মহাজনের যেই পথ, তাতে হব অনুরত,
পূর্বাপর করিয়া বিচার ।
সাধন-স্মরণ-লীলা, ইহাতে না কর হেলা,
কাযমনে করিয়া সুসার ॥ ১৪ ॥
mahājanera yei patha, tāte haba anurata,
pūrbāpara kariyā bicāra |
sādhana-smaraṇa-līlā, ihāte nā kara helā,
kāya-mane kariyā susāra || 14 ||
14. I shall faithfully follow and deliberate upon the path shown by the mahājanas, both ancient and recent. Do not neglect the practice of līlā-smaraṇa; following this process with one’s body and mind is very powerful.
Following the Great Souls
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: After stating that the best method or only process for obtaining prema is exclusive devotion, in this verse Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is describing the internal bhajana of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas as being in allegiance to the teachings of the great souls. Mahāmuni Vedavyāsa has said that following the mahājanas is the true and safe path to the spiritual kingdom. tarko’pratiṣṭhaḥ śrutayo vibhinnā, nāsāv ṛṣir yasya mataṁ na bhinnam. dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ (Mahābhārata Vana-Parva 112 aḥ). “There is no foundation to logic: after much deliberation, some person comes to a particular conclusion about some topic; then another scholar refutes that conclusion and establishes his own. In this way, there is no real stability to logic. Moreover, there are no ṛṣis who do not differ in their opinions. Thus, the essential nature of true dharma is very difficult to comprehend. Consequently, the mahājanas have obtained their desired object by resorting to the path of sādhana. The path they have established is the unfailing method for obtaining one’s desired object.” Therefore, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, mahājanera yei patha, tāte haba anurata. “I shall be devoted to or express attachment for the path of sādhana introduced and practiced by the mahājanas.”
In the rāga-bhajana of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, one particular characteristic of the devotion or attachment to the path shown by the mahājanas has remained. The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas must not only devote themselves to the path practiced by the mahājanas, but they must also perform their sādhana-bhajana in full allegiance to the mahājanas of their own sampradāya. Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmipāda has written, sevā sādhaka-rūpeṇa siddha-rūpeṇa cātra hi. tad-bhāva-lipsunā kāryā vraja-lokānusārata. “In the form of a sādhaka, meaning with the body, and also in the perfected or siddha form, which is conceived in the mind as a body suitable for serving one’s cherished object, a person desiring intense absorption in his beloved Śrī Kṛṣṇa in Vraja shall perform sevā in allegiance to the residents of Vraja. In the siddha form, one should do mental sevā in allegiance to Śrī Rādhā, Lalitā and Rūpa Mañjarī, and in the sādhaka form, one should do bodily sevā with allegiance to Śrī Rūpa, Śrī Sanātana and the other Vrajavāsīs.”
Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has said, pūrbāpara kariyā bicāra. The meaning is that after deliberating on the teachings of the past and subsequent mahājanas, the sādhaka should perform the appropriate bhajana in allegiance to the later mahājanas who are absorbed in the same mood of worship as he is. In his commentary on this segment, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartipāda has written, daṇḍakāraṇya-vāsi-munayo bṛhad-vāmanokta-śrutayaś ca candrakānti-jayadeva-vidyāpati caṇḍidāsa-bilvamaṅgalādayaś ca pūrva-mahājanāḥ. ṣaḍ-gosvāminaḥ paramahājanāḥ. The purport is that in this particular Kali Yuga, by the mercy of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas have been blessed with Vraja’s most elevated madhura-rasa mode of worship. Performing bhajana in that madhura-rasa, ancient mahājanas such as the munis residing in the Daṇḍakāraṇya forest, the śrutis mentioned in the Bṛhad-Vāmana-Purāṇa, Candrakānti and others who were eager to obtain Śrī Kṛṣṇa as their lover adopted the mood of a lover and performed bhajana in allegiance to the nitya-siddhā-gopīs. In that way, they obtained gopī bodies and the prema-sevā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa as his lovers. In the Padma-Purāṇa, the following is written about the sages of the Daṇḍakāraṇya forest:
