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Post by madanmohandas on Sept 28, 2019 10:03:07 GMT -6
Shri Namastakam from Shri Rupa Goswami's Stavamala
O name divine! the crown of scripture glows With light in adoration of thy toes; The liberated worship as is due, O Hari's name, I seek refuge in you. 1
Whom sages glorify, hail name divine! Where transcendental syllables combine; To the people great happiness you grant, When your sweet names they devotedly chant. Nay, even uttered once, or in disdain, You remove their harsh suffering and pain. 2
O sun-like name your rising radiates, Which the gloom of ignorance dissipates; Then those who erst were to your glory blind, May then the path of pure devotion find, But when you shine with full radiant blaze, What wise man could exhaust your endless praise?
Whoever has direct perception won, And realised Brahman, that all is one; Is still compelled to reap of his past deeds The fruits accruing from the scattered seeds; But straightway when Lord Hari's name is sung, And lights upon the surface of the tongue, The seeds of former deeds, both good and ill, Those latent, and of those we suffer still, Are utterly destroyed by Hari's name; The Vedic texts this truth loudly proclaim. 4
'Agha's subduer,' and 'Yashoda's pride', 'The son of Nanda',and the 'Lotus-eyed' The 'Gopi's moon', and 'Lord of Vrindavan', 'Who to surrendered souls shows compassion', And 'Krishna' etcet'ra, and many more, O Lord, may I with love your names adore. 5
O name divine! your nature is twofold, The object referred to, and the word told; And there is no distinction twixt the two, Yet of the latter we may know it true, A more abundant mercy has been shown, Since uttering the word one may atone For sins and offences in multitude, And plunge in the sea of beatitude. 6
You remove all your refugees distress, You are the form of transcendental bliss, O name, you are Gokula's festival, Of supreme love divine ineffable; O Krishna's name, you are Krishna complete, I bow in salutation at your feet. 7
O name who Narad's lute with life infills, Which waves of rapture and nectar distills; O name of Krishna, if you so approve, Always appear upon my tongue with love. 8
Finis
Postscript bonus material for the sympathetic reader. Here Sri Rupa has Paurnamasi describe to Nandimukhi the effects of Krishna's name.
Ah me! what nectar flows, pure and refined, When the syllables 'Krish' and 'Na' are joined! When on the tongue to dance and play it learns, For many mouths the chanter eager yearns; And when it gains into the ear access, A million ears the chanter would possess; But in the heart's courtyard when it alights, It ravishes the senses with delights; The faculties of sense are all undone, And then the chanter falls down in a swoon.
Moreover in his Stavamala Divine Rupa saith,
Long live the lotus-name of Mura's foe! Whence streams of loving ambrosia flow; The slightest semblance of that name to tell, Turns Mukti's pearl into a worthless shell.
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Post by Nitaidas on Sept 28, 2019 14:10:33 GMT -6
Great work, Madanmohan dasji. As it turns out we have been moving towards a more in depth consideration of the Holy Name, its existential status, and methods of cultivation and practice. I am currently working on Kanupriya Goswami's Sri Nama-cintamani, volume one, which is a fully developed commentary on Rupa's Namastaka. So this posting is quite useful and important for that effort. I am still working on the preliminary essays for that book and will be posting them once I am done with them and start working on the main body of the text.
On another front, I hatched an idea for combating my own gradual mental deterioration by starting a thread here in which I post verses and mantras for memorization, for me and anyone else who wants to do it. For me it is therapeutic and illuminating for the younger members of the site it is more for their edification. These are verses that every Caitanya Vaisnava should know by heart. After a few more single verses that are of the nature of mangalacaranas, I thought we would turn to Rupa's Namastaka. Eduardo suggested it and I think it is appropriate considering the subject that will be the main focus of our work in this forum for the next year or two.
