Śrī Śrī Prema-Bhakti-Candrikā 114 (comm. by Śrī Anantadāsa Bābājī Mahārāja)

 

গৌরহরি অবতরি,        প্রেমের বাদর করি,

সাধিলা মনের নিজ কাজ ।

রাধিকার প্রাণপতি,        কি ভাবে কান্দয়ে নিতি,

ইহা বুঝে ভকত-সমাজ ॥ ১১৪ ॥

gaurahari abatari,        premera bādara kari,

sādhilā manera nija kāja |

rādhikāra prāṇa-pati,        ki bhābe kāndaye niti,

ihā bujhe bhakata-samāja || 114 ||

     Gaurahari incarnated to shower prema and fulfill his heart’s desires. Only the bhaktas understand the constant weeping of Rādhikā’s lover.

Gaurahari’s Accomplishments

     Sudhā-Kaṇikā-Vyākhyā: After stating the cause of Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s incarnation, Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya now speaks of his actions: gaurahari abatari, premera bādara kari, sādhilā manera nija kāja. Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s mind was occupied in two ways—one primary and the other secondary. In the previous verse, he stated that he intended primarily to enjoy the fulfillment of his three wishes and secondarily to bless the people of the world with prema. Śrī Rāmānanda Rāya said the following to Śrīman Mahāprabhu in Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 8.279:

rādhikāra bhāba-kānti kari’ aṅgīkāra | 

nija-rasa āsvādite kariyācha abatāra ||

nija-gūḍha-kārya tomāra prema āsvādana | 

ānuṣaṅge premamaya kaile tribhubana ||

     “You have accepted Rādhikā’s mood and complexion and have descended to relish your own rasa. Your deepest motive is to taste prema and secondarily to fill the three worlds with it.” 

     It is not at all difficult for Śrīman Mahāprabhu to fill the world with prema; he is Gaurahari. hari-śabdera nānā artha, dui mukhyatama, sarba amaṅgala hare, prema diyā hare mana (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 24.59). “The word hari has various meanings, two of which are most important. One is that he destroys all inauspiciousness and the other that he steals one’s mind through love.” Gaurahari displayed Premamayī Śrī Rādhā’s golden complexion on his own body and immediately destroyed the inauspicious desire for sense objects in everyone’s hearts. Then he stole their minds with the gift of prema. In the month of Śrāvaṇa, clouds pour streams of water everywhere, moistening and cooling the heat-afflicted world. In the same way, Premamaya Gaurahari caused a raincloud to appear in the world’s sky that rained down prema on everyone, alleviating their three kinds of suffering and submerging them in a flood of prema. In the teachings of the mahājanas we see the words hema jalada-kāya, prema-dhārā bariṣaya. The flood of prema with which Śrī Gaurahari inundated the world, a type of Vraja’s madhura-rasa consisting of mañjarī-bhāva, is very difficult for even Brahmā and Śiva to obtain. Therefore, a mahājana sang the following in Pada-Kalpa-Taru:

patita heri’ kānde, thira nāhi bāndhe, karuṇa nayāne cāya |

nirupama hema jini’, ujora gorā-tanu, abanī ghana gaḍi’ yāya ||

gaurāṅgera nichani laiyā mari |

o rūpa-mādhurī, pīriti-cāturī, tila-ādha pāsarite nāri ||

baraṇa-āśrama, kiñcana-akiñcana, kāra kona doṣa nāhi māne |

kamalā-śiba-bidhi, dulaha-prema-nidhi, dāna karaye jagajane ||

aichana sadaya, hṛdaya rasamaya, gaura bhela parakāśa |

prema-dhanera dhanī, kayala abanī, bañcita gobinda dāsa ||

     “Seeing the fallen people, he cries, unable to maintain his calm; he looks with compassionate eyes. His fair complexion is more radiant than the finest gold. He sometimes rolls on the ground. I would die for Gaurāṅga! I cannot forget for half a moment his sweet form, joy and intelligence. Regardless of one’s varṇa or āśrama, or whether one is rich or poor, Gaura sees no fault in anyone. He gave the treasure of prema, which is difficult for even Lakṣmī, Śiva and Brahmā to attain, to the people of the world. Kind-hearted, charming Gaurasundara became manifest and made the earth rich with prema. Only Govinda Dāsa was deprived.”

