This is a transcript of the Harikatha discourse by Paranur Mahatma Sri Sri Anna which is told with so much Bhavam and its a divine discourse. I wanted to write it down word-for-word translation from Tamil to English for two reasons, one to supplement Gita Govindam information which is divinity personified and this told from the words of Sri Sri Anna makes it more divine and second to save it if I ever lose the mp3 file or my hearing;). Also an excuse for listening again and again to savour every sentence while writing it down.
Forgive the Grammar, folks, although the word-to-word translation from Tamil to English yields itself so easily to write due to sri anna's grace and the supreme pointed clarity of his words, some of the tamil words dont agree with english grammar. Those who have a good Tamil background will agree with the grammar though!
Amongst all the great many Punya Kshetrams and Divya Deshams where the many mahans who have sung the glory of the lord, one of the most famous is Puri Jagannath. In this Kshetram there are present alongwith the Bhagavan Jagannatha perumal, Balaram and Subhadra. This is evidenced in the song 'Bhajare Manasa Jagannatham....' which means "Always bhajan Jagannathan" in your mind. All your sorrows will end. Sastras split the sorrows faced by us all into 3 types - Adhyathmikam, Aadhibautikam, Aadhideivikam. For all these three types of Sorrows, pariharam (deliverance) is also available. Of these Adhyathmikam is about the different diseases for which we search for pariharam in the form of medicine and doctors. But ultimately the vimochanam for papams is only one and that is the thiruvadi of Jagannatham. In the Puri Jagannath Kshetram there is Balabadran (Adhishemam Amsham) and Subhadran also present and if we go and have the darshan there all our sorrows will be removed. Our Sorrows come mainly due to our papams and once all the papams are eliminated, our punyams will get activated and we start to be happy again, but this is only transient and temporary. As we see when we take medicine the deliverance from pain is temporary. Sarva papam will be removed (vimochanam) only with Bhagavan namam. Bhagavan Namam has such a sakthi, if it can remove all the papams all the dukhams also will be gone isnt it. All the punyams will be left over then and we can attain the thiruvadi of the Lord. Thus if we need sakala sowbhagyam and removal of dukham, we should perform the bhajan of Lord Jagannathan. Many Bhakthas and Acharyas have gone to many of these Kshetrams and shown us the nama as the path to the lord. Among the Acharyas the most famous is Adi Sankaracharyar who went to Puri Jaganatham and prayed to the Lord. This shketram is also known as Neela chalam, its mentioned in great detail in the Brahmapuranams and is located in the coastal town of Puri in the state of Orissa, India. This kshetram is very famous for its Rathothsavam. The prasad of Lord Jagannath follows no niyamams rather its like ganga theertham.
Near Jagannatha kshetram there is a village calld Kendubilva where Jayadeva was born. That Village was described greatly by Jayadevar himself. The Village was made more prominent and famous by the presence of Jayadeva. There was another Mahan by name Bojadevan. His wife was Ramadevi. They were krishna bhaktas. They gave birth to Jayadeva, an amsam of Vyasa. He learnt all the Vedas and Sastras and when he came of marriable age, his parents were searching for a bride for him. But Jayadeva's mind was quite different, he was always alone, always in Bhagavath dhyanam and he had no interest in family, always having bhagavatham in his hands. Jayadevar did not agree as he felt it hindered krishna dhyanam. He did not want to take this bandham of marriage. So his parents tried again and again to make him get married. Days rolled by like this. Jayadevar never got married and his parents passed away failing in their attempts to convince Jayadeva. Jayadevar was now all alone. He created an asharam and was performing always dhyanam and parayanam. He begged for his food as he was a brahmacharyar. He was with niyama performing his karmans and was steadfast in his activities. But Lord Krishna had other ideas. In that place there was another brahman by name devasharma. Devasharma prayed that if he ever had a son he would offer him to Lord krishna as kainkaryam. The Lord however offered him a girl child. The Girl was named as Padmavathi. With great gunam and sheelam, Padmavathi came of marriageable age. Now as Padmavathi was a girl, she was not allowed to offer kainkaryams in the abode of the temple according to pre ordained shastras. However in order not to withold his promise, the brahman came to Lord Jagannathan and prayed. I prayed for a son for your kainkaryam but as I havea daughter, I dont know the way, how will you take this girl, he asked with tearful eyes and then tired slept near the temple. The Lord appeared in his dream and said, "oh Brahman, I appreciate your bhakthi, I will take your daughter and I will tell you the way