Saturday, May 1, 2010

Chapter 36: Return to Vrindavan, Renunciation-Charming Experiences


 
Shri Radha-Krishna Beneath a Kadamba Tree

Who has the competence to describe the good fortune of Vrindavan where the amorous frolics of Radha-Krishna unfold in bucolic groves on banks of the Yamuna. They fix their tryst beneath the lovely kadamba trees, spreading their joy and love. Hence Bobo resided in idyllic Vrindavan constantly.

Relishing the joyous abandon and dalliance sites of Vrishbhanupur, Bobo returned to Vrindavan.The year of her maun, 1968-69 was running its course and she had a relentless schedule. She would note down the divine lilas bestowed by Shri Sakhaji (a siddha) in the big copy, as well as make Thakurji's ornaments and dresses.These days she was knitting warm woolens and would not rest for a moment.The handsome Krishna did not approve of this daily tough routine which was beyond her capacity.

 Bobo ji's Yugal Sarkar

“Do not note down the dalliances, stitch or knit but just bide your time,"Thakurji firmly told Bobo ji one day. Despite this warning she kept doing so. The dark god came up with a stratagem. Now whatever work she did was spoiled. She noted the lilas but wrongly, made dresses which were lost, knitted a shawl for Anandi-Vallabh Thakurji but it was bungled.

There is no touchstone to assay the dispute of two lovers. Bobo figured out that Thakurji was arranging for her to take rest. She continued with her activities because it is a unique trait of love.

A time slot was fixed. No work would be done apart from ten in the morning till six in the evening. She would not do anything these days and while away her time.Is it possible to have such a superb example of mutual love?

This term of maun, the vow of silence, which began with the signal of Priya-Priyatam came to an end. Reaching the heights of elation, Bobo remained delightedly engrossed in herself.

A Brahmin

Within the context of scriptural norms, Bobo had a particular reverence for brahmins. At one instance she says, “ I wish that the supremely auspicious brahmin community cast their favourable glance on me. And assuringly place me in the shelter of Krishna's lotus feet.There is not a moment sans the handsome god, His spirited antics and joyous reminiscence in every facet of my life.

“ I long from the core of my heart that not only mine but your moments are immersed in the Supreme Lover and His terrifying rush of love. We wait expectantly until the paramour Krishna comes and gives us respite, and we are steeped in the joyous closeness of Shri Radha-Krishna along with the sakhi,.” she said.

Dark-hued Shyam & Shyama, His Beloved

The path of love is strange with devotees ardently longing for the love of Shyama-Shyam every second. Those who abandon the lure of worldly attraction, their yearning assumes an idealistic form and becomes worthy of emulation. Bobo repeatedly experienced the joy of Krishna's presence followed by the emptiness of His absence.She along with other devotees crossed a threshold of awareness that dark god existed intensely in their hearts when they sang His praise and dwelt in their longing for him.
 
The decked majesty of the rainy season abounding with rumbling clouds, whistling of the pied crest cuckoo and peacocks dancing in ecstasy attracts everyone.

“The scene of gathered clouds has drawn me since childhood.Suffused in this dark splendour-playing hide and seek, Krishna the object of love tugs the heart.. Braj cowherdesses step out of their homes on some pretext and tread on the forest path," she used to say.

At times Krishna, the colour of the condensed sky, accosts these spirited maidens leading to a romantic dalliance.The bucolic groves warmly welcome them and Krishna along with His beloveds accepts their hospitality.”


Krishna Sported with These Cowherdesses in Youth

Krishna is the repository of madhurya but surprisingly inflames the heart. This teasing elusive and insistent paramour does not give more grief to anyone than these enraptured village girls with whom He sported in His youth. Those who are distanced experience the emptiness of His absence and those who experience the joy of His presence are always yearning for more.But amazingly this delicious anguish abounds with the shooting pain of venom-and the coolness of a nectarine trance.

