Krishna Seva

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree krishna,

Thank you Sitalji, the Gopis are Prem Dhaja, which is why we refer their infatuation and permutation of love towards Shyam as Premdha Bhakti.

I enjoyed this paragraph you wrote. It infuses or rather pervades transitive fixed emotion, belief and gradual but firmly, their love into the mind of Shyam.

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna,

Extraordinary and fantastic way of analysing this theory, Thakorji for sure is an excellent Doc

Thanks

JSK
_________________
Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna

Here is a new angle on Vyal.


When closely examining this stanza we can also deduce few more meanings of word “Vyal”. The second meaning of Vyal is unhappiness. The third is Dushta Purush. This way this word has three different meanings, these are:
1. Snake (demonic snake)
2. Unhappiness (state of being miserable and unhappy).
3. Dushta Purush (Evil man)

If you think in depth, then one will realise that the world is not a place of unhappiness, as this state is created by human beings themselves. Unhappiness is in the mind of human soul itself, it is capable of inflicting the state of unhappiness and then has an audacity to blame the surroundings and other fellow human beings and things.

Gopis know all this as they have been rescued from Vyal and that is why they know that Thakorji (Krishna) is residing in their heart, in their antahkaran but this is not enough as they want Him to appear in the vision and not in mind, hence Gopis again repeated the immortal words, “Dayit drushyatam, please give us that darshan.”

The third Skandha of Shreemad Bhagvatji reveals a question asked by Vidurji. He asked his friend Maitriya Muni, “In this sansar (materialistic world) why does everyone seek happiness and generally fail to attain it, instead gets douched in unhappiness?”

Muni replied, ‘There is only one reason for this unhappiness. The materialistic world is full of Vyal type of demons who spits so much venom in the world which becomes the sea of venom, also known as sea of unhappiness. The soul when trying to seek happiness looks for it everywhere and stumbles across the glittering sea of venom which appears enticing. Soul gets infused and is devoured in to this demonic sea. After being drowned into the sea, soul will loose its bearing and is in state of distress and unhappiness. It feels miserable and gets sucked into fatal diseases that make the sansar a hell. Soul’s antahkaran is now in possession of demonic venom power and hence, his heart is known as asuri atma or soul. In this state the soul will try to take pleasure in every thing which it thinks will energise happiness, but some how the lurking asuri demon will bite the soul and fill it will venom of unhappiness. If soul indulges in eating food for pleasure, then demon will inject venom in that activity and good food becomes a fatality. Too much food will create fats and cholesterol levels will increase. Trying to have pleasure in eating food could create a disease that could harm the soul, body and mind. If the soul castes its life in acquiring fortunes (Lakshmiji) for little creature comfort, this fortune then creates security problem, soul then gets involved in seeking safe ways to hide the fortune and loses sleeps over the issue. This way all happiness seeking in this venom sea entails the element of unhappiness which lurks around every corner, not far away from the happiness that is created by Vyal’s venom. Hence Vidurji, happiness acquired in this state has molecules of unhappiness, that is why this sansar is full of mixed elements of happiness and unhappiness.’

The demons’ character is to focus on inflicting the venom of unhappiness. It thrives on making soul miserable and then multiplies into all the dimensions and permutation of creating state of orderly and disorderly chaos. The soul feels helpless in the hands of Vyal demon; it has no means to get out of this unfortunate predicament. As it struggles to get free of Vyal he becomes more agitated and miserable. The unhappiness inflicted by demon is no where near to the miserable state created by soul when trying to work hard to get freedom from the sea of unhappiness. This knowledge prompted Gopis to speak to Krishna, the Krishna that already hides in their hearts:

Hey Nath for many centuries (yug) we have suffered in the hands of demons as slaves and were in the brink of loosing our identity and aims. Then you created the Vraj bhumi bless you Krishna, and you rescued us and gave us dignity. You directed us on the path of Grace and Prem (love) Bhakti. After doing all this is it wise to eliminate us from this marga? We cannot comprehend this, can you?

