Monday, May 22, 2006

Uttama adhikārī


Śrīla Raghunātha dās Gosvāmī's Prarthanasraya Caturdasakam, verse 3:


UDAÑCAT KĀRUṆYĀMṚTA VITARAṆAIR JĪVITA JAGAD
YUVADVANDVAṀ GANDHAIR GUṆA SUMANASĀṀ VĀSITA JANAM
KṚPĀṀ CEN MAYYEVAM KIRATI NA TADĀ TVAṀ KURU TATHĀ
YATHĀ ME ŚRĪ KUṆḌE SAKHI SAKALAM AṄGAṀ NIVASATI


udañcat - arisen; kāruṇya - compassion; amṛta - nectar; vitaraṇaih - by distributing; jīvita - enlivening; jagat - the world; yuva - youthful; dvandvaṁ - couple; gandhaiḥ - with fragrances; guṇa - attributes; sumanasāṁ - flowers; vāsita - scents; janam - people; kṛpāṁ - mercy; cet - if; mayi - to me; evaṁ - thus; kirati - does; na - not; tadā - then; tvaṁ - you; kuru - do; tathā - then; yathā - so that; me - my; śrī kuṇḍe - by Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa; sakhi - O friend!; sakalam - all; aṅgaṁ - body; nivasati - resides.


O sakhi (Rūpa Mañjari)! If this Youthful Couple, that enlivens the whole world by distributing the nectar of Their mercy and that scents all the people with the fragrance of Their flower-like attributes, do not bestow Their mercy on me, then please arrange for it that I can always stay at Śrī Rādhākuṇḍa!


Each verse of Śrīla Raghunātha dās Gosvāmī’s is laden with rasa and prema. He sees the Divine Pair pervading the whole universe. Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa are everywhere for the uttama adhikārī. It is said in Śrīmad Bhāgavata (11.2.45):

sarva bhūteṣu yaḥ paśyed bhagavad-bhāvam ātmanaḥ 
bhūtani bhagavatyātmāṇyeṣa bhāgavatottamaḥ 

“The uttamādhikārī sees Kṛṣṇa, the Self of all selves, in every creature and sees every creature in the Lord, who is the Self of all selves.”

So though the conditioned souls themselves can actually not experience the nectar of Their mercy or smell the flowers of Their attributes, the uttamādhikārī sees it that way. Śrīla Raghunātha dās Gosvāmī described similar visions in his Viśākhānandada-stotram (49) – āvaikuṇṭham ajāṇḍāli vataṁsīkṛta sad-yaśaḥ “Rādhā’s true fame is the flower which decorates the ear of each person in all the universes, all the way up to Vaikuṇṭha.” And one of the 108 names he gave to Rādhikā is jagadānandi sad-yaśaḥ “Her true fame delights the whole world.”

1 comment:

  1. Radhe Radhe!
    Wow- such a nice post! Insights into the condition of the Goswamis is so edifying. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete