নরোত্তম দাসে কয়, এই যেন মোর হয়,
ব্রজপুরে অনুরাগে বাস ।
সখীগণ-গণনাতে, আমারে লিখিবে তাতে,
তবহি পূরব অভিলাষ ॥ ৫৭ ॥
narottama dāse kaya, ei yena mora haya,
braja-pure anurāge bāsa |
sakhī-gaṇa-gaṇanāte, āmāre likhibe tāte,
tabahi pūraba abhilāṣa || 57 ||
Narottama Dāsa says, “Let me live in the land of Vraja with great love. I will be counted as one of the sakhīs and all my desires will be fulfilled.”
Living in Vraja with Devotion
Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: In this verse, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya expresses his desire to live in Vraja with loving devotion (anurāga) and to be included among the group of sakhīs. It can be understood here that he is praying to live such a life in both his sādhaka and siddha bodies. We shall first discuss living in Vraja with anurāga in the sādhaka body. The word anurāga here is not the anurāga that is included in one’s sthāyibhāva because that cannot be produced in the sādhaka body. Therefore, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya is expressing his desire to reside in Vraja in his sādhaka body with love, devotion and respect. Śrīmad Rūpa Gosvāmipāda has advised the rāgānugīya-sādhakas to live continuously in Vraja: kuryād vāsaṁ vraje sadā (Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhuḥ 1.2.294). Even so, he has instructed those who are unable to live in Vraja physically to maintain the determination to live in Vraja mentally. The reason for this is that by the inconceivable power of Vrajadhāma, residence in Vraja will cause bhāva to quickly appear in the heart of an offenseless sādhaka. durūhādbhuta-vīrye’smin śraddhā dūre’stu pañcake, yatra svalpo’pi sambandhaḥ sad-dhiyāṁ bhāva-janmane (Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhuḥ 1.2.238). “Associating with devotees, hearing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, serving the Deity form, congregational chanting of the holy names and living in Vraja: each of these five sādhanas is so inconceivably, astonishingly powerful that even without the presence of faith, only a slight connection with them causes bhāva to quickly appear in the heart of an offenseless sādhaka.” One may ask, “Only after the sādhaka has passed through the several stages from śraddhā up to āsakti by means of suitable sādhana-bhajana is he able to arrive in the kingdom of bhāva. How can bhāva be produced by such little contact with those five sādhanas?” He replies, alaukika-padārthānām acintyā śaktir īdṛśī, bhāvaṁ tad-viṣayaṁ cāpi yā sahaiva prakāśayet (Bhakti-Rasāmṛta-Sindhuḥ 1.2.244). “These five transcendental practices have such inconceivable power that by only a slight connection with them, both bhāva and the object of bhāva are revealed at the same time.” But the sādhaka must live in Vraja with anurāga, meaning with love, devotion and respect. Otherwise, if offenses are committed there, Śrī Dhāma is displeased and the sādhaka will incur much delay in attaining his goal. Then, after suffering the appropriate misery or repentance for a long time, if Śrī Dhāma is satisfied, the sādhaka can obtain the fruit of living there.
Secondly, there is nowhere in the world that can provide more inspiration to the sādhaka for his loving service of living in Vraja. Never mind this world, Śrī Uddhava Mahāśaya has advised Gopakumāra that to attain vraja-bhāva he should abandon the spiritual abodes from Vaikuṇṭha up to Dvārakā and reside in this earthly Vraja. This has been described in Śrī-Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam 2.5.243-244:
tatraivotpadyate dainyaṁ tat-premāpi sadā satām |
tat-tac-chūnyam ivāraṇya-sarid-giryādi paśyatām ||
sadā hā-hā-ravākrānta-vadanānāṁ tathā hṛdi |
mahāsantāpa-dagdhānāṁ sva-priyaṁ parimṛgyatām ||
“Seeing the forests, rivers, mountains and so on in the earthly Vṛndāvana, the sādhus always spontaneously experience unprecedented humility and love. There, they ever search eagerly for their beloved deity, their mouths crying out in anguish and their hearts burnt by great repentance.” After arriving in this earthly Vraja, Śrīla Gopakumāra entered a similar emotional state, as described in Śrī-Bṛhad-Bhāgavatāmṛtam 2.6.3-4:
sadā mahārtyā karuṇa-svarai rudan
nayāmi rātrīr divasāṁś ca kātaraḥ |
na vedmi yad yat sucirād anuṣṭhitaṁ
sukhāya vā tat tad utārti-sindhave ||
sukhāya vā tat tad utārti-sindhave ||
kathaṁ cid apy ākalayāmi naitat
kim eṣa dāvāgni-śikhāntare’ham |
vasāmi kiṁ vā paramāmṛtāccha-
suśītala-śrī-yamunā-jalāntaḥ ||
suśītala-śrī-yamunā-jalāntaḥ ||
Śrī Gopakumāra said to Śrī Jana Śarmā, “O brāhmaṇa! After arriving in the earthly Vraja, I used to always cry out in deep sorrow, meaning in great distress I called out ‘O Lord’ with a mournful voice. In this way, I spent my days and nights. For a long time I performed all of my religious practices, but whether it was for obtaining happiness or for submerging myself in a vast ocean of misery, I did not know. I could not understand whether I was living within the flames of a forest fire or within the transcendentally sweet, pure and cool water of the Yamunā.” This is a charming image of living with anurāga in Vraja in the sādhaka body. Śrī Rūpa, Sanātana, Raghunātha and the rest of the Six Gosvāmīs have established the highest ideal of this kind of love-filled residence in Vraja.
