nīrada-nayane
By Śrī Govinda Dāsa Kavirāja
নীরদ-নয়নে নীর-ঘন-সিঞ্চনে
পুলক-মুকুল-অবলম্ব ।
স্বেদ-মরন্দ বিন্দু বিন্দু চূয়ত
বিকসিত ভাব-কদম্ব ॥১॥
nīrada-nayane nīra-ghana-siñcane
pulaka-mukula-avalamba |
sveda-maranda bindu bindu cūyata
vikasita bhāva-kadamba ||1||
Under the heavy shower of the water [i.e., tears] from the clouds of his eyes, he has become a mainstay of buds of horripilation. Drop after drop of the nectar of his perspiration has exuded [from these buds of his horripilating pores], and kadamba flowers of bhāvas have blossomed!
Commentary: As a kadamba tree upon receiving heavy showers of rain develops buds, exudes nectar, and produces blossoms, so it is as though Gaura Kiśora’s eyes are clouds, his streams of tears are showers of rain, his horripilating pores are buds, his beads of perspiration are drops of nectar, and his other bhāvas [e.g., trembling, faltering of the voice, etc.] are blossomed kadamba flowers. Although all the sāttvika-bhāvas, such as weeping, horripilating, and perspiring, are outcomes of sattva, that is, the state in which the citta is overwhelmed by the sthāyi-bhāva and forces itself into the prāṇa and the prāṇa subsequently transforms and in some cases transforms the state of other elements in the body as well [see BRS 2.3.1–2, 15–19], the author, nevertheless, out of profound adoration for the beauty of the sāttvika-bhāvas manifest in Gaura Kiśora’s figure, and perhaps also to draw special attention to the intense profusion of his tears in particular, describes the sāttvika-bhāvas manifest in him by comparing them to the stages of a kadamba tree’s blossoming whereby Gaura Kiśora’s tears are implied to the cause of his other sāttvika-bhāvas. This is evidently not intended to be taken literally, since the sāttvika-bhāva of weeping (aśru) is known to manifest when the prāṇa takes shelter in the element of water in the body, and the other sāttvika-bhāvas are known to manifest not as a consequence of the sāttvika-bhāva of weeping but rather as consequences of the prāṇa taking shelter in other elements within the body under pressure from the citta when it is overwhelmed with bhāva. Be that as it may, the author seeks to convey that the experience of perceiving Gaura Kiśora so absorbed is somewhat akin in intensity to what it would be like to perceive a kadamba tree suddenly developing buds, exuding nectar, and producing blossoms under a heavy shower of rain.
কি পেখলুঁ নটবর গৌরকিশোর ।
অভিনব হেম- কল্পতরু সঞ্চরু
সুরধুনি-তীরে উজোর ॥২॥ধ্রু॥
ki pekhalu̐ naṭavara gaura-kiśora |
abhinava hema- kalpa-taru sañcaru
suradhuni-tīre ujora ||2||dhru||
How have I beheld the best of dancers Gaura Kiśora? As a completely new, radiant, golden desire tree moving along the bank of the Suradhunī.
Commentary: The author here muses, “What am I seeing? What a wonder is this dancing figure of Gaura Kiśora [lit., “the golden adolescent”]!” To further elucidate the nature of his wondrousness, the author compares Gaura Kiśora to a desire tree.
Desire trees, that is, trees that grant whatever one requests of them, are known from śāstra to exist in Svarga, the abode of the suras, i.e., devatās, and to be found along the Suradhunī [lit., “the river of the suras”], that is, the branch of the Gaṅgā that flows through Svargaloka. The author compares Gaura Kiśora to a Svargīya desire tree because (1) Gaura Kiśora is also found on the bank of the Suradhunī, that is, the branch of the Gaṅgā that flows on earth, and because (2) Gaura Kiśora can satisfy the desires of one and all, just as a desire tree can, and so too thereby create a heavenly atmosphere that resembles to a certain extent the atmosphere of Svarga in terms of abundance, free-spiritedness, playfulness, and so forth, although in reality it exceeds Svarga in these respects and many others. The author thus describes Gaura Kiśora as a “completely new” (abhinava) desire tree because (1) Gaura Kiśora figuratively buds, exudes nectar, and produces blossoms instantaneously and simultaneously, whereas Svargīya desire trees do not, (2) Gaura Kiśora is himself also the source of his own figurative budding, exuding of nectar, and blossoming [as is implied by his own tears, in this sense indicative of his rati in general, being the compared to heavy showers of rain that cause his budding, exuding of nectar, and blossoming], whereas Svargīya desire trees are not, (3) Gaura Kiśora is mobile, whereas Svargīya desire trees are stationary, (4) Gaura Kiśora is golden, whereas Svargīya desire trees are not, (5) Gaura Kiśora is radiant, whereas the Svargīya desire trees are not, (6) Gaura Kiśora grants “fruits,” that is, desired ends, even to those who do not request him of anything, whereas Svargīya desire trees grant results only to those who ask for them, (7) Gaura Kiśora grants fruits superior even to what he is requested of, whereas Svargīya desire trees grant only the specific result they are requested of, and (8) Gaura Kiśora, as will be described later in the song, grants the supreme puruṣārtha, Kṛṣṇa-prema, and does so even without judging the relative eligibility and ineligibility of recipients [since he can by his divine capability and grace instantly imbue anyone he gives this gift to with the capability to apppropriately cherish it], whereas Svargīya desire trees have no ability to grant such an attainment, much less grant it even to someone lacking the eligibility for it, since they can only grant two of the puruṣārthas, viz., artha and kāma; furthermore, the supreme puruṣārtha, prema, is most rare to attain for even the suras themselves who reside in Svarga.
চঞ্চল চরণ- কমলতলে ঝঙ্করু
ভকত-ভ্রমরগণ ভোর ।
পরিমল-লুবধ সুরাসুর ধাবই
অহনিশি রহত অগোর ॥৩॥
cañcala caraṇa- kamala-tale jhaṅkaru
bhakata-bhramara-gaṇa bhora |
parimala-lubadha surāsura dhāva-i
ahar niśi rahata agora ||3||
The bumblebees of his bhaktas, absorbed, are buzzing about the soles of his darting lotus feet. Eager for the fragrance [thereof], suras and asuras run, and day and night remain watching [him].
Commentary: Gaura Kiśora’s lotus feet being described as “darting” (cañcala) implies he is dancing along the bank of the Suradhunī. His bhaktas’ “buzzing” (jhaṅkaru) implies they are singing in saṅkīrtana around him, perhaps of the particular līlā and bhāva that is the present object of his absorption, or perhaps in praise of his glories, such as his unparalleled beauty, unfathomable causeless grace, and profoundly astonishing prema.
“Suras and asuras” (surāsura) can be taken both literally to allude to the residents of Svarga and the various talas, and more so figuratively to allude to both godly and ungodly people in general on earth and imply the sense that people from all walks of life came and received Gaura Kiśora’s grace, no matter how sinful they may have been. Furthermore, by stating that both suras and asuras come to him, the author indicates a further reason Śrī Gaura Kiśora is a “completely new” (abhinava) desire tree: both suras and asuras receive fruits from him, whereas only the suras, apart from certain exceptions, even have access to the desire trees of Svarga.
Regarding “watching” (agora), some interpret agora to mean unconscious (acetana). Read in this way, the meaning becomes, “Suras and asuras run, and day and night remain unconscious,” that is, they become overwhelmed with bliss upon experiencing the fragrance of his lotus feet, that is, upon perceiving his beauty, prema, and so forth, and thus fall unconscious, or, and thus remain oblivous of their conventional daily affairs. Others interpret agora to mean “blocking” (āgalāiyā), whereby the meaning becomes, “Suras and asuras run, and day and night remain blocking [his way],” that is, so many people approach him, fall before him, adore him, and so forth, that he can hardly even make his way along the Suradhunī’s bank without having to pause and commune with those who have come before him.
অবিরত প্রেম- রতন-ফল-বিতরণে
অখিল মনোরথ পূর ।
তাকর চরণে দীনহীন বঞ্চিত
গোবিন্দদাস রহু দুর ॥৪॥
avirata prema- ratana-phala-vitaraṇe
akhila-manoratha pūra |
tākara caraṇe dīnahīna vañcita
govinda-dāsa rahu dūra ||4||
By his constant distribution of the fruit of the treasure of prema, the desires of all are fulfilled. Deprived of his feet, [however,] the distressed and lowly Govinda Dāsa remains afar.
Commentary: The unprecedented, golden desire tree Śrī Gaura Kiśora leaves no one who approaches him unfulfilled, since his paramount gift, the fruit of Kṛṣṇa-prema, is so fulfilling that anyone who receives it becomes so satisfied that no sense of having any sort of unfulfilled desire for anything else remains in one’s mind.
Meter
Tripadī
Source
Pada-kalpa-taru: 1.4.1 (67)