LOVE under the TAMARIND TREE

In my search for the pastimes of Krishna in Vraja where He manifests His golden form as Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the pastime at Imli Tal is a shining gem.

This is in short :

When Shri Radha disappeared from the midst of the rasa dance, Krishna was searching for Her with intense feelings of separation. This mood of separation increased Their anticipation for meeting, and thus very much increased Their intensity of love.Krishna, in this mood of separation sat down under this Tamarind Tree or Imli Tal and became so completely absorbed in the thoughts of Shrimati Radharani and chanting Her name, that His body assumed the color of Shrimati Radharani.

Nava Vraja Mahima "For a moment Radha and Krshna gazed into each other's faces, and then, in the same way that the moon sinks into the ocean, They submerged Themselves in the waves of each other's ambrosial beauty." pg 363

"God is engaged in enjoying with His eternal consort, Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī. This Śrīmati Rādhārāṇī is enchanting Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is enchanting Rādhārāṇī. [...] In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that when Kṛṣṇa comes before Rādhārāṇī, She becomes so much engladdened by seeing the beauty of Kṛṣṇa that She becomes more beautiful, and as soon as Rādhārāṇī becomes beautiful, Kṛṣṇa becomes engladdened and He becomes more beautiful. So unlimitedly there is competition of becoming more beautiful, duhe lage hurai (?). That is the state. Competition. Because in the spiritual world everything is unlimited. So unlimitedly both of them becoming beautiful and both of them enjoying unlimitedly."Srila Prabhupada - Lecture on SB 1.2.8 -- New Vrindaban

Under the spell of the lunar light

Shyam took a beam

to adorn Radha's face,

but saw it brighter than the Moon!

as Her eyes like Chakora birds

flew on the rays

drinking the moonlight of His face.

Radha slipped a berry in His mouth

with grace

and hesitant fingertips ~

how much redder now were His lips!

'cause Krishna, sipping

the red lotus of Her eyes,

was instantly drowned 

by the sweetness of Her love

and fell spellbound.

Closing His eyes

tuned a note on His flute

to attract Her mind,

but when surprised to find

       Her behind His eyelid    (1)

a shiver ran up His skin,

and enraptured He screamed

Radhe, Radhe,

under that Tamarind tree,

under the stars in the sky,

on the river of Their Love,

He sat and cried,

and drifted into ecstasy

in an unknown shoreless sea,

lost His mind in Her heart,

and became the Moon,

golden glowing

with Her love mood.

1) Gopala Campu 17.3 “Whenever Radha or Krishna fainted in private, they had an internal vision of their lover, equivalent to actual presence, for bringing auspicious results.”

IMLI Tal mentioned in Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya Lila Ch. 18.76-78

"The tamarind tree named Teṅtulī-talā was very old, having been there since the time of Lord Kṛṣṇa's pastimes. Beneath the tree was a very shiny platform.

Since the River Yamunā flowed near Teṅtulī-talā, a very cool breeze blew there. While there, the Lord saw the beauty of Vṛndāvana and the water of the River Yamunā.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu used to sit beneath the old tamarind tree and chant the holy name of the Lord. At noon He would return to Akrūra-tīrtha to take lunch."

WATERS OF MOONLIGHT

Excerpted from PILI Pokhara pastime story

"And then She [Radha] began to wash her hands and the waters turned golden and the waves spread out in all directions, hitting the banks and rippling back – forming a beautiful pattern of evolving rasa. And as the waters turned – from Her hands – that golden luster begin expanding toward the far shores of the kund.

Her friends were just watching with intent – the different levels of love that appeared to be rising like the ocean tide within their hearts and expressing themselves on Her facial expression; they were just enchanted watching their friend wash Her hands. And She just kept washing." 

This poem is part of the poetry born from my search of the pastimes in Vraja when Krishna manifests His form as Gauranga Mahaprabhu (see also in this blog "Love under the Tamarind Tree").

(PILI POKHARA -Full story link http://www.dandavats.com/?p=16631)

WATERS OF MOONLIGHT

The Princess of swans 

glided from the shore

with grace

and the waters returned

the beauty of Her image,

imperceptibly she paused, 

amazed

and absorbed,

with a lost-in-love gaze,

washed her hands

and her thoughts drifted away,

liquefied - spread out

in circular waves,

her mind so immersed in love,

let an amber intoxicating wake

 ooze from her palms,

tinting with gold the surface

mirroring her amorous heart,

and in this way erased

the blue sky from that lake;

She, with fairy steps, went away

and the waters remained dyed

with molten gold moon rays.

The Blue Swan,

object of that love,

came to the golden pond,

with His fingers grazed

the splendor of the moon,

struck by a quiver

of marvelous love

He stood dazed

peering at His image

in those waters

of golden glaze,

and then He knew

the spell was Her mood

and felt Himself

to be the be-all and the end-all

of that fluid love,

so thrilled by its taste

He immersed His hand

His arm and, more amazed,

went in up to His neck,

then taken by a rapture so intense

felt a longing

to call aloud to Himself;

Emerging from the lake

His blue sapphire luster lost, 
 now golden

He walked away

chanting His own name.

GOLDEN EMBRACE

Golden as Radha's love

CC Adi Lila 6.108  "He tries to taste His own sweetness, but He cannot do so without accepting the emotions of a devotee."


"Vrinda : Alas ! Alas! The pain of separation from Mukunda has unsettled Radha's mind. Sometimes She runs about, and sometimes She stands still like a painted picture. Sometimes She laughs, and sometimes She weeps bitterly. Sometimes She is very talkative, and sometimes She is silent." Lalita Madhava Scene 1- Unmatta-radhika

When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recited this verse, He immediately fell to the ground unconscious. He was overwhelmed and had no control over Himself.

Exhibiting ecstatic emotions, the Lord began to run here and there, making resounding noises. Sometimes He laughed, and sometimes He cried, and sometimes He danced and sang.

Trembling, perspiration, jubilant tears, shock, fading of the bodily luster, disappointment, moroseness, loss of memory, pride, joy and humility were all visible in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's body." CC ML 4.198-202

TEMPLE of GRATITUDE

"Every living entity, especially persons in the human race, must feel grateful for the benedictions offered by the grace of the Supreme Lord." Srila Prabhupada -  S B 2.3.21

Tales of Wheels and Devotion

Tales of Wheels and Devotion

The remembrance of Krishna's pastimes often rides on wheels. 

This poem retells a few events that depict Krishna on a chariot while enacting His pastimes with His devotees.

In the first scene is the bullock cart that carried small Gopal, Nanda Pran, from Mahavan to Vrindavan in order to protect Him from the demon's attacks. It ends with the meeting in Kurukshetra because of the desire of the Gopis to move the chariot with Krishna back to Vraja. 

I hope the reader will also cherish the taste of Krishna's names that are mostly associated with Nanda Baba in order to keep Him in our hearts as the cowherd of the gopis and gopas, even though some pastimes are in His royal disguise. 

BRS 1.2.168 Seeing the festivals (verse 87) from Bhavisyottara : 
"The dog-eaters and other low persons who joyfully see Kesava on His chariot all become associates of the Lord."

---

Tales of Wheels and Devotion

 With many wheels clattering

and stirring up clouds of dust,

  the long line of bullock carts
meandered like a river
  in the light of dusk.
Amidst this clamor of

bugles, bells, bellowing
and colored flags flapping,

songs rose up

from the caravan

leaving Mahavan

out of love for Nanda Pran.

On another day
when the light was the same,

a gilded chariot of royal fame,

 clattered,

sinister and cruel
in a flurry of dust,

taking Nanda Gopal away

so that love melted the stones (1)

with tears of despair.

Winged by the whisper

of the heart,

the chariot of Nanda Kumar

flew to a place afar,

committed to His promise

to reciprocate His devotee's love,

He plucked the precious Lotus,

leaving the proud princes

aghast. (2)

The rattle of wheels and swords

again saw Nanda Kishor

on a chariot.

In a din of shouts and blows,

where the red blood dyed

the dust, the sky and all eyes,

 for love this time

He led the ride.

His curls, sticky and ashen

with sweat and dust,

and His skin smeared with blood,

 He hurled the wheel as He rushed (3)

toward a chivalrous heart,

astounded with awe

by the wondrous sight

of his lotus red eyed foe.

When His heart wept,

heavy with a debt of love,

Nanda Dulal unsteadily

boarded His chariot,

pierced the night,

rode at the speed
of light,

and came to the forest grove,

to the petal bed of His Beloved,

 where, out of intense love

    She was on the verge of death. (4)

The royal chariot

has come back,

without that snake of torment,  (5)

instead, Nandu's friend

is walking ahead

of Nanda Suta,

 adorned with gems;

He is no more a cowherd

in this land (6)

where the Moon sets

but no lotuses bloom.

Let's turn these wheels

and move

them towards Vraja,

but, once amongst those kunds

this cruel chariot,

memento of separation

and tears,

will have to leave 
to remove our fear

of seeing Nanda-Lal carried away,

and the Vanadevis languishing

in love and in madness once again.

