Yadi Bilasakalasu Kutuhalam

    Madhura Komalakanta Padabalim

                                                 Srunutada Jayadev Saraswatim

   That means reading and listening Geetagovinda is so heart touching that if you remember Hari, can get nectar as a devotee or can feel Romance, having a curiosity for learning luxurious art of education.  Geetagovinda, written by great Oriya Poet Sri Jayadev was composed in simple Sanskrit language including vernacular idioms which was easily understand for common people. It was taken as dance-drama including many works of dramatized prose dealing with the theme of love between Radha and Krishna. It concentrates on Krishna's love with Radha in an enchanting spring. The Geetagovinda is expressed as a cycle of songs with classical ornamentation. The poem describes the amorous dalliances of Radha-Krishna with excellent ideational subtleties and superb stylistic elegance which have become a perennial source of inspiration to the thinkers devotees, painters, musicians and poets.  Practically  it has been accepted as  a Veda in the field of performing art, visual art and creative compositions.

   Sri Jayadev’s Geetagovinda is a great poetry in Indian Literature. The whole song  comprises twelve Sargas or Cantos containing 24 Prabandhas or Songs  and 72 verses which is rhythmic and perfectly lyrical to sing. 22 Prabandhas contain eight stanzas each which are called "astapadi". It was written in the period of rise of regional literatures in ancient India. From the beginning of the Christian era to the end of the 10^th Century, the poets like Bhasa, Kalidas, Asvaghose, Bharavi, Bhartrihari, Bhavabhuti, Banabhata, Magha, Sriharsa and others had fueled the lamp of Sanskrit poetry and kept it glowing. These poets raised the flame of golden lamp of Sanskrit literature to great heights and extended the area of illumination all around and Sri Jayadev‘s Geeta Govinda was the closing song of that era which consists of soul stirring & heart penetrating lyrics. After reading the English translation of Geetagovinda, the German Poet Goethe was so impressed that he translated Geeta Govinda in German Language as it engendered feelings of wonder in him. He compared Geetagovinda with “Meghadutam” by Mahakabi Kalidas.       

Philosophy of Geetagovinda

Sri Jayadev, the great spiritual poet of this soil has mentioned in his famous Gita Govinda :

“Hariravimani rajaniridani miyamapijativiram

Kurumamavachanam sattvara rachanam puraya madhuripukaman”

                                                                                    (Gita Govinda- 11-7)

It is Krushna who is Madhuripu. His will is the only truth. The jiva or soul should exert himself heart and soul to fit into His divine will. One who is deeply engrossed in the material comforts of the world can hardly think of God. So the jiva or soul should proceed cautiously on the path of spiritual discipline and sing and hear the glorious lila or activities of God with a purified heart free from worldliness and then obtain His grace.

Love is supernatural and God is love incarnate and the only source of Divine joy. This world has been designed by God, as a universal school of Love. Love is divinely bestowed upon man. Out of ignorance the jiva or soul cannot realize that feelings of Love are the gifts of God which lead him to the kingdom of heaven. Love is the essence of His creation. The Lord of Purusottama appears as the universe with the nectar of divine love and his loving manifestation in every object of this phenomenal world turns it to a paradise.

God exists both within and without the animate world. The primary stage of Divine Love is bhakti or intensive yearning and restlessness for God which ultimately leads the jiva to the bosom of god. By His will this universe is ocean of love. This instinct of Love which God has bestowed on his creation should be fully utilized by the jiva to reach the summit of god-realization and enjoy perpetual Love. The aspirant who is mad for this Divine Love shall consider the material world as vile dust polluted with the most disagreeable stuff. In order to achieve the God in himself one should practice Karmayoga, Jnanayoga and Bhaktiyoga. For this, many saints and sages in the past had to undergo most severe yogic penance and austerities to be blessed with Love of God. It is a pity that some others do not have the rudimentary conception of God and the Divine Love. They equate love with carnal desire. God has created this world for His lila. As long as there is the creation this continuous flow of Divine Love will enliven the heart of every living being wherein the seed of love shall germinate.

