It is all about Radha and Krsna...

[Paramananda das]

Pranams to the lotusfeet of all vaisnavas

pranams to the lotusfeet of my Gurudeva

and Pranams to the lotusfeet of Srila Prabhupada

  One preacher was stating that it is not all about Radha Krsnas pastimes, but actually he is wrong it is only about Radha Krsnas pastimes, because this is the real world.All these other subjects are not as important as subjects related to Lord Caitanya and Radha Krsna's pastimes.But mostly we do not take time or have the interest to hear about Radha Krsnas lilas.My Gurudeva Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja encouraged me to constantly hear and read Krsna katha, and hear and read about the unlimeted lilas of the Divine couple.Sadly in this  world mostly everyone is self absorbed in ahankara and has no time for Radha Krsna. Yesterday was Ratha Yatra in Puri, and I had the good fortune to watch hours long of this proscession on the internet. http://rathjatra.nic.in/rathjatra_2012.html

What really is the mood of Lord Jagannatha, Baladeva and Subhadra is they are fully absorbed in Krsnas Vrindavana lilas .These forms of Jagannatha Baladeva and Subhadra is are all a product of Mahabhava symptoms .  

This month of June is such a powerful month for bhakti if we use it properly, so many vaisnava festivals and apperance and disapperance days of our acaryas, Pandava Nirjala Ekadasi ,Ratha Yatra, Hera Pancami etc etc

Some thought came to me today about Radha Krsnas Jhulan Yatra, there is of course this great website explaining about Jhulan yatra

http://www.salagram.net/parishad134.html

In his Krsna Bhavanamrta ,Srila Visvanath Chakravati Thakura has given such sweet description of the Jhulan yatra that takes places every day at Radha Kunda in the asta kaliya lilas of Radha Krsna:

When Radha and Krishna played in the Kadamba forest, the trees with their thousands of gradually ascending bluish branches, and their golden flowers that showered honey with love, conquered the beauty of the rain clouds and the lightning. The very long jeweled platforms between these kadamba trees gave pleasure to Krishna day and night, being showered by honey from the flowers in the trees that was protected by ever wakeful honeybees. On each side of these platforms two pillar-like trees were standing, whose branches embraced each other above the platforms, supporting emerald balconies where flower garlands were hung. From these beautiful branches beautiful red ropes inset with pearls were hanging. They were holding up the swings, that each had two golden seats on them, that were swung by a soft breeze.

The maidservants artfully picked the stems off fragrant flowers, and spread the blossoms over the seats of the swings, covering these petals with soft, thin sheets. With their nice fragrance and softness these swings were able to attract Shri Krishna. Shyama saw the best of these swings, one with a flag on it, and climbed on it. It was as if ecstasy personified sat down on the swing that was served by the goddess of beauty.

To get completely showered by the rain, Krishna pulled His beloved One, who held His hand, on the swing and placed Her facing Him, like bliss personified facing a sleepless pond of love. The maidservants served Radha and Krishna by throwing flowers, performing arati to Their lotus-like faces, singing, straightening Their necklaces and Krishna's turban and serving Them pan and garlands.

The prana sakhis (maidservants), standing on each side of the swing, tied up their veils with their sashes, stepping back and forth to push the swing, bending their bodies as they pushed. Two other fortunate sakhis stood on each side of the swing, holding tasty betel leaves in their hands, which they put in Radha and Krishna's lotus-like mouths whenever the swing slowed down. Other advanced maidservants, who had sweet characters and who were floating in a current of divine love, showered Radha and Krishna with the best flower petals from their hands.

The goddesses in the sky praised their own fortune of seeing Radha and Krishna'a swinging pastimes. They became stunned from ecstasy and, although their hopes for attaining a gopi-body were unfullfilled, they eagerly showered flowere on the Yugala Kisora. The clouds also joyfully showered their rains, that turned into honey when it collided with the flower shower. These honey drops looked like pearls when they fell on the gopis' bodies, and made friends with the pearls that were already there. The sweet songs of the gopis pervaded the sky and the fragrance that came out of their opened mouths stirred the honeybees, that offered praises to these gopis.

The moon of bliss gradually waxed during Radha and Krishna's swinging festival, in which Their necklaces, earrings and garlands danced, Their waist bells and ankle bells became suitable instruments for making music, and Their faint smiles became the audience of all this. Radha and Krishna's lotus-like eyes swung on the waves of the swelling ocean of each other's bodily luster. Seeing this, the sakhis gained a great wealth of bliss. That desire, which worked unfavorably for the developement of the pastimes by agitating Radha and Krishna's minds, could not disturb this swinging festival at all. The sages say that this is because of the power of the lila shakti (playpower, personified by Vrindadevi).