1) Bhakti Ratnakara p.144 " What can I say? Only those who saw the scene can understand. All the damsels of Vraja came running to see Krishna with tears flowing like rivers from their eyes. Seeing that scene even wood and stone melted.

2) Krishna kidnaps Rukmini

3) Krishna act as Arjuna's charioteer during the battle. In a Chivalrous rasa with His devotee, apparently playing the part of His enemy, Krishna hurled a wheel to Bhismadeva.

4) "Three logs of wood" story retold by Srimad Gour Govinda Maharja as the first Ratha Yatra.  Krishna inebriated by his feelings for Radha, mounts the chariot to fly to Vraja.  In the same way Lord Jagannath in Puri is carried to the chariot by the pujaris who shake Him as if drunk to remember this pastime. (see also in blog "Canticle of Union")

5) Garga Samhita 5.15.10 "At what inauspicious moment did his mother, in order to give pain to the loving devotees, give birth to Akrura? She did it as Kadru, in order to randomly kill people here and there, gave birth to the species of snakes." Purport [...] Vicious humans may also behave like cruel snakes and since he (Akrura) mercilessly took Krsna away from them, the gopis considered Akrura to be among such horrible creatures whose birth must have been timed a the most inauspicious moment.

6) Kurukshetra. -- When Nanda Suta and the gopis met in Kurukshetra they were emaciated so much so that their rings had become bangles around their wrists, their hair were uncombed and their dresses untied, so Krishna understood the intensity of their pains of separation.  He started a sort of long soliloquy in the attempt to justify what happened that He did not returned. He spoke about yoga, about the will of the  Supreme, about providence, but it all sounded very confused.  The gopis will respond with a single sloka in the Bhagavatam which ends the chapter. 

SB 10.82.48 :""O Supreme Lord, O directly manifest Supersoul, O crest jewel of teachers of philosophical knowledge!  Understanding that we have great attachment to house, wealth and family, You previously had Uddhava instruct us and now personally You are purifying our hearts with knowledge to destroy that ignorance.  Thus we understand that Your pure love for us is free from any motivation other than assuring our liberation. But how can we unintelligent cowherd women fix that knowledge in our hearts? ..[..]" translation by Srila Visvanath Chakravarti Thakur. 

This same sloka was chant by Caitanya Mahaprabhu in front of the chariot of Lord Jagannath.

This is the secret of our Ista-deva, the Lord of the Sankirtan Movement, the Lord of the Universe, fully reciprocating His devotees' love, shows the highest ecstasies in a meeting that follows a long separation and He comes to everyone to exchange that love on the wheels of His chariot.

        

DEBT of LOVE (Lyrics) ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪

Krsna speaks to Rukmini about His debt of love

“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” (Text 126-127)  Prema-vilas by Srila Nityananda Das.

BG 9.29 "[...] But those who honor Me with devotion are in Me, and indeed I am in them."

"Sri Radha's love for Lord Krishna has no rival and no equal in this world.  It is the greatest love."  Sri Garga Samhita 6.17-38

Read more at the bottom excerpt from Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu issue No. 134"

https://soundcloud.com/mauro-auaro/debt-of-love

Lyrics for "Debt of Love"

I am not here,

but there with My mind,

I am so bound

‘cause of a promise of love.

I have a debt

since the day I left

“I will return” - I said this to them

They have given everything up for Me

their love is in Me

There isn’t any other way to repay

but to love ‘ em in the same way

I am their air

for this My heart weeps

I’m in big debt

to their love, the tears they shed,

I've gone away

I did not return,

they trust what I said just before I left

my words are their hope and reason to live

they breath for me

O Queen, how they keep alive gives me pain,

they want to see me once again

You asked before

Who’s this love for?

Tears melt my dreams

When I think of Her

She does not know anything else than Me

She lives for Me

To know this love I’ve to steal Her heart

to love with her love.

I’ll give up pearls and curls, one day
love tears is my debt to repay. 

.

"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." by SGGS

Excerpted from Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu Issue No134

The Cowherd Boy is now a King

                                                                                           

CC Madhya Lila 1.56  Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu used to sing this song [♪ ♫ ♪seita parana-natha♫ ♪ ♫] especially during the latter part of the day, and He would think, "Let Me take Krishna and go back to Vrindavana" This ecstasy was always filling His heart.

"It is there alone [in Vraja] that You attract us by wearing peacock feathers in Your turban and playing enchanting music on Your flute.  We can be saved only by seeing You in Vraja and not by any other kind of meditation or theoretical knowledge of the self." Commentary by Visvanath Cakravarti Thakur on Sarartha Darsini 82.48

After long separation from Vraja  Krishna resolves to meet the Brijvasis in Kurukshetra and He goes there from Dwarka with all His royal entourage......