Unless the desires of the mind are completely annihilated, love God never be acquired. Spiritual austerity is the only way to put a stop to the desires of the mind. Desire less ness leads to acquisition of Love of God which in course of time is transformed to mahabhava that merges the soul with the Supreme Self or Brahma. The Gopis had gained this desire less ness of mind through varied modes of spiritual discipline and penance as a result of which they were blessed with co-union with God. It is very difficult to discriminate between one’s desire and the will of God without purification of heart. Many believe their own desires to be those of the Lord which only exposes their foolishness. One can hope to realize the will of god if he reaches the level of the Gopis in the plane of selfless love for God and to enjoy the bliss of god’s grace even without any spiritual penance. This is the real samadhi which is possible only due to passionate and intense love for God.

The Rasalila of God marks the climax of Divine Love. It is this love which has been transformed to ananda or eternal bliss. To love God and His creation is what is known as prema or Divine Love. Attachment to sensual objects of this material world is Kama or lust whereas attachment to God is termed as Love. Kama or lust leads the jiva to darkness of ignorance whereas love for God shines out like the sun dispelling darkness. In the scriptures Madana is considered to be the god of Love. As he originates from mind, he is known as Manasija. Mind is always fickle which sways between real and unreal tendencies. In the ordinary sense kama or lust that is physical intercourse and real love as some say cannot be conceived separately in this world. Instead of curbing Madana, the God of Love, his blessings are to be invoked for diverting the lust towards inter-communion with God to attain perfection in life. It is Rasalila itself which is Love incarnate free from any sexual tendency. This represents the very soul of the Bhagavata and the Vedanta.

The essence and the principles underlying the conception of Radha and Krushna should be studied first before coming to the lila itself. In order to understand and assimilate the lila of Radha and Krushna as described in the Gita Govinda, one should first try to conceive at heart the philosophy of life in the context of self and the supreme self and the connective link in between. It is difficult to follow the importance of the lila without a purified heart. So this is known as Achintya Bhedabheda.

SriKrushna who is omnipotent and omnipresent is the sole guide of this creation. His peerless blue-colored body resembling the black clouds embodies numberless stars and planets which are governed by His direction. Can any body expect to conceive Him or win Him who is so powerful? Yes, He can be conceived and won over only by love or selfless and passionate yearing for Him. Unlike the sages who underwent great spiritual penance and physical privations, a devotee can attract Him by virtue of intensity of bhava or mahabhava termed as prema, the highest spiritual stage. Radha, the primal power or the Adyasakti is the most perfect illustration of such selfless intense love for her beloved SriKrushna. Brahma is nirguna and formless. But he has the longing to taste his own bliss, through this creation which is known as love. He incarnates himself in the world to enjoy the love and devotion of his devotees. Prakrti in form of Radha is able to quench his thirst for infinite and selfless love.

On reaching the highest stage of knowledge one enters into the kingdom of bhakti which intensifies to bhava, the inner feelings of the heart. Every atom of the creation is changed with love of God. A spark of consciousness descends form God which constituted the soul. The formless God is to be mediated in the Lotus of the heart of a devotee with intensified feelings of bhava. It is difficult for the average man to conceive at heart the formless God without a concrete shape to meditate upon which serves as a medium and this leads to image worship of God. In the process of spiritual meditation, an aspirant has to proceeds from the gross to the subtle by the help of an image of God in a form according to his own fancy and liking.

Without this, meditation becomes very difficult. This is the basis of Idol or Image worship adopted by the Hindus. The Gopis belong to the kingdom of Love who won the Love of God through passionate yearning and restlessness and Radha was the central figure among them and also the most glorifying illustration of this sort of love for God. By entertaining at heart the image and spirit of Radha, the aspirant can achieve success and realize God.

In the Upanishads the Bliss of God is considered to be the Brahma Itself. The universe owes its creation and destruction to fulfillment of this bliss of God. It is this bliss of God or Brahma which was incarnated as Nandanandana (son of Nanda) SriKrushna. The most arduous penance made by the sages in the dense forest culminated in the Vrindavan Lila of God. The yogis and the sages eagerly waiting for ages together for their union with that heavenly form of peerless beauty, plunged at last in the ocean of Nitya Lila at Vrindavan and obtained blissful contentment by testing the nectar thereof. The sakti which creates this Nitya Lila of God is his pleasing counterpart known as Alhadini Sakti or Radha. One has to shelter himself under a true preceptor without which it is not possible to obtain the grace of Radha, the blissful power and the embodiment of mahabhava, the most intensified form of Bhakti.

The jiva cannot taste the divine love of vrindavan Lila without enkinding at heart the spirit of Radha. This intense love for god is possible only when the jiva is free form the worldly attachments. In the heart of the emancipated should the formless Divine Love blossoms and it is considered to be Vrindavan. The pleasing counterpart Radha is the goddess of Vrindavan. The jiva eagers to obtain its spirit, runs after Radha who is always one eternal quest for her beloved Madhava. There is blissful union of Radha and Madhava after pangs of separation. This process of hid and seek between the lover and the beloved shall continue as long as the creation exists.

To realize the God-consciousness it is necessary to purify the heart. For this the aspirant should surrender his heart and soul at the lotus feet of God. Purusa, the beloved of Pakrti is the object of love and devotion of an aspirant. The principle of purusottama of Sri Aurobindo is based on this. After reaching the highest stage of spiritual enlightenment, the jiva merges with brahma and becomes soham according to Advaita Philosophy. It is only by selfless love and intense yearning at heart that a devotee can have realization of God. One may enter to rigid and severe Yogic discipline and penance for obtaining grace of God, but it is easier to realize Him by virtue of pure and stainless love. A true devotee always thinks of God, weeps for him and his hairs stand at the end, the moment he utters or hears the name of God. By considering God to be his own, the aspirant feels a divine impulse in his heart and sees in it the reflection of blissful communion of jiva and Brahma. God resides in the heart of the devotee in the nitya Lila place which is Vrindavan. Entering into the kingdom of love and devotion the jiva shall merge into perpetual bliss and reach the climax of Divine love. Intense love for God is based on Bhava or innermost feelings of the heart which gains intensity and terms into mahabhava. Radha was the personification of mahabhava. So the ultimate goal of a devotee is to cultivate and assimilate the spirit of Radha for the sake of achieving the god-head.

There is manifestation of the power of god in the minutest particles of the world and the animal world. That is why the whole creation appears beautiful. An elastic mind with child like simplicity is required to appreciate and realize this heavenly beauty.

In the Kaliyuga, the path of Bhakti has been recommended by the sages as the easiest means to realize God. But this has been pictured in such a way that an average man cannot comprehend it. The human society has in course of the evolutionary process reached the present stage of its development. The mysterious secrets underlying the spiritual sphere shall be unfolded and people will realize their greatness in promoting religious development.

The heavenly saints of God in their mission to enlighten mankind on the spiritual path and to preach their gospels on the divinity of the creation appear in human society in shape of incarnations of God or holy preceptors to acquaint mankind with the mysterious and playful activities of the creation of God and enkindle the light of God in the heart of purified liberated soul thus fulfilling their mission. They do not aim at emancipation of their own souls by spiritual discipline, but their chief mission is to bring about a super-human transformation of the world. The power of the soul is to be rejuvenated and this awakening of the soul shall in communion with the supreme self be greatest achievement of a spiritual aspirant. This spiritual odor shall spread from the individual to the society taking refuge in the lotus feet of the Lord and the society shall be that of the Yogis or spiritual aspirants. Jayadev was one of such heavenly saints with a mission. It was a different mission- not to preach and sermonize, but to teach and entertain. It was entertainment with a divine purpose of God-realization.