by Śrī Prem Prayojan das

 

When the second verse of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī’s drama, Śrī Vidagdha Mādhava, touched the heart of the revered Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, he was moved by divine grace to reveal the inner meaning of his master’s poetry for the edification of future generations. The essence of that deliberation is being presented herein.

The most compassionate son of Nanda Mahārāja, Śrī Kṛṣṇa-candra, is the crest-jewel of all connoisseurs of rasa.  Adorned with the emotions and splendorous aura of the best of His beloveds, Śrī Rādhā, He has descended to this world in Sri Navadvīpa, the Dhāma of nine islands, for the following nine purposes:

 

1) To bestow an auspicious destination upon all those who have practically no possibility of an auspicious destination at any time. He has appeared for the express purpose of completely delivering them all.

 

2) Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī has said: muktiṁ dadāti karhicit sma na bhakti-yogam “Those engaged in procuring Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s favor easily attain liberation, but rarely does He bestow pure devotion.” (Bhāg.5.6.18)  During Dvāpara Yuga, Śrī Kṛṣṇa was insistent about securely guarding the priceless jewel of love for Himself, and therefore, He restricted its charitable distribution.  Now Śrī Kṛṣṇa has appeared as Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu to make amends for the fault of miserliness displayed by Him in the previous age.

 

3) To reveal the principle that it is only possible to taste the aforementioned priceless jewel of divine love to the superlative degree by distributing it to others.

 

4) To reveal the reality (tattva) of Śrī Rādhikā, the very embodiment of mahā-bhāva, the ultimate limit of divine love.

 

5) To fulfill His three intense desires: 1. To discover the extent of the glories of Śrī Rādhā’s love. 2. To discover the nature of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s own sweetness Śrī Rādhā alone relishes by the power of her love. 3. To discover what kind of happiness is exclusively experienced within the heart of Śrī Rādhā when she realizes Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness.

 

6) To shower upon the practicing devotees and all human beings, and especially upon the eternally perfect devotees and the associates of all the other avatāras, the ambrosia of the ocean of divine love for which they are continually hankering.

 

7) To inundate the entire universe in that divine love.

 

8) To reveal there is no way to attain the supremely sweet madhura-prema of Vraja other than accepting Rādhā-dāsya, the position of Śrī Rādhā’s maidservant.

 

9) To firmly establish Śrī Rādhā’s incomparable position as the best among all his consorts.

 

By appearing at the time of a lunar eclipse (candra-grahaṇa), He made all the living beings of the universe accept (grahaṇa) the chanting of the holy names “Hare Kṛṣṇa!”  He also indicated His acceptance of the embrace of his own Śrī Rādhā, whose face shines like the moon (candra).  This embrace can be interpreted in two ways: Śrī Kṛṣṇa is captured in the loving embrace of Śrī Rādhā, or moon-faced Rādhā is captured in the loving embrace of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

 

The purport of the first interpretation is that Śrī Rādhā first stole the heart of Śrī Kṛṣṇa by her emotional fervour, radiant aura, amorous play, and other incomparable attributes.  After stealing his colour, and even his body, she made Śrī Kṛṣṇa adopt her own nature.  In this way, she infused him with the sentiment of a mistress by performing viparita-vilāsa, the exchange of roles in their playful union.  For this reason, Śrī Rādhā is addressed as “Harā”.

 

Similarly, the second interpretation implies that Śrī Kṛṣṇa attracts the hearts of Śrī Rādhā and her female entourage by his array of uncommon virtues.  He who has attracted the aura and sentiments of his most prominent beloved, the daughter of Śrī Vṛṣabhānu Mahārāja, is addressed by the name “kṛṣṇa”.  Consequently, the etymology of “Hare Kṛṣṇa” also denotes the ultimate limit of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s rapture wherein, forgetting themselves completely, they experience being each other in the form of Śrī Gaurāṅga.

