Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Shri Krishna Kripakataksha Stotram: 7th shloka


Samast gop mohana-hridambujaik modan,

Naamami kunjmadhyang prasannbhanu-shobhnam.

Nikamkamdayak-drigant charusayak.

Rasalvenugayak-namaami kunjnayakam.


I respectfully salute Shri Kunj Bihari, who captivates all the gopas; the nectarine evolution who delights their lotus hearts. The one whose face is glowing radiantly and joyful in intense majesty like the sun in some beautiful nikunja.


All gopas are captivated by this Brajendra Kumar. The elder gopas' vatsalya or parental affection spills over by his touch. All want to snuggle him to their heart, make him play and dance and offering their entire being to his sweet brilliance, be thrilled. Daily their thoughts are focused, meditate and reflect upon him.


The joyous abandon of the same age young gopas' knows no bounds. They spend the entire day in spirited antics with him and can not sleep peacefully in their homes at night, waiting to join him the very next day.


How do these innocent gopas know that this gopkumar's childhood play with them in the daytime is something more elusive. Krishna becomes pranvallabha the instant he meets up with the gopis. Each gopi is intensely desirous of having Krishna's attention for herself alone and addresses him as chaliya or trickster and kapti or capricious.


So he is the pleasing sun who enflames and delights everyone's heart. How beautifully and appropriately Krishna is the flashing sun who delights gopas in the daytime but the very same Krishna is the cool nectarine moon for his beloveds' tender hearts and their partridge (trad supposed to live on moonbeams) like eyes.


Prasannbhanu-shobhnam. In love episodes, Krishna's divine face is always compared to a flash of lightning but here it has been likened to the sun. This name is eternally perfect when Krishna is surrounded by the herd of sakhas and Braj. But when he romantically dallies with the Braj herdswomen in the kunjas-nikunjas, Krishna is the perpetual full moon who never declines.


Nikamkamdayak I propitiate the nikunjnayaka who bestows passion on those stripped of desires...fulfills their wishes without asking, whose shapely eyes pierce our hearts deep within like arrows and who is the sweet flute player. From the wisdom perspective he is aapatkam or destroyer of disasters, purankam or fulfiller of desires and aatmaram or the supreme being but all this greatness is for his Brahma form(the all pervading spirit of the universe).


The dark-hued form of Braj Sundar gives in to the terrifying rush of love constantly. The fields, forests down to the streams of Braj are delighted with the sudden thrusts of his mysterious and sudden love.


In the words of Shri Shri Sakhaji only the one who renounces worldly joys can relish Krishna's love. Even the desire for heaven and moksha or salvation is a sort of mundane desire. The gopis were not in search of self-joy. Their getting up, sitting, sleeping, waking up and adorning themselves was all for the supreme lover's delight. Countering accusations of mundane lust, the love of the gopis is seen as transcendental love of the highest order.


Said to be the zenith of spiritual awareness, such love represents the purest emotion a soul may have for the divine source. The Braj cowherdesses are not scared about Braj's highly restrictive social norms and burdens of convention.That is why the supreme lover enflaming their hearts, is thrilled himself and delights them with his various playful dalliances.


Drigant charusayak. The graceful eyes act like arrows, a sweetly charming concept which pierces the heart. They are not just arrows but the sayak or eyes are charu or attractive ...treasured and graceful. Steeped in them, the gopis love Krishna constantly, freely, without purpose. He is everything to them as they move in a delicious anguish to his side on sensing his approach.


Rasalvenugayak-namaami kunjnayakam. This kunjnayak-kunjbihari or supreme lover with the play of his flute, the breath of love, passionately draws his beloved, Shri Radha and gopis, the milkmaids of Braj out of their homes for a romantic dalliance with him. Arousing their desires, the flute is not just a bamboo joint but has ravaged their hearts. Its mellifluous sound does not let them sit at home, attend to their household chores, their families, their duties and neither does it let them rest in peace on venturing out of their homes.


Not just humans and deities...the cows are enraptured and forget to graze...calves stop drinking milk...with tear-filled eyes they stand spellbound by his flute play.


All other ragas drown in this melodious flute play...the gopis' are steeped in the supreme lover's intense passion...and they can think of nothing else.


The flute is nourished by Krishna's sweet face and also caressed by his lotus hands. Therefore he calls out to his beloveds by their respective names as the flute echoes with loving tenderness. Sometimes he sings a passionate love song dear to Shri Radha and at times playing an inviting note draws her to the forest. This sweet flute play is amazing. Now the nectarine breath of love flows in its sound and now the melody casts a sort of poisonous swooning spell.


Let us also join in with the revered composer who respectfully salutes Krishna, bestowing all desires, the one with the sharp-eyed glance like an arrow, player of the melodious flute, the sharp-witted supreme lover and the nikunja-nayaka.