how. I and my bhaktan are no different. As you only wanted to perform the kainkaryam to me, well you can do the same to my bhaktan for a long long time. My Bhaktan is Jayadevar, go and give Padmavathui in marriage to Jayadevar". Having heard this the Brahman was quite pleased and he returned to his village. Looking at his daughter he said that the Lord has given his blessings and mentioned the name of her husband. So he came to the ashram of Jayadevar and started to talk about his daughter. Immediately Jayadevar left the place. As Jayadevar was a bhagavathar he did not argue or answer but just left. Devasharma however did not despair as he had faith in Lords words and called Padmavathi and told "Padma, look there at the person running, he is your husband. Its Gods sankalpam that you be married to him and so thats what will happen". With the drida nambikai the brahmin possessed, he was not worried and told his daughter to perform kainkaryam everyday at Jaydevar's ashram. Padmavathi obeyed her fathers instructions implicitly. Now Jayadevar would rise early daily, have his snanam and go away for his daily japam. Padma would come after he left and put kolam, pluck flowers, clean the pooja vessels and go away. Jayadevar will then come around 10am and see everything transformed and like this a month passed by. He used to like this as the ashram was clean and neat, he being a brahmachari now appreciated this very much. Now he felt well, this is nice but someone is doing, some girl is doing this and this would be asked about by everyone and needs to be clarified sooner. He felt he need to enquire and find out and do something in return for whoever was doing this and if she had any prarthanai, he wanted to bless them with that. Thinking thus one day he arrived a bit early at his ashram and saw Padmavathi but he could not recognize her as the daughter of the brahman who came the other day to his ashram. Jayadevar hardly had looked at her the other day when Padma and her father had come to his ashram seeking his acceptance for marriage. He enquired about her name and where she was from and what she wanted and the reason why she was serving this ashram. His questions were without any preamble just like Dasaratha had asked Viswamitra. Padmavathi replied that she always wanted to be doing the same kainkaryam for a long long time. He then understood that such a question which he had asked and such an answer received was probably Lord ‘s wish. Jayadevar then went to Padmavathi’s father and asked his daughter in marriage. Jayadevar’s coming was known to the brahman as he was sure that it was Lords sankalpam and it will definitely happen.
Marriage happened between Padmavathi and Jayadevar. They both now perfromed Krishna seva. The ashram now became a Griham. Sadhu seva, Bhagavath kainkaryam was being done as this is the main activity of a Grihasta. Like Kannan and Radhai now the ashram became filled with Bhakthi rasam when until now it was just Bhakthi Yogam. Only now Jayadevar started to understand what Bhakthi fully was. Now as the Bhakthi became like a rasam, Jayadevar started to like it very much and as he started to listen he started to like the various rasams described by padmavathi and his bhakthi started to blossom. While performing abhishekam, Jayadevar would pour all of the abhishekam at once on top of the vighraham of Lord Krishna but then Padmavathi would say “Why dont you pour slowly as Lord Krishna would become breathless and then Jayadevar would think, “Oh! Why did I not know this. Thus he started to like Padmavathi as he started learning so many good things. Even so when tying Vasthrams, Padmavathi would give some suggestions on how to tie the vastrams differently as she used to do instead of the same blue black vastram, now you can put the yellow one and the red one here on the top and see how nice it looks. Jayadevar started to think that Padmavathi was showing the way to him and as Padmavathi started singing, Jayadevar, himself being a poet, his poetic instincts start to flower. Now we ponder as to why Valmiki ramayana is so good, its because it came on its own, the kavyam should come on its own.
Because of his poetic instincts, Krishna bhakthi and the recently gained rasam, his heart started to pour kavyams. This Kayvam in the form of Gita and slokas started flowing and he started to teach Padmavathi how to dance. Thus when performing Krishna seva, Bhakthi should not be publicised, as long as Bhakthi is ekantham and solitary, it will be as wonderful as it can be. The young couple were more of Prema Bhakthas. Jayadevar considered Padmavathi not as his wife but as a Krishna dasi. Padmavathi in turn feels herself as Jaya and Jayadevar as padma and they were like two sakhis for Lord Krishna. Both of them dancing in front of Lord Krishna, their shringaram was like Bhakthi Shringaram. Not like the worldly Shringaram. In all his Krishna leelas, Brindavanas prasidha leela, Kanditha Varnanam leela is most prominent, Maana leelai is another name for it.
