The Gita Govinda: A Journey Into Realms Of Delight

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Article of the Month - April 2007

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The Gita Govinda: A Journey Into Realms Of Delight

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The Gita Govinda, a lyrical epic or epical lyric, by Shri

Jayadeva, a Sanskrit poet of the last quarter of the twelfth

century, is a poem with a unique and far different significance

in entire Indian literature, before or after. Not merely a piece

of writing, the Gita Govinda was an instrument that completely

revolutionized, or rather re-vitalized, Vaishnavism, which

encumbered by inner conflict of different Brahmanical sects and

eroded by Islam and Islamic invasions frequently storming the

subcontinent, was heading towards a point of collapse. Instead of

metaphysical dogmatism, the Gita Govinda discovered Vaishnavism

in love, devotion and absolute submission, the instruments that

dispelled duality and led the self to unite with the Supreme

Self.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/WH75/

 

What the Gita Govinda presented was a completely changed

perception of Vaishnavism. It neither looked for a divine aura

nor for a monarchical frame, which had so far defined its

Vaishnava God or even Krishna as one of the Vaishnava

incarnations. Jayadeva had seen that Indian kingship, once

possessed of divine aura, was unable to sustain against Islamic

onslaught and was fast waning. Maybe, he hence thought it better

to separate his God from this monarchical frame and let Him be

one like masses. This not only humanized Him but also turned an

abstract concept into a living reality that one could feel and

realize. The Gita Govinda hence wove its theme around Krishna,

its hero, who it conceived as a humble cattle-grazing cowherd,

very much like others, and enshrined in him Vaishnava Godship.

This transformed Vaishnavism into a thing of masses.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/WF53/

 

Contrary to Puranic position, the Gita Govinda attributes all

Vaishnava incarnations to Krishna, not Vishnu. Here Krishna is

seen as the prime manifestation of God incarnating in various

forms. Each incarnation has a specific role but Krishna hasn't

any, not even his crusade against evil forces.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/PF89/

 

He is realized in love and in his love reveals the supreme good;

all fetters break and the loved one unites with him in absolute

oneness. In a sense, Gita Govinda is a broad metaphor, which

reveals in sensuous love the factum of spiritual unity.

Initially, Krishna loves his favored one, Radha. Later, he makes

love with others reaching him. Radha, the favored one, separated

from him, is annoyed for his infidelity but her longing to unite

with him is endless. Krishna realizes the wrong he did to Radha

who has always loved him. Repentant he meets her and the two

unite in perpetuity.

 

Metaphorically, Krishna is the Supreme Self and Radha, the

individual. Initially they are one, but in the course of time

separated from each other. The individual self's longing to unite

with the Supreme Self is incessant. However, they unite only when

it pleases the Supreme Self. This sums up Vaishnavism. Anything

beyond it is irrelevant. In simultaneity to its deep

philosophical meaning and theistic thrust, the Gita Govinda is

endowed with a very high level of lyricism and sensuality.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/PE76/

 

 

Krishna In The Bhagavata Purana

 

The Gita Govinda's predecessor, Bhagavata Purana, had also seen

Krishna as a cowherd boy, but it was just a phase of his life to

terminate after he killed Kansa.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/HB80/

 

After this phase ended, he was even purified, re-ritualized and

properly schooled, all to befit him in his monarchical frame. The

cowherd phase did not have its traces ever after. He is not only

portrayed as one of Vishnu's incarnations and with Vishnu-like

divine aura but also reveals in him Vishnu's likeness and cosmic

magnification. The Bhagavata Purana, a 'purana' - the holy

scripture, was heard with folded hands and bowed to.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/book/details/IDF503/

 

The Bhagavata Purana's Krishna commands not only respect for his

divinity but slightly maintains a distance from others. The Gita

Govinda was a lyric to inhale within, to be sung and danced to.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/HB81/

 

Jayadeva's Krishna, though the fountainhead of all Vaishnava

incarnations, not one of them, is till end a cowherd running

after cowherd maidens and himself, always within their reach.

