LEGENDARY STEP

"Prabhupada's great journey, legendary voyage was to come to the West [...]"

"Why did Prabhupada get on the boat?  We have to stop and think "Why did Prabhupada get on the boat? [...]

So what about keeping Prabhupada in the center and what about remembering why Prabhupada got on the boat...  What about Prabhupada determination to keep trying .... that's what is about [...] why did Prabhupada get on the boat?  What did he really want, which were his expectations [...] what would Prabhupada said to us today [...]  Prabhupada got on that boat, no body else would get on that boat, Prabhupada did something that nobody else would have done. " Hridayananda Maharaja's lecture "I like this competition" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp-vPj3FXT0

"On this day we all think very hard and pray really pray hard to the Deities and Srila Prabhupada and really try to get the intelligence and the empowerment." Hridayananda Maharaja

The legendary step  

When you got on that boat

the ocean of miseries

started to dry

and you caused the sun to rise

on the horizon dark side,

as the mission of your life.

The step that you moved into that boat

had the gait of the empowered saint

descending from mystical stairs

loving and resolute with faith,

captain of the Lord's grace,

of a legendary travel

beyond boundaries

of time and place.

When you got on that boat,

myriads of souls,

slapped against shores

deserted of hopes,

started to dance

for the ghee of the Holy Names

fell in the dormant flames

of hearts living in vain,

ending faithless restrictions

of birth, caste - any mundane chain.

Your feet on that boat

challenged the arid infertile void

filling its vows of silence

with sound reverberating joy,

a renaissance started

around the world

on every continent roads,

a land of prophecies

was finally disclosed.

The magic of your step

on that boat,

was the desire

of the Golden Lord

to carry loving devotion

to the entire world,

and you want us still

to keep bestowing

upon people your gift,

as it was received

and by bringing your feet

to step - again and again

on that ship,

as intelligently as you did;

only in this way 

love and compassion

will reach many hearts

by your ever-flowing love.

On your glorification by your spiritual grand-daughter,

MadhavaLata dd

JUST A MILK-FED BOY ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫

SB 10.46.22 “When we see the places where Mukunda enjoyed His sporting pastimes –the rivers, hills and forests he decorated with His feet – our minds become totally absorbed in Him.”

Inspired by HH Gour Govinda Maharaja’s class “Uddhava Sandesa”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrTMAIYeNS8

Uddhava went to Vraja and met with Nanda Baba as asked by Krishna.  Nanda Baba and all the Brajvasis are burning in the fire of separation from Krishna, so Uddhava tries to console Nanda Baba by telling him that Krishna is God, Bhagavan and is not his son.

SB 10.46.42 "The Supreme Lord Hari is certainly not your son alone. Rather, being the Lord, He is the son, Soul, father and mother of everyone."

MESSENGER OF LOVE

"Dear gentle Uddhava, go to Vraja and give pleasure to My parents.  And also relieve the gopis, suffering in separation from Me, by giving them My message." SB 10.46.3

"Krishna wanted to send a message of love to his dear devotees, His father Nanda Maharaja, His mother Yasoda-mata and the most beloved gopis headed by Radharani. Krishna thought "Who will take this message? Whom shall I send?" He chose Uddhava." Mathura meets Vrindavana pg129

The recurring visualization that inspired this poem is of Krishna feeling desperate in separation from Vraja and the Vrajavasis, and taking Uddhava's hand in His hand, speaking His heart.  He was his friend and could carry this message of love to His beloved devotees suffering from separation.  But when Uddhava returned he was not the same person, he had experienced pure love.

When His heart needed telling,

He sent a messenger of love

NO MORE BLUISH !

NVM by Sivaram Swami "..[...] Sri Krishna. His form glistens with the hue of amorous love, which resembles the colour of sapphires, blue lotuses, black mascara, fresh rain clouds, and the tamala tree." 
This pastime is told in some old Orian Gaudiya songs and was brought to us by H H Srila Gour Govinda Maharaja.  This is one excerpt from Sri Krishna Kathamrita N.9 pg 44 :  "But taking all Her girl companions to a secluded place, Radhika expressed Her anger to them.  She said :"Henceforward, anyone who even utters His name, will be considered My enemy, From today on, I will not look at any black or deep-blue colored things - even new clouds or black dresses, etc."

Radha had been waiting for Krishna to come to Her kunja. She had decorated it with flowers and petals and waited for Him as they had messaged to each other the day before at the Yamuna.  But He did not come and Lalita found out that He had spent the night at Candravali's kunja.  So, Radha became angry : "I will not longer go to the Yamuna!  I will not longer bind My black hair or apply black kajjala to My eyes.  I will not look at the black rain cloud.  Black is My enemy.  O Vishaka!  That black enemy stung Me."

So, this poem is inspired by Radha's angry mood which reveals how the black, dark, deep-blue, bluish, blackish, cloudy things constantly remind Her of Krishna.  In this way Radha is the greatest  Yogi.

O Sakhi, O friend,
get rid of this dark color,
anything black
do not bring it here
in front of my eyes!

Shyam has not come
to the bed of petals
fragrant with my love,
now all blown away
along with my hope;
whatever is blue, dark, black
or dense like a cloud
reminding me of Him
keep it away from me!

I'll erase the dark of the sky
from my nights, 
and from my days, 
the darkening monsoon clouds
resembling His skin,
I was betrayed and cheated
understand my chagrin!
Even in this mirror
I won't look again at my braid
nor the black around my eyes
- I'll give them up, 
enough with the make up!

Swat this black bumblebee away!
And I do not want to hear
the black crows or the cuckoos sound;
also this Tamal tree, pull it out!
its dark trunk...
its maddening blackish hue -
I'll not hug it anymore,  
no, never again,
crying out His name!

No blackish, no bluish, finish!
my saree, my bangles,
their deep blue I spurn,
from now on, O Sakhi,
tint them with gold;
I was disgraced and left forlorn
thus I have sworn
never again ~ nothing black
in my thoughts;
Don't ever speak to me
about that dark blue Lover
no - this time I'll not forgive
I'll resist...
I will forget
the black, the blue
 even exist.

Radha becomes angry.
Radha said : " My dear friend! Listen to the painful story of what that thief of Nilamani did to Me yesterday. He for whom I have become a disgrace in Vraja, that same person yesterday night took rest at Chandravali's kunja. Yesterday on the bank of the Yamuna, Shyam gave some indication to meet Me at My kunha, but He did not show up. I have been keeping this gunha-mala neck lace as the sign of His signal, but Chandravali usurped Him. What type of mantra did that woman apply to Shyam that the flower bed I made for Him became useless? I made a lamp of flowers for Him, but the boat of My hope drowned in the water. Last night I wasted the entire evening, O friend! Don't speak to me the name of Krishna, Whoever speaks that name will be My enemy. This is the vow of Radha. From today onwards I give up all tupes of black-colored things, I will no use black eyeliner anymore in My eyes."

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.

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.