Saranagathi - Tales of Surrender (2)

Sri Jayadeva

Episodes so far: 1

(Next day evening, Sankara reaches the park and looks around for Bansuri. Not seeing him around, Sankara sits under a shade & closes his eyes. After few minutes...)

Eh!, Bansuri!, when did you come. I didn't realize you arriving?

It’s been 3 minutes & 54 seconds Sankara. I noticed you were in sleep, so was waiting how long you can be in this state in midst of this wonderful greenery park. 

Hahah!, No, No, not at all! I wasn't in sleep. When I reached the park, you were not to be seen. So I thought instead of sitting idle waiting for you, why not try little bit of Sushumna Breathing technique. 

Oh! Wonderful, it’s a beautiful way of calming the mind & getting relaxed. Ah Well! It is one of those 1000 things that Guruji taught us, which is waiting in queue for me to practice it. 

Bansuri!, there is no waiting period for a sadhaka, you can start very well now. 

Eh, No!, I will practice it at my home. Let’s start from where we left yesterday. 

Nothing doing. Don’t try to find a place for doing your practice. Where ever you are, you can do it, if you have the will to do it. 

But we don’t have much time Sankara!. 

Don’t worry Bansuri!, It is not in the length of the period of sitting that success lies, but in intensifying the awareness, Let’s do a short relaxation breathing exercise. 

OK Sankara, as you say…

Good, now close your eyes and follow my instructions.

......

Keep your body absolutely still & relaxed. 

……

Now quickly glance through your body & be aware of yourself from head to toe and toe to head. After doing it, quietly resolve deep within that for next 3 minutes no thoughts would disturb your concentration apart from your awareness of breath flow in the Sushmna. 

…….

Mentally feel the spot where the nose bridge ends and the upper lip begins. 

…..

Now observe the flow of breath in both the nostrils. 

……..

Let the breath flow evenly without any jerks

……..

Let there be continuous flow of awareness without any breaks, cuts or noise. 

…….

Do not forcefully change the breath pattern, but just be a witness and watch the flow of prana continuously going in & coming out..

……..

Now Relax, Relax, Relax… 

……….

………

……..

………

Slowly open your eyes…

………

How do you feel now Bansuri ?

Much better, I was in so many thoughts while coming, this quick 3 minutes relaxation helped me to stay on ground now. 

Why, what’s the matter? What’s bothering you?

I was trying to work out a plan for weekly satsang and it’s not coming out well.

Oh! you are talking about the recent message that we got from Guruji asking all of us to work on weekly satsanga?

Yes Sankara. Our group sadhaka’s are so scattered and I was wondering how to regroup and assemble at a single place?

Didn't you read the message properly? Let’s work out a possibility of arranging a place where we all can meet & have weekly satsanga. Till then, we will continue to do so at our respective places. I am sure, if you take up this activity with shraddha & virya, you will certainly get good results soon.

You are right. Let me work it out. OK! before you say that you have to get back to your home, please continue from where you left yesterday on Sri Jayadeva. 

Yes yes..!, where were we on that?

You said, one fine day, when Jaya Deva was in the middle of composing ‘Gita Govind’, he got struck with the thought flow he got while composing it. 

Yes, right. OK listen:

Jayadeva Gosvami was greatly perturbed. “How can I make these words come from the mouth of my Lord Krishna, the supreme controller of unlimited millions of universes?” Many times he asked himself, “Should I write such a thing?” and many times he decided, “Yes, I should.” But even though he wanted to do it, he could not bring himself to write this line. 

This is the scene in Gita Govind where Jayadeva Goswame was not able to proceed further:

Radha is desperately waiting for Sri Krishna all day and there was no sign of Him till evening. Radha loses her patience & slowly it turns into aversion towards Krishna. 

The dry day became wonderful evening with cool breeze around, when Krishna arrived playing enchanting melody on his flute.

Though Radha’s happiness grew in multifold upon seeing his Krishna for whom she was waiting enduringly, she doesn’t want to show it to Krishna immediately for having made her wait so long. At the same time she was hesitant to show her true emotion of aversion towards krishna fearing he may leave her & go away. In this twin state of confused mind, Radha was looking completely helpless. 

Krishna with brightness of 1000’s of lotus petal flowers, comes closer to Radha and talks in a very pleasing tone: 

“My beloved! Offer the fresh buds of your enchanting feet as an ornament upon my head, so the devastating effect of Cupid’s poison may be alleviated and the harsh fire of amorous desires may also be relieved.”

This is the thought flow which Sri Jayadeva received while he was trying to write it as part of Gita Govinda. 