Love and love alone is the tie in between and the strength of

both, the seeker and the sought.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/HH16/

 

 

Jayadeva And Gita Govinda

 

Jayadeva, the poet who composed Gita Govinda, was one of the five

jewels of king Lakshmanasen, the last Hindu ruler of Bengal who

ruled from around 1175 A.D. to 1200 A.D. Most scholars consider

hence this to be the date of the Gita Govinda, too, though a few

of them take it back to around 1050 A. D. The five jewels of

Lakshmanasena were his five court poets, Jayadeva, Govardhana,

Dhoi, Sharana and Umapatidhara. In the opening section of the

Gita Govinda, Jayadeva commends them all, and also Shrutidhara,

his other colleague. The National Museum, New Delhi, has a

painting in Sultanate style of around 1475-1500 A.D., portraying

Jayadeva and these five poets seated around.

 

Illustration:

http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/king_lakshma_asena_with_his_five

_jewels.jpg

 

This miniature suggests that Jayadeva and his Gita Govinda had

gained considerable popularity and had emerged as the painter's

theme by late 15th century itself, though no such early paintings

are available now. The earliest reported Gita Govinda paintings

are from Mewar from around 1590-1600 A.D.

 

Illustration:

http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/earliest_representation_of_gita_

govinda.jpg

 

Kenduli, a Birbhumi village in Bengal, has been identified as

Jayadeva's birthplace, though Jayadeva himself alluded to Utkal

as his land. He mentions and pays homage to his father and

mother, Bhojadeva and Ramadevi. He also commemorates his wife

Padmavati. Each verse of the Gita Govinda is set to a 'raga' and

'tala', which suggests that Jayadeva had great competence in music.

 

 

Generic Character Of The Gita Govinda

 

The full title of Jayadeva's poem is Gitagovindakavyama. In its

original sense, the term 'kavyam' meant broadly the 'prabandha

kavya', a narrative poem. 'Prabandha-kavya' is arranged, as is

the Gita Govinda, into cantos. The thrust of the Gita Govinda is

not, however, narrative. Here events do not grow over a passage

of time, as they do in a narrative. At the most growth has a

mystic perspective. The first verse of the Gita Govinda is the

seed out of which grow the sole leading sentiment of the poem.

Seeing dark deep clouds gathered in the sky and fear in the eyes

of child Krishna, Radha escorts him home. When passing across an

arbour on Yamuna's bank, he makes love with Radha.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/HF39/

 

In between the period, when he left with Radha and made love with

her, the child Krishna grows to such manhood as gives him

competence to make love with a far matured woman. It was

obviously a mystic magnification, not a growth on the scale of

time. Otherwise, too, the poem covers just two days, one of

'vipralambha', separation, and other of 'sambhoga', union.

 

Thus, the Gita Govinda hardly has a narrative character. In fact,

it is a composition beyond set norms of a genre, whatever, lyric,

song, ballad, or poetic drama. Gita Govinda has a lot of dialogue

and action, features of a drama; it comprises a series of moods

and emotional situations, something of a lyrical ballad; its

diction, similes, metaphors, rhymed and metered parts,

imaginative fervor and lyrical quality make it a poem; and, with

great musical quality, that it is endowed with, added to it, it

becomes a song. Breeding a picture on each step, it is like a

movie.

 

Illustration:

http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/narration_of_gita_govinda.jpg

 

Its intense emotional quality makes it a nightingale's song.

Moving the interior, not exterior, it becomes a journey of mind,

or emotional being, not body or brain. It breathes like a breeze

and bounds like a rivulet. Love is its central theme and, whether

monogamous or polygamous, its sanctity is always the same. It

pains Radha that Krishna indulges in love with other Gopis. This

'otherness' of the Gopis is the cause of misery of Radha, the

individual self. It on the contrary delights Krishna, as in him,

in the Supreme Self, this 'otherness' of Gopis dissolves, merges

and gets lost.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/WE80/

 