purā maharṣayaḥ sarve daṇḍakāraṇya-vāsinaḥ |
rāmaṁ dṛṣṭvā hariṁ tatra bhoktum aicchan suvigraham ||
te sarve strītvam āpannāḥ samudbhutāś ca gokule |
hariṁ samprāpya kāmena tato muktā bhavārṇavāt ||
“In ancient times, there were many ṛṣis living in Daṇḍakāraṇya who worshipped Śrī Kṛṣṇa. To preserve his father’s oath, Śrī Rāmacandra arrived there accompanied by Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa. When the maharṣis saw them, a powerful desire arose within them to taste the sweetness of their worshipable Śrī Kṛṣṇa as his lovers. Due to their modesty, they didn’t ask Śrī Rāmacandra for any boon in that regard. Nonetheless, because he is like a tree that fulfills all desires, by his mercy they attained success in rāga-bhakti-sādhanā and then accepted birth in Gokula in the form of gopīs, where they became competent to serve Śrī Kṛṣṇa as his lovers.” In the Bṛhad-Vāmana-Purāṇa, we find a description of how the presiding deities of the śrutis obtained the state of being Kṛṣṇa’s lover:
kandarpa-koṭi-lāvaṇye tvayi dṛṣṭe manāṁsi naḥ |
kāminī-bhāvam āsādya smara-kṣubdhāny asaṁśayaḥ ||
yathā tval-loka-vāsinyaḥ kāma-tattvena gopikāḥ |
bhajanti ramaṇaṁ matvā cikīrṣājaninas tathā ||
After seeing Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the presiding deities of the śrutis, residents of brahmaloka, then prayed, “O Śrī Kṛṣṇa! Having seen your effulgence, which puts that of countless Cupids to shame, our minds are agitated by amorous desire and we long to serve you as women. Just as the gopikās living in Śrī Vṛndāvana think of you as their lover and serve you in madhura-bhāva, we also have a powerful desire to serve in that way.” After obtaining gopī bodies, they also acquired the right to serve in Vraja as Kṛṣṇa’s lovers.
Regarding a Gandharva girl name Candrakānti, it is written in the Padma-Purāṇa that after worshiping Śrī Kṛṣṇa, she was blessed to be joined with the daughter of Vṛṣabhānu by Kṛṣṇa’s exclusive devotee Brahmā. All of these bhaktas have obtained Kṛṣṇa’s sevā in the form of lovers who desire to enjoy union with him. Moreover, there are stories about Jayadeva, Vidyāpati, Caṇḍīdāsa, Bilvamaṅgala and others also worshiping in the mood of sakhīs. Because all of these devotees lived prior to the time of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, they are known as pūrva-mahājanas, or great devotees from ancient times. The Six Gosvāmīs, led by Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana, are para-mahājanas, great devotees coming in later times. They are all nitya-siddhā-mañjarīs, eternal maidservants of Śrī Rādhā in Vraja. They appeared along with Śrīman Mahāprabhu as his companions and introduced mañjarī-bhāva-sādhanā to the world. Leading the sādhakas of the world into the bowers of Vraja, they blessed them with the prema-sevā of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava.
In considering the methods of both the pūrva and para-mahājanas, it can be understood that those who taste Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mādhurya in the mood of lovers desiring union don’t get the good fortune of tasting his full mādhurya. The reason is that in the company of Śrī Rādhā, the ocean of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness boundlessly swells and billows. This is understood by Kṛṣṇa’s words in Śrī Caitanya-Caritāmṛta Ādi 4.140-142:
yadyapi nirmala rādhāra sat-prema-darpaṇa | tathāpi svacchatā tāra bāḍe kṣaṇe kṣaṇa ||
āmāra mādhuryera nāhi bāḍite abakāśe | e darpaṇera āge naba naba rūpe bhāse ||
man-mādhurya rādhā-prema doṅhe hoḍa kari | kṣaṇe kṣaṇe bāḍe doṅhe keha nāhi hāri ||
“Even though Śrī Rādhā’s mirror of true love is pure, still, its transparency increases at every moment. And though my own mādhurya has no room to increase, before this mirror it appears in ever fresher form. My mādhurya and Rādhā’s prema challenge each other, and though both increase at every moment, neither knows defeat.”
