My Gurudeva by Navadvipa Das

[Nitaidas]

Jun 3, 2019 3:24:59 GMT -6 Nityānanda dāsa said:

Radhe Radhe!

As part of my efforts to find the book 'Gopi-Nama-Ratna-Mala' I just heard back from one source and received the information that the following titles by "Siddha Manohar Babaji" are available:

Radharaman Rasa Sagar
Anurag Valli
Vaidagdha Vilas
Gaura Govinda Nama Kirtan Ratnamala

Based on Ed's reply above, it looks like there has been more than one Siddha Manohar Babaji. So I'm not sure who authored these or if it is the Siddha Manohar Baba the forthcoming book will be about, but if so, I can get scans of these books for you (Nitai Das-ji). Please advise.

Jai Sri Radhe!!

Yes, there are lots of Manohardases, but only one Siddha Manohardas Babaji. I don't know anything about Radharaman Rasa Sagar (it could be about Radharamancarandev das Baba, founder of the Nitai Gaur Radhe Shyam sub-community of CV). Anuragavalli is by a 17th century Manohardas who was not a baba. He was a disciple of a disciple of Srinivasacarya and the work is about the life of Srinivasacarya. Somewhere I think I have a printed copy of this book.

Vaidagdha Vilas is by Siddha Baba and I have a copy of it. I have translated the first chapter for an appendix of the life of Siddha Baba by Navadvipa Das.

I don't know anything about the Gaura Govinda Nama Kirtan Ratnamala. It could be by Siddha Baba, but as far as I know there were only three books by Siddha Baba: the Gopinama-ratnamala, the Vaidagdha-vilasa, and the Dharma-candrodaya Nataka. I have the latter two and am translating them.

Thanks for your efforts to try and find the missing text. The way Siddha Baba describes it in his intro. to the Vaidagdha-vilasa is interesting:

By the communal singing of the names (nāma-saṅkīrtana) of the
bhaktas as well as of Śrī Bhagavān and his companions, the
forms, qualities, and divine play of Bhagavān gradually appear in the
heart of a practitioner. When that happens, aspects of suffering in
the form of sins, aspects of offenses which inhibit divine love, and
aspects of a subtle dullness in the form of bonds of ignorance are
gradually uprooted, in that order. Then pure delight in Bhagavān,
which is the fifth goal of human life, the substantial elixir of
divine love (prema-rasa), arises. For this reason in this age
of Kali the holy name in particular is the primary form of
practice. That practice is divided into two types: rule-initiated
(vaidhi-bhakti) and passion-initiated (rāgānuga-bhakti).
In the more praiseworthy of those practices, that
is, in passion-initiated, feelings like those of the Vraja girls are
to be held in the heart of the practitioner. In that case, singing
(kīrtana) the names of the Vraja girls is the main way of
bestowing divine love.

Through a tiny particle of the compassion of the girls of Vraja a book
called Garland of the Names of the Gopīs (Śrī
Gopīnāma-ratna-mālā) was previously published. In that book, Rādhā
and Kṛṣṇa are represented in the center of a flower. Beginning from
the northern direction and moving around to the right in a clockwise
manner through the eight directions on the filaments are located the
eight primary flower-bud girls (mañjarī), headed by Śrī Rūpa,
and on the eight petals beyond them are the eight primary girlfriends
(sakhī) of Rādhā, headed by Lalitā. On the major sub-petals are
the eight flower-bud girls, headed by Anaṅga-mañjarī, and after that,
on the lower sub-petals are the lower flower-bud girls, headed by
Saṃpurṇā. One sings the names of all of them. In their proper places
in the great seat of union (yoga-pīṭha) are the overseer of this
divine play (Yogamāyā), the goddess of the forest (Vanadevī), the
messengers, and the servants. The names of all of the cowherd girls
along with information about their skin color and clothes is
given. Finally, the book is complete with the name of Śrī Rādhā.