Obviously, with such generic width and mindset, Jayadeva could

discover the hero of his poem in none else but Krishna. Krishna

alone could be his source, theme and character to reveal a drama

so mundane and so divine. Wreathed into his poetic diction and

dissolved into his imagery, Krishna alone could land on his lips

as his song, could sing for him and melt into his kavyam as its

spirit and body. Krishna alone could be his 'Geeta', song, as he

was Arjuna's Gita in the Mahabharata; 'Katha' of the Bhagavata

Purana; and later, 'Pada', a metered composition, of Surdasa,

mincing and growing to the blind eyes step by step; strength of

Mira, wandering along and tinkling incessantly from her

'ghungharus', bells; tears of the divine experience welling

around the eyes of Chaitanya; 'Marg', path, of Vallabha;

role-model of Keshava's Rasikpriya; poets' verbal transcript and

painters' pictorial transformation; 'Aradhya', object of worship,

of the folded hands; 'Nada', sound of the drum, 'Tala', 'Laya'

and 'Mudrayen', beat, rhythm and gestures of the performer; grace

of the Ultimate; and stay of the transient. Obviously, whatever

Jayadeva sang of him was the source of sensuous delight, but as

much spiritually elevating and benedictory.

 

 

The Theme Of The Gita Govinda

 

The theme of the Gita Govinda is relatively simple. One evening,

when Nand was strolling in the forest along with Krishna, Radha

and others, dark clouds gathered in the sky. Seeing signs of fear

on Krishna's face, Nand asked Radha to take him home.

 

Illustration:

http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/nand_asks_krishna_to_accompany_r

adha.jpg

 

The verse is also interpreted to mean that frightened Krishna,

not Nand, himself asked Radha to take him home. When on way, in

an arbour on Yamuna's bank, Krishna made love with Radha. This

verse, with no apparent link with the rest of the poem, is the

seed of the theme. In the rest of the 'Ashtapadi', a verse

comprising eight stanzas, though this one has eleven, Jayadeva

prays Saraswati and ten Vaishnava incarnations to enable him to

compose his poem and extol Hari.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/book/details/IDF922/

 

The actual theme reveals in the second part of this Canto.

Krishna is out in the forest celebrating the festival of Vasant

and dallying with Gopis. Radha, hit by Love-god's arrows, too, is

searching Krishna, her lover, everywhere but fails to find him.

Around then, her trusted Sakhi informs her how Krishna is engaged

in love with other Gopis. Initially, it hurts Radha and she

condemns him for his infidelity but the heat of passion subdues

her and forgiving his folly she asks her friend to search him and

bring him to her.

 

Radha's Sakhi goes to Krishna, describes to him Radha's sad

plight, her love for him and implores him to go with her and have

love with Radha. Krishna declines but asks her to bring Radha to

his bower and indulges again into his love-game with other Gopis.

Sakhi goes back to Radha. At first, Krishna's attitude infuriates

her but then renewed shots of Love-god's arrows and Sakhi's

persuasive words compel her to agree. However, weakened by the

fever of love and day's long wandering the feeble Radha tumbles

down the moment she attempts to walk. The compassionate Sakhi

again goes to Krishna but only to have the same cool response.

The whole night Krishna keeps dancing and making love with Gopis.

In the morning the red-eyed Krishna encounters Radha who chides

him for his infidelity and pitiless attitude. By now, Krishna had

realized his folly and felt repentant. The Love-god, too, had

renewed his offensive on him. He conciliates Radha and retires

with her into the forest.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/HB89/

 

In an arbour, wreathed with garlands of flowers, on the bed of

Kadamba leaves, they make love, and in the love-war passes the

whole night. Radha, as if avenging his neglect of her, was often

on offensive riding over him. Costumes had deserted her body,

ornaments had fallen and hair disheveled. In the morning, she

commands him to re-arrange her ornaments and comb with his

fingers her disheveled hair, and the enslaved Hari, who defeated

Madhu, the mighty demon,

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/DH66/

 

but himself defeated by Radha's love, complies.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/HB88/

 

 

Gita Govinda: a Singer's Pleasure But a Painter's Problem

 

Krishna's mundane 'Lila' and Jayadeva's unique way of presenting

it turned, in his lifetime itself, into the theme of 'Yatra',

itinerancy, which itinerant performers, while moving from village

to village, sang and staged by it His 'Lila'. Stagecraft was then

a live-tradition and Gita Govinda was found to suit it best. The

bands of these singers could sing it to the prescribed 'Raga',

'Tala' and 'Laya', produce body gestures, assume various forms

and enact the 'Lila. 'Jayadeva's epical expansion of a relatively

simple theme and musical stretch of each verbal phrase were not

much of a challenge to the stage art.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/book/details/IDE370/

 

However, it was not so for a painter who sought to transform them

into the art of canvas; and more so when his canvas was a piece

of simple palm-leaf or tree-bark. A palm-leaf could reproduce

anatomical figures and even their gestures, but it could not have

such variety of colors, their tonal depth and iconographic

precision, which were essential for revealing a 'bhava', emotion,

something that was the very spirit of the Gita Govinda.

