ARROWS of LOVE

SD 1.9.38 "O Krishna! Let my only goal be Mukunda, Who, afflicted by my sharp arrows, armor broken, covered in blood, rushed towards me, His enemy, with great force, in order to kill me."

As much as this pastime of Krishna and Bhismadeva is meant to bewilder the mundane minds, it gives great ecstasy and inspiration to the devotees. This poem has been inspired by the prism of rasas in the pages of the Bhagavatam, which, just like those that speak of Arjuna, also expose the devotional sentiments of Bhismadeva. Here he drops the 'adherent-to-dharma' character of the Mahabharata and reveals himself as a pure devotee in a mix of service and chivalry rasas.

This is the moment that Krishna makes Bhismadeva's greatness, glories and devotion known to the world by coming to his side : -

BRS 2.1.134 [Krishna] "...because of Bhisma's remembrance of Him while laying on the bed of sharp arrows, immediately appeared, beyond His own control. He rushed towards Bhisma while forgetting His position as God, His body bathed in a shower of tears." 

WARRIOR for LOVE

SB 1.15.5  "Arjuna said : O King! The Supreme Personality of Godhead Hari, who treated me exactly like an intimate friend, has left me alone.  Thus my astounding power, which astonished even the demigods, is no longer with me."

 

Arjun remembering Krishna after
His departure

When Krishna decides to leave the planet, Arjuna  is left deeply aggrieved by a sentiment of separation.  Coming back from Dvaraka he speaks to Yudhisthira the pains of his heart now that his dearest friend has left.  Krishna has always enhanced the glories of his devotee and friend and now Arjuna reveals how Krishna was glorious in causing and facilitating all his victories, as he had not that power and ability without his friendship.

Four principles of friendship - 1) Trust; 2) knowledge about the friend; 3) to concede, ability to give out one's opinions and position to comply with friend's; 4) Opening one's heart are imbued in this poetry,as Arjuna speaks about his friendship with Krishna so that one can be inspired in cultivating the devotional service's anga -to become friend with Krishna - in the most personal and desirable way that Krishna appreciates and enjoys.

This is independently of the eternal sakhya-rasa, because friendship is developed during sadhana bhakti is based on respect.

The beauty of this passage in the Bhagavatam is the unveiling of the sakhya rasa of Arjuna in a time of separation revealing all the depth of his loving relationship with Krishna, which in Bhagavad Gita is presented veiled by the dasya mood.

ENCAGED

Prasna Upanisad 4.9  "The conscious atma (jiva or individual soul) alone is the seer, toucher, hearer, taster, smeller, thinker, knower and agent." 

Gita Bhusana 3.17 "The human who is attracted to the atma, satisfied in the atma, and completely please with atma alone because of its qualities, has no need of performing prescribed duties for seeing the atma."

SB 3.25.17 "At that time the soul can see himself to be transcendental to material existence and always self-effulgent, never fragmented, although very minute in size"

SB 3.27.10 "Thus realizing freedom from false ego, one should see his own self just as he sees the sun in the sky."

SB 3.27.19  "Hence even though he is the passive performer of all activities, how can there be freedom for the soul as long as material nature acts on him and binds him?"

When I look at the horizon,

and far and deep

into the distant sky,

behind the inflamed clouds

while the sun sets down,

I sense this cage around

and I want to fly - free,

I want to stretch my hand and touch 

the infinite

there outside,

yet knowing at the same time

to be also within me.

But I cannot fully

grasp what it is,

though I know it arises from the real me,

the one who sees,

who owns the desire to be free,

content and luminous

in the easiness of just being,

weightless, unburdened,

as I once felt in a dream,

walking in waters of joy ~

that it is the infinitesimal divine me.

I know, 

it is causing this existence, 

is rooted in the soul, the eternal me,

but this truth I can rarely perceive

as it is caged

in a netted mentality, 

in ego-patterned thoughts,

in the intrinsic dualities

entangling this life,

but there,

somewhere,

behind,

it is I, the Self, confined.

Only when released 

from illusory beliefs,

this conscious free being

will be able to see,

what I now believe to be the self, 

 as alien to me,

as a hat 

blown off by the wind is

            to the onlooking bare head.          ⁽¹⁾

The flock of thoughts

into the blueness, scatters,

and a prayer goes up to the Lord,

with my heart I ask

to be seen by Him,

that He removes the bars

of the false "me",

to have only one bond

with Him,

of love.

1) SB 3.27.10 "Thus realizing freedom from false ego, one should see his own self just as he sees the sun in the sky."

WHEN I FELL FROM LOVE

WHEN I FELL FROM LOVE

"Eons of joy in eternal time seem one instant, one instant  of eternal time in wickedness are millions years of miseries."

This poem was inspired by the controversial subject matter of whether or not the jiva, the soul, fell originally from Vaikuntha.  While reading many arguments and essays on this subject, the conclusions of which are a matter for pandits and scholars, this poet became caught up in a vision of the emotions associated with such a fall, because ultimately it was a fall from love ...

Conversation after  Bhagavad-gita 3.27 lecture '74 in Melbourne -

[Srila Prabhupada] :    "Yes. You forced Krishna to allow you to come".