Lila-smarana (spontaneous visualization) - for beginners

"Spontaneous visualization is also called remembering the sports of Radha and Krsna (lila-smarana). It appears to have been developed by Rupa Goswami, one of the immediate followers of Sri Caitanya and one of the tradition's finest poets.  He himself never wrote a work on the practice with the possible exception of 11 verses that contain, in very abbreviated form, the whole cycle of playful interactions that are believed to take place between Radha and Krsna in an eternally recurring cycle of day and a night in their world Goloka." from the BhajanKUtir.net

What are the mechanics of this process?  Who should one approach for learning it?  What is the qualification for it?

Dear Theman, Lilasmaran is learned from a sat guru, a person with experience and insight into smarana. It means meditation and for this one needs first of all oneself a fixed idea what one wants to meditate upon and in which identity, or svarupa, one wants to participate. Qualifications are that one must have some basic knowledge of rasa tattva, one must have faith, one must have made up one's mind which upasana (mode of worship) to follow, one must have a sat Guru, one must be on a reasonable level of purity in order to steady the mind and it is also highly recommended to live in the place where your favorite lilas take place, such as Radhakund, Vrindavan or Navadvip. Advaitadas

Advaitadas,

I'm not into learning from a sat guru.  I prefer self-learning.  Is your statement an absolute one.

SAINTS
Sri Tinkadi Gosvami
(1906-1984)

"Baba was at that time seeing some lila in smarana. His smarana stopped. He felt very bad. But he only said, "Oh! Nothing, nothing." In the evening he called Mathura and said, "Why did you jolt me this morning, when I was having lila-darsana?" Mathura said, "How could I know what you were doing? You said that Ma had fallen. I got anxious about her. So I jolted you.""

"They also attended the Bhagavata-saptaha and participated in kirtana, while Baba sat throughout the day under some tree in a lonely place and did japa and smarana."

"One day while he was sitting in meditation and his body was covered with a shawl, a disciple saw that a poisonous snake had entered the shawl and was staying there. Only its tail was out of the shawl. Tinkadi Gosvami was absorbed in lila-smarana."

Theman,

Advaitadas is out of office until March 10th in India, so I'll contribute my few pennies.

Lila-smaran is something you do under guidance. It is not a matter of self-learning. Think about the word "raganuga". raga -- attachment; anuga -- going after. On the path of raganuga, you follow the moods of a particular associate of Radha and Krishna towards whom you have special affection.

In lila-smarana you visualize yourself as a particular manjari who serves under the guidance of a certain guru-sakhi, who in turn serves under the guidance of her guru-sakhi. This is called guru-pranali or siddha-pranali, the channel through which prema flows down to us from the ragatmika-jana, those who are through and through filled with love and attachment.

Generally your first acquaintance with the manjari-svarupa comes from a sad-guru, who perceives your svarupa with divine insight in his bhajan.

In sadhaka-deha (the external body) you serve the sad-guru in the form in which he appears in this world, and in siddha-deha (the internally conceived body) you serve him as your guru-sakhi in a female form, under whose guidance you learn the various arts of pleasing Radha Syama.

Of course you can use all varieties of paddhatis as an aid in your bhajan, but there must be an active medium of guidance to secure the fact that your bhajan does not become corrupt or stagnant.

Even when the sad-guru departs from our physical world, allegiance to him continues in the internally conceived realm of our worship. Additionally, other sadhus are there as an active medium of learning.

In fact, the Caitanya Caritamrta states:

krsna-bhakti janma-mula hoy sadhu-sanga
krsna-prema janme tenho punar mukhya-anga

"Association of saints is the birth-root of Krishna-bhakti. Even when Krishna-prema awakens, it still remains a principle aspect."

Sadhu means the one who is well acquainted with sat -- the eternal reality -- and who has taken shelter of his inner spiritual identity. A sad-guru need not be a man with a big seat who is worshiped in grand style by thousands of followers. Anyone well acquainted with the inner realm of bhajan can act as such.

Lila-smaran is not a matter of learning through a correspondence course or by keying in words into search engines. Love and feelings are personally obtained from real persons and developed in their association.

Good points.

"Of course you can use all varieties of paddhatis as an aid in your bhajan, but there must be an active medium of guidance to secure the fact that your bhajan does not become corrupt or stagnant."

One can receive an active medium of guidance from inside.  Although a sat-guru is necessary, that is not an absolute statement or requirement.

To begin with:

tad-vijnanartham sa gurum evabhigacchet

(Mundakopanisad 1.2.12)

"For that wealth of great wisdom, one certainly must approach a guru."

Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti explains the path of raga in his Raga-varma-candrika (1.8):

sa ca lobho raga varma vartinam bhaktanam guru-padasraya laksanam arabhya svabhista vastu saksat prapti samayam abhivyapya 'yatha yathatma parimrjyate 'sau mat punya gatha sravanabhidhanaih, tatha tatha pasyati vastu suksmam caksur yathaivanjana samprayuktam., iti bhagavad ukter bhakti hetukantah karana suddhi taratamyat prati dinam adhikadhiko bhavati.
"Lord Krishna Himself describes (in Srimad Bhagavata 11.14.26) how the devotee on the path of sacred passion advances and becomes more purified and more obsessed with sacred greed, from the initial stage of surrender to the feet of a guru up to the point in which he directly attains the Lord: 'The more one's mind gets purified by hearing and chanting of My beautiful pastimes, the better one is able to discern the subtle reality, just as the eye is better able to perceive more and more subtle things when it is treated with medicinal ointment.' "

Here Visvanatha refers to a famous verse from the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu of Sri Rupa Gosvami (1.2.74), where it is said, in describing the first stages of devotional practice:

guru-padasrayas tasmat krsna-diksadi-siksanam
visrambhena guroh seva sadhu-vartmanuvartanam
The sequence is as follows:

1. To take shelter of the feet of a guru,
2. To accept diksa of Krishna-mantra etc.,
3. To accept instructions,
4. To render intimate service to the guru, and
5. To follow the path of the saints.

All the saints and sages on the path of raganuga are in agreement over the necessity of accepting the guidance of a sad-guru in the matter of raganuga-bhajana. The same opinion is voiced by both the history and the scriptures.

Of course inner revelation from the caitya-guru, or the Lord within the heart, is also a source of active guidance. Nevertheless, we are advised in the Caitanya Caritamrta (Adi-lila, 1.58):

jive saksat nahi tate guru caittya-rupe
siksa-guru haya krsna mahanta-svarupe
"The (conditioned) jiva can't directly perceive the form of guru in the heart, therefore Krishna appears as the instructing spiritual master in the form of a great devotee."

In other words, to go against the principle of taking shelter of a spiritual master is to go against the vision of the Lord for delivering the conditioned souls. Inasmuch as we are covered over by matter, just so much our vision of inner inspiration is blurred and distorted.

Here is an excerpt from Sri Ananta Dasa Baba's commentary on the Prema-bhakti-candrika of Sri Narottama Dasa Thakura, on it's "Sri Guru-vandana". I trust it will offer further insight on the delicate subject matter of guru-tattva.

I will be happy to compile more evidence from the scriptures and from the lives of the saints, as well as plain obvious and sensible reasoning, on the subject matter of the need for accepting the shelter of a sad-guru. I tried to keep it brief for now.
[_Zz]

"Dear Theman, Lilasmaran is learned from a sat guru, a person with experience and insight into smarana. It means meditation and for this one needs first of all oneself a fixed idea what one wants to meditate upon and in which identity, or svarupa, one wants to participate. Qualifications are that one must have some basic knowledge of rasa tattva, one must have faith, one must have made up one's mind which upasana (mode of worship) to follow, one must have a sat Guru, one must be on a reasonable level of purity in order to steady the mind and it is also highly recommended to live in the place where your favorite lilas take place, such as Radhakund, Vrindavan or Navadvip."

Before the spiritual body can manifest one must have the substance of the spiritual body.  This substance is ekadas-bhava.

Can someone have bhava from a previous life and not require initiation 'theortically'?

What about someone who incarnates from the spiritual world?  Like Chaitanya for example...or maybe Lokanatha Goswami...

The fact that we didn't quite complete the path in our previous lives obviously indicates we are in need of some guidance here.

It is likely that many will have received ekadasa-bhava in an earlier life, since the cultivation of bhakti until perfection generally spans over several lifetimes. At any rate, there is no harm in having it re-revealed and to receive further instruction on the path of bhajan and on our specific manjari-seva.


Of course they are already siddha, and in truth they have no need for any guidance from anyone here. Most of us are not in that category though. We incarnate from one of the 8400000 species of life. 

However, for the sake of consideration, let us have a look at Sri Caitanya. Sri Krishna descended in the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu to realize the nature of Radha-bhava.

To fulfill this aspiration, Mahaprabhu left for his tour of South-India from Puri, and finally met Raya Ramananda on the banks of the Godavari-river. At length, Raya Ramananda spoke about Radha-bhava to Him, describing Her form, qualities and so on.  In this way, Sriman Mahaprabhu set the example -- it is certainly beneficial for us to hear about the bhava we aspire for, regardless of our status.