 

Naturally, one who distributes sweets after a meal gives them to his own friends, not to outsiders, and does not keep a portion for himself.  Yet the crest-jewel of all benefactors, Śrī Gaurāṅga, distributes his own unparalleled divine love even to the lowest outcaste and to all ordinary persons.  Collecting together all the other holy dhāmas, all the other avatāras, and also all the eternal associates of the other avatāras, He has inaugurated a great festival of divine love.  Extraordinarily learned persons assembled at this festival in the form of the associates of Śrī Gaura.  On the pretext of bestowing a blessing upon the whole world, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhu, a direct eye-witness, has described this magnificent festival of prema in the prologue of his own composition, Śrī Vidagdha Mādhava, thereby causing the appearance of this verse:

 

anarpita-cariṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatirṇaḥ kalau

samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasām sva-bhakti-śriyam

hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ

sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ śaci-nandanaḥ

 

“May Śrī Śacī-nandana Hari manifest Himself within the cavernous hearts of you all!”  The word “hari” can also mean “lion”.  The intoxicated stupor of an elephant is immediately dispelled by the roar of a lion.  Similarly, by the appearance of Śrī Śacī-nandana Hari within the core of your heart, may the intoxicated elephant of your mind at once become serene and free from the insanity of attachment to sense gratification.  Although a lion may kill an elephant, this lion, Śrī Gaura-hari, mercifully purifies the intoxicated mind.

 

In acts of charity one may consider who is a worthy recipient and who is not.  To refute any possibility of discrimination, Śrīla Rupa Gosvāmī says “kalau” - “In this dreadful era of Kali Yuga, good arrangements for spiritual practice (sādhana) are impossible.  Therefore, Śrī Gaurāṅga has descended to bestow, without considering eligibility, His own prema-bhakti upon the wretched and destitute people of Kali Yuga who are bereft of all types of sādhana-bhajana.

 

Objection: One may ask Sri Caitanya Mahāprabhu, “If you are the son of Nanda Maharaja, then the following question naturally arises.  The highest happiness of your Vṛndāvana pastimes cannot be found anywhere else!  Only with the intention of experiencing the greatest happiness did you intensify vipralambha-rasa, the ecstasy of separation, by leaving Vṛndāvana to go to Mathurā.  When You returned, you relished the pastimes of samṛddhimān-sambhoga and mādana-bhāva only with your beloved Śrī Rādhā in Vṛndāvana.  For what purpose then, would you go to Navadvīpa?”

 

Answer: When the hero and heroine are separated, when they are dependent or under the control of others, and when it is very difficult for them to even see each other, in that situation, if by chance they meet, the intense rasa they taste is called samṛddhimān-sambhoga, the rapture of a fully prosperous and fortunate meeting.  Furthermore, the euphoric prema in which there is an awakening of all the bhāvas from rati to mahābhāva is called mādanākhya-mahābhāva.  This mood is superior to all others, including mohanākhya-mahābhāva.  This indescribable, wonderfully variegated ecstatic mood only arises at the time of meeting.  Yet still, even in the state of unimpeded meeting, Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Śrī Rādhā do not attain one form.

Thus, it is only Śrī Kṛṣṇa in his Gaurāṅga-svarupa who enjoys the pastimes of both abounding mādanākhya-mahābhāva and the ultimate limit of samṛddhimān-sambhoga rasa with Śrī Rādhā.  Being overwhelmed in this incomparable ecstasy, Śrī Gaurāṅga bestows in charity unnatojjvala-rasa, without consideration of who is eligible and who is not.  It is natural that one who attains the ultimate limit of great happiness becomes intoxicated with prema and in turn maddens the whole universe without consideration of suitable and unsuitable candidates.

Objection: But it is improper to give charity to an unworthy person, as Śrī Kṛṣṇa has stated in Bhagavad Gita:

adeśa-kāle yad dānam

apātrebhyaś ca dīyate

asat-kṛtam avajṣātaṁ

tat tāmasam udāhṛtam

“Charity performed at an improper place and time and given to unworthy persons is charity in the mode of ignorance.” (BG.17.22) Therefore, this activity is inappropriate.

