Figure 1 - A Gaudiya Temple in Vrindavan.
Summary From the Book Madhurya, the Rasa of Sweetness
In this chapter, prema as shown by Manjari bhava reports is presented here, so wives will not be mentioned anymore but what is being proposed about Shri Radhe is extended to Her other complete mood (Shri Rukmini).
The exalted state of gopis is obvious. Shri Radha and Her gopi friends articulate around Madhava over different periods of the day with feelings of love and surrender. In order to taste this nectar, the soul that is associated with Krishna gives up many conventions. The gopis do that and surrender themselves to the desire to continuously exchange relationships with Hari.
Sometimes there is an impatience for obtaining the Lord, and insatiable is the appetite that prema sharpens. This burns the devotee like the sun and at the same time relieves him/her because of glimpses of form, qualities and sweetness of the Lord. However, this is not uniform as it gradually establishes itself. Sthayibhava (or permanent spiritual feelings) is subdivided in initial feelings (premankusa rupa) and more advanced feelings (prema rupa). When more advanced feelings clarify the perception, the feelings of previous phases become no longer desirable.
The mature state of bhava is called prema.
Bhava does not diminish, but its intensification is the symptom of prema, the mature state of affection. The pleasure potency of Krishna, who is the conscience of Shri Radha, reaches successively higher stages of love feelings for the Lord. Each higher state contains within itself previous conditions.
Being Radhika Shri Krishna’s pleasure potency, She lives prema rupa spontaneously and unaffected. What is very specific to Her condition is experience of mamta (possession) from Shri Krishna in relation to Her as She is in Maha-mahabhava. It is considered as mutual feelings of absolute self-surrender to the interaction and relationship as a whole formed between Radhe Shyam. This kind of sense of ownership that is mutual can only be experienced by the Shakti of Lord Herself.
In comments to Sri Sri Radha Rasa Sudhanidhi of Srila Prabodhananda Saraswati it is stated that Krishna feels Himself greatly blessed when He is touched by even the slightest playful Breeze coming from the tip of Shri Radhika's garment. Radharani is the only ocean of Madana mahabhava and the fountain head of mahabhava. The commentator points out that anyone who gives up the service of Shri Radhe, desiring Govinda's personal company is like someone who wants to enjoy a full moon without a full moon night.
The associates of Radharani are directly under the influence of reciprocal feelings of the Source of Madhurya Rasa. This Source is the intention to enjoy the purest love that makes itself in the Adi Purusha. The avidity of the Lord for trying such enjoyment causes the pleasure that His power manifests. The pleasure is then felt by sparks of this Fire of Love (or Ocean of Nectar) which appear as endless gopis and manjaris (Ocean drops).
Within this transcendental reality, Radharani is however the only one to know the fuller feeling that is felt by the focus of the Lord's mamta. But this is being said about the universe of Vraja Gopis because Shri Radha is not different from Shri Rukmini. Radharani's forever exalted state of love is often remembered in many reports given from manjari bhava perceptions.
This state of love appears in all of her dialogues with the other gopis for e.g Her dialogue with Shri Lalita that appears in Vidagdha Madhava of Shri Rupa Goswami. Shri Radha shows typical restlessness of the soul that is tangled in Shri Krishna's amorous webs and from which one does not want to leave anymore. However, these webs belong to Her, being Radhika the consciousness that produces it, in loving interaction with Keshava.
Her intimate associates (other Gopis and Manjaris) are inserted in such webs of interactions with the Divine Couple. They are absorbed in the love that spreads through the same webs. The central focus of Madhurya Rasa Leela is Radheshyam, they maintain the unity between other counterparts that are associated with this focus. These waves also propagate through divine consciousness of Divine Couple that is in Rukmini Krishna, the unity that exists among the consorts that are in Svakiya Madhurya Bhava is created by Them.
The webs of Madhurya Bhava express themselves on Earth even at different times when Shri Krishna is not present directly on the planet which is the subject of the next section of this book.
