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Gaudiya Discussions Archive » PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY
Discussions on the doctrines of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Please place practical questions under the Miscellaneous forum and set this aside for the more theoretical side of it.

Svarasiki and Mantramayi - as in Krishna-sandarbha



Madhava - Fri, 18 Jun 2004 04:17:56 +0530
Sri Jivapada writes in his Krishna-sandarbha:

tatra nAnA-lIlA-pravAha-rUpatayA svArasikI gaGgeva | ekaika-lIlAtmatayA mantropAsanA-mayI tu labdha-tat-sambhava-hrada-zreNir iva jJeyA || Krishna-sandarbha, Anuccheda 153

"Spontaneous pastimes are like the flow of the Ganges, as there are many different pastimes that flow into one another continuously. The static pastimes are compared to a lake created by the Ganges in which one particular pastime is concentrated upon. This is generally meditated upon at the time of mantra worship, hence the name mantramayi." (Transl. Jagadananda, from MSN)

The gist of svarasiki-upAsana is condensed in the following meditations of Sripad Kaviraja Gosvami:

kuJjAd goSThaM nizAnte pravizati kurute dohanAnnAzanAdyAM |
prAtaH sAyaM ca lIlAM viharati sakhibhiH saGgave cArayan gAH ||
madhyAhne cAtha naktaM vilasati vipine rAdhayAddhAparAhne |
goSThaM yAti pradoSe ramayati suhRdo yaH sa kRSNo 'vatAn naH || GL 1.4

"May that Krishna protect us, who at night's end enters the village from the bower, in the morning and evening milks the cows and eats his meals, in the late morning plays with his friends and herds the cows, at midday and at night sports with Radha in the forest, in the late afternoon returns to the village and in the late evening pleases his friends."(Transl. Nitai)

A classical scenario of mantramayI reads as follows:

divya-vRndAraNya-kalpa-drumAdhaH |
zrImad-ratnAgAra-siMhAsana-sthau ||
zrImad-rAdhA-zrIla-govinda-devau |
preSThAlIbhiH sevyamAnau smarAmi || CC Adi 1.16

"I meditate on Sri Radha and Srila Govinda Deva, who are seated on a beautiful throne in a jewelled palace under the shade of the desire trees of Vrindavana, surrounded by many dear friends and handmaids who eagerly serve them." (Transl. Jagadananda, from MSN)

The concepts are further elaborated in the 153th anuccheda of Krishna-sandarbha. The relevant anuccheda is posted here for reference. I would like to have the concepts of mantramayI and svarasikI elaborated upon by our learned assembly. Sanskrit such as the one in the Sandarbhas is still a bit slow for me to parse.

In fact, we need to do more study of the Sandarbhas overall.
Jagat - Fri, 18 Jun 2004 17:12:19 +0530
I agree with you there. I have been headaching over that Bhaktisandarbha 312 passage all morning. I have been comparing the reading in the new Krama-sandarbha I just received with the Bhakti-sandarbha, finding an inordinate amount of mistakes, and discovering stuff that I had completely forgotten about, never knew or just skimmed over.