Santa-Rasa in Vraja

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Santa-Rasa in Vraja

 

Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari

 

"Great devotees view the world through the lens of their bhava, and

this may afford them different angles of vision at different times.

Therefore, on issues that lie beyond our present realization, it is

best to respect the opinions of great souls, even when we cannot fully

understand them."

 

Q. We read that Caitanya Mahaprabhu placed his feet on the head of Rupa

Goswami and then he could understand his teachings, and in

Brhad-bhagavatamrta, it says that Gopa Kumara placed his hand on the

Mathura brahmana's head and awakened him to the treasure of pure love

(prema). So my question is what is the inner meaning of direct contact

in the transmission of spiritual knowledge, and on which plane of

existence does it take place?

 

A. The example of Sri Rupa Goswami and that of the Mathura brahmana

both seek to teach us the same principle, yet they differ in that Rupa

Goswami was a learned scholar and the Mathura brahmana was not.

Regardless of whether one is scripturally learned or not, to realize

the absolute truth one must be blessed. Revelation is transrational.

The act of devotion and the divine sympathy that it draws transcends

logic. Giving does not logically mandate that one will receive, but our

experience is that it does.

 

Both of the examples you have cited also tell us that sadhu-sanga is

mandatory for spiritual advancement. In fact, just a moment of

sadhu-sanga can change a person's life forever. This sadhu-sanga

manifests on the physical, mental, and intellectual planes and

ultimately affects our soul. Indeed, it has its origin in the plane of

the soul, or the pure heart of a Vaisnava. As Srila Sridhara Maharaja

so eloquently put it, "The will of the Vaisnava is the heart of the

affair."

 

Great souls represent Sri Krsna, so if they become sympathetic to our

plight and attracted to our sincerity, so too does Bhagavan. In this

way his blessing is bestowed and one advances in spiritual life.

Indeed, even if a brahmana blesses someone, Bhagavan sees to it that

his or her blessing will be fruitful, what to speak of the blessing of

the Vaisnava. Thus anyone who approaches a Vaisnava with sincerity, be

they otherwise qualified or not, will over time come to know Krsna.

 

However, one should also be very wary of anyone who claims that they

can give people prema simply by physical contact. Such claims are often

post-dated checks that come with terms and conditions that ultimately

render them null and void. If someone says, "Simply by my touch I can

give your you prema, but you must do this and that before I will do

so," such a person is suspect. While there may be devotees capable of

giving prema simply by touch, as Sri Caitanya did, they do not attach

such an extraordinary benediction to any particular standard of

sincerity, surrender, or spiritual practice. Nor did they advertise

themselves as one who has attained prema. Indeed, Sri Caitanya said

just the opposite, "Not a scent of prema can be found in me."

 

Q. You wrote that the verse beginning with srutam apy aupanisadam dure

hari-kathamrtat was spoken by Caitanya Mahaprabhu, but in Padyavali is

it attributed to Bhagavan Vyasa. Any comment?

 

A. What you say is true, however, Sri Jiva Goswami writes in

Bhakti-sandarbha:

 

ataeva gitam kali-yuga-pavanavatarena sri-bhagavata-srutam apy

aupanisadam dure hari-kathamrtam yan na santi

dravac-citta-kampasru-pulakadayam

 

"Therefore, Kali-yuga pavana (Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu) said, 'The

Upanisads are far from the nectar talks of Hari, and thus they do not

make the heart melt, the body tremble, the body's hairs stand erect,

and eyes become filled with tears.' " In other words, he attributed

this verse to Sri Caitanya.

 

Perhaps the two notions of the origin of this verse can be harmonized

by Sanatana Goswami's statement to Mahaprabhu, tumi vakta bhagavatera,

"You are the original speaker (Vyasa) of the Bhagavatam."

 

Q. In Caitanya-caritamrta and Gaura-ganoddesa-dipika, there are

descriptions about devotees from Krsna lila that appeared with Sri

Caitanya to assist in his divine pastimes, but there is no mention of

Krsna's dear friend Madhumangala. Who did Madhumangala appear as in Sri

Caitanya's pastimes?

 

A. To the well-informed, Madhumangala reveals himself to be Srivasa

Thakura in the following verse from Caitanya-caritamrta, suni'

premavese nrtya kare srinivasa kaksa-tali bajaya, kare atta-atta hasa:

"Srivasa Thakura then began to dance in ecstatic love. He vibrated

sounds by slapping his armpits with the palms of his hands, and he

laughed very loudly." (Madhya 14.230) Srivasa did this while discussing

the mellows of Sri Krsna's Vraja-lila. Although he is often identified

with Narada Muni, Narada is identifed with Madhumangala in the

literature of the Vrndavana Goswamis.

 

Q. The soul's rasa with Krsna is said to be eternal, but what about the

possibility of being attracted to a different relationship and changing

one's eternal rasa with Krsna?

 

A. The nature of rasa is that it is so fulfilling that each devotee

feels his or her rasa is the best. This is a devotee's subjective

reality. Sri Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami explains it like this, nija

nija bhava sabe srestha kari' mane nija-bhave kare krsna-sukha

asvadane: "Each kind of devotee feels that his sentiment is the best,

and thus in that sentiment he relishes great happiness with Krsna." It

should also be noted that dasya, sakhya, vatsalya, and madhurya are the

four prominent rasas of Vraja that Mahaprabhu came to distribute. None

can function without the others, and thus they are interrelated and

serve to bring out the best in one another. It is only when we examine

these sentiments from a neutral position (tatastha vicara) that we can

conclude that one is more excellent than another. Because the nature of

one's rasa is such that it fully satisfies the soul and causes one to

think that one's particular loving sentiment is best, there is no

question of changing it on one's own part, nor on the part of Krsna.