At present I am working on a short work by Sundarananda Das called Mahamantra, He wrote it a few years before he left the GM. It presents a viewpoint on the way the Mahamantra is to form a part of our practice that runs counter to the way most of us have and do engage it, but a viewpoint that is central to one important group of CV members, the followers of Sri Radharamancaran das Babaji Maharaj. You can find it in the Modern Caitanyite Literature thread under Aesthetics and Literature. Also under Modern Caitanyite Literature is the Improving the Mind thread where the verses for memorization are presented and discussed.
On another note, I forgot that you work primarily with previous translations into English of Caitanya Vaisnava works in creating your versification and poetic works. I would like to create a working group here that creates careful translations of all of the extant biographies of Mahaprabhu. Would you be willing to take the results of that effort and create poetic versions of them? I have the first quarter of Murarugupta's Krsnacaitanyacaritamrta done. Would you like to start with that?. It is the grand-daddy text for all the later biography/hagiography texts.
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Post by madanmohandas on Sept 28, 2019 15:52:21 GMT -6
Thanks Nitai, well I will certainly look at Sundarananda's short work.
I wonder if you have ever entertained the idea of interlinear translation. It's a bit like the word-for-word that BBT does, only as the name implies, the translation goes along with the lines of the original. I used them for Virgil and Ovid, and are a quick way of being able to read original texts with some fluency of comprehension. As for Murari's Mahakavya, I do read that in the Iskcon edition, and it is very worthy the attempt, but am reluctant to commit myself due to ongoing preoccupations. I might have a try at some odd chapters which are all very concise, as you will know. I am assuming you acknowledge the date? I like to think so. It seems from reading it to be the source, rather than sourced from the big Bengali books. But what exactly gives that impression is hard to say.
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Post by Nitaidas on Sept 29, 2019 0:25:07 GMT -6
Thanks Nitai, well I will certainly look at Sundarananda's short work. I wonder if you have ever entertained the idea of interlinear translation. It's a bit like the word-for-word that BBT does, only as the name implies, the translation goes along with the lines of the original. I used them for Virgil and Ovid, and are a quick way of being able to read original texts with some fluency of comprehension. As for Murari's Mahakavya, I do read that in the Iskcon edition, and it is very worthy the attempt, but am reluctant to commit myself due to ongoing preoccupations. I might have a try at some odd chapters which are all very concise, as you will know. I am assuming you acknowledge the date? I like to think so. It seems from reading it to be the source, rather than sourced from the big Bengali books. But what exactly gives that impression is hard to say. Interesting suggestion. I have never considered it. I generally put the Sanskrit or Bengali on the facing page or in footnotes. How would it work? After one line, probably a quarter verse, would come the translation of that quarter verse? Would one try to keep the words in the Sanskrit order or put them in English order? Have you looked at Franklin Edgerton's translation of the Gita? He tries to stay close to the Sanskrit order and even though it sounds odd in English it is useful in connecting the English words to their Sanskrit counterparts and getting a sense of Sanskrit sentence construction and grammar. Here is his translation of 4.5 for instance: For Me have passed many Births, and for thee, Arjuna; These I know all; Thou knowest not, scorcher of the foe. And 4.8: For protection of the good, And for destruction of evil-doers, To make a firm footing for the right, I come into being in age after age. Murarigupta's work gives itself the date of 1520 as the date of its completion, which may have been the date Murarigupta himself finished it. Since it includes an account of Mahaprabhu's doings after that date, someone else or maybe Murari himself, added more to the account. At any rate, it is certainly the earliest and the other biographies either mention it as a source or took from it directly or indirectly. The next biography after it is Kavikarnapur's first biography of Caitanya written in 1540-1, a Sanskrit kavya in Sanskrit.
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Post by madanmohandas on Sept 29, 2019 1:36:10 GMT -6
I have not seen Edgarson's translation, but from you have there I would concur with you that it would be useful as you say, and that would be the sort of translation you would find in an interlinear text. With the Latin ones, they keep the English construction, but It could be just as easy the other way round. I don't know if you have yourself or have ever seen used little cards for sloka learning, well sometimes you see the mula with the English running above the line in red or something, that way while reading the mula, one can also scan the translation simultaneously. The basic grammar is picked up along the way.
