Debt of Love

CC Antya Lila 7.43 "The conjugal love of the gopīs is the most exalted devotional service, surpassing all other methods of bhakti. Therefore Lord Krishna is obliged to say, 'My dear gopīs, I cannot repay you. Indeed, I am always indebted to you."

Prema-vilas - Ch 7. Text 126-127  by Srila Nityananda Das

"Feeling separation from Me, Radha and the gopis have given up Their lives.  Now I shall also give up My life for her.  You will see me in that condition, O Lokanath."

Excerpted from Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu Issue No134

"With that prema they [gopis] have given up everything. [...] By their love, Krishna's promise was broken. His pormise is -'As someone approaches me I reciprocate accordingly' {Bg 4.11} Krishna never becomes indebted, He always repays his debts. But this promise of his was broken by the gopis, because the gopis do not want anything, how will he repay them?

[...] {Bhag. 10.32.22} "I have become completely indebted to you. I cannot pay you back, because you don't want anything. What shall I do?"

To pay back his debt he became Gaura, assuming the mood of Radharani is crying and feeling acute pangs of separation from Krishna. This is Gaura. [...] As Radharani is crying, crying, crying and drowning herself in this unfathomable ocean of separation, similarly Gaura is burning himself with the fire of separations from Krishna."

Nothing is as before

by Lakshmipati das (Italy)

This poem is a manifesto about the spiritual revolution that the appearance of Lord Gauranga Avatari brought about also within the context of the Vedic thought. He, as the Supreme Lord, disclosed the most revealing conclusions by asserting one fundamental principle that the goal is bhakti and the externals of religions are secondary.

This poetry was inspired by a prayer of Srila B R Sridhar Deva Goswami:

"At a time when religion was evaluated in terms of bodily relationship, saintliness was determined by ignorance, and yoga practice was motivated by sensual pleasure; when scholarship was cultivated just for voidism, japa was conducted for the sake of fame, and penance was performed out of vindictiveness; when charity was given out of pride, and on the pretext of spontaneous devotion the most gross, sinful acts were perpetrated - and in all such anomalous situations even the intelligentsia were at loggerheads with one another...." 

SB 10.23.43-44"...These women have never undergone the purificatory rites of the twice-born classes, nor have they lived as brahmacārīs in the āśrama of a spiritual master, nor have they executed austerities, speculated on the nature of the self, followed the formalities of cleanliness or engaged in pious rituals. Nevertheless, they have firm devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa, whose glories are chanted by the exalted hymns of the Vedas and who is the supreme master of all masters of mystic power. We, on the other hand, have no such devotion for the Lord, although we have executed all these processes.”

Nothing is as before ~

divine love has been exposed,

religion is not something to long for

nor is liberation the scope;

heaven is not where eternality belongs

austerities may dry the soul,

saintliness is not what it appears on the surface

nor is measured by disciples and fame;

the Absolute Truth is no longer unnamed

or lost in the void,

knowledge no longer resides only

in logic and rhetoric,

temples are not places petrified in rites,

the hymns, echoing from stones

lost in the mist of time,

are no longer the swords of priests

to control the world,

when bereft of mercy

they fueled fears with holy curses;

Nothing is as before ~

the moon of Gauranga Avatari arose

and His moonlight has exposed

that liturgies harbor pride,

faithlessness is behind

enforced rules and roles,

no longer a means to reach God,

just meager profits on the altars

of evil and good,

of righteousness and virtue,

where bhakti never blooms;

charity, rituals, gender, caste and pride

are burning votive lamps

on materialist shrines

barren of devotion,

where compassion also dries

and also yoga fails

there is no determination

to contain the senses

nor to reach liberation;

the most Munificent Lord

came to deliver every soul,

to show the way beyond

spontaneous love was disclosed,

nothing is as arid and lacking of joy

as before,

bhakti 

is spontaneously and blissfully performed.

 love 
cannot be imposed.

Robbed Heart - Lyrics - ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪

♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ The song of Gadadhara Pandit♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ 

To taste Radha's love Krishna plundered her heart of love ....

♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ To listen the song click :

https://soundcloud.com/mauro-auaro/robbed-heart

and see the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHdhBufVlYE&t=13s

LYRICS

The Golden Moon 

            Rose and robbed my heart

Shines with the wealth 

            Of my stolen love

Like an emptied husk

            Blown by the wind

I follow now 

            The owner of my love

Emptied like a night

            Plundered of moonlight

I live like a shadow

            Of my own heart

The broken-winged bird

            Which is my heart

Unable to fly

            The moods of love

My heart ransacked

            I live exiled

Now onlooker

             Of my own love

Emptied like a night

            Plundered of moonlight

I live like a shadow

            Of my own heart

R)        I’m broken my heart was robbed of Love

            I was an ocean – now without waves

            This life had a dawn without light

            In a dark moon night.