Next we will discuss further meaning of Vyal.
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Dasa nu das
Pushtidas

[Trushna]

Jai Shree Krishna,

Pushtidasji, it is intruguing to become aware that 5000 years later we are still asking the same question as Vidhur “In this sansar (materialistic world) why does everyone seek happiness and generally fail to attain it, instead gets douched in unhappiness?”

Whats even more astounding is that the reply is also still the same, as you have exclusively described 'happiness' and 'unhappiness' are concepts that retain within us. We are entagling with the Vyal which in turn makes us further disturbed. Our only hope just like the gopis is also still KRISHNA.

It is our turn to say
"Bless you Krishna, you have created Pushti Marg"

Additional thoughts which have come to my mind are that 'expectations are the root cause of all unhapiness', Pushtidasji does this have anything to do with Vyal?

Looking forward to further enlightenment.
_________________
Yadi Shree Gokuladhisho dhrutah sarvatmana rudhayi, tathi kimparambruhi loukikai vedikai rapi
Jai Shree Krishna

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna

Thanks Trushnaji for your contribution, and your insight is matched with these Gopis insight, hence the Vyal is what we create within ourselves. You did conclude with a question:

[Trushna]

Jai Shree Krishna,

Pushtdasji thankyou for your promt reply, I am relieved to read that there is a process of 'dalan' used by Thakorji to help recover the Dushta Purush, be they Khal purush or Satha Purush.

Your posting also explains the meaning behind the term "vicara budhi"! Knowledge is said to be power, and used incorreclty as you have described is a very dangerous thing which explains why so many injustices arrise.

Knowledge (gnan) to enhance bhakti bhav for Thakorji can be very enjoyable (i.e. surfing on Krishna Seva) but is all knowledge and knowledgable persons prone to misusing what they have acquired?
Are Kaliyug and Aham hand in hand with knowledge?

Addtionally this power "Nigraha" which Thakorji uses to change the evil elements in the atoms of the soul, can you explain it further? It is not independantly one of Thakorjis seven Gunnas, so what is it?
_________________
Yadi Shree Gokuladhisho dhrutah sarvatmana rudhayi, tathi kimparambruhi loukikai vedikai rapi
Jai Shree Krishna

[Nirupa]

Jai Shree Krishna

Very thought provoking questions Trushnaji. Patiently wait for further enlightenment.

Going back to second meaning of Vyal, Pushtidasji you wrote that the world is not a place of unhappiness but the state is created by human beings themselves. I think that along with high expectations, unsatifaction is also the root of unhappiness. For example Thankorji gives human beings money which is more than enough to live comfortably. But are human beings satisfied with that? Instead of being happy with what they have, will work harder and harder to earn more money. But will not get the chance to enjoy it because they have been working so hard, will become ill or too old. Would it not be better to be satisfied with the money they have and spend time doing Thakorji's seva?

Throughly enjoying your posting and eagerly wait for the next one.
_________________
Jai Shree Krishna
Darshan Abhilasi
Nirupa

[palna]

JSK,

I think the fundamental point is that when jivatmah come to buthal (earth) they are no longer with satchitanand. Shree Krsna Himself. Having being placed in this world of Maya and Kalyug the soul forgets its true origin, it is bewildered and no longer remembers where it originated from thus philosophically questions this world and its dynamic. They begin to ponder on thoughts of God and focus on proving or disproving.

Such energies would be better placed in actually trying to find out more about Shree Krsna. Once acquiring knowledge and using it properly the soul would begin to indulge in Krsna Seva thus simultaneously learning, growing and generating Prem bhakti for Thakorji.