Sri Sri Anna described in the later part of the discourse that In the Leelais described by Jayadevar, the leelai famous in Brindavanam is Kandithavarnanam. This is called Maana Leelai. This Leelai is well known in Tamil Nadu in Vishnu Alayam Temple called Pranaya Kalaga Utsavam (Mattayadi Utsavam). This is a very rasamana utsavam. This Leelai is well known in Tamil Nadu in Vishnu Alayam Temple called Pranaya Kalaga Utsavam (Mattai Adi Utsavam). This is a very rasamana utsavam. Describing this Utsavam is the Gita Govindam otherwise called Maana Leelai.
In this utsavam, it is said that generally perumal would go often and come back without telling thayyar about it or taking thayyar with him. Thayyar would always be home only as perumal wont take thayaar with him always. But somehow thayaar would come to know where perumal went somehow or the other. When perumal returned thayaar would stop perumal at the door itself and tell the lord to stay outside. But the way thayaar will say is described very nicely. Thayaar would not say "Don’t come in", she cant say like this, can she! instead she will say “Those who are outside, let them be outside, those inside let them be inside itself”.
This is the utsavam called as Pranaya Kalaga Utsavam (Mattayadi Utsavam) conducted during Phalguni Thirunal. Describing this Utsavam is the Gita Govindam otherwise called Maana Leelai. Based on this foundations, in the mangala slokam of Gita Govindam, Brahmavarthadi Brahmavaivarthadhi which is in the puranas there is one Radha Krishna Leelai told in a short manner. Purana Leelais are not much liked by Rasikas, they like the satsangha anubhavam kind of leelais which they would like to sing. This Purana Pramana told in a single sloka, this is the famous Radha Kalyanam. This is Puraanothammana method.
Nandagopan is getting ready to tend to the cows, Chinna Kannan was the favourite of his father. He says I also want to come. Nandagopan says "Do stay at home and be good. It looks its going to rain". But Chinna Kannan wont listen and he starts crying. He comes crawling and sits on his fathers lap. Then Nandagopan carries him in his shoulders and starts to tend the cows and krishna is holding onto the turban of Nandagopan. The cows are grazing. Suddenly Brinda devi with her Maya power opens the clouds. Then small drops of rain also start to fall now. Then there is Thunder. There are lots of Thamaala Marams and there comes, small drops of rain and then with the thunders rain start to pour. There were lots of Thamaala maram present there, usually Thamaala maram will always be black and it will give a lot of shade. But under it it will be very dark, this tree grows only on the banks of Yamuna and Brindavanam. There are lots of Thamaala Maram and now due to clouds it became dark as also due to the presence of the many Thamaala Marams. Nandagopan starts to worry that little krishnan will become afraid. As he starts to think that he can go away quickly with the cows, but the cows are starting to run helter-skelter. Nandagopan is not able to get the cows. Also carrying little krishna, Nandagopan is not able to get the cows to come together. He asks Kanna lovingly, can you sit here for sometime, I will go and get the Go Kuttis together and come back. Be a good boy, he opened his turban and spread it and made little kanna sit on it and he went away. Before he could drive the cows together, rain started to splatter very heavily now. As the thunder and rain started to pour, little krishna started to cry and calo out for his father.As he cried, then suddenly there was a lightning and a 12 year old Radha in avirbhoota swaroopam appeared. As Krishna in Rasa-Leelai appeared, in the same manner Radha appeared. She took Kannan in her arms and putting him on her hips she started to go. Nandagopan sees them from afar, he comes to take krishna actually. But when he sees Radha taking away Krishna he is satisfied. Radhe Griham Prapaye! Radhe Griham Prapaye! Radhe! Please take the child and leave him home. As Radha was walking on the banks of River Yamuna, a beautiful nikuncham as she watched the child krishna, Radhe says "Kanna! Give me a Divya Mangala Grihadarshan suited to me as your child roopam is the loved roopam of Yashodha. As soon as Radha says that, SAKSHAN MANMATHA MANMATHAHA!!!. He stands before Radhe as a 16 Year old Krishna. Seizing this opportunity, Brahmadevan looking at this divya dampathi roopams, he thought he would like to perform a Thirukalyanam then and there and then its purana story. Brahma came there, Go Loka sakhis came, kamadhenu kalpakavriksham came, devathas and devatha sthri came there. Radhakalyanam if its wished to be performed in an yEthoTTHamma way, then an yEthoTTHamana Vivaham (kalyanam) happened as is told in the puranas, its told in the purana reethi way also.yEthoTTHamma way is performed by Brahma devan.called Vivaha Utsavam. Notwithsantding this leelai alone, many many leelais of this kind were performed on the banks of River Yamuna. What Bhagyam has this River Yamuna done? On this basis Jayadevar started to write a beautiful story....
