MLA Paper

[Nitaidas]

Here is a revision of a paper I delivered at the MLA (Modern Language Association) Conference in Chicago this last December 27. I drew most of the materials from my translation of Sanatana's Sri Krsna-lila-stava, which I think is a very significant book in the history of CV. Parts of this essay will find their way into the introduction of the book which I hope to publish by the end of the year. Hope find it of interest. Eventually I will post sections of the book,

Ritual, Recollection, and Relish: Multidimensionality in the Religious Literature of Caitanya Vaisnavism

[Deleted]

Congratulations Nitai-ji, for the presentation of your paper at MLA. If you do not mind, I will forward this to some others, who will certainly enjoy too.

Whenever, you ready for posting some more nectar, please do so; here we are, waiting and thirsty.

[Deleted]

What a joyful reading. Now, considering the qualified audience that you had at the MLA, it would be interesting to know what sort of questions arouse, while (or after) you delivering the lecture?

Was there a particular question that really struck you?

[madanmohandas]

Absolutely marvelous! I really like the way you have translated the Krsna Lila Stava. You might be surprised to know that I am quite familiar with this text from the Gaudiya Mission edition with Bengali translation and it used to be part of my daily thing. one of my favorites being;

zaradvihAra madhura zaradpuSpavibhUSaNa/
karnikArAvatamsa tvaM naTavezadharaM bhaje//

Which corresponds with 10/21/5, the famous 'barhApIDa...'sloka

Also the Bhagavat Stava at the end. Superb! Endless thanks for reproducing it in English.

[Nitaidas]

Thanks, Madanmohanji. My book including the original text, translation and a long introduction on Sanatana Goswami Prabhupada is almost done. I love the text and have tasted some rasa while working on it. I think it should be part of everyone's daily sadhana.

Would you be interested in reading my version and critiquing it when I get the ms together? Our biggest weakness at Blazing Sapphire Press is that there are not enough proofreaders to bring the final works up to the standard of correctness that we want.

[Nitaidas]

Thanks, Harisaranji, for your kind comments.

Sure. Send it around all you want. I don't mind.

My audience at the MLA was not all that qualified. I got lots of questions but they were of a more elementary nature. The audience was mostly composed of "modern" language scholars. They tend to look a bit askance at old or ancient languages. So, I had to explain as best I could why "108" is a sacred number and that there are sections in the work that present madhura rasa as well as sakhya rasa. The only example I gave in the paper was vatsalya-rasa which I found rather charming. One my co-panelists was a Tamil lady with roots in Srilanka who was all post-colonial, Dalit-promoting, conscience-appealing, deconstructionism. She was very kind to me, though, and spent a good deal of time after the panel recounting Ram-lila as reflected in Tamil texts for some members of the audience. She obviously was relishing the rasa of Ram-lila.

Anyway, it was fun and in the final analysis I am glad I did it. I admit I had my doubts while I was working on the paper during the holiday season.

[madanmohandas]

Yes, Nitai, it would be a pleasure to read your ms.

[madanmohandas]

Would it be reasonable to deduce from Sanatana's statement, 'bhAgavata-krama', that the chronological order of the Bhagavat narrative occasionally digresses from actual sequence of events, but Sanatana made a conscious decision to keep to the 'bhAgavata krama'?

[Nitaidas]

madanmohandas said:

Would it be reasonable to deduce from Sanatana's statement, 'bhAgavata-krama', that the chronological order of the Bhagavat narrative occasionally digresses from actual sequence of events, but Sanatana made a conscious decision to keep to the 'bhAgavata krama'?

Or, differing from the order in the accounts in the Hari-vaMza and/or ViSNu PurANa. I remember one place where Sanatana notes in his commentary that an event appears to be out of place in the BhAgavata, but that it should be understood as occurring that way in a different kalpa. I forget which event it was, one of the asura-dispatches, I believe.

Anyway, he is clearly asserting the BhAgavata-krama as normative.

[madanmohandas]

Sure. But there is reference to the slaying of Vyoma, which is dealt with in chapter 37, but which the singing cowherd damsels mention in chapter 31. Visvanatha gives the explanation that the gopis would have known about it from Krsna's horoscope, which I must confess seems a lame explanation. It is far more likely, as you get more and more familiar with the narrative, to get the understanding that Suka, due to excitement, does not adhere strictly to the actual sequence. There's naught wrong in that!

Something else I wanted to ask in regard to the text after scanning over your essay is, why are there hardly any anusvara ( ah) at all?

Another thing you might be interested to know, if you don't already, is to do with Krsna's birth naksatra. I noticed in Visvanatha's annotation that the name of the naksatra is not generally mentioned directly but by allusion. In this case 'Prajapati's naksatra', meaning of course 'Rohini'.

[madanmohandas]

I like this one;

antahkrpAtimrdula bahirATopasundara/
prahlAdAngAvalohotka sphuTadbrhmANDagarjita//

[madanmohandas]

;DMore! more, I prithee, more;
one may suck nectar from your verses,
as a weasel sucks eggs. ;D

[madanmohandas]

In sloka 4 you have 'by nature existent', is that 'sanmAtra'?
Quite an astonishing epithet, if that's what it is. Gosh! a commentary on that would be interesting.

[madanmohandas]

Sloka 25 in my book mentions the four yuga avataras corresponding to the four yugas.
He says there, 'In Dvapara who is harit-coloured (?) what colour is that? and the last foot goes, 'In Kali black, O Mahaprabhu!' Maybe I got that wrong, but what is it all about there? If 'harit' is green then I find it really disappointing, because I am convinced that Rama, if that's who it alludes to, is blue.

[Nitaidas]

madanmohandas said:

Sure. But there is reference to the slaying of Vyoma, which is dealt with in chapter 37, but which the singing cowherd damsels mention in chapter 31. Visvanatha gives the explanation that the gopis would have known about it from Krsna's horoscope, which I must confess seems a lame explanation. It is far more likely, as you get more and more familiar with the narrative, to get the understanding that Suka, due to excitement, does not adhere strictly to the actual sequence. There's naught wrong in that!

Something else I wanted to ask in regard to the text after scanning over your essay is, why are there hardly any anusvara ( ah) at all?

Another thing you might be interested to know, if you don't already, is to do with Krsna's birth naksatra. I noticed in Visvanatha's annotation that the name of the naksatra is not generally mentioned directly but by allusion. In this case 'Prajapati's naksatra', meaning of course 'Rohini'.

Yes, maybe VyomAsura was it. I will have to check.

Anusvara? Do you mean visarga? There are very few visarga because most of the words in the hymn are in the vocative case, the case of address. For a-stems the vocative is just like the nominative, except without the visarga (or final "s"). Occasionally, one finds the dative (a-stems ending in Aya) or the accusative (a-stems ending in anusvara, "M"). The upshot is that the text is almost entirely composed of names of Krsna which are addressed to him: O Govinda, O Krsna, etc.

Dinna know that about Rohini. Wonder why the naksatra is not named?