[Advaita-l] Sri Krishna Karnamrutam-10

[kuntimaddi sadananda]

                                            Sri Krishna Karnamrutam -10




This will be the last in the present series. Here we present one sloka that is often quoted as part of laasa krida and also explained as a meditation process of a sincere seeker.




anganaa manganaa mantare maadhavO

maadhavam maadhavam chaatare Naaganaa|

ittam aakalpite manDale madhyagaH

sanjagou veNunaa devakee nandanaH|| II-35




anganaam anganaam antare madhavaH – Between every Gopi and Gopi there is Maadhava; Maadhavam Maadhavam cha antare Naanganaa – Between Maadhava and Maadhava there is a Gopi; ittam aakalpite ; the raasa leela thus formed in this way; manDale madhyagaH - In the middle or center of this circle; devakee nandanaH - son of Devakee, Lord Krishna; veNunaa sanjagou- playing beautifully with the flute. 




This is the description of raasa leela occurring on a full-moon light with Krishna as the center of attraction and surrounded by all the Gopies who are devoted to Lord Krishna, each one experiencing Krishna as her own, but dancing in a circle with Krishna in between each Gopi, yet Krishna remaining at the center of the circle unattached to any Gopi, while playing his flute with divine music. This is a pictorial scene.




As with every Leela, not only one enjoys the beauty of the Lord’s play to inculcate Bhakti, but slowly shifts his mind to see the absolute truth indicated by the Leela. Hence these leelas are not only enjoyed by a devotee in terms of stories but used by Vedantic students to contemplate on the implied meaning of the leelas. 




Krishna is a jagat guru or Universal Teacher – teaching in every way possible to various types of students whose mental frame-works are different. No doctor prescribes the same medicine to all his patients, without knowing their symptoms. The teaching that one extracts from these leelas depends on the mental state of a devotee, recognizing Krishna’s statement in Geeta that says- of all the devotees jnaani is the supreme. 




One simple description of the sloka is it describes the process of meditation. Here– each Gopi stands for a thought. In the japa yoga, we take the name of the Lord – for example – Om! Maadhavaaya namaH! As the above sloka indicates that Maadhava here denotes Krishna – one meaning being He is the husband of maa or Lakshmi. Lakshmi stands for PrakRiti – the whole universe with all its attributes which Krishna calls it as my aparaa prakRiti in Ch. 7 of Geeta. He, as paraa prakRiti, supports this entire universe –dhaaryate jagat as dhava or as a husband. In the meditation in the naama jaapa of each thought is dedicated to the Lord, who is also a supporter of the thought too. Thus every thought is holding on to the Lord - anganaa manganaa mantare maadhava . During japa yoga when we chant the name of the Lord there is a silence between the thoughts. Thought – silence- thought. Each thought is dedicated to the Lord and the silence where there is no thought – only Lord is there. Initially, the attention is on the thought and slowly paying more attention to the absence of the thought where Lord alone is there. Initially, there is more attention on Gopi than on Krishna – hence the emphasis is on Gopi in the first line of sloka. As the meditator paying more and more attention to the Lord who is supporting the thought, the attention shifts to maadhavam maadhavam antare anganaa – between Krishna and Krishna there is a Gopi. Even though the scene has not really changed the because of the maturity of the meditator, he is fully shifting his attention to the consciousness that illumines as well as pervades each thought. Meditation is not the absence of thoughts but paying more and more attention of the mind to that light of consciousness that is reflected by each thought. This happens slowly by abhyaasa or practice and by vairagya, by giving up the importance given to each Gopi or thought. Hence Krishna says by abhyaasa and vairagya on can shift the mind’s attention for the world (reduced in terms of objects and thus thoughts) to the one who supports this world and the thoughts- ‘abhyaasenatu kounteya vairagyeNacha gRishyate -6-35.




As one matures in the meditation, mind paying attention to the Lord becomes natural and spontaneous. He is a jnaani. For him, Krishna or pure consciousness is unattached to any Gopi or thought. While all the Gopies or thoughts are dancing around, as one transacts in the realm of objects with the world of thoughts as going around in a circle, the inner attention of the mind is only on Krishna who is the center of the whole universe of thoughts and the associated objects. The attention of the mind is more on the divine music that is being played all the time. The one who sees Me everywhere and everything in Me, he is never away from Me nor I am from him – yo maam pasyati sarvatra, sarvancha mayi pasyati| tasyaaham na praNasyaami sa chame na praNasyati||. Thus the sloka provides progression of a seeker in meditation. This is the essence of Raasa Leela.




Now we extract some more meaning in terms of the meditation process from the whole scene provided. Raasa Leela is going on a full-moon night. A full moon is a luminous object in the sky, but all that luminosity is only due to the reflection of the all-pervading sun light. Hence by reflection process, it becomes a luminous body illumining other objects on the earth including the raasa leela– but that light of illumination does not belong to the moon but to the Sun only. From the Sun’s point, he is there as just self-shining, a self-existing entity in all his glory, and not doing anything, not even the illumination of any object in the sky. He is by himself as for as he is concerned, but yet objects are attracted to the Sun. They circle around the Sun and also get illuminated by the Sun. In the process, they become luminous objects and illumine other objects too to a limited extent. Sun, in principle, is not accountable or responsible for the luminosity of the objects that reflect his light. The luminosity of the reflecting medium depends not on the Sun but on the reflecting capacity of the medium. The reflected Sun light from the moon can get further reflected by the objects, on a full-moon night. In that full-moon night, we can see objects as they reflect the moonlight falling on them. Thus the perception of an object during the full-moon night involves, Sun light falling on the moon, getting reflected by the moon, which is further reflected by the objects on the earth for us to see. Meditation involves, in essence, looking at the objects in the full-moon night and recognizing that what one is seeing is actually the Sunlight, during the perception of the world. Meditation involves rejecting the attributive content of object as it is not the object (neti, neti) but that because of which the object is visible. Moon and objects are required for us to recognize the all-pervading sunlight that is getting reflected first by the moon and then the objects. Otherwise, sunlight which is there cannot be recognized. 




Similarly, the all-pervading light of conscience cannot be recognized or realized without the mind and the object-thoughts. If the mind is not absent one goes to sleep. By training or yoga, one may be able to eliminate all the thoughts and yet be vigilant without thoughts – That by itself does not give knowledge. The knowledge that I am all pervading light of consciousness – chit and ananta swaruupam (same as ananda swaruupam) cannot be gained without Vedanta pramaaNa. Who am I, inquiry without the support of Vedanta will not also do since that involves only inquiry of tvam aspect of tat tvam asi. For realization understanding that I am that too which I rejected as I am not that in the initial stages of meditation. 




Raasa Leela in the full night involves meditation on the all-pervading light of consciousness that is reflecting via the mind each thought since I know each thought that dances in my mind. Hence anganaa anganaa antare maadhva – every thought is associated with maadhava for its support and illumination and as the meditation matures attention of the seeker slowly gets established on the reflecting consciousness associated with each thought. Thus it is recognition that I am that light of consciousness because of which I am conscious of each thought that arises in the mind. 




As one gets soaked in this knowledge, a complete shift in mental attention takes place on the ever present consciousness that has nothing to do with any thought. Thoughts will be dancing to my music but I am unaffected by them – na cha aham teShu avasthitaH – I am unaffected by whatever thought that arises in Me. In that case, only divine music that comes out all the time is recognized by the mahatma who has firmly established that I am pure consciousness, and I am full all myself. The seekers who have completely surrendered themselves to the Lord and become instruments in His hand like a flute, the life that breathes through them will only echoes the beautiful divine music. 




Let us meditate on that Krishna who is the very life in us and surrender completely to become His instruments where He can bring out that divine music from these BMI’s.




Hari Om!

Sadananda