     Then Śrīla Ṭhākura Mahāśaya said, rādhikāra prāṇa-pati, ki bhābe kāndaye niti, ihā bujhe bhakata-samāja. The embodiment of concentrated joy Svayaṁ Bhagavān Vrajendranandana accepted the bhāva of Śrī Rādhā. Though being the lord of Śrī Rādhā’s life, absorbed in her mood he only cries day and night. kāṅhā karoṅ, kāṅhā pāṅ brajendra-nandana, kāṅhā mora prāṇanātha muralī-badana; kāhāre kahiba, kebā jāne mora duḥkha; brajendra-nandana-binu phāṭe mora buka (Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Madhya 2.15-16). “Where shall I go? Where will I find Vrajendranandana? Where is the lord of my life, the player of the flute? To whom shall I speak? Who can understand my suffering? My heart breaks without him.” Śrīman Mahāprabhu chiefly relished Śrī Rādhā’s sweet love by adopting her viraha-bhāva, or mood of separation, because the ocean of prema is churned most in viraha; therefore, the experience of it is astonishing.

     Human language cannot express the extraordinary moods that appear in Premamayī Śrī Rādhāraṇī’s heart when she feels separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa. When Śrī Rādhā suffers viraha from Śrī Kṛṣṇa she becomes distraught and filled with Kṛṣṇa inside and out. Kṛṣṇa is all she knows, Kṛṣṇa is all she thinks about, Kṛṣṇa is her life. Kṛṣṇa pervades her entire heart. The external world is hidden to her. She roams about the dense groves of Vraja like a madwoman, crying, “O Kṛṣṇa! O Kṛṣṇa!” She ignores the thorns piercing her flower-soft feet. In front of her a venomous snake expands its hood and hisses. Though seeing it, she does not see it. Eager to find Kṛṣṇa, she thinks only of him. Her sakhīs somehow sustain the life of this girl maddened by love. 

     After accepting Śrī Rādhā’s bhāva, Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the form of Śrī Gaurāṅga relished the emotional state of this girl possessed by divine madness in the gambhīrā-līlā at Nīlācala. No one can understand this incomprehensible state; pure bhaktas experience it according to their devotion. rādhikāra prāṇa-pati, ki bhābe kāndaye niti, ihā bujhe bhakata-samāja. Never mind others, even Śrī Kṛṣṇa is unable to completely understand the bhakta’s act of seeking prema. Who can understand Mahābhāvamayī Śrī Rādhā’s efforts for the sake of love? To understand this prema-seeking, Śrī Kṛṣṇa assumed Śrī Rādhā’s bhāva and became Gaura. Śrī-Caitanya-Caritāmṛta, Antya 18.15 describes it:

bhaktera prema-bikāra dekhi kṛṣṇera camatkāra |

kṛṣṇa yāra nā pāya anta kebā chāra āra ||

bhakta-premera yata daśā ye gati prakāra |

yata duḥkha yata sukha yateka bikāra ||

kṛṣṇa tāhā samyak nā pāre jānite |

bhakta-bhāba aṅgī kare tāhā āsvādite ||

kṛṣṇere nācāya prema bhaktere nācāya |

āpane nācaye—tine nāce eka-thāñi ||

premera bikāra barṇite cāhe yei-jana |

cānda dharite cāhe yena haiyā bāmana ||

bāyu yaiche sindhu-jalera hare eka kaṇa |

kṛṣṇa-prema-kaṇera taiche jībera sparśana ||

kṣaṇe kṣaṇe uṭhe premāra taraṅga ananta |

jība chāra kāṅhā tāra pāibeka anta ||

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya yāhā kare āsvādana |

sabe eka jāne tāhā svarūpādi gaṇa ||

jība hañā kare yei tāhāra barṇana |

āpanā śodhite tāra choṅya eka kaṇa ||

     “Kṛṣṇa is astonished to see the love-born transformations in his bhaktas. If he cannot fully understand them, who could? Kṛṣṇa could not completely understand the different stages of the bhaktas’ love or the different methods, the miseries, joys and transformations, so he accepted the mood of a bhakta to experience them for himself. Prema makes both Kṛṣṇa and the bhaktas dance, and she herself also dances—the three of them dance in one place. One who wants to describe the transformations born of prema is like a dwarf who wants to capture the moon. As a breeze can carry away a drop of ocean water, so the jīva can touch a drop of kṛṣṇa-prema. Endless waves of prema rise from moment to moment. How can an insignificant jīva find the end of such an ocean? Only Svarūpa-Dāmodara and his associates can understand what Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya experiences. By narrating these pastimes, a jīva can purify himself and touch a drop of that ocean.”