 

However, one's primary sentiment can at times recede to the background

while a secondary sentiment that is competent to rise to the level of

rasa takes precedence. In this way perfected devotees taste different

rasas. For example, one in sakhya rasa, which is a primary rasa, may

also taste hasya (comic) rasa or vira (heroic) rasa, both of which are

secondary rasas. Furthermore, while some devotees are fixed exclusively

in one sentiment, other devotees' love for Krsna is constituted of

combined sentiments, such as sakhya and madhurya, sakhya and vatsalya,

or sakhya and dasya.

 

Q. In your Sanga "The Perfect Commentary on Vedanta-sutra," you touched

on the issue of apparently contradictory statements from Gaudiya

acaryas regarding the existence of santa rasa in Krsna's Vraja-lila. In

some circles this is quite a controversial subject, so can you address

this further?

 

A. Sri Krsna is known as Rasaraja. This name implies that he tastes all

rasas, and it refers to him in his Vraja-lila. From this it should be

clear that he does taste santa-rasa in Vraja. This is also confirmed in

Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu 4.3.85. There Sri Rupa writes that Krsna tasted

santa-rasa along with all other expressions of sacred aesthetic rapture

while lifting Govardhana Hill. In this example Sri Krsna tastes

santa-rasa from the vantage point of the shelter (asraya alambana) of

santa-rasa. Later in Mathura he tasted santa-rasa from the vantage

point of the object (visaya alambana) of love when he was wrestling in

Kamsa's arena (SB 10.43.17). Therein it is clearly stated that the

sages present experienced santa-rasa in relation to Sri Krsna. Such

sages may very well include persons like Durvasa, who also resides in

Vraja proper. So santa-rasa is expressed in his Vraja-lila within

Mathura mandala.

 

At the same time, Krsna's Vraja-lila is primarily characterized by love

that is devoid of reverence, and thus it is often said to begin with

sakhya-rasa. Brahmaji described all of Vrndavana as being permeated by

sakhya-rasa when he told Sri Krsna, aho bhagyam, aho bhagyam nanda gopa

vrajaukasam yan mitram paramanandam purna brahma sanatanam: "Oh, how

fortunate, Oh, how fortunate, are the Vrajavasis of Nanda gopa, for the

supreme bliss and complete, eternal Brahman is their friend." Thus

everything and everyone in Vraja is touched by friendship. Everything

and everyone is also touched by the influence of romantic love that

Krsna's Vraja-lila is centered on.

 

Bhaktivinoda Thakura acknowledges that santa-rati is present to some

extent in the Vraja-lila when he writes in Jaiva Dharma, "At first I

thought that there was no santa-rati in the devotees of Vraja, but now

I see that it is present in them to a limited extent. " In the same

book, however, he also writes, "Santa-rasa is absent in Vraja." Perhaps

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura sought to clarify Bhaktivinoda

Thakura's statements when in his commentaries to Upadesamrta and

Caitanya-caritamrta he attributed santa-rati to the nonhuman species

and apparently inanimate objects of Vraja, such as cows, rivers, hills,

and Krsna's flute. However, Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura has

attributed sahkya-rasa to the hills of Vraja and vatsalya-rati to Sri

Krsna's cows. So there are different opinions among acaryas, and human

reasoning renders any of these opinions problematic.

 

For example, while there is reason to believe that Vraja's cows are in

vatsalya-rasa, their relationship with Sri Krsna is also one of being

protected by Gopala. Anyone who raises cows knows that they are as much

children in need of protection and constant care as they are mothers,

and at least in Dvaraka, Krsna's children are considered to be in

dasya-rasa. Krsna's cows are also his istadevata and thus worshipable

by him. Furthermore, why do we find that Radha and Govinda are not

inhibited in front of Vraja's bovines as they are before human elders

relishing vatsalya-rati? After all, vatsayla and madhurya-rasa are not

compatible. Neither are santa and madhurya-rasas compatible for that

matter. Mahadeva and Brahma are said to have taken birth in Varsana and

Nandagrama as hills; are they in sakhya-rasa? Sakhya-rasa is exchanged

between equals. The gopis attribute a male gender to Krsna's flute at

one time and a female gender at another time. Is it male, female,

neither of these, or both? Sometimes the creepers of Vraja are thought

to be tasting madhurya-rati, but what is the nature of this

madhurya-rati and how can it compare to that of the gopis themselves?

 

Great devotees view the world through the lens of their bhava, and this

may afford them different angles of vision at different times.

Furthermore, some of Sri Krsna's devotees experience the suddha-rati

known as svaccha (transparent), in which they taste the rati of those

with whom they associate, moving between santa, dasya, sakhya, and

madhurya. Therefore, on issues that lie beyond our present realization,

it is best to respect the opinions of great souls, even when we cannot

fully understand them.

 

Questions or comments may be submitted at the Q&A Forum:

http://www.swami.org/sanga/ or email sangaeditor (AT) swami (DOT) org.

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