Saturday, January 03, 2015

Rādhe-rādhe dessert, more tripāda vibhuti, madhura rasa paribhāṣā, innumerable namesakes.


Rādhe rādhe-dessert –
Bhakta – „In the light of all the glorification of rādhā-nāma in the Goswāmīs‘ books, why don‘t Vaiṣṇavas do  rādhe rādhe kīrtan all the time?“

Advaitadas – „In most Vaiṣṇava groups rādhe rādhe kīrtan is usually done at the end of a regular harinām kīrtan. It is like a dessert after a meal. We eat roti-rice-daal and afterwards we get a small dessert like a rasagolla or a cup of sweet-rice. rādhe rādhe kīrtan is like that too – a precious dessert.“

Tripāda vibhūti revisited -
Neither the material world, nor the spiritual world can be measured in terms of space. The word tripāda vibhūti does not mean that the spiritual world is thrice as big as the material world. It means it has three qualities while the material world has only one quality, namely death. The three qualities of the spiritual world are - amṛta, immortality or nectar, kṣema, welfare, and abhaya, fearlessness. This is clearly stated in Śrīmad Bhāgavat 2.6.18 - 

pādeṣu sarva-bhūtāni puṁsaḥ sthiti-pado viduḥ
amṛtaṁ kṣemam abhayaṁ tri-mūrdhno’dhāyi mūrdhasu

In his Bhagavad Sandarbha (67), Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī says that death is the only one quality that makes the material world eka pada vibhuti - tad evam amartyam aiśvaryaṁ tri-pāt, martyam eka-pāt iti tasya catuṣpād-aiśvaryaṁ.

The madhura rasa paribhāṣā -
Bhakta – In Caitanya Caritāmṛta Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu says cāri bhāva diyā nācāimu bhuvana – „I have come here to make the world dance in four bhāvas(dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya and madhura). How is it then that most Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas claim that He came only to bestow manjarī bhāva?“

Advaitadās – This verse comes long after the anarpita-verse (Caitanya Caritāmṛta Adi 1.4), which is part of its maṅgalācaraṇa or auspicious invocation and which is also the paribhāṣā (bottom line) of the entire Caitanya Caritāmṛta, as the verse kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam is the paribhāṣā of Śrīmad Bhāgavata (1.3.28), overruling all subsequent contradicting statements. Here is the anarpita-verse in full -

anarpita-carīṁ cirāt karuṇayāvatīrṇaḥ kalau
samarpayitum unnatojjvala-rasāṁ sva-bhakti-śriyam
hariḥ puraṭa-sundara-dyuti-kadamba-sandīpitaḥ
sadā hṛdaya-kandare sphuratu vaḥ śacī-nandanaḥ

"May the Supreme Lord who is known as the son of Śrīmatī Śacī-devī be transcendentally situated in the innermost chambers of your heart. Resplendent with the radiance of molten gold, He has appeared in the Age of Kali by His causeless mercy to bestow what no incarnation has ever offered before: the most sublime and radiant mellow of devotional service, the rasa of amorous love."

Innumerable namesakes -
Bhakta – „How do I visualize my place in the Yogapīṭha (ritual diagram of Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and Their eternal associates)?“

Advaitadās – The Yogapīṭha is not an army, that you identify all day with your batalion and stand on appeal all day for roll-call, just as you don‘t think all day ‚ I’m American‘ or ‚ I’m Bengali‘. Not every devotee has to get a unique name from Guru. What if he has 10,000 disciples? Millions of people are named John Brown, too. Most manjarīs are named Rati or Guṇa Manjarī, there’s innumerable ones. There’s a paravyoma for each liberated soul, where she may be the only manjarī. Similarly sādhaka-names are mostly the same. As I speak there are at least 5 Advaita-dāsas in Rādhākund alone. Mahāprabhu had so many Raghunāthas – so He named them according to caste – Vaidya, Bhaṭṭa and Dāsa. These upādhis (social designations) are used just for practical distinction.

3 comments:

  1. Hare Krishna, your quote from Jiva is not in the Bhagavad sandarbha 67: eka pada vibhuti - tad evam amartyam aiśvaryaṁ tri-pāt, martyam eka-pāt iti tasya catuṣpād-aiśvaryaṁ. Where it is then. Also the SB quote is 2.6.19 and not 18

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  2. Anon, this is the information I have from my e-copy of Bhagavat-sandarbha from the Gaudiya grantha Mandir. Which edition are you using?

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  3. In HH Bhānu Svāmī Mahārāja's edition of the Bhagavat Sandarbha, the referenced section is found in 81. Perhaps that is the cause of the confusion? I found it there after not finding it in 67.

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