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.

WHERE IS SHYAM ?

Sri Lalita Madhava pg42 ~ "My dear friend, where is Krsna, who is like the moon rising from the ocean of Maharaja Nanda's dynasty? Where is Krsna, His head decorated with a peacock feather?  Where is He?  Where is Krishna whose flute produces such a deep sound? [...] Kindly tell me where to find Krsna the treausre of My life and best of My friends.  Feeling separation from Him, I hereby condemn Providence, the shaper of My destiny."

This poem was inspired by an encounter I had in Vraja many many years ago.  It was in the morning and I was walking down a narrow, dirt path when a man dressed only in a loin cloth, very thin and with his skin darkened by the sun, came towards me.  He looked at me without seeing me and was murmuring "Where is Shyam?".

Then suddenly aware of my presence when I was right in front of him he said very loudly but with a choked voice "Where is Shyam?". I said "I do not know" and he became more agitated and in despair repeated several times with an anxious tone in his voice "Where is Shyam, where is Shyam?" Then I answered "I cannot see, I do not see where is He".

I have never forgotten those eyes, that voice, that forlorn heart, that morning light in Vraja ....

No parrot, bird or cuckoo warbles

to awake this dawn,

this daybreak light in Vraja

feebly kisses

the nocturnal pout of the flowers

reluctant now to bloom,

no feet has trampled over them

no pollen hovers the air

no swarm of excited bees

have buzzed after

the honey of His running feet,

forlorn the heart repeats

where is Shyam?

Is this the same wind

that ruffled the curls,

shivered the skin,

that swayed His feather,

and His earrings ?

Stole the scent of the rainy cloud

from His limbs,

and blew words of love

written on kumkum dusted leaves ?

Is this the same wind?

Carrier now of sighs

and a sole pitiful cry ~

where is Shyam?

Will there still be the moon?

with the stars for limbs

and its nectar-like beams

trickling flickering drops

on Radha's petal-like skin ?

Drops which capture her glow

and turn into moonstones

just as raindrops fall

in seashells

and turn into pearls,

but He has left ~

nothing shines now,

neither the moon nor the gems,

the stars nor the sun,

as a pair of unseeing eyes ask ~

Where is Shyam?

Behind the wheels

fell the dust

with the deafening silence

of His absence.

Now will come no dusk

carrying the notes of flutesongs

in clouds of dust.

The love talks,

the sweet words, the poetry,

the laughs ~ all have sunk

into the stillness of time.

The lanes of Vraja

have no more destinations,

the heart, errant of love, pleads

where is Shyam?

“Ve-ry-soon-I-wi-ll-ret-urn”

the syllables of Shyam's promise

barely reach the Gopis' lips

have become their heartbeats,

their only reason to live.

Roar! Roar! Roar!

SD 7.10.10 "I offer respects to the Lord, full of six qualities, the purusa, the great soul, the killer of all miseries, the wonderful lion and man who is Brahman and Paramatma."

Nrsimha-tapani Upanisad ~ rtam satyam param brahma purusam nr-kesari-vigraham
The form of Nrsimha is the Supreme Brahman, the purusa, knowledge and truth.

Aisvarya Kadambini 1.5 "All glories to the most merciful Sri Govinda, the son of Nanda, who appeared from a pillar in the fierce form of Sri Nrsimha to remove the distress of His devotee Prahlada by killing His enemy Hiranyakasipu."

O Lion Lord,

please roar, roar, roar,

very loud,

show your angry eyes

and your ferocious mouth

and with your nails like chisels

cut through those impediments

of evil activities

residue of many lifetimes

inhabiting my mind

causing to the heart

miserliness and weakness

without the qualities

to become a worthy recipient

of the shower of mercy

poured by the saintly teachers.

O Lion Lord,

please roar, roar, roar,

very loud

show your sharp teeth

and  flaring nostrils

with your breath laden

with anger, please blow away

those seeds of aversion

which cause the unwanted

strong pillars of the ego

to boast, ridicule others

harboring the illusions

of superiority, prestige

and power.

O Lion Lord, please let your

deafening laughing roar

reach everywhere, inside and without,

please come, O Killer of miseries,

walk down the road

to the city of dualities,

to scare away the desires,   ⁽¹⁾

the impressions of the subtle body,

that impede me

to give happiness to others

to remove all that is vicious

and to see as You see

with equal vision.

O Lion Lord, please,

as gently as you only can

place your protecting paw

on my head

against the attacks of pretenders,

protect my spiritual and material

achievements

protect the steps of this errant

of karma,

so can walk steadily out

of the dreadful cycle.

1) SD7.10.8 "By the appearance of desire the functions of one's senses, mind, life, body dharma, determination, intelligence, shyness, wealth, strength, memory and truthfulness are destroyed."