I had already played with the invocation of the Mahakavya,
All hail to him of immaculate powers, Who shines like gold, with eyes like lotus flowers; Six knee-length arms his gracious form displays, And of love's varied themes the drama plays.
The world-Master from whom the world begun Is he, the Lord, Jagannath Mishra's son; Who dissipates all wordly miseries, Who the faults of Kali's age purifies; Who lifts the burden of Kali's despair; Who does his own ardent devotion bear, And as the son of Sachi did appear.
Is Kavi Karnapura's book available? I have not seen it.
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Post by Nityānanda dāsa on Sept 29, 2019 7:16:13 GMT -6
I have not seen Edgarson's translation, but from you have there I would concur with you that it would be useful as you say, and that would be the sort of translation you would find in an interlinear text. With the Latin ones, they keep the English construction, but It could be just as easy the other way round. I don't know if you have yourself or have ever seen used little cards for sloka learning, well sometimes you see the mula with the English running above the line in red or something, that way while reading the mula, one can also scan the translation simultaneously. The basic grammar is picked up along the way. I had already played with the invocation of the Mahakavya, All hail to him of immaculate powers, Who shines like gold, with eyes like lotus flowers; Six knee-length arms his gracious form displays, And of love's varied themes the drama plays. The world-Master from whom the world begun Is he, the Lord, Jagannath Mishra's son; Who dissipates all wordly miseries, Who the faults of Kali's age purifies; Who lifts the burden of Kali's despair; Who does his own ardent devotion bear, And as the son of Sachi did appear. Is Kavi Karnapura's book available? I have not seen it. Dear Madanmohan Das, Radhe Radhe! I also wanted to thank you so much for these translations. They're fantastic!! Jai Nitai Gaur! Yours in service,
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Post by madanmohandas on Sept 29, 2019 9:28:15 GMT -6
Thanks, Nilamadhava, jay Nitai Gaur! very kind of you.
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Post by Nitaidas on Sept 29, 2019 14:31:33 GMT -6
I have not seen Edgarson's translation, but from you have there I would concur with you that it would be useful as you say, and that would be the sort of translation you would find in an interlinear text. With the Latin ones, they keep the English construction, but It could be just as easy the other way round. I don't know if you have yourself or have ever seen used little cards for sloka learning, well sometimes you see the mula with the English running above the line in red or something, that way while reading the mula, one can also scan the translation simultaneously. The basic grammar is picked up along the way. I had already played with the invocation of the Mahakavya, All hail to him of immaculate powers, Who shines like gold, with eyes like lotus flowers; Six knee-length arms his gracious form displays, And of love's varied themes the drama plays. The world-Master from whom the world begun Is he, the Lord, Jagannath Mishra's son; Who dissipates all wordly miseries, Who the faults of Kali's age purifies; Who lifts the burden of Kali's despair; Who does his own ardent devotion bear, And as the son of Sachi did appear. Is Kavi Karnapura's book available? I have not seen it. I don't know where the six arms comes from. It is sad not SaT. And abhinartaka is not drama or plays. It means dancer or actor, either of which would apply to Mahaprabhu. Whose translation did you use for this? The second verse is okay. Vibhu is left out, I think. All-pervading, all encompassing? The first verse is somewhat of a mistranslation, though. Here is what I did with those: sa jayati śuddhavikramaḥ kanakābhaḥ kamalāyatekṣaṇaḥ |\\ varajānuvilambisadbhujo bahudhā bhaktirasābhinartakaḥ|| 1 || sa jagannāthasuto jagatpatirjagadādirjagadārtihā vibhuḥ|\\ kalipāpakalibhārahārako 'jani śacyāṃ nijabhaktimudvahan|| 2|| Glory to him whose prowess is pure, whose complexion is golden, whose large eyes are like lotus petals, and whose fine arms reach down to his knees, a dancer who creates the many flavors ( rasas) of bhakti. (1) He, Jagann\=atha's son, is lord and origin of the universe, destroyer of the afflictions of the universe, its sovereign, remover of the sins and burdens of the Age of Kali. He was born of \'Sac{\=\i}, bringing with him bhakti for himself. (2) No where near as poetic as yours, but closer to the meaning of the original. Murarigupta was not a great stylist in Sanskrit. Not only that, but his work was not well preserved over the centuries. Bhaktas favored the Bengali caritas. It has taken a couple of generations of editors to recover his text. The process of moving from the Sanskrit to the Bengali is one I think of as the dumbing down of the tradition. The final blow was dealt by the work of Krsnadas Kaviraja. After that no one read the main texts written in Sanskrit any more except for a few highly motivated bhaktas. They had Krsandas' summaries. Why bother with the originals? Yes, there is an edition of the Kavikarnapura's first bio. There is no English translation as far as I know. The edition I have was done by Pranakrishna Goswami and has a Bengali translation. I also have Haridas Sastri's edition with a Hindi translation.
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Post by madanmohandas on Sept 29, 2019 23:28:54 GMT -6
Haha, yes that's true, I am guilty of partial interpretation. But when you say you don't know where six arms come from, you are teasing me because as you well know it is mentionined how by some mystic transfiguration Gaura manifest a six armed form a few times to various person, which does not imply necessarily that he goes about like normally. I do have a reading of that verse where it has saD as in six, so I took licence from that. Moreover I have the Six armed murti, hence my partiality. I cannot break my attachment to that reading, maybe it be an alternate reading relegated to a foot note. Also I will admit that I sometimes sacrifice literal for the idiomatic or even fanciful, but it usually has some justification.
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Post by madanmohandas on Sept 30, 2019 2:10:15 GMT -6
How about
All hail to him of immaculate powers! Who shines like gold; with eyes like lotus flowers; Fine knee length arms his gracious form displays, Who is the dancer of love's varied plays.
or for the second couplet,
Whose exquisite arms reach down to his knees, Who is the dancer of love's ecstasies.
O yes there was another one too
From his radiance it is plain to see He is himself supreme and almighty, Who bears the conch, discus, lotus and mace, The one endued with all beauty and grace; All opulent; of gods the highest god, Enough then of this piece of bamboo rod!
Sri Caitanya Carita Mahakavya 2.5.12
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Post by madanmohandas on Sept 30, 2019 2:30:34 GMT -6
I suppose you could call the decline of Sanskrit readership dumbing down, and yet it allowed a new flourishing in literature in the vernaculars, which also had benefit for the uneducated masses. But now we have English, the great leveler it's all different. Perhaps in good translation Murari's and other Sanskrit Gaudiya texts may gain the popularity they deserve. But I would hesitate to call the amazing development of vernacular poetry and translations as dumbing down. At the moment I am repeatedly astonished by the 'good news' according to Vrindavan Das it is my favorite among those I have read.
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Post by Nitaidas on Sept 30, 2019 9:54:44 GMT -6
Haha, yes that's true, I am guilty of partial interpretation. But when you say you don't know where six arms come from, you are teasing me because as you well know it is mentionined how by some mystic transfiguration Gaura manifest a six armed form a few times to various person, which does not imply necessarily that he goes about like normally. I do have a reading of that verse where it has saD as in six, so I took licence from that. Moreover I have the Six armed murti, hence my partiality. I cannot break my attachment to that reading, maybe it be an alternate reading relegated to a foot note. Also I will admit that I sometimes sacrifice literal for the idiomatic or even fanciful, but it usually has some justification. Of course, everyone knows of the six-armed manifestation of Gauranga. I just don't think it figures in this verse. That form will find expression later in the text. I have another edition of Murari's work published recently in Bengali script. I will hunt that down and see if it has a variant reading. The problem with sad (being, existing, true, real) is that it doesn't add much to the compound it is in. It could go with the following word, bhuja, or as the last element of the preceding compound vara-jAnu-vilambi. This is the most likely from a grammatical perspective making it "his fine arms being such that they hang down to his knees." It is hard to imagine all six arms hanging down to his knees. Anyway, I will look for that other version.
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Post by Nitaidas on Sept 30, 2019 10:22:44 GMT -6
I suppose you could call the decline of Sanskrit readership dumbing down, and yet it allowed a new flourishing in literature in the vernaculars, which also had benefit for the uneducated masses. But now we have English, the great leveler it's all different. Perhaps in good translation Murari's and other Sanskrit Gaudiya texts may gain the popularity they deserve. But I would hesitate to call the amazing development of vernacular poetry and translations as dumbing down. At the moment I am repeatedly astonished by the 'good news' according to Vrindavan Das it is my favorite among those I have read. You are right. There was an explosion of Bengali songs and works never seen before or since that was prompted by the CV tradition. And those songs are beautiful and powerful inducers of bhakti-rasa. This is definitely a good thing, a thing Vaisnavas should be proud of and should try to preserve and appreciate more. But those songs never quite reach the level of profundity that we find in the works of the Goswamis, especially Sanatana's, Rupa's and Jiva's. Of course, one could argue that bhakti is not so much about profundity as it is about the cultivation of powerful feelings of love and there is some truth to that. Yet, one of my observations is that bhakti as it is understood by our tradition is both a power of feeling (hladini-sakti) and an awareness or knowledge (cit-sakti). Even the old acaryas of other traditions like Ramanuja recognize this. I wrote about this in the more recent introduction to our Gita, citing Ramanuja, and quite surprisingly (for me) Sankara, not to mention Jiva and Baladeva. Bhakti is not blind. Rather it is a special kind of knowledge, of perspicacity. I don't we get that unless we study the works of the Goswamis carefully and deeply. But not only their works, there are other early writers who get ignored like Kavikarnapura. He was a brilliant poet, probably Rupa's equal if not superior. But, we hardly ever mention him and his works. He wrote a commentary on the Bhagavata that has never seen the light of day. It sits rotting in a mss library somewhere in Bengal. We do have his teacher's work, Srinatha Cakravartin. That, at least, is something. Anyway, I think folks are by nature lazy. I know I am. Given a choice of reading the challenging works of Sri Jiva or Krsnadas' Cc I would choose the latter. And ultimately there may be no difference. Bhakti is bhakti, once one has it one's eyes open along with one's heart. The real question is how to get it.
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Post by Ed on Sept 30, 2019 12:20:20 GMT -6
Yes, like Nitai said this is one I’d like to commit to memory and meditate on more often. I'm specially looking forward to Kanupriya Goswami's commentary. Those two extra verses are a great bonus, Purnamasi’s verse is so rich, as well as captivating, any of you know of any specific commentary on that verse? seems like one could theologise quite a lot on it. For a long time I've been wanting to read Ananda-vrindavan-campu as well as his works on Mahaprabhu, but no luck so far. On a different topic, Nitai, ins't your translation of the Isopanisad done in the way Madanmohan suggests here? The reason I like Sargeant's Gita translation is because of that and the feature of having several meanings for each word right there next to the verse, on the same page, the rest of the blank space left was meant for the reader to produce their own translation attempts, I believe. His footnotes are also helpful. Perhaps you've already seen this one, Madanmohandasji, I'm not sure if this is close to what you meant, but here's one example from it:
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Post by madanmohandas on Sept 30, 2019 13:14:21 GMT -6
Yes, Ed, that is something like the interlinear I was talking about.
The verse about the two syllables of Krishna's name is from Vidagdha Madhava, Act I, beginning with the line 'tunde taandavini...etc' it is also discussed in Chaitanya Charitamrita, Antya 1.
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