 

Illustration:

http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/gita_govinda_on_palm_leaf.jpg

 

In India, palm-leaf as the medium of painting preceded paper and

the Gita Govinda, too, might have been its theme, as it continues

till date. But, epical expansion of Gita Govinda's theme

transformed into the vocabulary of colors, and its verbal phrase,

into a pictorial phrase, only after the paper emerged as the new

medium of painting. Now its every verbal phrase gave forth a

picture, and its epical expansion, long series of its visual

representations. As a result, some of the sets of the Gita

Govinda paintings run into a greater number of folios than do

those illustrating epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata,

though as compared to them, the Gita Govinda has neither that

long chain of events nor that variety of situations.

 

 

Text-Image Relation: A New Dimension of Indian Painting

 

The Gita Govinda was not a text which formal non-contextual

imagery, such as was used in prior illustrative paintings, could

illustrate. It required an image which revealed not only the

contents of the text but also its sentiment, mood, situation, all

shades of an emotion, anguish, anger, passionate yearnings,

pathos and pleasure, as also its music, pastoral setting and

spiritual ambience, and all in a chain, repeating the same

imagery but discovering each time a different shade. The Gita

Govinda paintings are the earliest illustrative paintings that

seek to determine the character of image in relation to the text

and emphasize the significance of text-image relationship, which

provided to all subsequent illustrative paintings the basis for

determining the character of their image.

 

The Gita Govinda paintings also pioneered the multiplicity of

pictorial expressions of a single image, or a couple of them, and

discovered in each farther and farther delight. As a matter of

fact, no other text has inspired such multiple pictorial

expressions, as has done Gita Govinda. The Gita Govinda paintings

emerged as a new thing in each period, each region, under each

patron and each traditional frame. Change in the taste of

patronage might be seen revealing in the Gita Govinda paintings

with mirror-image clarity.

 

Thus, Gita Govinda, despite that it presented many challenges to

painters, was one of their most cherished themes all over and

always, from the far west in Gujarat to the far east in Assam,

and in Himalayan hills, Orissa, Bengal, Rajasthan and Central

India. The illustrator was required to discover a pictorial

imagery, which by its parallelism matched the verbal imagery, its

similes and metaphors. He was required to treat the entire text,

like a musician who took a particular phrase, expanded it into

the time according to a 'Raga', classical mode of singing, and

then returned to repetitive verse forming the 'Sama', the point

where separate rhythms of the metrical cycle coincided. The

illustrator of the Gita Govinda acted in a similar way. He

identified such verbal phrase, which he could expand into an

image and then more phrases and more images creating a cyclic

chain of them. This gave to the Gita Govinda paintings their

pictorial stretch, magnification and numeric width.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/HB28/

 

Text of the Gita Govinda little revealed tangible features of the

image, which further enhanced illustrator's difficulty. The

illustrator was required to discover every time his own image and

represent his own pictorial version of it. Depiction of bodily

gestures was not a problem to a painter; but, to convert a

gesture into a 'Hava', demeanor, which adequately revealed a

'Bhava', emotion, required great artistic skill. Narration or

continuous flow of the verbal phrase could be matched with an

alike flow of imagery, but the pictorial presentation of the text

and its pictorial interpretation were two different things,

especially when the text was pregnant with multiple shades of

meaning, as was the Gita Govinda. The meaning in the Gita Govinda

moved in parallel on sensuous and spiritual planes requiring the

artist to discover a set of imagery, a pictorial idiom, which

revealed the inherent unity of the apparent duality, the oneness

of Krishna, the Supreme Self, and the otherness of Radha, the

individual self. And painters, illustrating Gita Govinda, not

only commendably did it but also discovered the technique, which

enabled the subsequent Indian miniature painting to reveal in

colors a multi-layered meaning such as revealed a text.

