20230716 Feeling in His Heart the Ecstatic Emotions of the Gopīs, Lamentation in the Mood of Separation Part 2

The following is a Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book Compilation given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on July 16th,2023 in Śrī Dhāma Māyāpur, India.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Dear Devotees! Today we will continue with the compilation of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Book. Today's chapter is entitled as:

Feeling in His Heart the Ecstatic Emotions of the Gopīs, Lamentation in the Mood of Separation, Part 2
Under the section: The Inconceivable Behavior of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.45

kṛṣṇa-viraha-saṅghaṭaka vidhira nindā :—

śrīmad-bhāgavate (10/39/17)—

Translation: “O Providence, you have no mercy! You bring embodied souls together through friendship and affection, but before their desires are fulfilled, you separate them. Your activities are like the foolish pranks of children.’

Purport: This verse, quoted from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.39.19), was chanted by the damsels of Vraja when Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana for Mathurā with Akrūra and Balarāma. The gopīs lamented that Providence had made it possible for them to meet Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma in affection and love and had then separated them.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya came down for three different purposes. One purpose was to start the saṅkīrtana-yajña and the second one was to understand the affection, love of the different devotees. This Antya-līlā of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta is especially He is realizing the love of the gopīs for Krsna.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.46

ślokārtha; citrajalpokti :—yathā rāga—

“nā jānis prema-marma, vyartha karis pariśrama,
tora ceṣṭā—bālaka-samāna

tora yadi lāg pāiye, tabe tore śikṣā diye,
emana yena nā karis vidhāna

Translation: “Providence, you do not know the purport of loving affairs, and therefore you baffle all Our endeavors. This is very childish of you. If We could catch you, We would give you such a lesson that you would never again make such arrangements.

Jayapatākā Swami: The gopīs were expressing dissatisfaction at the arrangement of Providence, and Lord Caitanya was experiencing these emotions of the gopīs. Kṛṣṇa had promised He would come as a devotee in Kali-yuga, and that He would understand what the devotees felt for Him. So, we know that there are five rasas. Neutral, servitude, friendship, parental and conjugal. Among them the conjugal is the most intense and the queens in Dvārakā, the gopīs in Vṛndāvana, they were experiencing this conjugal rasa with Kṛṣṇa. So, when Kṛṣṇa left Vṛndāvana for Mathurā, they thought this was a cruel arrangement of Providence.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.47

are vidhi, tui baḍa-i niṭhura
anyo’nya durlabha jana, preme karāñā sammilana,
‘akṛtārthān’ kene karis dūra?

Translation: “Oh, cruel Providence! You are very unkind, for you bring together in love people who are rarely in touch with each other. Then, after you have made Them meet but before They are fulfilled, you again spread Them far apart.

Jayapatākā Swami: Of course, the love of the gopīs is never saturated. They were always feeling more love for Kṛṣṇa. So, I don’t know at what stage Providence could separate them, that then they would not feel this intense emotion. In any sense, they would say the same thing!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.48

are vidhi akaruṇa, dekhāñā kṛṣṇānana,
netra-mana lobhāilā mora

kṣaṇeke karite pāna, kāḍi’ nilā anya sthāna,
pāpa kaili ’datta-apahāra’

Translation: “O Providence, you are so unkind! You reveal the beautiful face of Kṛṣṇa and make the mind and eyes greedy, but after they have drunk that nectar for only a moment, you whisk Kṛṣṇa away to another place. This is a great sin because you thus take away what you have given as charity.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.49

‘akrūra kare tomāra doṣa, āmāya kene kara roṣa’,
ihā yadi kaha ‘durācāra’

tui akrūra-mūrti dhari’, kṛṣṇa nili curi kari’,
anyera nahe aiche vyavahāra

Translation: “O misbehaved Providence! If you reply to Us, ‘Akrūra is actually at fault; why are You angry with me?’ then I say to you, ‘Providence, you have taken the form of Akrūra and have stolen Kṛṣṇa away. No one else would behave like this.’

Jayapatākā Swami: So, you can see that the damsels of Vraja, they are so fixed in love of Kṛṣṇa, that they are practically talking like mad people. How Kṛṣṇa has been taken from them, they love Kṛṣṇa so much, that even they would curse Brahmā for making their eyes blink! and thus they could not see Kṛṣṇa unbrokenly! Because so often their eyes would blink and they would feel that as a great separation. They appreciated seeing Kṛṣṇa’s beauty so much that the eyes blinking, they thought that Brahmā doesn’t know what he is doing. He doesn’t know how to create eyes!

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.50

āpanāra duradṛṣṭa-dhikkāra (citrajalpa) —

āpanāra karma-doṣa, tore kibā kari roṣa,
toya-moya sambandha vidūra

ye āmāra prāṇa-nātha, ekatra rahi yāṅra sātha,
sei kṛṣṇa ha-ilā niṭhura!

Translation: “But this is the fault of My own destiny. Why should I needlessly accuse you? There is no intimate relationship between you and Me. Kṛṣṇa, however, is My life and soul. It is We who live together, and it is He who has become so cruel.

