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Before The Carts - Radha is assured
Anand - Thu, 23 Dec 2004 18:36:01 +0530
Dancing before the chariots during Ratha-yatra in Puri, Lord Caitanya experienced Radha bhava. At that time, in his ecstasy, the Lord spoke the following verses (as presented in Dimmocks and Stewart’s Caitanya Caritamrta):
“Of others the heart is hrdaya,
of me the heart is Vrindavana;
I now my heart and the forest as one.
There if you make
Your feet appear
Then I acknowledge the fullness of your mercy.
O Lord of my heart! Hear my true prayer!
Vraja is my residence,
There is my union with you,
If I do not find you, my life will not remain. [refrain]
Formerly, by means of Uddhava,
And now, face to face, to me
You explain the means of yoga and jnana.
You are clever and learned and full of grace,
You know my heart.
These things should not be told to me.
Having snatched my mind from you,
I try to attach it to worldly things;
No matter how hard I try I cannot snatch it.
Teach meditation to such a one
And you make people laugh;
You make no distinction between proper and improper places.
A gopi is not an adept at yoga,
[Who] at your lotus feet
would meditate and so gain joy.
The dexterity of your speech
And its clever fraudulence-
Hearing it the anger of the gopis grows still more.
For one who does not remember his body,
Where is the pit of the world?
He does not want liberation from it.
[We are] in the waters of the ocean of viraha
in the maw of the timingila of desire-
take the gopis to its other shore.
Vrindavana and Govardhana
And the groves on the banks of the Yamuna,
In those bowers of the rasa and other lilas,
The people of Vraja in Vraja,
Mother and father and friends,
How could you forget those wonderful pictures?
You are charming and sweet and true,
Principled, affectionate, gentle,
There is no hint of a fault in you.
Though such is your heart
You do not remember the people of Vraja;
That is our unhappy fate.
We do not count our own sorrow,
[but] seeing the face of Vrajesvari,
breaks the hearts of the people of Vraja.
You neither kill the women of Vraja,
Nor make them live[by] coming to Vraja;
Why do you keep us alive to bear this sorrow?
That you are in other dress,
Or in another country, with other friends,
Could never be borne by the people of Vraja.
They cannot leave the earth of Vraja,
And if they do not see you they die.
What other way is there for the people of Vraja?
You are the life of Vraja,
You are the wealth of the heart of Vraja,
You are the wealth of Vraja.
Your heart is tender and merciful,
Come and save your people of Vraja;
Put your feet on the way to Vraja.”
Hearing these words of Radhika
there came to his heart love for Vraja,
he acknowledged his own debt,
and consoled her and gave her hope.
Dear to my heart, hear these true words of mine:
In the memory of all of you
I am dissolved day and night;
Nobody knows my sadness. [refrain]
Anand - Thu, 23 Dec 2004 18:43:17 +0530
“All the women who dwell in Vraja,
and my mother, father, and friends,
all are like my own heart.
Among these the gopis
Are my very life;
And you are the life of that life.
The prema-rasa of all of you
Has conquered me,
And I am only your servant.
Making me abandon you,
And taking me to a far land
And keeping me there is a powerful and adverse fate.
A beloved without her lover,
A lover without his beloved,
Cannot live – this truth is proven.
When she hears of my condition,
She will also be in that condition,
And in this fear both continue to live.
Such is the pure woman who truly loves,
And such is the lover of her who truly loves;
Those who long in separation are in a condition of pure love.
They do not count their own sorrows,
But long for the happiness of the beloved;
The two will be united soon.
To preserve you lives
I pray to Narayana;
It is by his power that I always come.
And having played with you,
I go each day to Yadupuri;
But you consider it an apparition of me.
By my good fortune, for me
your prema is such;
that prema is very strong.
It brings me secretly to you,
tt causes me to be with you,
and soon will bring me openly.
Enemies of the Yadavas,
evil associates of Kamsa,
I have destroyed them all.
There are a few more,
and having killed them, to Vrindavana
I shall return; know that for certain.
From those enemies
to preserve the people of Vraja,
I remain, ndifferent to my kingdom.
Wife and sons and wealth-
I keep this external screen
to make the Yadus happy.
By the qualities of your prema
I am drawn,
and within a few days it will bring me here.
When again I come to Vrindavana,
with you and the dear ones of Vraja
I shall sport day and night.”
So to her spoke Krsna,
thirsting to go to Vraja,
And he recited a sloka to her.
Hearing this sloka Radha,
all doubts dispelled,
Was confident of gaining Krsna.
Sloka 8 Bhagavata Purana 10.82.44:
Bhakti alone to me leads to immortality for all beings. It is most fortunate that love toward me has been born in you, gaining myself.
Anand - Fri, 24 Dec 2004 18:50:50 +0530
Here is A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s version of the same passage of CC - Madhya-lila, Ch. 13, 137 – 160:
Speaking in the mood of Srimati Radharani, Caitanya Mahaprabhu said, “’For most people, the mind and heart are one, but because My mind is never separated from Vrndavana, I consider My mind and Vrndavana to be one. My mind is already Vrndavana, and since you like Vrndavana, will You please place Your lotus feet there? I would deem that Your full mercy.
“’My dear Lord, kindly hear My true submission. My home is Vrndavana, and I wish Your association there. But if I do not get it, then it will be very difficult for Me to keep My life.
