Srila Prabhupada explains the song Jaya Radha Madhava, about Krishna in Vrindavan, His original form (not an expansion or incarnation).
So this is the original nature of Kṛṣṇa. He is Rādhā-Mādhava. He is the lover of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. And,
kunja-bihārī,
always enjoying the company of the gopīs within the bushes of Vrndavana forest.
rādhā-mādhava kunja-bihārī
He's not only lover of Rādhārāṇī, but vraja-jana-vallabha.
All the residents of Vṛndāvana, they love Kṛṣṇa. They do not know
anything else. They do not know that Kṛṣṇa is God or not; neither
they are very much harassed that "I shall love Kṛṣṇa if He is God." "He
may be God or He may be whatever He is. It doesn't matter, but we love
Kṛṣṇa." That's all. That is called unnalloyed love. "If Kṛṣṇa is God,
then I shall love Him" — this is conditional love. This is not pure
love. Kṛṣṇa may be God or whatever He may be, but by His wonderful acts,
the Vrajavāsīs [the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana],
they are thinking, "Oh Kṛṣṇa, He is very wonderful child, maybe some
demigod." Maybe some demigod. Because people are generally under
impression that the demigods are all-powerful. They're powerful within
this material world. But they do not know that Kṛṣṇa is above all of
them.
Īśvaraḥ paramaḥkṛṣṇaḥ
sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
The highest demigod, Brahmā, is giving his opinion. "The supreme controller is Kṛṣṇa."
And as the residents of Vṛndāvana love Kṛṣṇa without any condition, similarly, Kṛṣṇa also loves them.
vraja-jana-vallabha
giri-vara-dhārī
When the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana were in danger because they stopped Indra-yajña
and Indra became very angry, and he sent a very great, powerful cloud
and rained over Vṛndāvana incessantly for seven days, so when the
inhabitants became very much disturbed, Kṛṣṇa, although He was only a
seven years old boy, He saved them by lifting the Govardhana Hill. So He
taught Indradeva, demigod, that "To stop your disturbance is the
business of My little finger. That's all." So he came down to his knees.
These things you'll find in the Kṛṣṇa book.
So as the gopī-jana-vallabha, His only business is how to protect gopī-jana. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is how to become one of the gopī-jana.
Then Kṛṣṇa will save us from any danger, even by lifting a hill or
mountain. Kṛṣṇa is so kind and so powerful. When Kṛṣṇa lifted the hill,
He did not practice some yoga system. That is God. Although He was a
child, He was playing like a child, He was dealing like a child, but
when there was need, He was manifesting as God. That is Kṛṣṇa. Not that
He has to go and practice some yoga system, then He "becomes God". No.
He's not that type of God, not manufactured God. He's God.
gopī-jana-vallabha
giri-vara-dhārī
And as a child, as beloved child of Yaśodā,
yaśodā-nandana,
Kṛṣṇa
likes to be a child of a devotee. He wants to be chastised from His
devotee father and mother. Because everyone worships Him, nobody goes to
chastise Him, so He takes pleasure when a devotee chastises Him. That
is Kṛṣṇa's service. If Kṛṣṇa takes pleasure in being chastised, so the
responsibility is taken by a devotee: "All right, I shall become Your
father and chastise You."
When
Kṛṣṇa wants to fight, one of His devotees becomes Hiraṇyakaśipu and
fights with Him. So all activities of Kṛṣṇa is with His devotees.
Therefore, to become associate of Kṛṣṇa, to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
yaśodā-nandana
vraja-jana-rañjana
As the vraja-jana's business is how to satisfy Kṛṣṇa, similarly, Kṛṣṇa's business is how to satisfy vraja-jana. This is reciprocation of love.
yamunā-tīra-vana-cārī'
Kṛṣṇa,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is wandering on the banks of Yamunā
to please the gopīs, the cowherd boys, the birds, beasts, calves. They
are not ordinary birds, beasts, calves or men. They are on the top of
self-realization.
kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ
After many, many lives they got that position, to play with Kṛṣṇa.
