Jagannatha - lila

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<p align="center"> Jagannath-dev

Braja-rasa in Dwaraka</p> <p align="left">Sometimes there is a conception amongst the Queens of Dwaraka that, "Although we have Krishna as our Husband, we feel that somehow He is not Krishna in His fullness. He always seems absent minded, as if His heart is not wholly with us." Pondering the cause of this, the Queens came to know that previously Krishna had some very sweet connection with Brindaban and the Gopis there. Thinking this to be the key to Krishna's absent minded mood, they began searching for an opportunity to find out how Krishna was living in Brindaban.</p> <p align="left">They wanted to know about His pastimes there with the Gopis, and to hear the descriptions from His childhood. Balaram's mother Rohini had lived in Brindaban during Krishna's childhood, and although she is situated in vatsalya-rasa (parental relationship), she had heard many things about Krishna's Lila with the Gopis. So meeting her privately the Queens requested her, "Please describe Krishna's madhuryya-lila in Brindaban to us." Rohini was unable to avoid the Queens' sincere request, and so posting Krishna's sister Subhadra to keep watch, she began to narrate about His Lila with the Milkmaids of Braja.</p> <p align="left">It so happened that at that same time, Krishna and Balaram were taking rest in a nearby room, and as Rohini was describing the Brindaban-lila, They became aware of what was taking place. Coming to the door where Subhadra was standing guard, Krishna and Balaram could hear the talk of Rohini, and remembering Brindaban, the Gopis and all these things, a great intensity of feeling came over Them. A great change of feeling came over Krishna and Balaram, so great that Their bodies also began to change; just as Mahaprabhu had shown when He fell at the gate of the Jagannath Mandir and His arms and legs entered into His body.</p> <p align="left">Such a change in the body is possible according to some particular feeling of ecstasy, and feeling the ecstasy of Brindaban, Krishna and Balaram were undergoing such a transformation. And Subhadra, although She had not lived in Brindaban, seeing Her Brothers in this way, She also experienced some sort of sympathetic transformation. Internally that feeling came to Her and externally She was also transformed. The cause of Their disfiguration was the Brindaban statement of Rohini. Remembering that Brindaban-lila and feeling that, such change came in Their bodies. Suddenly the group of Rohini could understand that Krishna and Balaram were there listening to their talk, and so immediately they stopped.</p> <p align="left">The Lila thus suspended, the disfigured formation of Krishna remained, and He fell into a trance. Nothing could be done to reverse the situation, and so in desperation Krishna was taken to the Nava-Brindaban; a replica of Brindaban that had been created in Dwaraka by Brahma for Krishna's pleasure. Although Krishna was awake He could not come out of that mentality, that trance, until He could be taken to that Nava-Brindaban. There in His trance He could only see Baladev, and all others present were eliminated from His vision. Seeing Baladev, Krishna was happy that He was in Brindaban.</p> <p align="left">Then He was with Rohini, "Oh yes, it is Brindaban." Mannequins of all the other residents of Brindaban were also arranged there, and the Queens were following from a distance to see what will happen. After seeing Baladev, Krishna sees His cowherd friends Sridam and Sudam are also there. In another part the Gopis are there, and in one part Srimati Radharani is standing. Seeing Her mannequin Krishna ran and embraced Her, and when Satyabhama saw this, some disfigurement also came in Her body. While Krishna was in this temperament, Baladev was able to go to Him and gradually he was able to bring Krishna back to the consciousness of Dwaraka. The sudden stopping of His experience of Brindaban caused His condition and only by a gradual process, His mentality was again taken to Dwaraka.</p> <p align="left">This sort of tale is there, and when Dwaraka and Brindaban mix, that is Jagannath. He is mainly in Dwaraka, but the posing of Brindaban is there. He has infinite forms of Lila, so what can we trace or know with our finite capacity? In Dwaraka-Samhita we find that there was an arrangement of Rasa-lila in Dwaraka also. The Queens had heard that in Brindaban there was the Rasa-lila and that it is most wonderful. So, when on one occasion the whole Brindaban party was invited to Dwaraka, they privately approached Krishna and petitioned Him, "The Gopis have come, and for a long time it is our heart's desire that you will show Your Rasa-lila to us.