Vraja Vilasa 82 : Dwadashaditya Tirtha

I always take shelter of Dwadashaditya Tirtha, where Sri Krishna was blissfully, devotedly and lovingly warmed by the severe rays of the twelve suns after he became afflicted by cold (from entering the Kaliya lake) and where he shines, affectionately surrounded by men, women and bellowing cows.

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā: In this verse Raghunath Das Goswami praises the Dwadashaditya Tirtha. When Sri Krishna came out of the Kaliya lake after having swum there for a long time, he felt very cold and began to shiver. He is udāra-carita, which means that he is always engaged in human-like pastimes. While subduing the Kaliya snake Krishna certainly displayed great prowess in front of the Brijbasis, but this prowess appeared as very sweet and relishable to them. This is the nature of the sweet conception.

Shrila Vishwanath Chakravartipada writes in his Rāga-vartma-candrikā (2.5):

īśvaro’yam ity anusandhāne’pi hṛt-kampa-janaka-sambhrama-gandhasyānudgamāt svīya-bhāvasyātisthairyam eva yad utpādayati tan mādhurya-jñānam. yathā prākṛtyā api mātuḥ putrasya pṛthvīśvaratve sati tat putra bhāvaḥ sphīta evābhavati.

“Even when one remembers that Krishna is God, but still does not have even the slightest feeling of heart-trembling reverence and is instead fixed in one’s own mood of love towards the Lord, thinking: “He is my son, he is my friend, he is my lover!”, then it is called mādhurya jñāna (a sweet conception). In the material world also, it is seen that a mother’s maternal affection for her son does not diminish when he becomes a king; it rather strengthens her maternal love and pride in her offspring.”

The Lord assumes a mood according to the way in which the devotee loves him, and hence he reveals his sweet pastimes according to the sweet conception the Vraja-devotees have of him.

yathā pūtanā-prāṇa-hāritve’pi stana-cūṣaṇa-lakṣaṇa-nara-bāla-līlatvam eva. mahā-kaṭhora-śakaṭa-sphoṭane’py atisukumāra-caraṇa-traimāsikyottāna-śāyi-bāla-līlatvam. mahā-dīrgha dāmāśakya-bandhatve’pi mātṛ-bhīti-vaiklavyam. brahma-baladevādi-mohane’pi sarvajñatve’pi vatsa-cāraṇa-līlatvam.

“Even while killing a powerful witch like Putana, Krishna acted just like a human child by sucking her breast. His act of kicking over a huge and dangerous cart and thus destroying it was accomplished with the tender feet of a three-month-old baby that was lying down. And even though during the dāma-bandhana-līlā, Mother Yashoda could find no means to bind him up because even the longest rope was always two fingers too short, Sri Krishna was still afraid of his mother. And although he bewildered Lord Brahmā and Baladeva during the Brahma-vimohana līlā and showed his omniscience, he still manifested his sweet pastimes of herding the calves at the same time.” (Rāga-vartma-candrikā 3)

Similarly, during the Kāliya-damana-līlā Krishna’s tender form engaged in a sweet dance while smashing the 100 hoods of the greatly poisonous snake Kaliya. When Krishna came out of the Kaliya lake after defeating the snake his whole body shivered with cold from being inside the water for so long. At that time, the twelve phases of the sun, i.e., its different manifestations in the different months, rose near the Kaliya lake with great loving devotion and most blissfully began to protect Sri Krishna from the cold with their hot rays. Hence this place is named after the twelve (dvādasa) forms of the Sungod (āditya).

In the Ādi Varāha Purāṇa it is written:

O Vasundhare! A person who bathes in Sūrya Tīrtha and sees Āditya there attains the sun and will be blessed with the topmost bliss. A person who bathes here on sundays and on Saṅkranti-days will be blessed with the fulfillment of all his desires. Of this there is no doubt.

In the Sūrya Purāṇa it is seen:

This Dwadashaditya Tirtha is most pure. Anyone who sees it is freed from all sins.

When Sri Krishna accepted the service of the twelve suns his mother, father and all other Brijbasis surrounded him, making a lot of noise, while at the same time the cows filled the air with their bellowing. Raghunath Das Goswami says: “I always seek the shelter of this Dwadashaditya Tirtha.”

Muraripu, who is glorified as being the Supreme Lord, actually performs very sweet pastimes. According to these most astonishing human-like pastimes his whole body shivered of the cold.

yathā strī puruṣa-gaṇe,śabdāyamāna paśugaṇe,
veṣṭanete āchena govinda
dvādaśa sūrya ātapere,sevā kore śrī aṅgete,
prema bhare pulakita aṅga

Here Govinda shines, surrounded by women, men and lowing cows, while the twelve suns serve his divine body with their heat, their bodies horripilating of ecstatic love.

yāra dvādaśāditya nāma,mahā-tīrtha sei dhāma,
mui tāra daraśana lobhe.
sarvadā āśraya kori,nitya yeno tāre smari,
padāṅkita bhūmi anurāge

I take shelter of the great holy place named Dwadashaditya Tirtha, where this pastime takes place and where the soil is marked by Krishna’s footprints. May I always remember this place, that I desire to see so much!”

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Commentary of Sri Radha Kund Mahant, Pandit Sri Ananta Das Babaji Maharaj is named Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā (a drop of the nectar of Stavāvalī), and was published in Gaurābda 503 (1989 A.D.) from Sri Krishna chaitanya Shastra Mandir, Vrajananda Ghera, PO Radhakunda (district Mathura), U.P., India.

Devotional songs in Bengali that follow each commentary were composed by Dr. Haripada Sheel.

© Translated by Advaita dāsa in 1994

More of Ananta Das Pandit’s writings in English translation can be found at Tarun Govinda’s blog, Amrita Tarangini.

TAGS: Ananta Das Pandit, Raghunath Das Goswami,Vraja Vilasa Stava

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