In the Sound of a Breath

KS Anu 157 :  "The Supreme Lord beyond the gunas, without fault, the original creator, having many forms, becomes one again and rests."  Sri Madhavacharya

Stavavali pg 223 - Txt 91 : "I pray that Lord Krishna, who also places His lotus feet on the hoods of Ananta Sesa, will permit me to reside in His land of Vraja."

Nothing other than LOVE

Sri Sri Prema Samput p. 52    "Only to increase the love of my devotees for me, do I bestow hardship upon them and in so doing incur my own sorrow, yet I welcome that distress."

Sri Sri Prema Samput p.48 "He is not lacking anything. What do the living entities have to give Him other than their love?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=56&v=-h_9ixUreNI

In the imaginary scene of the poem Krishna is speaking confidentially to a friend sometime after Kurukshetra, in a mixture of reminiscences and emotions,  from Dwarka, to the rasa dance, to the meeting in Kurukshetra.  In doing so Krishna reveals the secret depths of his love. Krishna never puts his devotees through something which He does not take also upon Himself.

SD 32.21 "Even when I removed Myself from your sight by suddenly disappearing, I never stopped loving you."

GC 23.39 "O dearest Gopis!  The first separation has been most difficult for me."

My solitude nestled

in the recesses of the night,

and like shadows that come forth

with brighter light,

its agony too appeared,

by moonlit memories

of their love for Me.

With the ardent desire

for a tidal wave

of this ocean of their love and my love,

to flood the hearts and the stars,

I disappeared,

causing their lamentation,

and thirstily I drank from the same                               ⁽¹⁾

chalice of longing emotions

welling up from purest love.

Spying unseen

upon their absorption and tribulation

while they searched for Me,

with breathless glances,

in incessant meditation

unwavering, on Me only,

I also endured separation,                                     ⁽²⁾

and could wait no more

for their embraces                                        ⁽³⁾

as the tears of love,

furrowing their faces,

were gushing like ecstatic rivers

of their sweetest love.

And impatient,                   

covetous of the mellows

flourishing in their hearts,

in that innermost hollow I stood,

a restless spectator of their total love,

incapable of repaying

the wealth of devotion

of my most beloveds.

In the most famous and also infamous                          ⁽⁴⁾

state of Godhood of being self-satisfied,

no one could fathom why I cried,

why my heart sighed,

breathless from feeling separation,

dragged and dependent on

their selfless adoration.

I smiled anew

to soothe their hearts,

and hiding my anguish,

asked for forgiveness.

They offered their fragrant ghee of love,                          ⁽⁵⁾

and the dense honey

of sulkiness,

thus plundering my love,

so that I, delighted, sold myself.                                    ⁽⁶⁾

1) GC 23.46 "Bhakti to me produces nectar".

2) Sri Sri Prema Samput pg.50 "He is also filled with sadness as he remains hidden from his devotees, [...] on top of that he then has to tolerate the slander that he is indifferent to those who love him."

3) GB 12.7 Comm. "Not after a long time, but very quickly, since I am not able to bear delay in meeting them, I, putting them on the shoulders of Garuda, bring them to My dhama."

4) SD 82.44 Comm. "But my dear girlfriend - Krishna replied - if this is true, I must be God, but still I am conquered by your love and devotion."

Godhood is also infamous to Krishna because in His qualities as the Absolute (Controller, Self-satisfied etc) which are revered but also commonly misunderstood, His sweetness and eagerness to love as Nanda Kishor is thwarted.

5) AVC Pg.279 (Rasa Dance Begins) "He (Krishna) wanted to create unity among the opposing parties of Radha and Candravali."

6) KS Anu 170 "I have come now.  Please experience me directly at every moment."

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."

Krishna Katha

SB 2.2.37 "Those who drink the sweet pastimes of the Lord and his devotees held in the cups of their ears clean their hearts of all contamination and attain the lotus feet of the Lord for service."

SBMM 20.59 "O great hero, kindly allow us to drink the nectar of Your lotus lips This nectar increases one's love for You, destroys one's lamentation, is constantly relished by Your enchanting flute, and it transforms the living entities' material attachments."

This poem was inspired by the following excerpt from a commentary of Srimad B. Narayana Goswami Maharaja where he explains about the adharamrita or the nectar from Krishna's lips.

"The deer and cuckoos are indeed fortunate, but the most fortunate are the gopis, who can directly taste Krishna's original adharamrita.  The deer and the cuckoos cannot relish this adharamrta directly, but they can listen to Krishna's flute-song.  And there are others, who can hear about Krishna's pastimes.  They hear that Krsna is playing His flute and that all human beings, animals, birds and other creatures in Vrindavana are hearing His flute-song. As a result of listening to narrations of His pastimes, these persons, too, develop the ambition to hear His flute." Gopi Gita commentary by Srimad B. Narayana Goswami Maharaja.