MUSES of TIME

Gopala Campu 3.18 : "She [Durga] had a dark complexion and eight arms, holding the cakra and other weapons.  She rode on a lion in the sky and was praised profusely by the devatas. [..]"

SB 10.51.19  "Inexhaustible Time, stronger than the strong, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Like a herdsman moving his animals along, He moves mortal creatures as His pastime."

TIME AND CONSCIOUSNESS 

When the soul falls into vitiated consciousness and desires to exploit material nature refusing the Lord, Durga takes control by the bewildering Time. When by the mercy of the saintly devotees the soul finds the way to return to consciousness, to awake from the slumber of the bodily conception of life, by rendering service to the Lord, the same Durga releases her grip, freeing the soul from the influence of Time, and as Radha accepts the service in the palm of her hand to present to the Lord. Because eternal Time is the eternality of Krishna's loving pastimes, Radha is the mistress of His time, eternal time.

So, Durga devi and Radharani are the same person in a different mood, the former is the most distant from the Lord and the latter is the closest.

TELL ME ABOUT KRISHNA

Venu Gita pg.119 "Yes, yes, Sakhi, tell us what dwells in the inaccessible cavern of your heart."

From the Song of the Bee -  SB 10.47.17 [...] "So let us give up all freindship with this dark-complexioned boy, even if we can't give up talking about Him." 

SB 10.47.21"Does He remember His father's household affairs and His friends, the cowherd boys?  O great soul! Does He ever talk about us, His maidservants? [...]" 

DOOMED by FREEDOM

 “Just as a person who is whirling around perceives the ground to be turning, one who is affected by false ego thinks himself the doer, when actually only his mind is acting " -         SB 10.46. 41

"The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature." BG 3.27

"When the jiva in waking and dream state, becomes absorbed in the gunas of prakrti, bewildered by ego, he thinks that he is the doer."  SB 3.27.2

"Our freedom consists in orienting our desire either toward the ignorant, material misconception or the true spiritual conception." SB 2.2.35 Purport 

Whatever religion, whatever belief or even without believing at all, in moment of solitude, after a storm in one's life and pains are deep and still burning, it is easier to speak truly to oneself and inevitably addressing also the Paramatma, that  form of God in our heart and always with us, Who makes sure that we get our fate and desires, but also Who awakens that dim light of small realization, a tiny remembrance, that makes us turn, even just once, to Him.

Listen to this poem set into melody https://soundcloud.com/mauro-auaro/doomed-by-freedom

or watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxJe7eshKkc

The Flat Earth and Paradise

This has been just an exercise on the basis of very simple and few notions, since the author usually writes poems and does not have a scientific background whatsoever.  The conclusion could easily be refuted by senior and advanced scholars in myriads of ways, but the intent was only a “healthy speculation” for talking about the marvels of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Isaac Asimov, the father of science fiction, once wrote an article where he stated that the opinion of past civilizations about the Earth being flat was not completely wrong, it was just not completely correct.  In his article – “The relativity of wrong” {1} - he firstly asserts that there is never an absolute wrong or an absolute right opinion or theory – upon which we can only completely agree, since due to our infinitesimal position not even "absolute wrong" does apply.

As an example of this Asimov takes on the theory of the flat Earth. What is the actual curvature of the Earth?

POESY AT VESPER

Sri Brhad Bhagavatmrita III 6.294  “When you go off to the Vrndavana forest with Your friends, eager to enjoy Your cowherd pastimes, we manage to pass our days – only with difficulty – by holding  on to the hope that in the evening You will certainly return.”

SB 10.19.16 “The young gopis took the greatest pleasure in seeing Govinda come home, since for them even a moment without his association seemed like a hundred ages.”

Venu-gita pg 47  “…the emotions that fuel the urge to speak of Him…Sri Krsna is very much attracted to such clever language….” 

SB 10.35.26 "Sri Sukadeva Goswami said : O King thus during the daytime the women of Vrindavana took pleasure in continuously singing about the pastimes of Krishna, and those ladies' minds and hearts, absorbed in Him, were filled with great festivity." 

Dusk is approaching and another day is ending in Vraja, but now Krishna is still in Mathura. The Gopis, watching the twilight, remember the time when Krishna was in Vrindavana, when in the morning He would leave to the forest  and, after seeing Him off, they would start to wait for His return and pass the afternoon talking about His flute, the birds, the clouds in an encrypted wordage, so others could not read their hearts. Until dusk would come and then He would return covered with the dust raised by the cows' hooves. But now these are only memories because today He will not be back by this dusk, He is in Mathura.

