Vraja Vilasa :: Bhaguri Muni

I worship the lotus feet of Sri Bhaguri, the king of sages, who is the priest in Nanda’s Vraja, who daily places mantras on Sri Krishna’s different limbs and offers him words of blessings, who performs rituals for the protection of each of Sri Krishna’s limbs, who smells his head and of whom the personified Vedas take shelter.

VERSE 20:

mantra-nyāsair iha muraripos tat-purodhāḥ purastāt
sarvāṅgāni prakaṭa-nigamo bhāgurir yo’bhirakṣya
āśīrbhiś ca prati-dinam aho tac-chiro jighratīdaṁ
vande tāvan muni-surapates tasya pādābja-yugmam

Stavāmṛta Kaṇā Vyākhyā: In this verse Das Goswami praises Vraja’s priest Mahamuni Bhaguri. Rupa Goswamipada has written:

The brāhmaṇas that live in Vraja are divided in two classes. Some have taken shelter of Sri Krishna’s family and others are priests. The Vedagarbhas are the great knowers of the Vedas and the Mahāyajvās are priests like Bhaguri Muni that are performing great sacrifices. (Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā 1.64)

Vraja’s priest Sri Bhaguri Muni has pure parental love for Sri Krishna, and in this verse the characteristics of his pure parental love are described.

Desiring Krishna’s welfare, Sri Nanda’s priest Sri Bhaguri Muni is always coming to Nanda’s house to give Sri Nandanandan his rakṣā-bandhana (protecting bracelet) and to offer him words of benediction. Sri Nanda, Yashoda and other loving devotees in the pure parental mood believe that all these brahmins are devoid of faultfinding, falsehood, arrogance, envy, violence and false pride, and that the blessings of brahmins that are fixed in truthfulness, transcendental consciousness and knowledge of the Vedas never go in vain.

ye’sūyānṛta dambherṣyā hiṁsā māna vivarjitāḥ.
na teṣāṁ satya-śīlānām āśiṣo viphalāḥ kṛtāḥ

(Bhāgavata 10.7.13)

For this reason Nanda and Yashomati, afraid of disturbance caused by demons, always call the great Veda knower Bhaguri Muni to Nandalaya to perform protective rituals and offer words of benediction. When the king of munis, Sri Bhaguri, enters Nandalaya, Sri Nanda-Yashoda and others think that the embodiment of all the Vedas is residing amongst them. Factually, the Vedas themselves take shelter of Nanda’s priest in order to get blessed with even the slightest devotional service to Sri Nandanandan, Who is the goal of all Vedic knowledge.

Although the Personified Vedas take shelter of the king of munis Bhaguri, he himself has not even the slightest feeling of awe and reverence towards Sri Nandanandan, for he considers him to be just a Vrajavasi. In a feeling of purely sweet love he enters Nandālaya and first offers protective mantras to each of Murārī Sri Krishna’s limbs before offering him words of benediction and smelling his head with great parental love. Rupa Goswamipada describes the anubhāvas (external symptoms) of the parental rasa as follows:

anubhāvāḥ śiro-ghrāṇaṁ kareṇāṅgābhimārjanam
āśīrvādo nideśaś ca lālanaṁ pratipālanam
hitopadeśa-dānādyā vatsale parikīrtitāḥSmelling the head, rubbing the body with the hands, offering words of benediction and permission, fondling, rearing and giving instruction for the child’s benefit – these are the activities of parental love.(Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu 3.4.41)

In the verse Das Goswami has called Sri Krishna ‘Mura-ripu’, or the enemy of the demon named Mura. This means that the lovers of Krishna who take shelter of the pure mood of parental love which is devoid of even the slightest whiff of awe and reverence, are worried about his safety and therefore place a protecting bracelet on his wrist. Although the burning power of fire is present everywhere, it is stunned by the Candrakānti-gem.

Revealing the extraordinary power of Mother Yashoda’s parental love Shuka Muni has said:

Yashoda considered Sri Hari, whose glories are always praised by the three Vedas, the Upaniṣads, Sāṅkhya, Yoga and the Sātvata-scriptures, to be just her son. (Bhāgavata 10.8.45)

Such is the power of pure parental love of God, and it is in this consciousness that Sri Bhaguri considers Sri Krishna to be Nanda’s son. Śrīpāda says: “I praise the lotus feet of this king of sages Sri Bhaguri!”

“I daily praise and take shelter of the lotus feet of Bhaguri, the king of Munis, the greatest priest of Vraja, who blesses Sri Nandanandan by reciting mantras on his limbs, desiring in his heart: “May Govinda be in peace!”, who smells his head with great affection and of whom the embodied Vedic scriptures take shelter to have themselves blessed.”

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
Source: Tarun Govinda Das, Flowing Nectar Stream blog.

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