Response:  One cannot make such a claim.  When a king who has conquered the whole world returns to his capital city, he makes a procession through the grand streets.  At that time the ministers in the king’s entourage joyfully scatter with both hands heaps of riches into the crowds on each side of the road.  This type of behaviour is well known in this world. It does not deplete or exhaust the king’s wealth.  Rather, it simply demonstrates the vastness of his riches.  In the same way, Śrī Gaurāṅgadeva has distributed the treasure of prema without consideration of the individual’s qualifications.  This loudly proclaims the extent of his immense compassion.  He has also distributed this vast treasure of love through Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, yet this wealth has not become depleted in any way.

There are only three types of duplicitous persons or cheaters who are excluded from this spiritual path of bhāgavata-dharma – 1) dhana-kapaṭī 2) bala-kapaṭī , and 3) prema-kapaṭī.  After hearing about bhāgavata-dharma, some persons do not utilize their wealth with affection in the service of Śrī Guru, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and vaisnavas.  They are in the habit of investing huge amounts of wealth in worldly projects hoping to make more profit, yet they fear to expend relatively small amounts in the services of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, Śrī Guru, and vaisnavas.  Such persons are called dhana-kapaṭī, financial cheaters.

Although they have strength, those who remain in a state of inertia and do not utilize their energy in activities related to Śrī Kṛṣṇa and the vaisnavas, who are lazy and reluctant to participate by dancing enthusiastically in the sankirtana of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, are bala-kapaṭī, cheaters in the matter of personal vigour.  And those who do not have prema, but are devoid of the slightest anxiety to attain it, or those who proudly think, “I am a devotee!” are called prema-kapaṭīs, devotional frauds.  Prema is attained by unequivocally abandoning all duplicity and repeatedly bathing in the mercy of great devotees.

 

Objection:  I am a severe offender.  Alas!  I have no attachment for the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.  How will Śrī Gaurāṅga be merciful to me?

 

Answer:  His name is Śrī Śacī-nandana.  The mother of the whole universe, Śrī Śacī-devi, has natural affection for those who are suffering.  It is said, “There are many wicked sons, but never a wicked mother.”  In accordance with this proverb, Śrī Gaurāṅga, who has unlimited devotion for his mother, will certainly be merciful to you.  Let me explain more clearly.  After accepting sannyāsa, the following conversation between Śrī Śacī and Śrī Gaurāṅga took place in the house of Śrī Advaitācārya:

 

Śrī Śacī-devi said, “O Viśvambhara!  You know well about the pain of separation from Viśvarūpa.  Alas!  Now the reactions of my pious and impious activities birth after birth have fructified.  At least if I die I will become free from suffering the embarrassment of public condemnation. Although I was praised as the mother of Viśvambhara, now I will become the object of everyone’s derision!  No one will even utter my name.”

 

Hearing this Śrī Gaurāṅga replied, “O mother!  O mother!  Do not speak in this way.  I am telling you the truth.  Although I have left my home, in every country you will remain my mother.  Even in my previous lives, you were my mother, and I was your son.  I am worshiped throughout the three worlds, but you are worshipful even for me.  If someone says, “O son of Śacī,” even if they are completely devoid of devotional practices, they at once bring me, along with all my associates, under their control.  Whosoever joyfully sings the name “Śacī-nandana” becomes imbued with transcendental knowledge, expert in all the scriptures, filled with love and exceedingly dear to me.  One who simply utters the name “Śacī-nandana” is blessed and has purchased me.  Whoever repeatedly sings “Śacī-nandana,” with a happy heart, his knowledge and wealth are fully successful, and he personally becomes a sacred place of pilgrimage.  One who utters the names “Śacī”, “Śacī-putra”, or “Navadvipa”, attains the fruit of perfectly studying Vedānta.  If at any time a person sings, “Śrī Śacī! Śrī Śacī! Śrī Śacī!” I remain satisfied with him for lifetimes. What more can I say?  That person becomes my guru.”

 

Therefore, I say, by accepting the name of Śrī Śacī, even a great offender becomes extremely dear to Śrī Gaurāṅga.  Pointing to this conclusion, Śrī Rūpa Gosvamīpāda has concluded this verse with the words “Śacī-nandana”. Therefore, continually chant the name of Śacī-nandana. Even if you are an offender, you will become free from all offenses and attain Kṛṣṇa-prema!

 

Śrī Śacī-nandana Gaura-hari ki jaya!