In the heart of a practitioner who sings all those names occurs a
gradual appearance of the forms, qualities, and so forth of Śrī
Bhagavān and finally the actual divine play appears as well, like a
goddess. Then, if there remain in the heart of the practitioner any
impurities as he repeats the divine play in his ears, mouth, and mind,
the inconceivable and wonderful power of the play will cleanse that
away and establish itself in his heart in the form of the rapt
experience of divine love. Take as an example the way fruit ripens in
time. In fruit like lemons and mangoes, which possess the flaw of
unripeness, bitterness, and tartness, the bitterness and tartness are
destroyed by an infusion of sweet juice and the fruit become sweet.
When tartness and such no longer remain in a particular fruit, they
become extremely sweet. The influence of the power of the real (vastu) is just like that.

Sounds great, doesn't it.

[Ed]

It does, this is great. On a related note, what previous texts could be considered as precursors of this kind of visualization practice within CV? I do happen to have a folder with illustrations that reminded me of this, 28 individual illustrations along with one of the full yoga-pitha, except the name 'Saṃpurṇā' is not on it. I don’t remember where they’re from and had forgotten that I had them until I read this. They seem to me like modern illustrations with rajasthani influence, but the descriptions are in russian I think. Are there any of Siddha Baba’s own diagrams in the books you have, Nitai?

[Nitaidas]

Jun 7, 2019 17:49:24 GMT -6 Ed said:

It does, this is great. On a related note, what previous texts could be considered as precursors of this kind of visualization practice within CV? I do happen to have a folder with illustrations that reminded me of this, 28 individual illustrations along with one of the full yoga-pitha, except the name 'Saṃpurṇā' is not on it. I don’t remember where they’re from and had forgotten that I had them until I read this. They seem to me like modern illustrations with rajasthani influence, but the descriptions are in russian I think. Are there any of Siddha Baba’s own diagrams in the books you have, Nitai?

Hi Ed,

It is not clear to me that this is a visualization text. It seems more geared towards kirtan. Singing the names of the gopis brings about feelings like theirs. There may be a graphic representation of the lotus described above in the book and perhaps that is meant to be kept in mind when singing the names of the gopis. None of Siddha Baba's other books in my possession have images in them. Many of the paddhatis or "methods" have diagrams of various places important to the smarana process. They are all in Bengali, of course. Please share your yoga-pitha with us if you can. It would be great to see it and compare it with some of the others we have. It is interesting that the descriptions on yours are in Russian. I wonder who created them.

The practice of visualization or smarana as we call it goes way back in my view. I think it is connected with the much earlier practices (6-7th cents. CE) of the Tantric Buddhists who developed elaborate processes of visualization of mandalas which were considered palaces of the various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, filled with images of various Buddhas connected with their saktis (prajnas). I have collected a few of those old Buddhist texts with the idea of making a study of them and comparing them with the CV practices. The Cakrasamvara Tantra, for instance, is one such example and the Guhya-samaja Tantra another. There are a whole set of such texts. If it is true that Nityananda Prabhu converted a number of Buddhists to CV, then there is a possible link between CV and those older Buddhist practices.

Of course in our tradition there is a kind of lineage I have mentioned before starting with Sanatana Goswami's Sri Krsna-lila-stava and flowing through Kavi Karnapura's Krsnahnika-kaumudi, then on to Krsnadasa Kaviraja's Govinda-lilamrta, Visvanatha Cakravartin's Krsna-bhavanamrta, and finally Siddha Krsnadasa's Bhavana-sara-sangraha. Taken together this represents a pretty substantial literary output by some of the best poets of the tradition. This doesn't even consider the numerous paddhatis that were written to structure the process of using these texts.

Just some thoughts on this phenomenon in the development of CV.

[Ed]

It is not clear to me that this is a visualization text. It seems more geared towards kirtan. Singing the names of the gopis brings about feelings like theirs. There may be a graphic representation of the lotus described above in the book and perhaps that is meant to be kept in mind when singing the names of the gopis.

Hi, Nitai

Yes, I agree, my thinking was that this could be the way he envisioned both practices as complementary, or even as one (nama kirtana and smarana). Actually, for this reason I initially thought this was meant to be done in japa, but I think Siddha Baba’s initial remarks in the introduction you posted made it clear that this is meant for kirtana, and it makes more sense that way. This made me even more curious as to what could be his instructions for its performance, seeing how difficult it is to track down the text I suppose there’s little hope one could hear it being performed nowadays.

None of Siddha Baba's other books in my possession have images in them.

