Nava-vraja-mahimā — Volume Eight, Part Three

Śivarāma Swami

Nava-vraja-mahimā

Volume Eight

Part Three

Lāl Publishing

Somogyvámos

Also by Śivarāma Swami:

The Bhaktivedanta Purports

The Śikṣā-guru

Śikṣā Outside ISKCON?

Kṛṣṇa in Vṛndāvana series:

Śuddha-bhakti-cintāmaṇi

Veṇu-gītā

Na Pāraye ‘Ham

Kṛṣṇa-saṅgati

Readers interested in the subject matter of this book are invited to visit the following websites:

www.sivaramaswami.com

www.srsbooks.com

Design and cover illustration: Akṛṣṇa Dāsa

Copyright © 2013 Śivarāma Swami

Copyright © 2013 Magyarországi Krisna-tudatú Hívők Közössége, Lál Kiadó

All rights reserved.

Quotations from the books, letters, conversations, and lectures of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, along with a Sanskrit pronunciation guide, are

Copyright © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.

Used with permission.

www.krishna.com

ISBN 978-615-80736-6-0

Although I have written Nava-vraja-mahimā for the pleasure of all Vaiṣṇavas who either physically or mentally reside in Vṛndāvana, I dedicate this book to those whose hearts are devoted to Rādhā-Śyāmasundara and New Vraja-dhāma. It is my hope that they will pass their time in this way:

iha vatsān samacārayad

iha naḥ svāmī jagau vaṁsīm

iti sāsraṁ gadato me

yamunā-tīre dinaṁ yāyāt

Here our Lord herded the calves, and here He played the flute. I pray that I may pass my days shedding tears as I speak these words on the Yamunā’s shore. (Śrī Raghupati Upādhyāya)

Contents

Preface

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Introduction to the Mahā-mantra

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Avoiding Offences to the Mahā-mantra

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

The Mahā-mantra – Part One

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

The Mahā-mantra – Part Two

CHAPTER FORTY

The Mahā-mantra – Part Three

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

The Mahā-mantra – Part Four

APPENDIX 36

Vision for New Vraja-dhāma

About the Author

Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide

Bibliography

O Saragrahi Vaisnava soul, Thou art an angel fair; lead, lead me on to Vrindabana and spirit’s power declare. There rests my soul from matter free upon my Lover’s arms, eternal peace and spirits love are all my chanting charms.

(Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura)

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

The Mahā-mantra

PART FOUR

The mahā-mantra’s seventh pair of names, Rāma Rāma, represents the awakening of feelings of separation, of attachment for the amorous mellow, and for the desire to take shelter of Śrī Rādhā.

All this takes place as the devotee in whom rati has awakened (jāta-rati-bhakta) progresses in love for Śrī Kṛṣṇa, finally to become qualified to assist the gopīs and taste the bliss of mahābhāva.

For such a fortunate devotee, Rāma Rāma also corresponds to Kṛṣṇa’s late-evening pastimes and to His beauteous smile, which both lead to the perfectional stage — going back home, back to Godhead.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu puts into plaintive words this ultimate in spiritual awakening, yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam / śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me:

My Lord Govinda! Because of separation from You, I consider even a moment a great millennium. Tears flow from My eyes like torrents of rain, and I see the entire world as void. [1]

The development of prīti from ecstasy to fully matured love takes place as existential ecstasy (sthāyi-bhāva) combines with increasingly ripened stages of the four other forms of bhāva, like vyabhicārī. [2]

Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s teachings and personal example both emphasise that the maturation of rati can take place only in one who performs nāma-saṅkīrtana in the mood of separation.

Whether in the midst of public saṅkīrtana with His many associates or in the seclusion of the Gambhīra with Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya, He was the embodiment of separation from Kṛṣṇa.

In addition to the physical symptoms of ecstasy, such as intense crying or horripilation, a distinct characteristic of separation from Kṛṣṇa (vipralambha-bhāva) is to have a distorted perception of time.

Separation from Kṛṣṇa makes each moment seem to stretch into infinity — days, for instance, seem never-ending — but when Kṛṣṇa is present, the longest period of time passes as if it were only an instant.

The mood of separation manifests itself under two conditions: before having ever met Kṛṣṇa directly (pūrva-rāga), and during physical separation from Him after having met (pravāsa).

It may seem natural that advanced devotees feel separation from Kṛṣṇa after having met Him. But the thoughtful reader might question how one can feel separation before ever having met Kṛṣṇa.

The answer is by hearing about Him. Many devotees became attached to Kṛṣṇa before they met Him simply by hearing about Him. Feelings of separation, and then love for Him, naturally followed attachment.

The women of Mathurā, the wives of the sacrificial brāhmaṇas, and even Rukmiṇī-devī herself, all attained love for Kṛṣṇa in this way, merely by hearing about Him from others. This is pūrva-rāga.

Princess Rukmiṇī was the daughter of Mahārāja Bhīṣmaka, the powerful ruler of Vidarbha, and it was not uncommon for saintly persons to visit the court of that pious king and openly praise Kṛṣṇa.

Simply by hearing about Kṛṣṇa’s beauty, strength, and personality, Rukmiṇī developed a love so mature that she fully dedicated herself to Him as only a wife could, and decided she must marry Him.

But her brother adamantly opposed their union. Thinking she had no choice, Rukmiṇī wrote to Kṛṣṇa and revealed how She had come to love Him. She wrote, "O Kṛṣṇa! O beauty of the worlds!

Having heard of Your qualities, which…remove all bodily distress, and having also heard of Your beauty, which fulfils all the desires of those who see, I have fixed my shameless mind upon You. [3]

We can also feel separation from Kṛṣṇa by hearing about Him. And by performing nāma-saṅkīrtana we can cultivate those feelings to ever higher stages of intensity and to more advanced stages of love.

The most fitting topics to hear are those spoken in the mood of pūrva-rāga, for they perfectly transmit the three components of spiritual experience: ecstasy, impetus, and the subject of love itself.

An exceptional example of pūrva-rāga is found in the Veṇu-gītā chapter of the Bhāgavatam, in which the ecstasy is vipralambha, the impetus for ecstasy is the flute, and the subject of love is Lord Kṛṣṇa.

There a gopī says, "My dear friends! As Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma pass through the forest with Their cowherd friends, leading Their cows, They carry ropes to bind the cows’ rear legs at the time of milking.

When Lord Kṛṣṇa plays on His flute, the sweet music causes the moving living entities to become stunned and the non-moving trees to tremble with ecstasy. These things are certainly very wonderful. [4]

Verses such as this, remembered while performing nāma-saṅkīrtana, transmit some degree of the Vraja gopīs’ ecstasy, depending on whether the chanter is a practising or a perfected devotee.

At the stage of bhāva, a devotee may have had a vision of Kṛṣṇa and then lost it. Such a fortunate soul easily feels pravāsa separation while performing nāma-saṅkīrtana based on authoritative descriptions.

Pravāsa separation is of two kinds. In the first, Kṛṣṇa leaves for a short and fixed period of time, such as when He takes the cows out for pasture in the morning and returns again at dusk.

In the second, Kṛṣṇa leaves to a distant place and there is no clear time when He is expected to return. In such cases, the devotee feels a greater sense of hopelessness and even deeper ecstasies.

According to Kavirāja Gosvāmī, Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s feelings of separation from Kṛṣṇa were mostly of this second sort. His lamentation was similar to Rādhā’s when Uddhava visited Vraja.

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu felt separation from Kṛṣṇa, writes Kavirāja Gosvāmī, "His condition exactly corresponded to that of the gopīs in Vṛndāvana after Kṛṣṇa’s departure for Mathurā." [5]

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī further encourages us to faithfully hear about the Lord’s meditations and ecstatic emotions, as a result of which full knowledge and love of God will be our rewards.

We should note carefully that there are two ways of hearing about emotions and pastimes in separation: directly from the Vraja-vāsīs themselves, or through the medium of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Both kinds of hearing yield equal results, but hearing Kṛṣṇa’s pastimes from the all-magnanimous Lord Caitanya yields those results faster and easier, as the phrase kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te confirms. [6]

If we are serious, then, about entering the spirit of the gopīs’ pravāsa separation as portrayed in upcoming verses, we should do so through Lord Caitanya’s poetic elucidations. The gopīs said, "O Providence!

You have no mercy! You bring embodied souls together through friendship and affection, but before their desires are fulfilled, you separate them. Your activities are like the pranks of children. [7]

Caitanya Mahāprabhu tasted and mercifully explained this verse, and Kavirāja Gosvāmī recorded it. Mature devotees take advantage of this mercy and meditate on these ecstasies while chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.

In the mood of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Lord Caitanya continued, "Providence, you do not know the purport of loving affairs, and therefore you baffle all our endeavours. This is very childish of you.

"If we could catch you, we would give you such a lesson that you would never again make such arrangements. Cruel Providence! You bring together in love people who are rarely in touch with each other.

"Then, after you have made them meet but before they are fulfilled, you again separate them. Providence! You are so unkind! You reveal the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa and make the mind and eyes greedy.

"But after they have drunk that nectar for only a moment, you whisk Kṛṣṇa away to another place. This is a great sin because you thus take away what you have given as charity. O misbehaved Providence!

"If you reply, ‘Akrūra is actually at fault; why are You angry with me?’ then I say to you, ‘Providence, you have taken the form of Akrūra and have stolen Kṛṣṇa away. No one else would behave like this.’

"But this is the fault of My own destiny. Why should I needlessly accuse you? There is no intimate relationship between you and Me. Kṛṣṇa, however, is My life and soul.