Krishna relieves our pain but to incite it further. The terrifying rush of His love transgressing conventional norms...is freed from all constraints. The Braj cowherdesses are supremely learned in this art-may they distribute some particle of their love for the blue-hued god and enrich us.

Crazed by this ardent longing when Bobo was engrossed in the charming refuge of Priya-Priyatam, she never turned to look back.


  Krishna Resides in the Birds & Creepers of Vrindavan

Her emotions surged with the start of spring and she was thrilled. “This month of Phalgun (February to March) is very joyous and makes rasikas love-lorn. Nature stretches out and lazily looks around. When Krishna smiles at her he makes a firm connection between the joys and abundance of spring and the in-dwelling Vishnu.A Vishnu who resides not only in the minds and hearts of the gopis but also in the sap that animates the birds and the bees, the trees and creepers of Vrindavan.

It is the coming together of prakriti, the power of earth and purusha, the power of heaven, our lovable svamini Shri Radha as well as her sakhis and Supreme Lover Krishna. Loving devotees are living through countless legends of the playful dalliance of Radha-Krishna even today. Idyllic and sensuous Vrindavan provides a perfect setting for the sweet love of Krishna. It is here that blossoms bloom affectionately, birds sing passionately, the pristine sky purifies the place and Braj milkmaids set the stage for new dalliances.


The Lotus Feet of Shri-Radha-Krishna 

The teasing paramour along with Kishori Radhika towards whom He is irresistibly drawn, roams in Vrindavan. The redness of their soles has been gathered by new shoots. Secretly robbing their body fragrance, the breeze struts around affectedly. Little knowing that Radha-Krishna had seen her do so and thus smiled at her.”

Nature here is not rooted but instrumental in unfolding the lilas.

Once Bobo chanced to go to a discourse of Shri Sharnanandji Maharaj.Sushila Bahenji, Vijay and others were accompanying her. Humbly respecting elders and covering her head with her dhoti, Bobo sat down on one side. Maharaji had his own distinctive style and his sermons were very full of substance.

Listening to him, Bobo got carried away.Teary-eyed it seemed her body was there but mentally she was participating in the dalliance of Radha-Krishna. When she lifted her eyes during the discourse

Bobo Saw the Handsome Krishna

she saw the handsome god in front with hair flying in the wind and a spirited smile playing on his lips. The patka or sash draped around His well built shoulders and the sparkling kaustabh mani (name of the jewel worn by Krishna) adorned His chest.Revered Bobo stood to the right of Krishna.Her body sitting in the discourse watched its subtle form taking part in the nitya lila of the Supreme Lover.


Dark-hued Krishna With Sakhi Bobo

She wore an almond-coloured silken saree and matching kanchuki (blouse). Decked in a white coloured necklace of pearls with bigger ones in the centre tapering down at the sides. Meanwhile the dark god rested her head on His chest. Placing His lotus hand on her necklace, He teasingly counted the pearls. 

 “What are you doing?” Slightly embarrassed she asked,

” I am chanting the mala (vaishnava rosary)," mischievously He answered

“ Which mantra?” Bobo's lips parted slightly and she asked,

“The Madan Mantra!”, spontaneously he replied.

 Both of them smiled and relished the moment.

Returning home Bobo revealed this incident on the insistence of Sushila Bahenji. What was her state steeped in Krishna's love can't be expressed in writing?

Every season with its exuberant rasa, warmly welcomes Priya-Priyatam. Trees and creepers offer their youth on seeing Radha-Krishna united and joyous in love. Shyam delightedly accepts even a small offering of His devotees and invading them with His secret love blesses them. Devotees abounding with His imponderable love,nurture the heart strings of sadhakas heading towards the dark god, and present them before the Yugal Radha-Krishna.This sequence continues constantly.


Shri Raghunath Das Goswami

 Moreover Bobo entrusted her entire being to the daily routine of Shyama-Shyam. Stating and doing is certainly rare. Combining both these facets, her life was an ideal. She never opposed luminaries who upheld an affluent lifestyle and firmly believed that a loving persona based on sacrifice and renunciation was most excellent. All these ideals were innate in her and therefore she was more impressed by the perspectives of Shri Roopji, Sanatanji and Raghunath Das Goswami.

