On the humility and sadhana of Brahmaji - 10th canto - chapter 14

I am writing this with concern over the interpretations of the prayers of Brahma in the 14th chapter of the 10th canto and the commentaries of the acharyas, as presented here.


From this, it is wrongly deducted that one shouldn't aspire to cultivate a particular relationship with Krishna at all, but should rather always strive to become a speck of dust, a rock or a brick in Vraja-dhama.

First, let us have a look at the context in which the prayers take place. Brahma has thought of himself as more clever and mighty than Krishna, thereafter having his pride crushed, leading him to submitting varieties of prayers.

Such expressions of humility are among the thirty-three vyAbhicAri-bhAvas, emotions swelling in the ocean of sthayI-bhAva, permanent emotion, within the heart. There are actually two particular vyabhicArins involved here, namely grief arising after aparAdha (viSAdaH / BRS 2.4.19) and humility arising after aparAdha (dainya / BRS 2.4.10).

In other words, we are talking about a very particular situation to which such expressions are to be connected; certainly not to Brahma's permanent wishes. The sAdhana of Brahmaji is described for example in Bhaktivinoda's commentary on Brahma-samhita (5.28):



This is called the cultivation of sthayI-bhAva, a foundational, specific relationship with Krishna. Indeed, the practice of sAdhana is defined as follows (BRS 1.2.2):



In other words, sAdhana is a method through which a particular eternal rasa, relationship with Krishna, is cultivated, just as Brahma did while remembering the Kama-gayatri-mantra.

That was Brahma-ji’s intuition outstanding!

I started reading the link but could only go so far. God Brahma's feeling like that, oh. But

dina hina patita pAmara nAhi bAce/
brahmAra durlabha prema sabAkAre jAce//

Nitai sundara did not heed who was lowly, indigent, base or iniquitous,
but with a largess of free bounty conferred on all BrahmAra durlabha prem.

yo brahma rudra zuka nArada bhISma mukhyair
AlakSito na sahasA puruSasya tasya
sadyo vazikaraNa cUrNam ananta zaktiM
taM rAdhikA caraNa reNum anusmarAmi

(Sri Radha Sudhanidhi. 3)

"jaasu dhaam, vidhi braja raja yaacata, ThaaDe eka hi paam" (5)
(Prema Rasa Madira of Sri Kripaluji Maharaj)

O unsteady mind!
Please be aware of the fact that just to receive the Divine dust
particle of the transcendental realm of Vraja, the cosmic creator,
Lord Brahma, performed severe penance of standing on one leg for
millions of years!
But still, Brahmaji failed to obtain the Divinelove Bliss of Vraja
Rasa Madhuri.

SaSTi varSa sahasrANi mayAtaptaM tapaH purA
nanda gopa vrajastrINAM pAdareNupalabdhaye
tathApi na mayA prAptAstAsAM vai pAdareNavaH

(Brihad Vamana Puranam)

Lord Brahma declares-
"I have performed penance for sixty thousand years to attain
the foot- dust of the Gopis of Braja, who are ever submerged
in the Bliss of Divine Love, yet I failed to receive!"

tadastu me nAtha sa bhUri bhAgo
bhave 'tra vAnyatra tu vA tirazcAm
yenAhameko 'pi bhavajjanAnAM bhUtvA
niSeve tava pAda pallavam

Bhagavatam 10.14.30

from: Prema Rasa Madira

This statement from the link is very misleading to devotees. It was definitely the Divine Mission of Srila Prabhupada to begin his devotees on the path of Vaidhi bhakti. He wrote in his teachings which I recall that if a devotee reaches to Raganuga stage of devotion, he or she would be guided by Lord Krishna to another Guru, of that class, Vraja Rasik Saint.
BRS clearly reveals two separate paths of Sadhana Bhakti.
Of course Vaidi Bhakti has to culminate in Raganuga Bhakti if the devotee desires to taste Vraja Rasa, otherwise Vaidhi bhaktas recieve the bliss if Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha. It is also clearly stated in C.C. Madhya Lila, 8th chapter.

Radhe Radhe!

I agree that the conclusion reached by the author is indeed very strange and, from my experience, such an assessment would be laughed at by the majority of those in ISKCON. However I found the following statement to be a bit odd: "It was definitely the Divine Mission of Srila Prabhupada to begin his devotees on the path of Vaidhi bhakti. He wrote in his teachings which I recall that if a devotee reaches to Raganuga stage of devotion, he or she would be guided by Lord Krishna to another Guru, of that class, Vraja Rasik Saint. ". Where did you ever read such a statement by ACBSP? If you are going to assert such conclusions to his teachings please provide references from his writings. In this case I think you are mistaken in making such a statement.

Aspiring to serve the Vaisnavas,
Rasaraja dasa

In any case, vaidhi and rAgAnugA are two separate paths, the following of which will attain two distinct varieties of bhAva. (Where did I hear that? )

So I fail to see exactly how following vaidhi will result in rAgAnugA, as that would contradict the impetus that led a jIva to begin the path (whichever of them) in the first place. The idea that following vaidhi will lead to rAgAnugA originates in the teachings of Sri Bhaktivinoda as far as I have been able to trace. As far as I know, it does not appear in the writings of any earlier AcAryas. Please correct me if I am wrong.

On the other hand - "Vaidi Bhakti has to culminate in Raganuga Bhakti if the devotee desires to taste Vraja Rasa, otherwise Vaidhi bhaktas recieve the bliss if Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha," - following vaidhi-bhakti with a strong desire for Vraja-rasa (actually, conjugal love) will lead to the attainment of the position of a queen of Dvaraka.

Sri Visvanatha Cakravartipada's tika on that sloka is really fantastic. Taking up from where the citation in the link ends Sri Cakravartipada goes on to expand on god Brahma's words; " You, with your transcendental body full of eternal bliss and knowledge, have taken the form of the cowherd boys and the calves to drink the nectarean milk from their mothers' breasts with extreem bliss. With each mouthfull you experienced ever-increasing bliss ( atIva muda). In your form of the calves you could not even tolerate the time it took to milk the cows. Without taking the form of the cowherd boys it would not have been possible to drink the milk of so many differant mothers. O powerful one ( vibho)! You took many forms out of extreem greed to drink. You could not even miss the nectar from one breast. Since they gave you such bliss, there is no doubt that the bodies of the cows and the mothers were transcendental, full of eternal knowledge and bliss. All the Vedic sacrifices performed by myself, Siva and others from time immemorial upto the present day with perfect actions and mantra chanting have not given you as much satisfaction. aho!

Sarartha Darsini, Bhag 10,14,31

( Trans. Bhanu Swami)

One of the characteristics of raganuga sadhana is kesazeSAdyamaya that is inscrutable for Ka, Isa, Sesa and others. Ka is of course god Brahma; that's from the smaran mangal. There are umteen referances that concur with this. It is something to be astonished about aho!