Hare Krsna
Please accept my humble obeisance. All glories to Srila Prabhupada
There is no difference between Gaura and Krishna in tattva. Krishna is Gaura, and Gaura is Krishna. However,
Gaura is Krishna combined with mahabhava-svarupini Srimati Radharani. In vraja-lila there are two forms —
rasaraja Krishna and madanakhya-mahabhavamayi Srimati Radharani. But ingaura-lila, there is one form. Radha combined with Krishna — that is Gaura. Otherwise there is no difference between Gaura and Krishna. This is the siddhanta, conclusion. The acaryas have described this:
`nanda-suta' bali' yanre bhagavate gai
sei krsna avatirna caitanya-gosani
He whom Srimad Bhagavatam describes as the son of Nanda Maharaja has descended to earth as Lord Chaitanya. [Cc. adi 2.9]
In Srimad Bhagavatam it is said that the son of Nanda Maharaja is Krishna. That same Krishna has now appeared as Chaitanya Gosai. Swarup Damodar Goswami has therefore said, naumi krsna-svarupam — I pay my obeisances to that Gaura, who is krsna-svarupa.
The special characteristic of Gaura is that he is radha-bhava-dyuti-suvalitam. When Krishna accepts the mood and complexion of Radharani, he becomes Gaura.caitanyakhyam prakatam adhuna taddvayam caikyam aptam — The two forms Krishna and Radha appear as one form combined together, aikyam Aptam, as Chaitanya.
So Krishna is Gaura and Gaura is Krishna. Krsna-lila is gaura-lila; gaura-lila iskrsna-lila. There is no
difference between nami and nama, abhinnatvan nama-naminoh — there is no difference between the name of Krishna and Krishna himself. Similarly, there is no difference between krsna-lila and gaura-lila.
But purvasmat parameva hanta karunam — though there is no difference betweennami and nama, of these two the latter is more merciful than the former.
The name of Krishna is more merciful than Krishna. Similarly, there is no difference between krsna-lila
and gaura-lila, yet the latter is more merciful than the former. That means gaura-lilais more merciful
and relishable than krsna-lila. Navadvipa-lila, vraja-lila — both are krsna-iéaä. There is no difference
between them. The dear associates of Gaura, the nitya-siddha parsadas Rupa Goswami and Sanatan
Goswami, have disclosed this tattva.
Radhika-raman Krishna is always in Vrajabhumi, vrndavanam parityajya padam ekam na gacchati — Krishna never goes even a single step from Vrindavan. He is always in Vrindavan. How is it then that Krishna left Vrajabhumi and went to Mathura and then to Dwarka, thus creating mathura-lila and dvaraka-lilaä? These twoacaryas, Sanatan Goswami and Rupa Goswami, have disclosed this tattva. They have said that mathura-lila and dvaraka-lila nourish vraja-lila, and that these twolilas are inside vraja-lila.
So vraja-lila is krsna-lila and navadvipa-lila is also krsna-lila. Of these two types oflilas, one is manifested,
prakata, and the other is unmanifested, aprakata.
What is Nabadwip Dham? Acaryas and mahajanas have said that it is a closed compartment in Vraja Dham. So Vraja Dham is of two types — prakata andaprakata, manifest and unmanifest.
In that closed compartment known as Nabadwip Dham, Krishna, who is rasaraja, the chief of all enjoyers of mellows, is feeling acute pangs of separation, viraha, from Radharani, and he cries and cries and cries. He had developed greed to understand the feelings of Radharani, to understand his own beauty, and to understand the happiness that Radharani feels by enjoying his beauty. He had developed these three desires and was thinking of how to fulfill them. He concluded that without accepting the sentiment and complexion of Radharani, his greed could not be satisfied. Therefore he entered into the core of the heart of Radharani and hid himself there, and a molten gold complexion manifested outwardly. So externally he is feeling the pangs of separation, but in the heart there is union. In that separation,viraha, vipralambha-bhava, he chants the name of Krishna, "hare krsna hare krsna krsna krsna hare hare hare rama hare rama rama rama hare hare". Similarly, inRadha-tantra it is described that in Vrajabhumi, when Radharani feels acute pangs of separation from Krishna, she chants the name of Krishna. Mahaprabhu accepted the same radha-bhava and radha-kanti. So, absorbed
in vipralambha-bhava, Gaura chants the hare krsna maha-mantra.
That hidden Vrindavan is Nabadwip Dham, a closed compartment in Vrindavan. Where is Nabadwip and where is Vrindavan? They are so far apart, hundreds and hundreds of miles apart. That is external. But if you have an internal vision, you will see that one is inside the other, Nabadwip is inside of Vrindavan. Therefore, theacaryas instruct us not to see any difference between gaura-vana
and vraja-vana. We sing that song by Srila Narottam Das Thakur:
gaurangera sangi-gane, nitya-siddha kari' mane,
se yaya vrajendra-suta pasa
sri-gauda-mandala-bhumi, yeba jane cintamani
tara haya vraja-bhume vasa
One who accepts the associates of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as nitya-siddhas is certain to be elevated to the spiritual kingdom to become an associate of the Supreme Lord. One should also know that Gaudamandala-
bhumi — those places in Bengal where Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed — are equal to Vrajabhumi Vrindavan. There is no difference between the inhabitants of Vrindavan and those of Gauda-mandalabhumi,
Sridham Mayapur. Therefore, no one should see any difference between Gaura and Krishna.
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