Bobo was charmed by overcast clouds the day before,  the sweetness of spring made her ecstatic yesterday but the closeness of Shri Yamunaji rendered her helpless today.


Shri Radha-Krishna At the Yamuna, Krishna's Sakhi

“The gnarled branches of mango and kadamba trees are reflected in its blue waters. Engaged in water sports the impassioned Shri Radha-Krishna are dallying as they fill our hearts with inspiration and delight. The Yugal are churning the Yamuna's waters because She is the dark god's beloved sakhi. Wet with these gushing waves, the delicate clothes of the sacred couple are clinging to their blue-hued and fair complexioned bodies.

Shyly Priyaji with eyes wide open relishes the handsome form of the Supreme Lover but half closes Her eyes soon after. And the supreme Rasika looks lovingly into Her eyes but is impatient as He adulates Her irresistible beauty. Radha can not resist the sudden thrusts of Krishna's secret and sudden love and we can figure out their love play from the duo's bodies,minds and souls fused and focused in a single expression of love.”

Sakhis look on and smile. These Braj cowherdesses yearn for union with their teasing, elusive and insistent paramour. Treading on this path Bobo moved in a delicious anguish to Krishna's side and relished His frolics.

Gopis Express Their Love for Krishna

The gopis are equally tender in expressing and experiencing their love for Krishna and whether it is in the pleasures of belonging or the pathos of longing, participating in the innocent lilas of Krishna or being charmed by His flute, it seems the very first time for them. Repeated episodes of union and separation do not let their romantic dalliance get old.

The basic nature of longing tugs at our heart in such a manner that even on relishing the joy of Krishna's presence there is a yearning to savour the entire episode again. Such was Bobo's belief and constantly absorbed in the heights of elation and ecstasy she resided in Vrindavan.

How can the Supreme Lover be composed on hearing the first entreaty.Krishna is still finding the cure as the ardent but often faithless lover of the love struck soul through water sports, amorous frolics in the rain and terrifying rush of love.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Chapter 35: Extraordinary Character

Despite being four different words God, religious devotion, devotee and guru are serviceable by one body. Attending to God's needs with all our faculties has been termed bhakti and pampering Priya-Priyatam with one's lovable sentiments is the basic nature of a bhakta. God considers bhaktas superior to Himself and

Sant Tulsidas

Tulsidas has endorsed this adage, “Ram te adhik Ram kar dasa.

The innate nature of devotees is to intuitively pamper Krishna, their Supreme Lover-and be delighted in His joy. All godly virtues are reflected in them so that their resolves, wishes and perspectives become tangible. God himself becomes dependent on His devotees who can easily change what has been destined by the world's creator.



Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa with Narendra

Saints do not have faith in miracles I distinctly remember Swami Ramakrishna Paramahansa asked Narendra once, “Do you want ashtsiddhis” (eight siddhis or supernatural powers said to be attainable by perfection of techniques of yoga.) 

“Will I get Ma with them?” responded Narendra.

 “No! She will be distanced further.”Paramahansa replied,

“I want nothing which is a hindrance to my heading towards Ma,” Narendra instantly retorted. Paramahansa was delighted.

When Swami Vivekananda, an adherent of the rajyog path, did not believe in siddhis and miracles, how could devotees following the path of passionate devotion be drawn towards them?

Revered Bobo had the instinctive insight to look deep into a person. She would often say, “If I  concentrate a bit I can figure out what you are thinking but where do I have the time to shift my mind from Krishna and look at you. Nothing is impossible for such eminent personages whose padukas(wooden slipper) are capable of granting moksha.

The upasnaShri of Vrindavan is impassioned and herein there is absolute entrustment.

Shri Radha-Krishna United & Joyous in Love

Religious devotion bears fruition on seeing Radha-Krishna united and joyous in love. However miracles surface in the lives of saints at times and we are giving a concise version of their status in revered Bobo's life.