Knowledge can be a lethal weapon when used in ignorance and to patronise. If the seeker seeks knowledge to widen their horizons and learn more for the sake of educating it surely can not be a bad thing? Anything genuinely done with Shree Krnsa in mind is converted from lokik to alokik. Thus I think the question becomes, what is it that the person wishes to learn? What is their motive and intention behind this? Lastly what is it that they intend to do and will do once they have acquired the knowledge. Maya and Kalyug are strong forces and can penetrate via many mediums thus the preventions of their influence are at the discretion of the individual and ensuring they try not to get aham(egotistical). Not forgetting of course Shree Thakorji’s icha aur krupa!

Furthermore a vital point “Gnanatwa pava mahan rasah” Meaning: Through acquired knowledge one gains the highest of raas.
My personal interpretation of this is that when we learn and slowly acquire knowledge on such topics as Gopi Geet and Yamunastakam (and many more) the beauty of such events are not simply those of easy to read translations or superfluous meanings; rather there are many ways to interpret and many meanings behind each such event. As Pushtidasji has illustrated very well there are many meanings to just one word. Thus breaking down and exploring these texts in the most original state allows for the explosion of true raas and beauty! Knowledge can be a beautiful thing, and it is powerful but by increasing ones knowledge of Shree Krsna and attaining the real raas behind it, the jivs bhav can increases thus their love and devotion increases with it.
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Prem Bandhan Ajab Gajab, Brahmaganth sami aa ganth, na tutai na chutai

Palna na Koti Koti Jai Shree Krishna

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna,


Thank you Palnaji, what you said is exactly what Gopis have said. For a lover to be away from his lover is a punishment in itself, and Gyan (knowledge) can have that aham (negative pride) can spell that pang of separation. Thanks for enhancing the message which was in the post.

That is what Gopis also have demonstrated that Gyan and Love can be
Knowledge (jnan) to enhance Bhakti bhava for Thakorji can be very enjoyable (i.e. surfing on Krishna Seva) but is all knowledge and knowledgeable persons prone to misusing what they have acquired?
Are Kaliyug and Aham hand in hand with knowledge?

Yes in a simple term Kaliyug always appears at mysterious places and aham is favourite place to penetrate in humans and all living things.

Additionally, this power "Nigraha" which Thakorji uses to change the evil elements in the atoms of the soul, is on the top of all the virtues of Gunn and is independent element. In Puran it is relayed that when God uses Nigraha bhava then he uses his anger Shakti and although the shakti infuses with rage, it carries the six Gunn elements and this in turn seeps into rage of Nigraha whereby it cultivates Moksha bhava. Because of the transition we or any evil spirit prefer to die in the hands of God so at least we can expect Moksha at the end of this rage.

Now let’s get on with Gopi-Geet.

In last posting we discussed Putna and the evil deeds she exerted on Gokul.

Gopis added:

Hey Shyamsunder, if Putna had succeeded in spreading her venom on Gokul then whole Vraj mandal (Vraj and all the area surrounding it) would have drowned in this poison. Ghanshyam, you saved us from drowning in this poison and we are certain that you are not going to let us drown in the tears of hilag,. Do you really want us to take poison of hilag and vanish for ever? Without you with us, who else can we turn for protection from Khal-Purush? Everywhere we see this Khal Purush who infuses the Khal-Vrati, Sarpa-vrati and Rakshash vrati. You are the only our knight in shining armour, so dayit drushiyatam.

At this stage Gopis remembered the Goverdhan leela. This is the leela where Indra did summon the rain on Vraj. He was so much engrossed with anger and ordered the rain to literally drown Gokul. But Krishna lifted The Mount Giriraj and sheltered whole Gokul underneath.

So Gopis said:

O Goverdhandhar, you did Indra maan bhang (rupture the negative pride) as he was infused with contemptible attitude. His vile stance did not harm us as you saved us from drowning. We are crying for you and it seems you now want us to drown in our own tears; do you really want us to drown? You saved us from Indra’s water falls, but our water works, water falls from our crying tears are much stronger and cannot be easily stopped, there is no Giriraj Mountain on our “Mukh Pradesh” (contours of face) which can be lifted to shelter you from the strong current of our flowing tears. Krsna you most love by having us participate in your games, you take us beyond more liberation to your highest reward. We are the family of Nitya leela pravesa (entry into Krishna’s Eternal Games) and by the grace with repeated participation in your Games in Vraj and thus leading us to complete constraint. These tears will only rest when it reaches the sea of love, the ‘Prem spada’ a destination where we will find our love and irresistible Vraj-raj, the king of Vraj.