Krishnan did not have a single nayaki, there were many gopikas. Single = Rama, Many = Krishna. Thus there were potential for many disagreements, disappointments due to being pulled from so many as Krishnan belonged to many. Krishna had this difficulty. Sri Anna said at this juncture that he too had similar problems when being called out to Upanyasams. Radha wanted to come and see Krishna but who came in between. All the Mahans themselves could not say Radha name itself and how can we say the name of it. Sukacharya doesnt mention the name of the Ashta Sakis or the Gopikas at all. Dont mention anyone's name. Atleast Vyasa mentioned in the puranas "Radha" where one Gopi is mentioned as the name. Even that is too much said 'Hitaharivamasar'. Apart from Brindavanam nowehere else it should be mentioned. Now Viraha tapam is mentioned in great detail.
yahi madhava yahi keshava ma vada kaitavavadam
tamanusara sarasiruhalochana ya tava harati vishadam
kajjalamalinavilochanachumbanavirachitanilimarupam
dashanavasanamarunam tava kriishna tanoti tanoranurupam
As soon as Yahi Madhava was said Krishnan will go away. Thus Radhai sends off Krishna and then she feels ('Kalahantharitha'- the quarrelsome maiden unable to come to terms with the questionable behaviour patterns of her Lord) she should not have told Krishna to go away. Now the Sakhi says
snigdhe yat paruShAsi praNamati stabdhAsi yad rAgiNi
dveShasthAsi yad unmukhe vimukhatAM yAtAsi tasmin priye
tad yuktaM viparIta-kAriNi tava shrI-khaNDa-charchA viShaM
shItAMshus tapano himaM hutavahaH krIDA-mudo yAtanAH
viparIta - Everything now being Viparitam. Radhai behaved so isnt it, so everything became viparitham. Nature itself turned to be Viparitam now, But did not Viparitam become Anukulam for Prahlada. Bhakthi is Vichitram.
For Radhai, cold became as fire, her body when smeared with sandalwood was like on fire, amritham became poison, why?
ONLY WHEN KRISHNAN IS THERE, ALL VIPARITHAMS WILL BECOME ANUKOOLAMS.
IF HE IS NOT THERE, ALL ANUKOOLAMS WILL BECOME PRATHIKOOLAMS.
Did not Radhe behave in opposition to Krishna's love. When Krishna showed love, Radha showed Dwesham - yad rAgiNi dveShasthAsi.....
So the whole world is now appearing Viparitham to Radhe.
Kannan will definitely come and when he comes be courteous to him and be happy. Thus consoled the Sakhis. Now Kannan came in all Splendour. What Splendour it was.
As soon as we see, we have to fall at his Thiruvadi only
But Radhe it seems did not see Kannan directly, instead she looked at the Sakhis face and smiled. But Kannan saw her smile and said this Stotram, its a
Presidamana Stotram and very famous
smara-garala-khaNDanaM mama shirasi maNDanaM
dehi pada-pallavam udAram
jvalati mayi dAruNo madana-kadanAruNo
haratu tad-upAhita-vikAram
vadasi yadi ki~nchid api danta-ruchi-kaumudI
harati dara-timiram atighoram
sphurad-adhara-sIdhave tava vadana-chandramA
rochayatu lochana-chakoraM
priye chAru-shIle
Krishna is pacifying Radhe. Nobody can pacify like butter as Krishna does. Bhaktas themselved will feed is this necessary for such pacifying by Krishnan. Krishnan pacifies by saying, I will fall at your feet so that I may be purified by the dust of your feet, place your feet on my devoted head. Krishnan says so bravely, why he says so is because,
"Radhai is Bhaktha, all Bhakthas Samastharoopam is Radhai!"
