Desikasthothramala-Gopalavimsathi

[Guest guest]

PrathyAleeDasThithim aDHigathAmprApthagADAngapAlim

paschAdheeshanmilithanayanAm prEyseem prEkshamANah

BhasthrAyanthrapraNihithakarah bhakthjeevAthuravyAth

vAreekreedAnibidavasanah vallaveevallabhO nah (Gpopalavimsati-19)

 

He

will protect us who, is the lover of gopis and the very life. force of His bhakthas. He is (seen here )

holding his dear one in a tight embrace from behind and looking at her , who

has her right leg in front as if to go so that she could not escape, which made

her close her eyes slightly with joy, and with the basthrAyanthra( the

instrument used in sprinkling water during holi)in His hand, tying up His

garment ready to play with water.

 

PrthyaleeDa is the

pose opposite to that of shooting an arrow which is AleeDa, with left

leg in front.The scene describes the festival of holi when Krishna

plays with the gopis.

 

There

are two ways to mukthi, rasAsvadha, or experiencing the joy of union

with the Lord and brahmajnana, through meditation or jnanamarga.The

upanishad says, 'rasO vai sah;rasam hOvAyamlabDhva Anandhee bhavathi.'

Brahman or Narayana is the rasa and attaining Him is the bliss. Rasa, Anandha

and Brahman are synonymous terms.

 

The

rasakreeda signifies the jivas enjoying the bliss with the Lord. The sages see

the leela of the Lord in the world where all the jivas are around Him holding

His hand.So the whole world is the brindavan and the leela of the Lord in

creating sustaining and annihiating is the rasakreeda. RAsa is also

termed as the collection of all the five vaishnava rasas, namely,dAsya, sakhya,

vAtsalya,madhura and shantha.

 

To

those who criticise the rasleela the answer would be that Krishna

was only 10 when he was in Brindavan and where does eroticism figure? Parikshit

himself was ignorant on this aspect and asked Shuka how is it justified for one

who incarnated for dharmasamsthapana to

play with the wives of others. And Shuka replied,

gOpeenAm thathpatheenAm cha

sarvEshAmEva dhEhinAm yO anthascharathi so aDHyakshah kreedanEna iha

dhEhabhavah

 

The

one who is the indweller of the gopis and their husbands and all beings and the

witness self, is now playing in physical

form.

 

Srimadbhagavatha

says,

rEmE ramESO vrajasundareebhih

yaTHA arbakah svaprathibimba vibhramah.

 

The

Lord of Lakshmi enjoyed the company of the cowherd damsels as a child will

revel in his own reflections.

The

whole of Bhagavatha is considered to be the sarira of the Lord and the five

adhyayas describing rasakreeda are the prANasThAna. It is bhakthyAh

parA kAshTA na sringArasya . It is the height of devotion and not of

physical desire.It is said in Bhagavatha that the husbands never felt the

absence of their

wives

during the nights of rasakreeda because their yogasariras were with Krishna while their bhogasariras were at home

doing their duty. As the gopis saw only Krishna

everywhere their love for their kith and kin only increased,and for the same

reason it was reciprocated.

 

 

Vedantadesika in his yadhavabhyudhaya mentions that the

brahmacharya of Krishna was not in any way

affected,'na brhmachryam bibhidhE thadheeyam, and Appayyadikshita , a

leading exponent of advaita, writing commentary on this work says that this is

because everythng is His sarira and He was embracing His own sarira. He quotes

the PAdhmOttharakAnda from PadmapuraNa where Lord Siva tells Parvathi,

who raised the same question, that it is like 'svasariraparishvanga' embracing oneself.

 

The

one who related the story is a parivrajaka brahmajnani and the one to

whom it is told is Parikshit, paramabhagavtha and those who listened

were rshis. All jivas are women and He alone is the Purusha.

 

 

vAso hrthvA dhinakarasuthA sanniDHou vallaveenAm

leelAsmErO jayathi lalithAm AsThithah kundhaSAkhAm

savreedAsthadhanu vasanE thAbhirabhyarThamAnE

kAmee kaschith karakamalayOh anjalim yAchamAnah

(Gopalavimsati-20)

 

The

wonderful lover of all, wins (all hearts), he who robbed the gopis of their

clothes on the bank of Yamuna and ascended the

graceful branch of the kundha

tree and with a playful smile demanded that they should entreat Him with

folded hands when they asked for their clothes bashfully.

 

This

has reference to the Pavainonbu undertaken in the month of Margasira.

Bhagavatham mentions it that the girls in Nanda's village observed the vratha

propitiating Devi kAthyaAyani for the welfare of all , individually for their

union with the Lord.

 

hemanthe prathamE mAsi nandavraja kumArikah

chEruh havishyam bhunjAnAh

kAthyAyanyarchanvratham

 

Desika describes the gopivashtrApaharaNa

thus:

 

niSAthyayE snAna

samudhyathAnAm

nikshiptham

AbheerakumArikANAm

koolAdhupAdhAya dhukoolajAlam

kundhADHirooDO mumudhE mukundhah

 

When the young cowherd girls went to the river

yamuna in the early morning to take bath and left their garments made of white

silk on the bank, Krishna took them from there

and climbed the kundha tree with

delight.

 

Utthamur swami comments on this sloka saying that

first it was koola dhukoola

sangamam the garments, dhukoola,

had the contact with the bank and then there was kundhamukundha

sangamam, the contact with the branch of the kundha tree and with

Mukundha.The kooladhukoola sangamam denotes leaving the old

vasanas and bathe in Krishnanubhava and the kundhamukundhasangamam

implies mukthi as the word Mukundha means the one who gives mukthi,mukthim

dhadhAthi ithi mukundhah, Kum, sin, dhyathi, destroys ithi

kundhah. So kundha -mukundha

sangamam means that the Lord destroys all the sin and gives moksha.

 

When

they requested him to give back their garments he made them come out and pray

to him with folded hands This was to make them cast off their dhEhAthmabuddhi

only when they become qualified for mukthi. The Lord has already willed to give

them mukthi after their present life and only wanted to create the desire in them.He says in Gita

'vAsAmsi jeerNAni yaTHA vihAya ---thaTHA sarirANI vihAya jeerNAni anYANi samyAthi

navAni dhEhee,just as one casts off the old clothes and put on new ones the

soul casts off the old body and takes a new one.' But until there is total

surrender this changing of bodies will go on. When the soul surrenders the Lord

gives a new awareness under the pretext of

giving back their garments which

have undergone change on account of kundhamukundha sambandha.This is the

significance behind the episode of gopivasthrApahaharaNam

 

The

last sloka of Gopalavimsati is where Desika gives the phalasruthi, the result

of this work.

 

ithyananyamanasA vinirmithAm

vEnkatESakavinA sthuthim paTan

dhivyavENu rasikam sameekshathE

dhaivatham kimapi youvathapriyam

One

who reads this sthothra, which has been composed by Venakatesakavi with

unswerving mind, will have the darsan of the divine form of the wonderful Lord,

who is loved by the gopis, the rasikas of hHis venugana.