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.

TELL ME ABOUT KRISHNA

Venu Gita pg.119 "Yes, yes, Sakhi, tell us what dwells in the inaccessible cavern of your heart."

From the Song of the Bee -  SB 10.47.17 [...] "So let us give up all freindship with this dark-complexioned boy, even if we can't give up talking about Him." 

SB 10.47.21"Does He remember His father's household affairs and His friends, the cowherd boys?  O great soul! Does He ever talk about us, His maidservants? [...]" 

DOOMED by FREEDOM

 “Just as a person who is whirling around perceives the ground to be turning, one who is affected by false ego thinks himself the doer, when actually only his mind is acting " -         SB 10.46. 41

"The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature." BG 3.27

"When the jiva in waking and dream state, becomes absorbed in the gunas of prakrti, bewildered by ego, he thinks that he is the doer."  SB 3.27.2

"Our freedom consists in orienting our desire either toward the ignorant, material misconception or the true spiritual conception." SB 2.2.35 Purport 

Whatever religion, whatever belief or even without believing at all, in moment of solitude, after a storm in one's life and pains are deep and still burning, it is easier to speak truly to oneself and inevitably addressing also the Paramatma, that  form of God in our heart and always with us, Who makes sure that we get our fate and desires, but also Who awakens that dim light of small realization, a tiny remembrance, that makes us turn, even just once, to Him.

Listen to this poem set into melody https://soundcloud.com/mauro-auaro/doomed-by-freedom

or watch on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxJe7eshKkc

The Flat Earth and Paradise

This has been just an exercise on the basis of very simple and few notions, since the author usually writes poems and does not have a scientific background whatsoever.  The conclusion could easily be refuted by senior and advanced scholars in myriads of ways, but the intent was only a “healthy speculation” for talking about the marvels of the Srimad Bhagavatam.

Isaac Asimov, the father of science fiction, once wrote an article where he stated that the opinion of past civilizations about the Earth being flat was not completely wrong, it was just not completely correct.  In his article – “The relativity of wrong” {1} - he firstly asserts that there is never an absolute wrong or an absolute right opinion or theory – upon which we can only completely agree, since due to our infinitesimal position not even "absolute wrong" does apply.

As an example of this Asimov takes on the theory of the flat Earth. What is the actual curvature of the Earth?

POESY AT VESPER

Sri Brhad Bhagavatmrita III 6.294  “When you go off to the Vrndavana forest with Your friends, eager to enjoy Your cowherd pastimes, we manage to pass our days – only with difficulty – by holding  on to the hope that in the evening You will certainly return.”

SB 10.19.16 “The young gopis took the greatest pleasure in seeing Govinda come home, since for them even a moment without his association seemed like a hundred ages.”

Venu-gita pg 47  “…the emotions that fuel the urge to speak of Him…Sri Krsna is very much attracted to such clever language….” 

SB 10.35.26 "Sri Sukadeva Goswami said : O King thus during the daytime the women of Vrindavana took pleasure in continuously singing about the pastimes of Krishna, and those ladies' minds and hearts, absorbed in Him, were filled with great festivity." 

Dusk is approaching and another day is ending in Vraja, but now Krishna is still in Mathura. The Gopis, watching the twilight, remember the time when Krishna was in Vrindavana, when in the morning He would leave to the forest  and, after seeing Him off, they would start to wait for His return and pass the afternoon talking about His flute, the birds, the clouds in an encrypted wordage, so others could not read their hearts. Until dusk would come and then He would return covered with the dust raised by the cows' hooves. But now these are only memories because today He will not be back by this dusk, He is in Mathura.

If today You had gone

to the forest,

we'd  all have run

down the enchanted lanes

of Vrindavan,

to nurture moments

of furtive sidelong glances,

to torture our minds

in the long hours to come

by only speaking of you,

over and over about your flute

in a way that seems abstruse;

then falling silent,

caught by desire,

by this agitation of the heart

so hard to hide,

because our innermost thoughts

always followed You there,

out in the groves,

and even then it seemed so long,

waiting,

to see You in the distance,

in the light of dusk,

in the dust stirred up

by the hooves of the calves.

But then Your return was certain,

now nothing is the same as before,

it's so long since You have been gone.

Do You ever look with longing

towards this horizon

where there's Vraja?

Is there a Spring there
to remind You of Radha?

THE HANDS OF RASARAJA

"Krishna's hand is capable of bestowing benedictions upon all kinds of men if they take to Krishna consciousness. If one wants material happiness ..he can derive that benediction from the hand of Krishna; if one wants liberation from the pangs of material existence, he can also get that benediction from the hand of Krishna and if one in pure transcendental love for Krishna wants personal association and the touch of His transcendental body, he can also gain that benediction from His hand." Inspired by Srila Prabhupada's 'Krishna Book'.

MIMING UNDER THE HILL

It is the night of the Rasa dance and Krishna has suddenly disappeared. 
The Gopis are desperate and search for Him in the forest asking the plants, the trees, the deer, who has seen the beautiful son of Nanda Maharaja, He has run away after stealing their hearts.

 SB 10.30.6[The gopis said] O asvattha tree, O plaksa, O nyagrodha have you seen Krishna? That son of Nanda Maharaja has gone away after stealing our minds with His loving smiles and glances.”

Some gopis start to mime His pastimes and one of them raises the shawl over her head simulating the Govardhan Hill and remembering this pastime when Krishna raised the Hill. 

SB 10.30.20“Don’t be afraid of the wind and rain” said one gopi “I will save you” And with that she lifted her shawl above her head."