The Song of Pingala

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_
continue=54&v=NMrRzDJ3Wuc

Uddhava Gita 2.28 "Now please hear from me the song sung by [Pingala] the prostitute ..."

Pingala is a prostitute.  This might rise the query from the reader how one can gain by hearing a poetry describing the greed and miserable life of a prostitute, but 

Pingala's story is told by Lord Krishna to Uddhava and sastra so instruct about this type of narration : Itihasa-samucchaya [SD 3.5.12 Comm.]  "What result can be attained by describing the lust of lusty men and the greed of greedy men, except to sent them into the darkness of a well? In the Mahabharata, lust and greed are described to purify people's hearts, and are moreover condemned by stories with pure meaning.  Otherwise, why would the most merciful and learned Vyasa describe lust and greed, the cause of bondage to terrible material existence?"

Pingala's is just one of the sixteen stories that an avadhuta brahmana told to King Yadu. Every story is a lesson about material life and Krishna retells the whole narration to Uddhava ~ in the section of the Bhagavatam (11th Canto) called "Uddhava Gita" ~ during His final instructions before closing up His pastimes on Earth.  Therefore so auspicious and beneficial is hearing and learning from this story.

Disturbances in Vraja

SD 10.22.34  "These trees fulfill one's desires with their leaves, flowers and fruits, their shade, roots, bark and wood, and also with their fragrance, sap, ashes, pulp and shoots."

This sloka is spoken by Krishna to the cowherd boys.  He is describing the pleasure that the trees give to him for their nature of using their life and qualities to serve others.

"Disturbances in Vraja" is the way Bhaktivinoda Thakura called the anarthas, which are the greatest impediment for the conditioned jiva to enter the spiritual world. The tree of the ego that we have grown in lifetimes of vicious activities carries the leaves of bad qualities and egotistical mind set.  So the devotee by sadhana bhakti with faith, devotion and concentration, should let all these leaves to go and transform the tree of envy, the anchor to material life, into one of the trees that give happiness to Krishna, because everyone's happiness is in Krishna's happiness.  This realization can start the process for clearing the anarthas (or anartha nivrtti).

Ripe and ready

for the transforming wind

of the autumn season,

that clears the sky, the waters    

            and the mind,         ⁽¹⁾

I let go the leaves

from the tree of my ego,

I'll not feel pain

letting go the dead leaves

of arguments and conflicts,

growing instead a soft smile within,

while the emptiness of my heart

rustles and is blown away like a dry leaf.

I will look at untruthfulness,

false pretense, hypocrisy

and desire for superiority,

as brown parched leaves

releasing them with joy

into the purifying gusts

of this wind,

feeling peaceful and free

as the leaves of deception

and conceit

drop from my tree;

without hesitation

I will look into layers

of memory

       from where unwanted results       ⁽²⁾

life after life have sprouted,

and now are yellow stale leaves

ready to be detached from the tree

by this wind of mercy.

My heart will rejoice

when finally Krishna,

seated in my heart,

crushes with His weight

of sweetness

the remaining hard-shelled

acorns of pride, vanity

and the stardom-me

then with consciousness filled

with devotion,

in bliss and relieved

that I, like the tree,

now denuded of envy,

am ready to sprout anew,

and give happiness to Krishna

               with leaves, shoots,             ⁽³⁾

flowers and fruits.

1) SD 10.20.32-33 "... the fall season arrived, when the sky is cloudless, the water clear and wind gentle.

"The autumn season, which regenerated the lotus flowers, also restored the various bodies of water to their original purity, just as the process of devotional service purifies the minds of the fallen yogis when they return to it."

2) Literal translation of the word "anarthas".

3) CC Adi Lila 3.63 " [...]His smiling glance at once drives away all the bereavements of the world, and His very words enliven the auspicious creepers of devotion by expanding their leaves."

One step away ....

-The dance of Chandrakanti-

SCS p.103 "A young girl who danced with joy all night invoked the mercy of the Lord." Padma Purana 

"The woman who attained bhava mentioned in the Padma Purana is an example of bhava through Raganuga bhakti."

BRS 1.3.14 "A young girl, having great joy in the heart and being very enthusiastic to dance, spent the whole night dancing in order to please the Lord."

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."