Śrīmad Bhāgavat, Canto 11, part 1

This is the last canto of the Bhāgavat I studied with the commentaries of Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda, that are very summary in this Canto.

11.2.37 bhayaṁ dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syād īśād apetasya viparyayo'smṛtiḥ, is often quoted to show the jīva fell from the spiritual world, but the apeta, or turning away from God by the jīva is anādi, beginningless, and that also counts for fear, bhaya. asmṛti means, according to Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda, not forgetting Kṛṣṇa, but the own spiritual nature. viparyaya means taking something for what it isn't, like identifying oneself with the body, which one is not.

11.3.22 the word śikṣet is in imperative case - one must learn and teach bhagavat dharma. A Guru should not just give dīkṣā and then walk away, nor should the śiṣya just take dīkṣā and then walk away.

11.3.48 labdhvānugraha ācāryāt tena sandarśitāgamaḥ mahā-puruṣam abhyarcen mūrtyābhimatayātmanaḥ “Having obtained the mercy of his Guru, who reveals to the disciple the injunctions of Vedic scriptures, the devotee should worship the Supreme Lord in the particular personal form of the Lord the devotee finds most attractive.”

This clearly refutes the theory that one must just do any service the Lord orders one.

11.5.41 –  Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā - That (debt to the ancestors or devatās) is not so for the devotee who has surrendered completely to Mukunda. It is just like a person who, on being accepted as the servant of the emperor of the earth, cannot be the servant of the ruler of one state.

11.7.20 ātmano gurur ātmaiva puruṣasya viśeṣataḥ yat pratyakṣānumānābhyāṁ śreyo`sāv anuvindate “An intelligent person, acting as his own Guru, can achieve great benefit by perception and logic.”

Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā - One can attain benefit by sense perception to some degree and by reflection or inference to some degree.

11.7.39, Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā - The mind and speech will be agitated by food which is too oily, because of increase in laziness and semen.

11.8.20,  Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā - The moth is destroyed by attraction to form. The bee is destroyed by attraction to smell. The elephant is destroyed by attraction to touch. The deer is destroyed by attraction to sound. The fish is destroyed by attraction to taste. It has been said:

kuraṅga-mātaṅga-pataṅga-bhṛṅga-mīnā hatāḥ pañcabhir eva pañca

ekaḥ pramādī sa kathaṁ na hanyate yaḥ sevate pañcabhir eva pañca

The deer, elephant, moth, bee and fish are destroyed by the five sense objects. How can an insane person who engages all senses in the five sense objects not be destroyed? Garuda Purāṇa 1.115.21

11.9.31 na hy ekasmād guror jñānaṁ su-sthiraṁ syāt su-puṣkalam brahmaitad advitīyaṁ vai gīyate bahudharṣibhiḥ - "Although the Lord is one without a second, the sages have described him in many different ways. Therefore one may not be able to acquire firm and complete knowledge from one guru."

Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavas are eka-guru vādīs though - Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā - “It is said mad abhijñaṁ guruṁ śāntam upāsīta: one should worship a peaceful Guru who knows me (SB 11.10.5) and tasmād guruṁ prapadyeta jijñāsuḥ śreya uttamam: the inquisitive person should surrener to the superior Guru. (SB 11.3.21) From these statements it is understood that one should accept only one Guru. Śvetaketu, Bhṛgu and others did not accept many Gurus. And true, I also have accepted one Guru who gives instruction on mantra. But considering things which act as examples of what is favorable or unfavorable for performing worship, I have made those things my Gurus. They are my śikṣā-gurus, teaching by negative or positive example. »

11.10.7 Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā - The son of Citraketu said:

yathā vastūni paṇyāni hemādīni tatas tataḥ

paryaṭanti nareṣv evaṁ jīvo yoniṣu kartṛṣu

nityasyārthasya sambandho hy anityo dṛśyate nṛṣu

yāvad yasya hi sambandho mamatvaṁ tāvad eva hi

"Just as commodities and coins pass among many people, the jīva wanders into various wombs with various fathers and mothers. It is seen that the relationships of one object with many people are temporary. As long as the relationship lasts, one has possessiveness of the object." SB 6.16.6-7

But one should not lack possessiveness of Guru and the Lord. Thus it is said one should have firm attachment to them (dṛḍah-sauhṛdaḥ).

11.11.4 ekasyaiva mamāṁśasya jīvasyaiva mahā-mate bandho`syāvidyayānādir vidyayā ca tathetaraḥ – “O intelligent Uddhava! The bondage of the jīva, who is my one part or taṭastha-śakti, by avidyā, is without beginning. By vidyā, he achieves liberation which has a beginning.”

This is clear and unmistakable. Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā - asya jīvasya avidyayā bandhaḥ sa ca karmaṇo`nādiḥ The jīva is bound by avidyā. avidyā is beginningless because karma is beginningless.

