Letter 93 - Guru-Pādapadma’s omniscience,...

Guru-pādapadma’s omniscience • Śrī Rādhāṣṭamī is more glorious than Śrī Kṛṣṇāṣṭamī • Kamala Mañjarī’s prayers to serve Śrī Rādhā • Śrī guru’s position as an intimate associate of Śrī Rādhā is what makes him guru

श्री श्री गुरु-गौराङ्गौ जयतः

śrī śrī guru-gaurāṅgau jayataḥ

Śrī Vinoda-bihārī Gauḍīya Maṭha, 28 Haldar Bagan Lane, Kolkata–4 4/10/1987

Snehāspadāsu—

Mā——! … I am well as usual. Understanding that you are passing your days in mental turmoil due to not having the darśana of guru and Vaiṣṇavas for many a day, the omniscient Lord in the heart (antaryāmī) has made arrangements. If you feel that by this you have gained some mental peace, then I will consider my efforts worthwhile. Gaining the opportunity to directly serve śrī guru and Vaiṣṇavas does not occur due to some meagre fortune but as the fruit of many lifetimes of accumulated sukṛti.

I am delighted to know that daily you are practising and reciting “Gopīnātha, Mama Nivedana Śuno” and other songs of the mahājanas. Why Śrī Rādhāṣṭamī is more merciful than Śrī Kṛṣṇa-janmāṣṭamī is something you can only experience yourself. The glories of both have been revealed by the male and female parrot couple. In their dialogue, the superiority of Śrīmatī Rādhikā’s glories over those of Śrī Madana-mohana Śrī Kṛṣṇa has been broadcast.

Śrī Rādhārāṇī is Sevārāṇī (Queen of Service) and,

युगल-प्रेमेर गुरु

yugala-premera guru^[1]

“The guru of prema for the Divine Couple”. 

The worthiness and qualification to attain the service of Śrī Kṛṣṇa is only obtained by being in the guidance of the sakhīs and mañjarīs who are under Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s guidance.

It is to attain this mood alone that ‘Śrī Kamala Mañjarī Sakhī’, as a poet, has conveyed: 

छोडत पुरुषाभिमान,
किङ्करी हैलु आजि कान;
वरज-विपिने सखि-साथ,
सेवन करिबो राधानाथ

Choḍata puruṣābhimāna,
kiṅkarī hailu āji kāna;
varaja-vipine sakhi-sātha,
sevana karibo rādhānātha^[2]

“O Kāna, having abandoned male ego, today I have become a maidservant. In the forests of Vraja, in the company of the sakhīs, I will render service, O Lord of Rādhā.”

आमि तो स्वानन्द-सुखद-वासी,
राधिका माधव-चरण-दासी;
दुहार मिलन आनन्द करि,
दुहार वियोगे दुःखेते मरि

Āmi to svānanda-sukhada-vāsī,
rādhikā mādhava-caraṇa-dāsī;
duhāra milana ānanda kari,
duhāra viyoge duḥkhete mari^[3]

“I am a resident of Svānanda-sukhada-kuñja, a maidservant of Rādhikā-Mādhava’s feet. I delight in Their meeting and perish in the sorrow of Their separation.”

राधा-पद विना कभु कृष्ण नाहि मिले,
राधार दासीर कृष्ण सर्व-वेदे बोले

Rādhā-pada vinā kabhu kṛṣṇa nāhi mile,
rādhāra dāsīra kṛṣṇa sarva-vede bole^[4]

“Without the feet of Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa can never be found. All the Vedas say Kṛṣṇa belongs to the maidservants of Rādhā.”

आतप-रहित सुरज नाहि जानि, राधा-विरहित माधव नाहि मानि;
केवल माधव पूजये सो अज्ञानी, राधा-अनादर कर-इ अभिमानी;
ब्रह्मा शिव नारद श्रुति नारायणी, राधिका पद-रज पूजये मानि

Ātapa-rahita suraja nāhi jāni, rādhā-virahita mādhava nāhi māni;
kevala mādhava pūjaye so ajñānī, rādhā-anādara kara-i abhimānī;
brahmā śiva nārada śruti nārāyaṇī, rādhikā pada-raja pūjaye māni^[5]

“Without light, I cannot know the Sun. I do not accept Mādhava isolated from Rādhā. He who worships only Mādhava is ignorant. Only an egotistical person disregards Rādhā. Brahmā, Śiva, Nārāda, the personified Vedas, and Nārāyāṇī [Lakṣmī]–all worship Rādhikā’s footdust.”

संसारे आसिया, प्रकृति भजिया, पुरुषाभिमाने मरि;
कृष्ण दयामय, प्रपञ्चे उदय, हैला आमार लागि

Saṃsāre āsiyā, prakṛti bhajiyā, puruṣābhimāne mari;
kṛṣṇa dayāmaya, prapañce udaya, hailā āmāra lāgi^[6]

“Entering material existence and worshipping material nature, I perish under the influence of male ego. But Kṛṣṇa is merciful and has arisen in this realm of five elements for my sake.”

Without Śrī Rādhārāṇī’s guidance, service to Śrī Kṛṣṇa is not attained. It is only because She considers guru and Vaiṣṇavas Her nija-jana (own people) that they attain the defining characteristics of guru and Vaiṣṇava. Śrī guru-pādapadma is the personification of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. Therefore, he too is merciful, compassionate. The sādhaka and sādhikā attain realization of all this in the perfected stage.

You all please accept my affectionate blessings. Iti—

Your eternal well-wisher,
Śrī Bhaktivedānta Vāmana

Footnotes and references:

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[1]:

Śaraṇāgati^and Gītamālā^, Vṛṣabhānu^- sutā (3) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

[2]:

Śaraṇāgati^, Choḍata Puruṣābhimāna (1–2) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

[3]:

Śaraṇāgati, Āmi To Svānanda-sukhada-vāsī (1–2) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

[4]:

Gītāvalī, Rādhikā-caraṇa-padma (5) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

[5]:

Gītāvalī, Rādhā-bhajane Jadi Mati Nāhi Bhelā (2–3, 6) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

[6]:

Kalyāṇa-kalpataru, Bahirmukha Ha’ye Māyāre Bhajiye (3) by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura