0990.Encounters With Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Poem by christopher Lee

'Oh Lord, I ask not for wealth or followers, or for poetic genius. May my motiveless devotion to Thee continue in me whenever I take birth.' -Lord Gauranga
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Shri Ramakrishna asked Tarapada to continue singing

Tarapada sang two more songs.

In the first, Nitai exhorts people to share Radha's love for Sri Krishna:


Come one and all! Take Radha's love!
The high tide of her love flows by;
It will not last for very long.
Oh, come then! Come ye, one and all!
In countless streams it flows from her;
As much as you desire is yours.
Made all of love, she pours out love
Unstintingly for everyone;
Her love intoxicates the heart
With heavenly bliss, and thrills the soul.
Oh, come and sing Lord Hari's name,
Drawn by her love. Oh, come ye all!


Radha’s Love: Madhurya Bhava

The culmination of Bhakti is reached in Madhurya-Bhava. The lover and the Beloved become one through the intensity of love. Radha had this type of love. In Madhurya-bhava there is the closest relationship between the devotee and the Lord. There is no sensuality in Madhurya-Bhava. There is no tinge of carnality in it. Passionate people cannot understand this Bhava as their minds are saturated with passion and lower sexual appetite. In the secular sphere the only “love” which approaches this Bhava to an appreciable nearness is the love, a grown-up son has to his mother. Here, there is not even a semblance of the sex-element prevalent. Is there the least carnality in the love, a son has for his mother? Sufistis saints also have the Bhava of lover and the beloved (Madhurya-Bhava) . Gita Govinda written by Jaya Deva is full of Madhurya-Rasa. The language of love which the mystic uses cannot be comprehended by worldly persons. Only Gopis, Radha, Mira, Tukkaram, Narada, Hafiz, can understand the language.

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Next he sang about Gauranga (Krishna Chaitanya)


Who art Thou, Gaur of the golden hue,
That quenchest the thirst of my soul?
Thou raisest a storm in the sea of Love,
And scarcely can I steady my boat.
Once as a cowherd boy in Vrindavan
Thou didst tend the cows;
In Thy hands Thou heldest the flute
That so bewitched the gopi maids;
Lifting Govardhan's mount in Thine arms,
Thou shieldedst Vrindavan from ill;
And at the wounded gopis' feet
Humbledst Thyself in repentant love.

About Lord Gauranga:

He is another jewel from the great place, West Bengal

Pundit Jagannath Misra, alias Purandar Misra, a pious Brahmin of the Vaidik sub-caste, had migrated from Sylhet and settled at Nadia or Nabadwip, a city of learned men in the Nabadwip district of West Bengal, situated on the river Ganges, seventy-five miles north of Calcutta. Jagannath Misra's wife was Sachi Devi, daughter of the scholar Nilamber Chakravarti. She also was a pious lady. A son was born to Jagannath Misra and Sachi on the night of the full moon, on 4th February,1486 A.D., at Nabadwip.
The newborn child was named Viswambar. He was the tenth child of Jagannath Misra and Sachi Devi. The first eight-all daughters-died soon after their birth. The ninth was Viswarup, a son. He abandoned the world at sixteen when he was being forced to marry and entered a monastery in South India. The women, thinking that Sachi had lost many children, gave the tenth child, Viswambar, the bitter name of Nimai (derived from the name of the Neem tree) as a protection against all evil influences. The neighbours called him Gaur or Gaur-Hari or Gauranga (fair-complexioned) on account of his marvellous beauty. Gaur means fair and Anga means body; and they called him Gaur-Hari, because he was so fond of the name 'Hari' that nothing could soothe him, when he cried during childhood, save Hari's name.
At the age of twenty-four, Gauranga got himself initiated by Swami Keshava Bharati under the name of 'Krishna Chaitanya', usually shortened into 'Chaitanya'. His mother, the tender-hearted Sachi, was heartbroken. But Chaitanya consoled her in every possible way and carried out her wishes. He bore deep love and reverence for his mother till the end of his life.
Chaitanya was extremely dispassionate. He abandoned all sorts of sensual pleasures as poison. He was very strict in observing the rules of Sannyasa. He declined to grant an interview to Raja Pratap Rudra of Orissa, because it is a great sin for a Sannyasin to see a king. It is as sinful as looking at a woman. If a Sannyasin sees a Raja or a king, gradually he will be attached to the Raja. As the mind has the habit of imitating, the Sannyasin also will begin to lead a life of luxury and have a downfall eventually. That is the reason why a Sannyasin is prohibited from seeing a Raja. Gauranga never saw a woman in the face. He did not allow any woman to approach him. He slept on the ground with bare body.
Gauranga was a great Vaishnavite preacher. He disseminated the doctrines and principles of Vaishnavism far and wide. Nityananda, Sanatan, Rupa, Swarup Damodar, Advaitacharya, Sribas, Haridas, Murari, Gadadhar and others helped Chaitanya in his mission.

Here is an excellent composition of Gauranga which I like very much:
Chetodarpana Marjanain Bhava Mahadavagni Nirvapanam
Sreyah Kairava Chandrikaa Vitaranam Vidhyavadhoo Jivanam;
Anandambudhi Vardhanam Pratipadam Purnamrita Swadanam
Sarvatmasnapanam Param Vijayate Sri Krishna Sankirtanam.
'Glorified above all is the chanting of the various names of Krishna which cleanses the mirror of Chitta (sub-conscious) , which extinguishes the great forest fire of the succession of births and rebirths, which operates like the moonbeam upon the white lily of spiritual well-being, which is the elixir of life of the bride Vidya, which makes the ocean of bliss swell, which gives the chanter the fullest enjoyment of that divine love at the utterance of each word, and which bathes the mind and the senses in divine bliss.'—Gauranga
See you in the next episode

Jai Kali

11 7 2010