The branches of the tree on which the ropes of the swing were hanging began to swing along and the leaves and flowers could thus serve Radha and Krishna by fanning Them. The flower garlands hanging in these branches, that were strung in many different ways, also swung along and the honeybees were unable to catch them, though they carefully tried. These bees looked very beautiful as they buzzed and wandered along with these swinging garlands.

Radha and Krishna wanted to swing faster, so They kicked off more speed with Their feet, giving Their sakhis lots of loving bliss with Their expert rising and descending. They looked very funny as They swung up and down. When Krishna was below, Krishna's flower garland embraced Her blouse. This vision made the sakhis very happy. Radha and Krishna saw Their own reflections in each other's bodies without seeing each other. This made Them very sad, and They sighed deeply. This breathing then dimmed the shining of Their mirror-like bodies, and, not seeing Their reflections anymore, They became very happy.

Then, the ocean of playful sports, Shri Krishna Himself, began to push the swing faster, just for fun, making it go so high that Radhika's buttocks touched the leaves on the branches of the kadamba tree. Then She became afraid that She would fall and said, "Aha! Don't swing anymore! No more!" When Madhava heard this He began to laugh and, instead of slowing down, He began to push the swing even faster! Shri Radhika's braid loosened, Her veil slipped off Her head and Her ornaments were dishevelled. Seeing that She could not break off the speed of the swing anymore with Her feet, because She needed them to keep Her sari from blowing up. Krishna began to laugh. His eyes were satisfied and again He increased the speed, so that Radhika gave up Her seat and embraced Him around the neck. Krishna also embraced Her. In this way, the bodies of the Yugala Kisora, that looked like one blue lotus flower and one golden campaka flower, became one. From that union, the fragrance of these flowers also emanated, piercing through the heavenly planets and ultimately reaching the nostrils of Padma, the goddess of fortune, and other residents of Vaikuntha.

Seeing Radha and Krishna on the swing without any support from Their hands, the sakhis came and stopped the swing. Shri Radhika got off and mingled with Her sakhis, telling them how Krishna played with Her. Then She took the chief of Her eight sakhis, Lalita, seated her next to Krishna on the swing and began to sing with love. Krishna did with Lalita what He previously did with Radhika. After doing the same thing with Visakha and all the other sakhis, Krishna got off the swing. Then He expanded Himself into many forms, sat on each swing in one form and took two sakhis with Him on each swing, lifting them up with His arms and swinging with them. What is, after all, not possible to do for Krishna, the ocean of love? Each gopi saw that Krishna was sitting on the swing with her alone, drinking the honey from her lotus-like face. That is not so astonishing, for what is impossible to do for the desire-potency of the son of the lord of Gokula.

There was a lotus shaped swing on which Mukunda climbed, with His dear gopis, as soon as Vrinda showed it to Him. The central whorl of the lotus had pillows on it. Krishna placed His left arm on Radhika's shoulder as the eight primary sakhis sat down on the eight surrounding petals, and the sixteen secondary sakhis sat on the sixteen outer leaves. In great bliss, Vrinda brought tasty dates, rose apples, grapes and other kinds of fruit. The sakhis ate what Radha and Krishna left on Their plates. Before this, they drank a juice whose taste defied the pride of nectar and afterwards, Radha and Krishna and the sakhis lovingly gave each other golden, shining, betel leaves.

Nandi and Vrinda were happy to push the lotus swing. The faces of the maidservants lighted up in bliss while they sang different songs. Through the swinging play, Krishna attained victory over the gopis and gained the jewels of their kisses and embraces. Then He took them off the swings and wandered with them from forest to forest.

Seeing Radhika's face, Krishna thought, "Shri Radhika's beautiful face, with Her soft smile that casually opens itself, reminds Me of the buds of the yuthi flower," and He picked some of these yuthi flowers, strung a garland of them, and wore them on His chest. The rainclouds in the sky resembled Krishna's bodily luster. The lightning resembled the gopis' luster and the red indragopa worms on the ground resembled the red prints of the gopis' footlac. When the Krishna-cloud showered its matchless rains everywhere, the flowers and vines bloomed up and the corn-like gopis became incomparably beautiful and experienced great bliss. The monsoon-forest was also immersed in showers of joy of erotic rasa.

