Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Kṛṣṇa Bhāvanāmṛta chapter 4-7


Chapter Four:
4.19 Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma comments: meghaiḥ sahasā dṛśyantaram āha - "Just as clouds are always different, Rādhā's bodily luster always looks different to the sakhīs."
4.36 aguruṁ guru rahitaṁ yad dhūmakulaṁ malinaṁ kulaṁ guru-svarūpaṁ keśaṁ īśvaraṁ bhajat. Instead of saying, like Rādhikānāth Gosvāmī, that a jīva can ascend to Vaikuṇṭha without a Guru, Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma says that low class people without a Guru can reach Vaikuṇṭha by worshipping the ḷord (directly). Even this is controversial though.
4.56 Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma comments: nanu bho lalite! aṅgānāṁ madhye śreṣṭhābhyāmāvābhyāṁ kathaṁ ratnādikaṁ vihāyaañjanaṁ dattaṁ tatrāha vāṁ yuvayoḥ kṛṣṇaruci drave tṛṣṇāyuktāvagamāt kṛṣṇarucidravo mayā arpitaḥ. (ṭhe kajjal said:) "Bho Lalite! We are the best of Rādhikā's limbs, so why instead of ornamenting us with jewels and so, are you smearing this ink on us?" (Lalitā replied:) "Both of you increase Kṛṣṇa ruci (Kṛṣṇa's taste for Rādhikā), so I offered this Kṛṣṇa-ruci (black substance) to you." This obviously inspired Rādhikānāth Gosvāmī to write his own comment about the ink and the jewels.
4.75 Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma comments: koṇa-yugaṁ yasyāḥ tena droṇī catuṣkoṇaiva bhavati iyaṁ dvikoṇeti viśeṣaḥ "Normally a basket is square, with four corners, but this one has just two corners."
4.89 Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma comments: yathā yathā hārāḥ kramaśo lambamānā nānā varṇamayaśca tathā tathā kucayoḥ śobheti jñeyaṁ "On whatever part of the breasts the jewel necklace hangs, it shows beauty of various colours."
4.99 Madhusūdan Vācaspati adds (in connection with the priya sakhīs' rasa kathā): "Those who are agitated by thirst wont find relief by hearing the words 'water water', rather their thirst will double."
4.103 Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma and Madhusūdana Vācaspati both comment that the ornaments lick Rādhā's bodily luster.



Chapter Five:
5.14 Rādhikānāth Gosvāmī's pun about alam-paṭi (Rādhā's cloth becoming useless) is not found in any of the earlier commentaries. This also goes for his pun at 5.32 about Giridhārī holding Rādhā's breasts.
5.37 Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma comments: akhilā āśā diśo yasya saḥ gaura-nīla dyutītyanena prayāgaḥ sūcyate. Madhusūdana translates this as follows: "The golden glow of Kṛṣṇa's cloth and the blue glow of ḥis body resemble the meeting of Yamunā and Gaṅgā at Prayāga."
5.41 Seeing Rādhā's upset face, clever Lalitā could easily understand Her heart's deep feelings, but still she laughed and spoke these words of consolation: "Dear friend! Out of fear of having to pass by that Casanova Your vine-like body trembles and is studded with goosebumps. ṭear-drops well from ẏour lotus-like eyes."
5.42 Madhusūdana Vācaspati elaborates on the mūla śloka: "After this, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa cross the path of Each others eyes - perceiving the treasure of Each other's meditation. How beautiful is the symptom of Their love - dearer than life! Kṛṣṇa beholds the life-delighting sweet form of Rādhā to ḥis heart's content. The more He looks the more He rejoices. Bewildered by astonishment He thinks:"Oh how wonderful! What a peerlessly sweet beauty!" Rādhā also stares without blinking at the world-enchanting sweetness of Her heart's lover, who destroys the pride of Cupid, and becomes absorbed (in it)."
5.44 Madhusūdana Vācaspati elaborates on the mūla śloka: "The closer Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa got to Each other the more shy and scared ṭhey got. ḷove of Kṛṣṇa is naturally crooked - inside there is a wave of joy, while outside there is bashfulness and resistance."
5.45 Madhusūdana Vācaspati elaborates on the mūla śloka: "With bewildered eyes Kṛṣṇa beheld Rādhā's sweetness,extracted from millions of moons. Suddenly the object of His meditation peeked at Him from the corners of Her love-crooked eyes, telling Him so many pitiful stories of passion from Her inner heart. Understanding this, Kṛṣṇa became stunned of loving absorption. When He returned to His senses somewhat, ḥe saw -
5.51 Madhusūdana Vācaspati elaborates on the mūla śloka: "Nanda Mahārāja made inner quarters in case Kṛṣṇa Balarāma would marry. In the south eastern-corner is the bedroom of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa and in the north-western corner the inner chamber of Nanda Mahārāja."
5.66 Madhusūdana Vācaspati elaborates on the mūla śloka: "Kṛṣṇa served His voice, which defies the sound of (His) flute in the cup of Rādhā's ears. The Vīṇā of Rādhā's heart at once resounded when She heard the beautiful sound of Her hearts lover's voice."


Chapter Six:
6.12 The two lakes are Rādhākuṇḍa and Śyāmakuṇḍa, the mount is Girirāja Govardhana.
6.13 Kṛṣṇadeva Sarvabhauma comments: ujjvalaḥ śṛṅgāraḥ - Ujjvala means the amorous rasa.
6.53 The unknown commentator in the footnotes quotes ślokas from the Sāhitya Darpaṇa and Alaṅkāra Kaustubha to explain vyañjana vṛtti: "If the meaning of a word cannot be clearly revealed through abhidhā (the primary meaning of a word) and lakṣaṇā śakti, another śakti is needed to understand it, and that is vyañjana." (lakṣaṇā in Monier Williams: "aiming at, aim, object, view ḥariv. indication, elliptical expression, use of a word for another word with a cognate meaning (as of "head"' for "intellect"'), indirect or figurative sense of a word (one of its three Arthas, the other two being abhidhā‚ or proper sense, and vyañjanā‚ or suggestive sense with sāropā, the placing of a word in its figurative sense in apposition to another in its proper sense).
6.72 Madhusūdana Vācaspati elaborates on the mūla śloka: (Śrīdāma tells Madhumangala:) "This enjoyment is only for vaiśyas and kṣatriyas - not for tapasvī brāhmaṇas (like you)!"
6.82 Kṛṣṇadeva Sārvabhauma comments: vastutastu vā vikalpe naratvam iti vyutpattyā vānarasyāpi naratvaṁ vartate. Madhusūdana translates: "Just as Baṭu (the brahmin Madhumangala) has in fact a human side (naratva), similarly alternatively (vikalpe) one can add (vyutpatti) the prefix 'vā' to that, in which way even a monkey can become (appear) like a human being."
6.116 Madhusūdana Vācaspati elaborates on the mūla śloka in the end of his translation: "Aha! Then wave after wave of the nectar-juice of uninterrupted sambhogānanda sprang from the scorching desert of separation!"

Chapter Seven:
7.25 A footnote gives the Sāhitya Darpaṇa's definition of vyaṅgya - vācyo haryo'bhidhayā bodhyo lakṣyolakṣẏaṇayā mataḥ vyaṅyo vañjanayā tāḥ syus trisraḥ śabdasya śaktayaḥ. "The meaning understood from abhidhā is vācya, from lakṣaṇā is lakṣya and from vyañjanā is vyaṅgya."
7.33 It is unlikely that a gopī would speak like that to her mother-in-law.

5 comments:

  1. Radhe Radhe !

    I really appreciate the work you are doing in this site, in service of the vaishnavas.
    Thanks heaps.

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  2. Thanks for the appreciation. The next installment may take some time, as I dont want to miss any subtle points from the tikas or the Bengali translations of chapters 8-10. I have already read chapters 11-18, but I want to post the whole review chronologically, so that will have to wait.

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