So our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is so nice that everyone can go to Kṛṣṇaloka and become His associate, as a friend or so many other things, as a servant, as father, as mother. And Kṛṣṇa is agreeable to any one of these propositions. These things are described very nicely in our book The teachings of Lord Caitanya. So Kṛṣṇa does not go even a step from Vṛndāvana. The original Kṛṣṇa is Vṛndāvana. That is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā,
cintāmaṇi-prakara-sadmasukalpa-vṛkṣa
lakṣāvṛteṣu surabhīr abhipālayantam
lakṣmī-sahasra-śata-sambrahma-sevyamānaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ...
[Brahma-samhita 5.29]
Brahmā is accepting the Supreme Personality of Govinda, Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana.
veṇuṁ kvaṇantam
"He is engaged in playing flute".
...aravinda-dalāyatākṣaṁ
barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam
kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ
govindamādi-puruṣaṁtamahaṁbhajāmi
[Brahma-samhita 5.30]
barhāvataṁsam asitāmbuda-sundarāṅgam
kandarpa-koṭi-kamanīya-viśeṣa-śobhaṁ
govindamādi-puruṣaṁtamahaṁbhajāmi
[Brahma-samhita 5.30]
So take advantage of these books, this knowledge, and this prasādam, this chanting, and be happy and go to Kṛṣṇa. So nice thing.
Let me get this straight:
ReplyDeleteArjuna surrendered to Krishna, while knowing that Krishna is God. That is one thing. The vrajavasis are also surrendered to Krishna, but they don't know that He is God, just a wonderful person, maybe a demigod. That is a different thing, and not recommended in the shastras:
"Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance ... that one result is obtained by worshiping the supreme cause of all causes and that another result is obtained by worshiping what is not supreme."
- Sri Isopanisad
So the vrajavasis are gambling everything, since the chance of a wonderful person actually being the Supreme Personality of Godhead is astronomically slim. If they ever reflect on this, they may consider themselves un-dharmic, but they are unknowingly following the Supreme Dharma because their beloved Krishna IS the Supreme Dharma.
We should not try to imitate the vrajavasis directly, since we are not in touch with Krishna Himself. Instead we should follow rules and regulations until He makes Himself known to us, and we find ourselves in their situation and cannot resist Him.
Am I on the right track here?
Thank you Bhakta To for your reflections.
ReplyDeleteThe Vrajavasis are all Vaishnavas. They worship Vishnu on the altar and decorate their foreheads with the footprint tilak of Vishnu.
Little do they (or He Himself) know that Krishna is Vishnu himself playing about in the courtyard of Nanda Baba.
By the grace of the pure souls of this world we have recieved a cosmological map of the creation of God where Vraja is the most sacred land, crowning Vaikuntha, the spiritual sky, like an effulgent lotus.
Siddhanta (philosophical consclusion) and Bhava (Divine loving emotion)
are two different worlds running parallel with eachother.
We are not yet blessed with Bhava and thus we study Siddhanta under the guidence of those whose thinking, feeling and willing are motivated by their intense spontanious love for Krishna.
Similar to a student studying the grammar of a language with the hope that one day to speak spontaniously.
The neophyte student may try to fitt the poems of the masters within the stringent rules of grammar missing the subtle reality they try to indicate altogether.
It is true that we can only wait for Krishna to reveal himself to us. The following of rules and regulations are conducive for surrender. Rejecting the favorable and accepting the unfavorable. But in itself following rules and regulations can never attract Krishna. He is only attracted by love. Krishna reveals himself and his hearts desire through his pure devotees, the Vraja dwellers of this world. Associating and serving them is the only way to one day gain entrance into the mysterious spiritual magic of Vraja.
Simply by associating with the great Vaishnava poets, not only will you learn the grammar of the mother tongue of the soul, but your every word uttered with be perfect poetry.
because there every word is a song and every step is a dance...
Dont try to get it straight because love, like a snake, moves in a crooked way.
excuse the word play :)
yours
Brahma samhita das