At the outset of his commentary on the Śrīmadbhāgavata, the venerable Śrīdhara Svāmī declared, "This great Purāṇa, the Śrīmadbhāgavata, is the commentary on Vedānta." From this we must understand: first comes principle, then play. The Purāṇic seer, having entered into samādhi, disseminated in the world all that was to be described—we must grasp these matters with inner vision. In the Śrīmadbhagavadgītā, Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: My birth and actions are both divine—transcendent and miraculous. Therefore one must understand these as principle itself.
That not all the events described in the Purāṇas belong to a single category becomes clear upon reading them. In many Purāṇas appear accounts of kings such as Nanda, Mahāpadma, Maurya, Chandragupta, Bindusāra, Aśoka, Puṣpamitra, Pulimān, the Śaka rulers, the Andhra rulers, and countless historical figures of later ages. These names and events should be regarded simply as ordinary historical occurrences. There is nothing puzzling here. But the Purāṇas also describe many events from other islands and other cosmic ages, and when comprehending such events, we must enlarge the reach of our imagination and thought. The universe and all it contains do not remain in their present state eternally. The activity of vital force and mental power did not operate ten million or twenty million years ago as they do today. The life of Jambudvīpa is not the same as the life of Plaksadvīpa—and even within a single island, how vast the differences across different ages. If we grasp something of these fundamental matters, we may penetrate somewhat into the mystery concealed within these second category of phenomena.
There is yet a third category of events narrated in the Purāṇas—these are the true 'līlās,' or divine plays. The protagonist of these events is the Lord Himself. These are known as 'mysteries.' If we understand these events rightly, we shall understand and grasp the Lord Himself. Therefore we must comprehend them with the aid of advanced spiritual practice and metaphysical philosophy. To whatever degree we master the supreme and ultimate principles taught in the yoga-śāstra, the knowledge-śāstra, and the devotion-śāstra, to that same measure shall we be able to taste these 'līlās.'
Many līlās of the Lord are described in the Purāṇas, yet among them, the līlā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa—especially His divine play in Vrindavan—is the most profound and sweetest, and precisely for this reason it is most difficult for us to comprehend. Moreover, within this Vrindavan-līlā, the principle of Śrī Rādhā is the most secret. Without first knowing the principle, without purifying the heart through that very principle, to hastily discuss obscure texts such as the Brahmavaivarta Purāṇa or the Gīta-Govinda is to miss the essential nectar entirely and to do injustice to the spiritual discipline discovered and transmitted by the ancient Indian sages.
Many know the Puruṣa-sūkta of the Rigveda. To understand properly the principle of Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa and the līlā of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, it is necessary to examine this Puruṣa-sūkta. The description of this Puruṣa permeates both Vedic and Purāṇic literature; it appears also in the Śrīmadbhagavadgītā. In the Rigveda we find this description of Him:
A thousand heads has the Puruṣa, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. Having encompassed the earth on all sides, He stands beyond it by a span of ten fingers. (Rigveda, 10/90/1)
Word-meanings: (Sahasrashīrsha) The countless heads of all beings dwelling within him [or he who is omniscient] (Sahasraksha) The countless eyes of all beings dwelling within him [or he who is the all-seeing witness] (Sahasrapāt) The countless feet of all beings dwelling within him [or he who is omnipresent, dwelling everywhere] (Sah) He (Purusha) The complete Supreme Self (Bhūmim) The entire cosmos (Vishvatah) In all directions (Vritva) Pervading (Dashaṅgulam) Ten-fold [that is, the cosmos composed of five gross and five subtle elements] (Atyatishtha) Transcending [stands established in the infinite and boundless]. [Thus does he pervade completely within and beyond this entire cosmos].
Simple meaning: His limbs—the heads and such—are countless; his organs of knowledge—eyes and such—are countless; his organs of action—feet and such—are countless. This vast Purusha thus pervades the cosmos. Yet he also transcends the space of ten fingers' breadth measured from the navel of man and dwells within the heart.
Philosophical meaning: In this mantra, the term 'Purusha' stands as the principal noun, while all other words serve as his attributes. He who exists fully and completely within all the cosmos is called 'Purusha.' The syllable 'pur' conveys both the universe and the body. Therefore, he who pervades the entire cosmos in boundless extension and dwells within the hearts of all beings as the inner controller, the indwelling witness—he is called 'Purusha.' The word 'sahasra' means not literally 'thousand' but 'countless' or 'manifold.' Thus he within whom dwell the innumerable heads, eyes, and feet of all creatures in the world, or he who is omniscient, all-seeing, and omnipresent, is called Sahasrashīrsha, Sahasraksha, and Sahasrapāt. Just as within the sky all substances dwell, yet the sky itself remains distinct and separate from all substances—so too must one understand the Supreme Self. In this mantra, the term 'dashaṅgul' refers to both the cosmos and the heart. Here the word 'aṅguli' (finger) indicates the constituent parts or divisions. The five gross elements (earth, water, fire, air, and space) and the five subtle elements (sound, touch, form, taste, and odor)—these two categories of elements together compose the form of the cosmos, and so the cosmos is called 'dashaṅgul.' Alternatively, the five vital breaths (prāṇa, apāna, udāna, vyāna, and samāna), mind, intellect, consciousness, and ego—these nine categories, together with the tenth, the individual soul dwelling in the heart—may also be understood as the meaning of 'dashaṅgul.' The Supreme Lord transcends this ten-fold realm, that is, the entire moving and unmoving creation, and remains established everywhere in eternal stillness.
The etymological meaning of the word 'Purusha' is 'fullness' or 'completeness.' The Supreme Self, the innermost Purusha, is called 'Purusha' because he fills the entire cosmos with his being. In the Nirukta, while explaining the word 'Purusha,' the great commentator Yaska cites as example the verse from the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka 10/10/23 and the mantra 3/7 of the Shvetāshvatara Upanishad, thereby proving that "Purusha is the omnipresent Supreme Lord."
Purusha is all this—whatsoever has been born, and whatsoever shall be born. He is the lord of immortality, of all that grows through food. (Rigveda, 10/90/2)
Meaning: All that has come into being, all that shall come into being—everything rests upon Purusha [is pervaded by Purusha], and he is the master of immortality, of liberation itself, and also the master of all that grows and increases through nourishment [through food].
To speak plainly: the past, the future, and the present—all of this is Purusha. He alone is the great lord of liberation. Whatever grows and is sustained through nourishment and food—he is the master of all of that as well.
So vast is his glory, and the Purusa stands yet greater still. One foot of his encompasses all created beings; Three feet of his, immortal in form, dwell in the heavens. (Rigveda, 10/90/3)
Meaning: The world's immense power is such, yet the Supreme Lord exceeds it still. All manifest things rest in one quarter of him. His three quarters—luminous with knowledge—are imperishable.
All this is his glory, yet he transcends it utterly. The cosmos in its totality comprises but one quarter of him; the remaining three quarters, deathless and eternal, form his true nature.
The Vedas speak of creation's unfolding from the Hiranyagarbha—the cosmic womb, the primordial egg—wherein all things lay dormant, undifferentiated. This is also called the Brahmaanda, the universe itself. In the hymns of the Rigveda, the Purusa is described in his Virat form, the cosmic body, as the source of all creation. From within the Virat emerges omnipresent knowledge, and from the Virat springs forth multiplicity. From the Purusa was born the Virat, and from the Virat came forth the Adhipurusa, the Supreme Lord. This Supreme Being took the forms of the gods, of beasts and creatures, of humankind, and thereafter came the creation of the five elements and all embodied life.
The Purusa spoken of in the Rigveda is the very being celebrated in the Upanishads.
He who dwells in the earth, yet is other than the earth, whom the earth knows not, Whose body the earth is, and who guides the earth from within—he is your Self, the inner controller, the immortal. (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, 3/7/3)
Meaning: He who dwells in the earth yet remains distinct from it, who inhabits the earth's interior yet is unknown to the earth itself, whose body encompasses both the gross and the subtle—he who rules the earth from within, eternally wakeful in that interior space—he alone is your Self. He is the inner controller, the immortal.
Thus is he present in fire and atmosphere, in wind and sky, in sun and in all directions, in moon and stars, in space and in darkness, in radiance—yet none of these perceive him. These are his body; he sustains them from within. He is the inner controller of the Self, the Purusa who dwells unseen. The Brhadaranyaka Upanishad calls him the Adhidaiva Purusa, the controller-from-within, because this eternal, immortal Self pervades all beings—earth, water, fire, wind, and the gods themselves—sustaining them all. Thus is he the Adhibhuta Purusa, the Lord of the elements. And because he acts through the vital breath, speech, eye, ear, mind, skin, and through the special wisdom that is self-knowledge, and through the generative force that carries forth creation, he is thus the Adhyatma Purusa, the inner Self of all interiority.
"He who dwells in the vital seed, yet is other than the vital seed, whom the vital seed knows not, Whose body is the vital seed, and who guides the vital seed from within—he is your Self, the inner controller, the immortal. He is unseen, yet the seer; unheard, yet the hearer; unthought, yet the thinker; unknown, yet the knower. There is no other seer than he, no other hearer than he, no other thinker than he, no other knower than he. He is your Self, the inner controller, the immortal." (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, 3/7/23)
In the generative faculty (that is, in the organ of generation). [The reason is being explained why even the mighty divinities of earth and so forth, dwelling within you, know not the inner controller, the Antaryāmin, who governs you]—Unseen (not the object of another's sight) and yet Seer (the consciousness present in the eye, thus a witness); Unheard and yet Hearer (the inexhaustible faculty of hearing present in all ears); Beyond thought and yet Thinker (the contemplator); Unknown to knowledge and yet Knower. [But this does not mean the divinities of earth and so forth are separate from the Antaryāmin who governs them; for] From the Antaryāmin there is no other Seer; from Him no other Hearer; from Him no other Thinker; from Him no other Knower. The Antaryāmin is immortal—He alone is thy Self [and so forth—see 3.4.2].
Meaning: He who dwells within the generative organ—that is, who dwells within the divinity of the generative organ, whom that divinity knows not, whose body is the generative organ, who rules that divinity while dwelling within it—He is the Antaryāmin, the Immortal, and your Self. Though unseen, He is the Seer; though unheard, He is the Hearer; though beyond the reach of thought, He is the Thinker; though unknown to knowledge, He is the Knower. There is no other Seer besides Him; no other Hearer besides Him; no other Thinker besides Him; no other Knower besides Him (who is the Witness, bereft of the nature of all worldly action, and the apportioner of the fruits of deeds to all creatures). The Antaryāmin and the Immortal—He alone is your Self. Whatever stands apart from Him is subject to decay.
"Then Yājñavalkya said: 'Just as a man, deviating from his stated position, might say, 'This is a cow, this is a horse'—even so has your opposite instruction been given. That Brahman which is direct and immediate, the Self that dwells within all—tell me about Him.' 'This inward Self is the innermost Self.' 'Which is this innermost Self?' 'That which is within all.' One cannot see the Seer of sight; one cannot hear the Hearer of hearing; one cannot think the Thinker of thought; one cannot know the Knower of knowledge. This inward Self is the innermost Self; all else is perishable. Thus spake Yājñavalkya, and Uṣasti, the Cakrāyaṇa, became silent." (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, 3.4.2)
He, Yājñavalkya, then spoke: [A certain person], just as (in a manner that contradicts what has been stated), he deviates from his own assertion and says, "This is a cow, this is a horse"—your contrary instruction has become (just such a contradiction). That which [as before]. The Seer of sight (the Witness, the Self) you shall not see; the Hearer of hearing you shall not hear; the Thinker of thought you shall not think; the Knower of knowledge you shall not know. He [as before]. Therefore, all that is other than this Self (every effect and instrument) is perishable, unreal.
Meaning: "…Just as a man, contrary to what he has asserted, might say, 'This is a cow, this is a horse'—even so has your contrary instruction become. He who is the direct, immediate Brahman, who is the inner Self dwelling in all, tell me of Him in detail." "The dweller within all is your inner Self." "Yājñavalkya, which is this dweller within all?" "The Seer of sight cannot be seen by anyone; the Hearer of hearing cannot be heard by anyone; the Thinker of thought cannot be thought by anyone; the Knower of knowledge cannot be known by anyone. This dweller within all is your inner Self; all else is subject to decay."
Meaning and Significance:
: If someone were to claim they had given you a direct account of a cow or a horse, and then said, "Whatever walks is a cow," or "Whatever runs is a horse," such an indirect identification through the activity of moving would contradict the original promise, would it not? Similarly, when you fail to give a direct account of the Self and instead offer an identification based on vital functions, you have not done rightly.
: My answer stands correct. Horses and the like can indeed become the objects of direct knowledge, but the Self cannot be treated in that way. For the Self is the very nature of those faculties—seeing, hearing, and the rest—through which objects become known. How, then, could you see or hear Him?
There are two kinds of sight—the worldly and the transcendent. What we call worldly sight is a particular modification of the inner faculty linked with the eye. Worldly sight is tinged with the colour of its objects and has both origin and dissolution. It appears to be connected with transcendent sight, yet it is merely the shadow of Self-sight, enveloped by that Self-sight. Self-sight itself is the nature of the Self; it neither originates nor dissolves (4/3/23). Just as a lamp is revealed through ordinary knowledge yet cannot itself reveal that knowledge, so worldly sight, though illumined by Self-sight, cannot as a witness reveal that sight itself. Because worldly sight enters into relation with the Self—because it is pervaded by the Self—the witnessing Self appears to be a seer, unseeing, and so forth; yet truly He performs no action (4/3/7). The same understanding applies to hearing and other faculties. One must recognize the Self, distinct from worldly sight and the rest, as eternal sight itself.
Thus it is established—the Self exists, and He is the inner witness of all, unchanging and of the nature of eternal knowing.
"In deep sleep He does not see (it seems), yet He both sees and does not see; for the seer, being imperishable, cannot have his sight destroyed. Yet there is no second object apart from Him, distinct and separate, that he could see." (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, 4/3/23)
Commentary: Fire and the manifestation of fire are one and the same; so too the Self and the lustre of the Self are one. Indeed, the seer is the unchanging (immutable, eternal, ever-abiding) sight itself. Though the sun and his radiance are one, the world speaks as though the sun manifests. Similarly, since the Self, that knowing seer, and His sight or consciousness are one, though He is not the agent of seeing, it is still said that the Self sees. In the state of ignorance, during waking and dreaming when the perception of duality arises, the Self seems to have particular knowledge. But in deep sleep, when He becomes united with the Supreme Self and duality is suppressed, though self-luminous, He becomes devoid of particular knowledge.
"What is the Self?" "He who dwells in understanding, who resides within all the senses, and the luminous person within the inner light of understanding. Though equal in form to understanding, He moves throughout this world and the next, and seems to think and move, because He is present in dreams and transcends this world with its manifold transformations arising from ignorance." (Brhadaranyaka Upanishad, 4/3/7)
Commentary:
"As the sun illuminates objects of its own nature, so too perhaps one sense illuminates the other senses akin to it."—Janaka, falling into this confusion, asks: "Which among the senses is the Self?" Or, when all the senses appear to be filled with consciousness, Janaka's question becomes this—"Which among these conscious beings is the Self that possesses consciousness?"
The phrase "manifested in intellect" is not employed in the sense of a modification; for the Self is not a modification of intellect. Just as light reflected in mirrors assumes the form, color, and other qualities of those mirrors, the Self manifested in intellect becomes similar to intellect.
As the light within glass illuminates the glass itself and the objects around it, the Self's luminescence likewise renders intellect, mind, vital force, and the senses almost conscious.
The illumined and the illuminator often do not appear as distinct in many instances; as the light reflected in red glass cannot be separated from the redness of the glass. The Self becomes thus inseparable from intellect. Illuminating intellect, the Self, through intellect's support, illuminates the collision of body and senses—that is, appears to take their form. Thus the Self seems to act, though action does not belong to the Self.
Though the Self is devoid of action, action is attributed to the Self because of its seeming identity with intellect. Thus, through this intimate unity and non-duality with intellect, the Self experiences both dream and waking. The One who illuminates intellect in waking and who, transcending the waking state, illuminates intellect even in dream—He is surely distinct from intellect and free from agency and pure.
The lotus of the heart is the dwelling place of intellect. From there, intellect governs the senses. For this governance, intellect is again subject to the soul's karma. In waking, intellect, bound by that karma, extends the senses—hearing and others—along the nerve channels to the ear-passages and then directs them. The individual soul encompasses this intellect through the reflection of consciousness manifest within itself, and when intellect contracts, the soul too contracts. This is the soul's sleep. In waking, the soul perceives the expansion of intellect—that is the soul's experience. For just as the reflection of the moon and other celestial bodies exists according to the nature of water and so forth, the individual soul, though always abiding in its true nature, follows its own limiting adjuncts—intellect and others. Thus, the soul, naturally present in its own Self yet following intellect bound to karma, is described as "dwelling in the body." In truth, during deep sleep, the soul has no connection with the body; for at that time it "transcends all the griefs and desires of the heart"—the desire for the beloved becomes sorrow when separated from it or when the beloved cannot be obtained. (4.3.22) Yet it does not leave the body and go elsewhere; as a lamp, remaining in one place, spreads light everywhere, the Self likewise, abiding in the heart, pervades consciousness throughout the entire body.
The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad speaks of that inner controller, the Purusha, in many different ways. The song from the Worship section quoted below, by a man shaped in the light of the Upanishads—Rabindranath's—is itself the fruit of meditation upon that very Purusha:
The eye cannot perceive You, yet You dwell in eye after eye. The heart cannot know You, yet hidden within the heart You remain.
The mind, enslaved by desire, races in ten directions like one possessed, while you, steady-eyed, wake eternal in the depths of sleep and dream.
Everyone has abandoned one who has none, yet you remain—your tenderness his own— the homeless wanderer, his dwelling the road, finds sanctuary in your mansion.
Without you there is no companion left, before me stretches life without measure— you cross the ocean of time, no one knows how. I know only this: because you are, I am, because you are life itself, I live. The more I find you, the more I seek; the more I know, the more unknowing remains. I know I shall find you without ceasing, through world beyond world, age beyond age— between you and me no one stands, no barrier exists in all creation. In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it is written—
This is Truth—the honey of all beings; all beings are the honey of this Truth. That radiant, immortal person who dwells in Truth, and that radiant, immortal person who dwells embodied in righteousness—he is this very self, which is immortal, which is Brahman, which is all. (2/5/12)
This Truth in its manifested form—know it as dharma— all beings are the honey of all beings in Truth.
That one standing in Truth's midst, the precious Person, radiant form, dwells as sweetness in this body's shrine— four are honey-filled in dharma's guise.
Two—Truth and the honey of all beings— and two more who dwell in Person's form, honey-filled, in these four the Self is one.
Knowledge of the Self is ambrosia, this is Brahman—know this and all is known, in Brahman all is found, all becomes honey-sweet.
That is to say: this Truth (manifested as dharma in action) is the honey of all beings, and all beings are the honey of this Truth. In this Truth, the radiant, immortal Person, and he who dwells embodied in righteousness—radiant, immortal Person—these too are honey. These four aspects of Truth are one: the Self. This knowledge of the Self is ambrosia. This is Brahman. This knowledge of Brahman is all.
Like dharma, Truth too is divided into the universal and the particular. The universal Truth manifests as activity pervading earth and all elements; the particular Truth manifests as conduct embodied in body and senses: "By truth the wind blows." (Mahanaryana Upanishad, 22/1)
The Person—the indwelling Spirit—radiant, immortal, is honey. Beyond him lies Brahman as Bliss, Brahman as Essence. Those who have received with their hearts the truths of the Upanishads and Vedanta will find it no great difficulty to enter into the nature and play of Krishna and Radha. But those who have not grasped these teachings of the Upanishads with meditative hearts will find it not merely difficult but truly impossible to penetrate the depths of Radha and Krishna's truth. Bhakti alone cannot unlock this mystery.
The Bhagavad Gita contains extensive discussion of the Vedic Purusha, and Krishna is called Purushottama, the Supreme Person. When Acharya Shankara sets out to define the Purusha in his commentary on the fourth verse of the eighth chapter of the Gita, he explains it thus: "Purushah purnamanen sarvam iti purishayanadbha purushah"—that is, "He through whom all things are filled, or He who dwells in the city (the body), is the Purusha."
The Hiranyagarbha within the solar orb is the Adhidaiva Purusha; he grants grace to all the senses of all beings and endows them with power. The Adhiyajna Purusha—Vishnu—is the presiding deity of all sacrifices. All these passages of scripture are expounded in detail in the commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita. In the Bhagavata, all the characteristics of the Purusha are attributed to Krishna. Therefore, a thorough discussion of the Purusha will illuminate the truth of Krishna, and understanding the truth of Krishna will make it easier to understand the truth of Radha.
We find in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad:
Mahaan Prabhur Vai Purushah Sattvasya Esha Pravartakah Sunirmalamimaam Praptim Ishano Jyotiravyayah (3.12)
Eshah (He) mahan (the Great), prabhuh vai (truly the Lord), purushah (dwelling in the heart), imam suninaalmam (this immaculate supreme abode) praptim (attainment of), sattvasya (of consciousness/inner instrument), pravatakah (the impeller), ishanah (the Lord), jyotih (radiant consciousness), avyayah (imperishable).
Meaning: He is surely the Great, the All-Powerful, the Dweller in the Heart, the One who impels the inner consciousness toward the attainment of that Supreme Abode, the Sovereign of all, the Embodiment of illuminating Consciousness, and the Imperishable.
Commentary: Assuredly, He is the Administrator of all things; the Great Lord and eternal, luminous Supreme Purusha, the Purushottama, impels every human heart toward this immaculate attainment—that is, toward the realization of His own blissful, pure nature. He draws each person to Himself. Yet this foolish living being, despite receiving every opportunity, does not strive with fervor to attain Him in accordance with His urging.
He alone is the Great Purusha, the Supreme Person. Every man feels, "I am a purusha." Our Sankhya philosophy recognizes a plurality of purushas. According to this rigorously dualistic system, the world is constituted by two truths—Purusha (the conscious witness) and Prakriti (primordial matter). Here the "Purusha" is the conscious entity, which is supreme, independent, liberated, and beyond the reach of the senses; it cannot be described by any experience or word. Prakriti's essence is material. It is inert or non-conscious, and exists as an equipoise of sattva (harmony, virtue), rajas (passion, agitation), and tamas (inertia, dullness, inertness, lethargy)—the three gunas. Some have attempted to understand and expound the truth of Radha and Krishna from the very foundation of Sankhya philosophy, but this is not without error. Man understands: "I am a purusha"—meaning, I am the dweller in this body-city, the agent, the enjoyer, and the ruler. This body, the senses, breath, mind, and intellect are mine. I have the power of will, of action, of knowledge; I have duty, responsibility, and karma, virtue and sin, merit and demerit. This sense unfolds through birth after birth. When this understanding deepens, a profounder thought arises: my knowledge, your knowledge, everyone else's knowledge; my will, your will, everyone else's will; my love, your love, everyone else's love—where do all these come from, and where lies their fulfillment?
Then it is within our own hearts that we encounter that Supreme Person as the inner Witness. Gradually we come to understand that He has eternally and ceaselessly engaged in divine play with each and every one of us, and continues to do so. The state that follows is this very play—*lila*. That Supreme Person, who dwells perpetually in fullness within, has now reconciled the contradiction between inner and outer, has unified them and manifested Himself. This is what is called *lila*, or the manifestation of the eternal. The Bhagavata Purana speaks of this in many verses. *Purushottam* means the "Supreme Person," the "Highest Being," or the "Supreme God," who stands beyond both the *kshara* (nature) and the *akshara* (individual soul). According to the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, the Purushottam is explained as the Supreme Being who transcends all, and both *kshara* and *akshara* are explained as *purusha*—the all-powerful cosmic entity. *Kshara* is explained as "the perishable," nature bound by maya; and *akshara* is explained as "the imperishable," "the immutable," "the indestructible," the self, eternally unchanged and forever beyond maya.
Now let us see what the Vaishnava teachers have said concerning Sri Krishna.
Sri Krishna alone is the supreme hero—this principle is not difficult to perceive from the Purushottam doctrine of the Gita.
Nayanamam shirorattnam Krishnas tu Bhagavan svayam. Yatra nityataya sarve virjante mahagunah. (Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 23/67)
Meaning: Sri Krishna is the Lord Himself; He is the crown jewel among all heroes. Within Krishna, all eternal and pure qualities are perpetually manifest.
The divine sport of love is the sole occupation of Sri Krishna. Beyond this, He has no other work whatsoever. When it seems to us that something else exists besides this, we become entangled in illusion. This amorous sport is His very nature—His true form.
Sri Krishna possesses the nature of the steadfast and graceful lover, and thus He is forever engaged in the play of desire. Desire means love. Completely subjugated to the love of Sri Radha, the foremost among those who love, He remains perpetually absorbed in that devotion. The Sri Ujjvala-nila-mani provides the illustration:
Gahanadanurgatah pitrabhyamapanita-vyavaharakritya bhavah. Viharan saha radhaya murari yamuna-kula-vanananyla-lanchakara.
Paurnamasi said, "Nandimukhi, see how carefree Sri Krishna is! On account of his deep passion, his parents burden him with no mundane tasks. He remains forever adorning the forests along the Yamuna's banks, absorbed in sport with Sri Radha."
Thus Sri Kavi Karaja Goswami has written:
"Ray says, Krishna is the steadfast, graceful beloved. Eternal amorous play is the very fabric of His life." (Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Madhya-lila, 8/128)
Sri Jiva Goswami says: The unbroken continuity of divine play is the hallmark of being enslaved by the beloved, and this very marks the nature of the steadfast, graceful lover. This explanation captures the significance of Sri Kavi Karaja's phrase "eternal amorous play." Sri Krishna is bliss; He is rasa—the essence of all experience; He is the nectar itself.
In his treatise the Ujjvala-nīlamani, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī has demonstrated that each and every one of the ninety-six qualities and conditions of the hero is fully present in Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
First, there are four types of heroes: the dhīrodātta, the dhīralalita, the dhīrodddhata, and the dhīrashānta. Each of these is further subdivided into three grades—full, fuller, and fullest. These twelve types are again divided into two according to whether the hero is a master or a secondary lover. Thus we have twenty-four types. Each of these twenty-four is further divided into four categories: the favorable, the moderate, the deceitful, and the audacious. In this manner, the hero becomes ninety-six types.
In Śrī Kṛṣṇa, all these qualities are manifest in his divine play, as the Vaiṣṇava teachers have shown us from the various scriptures relished by the devotees. When the primary rasa itself becomes the foundational rasa, it is entirely natural to contemplate that King of Rasa and Master of Sentiment as the most complete and unique hero. Therefore, we too, in the language of devotion, offer our salutation to that jewel among heroes in the following manner—
The Dhīrodātta: Gravity, humility, forbearance, compassion, freedom from self-conceit, and hidden pride—these qualities are manifest in Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
The Dhīralalita: Connoisseurship, fresh youth, wit, and carefree ease—through such qualities does he captivate his beloved, and thus Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the dhīralalita.
The Dhīrashānta: Because he possesses a tranquil nature, endurance in hardship, discernment, and such virtues as humility, Kṛṣṇa is the dhīrashānta hero.
The Dhīroddhata: In certain of his divine pastimes, Śrī Kṛṣṇa is known as the dhīroddhata hero—being at times jealous, arrogant, deceptive, prone to anger, fickle, and given to self-praise. (Jealousy is the tendency to cling to one's own possessions and material objects even when unable to enjoy them, and the unwillingness to share them with others.)
He who renounces desire for other women and becomes intensely attached to a single heroine is the favorable hero. Such was Rāma's devotion to Sītā, and similarly did Kṛṣṇa show such favorable devotion to Rādhikā.
The dhīrodātta favorable hero is grave, humble, forbearing, compassionate, steadfast in his vows, free from self-conceit, harboring hidden pride, and magnanimous—yet setting aside all these qualities, he hastens to unite with his beloved.
Connoisseurship, fresh youth, wit, and carefree ease are the qualities of the dhīralalita—when joined with the characteristic of uninterrupted wandering, the hero becomes dhīralalita favorable.
The hero possessed of a tranquil nature, forbearance, discernment, and the virtues of wisdom is dhīrashānta favorable.
The hero who is jealous, arrogant, deceptive, wrathful, and given to self-praise becomes dhīroddhata favorable.
The word "moderate" means straightforward. The hero who, without relinquishing his reverence, fear, and loving courtesy toward his first beloved, turns his heart toward another heroine, is the moderate hero. He may also be called moderate even when showing equal regard toward many heroines.
The hero who shows affection in the beloved's presence but behaves coldly in her absence, committing hidden wrongs, is the deceitful one.
He who is skilled in falsehood without fear, even when the marks of another heroine's pleasure are evident upon him—he is audacious.
Then how many kinds of hero are there in all? There is no hero save Sri Krishna alone. That Krishna is full in Dwarka, fuller still in Mathura, and fullest of all in Braj. That same Krishna becomes six kinds according to the distinction between lawful husband and paramour. By the fourfold division of the steadfast-generous and others, the hero becomes twenty-four kinds. By multiplying these twenty-four into four—the auspicious, the southern, the deceitful, and the audacious—there arise ninety-six kinds of hero. Now we must understand that there are twenty-four kinds of hero in one's own beloved, and twenty-four kinds in the beloved of another. In the divine sport of Braj, where the beloved of another holds supreme sway and the beloved of one's own recoils—in that rasa-play, all twenty-four forms of the hero belonging to the beloved of another eternally dwell in Sri Krishna. In whatever manner and portion of the divine play a particular form of heroic nature is needed, that very form of hero is felt by him in accordance with the moment.
In verse 93 of the 'Krishna-Karnamrita,' composed by the illustrious poet Bilva-mangala, we find:
Sringarara-rasa-sarvvastham shikhi-pincha-vibhushanam. Angikrita-narakaram-ashrayé bhuvana-ashrayam.
Meaning: He whose every treasure is the rasa of passion, whose adornment is the peacock's plume, who has taken human form as his refuge—I bow before that Sri Krishna, the refuge of the three worlds.
From what has been briefly said of Sri Krishna's essence, we may now turn to a consideration of Sri Radha's essence. In the Sri Chaitanya-Charitamrita, it is written:
Damodara says: Krishna is the master of rasa. The taster of rasa, the form itself filled with rasa. Krishna's body is made of love; he is bound by the devotion of his followers. The gopis excel in pure love and the qualities of rasa. The love of the gopis bears no trace of defect. Therefore Krishna finds in them supreme satisfaction.
There are the wayward gopis, and there are the gracious gopis. In manifold ways they offer Krishna the taste of rasa. Among all the gopis, Sri Radha the Mistress is supreme— The mine of flawless, luminous rasa and the jewel of love. (Sri Chaitanya-Charitamrita, Middle Section, 14/155-157, 159, 160)
In this world, every human being labors for happiness. The tasting of this happiness is fundamentally the tasting of rasa. That the enjoyment of rasa comes through bhava—the emotional mood—is something even ordinary reflection can make clear to people. Food that is most delicious and sweet contains rasa, and people hunger for the tasting of that rasa. The food came, the right to eat it came, yet it brought no joy at all—the rasa was not tasted. Why? Because there was no bhava in the moment. I was not in the state of mind needed for the tasting of rasa. I had no hunger; my body was not well; my mind was not at peace. In English, this is called Mood. Every taste of happiness requires a favorable bhava or Mood. Every fragmented and perishable happiness or rasa in this world is but a broken reflection of one supreme rasa. Rabindranath Tagore points toward this in his essay "Humanity":
"...Sorrow ennobles humanity, awakening us to our own greatness, conscious and alert; and through this greatness it makes us worthy of joy. For 'happiness dwells in the vast, not in the small'—in smallness there is no joy for us."
These fragments of happiness are deceivers—we want none of them. What we seek is that eternal bliss. And eternal bliss is called nectar. The Vedas speak of this thirst for nectar. In the Vedas, He who is radiant with nectar, He alone is the Lord of Rasa, the Master of Aesthetic Rapture—Sri Krishna. Therefore, it is the Lord of Rasa we must seek. But who attains the Lord of Rasa? To attain rasa, feeling is required; therefore, to attain the Lord of Rasa, Supreme Feeling is required. This Supreme Feeling is Sri Radhika herself.
I desire the Lord of Rasa. Why do I desire Him? For my own enjoyment? Then I shall not attain Him. When I walk the path of life consumed by greed for my own pleasure, I am cheated and chase after illusion. What I seek, I shall never find.
From the fortieth chapter of the Shukla Yajurveda comes the Isha Upanishad—"Tena tyaktena bhunjithā mā gridah kasyasvid dhanam." (Isha Upanishad, verse 1) This verse from the Isha Upanishad has been translated as—"Through renunciation, enjoy"—"Tena tyaktena bhunjithā." This verse admits of three interpretations. All three are vast and profound in their reach. Rabindranath acknowledged the validity of all three.
The first meaning—Through renunciation, enjoy. Rabindranath accepted this interpretation in his essay "World-Consciousness" in the work Shantiniketan.
The second meaning—God of His own will has renounced a portion of His own wealth for us; we must sustain our lives with only that portion which He has graciously given. Here, tena refers to that which is by God; tyaktena means the things surrendered in renunciation; bhunjithā means we ought to engage in enjoyment. The Bhagavad Gita accepts this meaning. Rabindranath embraced this interpretation in his essay "Then What?" in the work Dharma.
The third meaning was expounded by Shankaracharya: Through renunciation, (the self) should be nourished or preserved—that is to say, restraint is what is being spoken of here. Shankaracharya adopted this meaning in various places throughout his commentaries on Vedic truth in his many works. The meaning of "bhunjithā" is "to be preserved" or "to be nourished." (The root "bhuj" means to sustain, to enjoy, and so forth.) Rabindranath accepted this interpretation in his essay "Inner and Outer" in the work The Wayside Shrine, saying—"Restraint is the lion-gate to entry into the inner world. Those who seek to perceive spiritual truth in the pursuit of human life likewise narrow their external means and take refuge in restraint."