Questions/Answers
Dialogue Between V d and Guru Ma Shri
1. Since the experience of mamta from Shri Krishna, the sense of mutual ownership and Madana Mahabhava is specific to Shakti of Lord - Shri Radharani -, so does this imply that other Gopis do not experience these? Can other gopis ever fully experience the intense love that Shri Radha experiences.
The other gopis only experience mamta when they experience unity with Radha in Radhe Shyam. This is the most intense love there is, which is reciprocated by the Divine Couple. The gopis who are more direct expansions of Shri Radhe experience such a deep relationship with Him in their moments of perfect and pure union with Radhika.
2. How to understand the statement "Anyone who gives up the service of Shri Radhe, desiring Govinda's personal company is like someone who wants to enjoy a full moon without a full moon night". Is engaging with the Lord in direct conjugal emotion without having Manjari or Sakhi bhava being pointed out here?
Since Radha Krishna is two persons in One, how can you enjoy Him (the full moon) without being on a full moon night (in Her)? There is no possibility of separating Radha from Krishna when it comes to deep conjugal love. To experience this love, you have to experience the feeling that fills Radha's heart. To enjoy the full moon, therefore, you have to be on a full moon night. For devotees of the Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya, however, any soul experiencing Madhurya Rasa Lila must necessarily be in manjari or sakhya bhava. My interpretation is different, because I experience Madhurya Rasa Lila from unity with Radha in Radhe Shyam. For me, these sayings make it clear that one cannot experience conjugal love with Krishna without being in perfect and pure union with Radharani.
3. What is the bhava of Shri Radha's intimate friends, Her Ashtasakhis like Shri Lalita? Do they desire direct conjugal relationships with Krishna or desire only Shri Radha meetings with Krishna? Are there Gopis other than manjaris who do not have a direct conjugal relationship with Krishna?
The Ashtasakhis are in such perfect unity with Radha that the two things are one and the same, i.e. desiring Shri Radha's meetings with Krishna means desiring a direct conjugal relationship with Him. But there are Gopis, apart from the Manjaris, who don't have a direct conjugal relationship with Madhava.
4. Between Mantra and Name of the Lord what is more helpful in getting access to our Bhava. Is it Mantra? Is it Name? Or is it the one we feel more inclined to? What shall we chant more? To get access to our Bhava and be among one of the Lord close associates is particular Mantra related to that Bhava necessary? Can Name of the Lord chanted with devotion give access to our Bhava and if Name is enough then why need Mantra?
This depends on the path you follow and how your Guru (Ma) instructs you. If the instruction is to chant mantras, then you need to chant mantras. If it's the name, recite the name. In my case, I recommend chanting three different mantras at different times of the day. But if the devotee wishes to chant the names in addition, he or she can also do so, as it will strengthen his or her devotion to the Lord and satisfy Him. The specific mantra for accessing bhava is only given with the third initiation, of renunciation and sannyas. However, I don't think that the mantra or the name alone are enough to bring someone into direct and pure contact with God. In Kali Yuga, the contamination of the consciousness is very intense and a strong and continuous purification of the anarthas is necessary in order to free oneself from the imperfections that distance him/her from the transcendental lila.
5. Radha Krishna are each other's twin flames but then what about other consorts of the Lord who are not Shri Radha/Rukmini/Sita/Lakshmi. We are not equal to Him at all, and since we love Krishna in madhurya bhava it will be painful to have someone else as our twin flame since we wish to belong only to Krishna. Who is then the twin flame of other consorts of the Lord?
The other consorts in their perfect union with Radhe Shyam experience the unity of themselves with the original Twin Flame, so even their spiritual mates also exist in unity with the Divine Couple. Everything becomes One and everyone feels equal to Him, experiencing the sat-cit-ananda of perfect union in God, in Radhe Shyam. The desire to belong to Krishna alone is pronounced for all those who reach Him, because He is the Beginning and the End of all that exists. When we reach Him, the impression of duality disappears and we are eternally aware of the multiplicity of twin flames as one thing, being One in the original Twin Flame.
Figure 2 - Radha Kunda, place of Madhurya Rasa Lila.
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