The Deliverance of Prostitutes
Bobo's nature abounded with affinity and innocence, as she was easily moved by mankind's miseries. She had to go to Lahore for her graduate examination since it was the hub of education at that point of time. The matter dates to the year 1946 when she was travelling by rail.

Bobo's Compassion for Women with a Despicable Profession

Two young women sat in front of her in the compartment. Young in age and heavily decked those girls would look at Bobo off and on.Demeaning themselves they struck up a conversation, the girls spoke in such a manner that Bobo barely understood. Both of them burst out crying and Bobo was touched.

Her sensitive handling of the scene appeased them.The duo revealed that circumstances had compelled them to adopt this profession. It was beyond their imagination that Bobo could have such affectionate closeness for women like them who were scorned by society. Repentant and getting assurance from Bobo, those women were grateful in various ways.

Bobo told Santosh Bahenji and Sarlaji that she had got a letter from both of them after some months. It read, “Seeing your considerate affection it seemed, Khuda had sent His pharista in your form. Now we have abandoned that despicable profession and are spending life joyously.”

Bobo's father was not much of a success in practical life. Once he began a business in partnership with another person.Forging his signature, the partner borrowed money from someone. Obviously that person filed a court case against her father and the summons came Everyone was very worried at home and Bobo came to know of the matter when she returned. 

At night he narrated the incident to Bobo and appealed, “Munno! Can't you request Thakurji?”

Touched, Bobo looked at Thakurji. Without revealing the assurance she got,Bobo said that he must go to the court and clarify his condition. Early in the morning she envisioned

Bobo's Thakurji

Thakurji who affirmed, “Fine, everything will work out perfectly! What I have ordained is supremely auspicious.” 

Bobo was at peace now.

When her father went he learnt that those papers had been sent to the court of Ambala City, and he should find out there. When he did, surprisingly the papers had not yet reached. Thereafter her father went a couple of times but got a similar answer.

Thakurji took care of His intimate sakhi's adversity in this manner.

Revered Bobo was in Ambala .An acquaintance Prakash Chandra was an advocate who was connected to a Radha Swami family. At the other end Bobo was always moved by Thakurji's seva and religious devotion. He once told Bobo what was the advantage in doing japa and paath, attending to Thakurji's needs and kirtan. One should do karmas (moral duties and obligations) and think of everyone's well being. 

Quite young at that point of time,she looked at Thakurji who said, “Tell him you will give an answer in the evening.” Bobo did the needful and was relaxed.

Amazingly when she went to the temple for darshan, Prabhudatt Brahmachari had come to give a sermon. Bobo sat down and the first sentence he spoke was, “ The main difference between the karma and bhakti path is that by doing good deeds we live a grand life; eat well, live well, dress up well and enjoy luxuries. Ultimately we become the dog of a wealthy lady but do not get the closeness of God.”

When Bobo came and narrated the entire incident to Prakash Chand he was delighted. Getting support of Thakurji's grace and affection, Bobo was also content.

These days Bobo was staying in Barhi Kunj in doctor saheb's house along with Thakurji.

Highly Revered Usha Bahenji

It was her regime to go into solitude, in the afternoon. The incident dates back to1979 -1980.Two years back Vijay's younger brother had passed away unexpectedly. Bobo was alone when she heard, “ Tell Vijay that he should not worry if his other brother dies.”

She overlooked this matter but the same voice was heard again after some time. A 22 year old son had gone and a repetition of the blow would be very painful.

 

Vijay Bhaiya

Concerned, she appealed to Thakurji,“ What will be the plight of his parents back home?” Three days later Vijay received a letter that Jitendra's scooter met with an accident and he was admitted in hospital. His brother recovered in a few days time.

Bobo narrated this incident to Vijay later.Fated death had been averted just by bearing a few injuries.

