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Vrindavan, 2015.10.20 (VT)
Free-Verse Poem and Notes referencing Caityanya Caritamrta Madhya 18, Recalling Mahaprabhu’s entree into Vrindavan five-hundred years ago, by Drs. Radhika Devi.
…
Mangalācaranam
Adyāpi – even now
Most mercifully
Mahaprabhu appears
At Brajdhāmvane….
Aho! Svasti! Sabhājayāmi:
Pray may we celebrate the Lord’s
Brilliant stay in Vrindavan
With loud Harinām-kirtanādi.
It is said that when autumn arrived some
Months after the Jaganath-Rathayatra in Puri,
sharat kāla hoile prabhura calite hoilo mati.
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu decided to go to Vrindavan.
After a long journey which included the well-known
Jharikhanda interlude forest-pastimes of dancing and
Chanting hathis ‘n Harinam tigers the Lord arrived in Braj.
After visiting Mathura and its twelve famed dhāma-vanas
Gauranga entered Vrindavan in the vicinity of Ārishta grāma-
Where muddy rice paddy fields were soon to be identified
By him as the historical Rādhā Śyāma kuṇḍa sthali.
And what was Gauranga’s mood upon his divine arrival
In the ancient domain of Lord Krishna’s bucolic garden?
vṛndāvane sthira-carān nandayan svāvalokanaiḥ|
ātmānaṁ ca tad-ālokās gaurāṅgaḥ parito’bhramat|
(C.C. Madhya 18. 1)
Giving pleasure to himself
By giving pleasing glances to others
All living entities, both
Moving and so called inert
Were enhanced by the Lord’s
all ’round love-mirth’s advances.
Among popular places associated with the Lord’s visit there
Is the exalted tirtha referenced as Āmli-talā.
Extant since Krishna’s time, Gauranga Mahaprabhu would sit
Under this ancient tamarind tree from which focal point
A splendid view ensued of the rounding river Jumna:
yamunā bahe śītala samīra vṛndāvana śobhā dekhe yamunāra nīra|
Thus the sweet blowing breezes and the wide Jumna darshan
Blissfully transported spectators to timeless sports at
Court Nandananda at the end of the yugas’ Third Age, Dvāpara.
In this favoured fore-noon sthali Mahaprabhu would sit until
Noon and chant japa. Then at midday with fervour, aho he would
Take lunch some distance downstream t’ward Mathura side
At famed Akrur Ghat with the assembled maṭh bhaktas.
That time, some half millennia ago, before the age of
Artificial vāri and vāta yantras, Bharat-cum-Braj, free from
Vidyunmocana was still celebrated as a district Adarśa
And retained its rural ambience of pure Bharatvarsha
Indelibly witnessed in the footprint of Braj- ārṣa prince Śyām.
Now five centuries later in the Postmodern Digital Age
The dhām may be entered if not factually but indeed via
Virtual Viman-Archives-but to witness the au courant
Electronic-in-your-hand-et al. Vrindavan Today.
Yet despite world-wide virtual accessibility the dhām
Sporting an ever increasing cache of information as per facts
Figures and dates per se, yet it leaves much to the imagination.
The actual experience of entering Vrindavan may prove to be
Fated that is sadly ‘struck-out’ or in fact thus obliterated.
Did not Mahaprabhu pay the price
By walking on foot for months in order to
Enter into Braj? And did he not gain unspeakable
Bliss by skirting the base of Govardhan Parvat,
By treading the routes of countless sacred sthalis,
By witnessing cowherds blow flutes,
And by Thakur-tasted offered foodstuffs?
Did he not relish all as remnant prasādam?
Even now, adyāpi, people are not satisfied just by hearing
About Nandanandan’s sublime Braj, but wish to experience
The holy raj-dust for themselves, thus hoping to awaken
Transcendental senses beginning with the ear of course,
But including the eye, as per darśan by viewing gardens
Such as Nidhivan, where soft Malayan breezes blow:
Again, brought near dhīra samīra yamunā tīra including
Smell ‘n touch the sweet surabhi cow ‘fragrant like grāsa’ that is
Fodder and perceived malati blooms of one genus or other
Yes! Touching the divine dust where sages since time
Immemorial strolled but to experience the Brajbhumi
Of Yugal Kiśor pastimes unfolding every gold moment.
