likes to be in Vrndavana, it is the best of all holy places and Vaikuntha and other holy places are only parts of Vrndavana. The word Goloka means Gokula city. All the holy places are only the kinds of wealth of Gokula. The king then requested Ramcandra to discuss the glorious character of Ganga and Yamuna. He further requested that he had already realised the fact that Krishna is the only God to be worshipped by all. But now he wanted to hear something about Shri Radhika and the Swakiya and parakiya Leela of Shri Krishna. Ramcandra was very glad as the king had requested him to narrate those topics. He said that the glory of Yamuna is greater than that of Ganga because Yamuna is the only river where Vrajendranandana used to sport in the water with his sweet-heart Shri Radha and her confidantes. Now he started to qualify the divine grace and glory of Shri Radha, whose Characteristics are beyond realisation even to Krishna too.
Shri Radhika is the mine of all kinds of devotional qualifications which have been highly praised by all Shastras. Among all the female deities of this vast eternal universe, Shri Radha is the Goddess of Goddesses. The mistresses of Krishna are of three classes namely Lakshmis, Queens and Vrajanganas. But all are the embodiments of Shri Radha. The three classes are taken to be the three types of virtues of Shri Radha. Lakshmis denote her luxurious character, Queens denote her wealthy character and Vrajanganas denote her witty and humorous character. As it is impossible to enjoy wit and humour alone, Radha exposes herself by creating all the Vrajanganas from her own entity. Shri Radha is the main source of power to Krishna. So she is the deity to be worshipped by all. She is the protectoress and mother of this vast universe. She is the mine of divine beauty.
Shri Radhika fulfils all the wishes of Krishna. Krishna is the fascinating figure which charms the vast universe and Radha is the God Himself and the Supreme Being in this vast eternal universe, Radha is the Supreme Goddess. Goddess Durga is only a part of Krishna whereas Radha is the whole part of Krishna. Krishna is the Lord of Radha who is the embodiment of Krishna and has none but Krishna in her mind. She always thinks of Krishna as her external and internal body and can feel the entity of Krishna in all things which come in to her view. She is not related to Swakiya Prema. She is only related to Parakiya Prema, which can be found in only Vrndavana. Shri Das Goswami analysed this ectatic state caused by profundity of love and devotion in his book Premamvoja Makarandhyaksha.
The affection of Krishna for Radha is taken to be an act of anointing with perfumes which gives her perfumal body a bright golden colour. She takes her bath first from the showers of necter-like compassion of Krishna, secondly from the showers of nectar-like immortality of Krishna, and thirdly from the showers of nectar-like charm of Krishna. Then she wears a blue coloured [i.e. blue coloured] shin of Krishna dress to hide her shyness and she carefully and most beautifully tried to cover her beautiful breasts. [ ]
She put a spot of saffron on her beautiful forehead and smeared the paste of camphor and sesame all over her body. She also smeared the perfume of musk which is compared with the perfume of the body of Krishna all over her body. She colored her lips in red by chewing betel leaf and used collyrium to blacken her beautiful eyes. She painted a sectarian mark on her bright forehead and put a garland of flowers round her neck. She always tried to make herself beautiful to please Krishna. The poet said that all should be grateful to Brahma, i.e. providence as he has created Radha, whose divine qualifications are above all saying. Those who failed to satisfy Radha is worshipped by the whole universe and by Narada and all the deities and Vaishnava ascetics and devotees, those who neglected to worship Radha who is the main source of power of Krishna are taken to be foolishly proud of their knowledge. So Shri Dasa Goswami directed everybody while worshipping Krishna, he should first worship Radha sincerely and regularly.
Shri Dasa Goswami strictly followed the practice of worshipping Radha and Krishna. He settled on the bank of the Radhakunda with Shri Krishnadasa Gosvami and Loknatha and used to engage themselves always in Radha Krishna nama Samkirtana for the whole day. During this time they used to enjoy most gladly the book Gopala Champaka. This book is consisted of very stiff slokas which externally dealt with the Swakiya Prema but interally meant the parakiya prema. Some people could not understand Shri Jiva and said that Shri Jiva wanted to say Swakiya Prema. But when they became able to understand the inner-meaning of it, their satisfaction knew no bounds.
Shri Dasa Gosvami declared that as Vrindavana is the only place where the parakiya Prema Leela could be found, he would not go anywhere leaving Vrindavana. He also declared that he would perform all his spiritual and devotional duties in Vrindavana and he would die here. He prayed to Shri Jiva to be with him as his elder brother and to Shri Krishnadasa and Goswami Lokanatha as his friends. He wished he could die first leaving all of them. By following the meaning of Champu Grantha, Goswami Kaviraj wrote the book Gopaka Champu in which he tried to discuss the daily activities of Krishna and the Parakiya Prema. Those who are able to grasp it by heart, they are sure to get Krishna in their lives.
Self-willed Krishna makes daily sports with his companions. The king desired to know what is meant by daily activities of Krishna. Ramchandra pointed him out that there are three methods of it, namely Krishna Tatta Radha Tatta and Leela Tatta. Ramachandra tried to make it elaborate to the king. He explained to the king all the points which Sanatana had learnt from Mahaprabhu. After being familiar with all the unrevealed things of Vaishnava religion, the king humbly surrendered himself to the favour of Ramcandra.