He could not accept the fact of imagining his lord whose feet millions of devotes throng for, can have a women’s feet on his head. 

“What a great sin I have done imagining so. Krishna!, Please forgive me. Your lotus feet touching the devotee’s head is a pure ecstatic moment for anybody.If this being the fact, how can I imagine otherwise!

Not willing to write any further, he placed his works aside and kept sobering in a corner unable to control his tears for having committed such a sin. After a short while, Jayadeva heard his wife asking him to take a bath to get ready for the noon puja offerings to the lord. Not wanting to miss lord's service, Jayadeva consoled himself and left the house to take bath in nearby river. 

Soon after Jayadeva left home for bath, Padmavathi started cleaning & preparing the house for the noon puja. 

At that time:

“Padmavathi!!” – She heard her husband calling by her name from the house entrance. 

Before she could reach the front, she saw her husband with half bathed oil face entering the house in a jet speed. 

Quite surprised, she asked, ‘Prabho!, What made you come back in the middle of your bath? “

“Padmavathi!, I have to add a beautiful sloka in the 'Gita Govind Astapathi'. Before I forget them, bring my writing materials soon so that I can write it immediately”

Padmathi went inside & brought the required materials by a whisker.

Sri Jayadeva without wasting any time, quickly sat and rushed to pen down his thoughts. Padmavathi was quite surprised to see his husband working in such a hassled manner which she has never noticed earlier. 

Within few minutes, Jayadeva had a smile on his face for having written what he wanted to write. He asked his wife to keep the written scripts back in the puja room and left the home to complete his bath. 

After some time, Jayadev returning from his bath went straight into the Puja room and started the noon puja along with devotees who from nearby villages already gathered in good numbers. 

Deepam for the lord was lit

Archana’s & stotra’s for the lord was sung.

Dhoopam for the lord was shown

Mantra Pushpam for the lord was offered

Naivedhya (offerings to the lord) was shared among the gatherings.

Noon Puja got completed. 

After remaining in the bliss for some time, the devotees all left the place satisfactorily both by heart & stomach. 

Compared to his state of mind in the morning, Sri Jayadeva felt so light & relaxed deep inside after the Puja. He went back to his puja room to collect his writing materials to continue with his ‘Gita Govind’. 

Sri Jayadeva took his seat before Sri Krishna idol…. 

Opened the Astapathi written so far…..

Got Astonished & screamed…..

“Padmavathi…Padmavathi!!....”

Padmavathi who was in the kitchen cleaning the vessels, heard her husband calling her name so loudly, immediately rushed towards the puja room and asked if her 'Prabho' is in need any of her help. 

“Padmavathi, today morning, few sloka’s that came to my mind to be written in the 'Gita Govind' were not so good thoughts and hence I left it without writing. But now when I am opened the scripts written so far, I could see the same slokas are already written on them. I am wondering who could have done such a crime like this”? 

“Prabho, you only came in half bathed oil face in the afternoon & hurriedly started writing it and gave it back to me before leaving for bath again. How can you forget it so soon?

‘Devi, I never returned from my bath, if that’s the case, how it can be….”

Sri Jayadeva’s voice suddenly choked. 

He understood the truth. 

His body trembled with goose bumps. 

His eyes were filled with tears of joy. 

“Padmavathi, the slokas which I considered as inauspicious and which I thought that writing them itself is a big sin, has been accepted by the lord. Making his feet burn in this hot day, Srimad Narayanan himself have shown mercy on us by visiting our home”

Sri Jayadeva closed his eyes & said; 

“Parandhama, Jaganatha, Bhakthavatsala, Govinda, Gopala, how will I sing your mercy on us. You have shown the world today that, by feeling sacred to have Radha’s feet touching your head because of her pure love & devotion towards you, you have proved that nothing gives you immense joy & happiness than serving the true devotees who come to you in similar traits with complete Sarangathi (surrender)”

Sri Jayadeva realized how fortunate his wife Padvamathi is to have the dharshan of Srimad Narayana himself, for whom the entire universe is begging to hear their prayers. 

“Padmavathi, you are the one who is really fortunate. You are blessed to be in the service of the lord. Krishna has himself showed his mercy by visiting you in the form of half bathed oil face to write my thoughts into words. He has stolen our hearts and left our place. What good deeds you did to see his dharsan, devi ?

Sri Jayadeva, holding both the hands of his wife Padmavathi, said, “In the next Astapathi that I am going compose, let me include the phrase ‘padmävati-sharana-shärana-chakravarti’* as a gratitude for the immense service you have done for the Lord & Sri Radha. 

Bansuri!, Thus the famous work of Gita Govinda got completed which has been an inspiration for many compositions and choreographic works in Indian Classical dances. 

Its go nice to get into behind the scenes on such famous works done by great men of our country. I would like to do a google search if I can find any such composition to listen to.

Ya, there are many. To start with, if you are interested, you can listen to Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna singing Jayadeva's one of the Ashtapadi’s where Shri Krishna expresses his deep disappointment by the exclamation hari! hari! for making Radha suffer through his prolonged absence. 

Sri Jayadeva expreses Krishna in following ways in that composition:

“Alas! What a terrible calamity. On seeing me surrounded by a throng of elegant gopi’s, Rädhä deserted me. She feels neglected and disrespected. Although she always reigns in my heart as my most beloved, and although she abounds with all desirable virtues, and although her love for me has never been surpassed, still I offended her. Therefore I was nervous and hesitated to pacify her. Feeling insulted, she became annoyed with me and left, and now I am very sorry about what happened.”

“She has been suffering from the devastating heat of separation for a long time, so I cannot predict her behaviour. What will she do? What will she say? Alas! In the absence of Rädhä, my wealth, my relatives, my life, my home and everything seem worthless.”

“Alas! When I continuously realize the direct presence of Rädhä and deeply embrace her in the temple of my heart, why am I uselessly lamenting over her and why am I repeatedly searching for her from forest to forest?”

Hear the song here:

The song goes like this:

tastatas-tāmanusṛtya rādhikām

anaṅga-bāṇa-vraṇa-khinna-mānasaḥ |

kṛtānutāpaḥ sa kalinda-nandinī-

taṭānta-kuñje viṣasāda mādhavaḥ ||

māmiyaṃ calitā vilokya vṛtaṃ vadhū-nicayena |

sāparādhatayā mayāpi na vāritā’tibhayena ||

hari hari hatā’daratayā sā gatā kupiteva ||1||

kiṃ kariṣyati kiṃ vadiṣyati sā ciraṃ viraheṇa |

kiṃ dhanena janena kiṃ mama jīvitena gṛheṇa ||2||

cintayāmi tadānanaṃ kuṭila-bhru-kopabhareṇa |

śoṇa-padmam ivopari-bhramatākulaṃ bhramareṇa ||3||

tām ahaṃ hṛdi saṅgatām anīśaṃ bhṛśaṃ ramayāmi |

kiṃ vane’nusarāmi tāmiha kiṃ vṛthā vilapāmi ||4||

tanvi khinnam asūyayā hṛdayaṃ tavākalayāmi |

tanna vedmi kuto gatāsi na tena te’nunayāmi ||5||

dṛśyase purato gatāgatameva me vidadhāsi |

kiṃ pureva sasambhramaṃ parirambhaṇaṃ na dadāsi ||6||

kṣamyatām aparaṃ kadāpi tavedṛśaṃ na karomi |

dehi sundari darśanaṃ mama manmathena dunomi ||7||

varṇitaṃ jayadevakena hareridaṃ pravaṇena |

kindu-bilva-samudra-sambhava-rohiṇī-ramaṇena ||8|

Sankara, we are so blessed to have such pious saints in our Indian culture who inspire us with such pure dive love & devotion for the lord. 

Yes Bansuri, but remember, it’s not so easy to have complete 'Sarangathi' as well. There are many times in Sri jayadeva’s life where he was tested & even severely punished by the circumstances surrounding him.

Oh is it!, I am eager to know them as well Sankara?

Certainly Bansuri!, I love to share them with you too. But not until tomorrow as it’s now getting late for my Meditation. 

You always leave only when I start to get some interest on your story. Anyways, nothing can stop you from your Meditation…. See you tomorrow, Jai Gurudev!

Jai Gurudev…

*Verse 2 (the Ashtapadi where Sri Jayadeva includes her wife name in his composition)

väg-devatä-carita-citrita-citta-sadmä
padmävati-carana-cärana-cakravarti
sri-väsudeva-rati-keli-kathä-sametam
etam karoti jayadeva-kavih prabandham

*Verse 8 (the Ashtapadi which Sri Jayadeva was reluctant to compose)

smara garaLa khanDanam mama Sirasi manDanam dEhi pada pallava mudAram jvalati mayi dAruNo madana kadanAnalO haratu tadupAhita vikAram||priyE || 

-'Bansuri'

(story of Sri Jayadev inspired from 'Maha Bhakta Vijaya'. Poem extracts are from the book 'Sri Gita Govinda')