“’My dear Krsna, formerly, when You were staying in Mathura, You sent Uddhava to teach Me speculative knowledge and mystic yoga. Now You Yourself are speaking the same thing, but My mind doesn’t accept it. There is no place in My mind for janana-yoga or dhyana-yoga. Although You know Me very well, You are still instructing Me in jnana-yoga and dhyana-yoga. It is not right for You to do so.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu continued: “’I would like to withdraw My consciousness from You and engage it in material activities, but even though I try, I cannot do so. I am naturally inclined to You only. Your instructions for Me to meditate on You are therefore simply ludicrous. In this way, You are killing Me. It is not very good for you to think of Me as a candidate for Your instructions.
“’The gopis are not like the mystic yogis. They will never be satisfied simply by meditating on Your lotus feet and imitating the so-called yogis. Teaching the gopis about meditation is another kind of duplicity. When they are instructed to undergo mystic yoga practice, they are not at all satisfied. On the contrary, they become more angry with You.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu continued: “’The gopis are fallen in the great ocean of separation, and they are being devoured by the timingila fish, which represent their ambition to serve You. The gopis are to be delivered from the mouths of these timingila fish, for they are pure devotees. Since they have no material conception of life, why should they aspire for liberation? The gopis do not want that liberation, desired by yogis and jnanis, for they are already liberated from the ocean of material existence.
“’It is amazing that You have forgotten the land of Vrndavana. And how is it that You have forgotten Your father, mother and friends? How have You forgotten Govardhana Hill, the bank of the Yamuna, and the forest where You enjoyed the rasa-lila dance?
“’Krsna, you are certainly a refined gentleman with all good qualities. You are well-behaved, softhearted, and merciful. I know that there is not even a tinge of fault to be found in You, yet Your mind does not even remember the inhabitants of Vrndavana. This is only My misfortune, and nothing else.
“’I do not care for My personal unhappiness, but when I see the morose face of Your mother Yasoda and the hearts of all the inhabitants of Vrndavana breaking because of You, I wonder whether You want to kill them all. Is it that You want to enliven them by coming there? Why is it You are simply keeping them alive in a state of suffering?
“’The inhabitants of Vrndavana do not want You dressed like a prince, nor do they want you to associate with great warriors in a different country. They cannot leave the land of Vrndavana, and without Your presence, they are all dying. What is their condition to be?
“’My dear Krsna, You are the life and soul of Vrndavana-dhama. You are especially the life of Nanda Maharaja. You are the only opulence in the land of Vrndavana, and You are very merciful. Please come and let them all live. Kindly keep Your lotus feet again in Vrndavana.
Anand - Fri, 24 Dec 2004 18:53:07 +0530
“’After hearing Srimati Radharani’s statements, Lord Krsna’s love for the inhabitants of Vrndavana was evoked, and His body and mind became very perturbed. After hearing of their love for Him, He immediately thought Himself to be always indebted to the residents of Vrndavana. Then Krsna began to pacify Srimati Radharani as follows.
“’My dearest Srimati Radharani, please hear Me. I am speaking the truth. I cry day and night simply upon remembering all you inhabitants of Vrndavana. No one knows how unhappy this makes Me.
“’Sri Krsna continued: ‘All the inhabitants of Vrindavana-dhama – My mother, father, cowherd boy friends and everything else – are like My life and soul. And among all the inhabitants of Vrndavana, the gopis are My very life and soul. Among the gopis, You, Srimati Radharani, are the chief. Therefore You are the very life of My life.
“’My dear Srimati Radharani, I am always subservient to the loving affairs of all of you. I am under your control only. My separation from you and residence in distant places have occurred due to My strong misfortune.
“’When a woman is separated from the man she loves or a man is separated from his beloved woman, neither of them can live. It is a fact that they live only for one another, for if one dies and the other hears of it, he or she will die also.
“’A loving, chaste wife and a loving husband who desire all welfare for each other in separation and do not care for personal happiness, desire only one another’s well-being. Such a pair certainly meet again without delay.
“’You are My most dear, and I know that in My absence You cannot live for a moment. Just to keep You living, I worship Lord Narayana. By His merciful potency, I come to Vrndavana every day to enjoy pastimes with You. I then return to Dvaraka-dhama. Thus you can always feel My presence here in Vrndavana.
“’Our love affair is more powerful because of My good fortune in receiving Narayana’s grace. This allows Me to come here unseen by others. I hope that very soon I will be visible to everyone.
“’I have already killed all the mischievous demons who are enemies of the Yadu dynasty, and I have also killed Kamsa and his allies. However, there are two or four demons still living. I want to kill them, and after doing so I shall very soon return to Vrndavana. Please know this for certain.
“’I wish to protect the inhabitants of Vrndavana from the attacks of My enemies. That is why I remain in My kingdom; otherwise I am indifferent to My royal position. Whatever wives, sons and wealth I maintain in the kingdom are only for the satisfaction of the Yadus.
“’Your loving qualitites always attract Me to Vrndavana. Indeed, they will bring Me back within ten or twenty days, and when I return I shall enjoy both day and night with You and all the damsels of Vrajabhumi.’
“While speaking to Srimati Radharani, Krsna became very anxious to return to Vrndavana. He made Her listen to a verse which banished all Her difficulties and which assured Her that She would again attain Krsna.
“Lord Sri Krsna said: ‘Devotional service unto Me is the only way to attain Me. My dear gopis, whatever love and affection you have attained for Me by good fortune is the only reason for My returning to you.’”
This is a verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.82.45).