</p> <p align="left">Will You request them?" Krishna replied, "If they will give their consent then I have no objection." The Queens made their request to the Gopis and the Rasa-lila was arranged. When it was complete, all that saw it were astonished, and the Queens went to the camp of the Gopis to express their wonder. "What we have seen is the most wonderful thing, it is impossible to conceive even. We cannot properly express such a thing." And Srimati Radharani made this statement in reply, "What have you seen? That was nothing - an almost dead representation. Where is the Yamuna? Where is the kadamba tree, the peacock, the deer, and all these things? There in Brindaban that was a natural stage, and that pastime was performed there in our youth. What you saw, that is nothing. A sham, a mere mockery." Then the Queens began to reflect, "If what we saw is of such lower order, then what type of superior quality Lila must be found in the Original? It is totally inconceivable." So the psychology of Brindaban is all important. The attraction for that Brindaban-lila, when that was suddenly stopped, the result was a great change in the physical plane.</p> <p align="left">Of course it is not physical, but for the purpose of explanation we can say physical. That check caused the disfigurement of the external plane. It is something like when there is an earthquake. The internal movement of the Earth disfigures the surface, so the internal disturbance that was created by the recollection of Brindaban-lila, that caused a great transformation in the superficial appearance. And when that was suddenly checked, that appearance remained. That has been pictured and shown in Jagannathdev. When the higher prospect is suddenly checked, then the reaction comes.</p> <p align="left">So Jagannath is a reactionary stage between Brindaban and Dwaraka. The conflict between the emotion of Swayam Bhagavan and the Vaibhava-vilas of Krishna It is something like rasabhas. In higher ecstasy also, rasabhas is possible. The clash of two different waves of rasa. The train may be proceeding in a particular motion and the carriage along with it. But if suddenly the train should brake, then the contents inside the carriage will be thrown into a great disorder. It is something like that.</p> <p align="left">adau yad dvaro 'plavate, sindhuh parer apaurusam</p> <p align="left">This verse says that the Jagannath murti has been there from the very moment of conception, from the most ancient time. So every Lila of the Lord is eternal. Every part of the infinite is eternal. In the beginning of Mahabharat there is "Dhrtarastra-vilap", and there Dhrtarastra is naming the main incidents of Mahabharat, and lamenting that, "Because of this incident and that incident I know that my party must be defeated". But at this stage of Mahabharat none of these incidents had taken place. So how can Dhrtarastra speak of these incidents at the beginning of the narration?</p> <p align="left">It is because it is nitya, eternal. The beginning of the Lila and the end of the Lila cannot be differentiated. It is in a cyclic order and it is eternal. That is a very difficult thing to understand. To adjust to the eternal. Everywhere beginning, everywhere end. Everywhere there is centre and nowhere is there a circumference. This is the meaning of infinite. This is Nitya-lila. Everywhere beginning, everywhere end, and all coexistent at the same time. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami has represented this in a particular way. He has given the example that the sunrise is to be found always in one place or another. Not it is here, now there, and so on in this way.</p> <p align="left">So like the sun Krishna-lila is moving, the birth, the childhood, being shown here and then extended to another brahmanda, another universe. That is the aspect of Bhauma-lila. And in another aspect, in Goloka, we find that every Lila is also nitya. It is reflected here in this world and the reflection is revolving like the sun. It may be traced here, now here, now there - a question of space, but in Goloka, in the central place it is all there simultaneously. It is also no less in the heart of the devotees. When a devotee remembers a Lila, it may be Braja-lila, and now Dwaraka-lila, but what is reflected in the heart of a devotee, that is also true. So in this way it is coexistent and it is continuing always. Every Lila and every part of Lila is always present, coexistent. Succession and coexistence both harmonized.</p> <p align="left">Devotee: Maharaj, is Guru-parampara also part of Lila?</p> <p align="left">Srila Sridhar Maharaj: Of course. It is the Lila of Krishna. But not only that, Maya and everything else is included in Lila from His standpoint. It is His sweet will, His independence.</p> <p align="left">maya tatam idam sarvam, jagad avyakta-murtina