"It is We who live together, and it is He who has become so cruel. He for whom I have left everything is personally killing Me with His own hands. Kṛṣṇa has no fear of killing women.

"Indeed, I am dying for Him, but He doesn’t even turn back to look at Me. Within a moment He has broken off Our loving affairs. Yet why should I be angry with Kṛṣṇa? It is the fault of My own misfortune.

The fruit of My sinful activities has ripened, and therefore Kṛṣṇa, who has always been dependent on My love, is now indifferent. This means that My misfortune is very strong. [8]

These are the expression of Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s lamentation in the mood of separation. We can taste these ecstatic emotions according to our relative capacities by discussing them together.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta contains many elaborations by Lord Caitanya on the gopīs’ expressions of love for Kṛṣṇa. Devotees everywhere would do well to sing or recite these beautiful songs.

* * * *

Because chanting Kṛṣṇa’s names eases the pain of separation and brings a sense of connection to Him, practising devotees and personal associates call Him Rāma. Following their lead, I say, Rāma! Rāma!

Learned authorities describe separation in ten stages of intensity: anxiety, wakefulness, mental agitation, thinness, uncleanliness, talking like a madman, disease, madness, illusion, and death. [9]

One of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s dearest friends once reprimanded Her, Be patient! Why are You so anxious? What is the benefit of this anxiety? Your beloved, the best of heroes, will come soon.

Rādhā’s reply epitomises the anxiety of separation: "O friend! I don’t see any way that He will come! Our Kṛṣṇa does not realise what We have suffered from injuries inflicted in the course of loving affairs.

"Love has actually misused Us because love does not know where to strike and where not to strike. Even Cupid does not know of Our greatly weakened condition. What should I tell anyone?

No one can understand another’s difficulties. Our life is actually not under Our control, for youth will remain for a few days and soon be gone. In this condition, O creator, what will be Our destination? [10]

As the ecstatic devotee chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, the stages of separation awaken in his heart, first as reflections of Lord Caitanya’s or the Vraja-vāsīs’ emotions, and later as direct displays from his own heart.

The separation of pravāsa can absorb one in the Vraja-vāsīs’ journey to Kurukṣetra, where one can savour the unique spirit of the Ratha-yātrā festival — the spirit of taking Kṛṣṇa back to Vṛndāvana.

Śrī Rādhā articulates this mood in one of my favourite verses, wherein She says, "Still, please grant this one benediction: To those persons who reside in the profoundly sweet land of Vṛndāvana —

And who for a long time yearn with a steady heart to someday attain You, please, O master of Gokula, appear before their eyes as their youthful friend and engage in Your pastimes with them. [11]

Śrīla Prabhupāda brought the Ratha-yātrā festival to the western world, precipitating our quest for Vraja, a quest that transforms even the Lord Himself, making Him assume the form of Lord Jagannātha.

The extraordinary bodily features that the Lord and His two divine siblings display arise for the two brothers due to Their remembrance of Vraja and for Their sister as a result of her association with Them.

Like Subhadrā, who had never visited Vṛndāvana, we can also experience the deepest symptoms of separation by hearing of Vraja and by keeping company with those who feel that same separation.

Kṛṣṇa and Vraja are not different from each other, and so feelings of separation from one or the other are also the same. Such feelings bring out the best of both and make Vraja as attractive as Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī personally compares the attractiveness of Vṛndāvana to Kṛṣṇa: "O son of Nanda! O Kṛṣṇa! Within Mathurā-maṇḍala is the most fortunate forest of Vṛndāvana.

"Vṛndāvana is surrounded by many other forests ornamented with the fragrance of the sweet mellows of Your pastimes, which You enact with the help of Your inconceivable potencies.

"In the congenial atmosphere of that transcendental abode, You once enjoyed sports with us gopīs, who gave our hearts to You in love. May we again enjoy those pastimes and the songs of Your flute." [12]

The effect of cultivating feelings of separation through chanting the mahā-mantra is that the chanter’s heart is purified and gradually transformed into Vraja. He or she then yearns to be there with Kṛṣṇa.

As Vṛndāvana gradually manifests within the devotee’s heart, pravāsa separation gives rise to another kind of Ratha-yātrā, that in which the chanter desires Kṛṣṇa to manifest pastimes within his heart.

Only when Vraja is fully manifest in the heart does Kṛṣṇa appear there, and only when Kṛṣṇa appears in the heart is the devotee admitted into pastimes that are available to perfected devotees.

We should always remember that Kṛṣṇa’s company, the forests of Vraja, and the pastimes therein are not attained by any material adjustment within time or space, but by purification of consciousness.

And that state of consciousness wherein fully developed love for Kṛṣṇa qualifies the devotee to enter the Lord’s entourage and enjoy the sublime benefits that it offers is called Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

The true