It was a long shot, it's just that I remembered this episode from your translation of Navadvip Das Baba's book:

When I arrived, I saw that Mahārājajī was doing intense preparatory rites (puraścaraṇa) day and night there was no break in his private worship. How many sacred diagrams (yantras) did he draw on paper?

Many of the paddhatis or "methods" have diagrams of various places important to the smarana process. They are all in Bengali, of course. Please share your yoga-pitha with us if you can. It would be great to see it and compare it with some of the others we have. It is interesting that the descriptions on yours are in Russian. I wonder who created them.

I'd be happy to share them, but I don't know how to get around the file size limit here, I'll email them to you and perhaps you can post them on this thread? Actually, I think the descriptions were digitally added and not on the originals, but I think there are russian bhaktas that are disciples of Srila Prankrsna Das Baba, Premgopal and Nityagopal Goswamin, Srila Ananta Das Baba, Sadhu Maharaja, and Haridas Sastriji, if I’m not mistaken. In the best case scenario it could’ve been done by any of them. Otherwise, perhaps some followers of Mahanidhi Swami (Madan Gopal Baba now I think) or Narayan Maharaja? I really have no idea, I don’t remember how I got them. I tried a google image search with no results.

The practice of visualization or smarana as we call it goes way back in my view. I think it is connected with the much earlier practices (6-7th cents. CE) of the Tantric Buddhists who developed elaborate processes of visualization of mandalas which were considered palaces of the various Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, filled with images of various Buddhas connected with their saktis (prajnas). I have collected a few of those old Buddhist texts with the idea of making a study of them and comparing them with the CV practices. The Cakrasamvara Tantra, for instance, is one such example and the Guhya-samaja Tantra another. There are a whole set of such texts. If it is true that Nityananda Prabhu converted a number of Buddhists to CV, then there is a possible link between CV and those older Buddhist practices. 

Of course in our tradition there is a kind of lineage I have mentioned before starting with Sanatana Goswami's Sri Krsna-lila-stava and flowing through Kavi Karnapura's Krsnahnika-kaumudi, then on to Krsnadasa Kaviraja's Govinda-lilamrta, Visvanatha Cakravartin's Krsna-bhavanamrta, and finally Siddha Krsnadasa's Bhavana-sara-sangraha. Taken together this represents a pretty substantial literary output by some of the best poets of the tradition. This doesn't even consider the numerous paddhatis that were written to structure the process of using these texts.

Yes, thank you, this is right along the lines of what I was wondering, Sri Krsna-lila-stava is wonderful, and I had not made the connection. I asked because of those illustrations I have, I was trying to find out the origins of these type of diagrams in CV, when did they first started to show up and such.

If it is true that Nityananda Prabhu converted a number of Buddhists to CV, then there is a possible link between CV and those older Buddhist practices.

This is great, I’ve never thought about this, nor have I seen this line of thought explored, it would make perfect sense. Thank you.

[JD33]

Siddha Manohar Pandit Baba dates are 1848 to 1948.

[Nityānanda dāsa]

Oct 7, 2018 9:58:29 GMT -6 Ed said:

As far as I’m able to appreciate those subtleties in the old image, I fully agree with your words.

I think you’re right, and searching through Facebook I’ve seen those three pictures being used by the Bhaktas coming down in Siddha Baba’s parampara, I'll put that matter to rest now. I often wonder about his later years, I consider it a rare luck that I’ll get to read this book.

Ed-ji! Where did you find the photo and/or do you have some contacts of Siddha Baba's students on Facebook?? Please share with us! I have to say that you're pretty amazing at finding some really obscure, yet super blissful info! Thanks!

[JD33]

Yes, Ed (and you) are quite the jewels in your questions, enthusiasm and research.

[Ed]

Thank you both for your kind words. Unfortunately, I didn't keep the info of the profiles where I found those posters advertising the festival of Siddha Baba, they were bhaktas in their asram of Govinda Kunda as far as I can remember. You can find the picture I posted in google image search now, I think I originally got it from an old FB profile of Madhavananda where he had many more pictures of sadhus from around the same time, I downloaded a few of those as well.

Anyway, FB bhaktas going to India and registering these treasures are a treasure themselves and I can't thank them enough. Here's one of Siddha Baba taken by a Russian bhakta disciple of Srila Premgopal Goswami, Iswar Das, it was taken at his samadhi: