[Advaita-l] Re: Advaita-l Digest, Vol 32, Issue 18

S.N. Sastri sn.sastri at gmail.com
Mon Dec 19 10:00:22 CST 2005
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The significance of the Rasakrida can be understood only if it is borne in
mind that, according to the Bhagavata, Krishna was the supreme Brahman and
so was the indwelling self of all, and that naturally   includes the
Gopikas. Srimad Bhagavatam itself explains its significance. It says:-
"Multiplying Himself into as many as there were Gopis, the Lord
*feigned *enjoyment
as He sported with them, though He is '*Atmarama', *one who ever revels in
the Self alone and so does not have to seek joy from external objects or
persons" (Bh.X.33.20). Krishna is the supreme Brahman. The Gopikas represent
the jivatmas yearning for union with Brahman. This union is what is known as
liberation. In the same chapter, sloka 38 says: "Actually, the men of Vraja
were not angry with Krishna; bewitched by His power of Maya, they imagined
that their wives were by their side all the time". So it is all a play of
the Lord's Maya and at the same time a superb exposition of the supreme
devotion of the Gopis and the boundless compassion of the Lord towards His
devotees.

Moreover, the great sage Narada says in his Bhakti sutras that the Gopis
knew that Krishna was the supreme Being Himself. They did not look upon Him
as a mere human being or as their paramour. In the Gopikagitam in chapter 31
of Srimad Bhagavatam the Gopikas tell Krishna: "You are not just the son of
a Gopika; you are the indwelling self of all living beings".  On this
subject my article 'The Gitacharya and the Gopijanavallabha' under the main
heading 'Glimpses of Vedanta' in my website
http://www.geocities.com/snsastri  may please be seen.

Many of the other episodes also have symbolic meaning. This has been brought
out in my article entitled 'Episodes in Srimad Bhagavatam' in the above
website.

sn.sastri at gmail.com


On 12/18/05, advaita-l-request at lists.advaita-vedanta.org <
advaita-l-request at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. New member introduction: B. M. Kiran  (Jaldhar H. Vyas)
>   2. Rasakrida (sriram)
>   3. New member introduction: S. N. Shastri (Jaldhar H. Vyas)
>   4. Re: Rasakrida (B.M KIRAN)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 14:31:19 -0500 (EST)
> From: "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com>
> Subject: [Advaita-l] New member introduction: B. M. Kiran
> To: Advaita-L <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.63.0512171430320.15906 at localhost.localdomain>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> Namaste,
>
> I am a Masters Student in Network and Internet Engineering at SJCE Mysore,
> I was  happy to know that there was something going on Advaitha Thattva of
> Sri Sankara on the net,
> I am very much interested in the Advaitha thattva which was because of my
> Guru who has thought me
> Katakopanishad with Shankara Bhasya
> Isavasyaopanishad with Shakara Bhasya
> Presently learning Ithareyaopanishad
>
> Also when i find free time i am very much inclined to read Sankara tattva
> from Viveka Chudamani, Vedanta DinDima in Kannada published by  Sri
> Sachidananda saraswathi of Holenarasipura.
>
> Well I hope the group provides me an opportunity to know a speck of
> Advaita
> tattva, and to interact with the scholarly people.
>
> Thank you
> KIRAN.B.M
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:36:56 +0530
> From: sriram <srirudra at vsnl.com>
> Subject: [Advaita-l] Rasakrida
> To: advaita <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
> Message-ID: <003101c5ff15$c2632240$a76541db at ksriram>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> Dear all
> The Srimad Bhagavatha Mahapuranam is fully devoted to Lord Krishna`s
> divine plays as an avathar of Lord MahaVishnu.It is told to Parikshith who
> fully knows he will have to leave the earthly life within seven days.SukhaBrahmam narrates the divine dispensations of Sri Krishna so that Parikshith
> though not in death bed but knows that he is certain to die at the end of
> seven days will get peaceful transition.I will say when one believes that
> as a small boy He-Lord krishna-lifted the Govardhana Giri and therefore
> called lovingly as Giridhari by great devotee Meera-and held it aloft till
> the rains lashed by Indra stopped and protected all living beings of
> Brindavan-then why one cannot  accept the Rasa krida of Lord Krishna with
> gopies.He is also credited with the play of concealing the Dresses of the
> gopies -the episode is titled gopi vasthrapaharanam and the gopies were
> forced to come naked to receive their clothes.Whether this does not seem
> to discredit His conduct?I will advise that we should read the Sriman
> Narayaneeyam of Narayana Pattadri and He did raise doubts about Sri
> KRISHNA`S DOING SUCH AND SUCH THINGS AND it is said that Sri Guruvayur
> Krishnan said yes by lowering His head to show assent for all such
> questions.
> Therefore one should have either full faith in our scriptures or leave
> them as such.Before us so many more intelligent people have lived and they
> have given answers for all these usually unbelievable/unacceptable episodes
> about Avatars.If one reads Soundarya Lahari of Adi Sankara one will be
> astounded with the descriptions of Mother Divine`s body frame.Mind you He
> was a nishtiga brahmachari.
> So if some one is not able to digest our Puranas leave them as such as I
> think their interest is not in understanding the WHOLE purpose but to
> ridicule by slipshod reading and forming poor opinions.Lastly our brains
> are not equipped to fathom the Divine leelas as we have our own limitations
> and prejudices.Krishnamoorthy.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 07:53:51 -0500 (EST)
> From: "Jaldhar H. Vyas" <jaldhar at braincells.com>
> Subject: [Advaita-l] New member introduction: S. N. Shastri
> To: Advaita-L <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.63.0512180752420.15906 at localhost.localdomain>
> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> Dear Sirs,
>
> My name is S.N.Sastri. I am now 83 years old. I was an officer in the
> Government of India. After retirement in 1980, I settled down in Chennai ,
> where I am residing now.
>
> I have been a student of Advaita Vedanta for the past twenty years. I have
> been studying Vedanta under two traditional scholars, Dr. Goda
> Venkateswara Sastri and Dr. R. Krishnamurthi Sastri.
>
> I have authored the following books:-
>
> 1.  English translation of Narayaniyam of Melpathur Narayana Bhattatiri,
> with explanatory notes bringing out the Vedantic import of the verses.
>
> 2.  English translation of Hastamalakiyam of Hastamalaka, one of the four
> disciples of Bhagavatpada Sankaracharya, with explanatory notes.
>
> 3.  English translation of Sri Sankara's Satasloki with elaborate notes.
>
>
> 4.  A Vedantic interpretation of some of the episodes in Srimad
> Bhagavatam.
>
> I have recently created my own website-- http://www.geocities.com/snsastri
>
> where I have posted several articles on Vedantic topics.
>
> I came to know about your website by chance only yesterday and I felt that
> I could make some contribution to your discussions.
>
>                      Yours faithfully,
>
>                       S.N.Sastri
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2005 23:03:25 +0530
> From: "B.M KIRAN" <b.m.kiran.ece at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] Rasakrida
> To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
>        <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
> Message-ID:
>        <462763fe0512180933v421ad6f3h34df61a9dfa31510 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Dear Sir,
>
> I fully agree with your doubts regarding the stories of Sri Krishna
> But the tattva behind it seems to be a matter of vichara ( analysis)
> which as per  my knowledge only  very few have done :
> As per my knowledge it goes like this:
>
> The gopi in sanskrith doesnt  mean gopika stree it  means
> the Samooha (group) of senses which when controlled and put to the lotus
> feet of the lord krishna ,he removes( concealing of clothes) all the bad
> thoughts and behaviours of the senses and make them to be around him with
> pure divinity .
>
> So most of the Puranas and the stories related has hidden tattva which
> very
> few of us atleast try to understand and lets pray the lord to give us this
> power of tattvanusandhana ( analysis) to know the real gist .
>
> Thank u
> KIRAN
>
>
> On 12/12/05, sriram <srirudra at vsnl.com> wrote:
> >
> > Dear all
> > The Srimad Bhagavatha Mahapuranam is fully devoted to Lord Krishna`s
> > divine plays as an avathar of Lord MahaVishnu.It is told to Parikshith
> who
> > fully knows he will have to leave the earthly life within seven
> days.SukhaBrahmam narrates the divine dispensations of Sri Krishna so that
> Parikshith
> > though not in death bed but knows that he is certain to die at the end
> of
> > seven days will get peaceful transition.I will say when one believes
> that
> > as a small boy He-Lord krishna-lifted the Govardhana Giri and therefore
> > called lovingly as Giridhari by great devotee Meera-and held it aloft
> till
> > the rains lashed by Indra stopped and protected all living beings of
> > Brindavan-then why one cannot  accept the Rasa krida of Lord Krishna
> with
> > gopies.He is also credited with the play of concealing the Dresses of
> the
> > gopies -the episode is titled gopi vasthrapaharanam and the gopies were
> > forced to come naked to receive their clothes.Whether this does not seem
> > to discredit His conduct?I will advise that we should read the Sriman
> > Narayaneeyam of Narayana Pattadri and He did raise doubts about Sri
> > KRISHNA`S DOING SUCH AND SUCH THINGS AND it is said that Sri Guruvayur
> > Krishnan said yes by lowering His head to show assent for all such
> > questions.
> > Therefore one should have either full faith in our scriptures or leave
> > them as such.Before us so many more intelligent people have lived and
> they
> > have given answers for all these usually unbelievable/unacceptable
> episodes
> > about Avatars.If one reads Soundarya Lahari of Adi Sankara one will be
> > astounded with the descriptions of Mother Divine`s body frame.Mind you
> He
> > was a nishtiga brahmachari.
> > So if some one is not able to digest our Puranas leave them as such as I
> > think their interest is not in understanding the WHOLE purpose but to
> > ridicule by slipshod reading and forming poor opinions.Lastly our brains
> > are not equipped to fathom the Divine leelas as we have our own
> limitations
> > and
> > prejudices.Krishnamoorthy.______________________________________________
> _
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> >
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> >
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> >
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
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> End of Advaita-l Digest, Vol 32, Issue 18
> *****************************************
>
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