Though Guru Purnima is sometimes called a karmī-or māyāvādī-festival, in his ṭīkā of 11.11.24,  Viśvanātha writes mat-svarūpa-śrī guru-devārādhana-divase ca, (Kṛṣṇa says: ) «My worship means worshipping My swarup Śrī Gurudeva, on the day of his worship. »

It can also refer to Gurudev’s birthday.

11.12.8 Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda's ṭīkā -  “The cows attained me by vātsalya-rasa. The mountains like Govardhana attained me with sakhya-rasa. The animals, the trees and shrubs, though unintelligent, snakes like Kaliya attained me with dāsya-rasa."

Sometimes it is said that the cows, mountains and trees are in śānta rasa, but this makes it clear there is no śānta rasa in Vraja at all. cāri bhāva diye nācāimu tribhuvana – Mahāprabhu declares that he bestows four bhāvas [excluding śānta rasa].

Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi part 5

The final part of my reading of Ujjvala Nīlamaṇi by Śrīla Rūpa Goswāmīpāda -

14.38 svarūpaṁ lalanā-niṣṭhaṁ svayam udbuddhatāṁ vrajet

dṛṣṭe’py aśrute’py uccaiḥ kṛṣṇe kuryād drutaṁ ratim

Focus on the svarūpa of a gopī will automatically and swiftly produce rati for Kṛṣṇa, though He has not been seen or heard before.

Śrī Jīva Goswāmī comments : svarūpaṁ lalanā-niṣṭham iti | ikṣunālīnām iva janmata eva madhura-rasa-yogyatā | kṛṣṇa iti | tādṛśīnāṁ prācīna-saṁskāreṇa tad-eka-samavāyatvāt.” Like sugarcane and its sweetness, this qualification for madhura-rasa is present from birth. This is produced by concentration of previous impressions of such devotees.”

14.52 – The desire for rati and the desire for enjoyment merge. Even in samartha rati there is no complete selflessness. See this blog.

14.55 Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - tathā hy asyā rateḥ svarūpa-siddhatvād guṇādi-śravaṇānapekṣitatvena prābalyād vayaḥ-sandheḥ pūrvam eva vraja-bālāsu kāsucit tathāparāsu nanda-pura-nikaṭa-vartinīṣu rateḥ svarūpa-siddhatve`pi śrī-kṛṣṇena saha dhūli-khelanādibhiḥ paricayādhikyenāpi prādurbhāvaḥ. sāmānyākāreṇa prādurbhūtāyāṁ ca tasyāṁ tāsāṁ śrī-kṛṣṇa evaṁ prīti-matīnāṁ sarvendriya-vṛttayaḥ śrī-kṛṣṇa-sukha-tātparyavatya evābhuvan.  athāyāte vayaḥ-sandhau kandarpodgamena yā sambhoga-tṛṣṇā raty-ākrānte manasy ajaniṣṭa sāpi tat-sukha-tātparyavaty evābhūd iti sambhoga-tṛṣṇāyā ratyā saha tādātmyam. tām avasthām ārabhyaiva tāsāṁ svāṅga-saṅga-ditsayaiva tat-sukha-viśeṣotpādane saṅkalpavatīnāṁ ratir madhurābhidhānābhūt. ity ata eva sambhoga-tṛṣṇā pṛthaktayā na bhāsate

“samartha rati or selfless gopī-bhāva is eternal, so even before puberty the gopīs were in love with Kṛṣṇa, even without hearing about His attributes. When they played in the dust near Nanda Mahārāja’s abode, as little girls, they had samartha rati already, because it is svarūpa siddha. When they attained adolescence and lust entered into their bodies, it [lust] merged with their rati [selfless love for Kṛṣṇa]. Then they vowed to offer their bodies to Him to give Him happiness. The desire for personal enjoyment does not manifest separately.”

This, and verse 52, confirms Sādhu Bābā’s teaching which confused me for so long that the gopis also have a little desire.

14.82 aṅga-saṅge viloke ca śravaṇādau ca sa kramāt. kaniṣṭho madhyamaḥ śreṣṭhas trividho’yaṁ mano-dravaḥ

The heart melts in three grades: low through direct meeting, medium through seeing and high, through hearing.

Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - Contacting Kṛṣṇa’s limbs is matched with the lowest grade of melting the heart.

14.88  Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - ghṛta-sneha has more respect than madhu-sneha. There some amount of respect in madhu-sneha also. Rādhā has slightly more respect for Kṛṣṇa than her sakhīs or the priya-sakhīs or Subala.

14.94 Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - Candrāvalī is not respectful towards Kṛṣṇa because He is God but because He is a prominent person in Vraja.

14.106  Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - women's left limbs are stronger than their right limbs.

14.108  Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - "Viśrambha means confidentiality, without reverence. This is caused by uniting one’s life airs, mind, intelligence, body and clothing with those of the beloved."

