Morning Love

 "Another gazing in his face,

sits wistfully apart,

searching it with those  

looks of love that leap from   

heart to heart;"

Her eyes afire with shy desire, 

 veiled by their lashes black, 

speak so that Krishna cannot choose 

but send the message back, ..."

                                                 from the Gita Govinda

    This poem narrates the playful exchanges of glances between Radha and Krishna during the morning pastimes. The daily pastimes of Radha and Krishna are occurring in eight sections (asta-kaliya-nitya lila) during the day and the Acharyas have sung repeatedly about them as a confidential meditation. Breakfast is part of the morning pastimes where the situation finds Radha and Krishna exchanging glances to send hidden messages.                    

 Morning Love

The bright morning rays

shone on golden plates and trays,

reflecting the hue of her face,

which he searched for and embraced

with the limbs of his gaze.

Debt of Love

CC Antya Lila 7.43 "The conjugal love of the gopīs is the most exalted devotional service, surpassing all other methods of bhakti. Therefore Lord Krishna is obliged to say, 'My dear gopīs, I cannot repay you. Indeed, I am always indebted to you."

Prema-vilas - Ch 7. Text 126-127  by Srila Nityananda Das

"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."

Excerpted from Sri Krishna Kathamrita Bindu Issue No134

"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."

Nothing is as before

by Lakshmipati das (Italy)

This poem is a manifesto about the spiritual revolution that the appearance of Lord Gauranga Avatari brought about also within the context of the Vedic thought. He, as the Supreme Lord, disclosed the most revealing conclusions by asserting one fundamental principle that the goal is bhakti and the externals of religions are secondary.

This poetry was inspired by a prayer of Srila B R Sridhar Deva Goswami:

"At a time when religion was evaluated in terms of bodily relationship, saintliness was determined by ignorance, and yoga practice was motivated by sensual pleasure; when scholarship was cultivated just for voidism, japa was conducted for the sake of fame, and penance was performed out of vindictiveness; when charity was given out of pride, and on the pretext of spontaneous devotion the most gross, sinful acts were perpetrated - and in all such anomalous situations even the intelligentsia were at loggerheads with one another...." 

SB 10.23.43-44"...These women have never undergone the purificatory rites of the twice-born classes, nor have they lived as brahmacārīs in the āśrama of a spiritual master, nor have they executed austerities, speculated on the nature of the self, followed the formalities of cleanliness or engaged in pious rituals. Nevertheless, they have firm devotion for Lord Kṛṣṇa, whose glories are chanted by the exalted hymns of the Vedas and who is the supreme master of all masters of mystic power. We, on the other hand, have no such devotion for the Lord, although we have executed all these processes.”

Nothing is as before ~

divine love has been exposed,

religion is not something to long for

nor is liberation the scope;

heaven is not where eternality belongs

austerities may dry the soul,

saintliness is not what it appears on the surface

nor is measured by disciples and fame;

the Absolute Truth is no longer unnamed

or lost in the void,

knowledge no longer resides only

in logic and rhetoric,

temples are not places petrified in rites,

the hymns, echoing from stones

lost in the mist of time,

are no longer the swords of priests

to control the world,

when bereft of mercy

they fueled fears with holy curses;

Nothing is as before ~

the moon of Gauranga Avatari arose

and His moonlight has exposed

that liturgies harbor pride,

faithlessness is behind

enforced rules and roles,

no longer a means to reach God,

just meager profits on the altars

of evil and good,

of righteousness and virtue,

where bhakti never blooms;

charity, rituals, gender, caste and pride

are burning votive lamps

on materialist shrines

barren of devotion,

where compassion also dries

and also yoga fails

there is no determination

to contain the senses

nor to reach liberation;

the most Munificent Lord

came to deliver every soul,

to show the way beyond

spontaneous love was disclosed,

nothing is as arid and lacking of joy

as before,

bhakti 

is spontaneously and blissfully performed.

 love 
cannot be imposed.

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."

I saw in a dream .....

[Gopala Campu 8.3.2 - The bhavas ⁽¹⁾ of the two were like mirrors facing each other and receiving the bhavas of the other]

Srimad Bhagavatam 11.10.26  "Just as by continuous application of the eye-ointment the eyes become clean and can see clearly those things that may be difficult to see, the constant reading of the sacred texts that relate to My pastimes, or listening to them, purify the heart and the devotee is able to see Me, who is otherwise too subtle to be seen with ordinary senses."

I walked into 
a temple of dream

silent steps on a moonbeam,

everywhere was beauty

draped in silvery cascades,

and there, Krishna, adorned with

sparkling jewels

and resplendent veils,

was sinuously bent,

and in His hand

held a long brush -

drawing black lines

around His eyes,

and mesmerized

His gaze became lost

in the mirror,

held in Radha's hand

standing on his left,

He caught a glimpse

of Her side-long glance;

She tilted her head

feigning shyness,

but secretly amused,

out of her doe-like eyes,

quickly darted an arrow of desire

to hook the reflecting

elongated petal of His eye,

and suddenly a tide

of passion swelled,

rippling the skin,

the hips, the limbs intertwined,

as the Divine couple united

in Their eternal dance of love,

and two bodies became as One, 

suddenly I could see

a golden creeper embracing

a bluish tamarind tree.