Revered Bobo was residing in Banke Bihari Colony these days and her mother Shyamaji and Sushila Bahenji were staying along with her.Apart from dawn and night, the sequence of satsang and paath would continue throughout the day. Shri Vimla Nevile, Puspa Bahenji, Darshan Bahen, Uma Bahen and others would invariably come for satsang



Dharam Bahenji

It was Dharam Bahenji's practice to visit Bobo for relishing the legends of Radha-Krishna, on arriving from Delhi.

Her brother-in-law, Shri Ram Murti, was the current Group Captain, incharge of I.A.F. and deputed in the Barmer sector of Jodhpur. One fine day Bahenji along with Murtiji holding a chair-like seat dropped in to Bobo's place.

 Instantly Dharamji exulted, “Bobo have a look Muritji has got you a gift.” Bobo was stunned because she had adopted the practice of sitting and lying down on the floor. When Bobo wanted to know the reason, Muriji narrated the event in front of Dharam Bahenji.

Indian Air Force

“The matter dates back to 1971 when the independence movement had gathered momentum in East Pakistan around September-October. The freedom fighters had full support of India.Seeing themselves sliding towards defeat, the government of western Pakistan invaded India. Several sites in India were bombed. Ram Murti's wife Janak came to Vrindavan along with Dharam Bahenji and met Bobo.Innocently Dharam Bahenji reminded Bobo what could be more worrying for a wife than this scene? Bobo insisted that Janak dance before Shri Thakurji-which was a conventional norm in those days.

At the other end the war raged in full force.Murti was in control of India's security when he saw a short-statured woman clad in white clothes and curly hair, roaming there along with Dharam Bahenji amidst heavy bombarding. She speedily showed him the path and protected him. Uncertain of what to do, Murti followed the same orders.

A few days later the battle paused. Murti came on leave and got a particular chair fabricated in Jaipur, narrating the entire episode to Dharar Bahenji. She affirmed, “ It would certainly have been our Bobo!” Soon after they took the chair and came to her. Murti was stunned on seeing the confirmation of his conception and prostrated before Bobo in supplication."

The matter dates to October 1971 when brother Basheshur had come to Vrindavan for the Shrimad Bhagwat Saptah. He got a letter and his younger brother arrived saying his father was unwell. At the end of the day, Bobo told Basheshur that it would be better if he went after listening to the entire paath. When he returned home after the saptah his father stayed alive for another twenty-four hours.

An Enraged Bull

In Ambala Pushpa Gupta was bedridden and lay on a cot outside. A enraged bull charged and overturned her cot-the matter got over. 

A few days later when this incident was narrated to Bobo in Vrindavan she said naturally, “This was your mrityu yog.” 

Bobo had an inkling of this episode even while sitting here.

Introduction to Shri Laxman Joo Maharaj

Shri Laxman Joo Maharaj

 Much earlier Bobo had come into contact with a renowned saint of Kashmir, Shri Laxman Joo Maharaj who was a Shiva devotee. His childlike nature and lucidity are praiseworthy.

He had affection for Bobo and would definitely remember her on visiting Vrindavan. An icon of humility, Bobo met him on knowing about his arrival.

Homage to Revered Shri Hari Baba

Shri Hari Baba

 The year 1970 was about to begin and Hari Baba was ailing. These days he was residing in Varanasi, the town of Lord Shankar and it was bitterly cold. All of a sudden news of his passing away spread like wild fire in Vrindavan.To offer tribute, crowds of devotees thronged to the barrage of Hari Baba.

Deeply grieved,Bobo says while paying homage, “Today morning (3.1.70) I got news of Hari Baba passing away. He was already immersed in the wealth of ethereal rasa and freed of the wilted body as of now.However several followers of the divine path were impoverished by his leaving the material world. With his departure the mundane became desolate and sadhakas were unsheltered.

We pray to him who has relished the highest ideal of religious rapture to grant us a small speck of it. He was the living presence of God's name-and the grandeur of several festivals in Vrindavan.Though in Vrindavan Vishnu becomes a part of the human condition to spread his joy but yet it was a great blow.