 

 

Different Sets Of Gita Govinda Imagery

 

For a better understanding of stylistic variations of imagery in

different sets of the Gita Govinda paintings, a preview of some

major iconographic traditions of Krishna's image would be

helpful. Early Indian texts see Krishna in three forms,

'Aradhya-rupa', 'Vishwa- rupa' and 'Saumya- rupa', that is, his

votive, cosmic and aesthetic images. 'Saumya' is also known as

'Lalita' or 'Lila-rupa'. In texts, his 'Vishwa-rupa' is not a

rarity, in visual arts, it is.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/DG73/

 

His major shrines and art forms have either his 'Aradhya-rupa' or

his 'Lila-rupa'. Perhaps with the only exception of the Puri

shrine, his shrines in Gujarat, entire Rajasthan and other places

enshrine his 'Lila-rupa'.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/HD20/

 

In Rajasthan, his images abound in great stately splendor, the

character of the land. The overall style of Rajasthani painting

tends to have rigorously rendered minute details. This stately

splendor, inclining towards sensualism, and minuteness of details

define the image or rather the overall character of the

Rajasthani Gita Govinda paintings. It has used repetitive imagery

in a single folio not so much for revealing the passage of time

or narrative thrust as in quest of continuously repeating the

same sensuous image over and again. Arbours in Mewar Gita Govinda

paintings are adorned like a palace-garden pavilion prepared

specially for a royal couple.

 

Illustration:

http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/radha_krishna_in_a_garden_pavili

on.jpg

 

The Himalayan Hills have been broadly a Shaivite or Shakt belt

and most of its shrines are devoted to the forms of Shiva or

Devi. However, the art of the region had an intimate and

intrinsic kind of relationship with Krishna. The Pahari painter

saw in him a village lad roaming around his neighborhood, and in

Radha, coy village lass. The Pahari painter was little interested

in his divinity. He was interested instead in his youthful acts

of love and as the one around whom he could more befittingly

portray his pastoral setting, the distinction of his land. This

character of Pahari painting determines as much its image in the

Gita Govinda paintings. Here as fresh is the face of nature as

naïve is the charm of human face. The worlds of man and nature

intermingle and comprise an integral whole. The Pahari artist has

discovered the sensuous image of the Gita Govinda in enchanting

aesthetic beauty and overall pastoral charm rather than in an act

of sensualism.

 

Orissa, on the contrary, enshrined Krishna's 'Aradhya-rupa' at

its supreme Vaishnava shrine at Puri. Orissa imagery seems to

have evolved out of some early folk worship cult. His image is

flanked by the images of his brother Balarama and sister

Subhadra.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/product/PF82/

 

The group seems to represent the foremost of the Vrashnis. Early

scriptures contain references of Vrashnis, the clan to which

Krishna belonged, as worshipping their heroes. Three defaced

Kushana sculptures from Mathura and a few subsequent terracottas

have similar three figures, two male and one female, identified

as Krishna, Balarama and Ekananga, the daughter of Yashoda, their

sister.

 

Illustration: http://www.exoticindia.com/artimages/mathura.jpg

 

In Oriya tradition, Subhadra seems to have replaced Ekananga.

Later, Krishna emerged in Orissa as Jagannatha, the lord of the

creation, far above one of the incarnations of Vishnu. The source

of such elevation of Krishna in Orissa is not known; but,

interestingly, this is also the perception of the Gita Govinda.

The eleventh verse of the first 'Ashtapadi', in Canto one,

summarizes the ten Vaishnava incarnations as those of Krishna,

not Vishnu. Like the Oriya tradition, this 'Ashtapadi', too, does

not include Krishna in ten Vaishnava incarnations. They both

perceive these ten incarnations as the incarnations of Krishna,

not Vishnu. Let scholars determine whether Jayadeva borrowed this

perception from his land, Utkal, or the land from her son.

Despite such elevation, Krishna's imagery retained its prior

Vrashni character. The images of Vrashni-Trio, carved out of

ordinary Neem wood by local carpenters, with no stately splendor

around, still enshrine the Puri shrine. They have also retained

their votive form.

