Saturday, January 3, 2015

Śrī Śrī Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 46 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

শ্রীমুখ সুন্দর-বর,        হেম-নীল-কান্তি-ধর,
ভাব-ভূষণ করু শোভা ।
নীল-পীত-বাস-ধর,        গৌরী-শ্যাম মনোহর,
অন্তরের ভাবে দুঁহু লোভা ॥ ৪৬ ॥

śrī-mukha sundara-bara,        hema-nīla-kānti-dhara,
bhāba-bhūṣaṇa karu śobhā |
nīla-pīta-bāsa-dhara,        gaurī-śyāma manohara,
antarera bhābe duṅhu lobhā || 46 ||

     Their faces are most beautiful, they bear golden and dark-blue complexions and are adorned with ornaments of love. Charming Gaurī and Śyāma respectively wear clothing of blue and yellow. They long for each other’s love.

The Ornaments of Love

     Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: After having a vision of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava adorned with love, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya now describes it further in this verse: śrī-mukha sundara-bara, hema-nīla-kānti-dhara, bhāba-bhūṣaṇa karu śobhā. One extraordinary characteristic of the spiritual poetry composed by great, thoughtful poets who have attained direct realization is that by hearing and singing these poems, the members of the audience easily gain some insight into the poet’s heart and mind. By reading or reciting the above-mentioned simple and easily understood verses, one naturally concludes that the author is describing the forms of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa that he had seen directly before him. He is describing their innate mādhurī, or sweetness, not some kind of make-believe. śrī-mukha sundara-bara. By using this one small word, bara, he has indicated the boundless depth of Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s charm and beauty. The beauty of their lotus faces is beyond the beauty of all others. It must be understood that such beauty does not exist either in the material world or even in any other realm or form of Śrī Bhagavān. Even compared to the beauty of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s lotus faces when they are separated, their beauty when together is bara, meaning greater or more delightful. gopī-preme kare kṛṣṇa-mādhuryera puṣṭi, mādhurya-bāḍhāya premā haiyā mahātuṣṭi (CC. Ādi 4.198). The gopīs’ love increases Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness, and his sweetness greatly increases their love. Above all, in the presence of mahābhāvamayī Śrī Rādhā, the crest-jewel of all gopikās, Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s ocean of sweetness swells immensely. When Śrī Rādhā sees Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s moonlike face, her own ocean of sweetness swells with powerful waves of infinite beauty. Śrī Kṛṣṇa says 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.”
     Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is relishing Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa’s sweetness in his mystic vision. After first describing the beauty of their lotus faces, he now describes their radiant complexions:  hema-nīla-kānti-dhara. With their respective fair and dark complexions, Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava’s mādhurī is resplendent. The forests of Vraja are illumined by Śrī Rādhā’s golden luster and Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s dark-blue luster. In Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 10.38, Śrīla Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda has written,

ananta-rati-manmathonmathana-darpa-śobhāmayaṁ
mithaḥ praṇaya-kīlitaṁ kim api gaura-nīla-cchaviḥ |
ananta-rasa-vāridhau buḍitam antapārojjhite
mahaḥ prathama-yauvanaṁ dvayam udeti vṛndāvane ||

     “The beauty of that youthful couple crushes the pride of countless gods of love and their wives. They are bound to each other by their mutual love. Their complexions are golden and dark-blue, and they are submerged in an endless, boundless ocean of rasa. Their splendor now spreads throughout Śrī Vṛndāvana.” Spreads throughout means their splendor is spreading like moonlight. Moreover, bhāba-bhūṣaṇa karu śobhā: those two with the dark-blue and golden complexions are adorned with ornaments of love, such as goosebumps and tears.

sarvāṅge pulakāvalīm aruṇatām akṣṇor vaco’nanvayaṁ
yānaṁ ca skhalitaṁ mitho vivadanaṁ keśāmbarāsaṁvṛtim |
mālyādi-truṭanaṁ muhuḥ prahasitaṁ bhūyo rasātyunmadaṁ
yatrābhūd dvaya-gaura-nīla-mahasas tan naumi vṛndāvanam ||