If today You had gone

to the forest,

we'd  all have run

down the enchanted lanes

of Vrindavan,

to nurture moments

of furtive sidelong glances,

to torture our minds

in the long hours to come

by only speaking of you,

over and over about your flute

in a way that seems abstruse;

then falling silent,

caught by desire,

by this agitation of the heart

so hard to hide,

because our innermost thoughts

always followed You there,

out in the groves,

and even then it seemed so long,

waiting,

to see You in the distance,

in the light of dusk,

in the dust stirred up

by the hooves of the calves.

But then Your return was certain,

now nothing is the same as before,

it's so long since You have been gone.

Do You ever look with longing

towards this horizon

where there's Vraja?

Is there a Spring there
to remind You of Radha?

THE HANDS OF RASARAJA

"Krishna's hand is capable of bestowing benedictions upon all kinds of men if they take to Krishna consciousness. If one wants material happiness ..he can derive that benediction from the hand of Krishna; if one wants liberation from the pangs of material existence, he can also get that benediction from the hand of Krishna and if one in pure transcendental love for Krishna wants personal association and the touch of His transcendental body, he can also gain that benediction from His hand." Inspired by Srila Prabhupada's 'Krishna Book'.

MIMING UNDER THE HILL

It is the night of the Rasa dance and Krishna has suddenly disappeared. 
The Gopis are desperate and search for Him in the forest asking the plants, the trees, the deer, who has seen the beautiful son of Nanda Maharaja, He has run away after stealing their hearts.

 SB 10.30.6[The gopis said] O asvattha tree, O plaksa, O nyagrodha have you seen Krishna? That son of Nanda Maharaja has gone away after stealing our minds with His loving smiles and glances.”

Some gopis start to mime His pastimes and one of them raises the shawl over her head simulating the Govardhan Hill and remembering this pastime when Krishna raised the Hill. 

SB 10.30.20“Don’t be afraid of the wind and rain” said one gopi “I will save you” And with that she lifted her shawl above her head."

INDULEKHA

“This is the nature of Goloka, Krishna’s world.  Even in His absence the residents want to stay. None want to go anywhere else.”  Sri Brhad Bhagavatamrita III 6.366

Dedicated to Indulekha (Asta-sakhi), whose Prosita-bhartrka (bhava)  inspired this poem : "When Krishna leaves Vrindavana and goes to Mathura, not returning even after many days have elapsed, then the heroine becomes most miserable and suffers terribly in His separation." from Srimati Radharani by HH B. Purusottama Swami

With melody  :    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhj0jrP7XNQ

https://soundcloud.com/mauro-auaro/indulekha-v2015?in=mauro-auaro/sets/soul-melodies-1

~~~

I will roll in dust

left by your wheels

The Moon Prelude

NOD  Ch. Qualities of Krishna[Krishna said] "The most opportune time is the full-moon night in autumn, like tonight.  The best place within the universe is Vrndavana, and the most beautiful girls are the gopis.  So, My dear friend Uddhava, I think I should now take advantage of all these circumstances and engage Myself in the rasa dance." 

Mādhurya-kadambini, 1.11

Here are some further highlights from Viśvanātha Cakravartī’s commentary on this verse in Śrīmad-bhāgavatam, 10.33.39:

"One who continuously hears, glorifies or writes poetry about this autumnal rāsa-līlā and similar pastimes of Kṛṣṇa described by other poets, first of all, even if he has the heart disease of material lust, he becomes imbued with prema. Then, by its effect, the disease of the heart is destroyed. Thus, it is understood here that this prema is independent; it is not weak or dependent like jñāna-yoga."

MURALI VADANA

Gopala Campu : “ He would sit in Vraja or the forest nourishing his joy and longing while playing the flute.”

“Krishna stood on pleasing Govardhan with a strong desire for rasa pastimes.”

"When the song of Krishna's flute spread out with a heart- touching raga, an indescribable confusion subdued the inhabitants of Vraja and produced obstacles (increase in desire)." Gopala Campu 17.73


Radha is remembering Krishna dressed as a cowherd boy and the blowing of His flute, which is the irresistible attraction for all the living entities. In another verse of the Caitanya Caritamrita 2.15 Caitanya speaks like Radha, overcome by Her love in a rasa of separation :

"Where is the Lord of My life, who is playing His flute [Murali Vadana]? What shall I do now? Where should I go to find the son of Mahārāja Nanda?"

So, Radha remembers Krishna when he plays the flute, and Krishna remembers Radha when playing His flute - He calls Her, He desires Her, He dreams to meet Her....

In the taste of water
is Krishna,
His blue skin
mirrors His infinity
in the oceans
and in the enveloping skies ~
for all rests in Him,
while in His mind
dwells beauty, pleasure and rasa.                                    
But only in Vraja

A SHRED OF MERCY

Sri Nitai bestowing ecstatic love 

If you ever see me dancing with one arm stretched out in front of Sripad Nityananda Gosai and Lord Gouranga, after reading this poem you will know that I am asking for a shred of His kaupina, to place on my head, because without a fragment of His mercy Bhakti is unattainable. This Sri Caitanya has revealed.   You will know that in my mind I am rolling at His feet, begging for a drop of their nectar and shelter, while I imagine to smear on my head the dust from the feet of His dear devotees.  In remembrance I am dancing in this vision of my heart.  

WHEN KRISHNA LEFT ....

When Shyamasundar left Vraja, when Gourasundar left Gaudadesh there has been a parallelism in the feelings of the devotees.  They all fell in a ocean of separation.  These two poems were written together to expose the similarity of the moods, to unveil the continuity of the Lord's pastimes and to taste the same emotions upon his departure....  before and after.  I invite the readers to the secret of love tears in two distant, profanely different places. There is a trail of tears between Vraja and Navadvipa....
 . 

GIVE ME LOVE - The Ballad of the Madman

Krishna thinking of Radha

Krishna loves Radha and He acts like a madman to see Her, to get closer to Her, to clamp His eyebrows to Her eyebrows. 

HH Gour Govinda Maharaja reveals how Krishna is mad for Radha's love and this poem is inspired by his lecture, which I suggest to listen at. 

http://audio.iskcondesiretree.info/02_-_ISKCON_Swamis/ISKCON_Swamis_-_D_to_P/His_Holiness_Gour_Govinda_Swami/English_Lectures/Various/GGM_Various_-_Radha_prema_makes_Krishna_mad.mp3

Caitanya Caritamrta Adi Lila I 4.122 

পুর্নানান্দা মায়া আমি চিন্মায়া  পুর্না তাতত্ভা

রাধিকার প্রেমে আমা করায়া উন্মত্ত 

"I am the full spiritual truth and am made of full joy, but the love of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī drives Me mad."

---

Now also put into music : https://soundcloud.com/mauro-auaro/give-me-love


                                                 ~ ~ ~

GIVE ME LOVE - The Ballad of the Madman

Every  night He draws a full moon for meeting You  (1)

He makes lakes of flowers to bloom

And He paints many dawns in the skies

For remembering the lotus of Your eyes

He cries : Radhe Radhe where are you?

In many dresses He comes in a disguise

As the gardener or the laundry-man wife

to touch your garments or to garland You

wanders from the ghats to the kunds

He calls  : Radhe Radhe where are You?

Roves the roads rummaging every part

Waiting  to see You walk down the path

His friends mock Him when you pass

He pales and drops His flute and sash

His voice chokes : Radhe Radhe let me see You

The night He stands behind the tree,

keen to see His Dream unseen

when You bathe upstream, He swims

where flowers and water flow from Your skin

He despairs : Radhe Radhe where are You?

Roams restless through the groves and the lands

crying up the hill and on the river banks

Mudded and maddened, rolls in the sands,

as a Beggar of Your love and dancer in Your hands

 He pleas : Radhe Radhe give Me Your love!

(1) Sri Krishna Sandarbha, Anuccheda 172 : "In Goloka Vrindavana there are a spiritual sun and moon, and the full moon rises each night because it never wanes."                                    

The embellishments I used for this poem are inspired by the medieval Ballad.

For instance using the same consonant in three words in a row i.e. "roves the roads rummaging every part" or rhyming in the same stanza i.e. "keen to see His Dream unseen"  characterizes the Ballad.

Also the refrain at the end of a set of stanzas is typical of the "ballad" for the etymology of the word comes from French and it means " poem for a dance".

Therefore the nature of a Ballad is musical and the rhythm imbues the poetry.