Srila Gurudeva's Apperance Day

Disciples and admirers of Śrīla Gurudeva will be honoring his disappeance day in Puri-dhama and around the world.

"Whatever we have learned we have learned from our gurudeva, and we should weep for him from the core of our hearts."

Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Narāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Viraha-bhajana

Compiled from the lectures of
 Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Narāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Separation Arouses Astonishing Emotions

Śrī Bhagavān is the possessor of all potencies, and therefore His relationship with His internal potency is indestructible (śakti-śaktimatayor abheda); they are always inseparable. Still, His pastime potency, which makes the impossible possible, manifests separation (viraha), even in eternal meeting. Its purpose is to arouse astonishing varieties of rasa (rasa-vaicitrya). This is one of the unprecedented stages of prema.

The first sprout of the wish-fulfilling tree of prema in this world was Śrīla Mādhavendra Purīpāda. He sang an unparalleled verse in his state of perfection.

ayi dīna-dayārdra nātha he
mathurā-nātha kadāvalokyase
hṛdayaṁ tvad-aloka-kātaraṁ
dayita bhrāmyati kiṁ karomy aham

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (Madhya-lila 4.201)

O Master, whose heart melts in compassion for the destitute! O Lord of Mathurā! When will I see You again? O beloved Lord of My life, I fervently hanker to see You, so much so that My heart has become intensely restless. What shall 1 do now?

This verse was originally manifested by Śrīmatī Rādhikā in the agony of Her separation from Śrī Kṛṣṇa when He went to Mathurā. Thus Mādhavendra Purīpāda planted in this world the seed of devotion in the conjugal sentiment. This śloka is the outpouring of Śrīmatī Rādhikā's mahā prema (mahābhāva) after Kṛṣṇa left for Mathurā. Bhajana performed following Śrīmatī Rādhikā's mood in this condition constitutes the topmost bhajana.

Feeling Separation is Essential for the Sādhaka

For the practitioner of bhakti, it is natural to perform bhajana in a mood of separation from Kṛṣṇa. The devotees of śṛṅgāra-rasa, feeling themselves to be the most destitute, call out fervently to dīna-dayārdranātha Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the destitute.

Only three persons could taste the essence of this verse: Śrīmatī Rādhikā Herself, Śrīla Mādhavendra Purī and Śrīman Mahāprabhu (who is Kṛṣṇa covered by the complexion and sentiments of Śrīmatī Rādhikā). To manifest this śloka, Śrīla Mādhavendra Purī, an eternal follower of Śrī Rādhā, has imbibed the emotions of mathurā-virahiṇī Śrī Rādhā.

Śrī Gauracandra says,

yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa
cakṣuṣā prāvṛṣāyitam
śūnyāyitaṁ jagat sarvaṁ
govinda-viraheṇa me

Śikṣāṣṭaka (7)

O sakhī, in separation from Govinda, even a moment seems like a millennium. Tears pour from My eyes like torrents of rain in the monsoon season and this entire world seems void.

In Vilāpa-kusumāṣjali (102), Śrīla Ragunātha dāsa Gosvāmī has said,

āśā bharair amṛta-sindhu-mayaiḥ kathaṣcit
kālo mayātigamitaḥ kila sāmprataṁ hi
tvaṁ cet kṛpāṁ mayi vidhāsyasi naiva kiṁ me
prāṇair vrajena ca varoru bakāriṇāpi

O Varoru (girl with beautiful thighs), I am passing my time with the sole hope of being able to serve You. If You withhold Your mercy, what value to me are this life, the land of Vraja, and Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the enemy of Baka?

Without receiving the mercy of Srīmatī Rādhikā, it is impossible to attain the mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. But when one's heart becomes extremely restless for Her mercy, then the mercy of Rādhānātha Śrī Kṛṣṇa becomes easily accessible.

Śrī gurudeva is the identical manifestation of Śrīmatī Vṛṣabhānu-nandinī, the crest jewel of āśraya-tattva (those who are the abode of love for Kṛṣṇa). Śrī gurudeva expertly adopts the means devised by the sakhīs for serving the Divine Couple in Their transcendental love-laden pastimes. For this reason he is extremely dear to Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. How will one receive the mercy of Śrī Kṛṣṇa if he is not receiving the mercy of a guru on this level? Therefore, those who remain under the shelter of śrī guru will experience intense waves of separation from him when he is no longer manifest, and those waves will surely increase to their utmost magnitude.

Attachment Intensifies Through Separation

Out of compassion, Śrī Bhagavān, in the form of śrī guru, expands His manifest pastimes. In the same way, śrī guru enacts the pastime of disappearing from this world to enter his eternal pastimes. His sole purpose in doing so is to stimulate the full service and full possessiveness of his dependents. Those fortunate enough to have taken shelter of a rūpānuga-guru during his manifest presence, experience a constant increase in their attachment to serving him. And after his disappearance, their attachment to him continues to increase many times over. Consequently, the fire of separation from him intensifies day by day; by this alone one's bhajana remains ever-fresh.

There are two kinds of bhajana. The first is performed by chanting and remembering pastimes of separation (vipralambha-līlā) and the second is performed by remembering pastimes of meeting (sambhoga-līlā). Although the gopīs and Vrajavāsīs always prefer meeting with Kṛṣṇa over separation from Him, He plays with them by making them enjoy vipralambha-rasa.

The sādhaka should cultivate the mood of separation from Kṛṣṇa by thinking, "I am not seeing Kṛṣṇa, nor am I seeing Śrīmatī Rādhikā, nor Vraja. I am not realizing anything and I am unable to serve my gurudeva."

The Height of Intense Separation

Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī showed us how to feel separation from Kṛṣṇa, and especially from Śrīmatī Rādhikā. A sādhaka should be immersed in such feelings. Śrīla Raghunātha Gosvāmī also lamented in separation from his śikṣā-gurus, "I am so unfortunate! First Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu departed from this world, leaving me behind. I then lived in the constant association of Śrī Svarūpa Dāmodara, but he also left this world. Next I caught hold of Śrī Gadādhara Paṇḍita's lotus feet, but he also departed. From then on I experienced that every place and every dust particle of Jagannātha Purī reminded me of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Svarūpa Dāmodara, Gadādhara Paṇḍita and their associates; and therefore I left Purī to come to Vṛndāvana."

In Vraja, Śrīla Dāsa Gosvāmī performed bhajana at Rādhā-kuṇḍa under the guidance of Śrīla Rūpa and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmīs. When Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī entered his unmanifest pastimes, Śrīla Dāsa Gosvāmī lamented as follows in separation from him:

śūnyāyate mahā-goṣṭhaṁ
girīndro 'jagarāyate
vyāghra-tuṇḍāyate kuṇḍaṁ
jīvatu rahitasya me

Śrī Prārthanāśraya-caturdaśaka (11)

Now that I am without that person who sustains my life, the land of Vraja seems empty and desolate, Govardhana Hill appears like a great python, and Rādhā-kuṇḍa appears like the gaping mouth of a tigress.