Surdasji, one of the greatest Pushti Poets, had visualised the pangs of separation and wrote a lovely Pada:

Surdas aba dubiyo hai Vraj kahai na let ugaree

Surdasji is now pleading to Thakorji that whole Vraj is drenched with Indra Raja’s anger and is now drowning, so God please save Vraj from this predicament.

On the similar note Gopis also said:

O Vraj Raj, whole Vraj is drowning from Gopis tears, who is going to save the Vraj? The rain drops of pangs of separation, rain of Hilag is so intense and we are being drowned in it. Without your darshan, your appearance, without listening to that beguiling voice of yours and without the strong enticing hug from your bhuja (arms) and soft alluring touch of your hands these love ravenous Gopis are absolutely going to be drowned in the tears of Hilag. It was you who killed Turnavrut and cleared the Rajogun (Aham). (Rajogun also said to be the Sobhagiya Mada, the positive pride). Indra Raja had that pride and when his Rajogun increased, so did his pride, but never ignored or left him and helped him to clear his Rajogun. We all know that when Rajogun increases the one gets increment in Aham as well. O Krishna, you did help Indra and now we plead to thee to help us overcome our Rajogun. Please do not leave us, we don’t mind even if you castigate us. Never keep us away from you lotus feet and from your darshan.

If ever one wants to chastise a lover, then the best punishment will be to be away from lover’s vision and vanish from their life. This kind of punishment was quite familiar with Krishna and somehow Vraj Gopis were aware of His tactics and that was the reason they pleaded for Krishna darshan.

Even Nandbaba missed Krishna a lot. When Nandbaba was returning from Mathura he was a broken man, his heart was crying and he felt helpless, and felt very old and tired. He remembered embracing Krishna a farewell when taking leave for Gokul. He knew that this was his last hug. As he hugged Krishna he thought, ‘Krishna will never return to Vraj. He will not play his flute on the banks of Shree Yamuna River.’ With this thought tears flowed from his eyes and dropped on Shree Krishna’s lotus feet. The tears drops looked like the first drop of the dew. The first ever dew of paroxysm of separation.

Shree Krishna looked at His lotus feet and saw the twinkle of tears that glowed the fire of the twinge that complained about the sorrow of a very desperate father who was all broken and looked as if he had lost everything.

Krishna slowly turned his eyes towards now a very sad face of Nandbaba, by now; Krishna’s eyes were also glazed with tinny streak of tears. Nandbaba with his right hand fingers slowly and softly moved on the tear-clad contours of his son’s face and with light brush wiped Krishna’s tears. There was a momentary sob from the old aged throat of Nandbaba. Krishna smiled and wiped tears from his Baba’s face and cleared His throat and with soft trembling voice uttered, ‘Baba I love.’

Nandbaba stared at the lotus eyes of his beloved Krishna and said, ‘I love you too my son.’

Then he put his hands on Krishna’s shoulder and added, ‘Dari diyo na kamal kartai, Giri pachi martey Braj basi.’
_________________
Dasa nu das
Pushtidas

[Trushna]

Jai Shree Krishna,

Pushtidasji that was a wonderful posting! Thankyou for answering my queiry regarding 'Nigraha' its very interesting and adds to the explanations of why the likes of Kans Mama and Putna obtained Moksha. The Lord is merciful

Additionaly you're absolutely right, the harshest punishishment a lover could ever give His loved one would undoubtedly be to dissappear out of sight, but thankfully for the Gopis and us all it is certainly not "out of sight out of mind"!