 

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This article by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet. Prof. Jain

specializes on the aesthetics of ancient Indian literature. Dr

Daljeet is the chief curator of the Visual Arts Gallery at the

National Museum of India, New Delhi. They have both collaborated

on numerous books on Indian art and culture.

===========================================

 

For Further Study:

 

Losty, Jeremiah P. - The Art of the Book in India

 

Vatsyayan, Kapila - Mewari Gita Govinda

 

Vatsyayan, Kapila - Jaur Gita Govinda

 

Vatsyayan, Kapila - Bundi Gita Govinda

 

Randhawa, M. S. - Kangra Paintings of the Gita Govinda

 

Keyt, George - Gita Govinda

 

Kulkarni, Dr. V. M. (ed) - Jayadeva's Gitagovinda

 

Mishra, Vidyanivas - Radha Madhav Ranga Rangi

 

Dvivedi, Acharya Shiva Prasad - Gitagovindakavyam

 

Daljeet, Dr. and Jain, P. C. - Indian Miniature Painting :

Manifestation of a Creative Mind

 

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Jaya Sri Radhey!

[Guest guest]

Thank You Dear Pryari Prabhu,This is very Wonderful,and to Love Krsna,Like The

Gopies,Is the Most Wonderful gift,Even For a Man!As we are All Female in Our

Souls,and Krsna is the Only Male!This is Hard To Understand,But I know Krsna Has

My Heart,and To Love Him,Like Radha,Is The Most Wonderful Gift!We all Have

Different Relations To Krsna!To some they See Him as the Almighty Father,And

others See Him ,like a Child,as They are his Parents.Some See Him as Their Best

Friend,Like Arjuna,But The Sweetest way to see Him,is in Conjugal Love,Like The

Gopies!Thankl You dear Pryari ,For This Wonderful translation,And May Love(

Krsna Prema)My sons name, Of Our Dear Lord Krsna Come To Everyone!This is How

The Pastimes of Krsna, As Lord Caitanya,is So Important,As he Seen Krsna Like

the Gopies,And Exhibited these Fealings In His Pastimes,Thank you!

Love ,Your Servant,Jaya Kesava dasa

[Guest guest]

Namaste all. Thanks for your support dear Jaya Kesavadasa prabhu. Hope

you'll also enjoy this old message # 108 posted on my ,

Divine_lovers.

 

Gita Govinda and Gauranga Maha Prabhu

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

All glories to Sri Radhaavatar Caitanya Deva!

 

Here is an excerpt describing how much Lord Caitanya had enjoyed

the " Spring Song " of Gita-Govinda-Kavya by the Rasik Saint Sri

Jayadeva Kaviraja.

 

(Please read the complete song on the next posting)-

 

" On one occasion in Spring... the Lord (Caitanya) went to a garden in

Puri at night... with His devotee.

Beautiful indeed was the garden.It was like a second Vrindavana. It

bloomed with the beauty of trees and creepers.

Through it the wind from the mount of Malaya blew with the fragrance

of flowers...

And as the Lord saw this garden His heart filled with joy.

So the Lord sang in the garden a song with His devotees. And the song

began with the words:

 

" lalita-lavaìga-latä-pariçélana-komala-malaya-samére |

madhukara-nikara-karambita-kokila-küjita-kuïja-kuöére

 

viharati harir iha sarasa-vasante

nåtyati yuvaté-janena samaà sakhi virahi-janasya durante "

 

(The third song (ashtapadi) of 'Gita-Govinda' kavya)

 

The Lord sang this song with His devotees and He went to every tree

and every creeper in the garden. And He went atlast near an ASOKA

tree.

Under the tree the Lord Gauranga suddenly saw His Beloved Lord

Krishna.

And the Lord ran towards His Beloved as He saw Him.

As the Lord Krishna saw our Lord before Him He laughed.

And at a moment He vanished from sight. So the the Lord Caitanya got

His Beloved Krishna but He lost Him immediately.

 

He fell down at once in a trance on the ground there in that

beautiful garden. "

 

(Caitanya Caritamrita, Antyalila XIX-Ray trans., pp.331-2)

 

By singing in Spring, Sri Jayadeva's song about Sri Krishna's Vernal

Play, Sri Caitaya RECEIVES a VISION of the LORD Krishna.