Just as it is said that the Lord’s transcendental senses awakened
–bāhya haila ācambite– upon setting foot in Vrindavan
May we, in order to receive dhām-darśan, not pray
For a similar state of transcended minds mellow’ rasik rays?
By the mercy of Sriman Mahaprabhu the dhāman’s vista
Has greatly increased in girth, but to have the eye to see
And the ear to hear, that is via the third birth, is to accept the
Confidential pramāna of the true bhaktas and but to bow
To divine śabda-brahman and pray enter in/on
Puśpa- Marga- Patha of cow-filled Goloka Vrindavan.
It is a fact: the New Vrindavan we witness today when coming
From Old Delhi ‘n rolling in on eucalyptus lined road called
Bhaktivedanta svami marga has radically changed since its
Namesake, the renowned and hallowed Bengali-cum- Braj
Resident preacher and teacher of World-wide
Bhakti rasa, was a Bengali expatriate there.
Now proud high rises stand up where once sadhus’
Modest mud and straw kutirs bowed to the land
Where peacocks en masse hung from the trees
In the jasmine bagéchas, where once only a few
Rickshaws at hand would ride sparse pilgrims
To Mandir Madan Mohan ghera but where
Now squadron of cars ‘n buses carry ten-thousands
Folks overnight and vie for parking on or off
The hot-phase- paved parikrama janpaths.
It was Bhaktivedanta -then living at Radha-Damodhara
In the sleepy town of Vrindavan- who eminently effected the
Transplant of Mahaprabhu (gauravāṇī pracāriṇe) to the
West (pāścātya deśa) for the purpose of its inhabitants’ deliverance
From ignorance (tāriṇe). How Swamiji planned his mission is
Not so well known, as the affairs of the Gauranga- imbued heart
Are internal, but the effect of his efforts to grow a major branch of
The bhakti tree commencing in New York’s Lower East side are
Extant even now, adyāpi, and amply celebrated by an ever
Swelling crowd of crowned world-wide Chaitanya bhaktas.
As a closing remark to this very brief apetarif -like taste
Referencing the dhām we once again wish to consider the divine
Effect that Mahaprabhu had on his environment , whether in
Terms of Jungle-wide wild animals, or suspicious Pathāns
Becoming Yatra style bhaktas , or converts from the landed
Nobility -consider the Nawabs of Bengal- or the oft arrogant
Intelligentsia and priestly class, not to mention the effect
Mahaprabhu had on his common followers, hailing from town
And country-side Pan-India wide. Is it not said that Gauranga’s
Features, were so divinely formed that anyone seeing him
Became immediately imbued with love of God (darñanera kārya āchuka).
And whoever simply heard his name became mad with Krishna prem (sei Krishna preme matta’).
As to the confidential Ad lib, the author Krishnadāsa Kavirāja here also evinces that
Such fortunate souls ,touched by Mahaprabhu’s mercy and
Inundated thus with Krishna prem were themselves able to
Liberate the entire universe (tare tribhuvane)!
And what is the evidence of such claims? Now that the five-
Hundredth year count is to be celebrated, having heard the holy
Name through the parampara of Mahaprabhu’s line of grace
Witnessing true that the lowest of men ‘ñvapaca pāvana’ were
Capable of becoming saints. Yes! The Hare Krishna mahamantra
Has become a world-household-word fit to be nominated
As the Guinness Book of Records first Sanskrit Lord’s Prayer!
And how should it be otherwise: Śri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself, who is none either than Śri Krishna himself -and as per the Etymological meaning of kåñ ‘to pull or drag-‘causes the entire creation to come towards him. Thus we witness Vaishnavas from
All countries, all races, all colours, all faces, nay indeed from all Faiths, meeting not only in ten-thousand locations worldwide but Coming to pay respect to the dhām of Vrindavan made
World famous by Caitanya’s own blessed presence there
Even today jubilantly celebrated.
Thus rolls the wave of Krishna prem, taranga bhava, on the
Shores of Divine Grace’ Samudra- Śri- Bhakti- Devé.
Om Tat Sat
Composed by On the Occasion of the
Five-hundredth Anniversary Commemorating the Appearance of
Shri Gauranga Mahaprabhu’s Entrance into Vrindavan Dhām
By Radhika Devi, Jiva Institute, Sital Cchaya,
Raman Reti, Vrindavan Oct 18th, 2015
Clik here to view.
Sri Radhika Devi
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