May the birds of Braj, who are so dear to Sri Radha and Krishna, who know Them very well and who increase Their happiness with their sweet singing, delight us with their merciful glance.
Verse 71:
paricaya rasa magnāḥ kāmamārāt tayor ye
madhuratara rutenollāsam ullāsayanti
vrajabhuvi nava yūnoḥ supriyāḥ pakṣiṇas te
vidadhatu mama saukhyaṁ sphāram ālokanena
Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā: In this verse, Shri Raghunath Das Goswami praises Braj’s birds, who are very dear to Sri Radha and Krishna. Sripad Shuk Muni mentions that the birds of Vrindavan are all sages. In the words of the Vrajdevis, who were endowed with pūrva rāga (first love) he said:
prāyo batāmba vihagā munayo vane’smin
kṛṣṇekṣitaṁ tad uditaṁ kala veṇu gītam
āruhya ye drumabhujān rucira-prabālān
śṛnvanty amīlita-dṛśo vigatānya-vācaḥ
The purport of this verse (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.21.14) is that one gopa-sundarī told the other – “O mother! Why do Vrindavan’s birds love Krishna so much? Although they live in the woods and fly from branch to branch, they love Sri Krishna with all their hearts! As soon as they see him or hear his flute from a distance they come flying in groups to the nearest tree branches and sit there like sages fixed in samadhi.
“Although there are ripe fruits and green leaves which they could eat if they wanted to, they do not eat them. They simply sit there motionlessly and silently. Some keep their eyes half-closed, while rivulets of tears trickle from their eyes, while others mumble ‘Krishna Krishna’. Therefore I think that they are all sages, and not just sages, but devotee sages (bhāgavata pravara muni) who have flown away from the branches of the wish-yielding tree of the Vedas and have taken shelter of the branches of Vrindavan’s trees, from where they can see Krishna. They love Krishna very much, hence they are immersed in meditation on his lotus feet, sitting in this tree.”
The birds whom Das Goswami praises in this verse are very well acquainted with Sri Radha and Krishna, because they always stay very close to Them. These birds, for example the parrots, awaken the Divine Pair with sweet songs of awakening at night’s end.
vṛndā vipinahi saba dvija kula; kūjaye caudiśe hoi ākula
sāri śuka tahi kokila meli; kapota phukārata alikula keli
mayūra mayūrī dhvani śunite rasāla; bānarī rava tahi ati suviśāla
aichana śabada bhelo vana māha; jāgalo duhuṅ jana nāgarī nāha
ālase duhuṅ tanu duhuṅ nāhi teje; śuti rahalo puna kiśalaya śeje
punahi phukārai śārī sukīra; aichana yaiche sudhārasa gira
kabo balarāma śunabo tahi śravaṇe; rādhā mādhava herabo nayane
“All the birds of Vrindavan are anxiously chirping everywhere. The female and male parrots meet with the cuckoos and sing with the pigeons, while the bees hum. The peacocks and peahens call delightfully and the she-monkeys cry out loud. In this way the forest is filled with natural noises that awaken our hero and heroine, who are both still tired and unable to leaveeach other, and thus lie down again on their bed of fresh flowers. Again the female and fine male parrots make such necterean sounds. When will Balaram das hear these sounds and see Sri Radha and Krishna with his own eyes?
vṛndā vacanahi, uṭhai phukārai, śuka pika śārīka pāṅti
śuni tahi jāgi, puna duhuṅ ghumalo, nāyarī korahi yātī
hari hari jāgaho nāgara kāna!
vara pāmara vihi, kiye dukha deyala, rajanī hoyala avasāna
āolo bāurī, varaja maheśvarī, boloto puna dadhi lola
śunaite kātara, vidagadha nāgara, thora nayana yuga khola
nāgarī heri, punar hi diṭhi mudala, pulaka mukula bharu aṅge
balarāma heri, kabahu sukha sāyare, nimajaba rasa taraṅge
“When Vrinda addresses them, the Shuk, Pika and Sharika birds awaken and start to sing. Hearing this, the Divine Pair awakens and falls asleep again. Krishna takes shelter of the lap of his heroine. ‘Wake up, O hero Krishna! What misery the wretched Creator is giving You! The night is over!’ The monkey named Dadhi-lola says: ‘The crazy old woman (Jatila) has come!’ Hearing this, our clever hero Krishna becomes very distressed and slightly opens his eyes. Seeing his heroine he closes his eyes once again, his skin studded with sprout-like goosebumps.’ Balaram das says: ‘When will I float on billowing waves of ras an ocean of bliss as I witness all this?’”
These birds give boundless bliss to the Divine Pair and Their girlfriends with their messenger-services and their descriptions of Sri Radha and Krishna’s glories, and sometimes the shuk and shari (the parrots and mynah birds) greatly increase the bliss of the Divine Pair and Their girlfriends by choosing Radha or Krishna’s side and making a wonderful loving quarrel amongst each other. Das Goswami says: “May these birds, who are very dear to the Divine Couple, delight me with their merciful glance!”
vṛndāvane pakṣigaṇe, yugalera sannidhāne,
nirantara kore avasthāna
rasa magna sucatura, dhvani kori sumadhura,
kore doṅhāra ānanda vardhana
“Vrindavan’s birds always stay near the Divine Couple, immersed in ras, increasing Their delight by sweetly and cleverly singing,”
sei sab pakṣigaṇe, karuṇa nayāna koṇe,
āmā pāne bāreka tākāo
preme kaṇṭha phulāiyā, rase ḍagamagi hoiyā,
guṇa gābo ei mati dāo
“May all these birds cast one merciful sidelong glance at me and give me the intelligence to sing the glories of the Divine Couple with a voice blossoming with love, immersed in ras.”
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800080;”>Devotional songs in Bengali that follow each commentary were composed by Dr. Haripada Sheel.
800080;”>More of Ananta Das Pandit’s writings in English translation can be found at Tarun Govinda’s blog, Vraja Vilasa :: May the birds of Braj delight us appeared first on Vrindavan Today.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.