Krishnakarnamrita by Bilvamangala

[Nitaidas]

Thanks, gerardji. I have also discovered that I have the magisterial edition of Pandita Anantadas Babaji which contains all three Caitanyite commentaries and his own Bengali commentary. We have no dearth of materials here.

The reason I suggested the other two satakas is that without them the book will probably be too short. Even with the Sanskrit added, and the notes and glossary, it will probably not come to more than 40-50 pages. Plus all the other editions of the text include them, even the one by Anantadas Babaji. You are of course invited to write a preface or foreword if you want to introducing and describing the translator. I might add an appendix including BB Majumdar's introduction to his edition of the text. BB Majumdar was a great scholar of CV and also a member of the tradition. His work is usually very insightful. I have not read his introduction carefully, but after scanning it looks like it has some interesting elements. So what I have in mind is just a reprint of Hayesvara's translation, though that would certainly be the jewel in the setting. As with all of my "reprints" I like to give them added value in some way with embellishments and supporting texts. What do you think?

[spiritualbhakti]

I like the version by Anantadas Babaji. especially the commentaries.
especially verse 93:
shringAra-sarvaswan shikhi pichchha-vibhushanam,
angikrita-narAkAram-Ashraye bhuvanAshrayam
" Ras is his only wealth. The peacock feather is his sole ornament.
He who has accepted the human like form;He who is the shelter of all the universes- I take refuge in him"

I like how the commentator explains the word narakaram. it explains how even though being the bhuvana-ashrayam, the shelter of the universe he accepts a human like form-narakaram.
So ras is an experiece but Sri Krsna is ras personified.
they also quote a verse from Vishnu purana 4.11.2
Narakriti param brahman

this verse really enlightened me- WOW God has a form


COOL

[Nitaidas]

Hey spiritualbhakti, good to see you again. What have you been up to? What do you think of the translation of the text that gerardji has shared with us?

[Nitaidas]

Just for the heck of it, I typeset what you have posted already. With the Sanskrit the books comes to 56 pages as it stands. If you, gerardji, add a preface about the author and this work and if we add the notes and glossary we might reach 8O pages. Any luck contacting Premalata?

[gerard]

Sept 23, 2010 18:25:57 GMT -6 Nitaidas said:

Just for the heck of it, I typeset what you have posted already. With the Sanskrit the books comes to 56 pages as it stands. If you, gerardji, add a preface about the author and this work and if we add the notes and glossary we might reach 8O pages. Any luck contacting Premalata?

Your're fast! Very good!

I called a devotee who has Premalata's phone number but she didn't know whether she was allowed to give it to me, so she will first call Premalata and, if permitted, she'll send me an email.

I don't think it necessary (or advisable) to write something about Hayeshvar to go with this edition.

Can you use the Introduction he wrote?

I can send you the notes (the number of the note refers to the number of the couplet) and the very simple list of Names and Terms by PM if you want. Or put them here in this thread.

Our original booklet without the Sankrit text was 44 pages.

The first page looked like this:

Attachments:

[Nitaidas]

Good. Well I hope she agrees. Let's see.

Yes, I have already put the introduction in. I have typeset it with five stanzas to a page. That seems to work well with the Sanskrit and the English, especially if we add notes. If there are long notes then we may have to adjust the pages, but that is no big problem. I have not edited any of it or even put in italics or diacritics yet. I won't until we get the go ahead. Meanwhile please do send the notes. I can add them as they arrive.

How ever you want to send the notes and glossary is fine. Maybe the others here would like to read them, too, but it all depends on your time and convenience.

[gerard]

Here are the notes and the glossary. If interested, just add an asterisk to the couplet number corresponding to the note number.


NOTES


1: In one of his lectures, collected in his 'Teachings of Lord Kapila' (Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Los Angeles, 1977), Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada gives the following information about the poet and his relationship with Chintamani: "Due to bad association, Bilvamangala Thakur became a very staunch prostitute hunter, and he spent all his money on a prostitute named Chintamani. One night, during a terrible rainstorm, Bilvamangala went to see Chintamani, but the prostitute was thinking, 'Surely tonight Bilvamangala will not come. This is a terrible storm.' Nonetheless, Bilvamangala came, despite all difficulties. Somehow he managed to cross the raging river, and when he saw the gates of Chintamani's house closed, he somehow managed to jump over them. Despite all the dangers, he reached Chintamani's house, and the prostitute, being very astonished, said, 'How is it you have come tonight? Oh, you are so attracted to this skin! If you just had this much attraction for Krishna, it would certainly be to your benefit.' Bilvamangala then immediately left the prostitute's house and went to Vrindavan. Thus the prostitute actually became his guru."

3: The Bhagavata Purana describes how at the time of Krishna's descent on earth all the gods came down from heaven to serve Him in His pastimes as His servants and associates. Among them was Kandarpa, the love-god, who, when Krishna had become King of Dvaraka, was born as His beautiful son Pradyumna.
According to the Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu's eternal Consort Lakshmi, the Goddess of fortune, never beholds Krishna personally, although she always hankers for His loving association. In these poems Bilvamangala more than once mentions Her name, and other names by which She is called, such as Sri and Kamla. In Krishnaite bhakti theology Lakshmi is considered to be an Expansion of Radha, just as Vishnu is considered to be an Expansion of Krishna. If the names Lakshmi, Sri, and Kamla, in these verses, are accepted as referring to Radha, or to other village damsels, all of whom are Expansions of Radha, there will be no occasion to question Bilvamangala's orthodoxy in this respect.

5: Wolving "the poisoned meat of matter", whether gross or subtle, is the mind's favourite pastime. However, as soon as Krishna appears before the devotee, granting the latter perfect spiritual vision, He renders Maya's attraction repulsive, thus changing His servant's material voracity into an ever increasing transcendental appetite.

20: The "yellow cloth" is of Krishna's silk dhoti.
Krishna's attempt "to flee love's charms", of course, simply increases the insistence of His Consort's embraces. These should not be thought of as possessive, as in the case of worldly love, but as indicative of complete surrender to Krishna's sweet will. The Consort's insistence lies in Her rapturous demonstration of complete availability as Krishna's eternal Servitor. Her attitude of complete surrender is so baffling to Krishna that the only reward He can give Her is to declare Himself Her Servant, and give in to Her insistence.

21: Krishna is the Lover of all of "Vraja's married damsels", and according to bhakti scriptures there are thousands, even millions, of them. His apparently immoral status seems to render Krishna unfit to act as the Supreme Godhead, of whom exemplary moral conduct may be expected. However, Krishna is above mundane morality. Every living entity is Krishna's unalienable property, and if He chooses to embrace a spirit soul who happens to be married with another spirit soul, who naturally is also Krishna's proper¬ty, the latter is as much to be congratulated as the former.

22: Transcendentalists may "spurn Vrindavan's dancers" because they do not understand that these simple village girls are situated on the highest level of spirituality. Many of them are pure inhabitants of the transcendental realm, who have descended along with Krishna to assist Him in manifesting His eternal pastimes for the benefit of the conditioned souls, who by their attraction to them are pulled out of material bondage. Many other dancers used to be great sages in their previous lives, who prayed to Krishna to be changed into girls in a future incarnation, in which they would be allowed to render Him the service of their unconditional amorous love.

26: Once upon a time the love-god, Kandarpa, tried to induce Lord Shiva, who was absorbed in meditation, to have sexual union with his consort Parvati. Instead, he provoked Shiva's wrath. With a lightning glance from his third eye Shiva reduced Kandarpa to ashes, and the moon had to come down to soothe his anger.

38: A pious man is supposed to have a span of life of one hundred years. During the "tenth age", which is the last decade, the "deficiency" of his karma, namely that he is subjected to death, manifests as decrepitude, that may blot out everything.

46: The Puranas describe how Lord Vishnu, whose back was itching, once adopted the form of a huge tortoise, and dived into the Milk Ocean. When the gods and the demonic titans churned this ocean in order to obtain, amongst many other useful items, the nectar of immortality, they used as their churning rod Mount Mandara, the base of which was rotating on Lord Tortoise's shield, thus giving relief to Vishnu's itch.

48: In His Bhagavad-gita Krishna explains that He cannot be understood by development of knowledge or wisdom but only by loving surrender (bhaktya mam abhijanati, Bg. 18.55).

50: A "mellow" (rasa) is the special spiritual mood or sentiment in which a devotee worships the Lord, such as servitude, friendship, parenthood, and amorous love. These four different rasas appear in turn in the heart of the poet, amorous love most frequently.

55: The gods, however exalted they may seem to be from the human point of view, are only tiny mortal servants of the immortal Lord, devoid of His excellences.

57: Krishna left Vrindavan for Mathura in order to kill His demonic uncle Kamsa, who had usurped the city's throne. At the time when He entered Mathura He was only a Lad.

60: "The three worlds" are all situated within the material cosmos: the heavenly world of the gods, the earthly planets, and the netherworld.

65: "The love-god's Father": cf. 3.

67: "The Primal as a Human Being" is the Image after which man has been shaped. The form of man is mortal, but the Form of the Primal, the Human Being, is never-changing and eternally youthful. Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita that when He descends in the material world, He does so in a Form of His own Energy (atma-mayaya, Bg. 4.6).

72: "The three worlds": cf. 60.

74: Lakshmi, the Goddess of fortune, never stays at one place very long. In Her fickleness She is constantly shifting Her favour from one person to the other. The only One who can limit Her in this behaviour is Lord Vishnu.

75: Krishna's association cannot be attained by the performance of pious acts, as if Krishna were a mere celestial being. By calling Krishna "the Sum of all my pious merits" (mat-punyanam parinati), the self-realized poet playfully provokes the chastisement of dogmatic commentators.

76: This verse stresses the identity of Krishna and Vishnu. In the Garbhodaka, the ocean which according to Puranic evidence fills the lower half of the universe, Vishnu reclines on the soft belly of a many-hooded Snake, who, like Him, is an Expansion of the Supreme Godhead.

81: "The threefold world": cf. 60.

82: When Krishna as a small Boy induced the Vrajan cowherds not to offer anything in sacrifice to Indra, "lower heaven's upstart lord", but only to the Supreme Being, Indra became so furious that he emptied all his clouds on Vrindavan. Thereupon, with the little finger of His left hand, Krishna lifted Govardhan Hill and held it like an umbrella up in the air for seven days, protecting men and kine against Indra's torrential onslaught. The lord of heaven could not but accept defeat.

83: As Knower of the Vedas (veda-vit, Bg. 15.15) Krishna is knowledge personified, while as Owner of Maya (mama maya, Bg. 7.14), material illusion, He is the Originator of nescience.

88: "The three regions": cf. 60.

91: In Puranic lore Sri and Lakshmi are one and the same Goddess of fortune, Vishnu's Consort. It lies within the power of the Goddess to create many Expansions of Herself, two of whom may be so daft as to engage in a fight over Their Lover. It is rather puzzling that the poet depicts Sri and/or Lakshmi as having direct personal dealings with Krishna, as the Bhagavata Purana holds that the Goddess never enters into His association (cf. 3).

93: "In human form": cf. 67.

94: "No Vedic seer ever saw You": cf. 48.

98: In Indian temples, which are generally very dark inside, the Deities can only be seen clearly when the officiating priest (pujari) offers them the light of his lamp of five cotton wicks drenched in clarified butter (ghi). The pujari moves the lamp around, clockwise, before the feet, the navel, the face, and finally around the whole form of the Deities. The poet suggests that the moon offer respects to Krishna by offering itself as a burning ghi-lamp before His moon face, thus acting simultaneously as priest and offering.

102: The first three lines of this verse depict Krishna as Vishnu, the Consort of "fortune's Goddess", Lakshmi, and the Father of "the grand creator" of the universe, Brahma; the rest of the poem glorifies Krishna as Krishna.

106: Radha's "lonely love" for Krishna, referred to by bhakti writers as "love in separation", is in its devastating heartsickness the most intense experience of bhakti.

107: Duty (dharma), policy (artha), and pleasure (kama) are called the three aims of human life. By performing one's religious duties one will be enabled to adopt the proper policy for acquiring the power and wealth necessary for the enjoyment of pleasure. One who sees that this pleasure is limited and ephemeral may desire liberation (moksha), which is considered the fourth aim of human life. Now, one who has risen to the level of loving devotion to Krishna has become transcendental to all these aims of human life, even to moksha, which is included in bhakti. (Many philosphers, following Shankara, claim that bhakti should lead to moksha; however, according to the conclusive statement of Bhagavad-gita 18.54 it is the other way round: "After entering into the state of Brahman [moksha], in which one neither mourns nor hankers, and in which one does not differentiate between one creature and the other, one attains supreme devotion [bhakti] to Me.")



NAMES AND TERMS
Brahma: the creator of the universe.
Chintamani: a prostitute who induced the poet to become Krishna's devotee.
Damodar: ‘He who was tied around the belly’ - Krishna.
Fortune’s Goddess: Lakshmi (Sri), Vishnu's Consort.
Hari: ‘He who delivers (from bondage)’ - Krishna.
Kalindi: the Yamuna river in Vrindavan.
Keshava: ‘He with the (long and flowing) hair’ - Krishna.
Kumkum: carmine cosmetic powder.
Kamla: vide Fortune's Goddess.
Lakshmi: vide Fortune's Goddess.
Love-god: Kandarpa, incarnated as Krishna's son Pradyumna.
Mandara: the mountain used as a churning rod when the gods and demonic titans churned the Milk Ocean in order to obtain the nectar of immortality.
Mathura: the city in which Krishna killed the demon Kamsa.
Mukunda: 'He who grants liberation' - Krishna.
Murali: a flute.
Murari: 'the Enemy of (the demon) Mura' - Krishna.
Patali: the red trumpet-flower (Bignonia suaveolens).
Radha: Krishna's female Counterpart.
Radhika: vide Radha.
Siksha-guru: instructing guru (diksha-guru: initiating guru).
Sri: vide Fortune's Goddess.
Venu: a flute.
Vishnu: the Lord of the universe, identical with Krishna.
Vraja: vide Vrindavan.
Vrindavan: Krishna's village of cowherds and milkmaids.
Wish tree: a tree that fulfills all desires, both wordly and supra-mundane.

[Nitaidas]

Humm. These notes seem a little bit on the insipid side. They don't really add much insight to the text. Maybe I will leave them out, if that is okay, gerardji.

Thanks for posting them anyway. It kind of completes the cycle and maybe the others find them useful.

[Nitaidas]

Gerardji, any luck with Premalata? I have not done anything more to the book. Just waiting to see if she will allow us to reprint it.

[spiritualbhakti]

Thank you Gerardji!

[Nitaidas]

I am sorry I never pursued this. This would have been a good publication for Blazing Sapphire Press. I wonder what Hayeshvar's widow gave in answer to republishing the work.

[Ed]

It is enchanting, a BSP edition would've been ideal.

[Nityānanda dāsa]

Why are you talking in past tense? I think BSP should still do it!!! Jai Radhe!

[gerard]

Hi Nitaiji, it has been a while, but she is okay with it. Just go ahead with your plans.