I am very glad that you have covered this posting regarding Nandbaba's feelings towards loosing his one and only dear son, it was very emotive. Fathers and the masculine attatchment to Thakorji is too often overlooked! Who says that Fathers can't be just as attatched to their children as their Mothers? I am sure that as you have described for Nandbaba his heart must have broken and his world turned upside down. Let us also not forget that the ashtasakha were all male.

Pushtidasji what do the words of Nandbaba ‘Dari diyo na kamal kartai, Giri pachi martey Braj basi.’ mean?
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Yadi Shree Gokuladhisho dhrutah sarvatmana rudhayi, tathi kimparambruhi loukikai vedikai rapi
Jai Shree Krishna

[NIRAL]

Jai Shree Krishna,

Thanks Pusthidasji, really enjoyed reading these articles

Niral

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna

Thank you Trushnaji, yes the feelings towards Krishna by Nandbaba has always been well supressed and history somehow has not really given the prominancy to the fatherly love shown by Nandbaba. It is shame, but then Krishna has that power to steal everyone's thunder!

Thanks Niralji and it is good to see the secretary of Youth Parishad to visit us on KS.com satsang Tibari. Hope we will be seeing more of your wise posting on the Tibari. Thanks for visiting Satsang Tibari.
_________________
Dasa nu das
Pushtidas

[Pushtidas]

Jay Shree Krishna

Thank you Trushnaji, here is what Shree Nandbaba said when he said, ‘Dari diyo na kamal kartai, Giri pachi martey Braj basi.’:


Hey Lala, had you have dropped the Giriraj Mountain upon us with your lotus hands then it would have been simpler to bare than the grief of the drowning of my own heart from the tears acquired from your absence.

The Vraj Gopis are also attaining the same pang of separation perhaps they always knew Hari, through passionate desire, anger and so forth, which Krishna is in their souls and their mental faculties, in their life-breaths, their senses and their bodies, in external objects. The total love of these Gopis is seen, by their renouncing entirely all worldly things, everything that was theirs, and even their very Selves (Krishna alone becomes their self), made themselves a blank paper on which Hrishikesh (Lord of senses-Krishna) could write whatever He wished. Here with this surrendered attitude there was literally nothing left of the Gopis as persons- they had made themselves mere instruments for Krishna to do what He wished with, and thus the possibility of ethical responsibility is irrelevant.

To Gopis, Krishna was the sole basis of their continued existence because Krishna was the only desire that remains for them and it is not overstating if we conclude that if this desire were not present, their very selves, their very existence would disappear. Gopis use the word sva (which Shree Vallabh interprets as –“all, everything and everyone-that was yours”) meaning their very selves since the abandonment of one’s husband, children and so forth. Here Gopis abandons one’s Self only when one cannot consider the object of love to be one’s own Self. To these Gopis, since the Blessed Lord is the object of their love because Krishna is their be-all and end-all, they have abandoned their Selves and all else.
At this stage I could not resist to quote Shree Vallabh when He wrote on Gopis and Krishna’s love. By the very nature of things the Blessed Lord is the Husband of all atmas (souls).

When Gopis talked about why Krishna saved them from drowning by lifting the Mount Giriraj, they felt the same pangs of separation – the hilag. At this point Krishna who was always residing in their hearts decided to answer. He decided to answer as he had acknowledged different constituents of Soul existence.

The three main constituents of existence are Sattva, Rajas and Tamas and then there is their derivative Attitudes. To explain the above three qualities or constituents (gunna) I will incline on the explanation provided by Shree Vallabh in Shree Subodhiniji.

The three constituents (gunna) of material existence, those very elastic metaphysical or moral concepts introduced in a very early scriptures called Samkhya speculation and made famous by Shreemad Bhagvad – Gita and practically every scripture thereafter. Shree Vallabh referred to these three qualities as well as basing his psychological typology of souls upon them. These three qualities – Sattva, Rajas and Tamas derived from Sanskrit words, and are used to name the qualities. These words are used by Shree Vallabh in descending order of excellence.