 

The SONG has the POWER to PIERCE TIME, to REACTUALIZE the

PAST 'AMOROUS SPRING when HARI DANCES' in the PRESENT Springtime.

 

There is NO ATTEMPT to ALLEGORIZE the SONG.

 

The Gita-Govinda is QUOTED throughout the Caitanya-Caritamrita. It is

cited as AUTHORITATIVE as if it were a HISTORICAL DOCUMENT rather

than a LITERARY TEXT.

 

Sri Radha, Who historically SPORTED with Sri Krishna, in the earthly

Vrindavana, WHO ETERNALLY SPORTS with Sri Krishna in the Heavenly

Vrindavana, IS NOT AN ALLEGORICAL representation of the DEVOTEE or

the DEVOTEE'S SOUL (jiva),

but HER RELATIONSHIP with Lord Krishna is PARADIGMATIC of WHAT the

DEVOTEE'S RELATIONSHIP with Sri Krishna OUGHT TO BE.

 

The devotee MUST REALIZE that 'jiva' and 'Bhagavan' are the " SAME and

YET DIFFERENT " , like LOVERS, LIKE RADHA and KRISHNA.

 

The 'Gita-Govinda' had the POWER, for the midieval VAISHNAVAS of

BENGAL, to PROMPT that REALIZATION and POWER to MANIFEST the LORD.

 

(Source-Sacred and Profane Dimensions of Love in Indian Traditions as

Exemplified in the Gita-Govinda of Jayadeva- by Lee Siegel)

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

 

 

Dr. Jaya

USA

 

, " Jaya Kesava Dasa " <krsnajoe wrote:

>

> Thank You Dear Pryari Prabhu,This is very Wonderful,and to Love

Krsna,Like The Gopies,Is the Most Wonderful gift,Even For a Man!As we

are All Female in Our Souls,and Krsna is the Only Male!

 

>This is How The Pastimes of Krsna, As Lord Caitanya,is So

Important,As he Seen Krsna Like the Gopies,And Exhibited these

Fealings In His Pastimes,Thank you!

>

Love ,Your Servant,Jaya Kesava dasa

>

[Guest guest]

Correction: The message # 109 - not 108

It can be read at:

Divine_Lovers/message/109

 

, pyari_h <no_reply wrote:

>

> Namaste all. Thanks for your support dear Jaya Kesavadasa prabhu. Hope

> you'll also enjoy this old message # 108 posted on my ,

> Divine_lovers.

[Guest guest]

Dear Pyari Dasi,Please Accept My most Humble Obiesances!All glories to Sri Sri

Guru and Gauranga!

Wow ,Thank You again,For Such a Blissfull Pastime, of Krsna And Lord

Caitanya,Who is Also Krsna Himself!I very Happilly Read it,and it brought Tears

to my Eyes!You are an Ocean of Mercy,By Your Intimate Knowledge, of the

Wonderful Pastimes of the Lord,In all his Incarnations ,Espessally the Gopies

and thier beloved Krsna!I am looking foeward to more stories ,that bring tears

to my eyes,Love,Your Humble Servant,Jaya Kesava Dasa

 

 

 

-

pyari_h

[Guest guest]

Namaste dear Jaya Kesavadas.

Wonderful! I am glad to know that my purpose of posting on the board

has been served, the devotees' devotional feelings for the Lord are

being encouraged and strengthened.

 

I was able to study many devotional Scriptures on my recent pilgrimage

and it is my pleasure to share the inspiring information and

experience with all of you, the seekers of Beloved God.

 

Thanks for your support.

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

 

 

Dr. Jaya

USA

 

, " Jaya Kesava Dasa " <krsnajoe wrote:

>

> Dear Pyari Dasi,Please Accept My most Humble Obiesances!I very

Happilly Read it,and it brought Tears to my Eyes!You are an Ocean of

Mercy,By Your Intimate Knowledge, of the Wonderful Pastimes of the

Lord,In all his Incarnations ,Espessally the Gopies and thier beloved

Krsna!I am looking foeward to more stories ,that bring tears to my eyes,

> -

> pyari_h

>