The Golden Moon 

            Rose and robbed my heart

Shines with the wealth 

            Of my stolen love

Like an emptied husk

            Blown by the wind

I follow now 

            The owner of my love

Emptied like a night

            Plundered of moonlight

I live like a shadow

            Of my own heart

R)        I’m broken my heart was robbed of Love

            I was an ocean – now without waves

            This life had a dawn without light

            In a dark moon night.

                        In a dark moon night.

                                    In a dark moon night.

ROBBED HEART - The song of Gadadhara Pandit

smara gaura gadadhara kelikalam
bhava gaura gadadhara paksacaram
srnu gaura gadadhara carukatham
bhaja godruma-kanana kunjavidhum

"Remember the wonderful pastimes of Gaura and Gadadhara. Become a servant of Gaura and Gadadhara. Listen to the beautiful narrations concerning Gaura and Gadadhara, and worship Lord Gaura, the beautiful moon of the groves of Godrum." Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur

Excerpt from lecture of  Srila B.R. Sridhar deva Swami : [...] Gadadhara Pandita appeared and disappeared during the summer season, under the new moon. Mahaprabhu took the fullest advantage from Gadadhara, and sent him to the most negative position. Gadadhara Pandita gave himself voluntarily to Him. His very heart was drawn by Mahaprabhu, bhava-kanti. And he, just like a shadow, gave the entirety of his wealth to Mahaprabhu. Gadadhara Pandita was a shadow, running after Him as if his heart had been stolen. This person stole all his wealth, and he was fully dependent on Him. Like a shadow, he is moving after Him.

Put in music : https://soundcloud.com/mauro-auaro/robbed-heart

The Moon that rose

among new groves

stole my love,

the golden moon rays

shine with the wealth

of my robbed heart ~

now emptied like a night

plundered of its moonlight.

As a shadow

of my own heart,

I follow behind

as He desires,

like a hollow husk

seems to fly and be alive,

twisting and turning

in wafts.

My heart was

my whole world,

I was the Queen

of that kingdom of love,

now ransacked,

I am exiled,

this emptied body

still standing

always at His side,

onlooker of my own love.

The broken-winged bird

that is my heart,

still breathes,

but this air has no life,

because, unable to fly

in the moods of love,

pitiable, passive, it waits

for His hands to lift it up.

As whips of the wind

put the ocean into motion,
 now, as the owner of my love,

He is still the only one

to raise waves

on the waters of emotion,

ruffling the dead calm sea

of this life 
spent as the shadow of my love,

heralded, since its dawning, 

by a dark moon night.

Simultaneously in Goloka

This poem is the poetic rendition of a pastime of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu as narrated in Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya Lila 229-235 (See page n. for the whole story). It belongs to the category of poems related to my personal search for the continuity and simultaneous vision of the pastimes of the Lord as both Krishna and Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

CC Madhya Lila 11.221-224 "In His own pastimes in Vrindavana, when Krishna used to eat on the bank of the Yamuna, every gopa would perceive that Krishna was looking at him.

In the same way, when Caitanya Mahaprabhu observed the dancing, everyone saw that Caitanya Mahaprabhu was facing him.

When someone came nearby while dancing, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu would tightly embrace him." 

"Upon seeing the great dancing, great love and great sankirtana, all the people of Jagannatha Puri floated in an ecstatic ocean of love."

Jaiva Dharma Ch.17   "Then there are devotees who in their period of sadhana worship both Sri Krishna and Sri Gauranga. After obtaining liberation they acquire two transcendental forms and serve Sri Krishna in Krsna-pitha and Sri Gauranga in Gaura-pitha simultaneously.  This is the divine and confidential mystery of the inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and difference of Sri Krishna and Sri Gauranga." 

Radiant like the air

at dusk,

the sweetest Lord,

with as much rice

as His hand could hold,

filled each plate.

In a row everyone sat 

and after Him, they ate,

then amidst them

He started to dance

and any shadows were dispelled;

From the blue town

people flocked

and crowded around,

as the sweeping waves of love

crashed Him to the ground,

while an ocean of tears

washed upon and drowned

the shore-like eyes

of all who came nearby.

Anyone close to the Lord,

within the reach

of His limbs,

was embraced by Him,

and all the dancers

in all directions,

and the singers

 on all sides, near and far,

everyone who was present,

met his eyes

in the same moment,

and each one,

at the same time,

felt to be the only one

beheld by that glance. 

O reader, now please

see this same scene,

the same youth,

but with blue skin

 as He sat on a rock,   ⁽¹⁾

in the blossoming of spring,

yogurt and rice in His hand

  and dates to share  ⁽²⁾

with His friends.

While they ate

He gazed at them

one on one,

facing each friend,

eye to eye

in the same moment,

and each one felt

at the same time

to be the only one

beheld by His glance.

And so, in the way

only the soul can

walk into Vraja and Navadvip

at the same time,

because in the spiritual realm

the two sacred places

simultaneously exist,

here it is difficult to conceive,

there just one chord weeps

 in separation and in union ~

this is the secret gift

of the Golden Lord appearing in Navadvip.

________________________________

(1) Gopala Campu “In the monsoon, Krishna with his friends takes shelter under a tree to avoid the rain and eats dates grown in beautiful valleys.  He sits on a stone slab near the water eating rice mixed with yogurt and calls the cows that are far away.  These activities attract our [Gopi's] hearts.”

(2) SBB 5.30 Comm. "Holding in His hand a very nice preparation of yogurt and rice, with pieces of suitable fruit between His fingers, He sat like a the whorl of a lotus, looking forward toward all His friends ..."

Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Madhya Lila 11. 229-235 

.... in the middle of them the Lord Himself, known as the son of mother Saci, began to dance.(215)

When the tumultuous vibration of sankirtana resounded, all good fortune immediately  awakened ...(217)

When the congregational chanting began, ecstatic love immediately overflooded everything, and all the residents of Jagannatha Puri came running.(218)

(229-235):

When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu fell down to the ground, Sri Nityananda Raya Prabhu lifted Him up.

The tears from the eyes of the Lord came out with great force, like water from a syringe. Indeed, all the people who surrounded Him were moistened by His tears.

While kirtana was going on, there was a transformation of ecstatic love and much tears, jubilation, trembling, perspiration and deep resounding in the body of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Upon seeing this transformation, all the people present became very much astonished.

While this dancing was going on, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu watched them and performed a miracle. 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu stood in the middle of the dancers, and all the dancers in all directions perceived that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was looking at them.

Wanting to see the dancing of the four great personalities, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu exhibited this miracle of seeing everyone simultaneously.

Everyone who saw Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu could understand that He was performing a miracle, but they did not know how it was that He could see on all four sides.

Lamentation of Vishnupriya-devi

Bhakti Ratnakara Chapter 4 :"Because of separation from Caitanya, she never slept at night. If at all she slept, she would lie on the hard ground.
Her golden complexion had grown pale like the new moon. While chanting the names of Hari, she would set aside a grain of rice for each mantra.  Later in the day, only those grains would be soaked and offered to the Lord.  The offering was very small, and yet she would eat only a portion of it. "

Vishnupriya devi Thakurani lived her life in the slow burning agony of separation from Sri Gouranga after His departure. Nor would anyone ever hear her voice.  Constantly shedding tears .....

My heart walls in

a labyrinth of lamentation
where time is marked
by the fall
of a grain of rice
into a bowl,
then soaked in tears
that swell and drop
endlessly
from inner silent corners, 
where nothing else exists
but Your name
flowing in a stream,
there the chanting, the divine love
any instant of You -
abides,
 keeps me alive,
yet oblivious to life.
and You come in dreams  ⁽¹⁾
bathed in autumn moonlight
Your words my only delight;
neither the sun
nor the moon
giver of rest,
will ever rise
in this continuous sunset
of your absence,
and in this numbness
of my being
I lie on the bare ground
of my barren life;
time was meaningful before,
because of You,
when You ate, You slept or bathed,
what a piercing of the heart
this passing of the hours,
 no one has ever lived
without even
the slightest hope
of Your return!

(1) The dream by Sri Vishnupriya-devi BR Ch. 4 "Just then Sri Vishnupriya-devi was telling her favorite maidservant that she had had a dream, which she would describe.  Her Lord, who was the attractor of the entire creation, had appeared before her in an enchanting pose.  [...]  In his affectionate way, Caitanya made Visnupriya sit down, and he spoke to her in a soft sweet voice : ' A brahmana boy named Srinivasa has suffered indescribably.  Today he will come to see you.  Knowing him to be a dear devotee, you should bestow your mercy on him.'  Caitanya continued to delight her with his pleasing words and then suddenly disappeared, and she awoke in distress."