mat-sthani sarva-bhutani, na caham tesv avasthitah

(Bhagavad-gita 9.4)</p> <p align="left">"Everything is in Me, yet nothing is in Me. I am everywhere and I am nowhere." Everything will come within this conception. He can even interfere with the free will of the jiva, but still He doesn't. He is within and He can control, yet He does not. He may choose not to control. He has this independence. This sort of conception we shall have to imbibe. This is the conception of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and this is what separates His conception from the Hegelian philosophy and the philosophy of Aurobindo. Maya is not a necessary part of existence, and by Krishna's will Maya may be finished, and if He is desires, again recreated.</p> <p align="left">koti-kamadhenu-patira chagi yaiche mare

sad-aisvarya-pati krsnera maya kiba kare?

(C.c.Mad. 15.179)</p> <p align="left">He can make or marr. Bhaktivinode Thakur has written in his Tattva-sutra that by His will, even the existence of the jiva-soul may be extinguished. This is not the general case, but still Absolute Power is with Him. Everything is designed and destined by Him, that is, the expression of swarup-sakti.</p> <p align="left">Krishna-lilamrta-sara, tara sata sata dhara'

dasa-dike vahe yaha haite se caitanya-lila haya,

sarovara aksaya, mano-hamsa caraha' tahate</p> <p align="left">Chaitanya-lila is the Infinite sweetness from Chaitanya - whatever is within and whatever is coming from Him - that is all the high nectar of Krishna-lila and nothing else. Chaitanya-lila means the centre from which Krishna-lila flows in different forms, like honey oozing from all sides and even from every pore. Nothing but Radha-Krishna-lila, Braja-lila embodied in Him, and coming out to help the public. The voluntary distribution of Krishna-lila of different nectarean tastes; that is Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.</p> <p align="left">He has no separate existence from the Nama, Guna, Rupa, and Lila of Krishna, Radha-Krishna, and this includes Yasoda and all others within the relativity of Krishna. If one is there then all others must necessarily be there. So Krishna-lila means Krishna with His group. Also Brindaban - the water, the forest, the animals, the birds. All are included in Krishna-lila. Braja-lila. And that and nothing else is all coming from Sri Chaitanya. That is, Radha-Krishna in self-distributing nature. Whatever comes from Him - that is all Krishna. Even in Sri Chaitanya's childhood, when one could not trace anything of Krishna, it was there, and in different ways He was creating the background for distributing Krishna-lila to others.</p> <p align="left">Krishna-nama dhare kata bala

(Sri-Nama-Mahatmya &#8211; Srila Bhaktivinod Thakur)</p> <p align="left">This sound "Krishna" what is its value? Srila Rupa Goswami has explained that Krishna has four unique, special qualities. Every jiva has fifty innate qualities. Certain devatas have fifty-five, the five additional qualities partially manifest in them. Sriman Narayana has sixty qualities in full, and Krishna has four more qualities not found in Narayana. Those four qualities are: rupa-madhurya (sweet form), venu-madhurya (sweet flute), lila-madhurya (sweet pastimes), and parikara-madhurya (sweet associates). Srila Rupa Goswami has established the speciality of Krishna-lila in this way. And this is only found in Brindaban. Vasudev-Krishna has no flute, and it has been mentioned that even Dwarakesa-Krishna is charmed to search for the rupa-madhurya of Brindaban-Krishna, the sweet Lord of Braja, Reality the Beautiful.</p>