Mahaprabhu is God Himself who took a descent in a brahmana family, acquired the brahmanical initiation and so forth and still, took Vaisnava diksa from Iswara Puri. Narottama Das Thakur manifested symptoms of having received Mahaprabhu's krpa and still, later approached Sri Lokanatha Goswami for diksa.

It is true that it is possible to attain prema through constant Nama sankirtan, but in this age the majoriy of people are offensive by nature, and therefore very rare to find such examples. So the gradual course of spiritual progression, i.e., faith, (diksa) sadhu sanga, bhajan, and so forth, is the course for those who want to seriously progress towards attaining a spiritual form suitable for service to the Lord in His eternal abode.

Another point is that it is the third offense in chanting the holy name of Krsna to think that one can attain God while thinking he doesn't need to take shelter of a devotee of God as ones precepter. This offensive mentality to the holy name will displease Nama Prabhu and block his spiritual advancement.

Ananta Das Babaji writes in Guru Tattva Vijnana that the fruit of chanting Hari nama prior to diksa is to attain shelter of the lotus feet of a sad guru. The fruit of chanting after diksa is prema.

Jai Radhe Krishna,

If lila smaranam comes without taking the help of guru does it mean that it is being carried forward from the previous birth where in some guru might have taught this?

Visvanatha explains the appearance of lobha, or greed which initiates raganuga sadhana, in his Raga Vartma Candrika (1.6)as follows (original text and the commentary of Pandit Ananta Das Babaji):

sa ca bhagavat kRpA hetuko’nurAgI bhakta kRpA hetukaz ceti dvi vidhaH. tatra bhakta kRpA hetuko dvi vidhaH, prAktana Adhunikaz ca. prAktanaH paurva bhavika tAdRza bhakta kRpotthaH, AdhunikaH etaj janmAvadhi tAdRza bhakta kRpottaH. Adye sati lobhAnantaraM tAdRza guru caraNAzrayaNam. dvitIye guru caraNAzrayAnantaraM lobha pravRttir bhavati. yad uktam:

kRSNa tad bhakta kAruNya mAtra lobhaika hetukA
puSTi mArgatayA kaizcid iyaM rAgAnugocyate
“There are two causes for the appearance of the aforementioned sacred greed: The mercy of God or the mercy of another anuragi devotee. There are again two kinds of mercy bestowed by a devotee: praktana and adhunika. Praktana means mercy bestowed by a raganuga bhakti in a previous life, and adhunika is mercy bestowed in the present birth. The praktana-devotee takes shelter of the lotus feet of a raganuga guru after the sacred greed has arisen in him, the adhunika will get that sacred greed only after having surrendered to the feet of such a guru. It is said (in Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu): “The only causes of the appearance of sacred greed Is the mercy of Krishna or His devotee. Therefore some call the path of raganuga bhakti also pusti marga (the path of grace).”

Krpa kanika vyakhya: After giving the definition of the cause of sacred greed the blessed author now describes the causes for attaining this greed. Greed for raganuga bhajana can only be attained by the grace of Sri Krishna or the grace of the great saints who are themselves passionately attached to the sweet feelings of Krishna’s associates. Krishna rarely bestows His mercy on new aspirants, therefore almost always this sacred greed arises by the grace of the aforementioned saints.

There are two kinds of sacred greed that arises by the grace of the saints - praktana and adhunika. Those who have attained lobha by the mercy of raganuga saints in previous births will revive the cultivation of that lobha in their present birth and go on with raganuga bhajana, taking shelter of the feet of a guru according to their previous lives’ samskara (cultivation), which can be dasya, sakhya and so forth. Those who did not cultivate such greed in their previous lives first take shelter of the lotus feet of a guru, and after they hear about the great love of Sri Krishna and His eternal associates, the greed awakens within them. There is no other means than the grace of Sri Krishna and His pure devotees to attain this greed for raganuga bhajana, and the blessed author has proven it by quoting a sloka from Bhakti Rasamrta Sindhu. In his commentary on this sloka Srimat Jiva Gosvamipada has written: krsneti -- matra padasya vidhi marge kutracit karmadi samarpanam api dvaram bhavatiti tad vicchedarthah prayoga iti bhava: “The word matra is used in the above sloka, krsna tad-bhakta karunya lobha matraika hetuka, because sometimes the offering of fruitive activities can lead to entry into vaidhi bhakti, whereas raganuga bhakti is only (matra) attained through grace.” Greed for raganuga bhakti is more rarely attained than bhava or rati in vaidhi bhakti, and it is only attainable through grace (Sri Mukunda Dasa Gosvami). The devotees from the Vallabha sampradaya call this raganuga marga pusti marga (the path of grace).

Whatever applies for lobha, also applies for the rest of the devotional cultivation undergone during previous lives.