Although those who worship Śrī Yugala-Kiśora in the mood of Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s sakhīs get the great fortune of tasting Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s incomparable mādhurya, those who worship in mañjarī-bhāva, the mood of Rādhā’s maidservants, can be blessed with the highest experience of yugala-mādhurī of all. The reason is that by Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s desire, the sakhīs sometimes have union with Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Because she considers them her equals, she feels some hesitation and does not allow them to come and go from the private and secret places where she and Kṛṣṇa enjoy their amorous pastimes. The mañjarīs are Śrīmatī’s maidservants, one with her in spirit and form. Therefore, along with getting to witness the sweetness of Yugala-Kiśora’s secret pastimes, they are blessed to enjoy the rasa of performing sevā appropriate for the time and place. Because of their incomparable oneness of mood with Śrī Rādhārāṇī, the marks left on Śrī Rādhā’s beautiful body after her love sports also manifest on the bodies of the mañjarīs. Consequently, the experience of tasting yugala-mādhurī reaches its zenith in kiñkarī-bhāva.
The para-mahājana Six Gosvāmīs, headed by Śrī Rūpa-Sanātana, are the teachers of mañjarī-bhāva-sādhanā, the heart of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s doctrine. Therefore, the Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇavas, who have taken shelter at the feet of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, do not follow the pūrva-mahājanas by worshiping in kāntā-bhāva or sakhī-bhāva (as Kṛṣṇa’s lovers), but they rather worship in mañjarī-bhāva in allegiance to the para-mahājana Six Gosvāmīs.
Then he says, sādhana-smaraṇa-līlā, ihāte nā kara helā, kāya-mane kariyā susāra: Līlā-smaraṇa (remembrance of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes) is the primary limb of bhajana practiced on the path of rāgānugā; because rāga is an essential quality or function of the mind, smaraṇa is also like that. If the mind becomes one with Śrī Bhagavān’s name, form, qualities, pastimes and so on, that is called smaraṇa. Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has given us a lesson in the process of līlā-smaraṇa here. He says, yugala-bilāsa smṛti-sāra. “Meditating upon the pastimes of the Divine Couple is the best type of remembrance.” At the time of sādhana, the sādhaka meditates upon his sevā by conceiving of himself in his siddha-svarūpa (spiritual form) within Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s aṣṭa-kālīya-līlā (pastimes covering eight time periods). Whatever sevā is meditated upon during sādhana is attained at the time of siddhi (complete realization): sādhane bhābiba yāhā, siddha-dehe pāba tāhā. There is no exception to this spiritual psychology that Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya has described.
Because the occurrence of smaraṇa relies on mental purity, at first the sādhaka considers it to be too difficult or arduous. For this reason, laxity or neglect can arise toward this limb of bhajana. After giving up the egotism of his own manly prowess, the sādhaka resorts to the mercy of Śrī Bhagavān. If he continues to practice smaraṇa, spontaneously the mind is purified and gradually it becomes easy and joyful for him to meditate upon līlā. Even though performance of the smaraṇa limb of bhakti depends on the mercy of Śrī Bhagavān, still, the concentration of the sādhaka is an absolute necessity. The reason is that the effort the sādhaka puts into sādhana, or in other words, the eagerness he has for bhajana, causes Śrī Bhagavān’s compassion to flow. Therefore, having established his sense of self in the siddha-svarūpa given by his guru, the sādhaka must engage in līlā-smaraṇāṅga-bhajana with his body, mind and words. “Smaraṇāṅga-bhajana depends on Śrī Bhagavān’s compassion; it is not within the range of manly effort. Therefore, whenever I get Śrī Bhagavān’s mercy, then I will at once be engaged in this bhajana. Right now, there’s no need to put any effort into it.” Śrī Bhagavān’s mercy will never appear in such a lazy or hopeless mind. For this reason, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya says, sādhana-smaraṇa-līlā, ihāte nā kara helā, kāya-mane kariyā susāra.
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