Jayapatākā Swami: So Rādhārāṇī who is in one sense on the same level as Kṛṣṇa, She is finally saying why She is blaming Providence, She starts blaming Kṛṣṇa.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.51

kṛṣṇera prati praṇayaroṣapūrvaka doṣāropa :—

saba tyaji’ bhaji yāṅre, sei āpana-hāte māre,
nārī-vadhe kṛṣṇera nāhi bhaya

tāṅra lāgi’ āmi mari, ulaṭi’ nā cāhe hari,
kṣaṇa-mātre bhāṅgila praṇaya

Translation: “He for whom I have left everything is personally killing Me with His own hands. Kṛṣṇa has no fear of killing women. Indeed, I am dying for Him, but He doesn’t even turn back to look at Me. Within a moment, He has broken off Our loving affairs.

Jayapatākā Swami: Rādhārāṇī, She is in this highest ecstasy. There are eight levels of prema, highest is known as mahā-bhāva. So, She is feeling mahā-bhāva and as such She may express Herself even as a mad woman, because She is mad in love of Krsna.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.52

punarnijādṛṣṭa-dhikkāra :—

kṛṣṇe kene kari roṣa, āpana durdaiva-doṣa,
pākila mora ei pāpa-phala

ye kṛṣṇa—mora premādhīna, tāre kaila udāsīna,
ei mora abhāgya prabala”

Translation: “Yet why should I be angry with Kṛṣṇa? It is the fault of My own misfortune. The fruit of My sinful activities has ripened, and therefore Kṛṣṇa, who has always been dependent on My love, is now indifferent. This means that My misfortune is very strong.”

Jayapatākā Swami: We can see how Rādhārāṇī, She is changing from one minute to the next. First, She is criticizing Providence, then criticizing Kṛṣṇa, but now She says that why am I angry with Kṛṣṇa? It is my own misfortune and my misfortune is very strong.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.53

gopībhāve divyonmādagrasta prabhu —

ei-mata gaura-rāya, viṣāde kare hāya hāya,
‘hā hā kṛṣṇa, tumi gelā kati?’

gopī-bhāva hṛdaye, tāra vākye vilāpaye,
’govinda dāmodara mādhaveti’

Translation: In this way, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu lamented in the mood of separation, “Alas, alas! O Kṛṣṇa, where have You gone?” Feeling in His heart the ecstatic emotions of the gopīs, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu agonized in their words, saying, “O Govinda! O Dāmodara! O Mādhava!”

Jayapatākā Swami:These words were spoken by Lord Caitanya! He was completely absorbed in the mood of the gopīs.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.54

bhāvopayogi-gānadvārā prabhuke svarūpera āśvāsana

tabe svarūpa-rāma-rāya, kari’ nānā upāya,
mahāprabhura kare āśvāsana

gāyena saṅgama-gīta, prabhura phirāilā cita,
prabhura kichu sthira haila mana

Translation: Svarūpa Dāmodara and Rāmānanda Rāya then devised various means to pacify the Lord. They sang songs of meeting that transformed His heart and made His mind peaceful.

Jayapatākā Swami: So, Lord Caitanya, He was experiencing all these things, remembering the pastimes. So being absorbed in the pastime of Kṛṣṇa leaving Mathurā, He was in great separation. So, Rāmānanda Rāya, Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī started singing songs of meeting with Kṛṣṇa. This way somehow, pacifying Lord Caitanya, changing His mood.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.55

gambhīrāya prabhura śayana :—

ei-mata vilapite ardha-rātri gela
gambhīrāte svarūpa-gosāñi prabhure śoyāila

Translation: As Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu lamented in this way, half the night passed. Then Svarūpa Dāmodara made the Lord lie down in the room known as the Gambhīrā.

Jayapatākā Swami: In Jagannātha Purī, where Lord Caitanya would stay in the house of Kāśī Miśra, there is a room that He would stay in called as Gambhīrā.

Devotees can go there and see the place of Lord Caitanya.

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya-līlā, 19.56

prabhure śoyāñā rāmānanda gelā ghare
svarūpa, govinda śuilā gambhīrāra dvāre

Translation: After the Lord was made to lie down, Rāmānanda Rāya returned home, and Svarūpa Dāmodara and Govinda lay down at the door of the Gambhīrā.

Jayapatākā Swami: Somehow, Lord Caitanya would sometimes leave the Gambhīrā even though all the doors were locked and they were lying on the doorway. But somehow all the doors remained locked and Lord Caitanya, He left!

Thus ends the chapter entitled, Feeling in His Heart the Ecstatic Emotions of the Gopīs, Lamentation in the Mood of Separation, Part 2
Under the section: The Inconceivable Behavior of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu

Haribol! Gaurāṅga! So, this is near the end of the Lord’s pastimes on earth. So, He is experiencing these most intense separations of Kṛṣṇa.

Hare Kṛṣṇa!