[Advaita-l] Raslila

[bhaskar.yr at in.abb.com]

sAshtAnga praNAms Sri Jaldhar vyas prabhuji
Hare Krishna

JV prabhui:

Bhaskar it is a pity you were not able to join us in Bangalore when we
visited Swami Paramananda Bharati.  You would have been fascinated by his
sage explanations of this and other topics.

bhaskar :

Yes prabhuji, I really missed the golden opportunity to meet your good
self. I dont know when that almighty give me another chance to meet your
goodself prabhuji.

Sri Abhishek prabhuji has kindly given me paramAnanda bhArati's address..I
am planning to meet him during this week end.

JV prabhuji :

Although you are correct that the Bhagavata does not explicitly say this,
there are reasons to infer it.

bhaskar :

If you could permit me, I would like to share my thoughts on it.

JV prabhuji:

first of all in 10.29.1 it specifically says that Bhagavan decided to
start the Rasalila by means of his yogamaya.  (yogamAyAmupAshrita.h)

bhaskar :

prabhuji, kindly clarify how can *yOga mAya of bhagavAN* be inferred as
*dream* of gOpikA-s...Krishna, through his yOga mAya, appeared as many
krishna-s just to make gOpika-s happy with their beloved krishna's
exclusive presence to them !!...is this not what we understand from that
verse prabhuji??  In gIta also bhagavan talks about his yOga mAya,  can we
infer *the vishwarUpa of bhagavan*  also was only in the dream of arjuna??
Moreover, in the bhAgavata itself, while describing krishna's childhood
pastimes, it is said krishna himself appeared as many cows & cowherd boys
when brahman kidnapped the originals :-)) can we say this is also mere
*dream* in the parents of missed boys!!...

JV prabhuji:

Swami Paramananda drew attention to the fact that the participants are
described as tejasvi which is not the first adjective one might think of
to describe cowherd women.  But if you understand it as being in the
taijasa state then it makes sense.

bhaskar :

Kindly let me know how it would be appropriate to state that all gopika-s
were in dream state (taijasa state) when bhagavata specifically narrates
the different type of activities of gOpika-s before the start of lord's
divine rAsa Lila!! and, how can all gOpika-s have the same type of dream at
the same time??  I dont know why swamiji (Sri paramAnanda bhArati) links
tEjasvi with that of taijasa state!!  We also use these adjectives like
tEjasvi, tEjOvantaH etc. etc. to the persons who are wide awake & bright in
their appearance...context here more suited to infer that gOpika-s were
bright rather than putting them in taijasa state...prabhuji, as you know,
bhagavata subsequently states about the no. of sons/daughters each gOpika-s
got (totally around one lac!!!)

Further, I am failed to understand why we should understand krishna's
divine play with gOpika-s were dream and his dramtic episode of birth,
*vishvarUpa*, *gItOpadEsha* etc. etc. are real events!! In this context,
Sri Anand Hudli prabhuji's clarification really make sense to me.  Sri
Anand prabhuji,  seeking your kind permission, I am reproducing your
clarification here below:

//quote //

Superhuman beings, such as Ishavara, are not
bound by the same rules of dharma as we mere humans are. Such beings may
sometimes act in apparent violation of dharma or may perform superhuman
feats. The example cited is Rudra's drinking of poison during the churning
of the ocean. We do not ask for a justification of Rudra's act of drinking
the poison, obviously because it was for the good of the worlds. By the
same
token, we cannot expect a justification of perceived transgressions of
dharma by superhuman beings.

...................

In the Raslila example,
we should not follow Krishna's conduct but follow a relevant saying of his
in the gItA "dharmAviruddho bhUteShu kAmo.asmi bharatarShabha", which means
Krishna is desire in beings not opposed to dharma.

// unquote //


Anyway, this is IMHO...kindly correct me if I said anything wrong here
prabhuji.

praNAms onceagain,

Your humble servant,
Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!!
bhaskar