Bhaktas feet he will fall, says Krishna.
Nirapeksham munim shantam nirvairam samadarshanam
Anuvrajaamyaham nityam poojyeyetyanghri-renubhih
“I closely follow that Muni who is adorned with non-expectation, calmness, non-enmity and equal vision, so that I may be purified by the dust of his feet.” — Says Krishna Himself!
"Bhagavathars Pada Dhulukku naan asai Padukiren", says Krishna in his Krishna Avatar to Uddhava. When he has told thus, why this is not possible. Should be not fall at the feet of Radhai.
Only Purushas are bhakthas and not women, why is that. Does it mean Woman's feet does not have any mahimai. Thats why Uddhava who had learnt the sarva sastras said
"Vande Nandavraja sthreenam Padarenum".
Since being Uddhava's friend himself, Krishna may have said so here and likewise since Krishna said so this must have been told by them. Love will be gotten by Krishna only if Krishnan himself falls at their feet.
OK, thats all fine, but how will Jayadevar now write this. This poem is not Jayadevars, its just coming on its own to Jayadevar isnt it. Thus Krishnan is utimately responsible for this poem. Jayadevar thinks he has to write this but then he puts the pen down and decides against it. Thus he does many times not getting courage enough to write it. He never thought of Radha as a separate sthree rather as a Bhaktha, Gopikai and thats Bhaktars anyway. For all the Bhakthars Krishnan respect for their Bhakthi is also true is it not. But Jayadevar has a little hesitation. He did not want to write this sentence, everyone will sing this poem then and for that reason alone we need to hide it. Jayadevar thinking so decided that in this part, "I need to modify with some other phrase". Thinking thus, he went to perform his Thaila Snanam (oil bath). Padmavathi was then alone in the house and she heard her name being called "Padma" and as she turned to see, she saw that he has come back. She asked, 'Why did you come. Jayadevar said,' I suddenly remembered a sentence, immediately I wanted to wite otherwise I will forget it. Thats why i came so early. Please bring that palm leaf. He took the leaf and then in his beautiful handwriting started to write the part he did not want to write initially. Then returning the palm leaf to padma and asking her to keep it back, he left.
Now after Jayadevar has completed his snanams and anushtanams and food, he came to see that what he had not wanted to write had been written. He was shocked to see this. He asked Padmavathi, 'Who wrote this? Why? What I did not want to write, somebody has written that'. Padmavathi asked, 'Did you tell your kathai to anyone else or me'. Jayadevar said, 'No! this should not be said, its parama rahasyam. So I had kept it in my heart only.' Then Padma replied, 'Whoever was in your heart only would have written this then'. The moment he realized what Padma was saying and came to know this, tears came over his eyes. Bhagavan has accepted his words for that sentence. Not only that the entire Gita Govindam was accepted. He looked at Padmavathi, '
---- Will transcribe the rest soon.....
In the end of Part 2 also Sri Sri Anna says that Gita Govinda Kavyam mahimai was told in a dream by the Lord himself to the girl who received the ring (everyone will know this story) when she sang the Ashtapathi as the lord was very happy with the girl who sang the ashtapathis. Jayadevar then asks the king that he wants to perform marriage between his disciple and the girl who received the ring and mentions that their job will be to sing the ashtapathis. The Ashtapathis are sung in Badrikashramam, Tiruvananthapuram, Guruvayur, Jaganathan (Need no telling). In Tamil Nadu in every village ashtapathis are sung and also in each and every radha kalayanams being performed. How much Radha Kalyanams performed by so many bhakthas in Tamil Nadu, needless to say its enormous. Such a melodious paddathi (although jayadevar sang them), it was brought as the treasure to the bhagavathas only by Marudanallur sadguru swamigal, he was the one who gave us the Gita Govindam. Gita Govindam if sang by itself is a Radha Kalyanam. There is no need to perform a Kalyanamam itself as a kriya. Its being done still due to the bhagavathars desire, even if its done as a Bhagavathar Sampradayam, Gita Govindam singing itself is a Radha Kalyanam according to Paranur Mahatma Sri Sri Krishna Premi Anna. Radha Kalyanam itself is a loka kalyanam, mangalam for everyone, this perumai is Jayadevars Perumai.
--- PART 2 to be Transcribed Soon --- Will do so soon as soon as I get a Chance