Moreover, it can be understood from this verse that he also desires to live with anurāga in līlā-dhāma Vraja, the realm of līlā, directly in his siddha-deha. In his Ānanda-Candrikā commentary on verses 3.49-53 of Śrī-Ujjvala-Nīlamaṇi and in his Śrī-Rāga-Vartma-Candrikā, Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartipāda has shown with logic and appropriate philosophical conclusions that the sādhaka is born in the kingdom of līlā in his internally conceived siddha-deha and lives in Vraja with anurāga. The essential meaning of this is that those who are eager for vraja-bhāva perform bhajana on the rāgānugā-mārga. According to their eagerness for the appropriate rāgānugā-bhajana, they from time to time take birth in the womb of a gopī, either alone or in groups of two or three. Taking birth as a gopī in Vrajabhūmi means that at the time of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s incarnation, like the nitya-siddhā-gopīs, the sādhana-siddhās also appear in their mentally conceived siddha-svarūpas. There, by the power of their association with the nitya-siddhā-gopīs, and by seeing Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, hearing and singing of their qualities and so on, the symptoms of sneha, māna, praṇaya, rāga, anurāga and mahābhāva manifest in their gopī bodies. In the sādhaka-deha, one can only rise to the stage of prema; the stages from sneha up to mahābhāva cannot manifest. Without taking birth from the womb of a gopī in a family of cowherds, one cannot become knowledgeable in the various relationships of Kṛṣṇa’s nara-līlā (humanlike pastimes), such as which girl is whose daughter, whose daughter-in-law and whose wife. After a long time, an intense yearning for Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s direct sevā awakens in the heart of a bhakta who is thoroughly engaged in rāgānugā-mārga-sādhana and in whom prema has appeared. Then, even though sneha or the other stages of prema have not yet arisen in the bhakta’s heart and mind, Śrī Kṛṣṇa becomes overwhelmed by compassion and gives the bhakta, in his sādhaka-deha, a divine vision of himself along with his companions, either in a dream or directly manifest. Then, just as he gave a blissful spiritual body to Śrī Nārada, in the same way he gives to the loving sādhaka the vraja-gopikā body he has contemplated. After that, when Śrī Vṛndāvana visibly manifests on earth and Śrī Kṛṣṇa and his companions appear, Yogamāyā causes that very body to be born from the womb of a gopī in order to complete the stages of prema, beginning with sneha. Regarding this, there is not even a moment’s delay because at that time the premika’s eagerness to obtain direct sevā immediately leads him to the kingdom of līlā. There is no other way. Still, to bring about his maturation through sneha and the other stages of prema, and to give him knowledge of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s nara-līlā through birth from a gopī’s womb, he must first be brought to the prakaṭa-līlā (manifest pastimes). There is also no cessation of the prakaṭa-līlā; it rolls through countless universes like a wheel of fire. After leaving his material body, by Yogamāyā’s mercy the bhakta in whom prema has arisen then takes birth in the home of a gopa in the universe where Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes are being displayed. In this way, the sādhaka lives with anurāga in Vraja in his siddha-deha along with the nitya-siddhā-gopīs. Knowing him to be worthy, the nitya-siddhā-sakhīs also include him (her) in their own group and bless him with the direct sevā of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. By this, all of the sādhaka’s hopes are fulfilled. Therefore, he says, sakhī-gaṇa-gaṇanāte, āmāre likhibe tāte, tabahi pūraba abhilāṣa. We find a similar conclusion in Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya’s poem Prārthanā:
hari hari! āra kabe emana daśā haba |
kabe bṛṣabhānu-pure, āhirī-gopera ghare, tanayā haiyā janamiba ||
yābaṭe āmāra kabe, e pāṇi-grahaṇa habe, basati kariba kabe tāya |
sakhīra parama-preṣṭha, ye haya tāhāra śreṣṭha, sebana kariba tāra pāya ||
teṅha kṛpābān hañā, rātula-caraṇe lañā, āmāre karibe samarpaṇa |
saphala haibe daśā, pūribe manera āśā, sebi duṅhāra yugala-caraṇa ||
“Hari! Hari! When shall I be in such a state? When shall I take birth as a daughter in the home of cowherds in Vṛṣabhānupura? When shall I be married in the village of Yāvaṭa and make my residence there? I shall serve the feet of Śrī Rūpa Mañjarī, who is most dear to Śrī Lalitā. Being very merciful, she will offer me at the crimson lotus feet of Śrī Rādhā-Mādhava. This state will be most fruitful: all my heart’s desires will be fulfilled and I will serve the Divine Couple.”
