Pratah Stava: 6th Shloka

Pratarbraveemi Yugalavapi somrajau,

Radhamukund-pashupal sutau varishthau.

Govindchandra Vrashbhanusutau varishthau,

Sarveshvarau svajanpalan-tatpareshau.

Waking up at dawn...I do kirtan or sing songs of a devotional nature for Govindchandra Shri Mukunda (title of Krishna) and Shri Radharani, daughter of Shri Vrashbhanu, the repositories of ambrosia. Incarnating in the community of cowherds, they are the highest reality...supremely auspicious...everyone's Swamis, always eager to attend to the needs of their close ones.'

Truly both are full moons. But the sky's full moon which can not be sighted in the daytime...gleaming only at night...waxing and waning in size, can not compete with the Yugal (Shri Radha-Krishna). After poornima (full moon) it diminishes in size and finally comes to an end. Soon after amavasya, the last day of the dark fortnight of a lunar month, comes the night of the full moon. But both these enchanting moons shine brilliantly and radiantly...are eternally ravishing and expiate the sufferings of all sins. Savouring the nectar of their beauteous forms, confers immortality.

Thus eminent devotees like Shri Vyas Devacharyaji, Shri Bhattji, Surdasji, Shri Billavmangal and so on, are immortal till date. Absorbed in madhurya or the terrifying rush of love, they sang the glory of the Yugal (Shri Radha-Krishna), seen as the object of longing and of a love which is expressed in the cry of the enraptured soul for god.

In the Vallabha Sect's Krishna seva, poetry becomes practiced religion as they 'live out' stories from the cosmic world of Krishna. Kirtans are sung accompanying each liturgical moment from mangala or dawn to shayana in the evening. Mostly in the pada and raga form, we have the extensive use of both of these in its central expression of devotion or seva by dedicated devotees.

Ineffably beautiful,supremely auspicious are Nandbaba's darling Shri Krishna and Shri Radha Rani the pampered daughter of Shri Vrashbhanu. The Vaishnava tradition teaches that Krishna enchants the world but Shri Radha enchants even him. She controls Krishna with her love and perfect spiritual life is unattainable without her grace. And allaying all our fears is Mukund. Whoever takes refuge or shelter with him is freed from all worldly desires and assured of safety.

Shri Acharya is not tired of raving about their supremacy. Twice he acclaims them as the best in one shloka. Endorsing the fact that even if someone reaches out by chance, they do not take the slightest time to grant moksha or salvation.

Giving mukti to the demonic forces which constantly attacked Gokul,Shri Shukhdevji asks that whose shelter shall we seek other than the compassionate Lord Krishna, granting the same salvation as mother Yashoda to Pootna who came to kill him with her poison-laced breasts. All of the virtues and all of the beauty of the world co-mingle in Krishna's character and form.

Krishna's loving tenderness, innocent pranks, evocative clothes, beautiful adornments, lyrical softness, serene sensuality, passionate but not lustful, stupefies hundreds of love-gods and countless Ratis (wife of Kamdev, god of love) are spellbound...Who can possibly give an account of his madhurya or sweet love and beauty. Krishna is seen as the object of longing and of a love which is expressed in the cry of the enraptured cowherdesses for union with their teasing, elusive and insistent paramour.

Govind delighting in play endears himself, imparting joy to all his devotees. With mischief and spontaneity, tenderness and teasing, Krishna enflames the desire of the individuated soul. Thus we can imagine, experience and share their vision of the union and ultimate indivisibility between Radha and Krishna, purusha and prakriti, God and devotee.

Who can be greater than our svamini, or devotional ideal... Shri Radhika, beloved of our hearts. Easily pleased, she quickly engages those who surrender themselves to her in Krishna's service. It is said that she controls Krishna and perfect spiritual life is unattainable without her grace. The divine exemplar without a second, she overlooks our flaws .bestowing prema or selfless love to love-lorn hearts, placates suffering and grants spiritual bliss to those afflicted with the pathos of longing.

By smarana or a concentrated internal practice of imaginative recollection of living through the countless legends of the playful dalliance of Radha and Krishna, Acharyaji reaches the heights of elation and ecstasy. The Yugal or Shri Radha-Krishna as a singular principle of unity are constantly desirous to protect their devotees, never faltering.

Though everyone is their own, not strangers and they look after the mundane world. Those entreating for worldly joys and comforts are given their desired objectives. The wretched are relieved of their suffering and granted a new lease of life. Birds and deer of Braj stand still entranced, hearing the melodious flute-play. Fondling, patting and feeding these living sentient beings with their own hands, Shri Radha-Krishna shower love.

Shri Radha-Krishna adopt more than merely a singular bhava suitable to their particular identity in this world. Giving vatsalya or maternal joy to their parents and elders...enjoying and sulking, with spirited antics, stubbornness, clinging on...cuddling in their lap...making tales, Shri Radha-Krishna delight their maternal tenderness.

Devotees adulate child Kanhaiya and pampered Radha in the world of devotional imagination but the duo also care with the sentiment of maternal affection, a primary bhava in the fundamental setup of seva. Imbibing sakha bhava when the devotee relates to God as a friend, the Yugal nurture young gopas or cowherds with the sakha rasa.

VaishnavasTradition sees the love of the gopis as transcendental love of the highest order, countering accusations of mundane sexuality. Said to be the zenith of spiritual awareness, such love represents the purest emotion a soul may have for its divine source. The enraptured cowherdesses long for union with their teasing, elusive and insistent paramour. Shri Radha-Krishna fulfill their desire for a loving relationship...with love-talk, passionate endevours, winsome manners...giving repeated chances of their close intimacy.

Through countless playful dalliances in the evening...at night...midnight, daybreak, dawn, midday, early afternoon, day in and day out, Shri Radha-Krishna delight minds-souls; sometimes collectively as a herd and at times with isolated amorous frolics.

Shri Radha is Krishna's beloved, able to please him with little more than a glance.Krishna enchants the world but she enchants even him. Radha feels that her love for Krishna can always expand to greater heights and therefore she manifests herself as the many gopis of Braj. wanting them to delight in the sole purpose of a loving exchange with Krishna.

Long ago, revered Shri Sakhaji narrated the divine play of a young gopi. Hearing the cry for help in the midst of her most intimate transcendental exchange, Radha spurred Krishna to go to her, affirming that she was actually calling out to Radha, responsible for the gopi's fusions of delight and desire.

Several such incidents can be cited when the lovingly tender Kishori got the sakhis to experience the deeper ecstasies of devotion. And Lord Krishna, the passionate supreme lover...himself ardently longs to look after the well-being of mankind. The sakhis steeped in the love of the Yugal, are the only ones having an insight into his love which is as mysterious as it is compelling.

'Therefore I do kirtan or sing songs of a devotional nature for such a youthful Kishore-Kishori in the dark-hued daybreak, by living through the countless legends of the Yugal's playful dalliance'...says the Acharya.

'With enthused exultation I sing the glories of fhe repository of virtues; the lover and his beloved... reveling in beauty or saundarya, sweetness or madhurya and selfless love or prema,...anxiously guarding their dedicated devotees...and everyone's swamis, seen as the object of longing and of a love which is expressed in the cry of the enraptured soul for god.'

Pratah Stava: 5th Shloka

Pratardhrami hridyen hridishaneeyan,
Yugamsvarupmanishan sumnoharan cha.
Lavanyadhaam lalnabhirupeyamaan
Muthapyamanmanumeyamasheshveshaih.

Through the perennial quest of mankind for a divine and transcendental love,Shri Radha-Krishna exist intensely in our hearts when we sing their praise and dwell in our longing for them (that does not mean they are not perceptible by the eyes)...I fantasize about the ravishing Yugal in the wee hours of the morning; the repository of charm adulated by the Braj beauties, who are enchanting and whose clothes are disheveled due to a night of rapturous love-making.'

Shri Radha-Krishna exist in the elusive fields, forests and streams which flourish in the human heart. The adorable Yugal, essence of rasa or passion are not bound by conviction. The eyes and mind long for their teasing, elusive and insistent physical presence.

The concept of madhur rasa or sentiment of sweet romance is pivotal. An eminent devotee, Dhruvji did austere tapa or penance and the Supreme Being incarnate in his heart, making him ecstatic...tears streamed down his cheeks, hair stood on end. To absorb him in the terrifying rush of love, Vishnu the ruler of Vaikuntha, manifest in front of him. To help Dhruvji step out of inner meditation, Narayana touched his cheek with the conch shell, making him conscious of the mundane world.

The same incidence took place with sage Sutikshanji. Lord Rama was watching his frenzied madness as the sage stood fixedly on the divine path. The Lord vanished from his heart, not finding the joy befitting. Distressed Sutikshanji opened his eyes and beloved Rama hiding behind a tree came and stood in front.

The focal point is that unless the inner realm is capable of gathering that transcendental love, the eyes can not experience rasa-relishing. Secondly the ravishing Yugal, are not constantly perceptible by the eyes... for the sake of expanding love to great heights and bestowing new delights. When they are not manifest in front they must exist intensely in our hearts.

The modes of dalliance are many more during the day. Acharyashri with the sakhi bhava says that he carries the same svarupa or living presence of Shri Radha-Krishna in his heart. Then waking up he fantasizes about the ravishing Yugal in the wee hours of the morning...the new spirited antics and rapturous love making of the night before.

Just have a look! The yearning sakhis, have just woken the sacred couple. One of them intervened,'Why wake them...they have just slept.' Another supported her,' Awake for the entire night, they have just fallen asleep.' The lampblack splendour of daybreak was transforming into the dawn's reddish glow. Any delay as of now would lead them to being caught.

The sakhis stepped forward with several anklets tinkling and hand metal bracelets clanging. But the fatigued Yugal were deep asleep today. The lotus-eyes closed with laziness apparent on their sweet bodies...weakness afflicting their limbs. Soon enough the child sun wrapped in the redness of dawn rose in the sky...gifting them the first blossomed rays. Adulating their faces, he was in a hurry to set off for work.

Since long the birds are chirping to awaken them but they are fast asleep. Did you observe the clever stratagems of these flocks in forest groves! Hiding in the trees' branches, crouching behind creeper thickets they seem to have examined the spirited dalliances in great detail.

One of the sakhis wondered,'May be ashamed of listening to the sung episodes of their love-play, the duo are sleeping embarrassed...not able to get up from the bed.'

The supreme fascinated Rangadevi, Lalita, Vishakha and Chitra are listening to the conversation of the sakhis. Someone kept a hand on Lalita's shoulder and said,'Where are you lost today. See the child sun on the rise, puffed with delight. Crowds will be thronging the market places and narrow lanes in a short while,making it tought to go to the bhavan. You must wake the impassioned Yugal.' One them placed her vina (a large instrument of the type of the lute) in front of them and its sensual sound rocked the sleeping Yugal. An ardent longing for union was apparent and a desire to adulate the two.

A vina song led to a smile spreading across the sleepy Yugal's lips, to conceal some love secret. A spirited sakhi urged,' Wake up fast. Other sakhis will arrive here soon and tease you. Real disaster for you Kishori, who hides her amorous frolics from everyone.' Radha opened her eyes to see the bower door...and found the lustful Pran Vallabha (beloved of the hearts) looking intensely at her with a mischievous smile.

The sakhis did not want to disturb the rush of love but there was no way out. Birds leaving their nests were hovering around the forest and the reddish glow of the sun was brighter. With tinkling anklets, chatting merrily, the sakhis entered the shrine-like bower. Stretching out, blinking their eyes were the Yugal, treasure trove of beauty and passion; Krishna, the supreme lover, bumped into Radha. She opened her eyes and saw the sakhis surrounding the dalliance bed.

Secretly Radha's shy half closed eyes saw Krishna with a side-long glance...madhurya or the sentiment of sweet romance gushed forth. The sakhis pointed and laughed aloud, which startled the two. All of a sudden Shri Radha-Krishna sighted their disheveled clothers. A reddish blush turned their ears and cheeks pale.Krishna saw the teasing glance of the sakhis, and a different mysterious dalliance began, the smile on their lips gleamed.

The beauties were lost in serene sensuality. With great care they endeavoured to smoothen and straighten...put the disorderly beautiful adornments in place. In a hurry Radha had wrapped around Krishna's yellow sash instead of her veil and the flower garlands had also been changed.

The lot are enraptured as they adulate the Yugal. Sometimes spirited they tease both of them again. Watch out ...two to four of them assist the duo in dressing. The sakhis joked about the disordered garments...ornamented the two with jewellery...made an effort to veil the love-spots, but were not completely successful. In the evening when they had got Shri Radha-Krishna to the relaxing shrine-like nikunja, their bedecked majesty was different.

When the night began the Yugal merrily joked with the sakhis. As the sakhis stepped out of the bower and peeked from behind creeper thickets, the intoxication was different. At the time of union, the bliss of their fatigued beauty was a different sort and when the tired Yugal snuggled in sleep, the sweet beauty was distinct.

The disorderly state in which the impassioned Yugal slept and opened their eyes with the sakhis' manouvres, the grandeur was incomparable. And when they smiled, embarrassed on seeng the sakhis, terrifying love surged forth. Casting their glance on each other when those charming eyes were closed again, the bonding of shyness along wth laziness flaunted a different passion. Turning their side when the enraptured Yugal yawned, then...? The sakhis were lost like in that etheral sight.

On waking up they saw the Yugal help each other in dressing up and adored the outward expressions of their love-play. Their passion quelled, the disheveled but triumphant duo, lovingly applied makeup, arranged Radha's tresses, wore flower garlands and ornamented each other with jewellery. The broken pearl necklace, strewn flower garlands and ornaments kept in a disorderly fashion, endorsed the romantic outpouring of love and the infatuated sakhis.

The ravishing Yugal's splendour expands to greater heights.This is not bound by any highly restrictive social conventions as it tugs at our mind and souls. Clusters of lotuses can not stand up to them. The Yugal's eyes are forever blooming. Fragrant limbs,evocative clothes, beautiful adornments such as the vanmala, serene sensuality, passionate but not lustful all add up to the madhurya of the Yugal.

The expressions and experiences of their love-play reach the heights of elation and ecstasy with every following episode. Whether it is in the pleasures of belonging or the pathos of longing, participating in the innocent lilas of Krishna or being charmed by his flute, the sakhis in equal measure reflect the sweet love or madhurya of Shri Radha-Krishna.

The beauties taking the Yugal stepped out of the nikunja to the fields and forests, from one world to another but did not walk along.They left them at an end of the forest and stood at a distance, adoring the arriving Yugal. The play between Radha and Krishna as they move into the mazes and mysteries of love, becomes a metaphor for the conjunction of the male and female polarities of the cosmos itself.

The winsome manners of Shri Radha-Krishna, melt any vexation caused by spirited antics. When adorned with evocative clothes and beautiful adornments, their splendour is unprecedented. In the delicious anguish of a romantic dalliance, the dresses are ruffled. When their large eyes are darkened with collyrium it tugs our heart strings and its dark imprints on red betel stained lips reveal their sensual tale.

With mischief and spontaneity, tenderness and teasing, music and dancing and the beauty of their fair-dark bodies; Shri Radha-Krishna enflame the desire of the individuated soul for union with god.

One of the sakhis exulted, 'This portrait must always enrapture us, with not a second of separation. The moment of ecstatic response at dawn; its enchanting...exquisite beauty. Our eyes, souls and minds move in a delicious anguish to the side of Shri Radha-Krishna.'

The realm of silence prevailed for some time and soon enough, the enraptured maidens got up and headed towards their homes. One never knows whether they reached their destination or arrived at the forest grove where the Yugal were engrossed in some passionate dalliance.

Not becoming mere voyeurs in the beautiful romantic relationship of Radha and Krishna, but in identifying ourselves with the sakhis we indulge in a romantic outpouring of love towards an intimate and personal Yugal. Thus taking shringara bhakti, emotionally evocative and serenely spiritual, to lofty aesthetic heights.

The eminent Acharya is talking about treasuring the scenario-an ardent longing of his impassioned soul. He focuses on storing these deeper ecstasies of devotion early in the morning. May he cast a glance on us, so that our hearts steeped in their love, help us attain the state of oneness with Shri Radha-Krishna; make our thoughts so pure that we end up singing their glory constantly, freely, without purpose.