Thus ends chapter eleven of Shrila Visvanatha Cakravrti's "Krishna Bhavanamrita Mahakavya," dealing with Radha and Krishna's pastimes on the swing in the rainy season.

my Gurudeva has written a beautiful bhajan to help us remember Radha Krsna:

Vraja-Jana-Mana-Sukhakari

Shri Shrimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja

Refrain: vraja-jana-mana-sukhakari ... radhe syam syama syam

Krishna gives happiness in the hearts of all the Vrajavasis - Radhe! Syama! Syama! Syama!

mor mukuta makarakrita-kundala, gala vaijayanti-mala, caranana nupura rasala radhe syam syama syam

(1) He wears a peacock feather mukut, swinging makara-shaped earrings, and a vaijayanti garland around His neck, and the sound of His anklebells is full of rasa! Radhe! Syama! Syama! Syama!

sundara vadana kamala-dala locana, baki cita-vana-hari, mohana-vamshi-vihari radhe syam syama syam

(2) His lotus face is very beautiful and His eyes are like lotus-petals. Wandering here and there, He charms everyone with His flute and threefold curved form! Radhe! Syama! Syama!

Syama! vrindavana me dhenu carave, gopi-jana manahari shri govardhana-dhari radhe syam syama syam

(3) In Vrindavana He tends the cows in the pastures, steals the gopis’ minds, and holds up Shri Govardhana Hill! Radhe! Syama! Syama! Syama!

radha-krishna mili aba dou, gaura-rupa avatari kirtana dharma pracari radhe syam syama syam

(4) Shri Radha-Krishna have united and now the two have come as the beautiful golden avatara, preaching kirtana-dharma. Radhe! Syama! Syama! Syama!

tum vina mere aur na koi, nama-rupa avatari caranana me balihari, narayana balihari, radhe syam syama syam

(5) I have no one but You in this world. You descend as the avatara of the beautiful name and beautiful form. Your lotus feet fill me with wonder - so this Narayana is filled with delight! Radhe! Syama! Syama! Syama!

sri-radhika-madhavayor apara- madhurya-lila-guna-rupa-namnam pratiksanasvadana-lolupasya vande guroh sri-caranaravindam

nikunja-juno  rati-keli-siddhyai ya  yalibhir yuktir apeksaniya tatrati-daksyad ati-vallabhasya vande guroh sri-caranaravindam

Vaisnava das anu das

Paramananda das

Official Name: JhulataYatra Gita

Author: Uddhava Dasa

Book Name: None

Language: Bengali

LYRICS

(1)

jhulato śyāma, gaurī bāma,

ānanda rańge mātiyā,

iṣata hāsita rabhasa keli, jhulāto saba sakhinī meli,

gāoto koto bhātiyā

(2)

hema maṇi-yuta bara hi ḍora, racita kusuma gandha bhora,

poroto bhramara  mātiyā

navīna latāya joḍita ḍāla, vṛndā vipine śobhita bhālo

canda ujora rātiyā

(3)

nava ghana tanu dolāya śyāma, rāi sańge jhulato bāma,

taḍita jaḍita kātiyā

tārā-maṇi candra hāra, jhulita dolato gale dohāra

hilana duhuka gātiyā

(4)

vidhi koto dhiyā tā-thaiyā bola, bāje  mṛdańga mohana rola,

tinā-nā tinā-nā tā-ti-yā

bheda pavana grāma pūra, ghora śabada jīla sura,

varaṇa nāhiko jātiyā

(5)

maṇi ābharaṇa kińkinī bańka, jhulane bājaye jhunura jhańka

jhana jhana jhana jhā-ti-yā

rādhā mohana caraṇe āśa, kevala bharasā uddhava  dāsa

racita pūrito chāṭiyā

TRANSLATION

1) Syama swings with Gauri on His left, intoxicated by Jhulana’s ananda rasa! Yet with Their sliver-like smiles They arouse the mood for AnangaKeli! Radha’s sanginis push the Hindola and  sing, displaying madhura  gestures.

2) The hema-mani Hindola is decorated with fragrant flowers that allure  hoards of bees.

3) Syama appears like a  cloud, and Rai Rangini is  like the brilliant lightning embracing His left side!

4) Radha-Syama wear candra hara (moon-necklaces) and tara-mani (star-jewels) that toss as Their bodies clasp together.

The mohana mrdangas play - bi-dhi, bi-dhik-a-di-ya and tini-na, tini-na-ta-ti-ya.

5) The gopis’ high-pitched  singing traverses the sky to fill the surrounding area it’s simply  indescribable! Yet their ornaments and kinkini malas tinkle as the jhunura (large karatalas) resound: jha-na, jha-na, jha-na – jha-ti-jha! Thus overwhelmed, Uddhava dasa takes shelter at Sri Radha-Mohana’s lotus feet.