Devotional/Love Songs

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Perhaps the most famous example of a song in Western culture which has both devotional and mundane romantic significance is the Song of Solomon (AKA "Song of Songs"), from the Bible.

 

From Mahaprabhu's pastimes, we hear of Him enigmatically (to some) singing a popular love song of the day.

 

I wrote the following about 8 years ago to my soon-to-be-ex-wife, but, in time (or, perhaps, at the time) realized that the sentiments expressed can also apply to Sri Guru.

 

Servant

 

by MM

 

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Chorus

Servant of Srimati Radharani

Bless me with your sweetest glance

I am fallen, yes it's true

But I find I rise with you

 

Verse:

The way you sing Her Holy Name

Makes me want to feel the same

The garland you lovingly string

Carries my glance to the Supreme

 

Chorus 2

Servant of Srimati Radharani

Bless me with your sweetest glance

I am wretched, yes it's true

But I find I rise with you

 

Repeat Verse & Chorus 2

[theist]

Nice Murali.

 

I never heard that about Mahaprabhu and the love song. Can see it though. After all everything here is a perverted reflection of sentiments There so it makes sense that one free from perverted sense perception would only hear and see the everything in it's purified state.

 

One can certainly glimpse the conjugal mood in the Song of Soloman.

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

I never heard that about Mahaprabhu and the love song. Can see it though. After all everything here is a perverted reflection of sentiments There so it makes sense that one free from perverted sense perception would only hear and see the everything in it's purified state.

 

I wish I knew the source of that story (which I've heard from reliable sources (though my memory is poor, no doubt)). If not Chaitanya Charitamrita, perhaps it was Chaitanya Bhagavat.

 

 

One can certainly glimpse the conjugal mood in the Song of Soloman.

 

We know how you like your "pomegranates"--so do I!!

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Here's another one. It's acoustic (except for the electric clock ticking in the background), for those who don't like the techno-tinged stuff.

 

If I Close My Heart

 

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By MM

 

If I close my heart

Would it hurt any less

And if it did would I find

I miss the pain

 

You bring me comfort

And joyful song

I pray my suffering

To prolong

 

Chorus:

I've been a fool

I've been a king

But being doesn't hardly

Mean a thing

If I don't

Long for you

 

If I eat my pride

Would I shine any less

And if I did would I find

I'd see you better

 

You bring me closer

To my one true home

I am blessed ten times

By the love you've shown

 

Chorus

[Murali_Mohan_das]

An excerpt (hand-transcribed) from the amazing "The Erotic Priciple and Unalloyed Devotion", attributed to Professor Sanyal, with a forward by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati (though some attribute the entire pamphlet to Srila Saraswati Prabhupada).

 

***

The sexual principle is a misunderstood symbol of the reality. It can no more be banished from our consciousness than the consciousness itself. The male and female forms are also not the sole and distinctive possessions of this world. There is a reality behind them as well. The soul has a body which is symbolized by the female form and which is absolutely free from any unwholesome material association. Our present objection to the female form is due to the egotistic principle which for the same reason does not object or rather, readily enough adopts the male form as more properly representing the pure little soul. This repugnance to the female form prevents us from unprejudiced examination of the position and functions of the milkmaids of Braja. The recognition of the female sex is a necessary factor of our conception of amorous love. The amorous love is the highest subject of human poetry and the most powerful factor in all human activities. Its worthlessness is not established by the mere refusal to recognize it as a part of our nature. It would be much more to the purpose to try to understand what it really is. The Srimad Bhagavat is the only book that furnishes a satisfactory answer to this all-important question.

***

[Murali_Mohan_das]

 

From Mahaprabhu's pastimes, we hear of Him enigmatically (to some) singing a popular love song of the day.

Thanks to a friend, I found the quote from Chaitanya Charitamrita (Madhya 1:57):

 

(My friend says it wasn't a "pop song", though, but it also wasn't from any of the usual scriptures)

 

 

CC Madhya 1.57: In that ecstasy, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recited a verse when dancing in front of Lord Jagannātha. Almost no one could understand the meaning of that verse.

CC Madhya 1.58: "That very personality who stole away my heart during my youth is now again my master. These are the same moonlit nights of the month of Caitra. The same fragrance of mālatī flowers is there, and the same sweet breezes are blowing from the kadamba forest. In our intimate relationship, I am also the same lover, yet still my mind is not happy here. I am eager to go back to that place on the bank of the Revā under the Vetasī tree. That is my desire."

CC Madhya 1.59: This verse appears to be the hankering between some ordinary boy and girl, but its actual deep meaning was known only to Svarūpa Dāmodara. By chance, one year Rūpa Gosvāmī was also present there.

CC Madhya 1.60: Although the meaning of the verse was known only to Svarūpa Dāmodara, Rūpa Gosvāmī, after hearing it from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, immediately composed another verse that described the meaning of the original verse.

CC Madhya 1.61: After composing this verse, Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote it on a palm leaf and put it on the roof of the thatched house in which he was living.

 

Now I'm going away. Really I am.

[Beggar]

 

 

Now I'm going away. Really I am.

 

I thought James Brown was dead? Evidently not. Then before you go, brother, can you sing "Don't go"? Yeah, you probably can't even remember your own lyrics. It goes something like this.

 

Please, please, please, please me (You don't have to go)

Baby please, baby please, please me (You don't have to go)

Baby please, baby please don't go (You don't have to go)

Don't go, I said baby, don't baby

I love you so (You don't have to go)

 

Baby, you know you broke my heart when you went away (You don't have to go)

I said, I said, I said I'll see you some other day (You don't have to go)

I said, baby, baby, please, don't go (You don't have to go)

Don't go, no baby, no baby

I love you so (You don't have to go)

 

Take this pain from my heart

 

Baby, let me take you by the hand (You don't have to go)

Baby, baby let me, let me be your lover man (You don't have to go)

Baby please, baby please don't go (You don't have to go)

Don't go, I said baby, don't baby

I love you so (You don't have to go)

 

Please, please, please, please me (You don't have to go)

Baby please, baby please, please me (You don't have to go)

Baby please, baby please don't go (You don't have to go)

Don't go, I said baby, don't baby

I love you so (You don't have to go)

 

Please please me

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Is This the End (Or Just the End of the Beginning)?

by MM

June 2007

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You're trying to pick a fight

When I'd rather be swinging [sinning]

Is this the end

Or just the end of the beginning?

 

We flew into each other's arms

Despite our many misgivings

Each seeking a replacement [solace]

[Over] For our broken playthings

 

I talked about God

'Til it hurt your head

My greatest delusions

Tend to be breast-fed

 

You showed me your wedding album

Brought a smile to my lips

Thoroughly pacified me

With your womanly hips

 

Then you pulled a knife out

And stuck it in my soul

I never wanted to wrestle with you

You can have your control

 

Now I'm walking away from you

Weeping in the rain

Wondering if you'll ever want

To see me like this again

 

You called my bluff

I called your bluff

We both lose

Life is rough

When we're servants of our minds

And not the Lord of our hearts

 

I saw a side of you

I had longed to see

I prayed so hard that somehow you

Would not see right through me

 

Our fears got the best of us

With lamentation I do say

Perhaps sometime we'll meet again

On a fearless day

[Murali_Mohan_das]

Giving credit where it is due, that's "Crowd" making a guest appearance on bass guitar on "Is This the End".