Sattva:

The range of these metaphysical meanings of Sattva includes goodness, subtlety, knowledge, light, an inclination to introspection and purity.

Rajas:

This gunna constituents or signifies extroversion, the royal or kingly virtues, activism, the materially creative forces, initiative but also frequently, passionate and or confusion.

Tamas:

And in the descending order Tamas signifies darkness, ignorance, inertia, dullness and stubbornness, wilfulness and impudence.

It is very difficult to translate these Sanskrit words in English but if we insist for one word to describe each gunna the Sattva would be “goodness”, Rajas would be “activities” and “darkness” would describe Tamas. Even using these translations could be a danger of doing so, for instance lets look at translating the following sentence:

sattvat sanjayate gnanum (jnanam)

The above sentence is from Bhagvat Gita (XIV .17) when we apply the above loose translated words then it will mean “Knowledge is borne of goodness”. This is not what the sentence means and it would be down right misleading especially for English speaking readers inclined to compare Bharat and Western philosophical teachings. I have seen many authors taking advantage of ambiguous words and play deliberately with Sanskrit words, even Shree Vallabh has played upon their ambiguities.

So it will be better to let them be ambiguous in its native tongue than to compound the ambiguity by ‘translating’ them into English. That is one of the reasons why I personally try not to translate these words but just to give a vague idea try to ‘translate’ ambiguous words in brackets and hope that these words are understood in its true nature. Therefore these words remain Sattva, Rajas and Tamas.

Krishna plays the game of hilag, leela-ras and raas-leela with the Gopis who instil above gunna. Every gunna has its combination of varieties. These varieties again are accredited with nine mixed multiplicity. These nine categories derived from the three qualities which Shree Vallabh on many occasions has used to make his psychological typology when describing Shree Krishna’s leelas with Gopis. These typology is also applies to all the souls on Bhutal (earth). This typology is based on Sattva, Rajas and Tamas where these three are joined in all the possible combinations of two. For instance here is the list of the combination which is a self explanatory in its entirety:

(1) Sattva:
(a) Sattva Sattva
(b) Sattva Rajas
(c) Sattva Tamas.

(2) Rajas:
(a) Rajas Rajas
(b) Rajas Tamas
(c) Rajas Sattva

(3) Tamas:
(a) Tamas Tamas
(b) Tamas Sattva
(c) Tamas Rajas

In technical sense all the Gopis (devotees) in the treatise on the Sattva – devotees are Sattva; all those in the treatise on the Rajas-devotees are Rajas and so forth. These souls and the Gopis are setting the manorath with devotion combined with the gunna they appropriately infuse with ‘particularities of emotion’ which we know as Bhava-visesa and perhaps we try to translate into real English, ‘personality-traits’. In the Bhava we see Krishna almost always uses a combination of two, one dominant and the other secondary, and that is why we indeed see this more realistically reflects the variety in human personalities, hence the varieties seen in Gopis.
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Dasa nu das
Pushtidas

[Sital]

Jai Shree Krishna

Wow, Nandbava was truly a remarkable Father and the above axiom portrays his intense love towards Thakorji. Gopigeet is a blistering theme and augments one’s curiosity every reading

Excellent narration in relation to the three Guna’s illuminating the attributes of gopi’s. Pusthidasji, whilst gopies were in Hilag did at any time the Bhava-Visesa have an conflicting effect to when they were in Sanyog Sukh with Thakorji? For instance, was it common for a Sattva Sattva gopi to rapidly obtain a Tamas Tamas nature during the course of Hilag or was each Sakhi pretty constant in change of circumstances in terms of their Svabhav?

Thanking You

JSK
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Madhurkomalkant padavali namami
Sital

[Pushtidas]

Jai Shree Krishna

Thank you Sitalji, this is what you asked: