Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Four levels of speech, nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa prema

Back in Vrindavan I visit the Jiva Institute, where I find my friend Krishnadas leaving to Delhi and then Slowakia. We speak briefly on the four levels of speech, since I have the impression that Sanskrit nouns are non-different from the objects they describe; but I get the full scope inside from Satya-nārāyan Prabhu. As usual it is all in the Bhāgavata, no need to browse through any Sāhitya-śāstra. The Bhāgavat 11.12.17, 11.21.36 and 12.6.37-40 explain that there are four levels of speech - vaikhārika (vocal, the most gross vibration), madhyama, paśyantī (words perceived on mental stages) and parā, which is only perceived by Ṛṣis and yogīs. This is connected with Haribhakti Vilāsa's teaching of the vācik, upāṁśu and mānasik japa, the vācik being equal to the vaikhārik speech. Above the vaikhārika level the words are non-different from the objects they describe.

Satya-nārāyan Prabhu says about nitya-siddha kṛṣṇa prema sādhya kabhu noy  that this verse speaks about nitya siddhas only, not about sādhakas like us. Otherwise there would be no sense in the verse guru kṛṣṇa prasāde pāy bhakti latā bīja. 'He gets the seed of devotion by the grace of Guru and Kṛṣṇa'. He confirms that hlādinī is the missing ānanda in the svarūpa of the jīva and that it is an external gift. He quotes the verse nitya siddhasya bhāvasya from the Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu (1.2.2) - this is the goal, the nitya siddha bhāva, it is not to be achieved artificially. Bhakti is guru kṛṣṇa prasāda. Then he quotes sevonmukhe hi jihvādau from Bhakti Rasāmṛta Sindhu, too (the last 2 sentences are to be found in Mukunda Goswāmī's ṭīkā of BRS 1.2.2) and gives the examples of Gajendra and Bharata as a deer - they had animal tongues, but since they had a desire to chant the name of Kṛṣṇa, svayam eva sphuratyadaḥ - all this became spontaneously manifest. So the addition of hlādinī, or ānanda, completes the sac-cid-ānanda of the jīva. Otherwise, there are so many mundane meanings of the word ānanda as well. That is not what is meant here. ānanda is hlādinī.

Bhṛgunāth Miśra, who published the new Bengali Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta, is not a Bengali himself; he does not know the svarūpas of Vṛndā, Mādhurikā, Paurṇamāsī, etc., mentioned in the footnotes to the book. He says they are 85 years old, from the time of Madhusūdan Dās Adhikārī, but is not sure whether it is he who added the footnotes at the time.

4 comments:

  1. It is so nice that you have such a sweet relationship with all of Sri Haridas Shastri's sisyas. They are all so learned. You obviously have nicely reconciled their view on Advaita Prabhu and the (relative)authenticity of his Diksa and His place (or lack thereof)in Vraja and ability to give bhavollasa-rati and entrance into the Vraja-Lila.
    Could you share with us how?

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  2. I have no idea what their stance on these matters is, I have never asked, and, frankly speaking, if their view differs from ours, I couldn't care a monkey's. I know we differ in opinion on various issues, same for us vis-a-vis the GM, Iskcon and the Babajis. Life goes on. Wherever I find the truth around the Bhagavat and the Six Gosvamis books I will be found, it doesnt make me a stooge of anyone.

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  3. Radhe Radhe

    You stated:

    Bhrigunath Mishra, who published the new Bengali Krishna Bhavanamrita, is not a Bengali himself;

    I hope that you do not view not-being-a-Bengali as a disqualification for publishing and/or translating Bengali texts.

    Please give a complete bibliographic reference for this new Krishna Bhavamrita and from where we could order a copy.

    Thank you.

    Radhe Radhe

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  4. No of course its not a disqualification - I am Dutch myself and I translated loads of Bengali texts. BM doesnt know Bengali himself, but had the editing done by Bengalis other than him.
    What you mean with bibliographical reference? It can be obtained from the Jiva Institute, 138 Sheetal Chaya, Vrindavan UP India.

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