14.127 Viśvanātha's commentary on the famous verse which describes how Rādhikā does not feel the heat of the rocks of Govardhana on which She stands, due to Her rāga - [One may argue:] “During one's sleep one does not experience the pain of mosquitoes biting, but in the morning on waking up, one sees blood oozing from the bites. Similarly, Rādhikā does not feel pain in her tender feet now, but later she will.” That is not so. By seeing Kṛṣṇa she is submerged in bliss. From Her toe-nails to Her crown, Her body becomes cooler than millions of moons. She became very cool, not that she should be heated up. The moon can never be heated by the sun's rays. Since a piece of cotton cannot be defeated by a sharp rock, her feet which are very tender, more so than cotton, cannot be defeated by the rocks. Or yoga-māyā, solver of all problems, remains always awake in the pastimes.

14.137 - rāga which never vanishes, does not depend on other elements, and increases its beauty constantly is called mañjiṣṭhā-raga, which is seen in Rādhā and Mādhava.

Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - "Manjistha dye cannot be removed by water (ahāryaḥ). In terms of prema, māñjistha-rāga cannot be agitated by sañcārī-bhāvas. It is svataḥ-siddha, independent. It is not like śyāmā-rāga, dependent on herbs (or timidity). It increases its beauty. kusumbha-rāga has limited beauty. It increases its own beauty. It does not change by mixing with anurāga."

Example - The incomparable festival arising from the prema of Rādhā and Mādhava appears quickly without cause, is not at all moved by any means, produces great taste if met by heaps of opposing elements, and increases with the greatest, unlimited, astonishing bliss.

14.157 varāmṛta svarūpa-śrī svaṁ svarūpaṁ mano nayet

Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - "The mind's condition is nondifferent from mahā-bhāva and since the senses are functions of the mind, the gopīs' senses become the form of mahā-bhāva, which totally controls Kṛṣṇa. But the queens of Dvārakā desire enjoyment, so their minds do not even assume the form of prema, what to speak of mahā-bhāva?"

Viśvanātha's explanations of divyonmāda at the end of chapter 14, based on the Bhramara Gīta [SB 10.47,12-21] is very similar to the one in his Sārārtha Darśinī ṭīkā.

VCT 14,225- "In the sthāyi bhāva of mādana one experiences separation even during union, when one kisses, embraces etc. Thus two manifestations take place in one. Even during union there is longing for more in thousands of ways, due to visions of separation."

14.232 (śloka): sādhāraṇī rati's limit is prema, samañjasa's limit is anurāga and samartha rati's limit is mahā-bhāva.

15.31 Rādhikā’s bracelets fall off Her wrists as She gets thin out of separation from Kṛṣṇa and if it proceeds even her rings fall off her fingers because the fingers got too thin.

15.65-66 there are two types of kāma-lekhā [love letter]: nirakṣara, without syllables, made with crescent nailmarks, and sākṣara, with [prakṛta] syllables.

15.69 The written letters are bound by lotus fibers and with minerals or musk as ink on broad flower petals and stamped with kunkuma.

15.187 Jīva Gosvāmī tries to justify svakīya bhāva by arguing that only ultimate union can give peace and satisfaction. Later in the 15th chapter, however, it will be shown that the longer the separation, the more the enjoyment, be it in sampanna or samṛddhimān sambhoga, and it is eternally so.

Viśvanātha argues that prakaṭa līlā is eternal and if the cosmos is aprakaṭa within Mahaviṣṇu, Yogamāyā creates duplicate universes in which Kṛṣṇa's manifest pastimes continue. He also says that in the unmanifest pastimes Kṛṣṇa always stays in Mathurā etc. because He must be eternally present for His pastimes there. The Padma Purana [6.255-257] says vedāṅga sveda janita toyaiḥ prasrāvitā - the causal ocean flowed from the sweat-drops of the Vedas. Of course this is not literally true, as Bhagavad Gītā says viddhy anādi ubhāv api - the material world is beginningless. Similarly, it seems as if Kṛṣṇa is born, but He is also anādi. The Gaṅgā seems to be invoked by Bhagiratha, but already existed long before, in Pṛthu's time [SB 4.21.11]. The words devaki janma vādo in SB 10.90.48 prove that Kṛṣṇa's birth pastime is also eternal, as vāda means 'conclusively' as in Bhagavad Gītā 10.32. Kṛṣṇa crawling as a toddler is eternal even in His manifest pastimes, because as He grows up and stops crawling, He continues to do it in the next universe where He performs the same course of pastimes later on. This also counts for seasonal [Holi] and daily pastimes.

15.195 sankīrṇa sambhoga is mixed with the remembrance of unpleasant past actions of one's partner [and therefore is not uttama samboga]

15.207  Viśvanātha Cakravartīpāda ṭīkā - The gopīs becoming queens as is described in Lalita Mādhava is not a concocted story, it is confirmed in Padma Purāṇa, Kartik Māhātmya chapter 32 - kaiśore gopakanyāś ca yauvane rāja-kanyakā - "The adolescent cowherd daughters were princesses in their youth."

That the Bhāgavat shows them as different persons is because that took place in a different kalpa.

15.253-256 līlā vilāsa is coquettish resistance of the heroine to attempts at intercourse by the hero. Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī says that this is giving greater happiness than the intercourse itself.