Aprakaṭa-līlā – Anuśīlana.in

teṣāṁ tu śokārti-bharaṁ kadāpi taṁ

teṣāṁ tu śokārti-bharaṁ kadāpi taṁ
paraiḥ prakārair anivartyam āptataḥ |
janāt sa vikhyāpya janeṣu sarvato
vrajaṁ priya-prema-vaśo’cirād gataḥ ||
vidagdha-mūrdhanya-maṇiḥ kṛpākulo
vraja-sthitānāṁ sa dadat sapady asūn |
tathā samaṁ tair vijahāra te yathā
visasmarur duḥkham adaḥ samūlakam ||
yadi ca ko’pi kadācid anusmared
vadati tarhi mayā śvapatā bata |
kim api duṣṭam ananvayam īkṣitaṁ
saruditaṁ ca bhayād bahu śocati ||
cireṇa gopāla-vihāra-mādhurī-
bharaiḥ samākṛṣṭa-vimohitendriyāḥ |
na sasmaruḥ kiñcid atītam eṣyad apy
amī vidur na vraja-vāsino janāḥ ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.6.348–351)

“Making known among the people [i.e., the Yadus and others] everywhere through a credible person [such as Uddhava] that that [i.e., the ineffable] profusion of their [i.e., the people of Vraja‘s] sorrow and distress was inexorable by other means [i.e., by any means other than his returning to Vraja], he [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa] without delay went to Vraja, being captivated by the prema of his dear ones [there]. He, the crest-jewel of the artful, overcome with compassion, immediately gave vital airs to the residents of Vraja [who had been as though without them in his absence]. He enjoyed with them such that they forgot that [i.e., the suffering of separation from him] along with its root [i.e., Akrūra’s coming to Vraja, his going to Mathurā, and so on]. And if ever anyone would remember [that separation from him or its suffering], then [in confusion or distress] one would say, ‘Bata! What sort of inauspicious inanity has been seen by me as I was dreaming [since Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s ever leaving Vraja is utterly impossible]!’ and grieve profusely with lamentation out of fear [thus demonstrating the manifest presence of the Vraja-vāsīs’ special, paramount prema verily in every respect]. These people residing in Vraja soon did not remember anything of the past [i.e., they soon lost all awareness of Kṛṣṇa’s ever having left Vraja] and did not think of the future [i.e., they never thought that he would leave again], their senses being fully attracted and engrossed by the profusion of sweetness of Gopāla’s play [there in Vraja with them].”

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lokottara-padārthānāṁ prabhāvaḥ ko’py anargalaḥ

lokottara-padārthānāṁ prabhāvaḥ ko’py anargalaḥ |
ratiṁ tad-viṣayaṁ cāsau bhāsayet tūrṇam ekadā ||
(Ujjvala-nīlamaṇi: 14.16)

“Otherworldly objects have extraordinary unchecked potency, and one [such object] can immediately at once manifest rati [for Śrī Kṛṣṇa] and the object thereof [i.e., Śrī Kṛṣṇa himself, the object of rati].”

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tatrāprakaṭā dvividhā—mantropāsanāmayī svārasikī ca

tatrāprakaṭā dvividhā—mantropāsanāmayī svārasikī ca | prathamā yathā tat-tad-ekatara-sthānādi-niyata-sthitikā tat-tan-mantra-dhyāna-mayī | … nānā-sthānānusāraṇa-rūpatvād eka-sthāna-niṣṭhāyā mantropāsanāmayyā bhidyate’sau | yathāvasara-vividha-svecchāmayī svārasikī | … nānā-līlā-pravāha-rūpatayā svārasikī gaṅgeva | ekaika-līlātmatayā mantropāsanāmayī tu labdha-tat-sambhava-hrada-śreṇir iva jñeyā | kiṁ ca, mantropāsanāmayyām api vraja-rājādi-sambandhaḥ śrūyate, kim uta svārasikyām iti na kutrāpi tad-rahitatā kalpanīyā | … govindaḥ śrī-vṛndāvana-deva eva … keśavo’pi śrī-mathurā-nātha eva, tau hi vṛndāvana-mathurā-prasiddha-mahā-yoga-pīṭhayos … prāpañcika-loka-dṛṣṭyāṁ śrīmat-pratimākāreṇābhātaḥ, svajana-dṛṣṭyāṁ sākṣād-rūpeṇa ca |
(Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 153)

“Therein, the aprakaṭa [-līlā] is of two types: mantropāsanāmayī and svārasikī. The first [is aprakaṭa-līlā that] is a fixed state amid one of various places and so forth and constituted of a correlated mantra and meditation. … This [i.e., svārasikī-līlā] is distinguished from mantropāsanāmayī, which is fixed at one place, because [its, i.e., svārasikī-līlā’s] being a form of movement amidst various places. Svārasikī is constituted of [Bhagavān’s] various personal wishes [manifesting successively in the flow of time within aprakaṭa-līlā] in accord with circumstances [that arise in various places at various times]. Svārasikī is like the Gaṅgā on account of being of the nature of a [continuous] flow of various līlās. Mantropāsanāmayī, on the contrary, on account of being constituted of one singular līlā, is to be understood to be like a multitude of perceived lagoons produced from that [i.e., from the flow of svārasikī-līlā]. Furthermore, [Bhagavān’s] relation with the king of Vraja and so forth is heard of even in mantropāsanāmayī, and so all the more in svārasikī. Thus, it [i.e., Bhagavān’s līlā, of both the mantropāsanāmayī and svārasikī varieties] are never to be conceived devoid of that [i.e., devoid of him having the relationships that he does with all his various associates in the various abodes of his līlās]. … Govinda, the Lord of Śrī Vṛndāvana … and Keśava, the Lord of Śrī Mathurā—at the well-known mahāyogapīṭhas in Vṛndāvana and Mathurā [respectively] these two … shine in the form of splendid deities in the vision of worldly people and in their direct forms in the vision of their own persons [i.e., bhaktas].”

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mānasādi-pūjāyāṁ bhūta-pūrva-tat-parikara-līlā-saṁvalitatvam api na kalpanā-mayaṁ

mānasādi-pūjāyāṁ bhūta-pūrva-tat-parikara-līlā-saṁvalitatvam api na kalpanā-mayaṁ, kintu yathārtham eva | yatas tasya prākaṭya-samaye līlās tat-parikarāś ca ye prādurbabhūvuḥ, te tādṛśāś cāprakaṭam api nityaṁ tadīye dhāmni saṅkhyātītā eva vartante |
(Bhakti Sandarbha: 286)

“In worship [performed] in the mind and elsewhere, although the content of the meditation is possessed of līlās and associates of his [i.e., Bhagavān’s] that were existent in the past, it is not [merely] imaginary but rather real since his associates and the līlās that appeared at the time of his manifestation (prākaṭya) [which one meditates upon] exist eternally beyond enumeration even unmanifestly as such [i.e., in an equally real form] in his abode [as well].”

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tatra prakaṭa-līlā-gata-bhāvasya viraha-saṁyogādi-līlā-vaicitrī-bhara-vāhitvena

tatra prakaṭa-līlā-gata-bhāvasya viraha-saṁyogādi-līlā-vaicitrī-bhara-vāhitvena balavattaratvāt ubhaya-līlaikībhāvānantaram api tanmayas teṣām abhimāno’nuvartata eva |
(Kṛṣṇa Sandarbha: 182)

“In this regard, because the bhāva present in prakaṭa-līlā is more powerful [than the bhāva in aprakaṭa-līlā] on account of its being a flow of an abundance of the wonderfulness of līlās of separation, union, and so forth, even after both līlās [merge and] become one, their [i.e., Kṛṣṇa’s associates’] mentality [i.e., sense of self and relationship to Kṛṣṇa] based on this [prakaṭa-līlā] indeed follows [i.e., remains predominant within them even after they merge into the aprakaṭa-līlā].”

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