     “I bow to Śrī Vṛndāvana, where unprecedented ornaments of love are displayed. The golden and dark-blue limbs of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are covered with goosebumps, their eyes reddened, their speech incoherent. They stumble when they walk and quarrel lovingly with each other. Their hair and clothing are disheveled, their garlands and necklaces broken. They laugh constantly and repeatedly become delirious, overwhelmed with rasa.” (Vṛndāvana-Mahimāmṛtam 10.32)
     Or, ornaments of love means (1) bhāva: emotion; (2) hāva: artistic gestures or poses; (3) helā: amorous desire; (4) śobhā: beauty; (5) kānti: beauty enhanced by love; (6) dīpti: splendor; (7) mādhurya: sweetness; (8) prāgalbhya: boldness, confidence; (9) audārya: generosity; (10) dhairya: patience; (11) līlā: playful sport, such as imitation of one’s lover; (12) vilāsa: feminine gestures indicative of amorous desire; (13) vicchitti: a particular type of amorous gesture consisting of carelessness in dress and decoration; (14) vibhrama: confusion; (15) kilakiñcita: amorous agitation such as weeping, laughing, being angry, merry and so on in the company of one’s lover; (16) moṭṭāyita: silent, involuntary expression of affection toward an absent lover, as when a woman, her mind being taken up by her lover, scratches her ear and so on when he is remembered or spoken of; (17) kuṭṭamita: affected repulse of a lover’s caresses; (18) bibboka: affectation of indifference toward a beloved object through pride and conceit; (19) lalita: charm; (20) vikṛta: changes in behavior, appearance and so on; (21) maugdha: innocence; and (22) cakita: trembling.* When Śrī Kṛṣṇa sees these bhāvālaṅkāras adorning Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s beautiful body, corresponding ones appear on his own. The forms of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are made even more enchanting by these wonderful and extraordinary ornaments of love.
     He then says, nīla-pīta-bāsa-dhara, gaurī-śyāma manohara, antarera bhābe duṅhu lobhā. The captivating Gaurī and Śyāma have respectively donned blue and yellow clothing. By wearing blue clothing from head to toe on her love-filled body, fair-complexioned Śrī Rādhārāṇī is proclaiming that Śyāmasundara has occupied her heart and is personally present with her. By wearing yellow cloth, Śyāmasundara is proclaiming that Gaurī Śrī Rādhārāṇī has occupied his heart and accompanies him always. In this way, they both long for each other with heartfelt affection.
     Or, antarera bhābe duṅhu lobhā can also be interpreted to mean that Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are allured by the love in their devotee’s heart rather than to various kinds of external worship devoid of love. From Padyāvalī 13:

nānopacāra-kṛta-pūjanam ārta-bandhoḥ
premṇaiva bhakta-hṛdayaṁ sukha-vidrutaṁ syāt |
yāvat kṣud asti jaṭhare jaṭharā pipāsā
tāvat sukhāya bhavato nanu bhakṣya-peye ||

     “O devotee! When Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the friend of the afflicted, is lovingly worshiped with various kinds of articles, his heart melts with joy.** As long as there is strong hunger and thirst in the stomach, food and drink are no doubt enjoyable and satisfying.” The loving devotee of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa gradually becomes enticed by the rasa of their forms, qualities and pastimes. The love in the sādhaka’s heart similarly awakens Śrī Yugala-Kiśora’s attraction for him or her. Because their hearts and minds are charmed by the fortunate devotee’s love, their desire to taste that love is expressed within and without.

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*The characteristics of each of these as well as examples can be seen in the Anubhāva Prakaraa of Śrī Ujjvala- Nīlamai.

**Another interpretation of this verse: “When Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the friend of the afflicted, is lovingly worshiped with various kinds of articles, the devotee’s heart melts with joy.” (Translator)
 



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