Note

1)  "Bhava is not lust but a variety of prema resembling lust ." Gopala Campu 24.61

Captive of Love

SKS Ch 5 Txt 7 "The wives of the ass-like brahmanas represent people who are subordinate to those with undeveloped faith. Being under the control of the sweetness of Krishna, Who is the Supersoul, they went to the forest and offered themselves to Him." Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura

Sri Gaura-ganoddesa dipika Text 191 "She who was the wife of the brahmana

who was attached to performing fire sacrifice in Braja has now appeared as Suklambara Brahmacari.  Sri Gauranga begged for and ate rice from him."

This is one of the poems inspired by the continuity between Krishna Lila and Gaura Lila.  The speaker of this poem is one of the Brahmana's wives who later became Suklambara Brahmacari in Gaura Lila. 

Because they all resided on the outskirts of Vraja towards Mathura, along with the other Brahman wives, she had never met Krishna before but only heard about Him and His wonderful activities. 

Krishna, Who always knows His devotees' hearts, arranged for the Gopas to go and beg for some food from the Brahmanas. But the Brahmanas, full of pride about their rituals, their higher varna and false prestige, refused to give them food and forbade their wives as well, to fulfill Krishna's desire. Together with the other wives, she neglected this restriction, and carrying sweets and other preparations, ran into the forest to meet Krishna. After transgressing her relatives' order, she believed in her heart that she would never have to return home again. But Krishna asked her and the others to go back to what she felt was like a prison. When this Lila continued into Gaura Lila, Lord Gauranga went to beg food from her ~ Suklambara Brahmacari. He was now the captive of her love.

Sound ~ 
soaked in the honey of His name

filled my ears

when the boys came,

and the constraints

surrounding my soul,

imposed as duties and roles

crumbled in that moment 

for which I had craved so long.

Since I was first told

about the King of groves,

 my household chores, the hymns

and the reins of kin

dissolved in a longing,

made me indifferent to everything,
and when my heart, 
ensnared among pillars
 of silent loving desires
became finally free,
 no longer muted,
I grasped the sweets,

breads, cakes and creams

and I ran, 
ran into the forest

of my sweetest dreams,

the jars heavy 

with love delights.

The outrage, the restrictions

of faithless relatives,
lapping like shadows at dusk
against my bare feet 
running down a road of no return,

within yet without my heart,

the ribbon-like path

unfurled endlessly ahead of my eyes

like anxious gazelles,

and time crystallized,

when suddenly 
a fragrance of musk

wafted in the air,

and my senses were stunned,

embracing Krsna
as He entered the door of my eyes,
 leaning on his friend
     while He smiled.   

I stood still, astounded ~
sweet was my load of love

 that I placed on the leaves
at his feet,
where I left also my being,
so sour was the way back
with my emptied pots,
salty and silent the tears
in the bitter bite of separation
when I surrendered my dreams
by going back home,
to please with my love Him.

In time, time took away

that imprisonment,

when the Beauteous Cooling Moon
appeared amongst other groves,

and came to my door

begging for food,
now He has become
the captive of my love.

GOPINATH

Another gopi said “ Yes! Let us see, touch, hear and smell Krishna……” Sarartha Darsini 10th Canto pg228

The Gopis met Krishna in Kurukshetra and expressed their trouble hearts in seeing Him dressed like a King, and therefore they tried to remind Him of Vraja because they wanted to attract Him to come back.

Dressed like a King,

encircled in this town by royal kin,

what you hide now 

we have seen ~

your true crown

of flowers, feathers and leaves.

We touched your skin,

smelled the fragrance

in the nocturnal breeze,

when cooling sandal paste 

covered your limbs,

streaked by rolling pearls of sweat

 like scented dew,

the colorful garland on Your chest

crushed against the blue.

We heard you sing to the moon

in the moonlight of that autumn night,

 your flute exhaling your desire;

we heard you cooing

like a cuckoo in the forest of Vraja

after tasting honeyed fruit,

so to attract again to a love tryst, 

your Radha;

we heard your laughs, your jokes

your herding calls

your persuading and your loving words,

we have touched your hands,

and with our faces, your chest,

your feet we placed on our laps,

our earring grazed your earring,

our cheek touched your cheek,

our limbs against your limbs

in a love dance.

We have seen your throne

when you sat on the soft sand

on our shawls, ⁽¹⁾

we know you

as the King of groves,

of lakes, of seasons, 

of the night skies,

of the forest, of dancers, 

of our minds;

We've seen you dressed in pollen,

in cow dung, 

in dust in the light of dusk,

and whirling among the trees,

with the peacocks, 

surrounded by honeybees,

playing in the pastureland,

the air filled with your scent,

and inebriated by mellows of love

on the riverbank.

Lotus among the lotuses

in a night without end,

Your reign is our land

o King of Rasa,

Dwarka is your solitude,

there is no kingdom of love

superior to Vraja.

(1)  Krishna sat twice on the shawls of the Gopis.  The first time just before the Rasa Dance, to which is referring this stanza, but also during the meeting in Kurukshetra where this poem is taking place.  Manohar Das in his book in Bengali "Vaidagdha-vilasa" reports that this Lila of sitting on the Gopis' shawls happened also in Kurukshetra to recall that intimacy. ( this Lila was also mentioned in a seminar of Madhavananda Prabhu on Kurukshetra)