Part 1 – Prema Ras
Jagadguru Shri Kripaluji Maharaj
has created an ocean of blissful keertans
for His devotees to drown in. Every keertan in its simple words describes
the true nature of devotion to God and our eternal relation with Him. Though all the keertans are very special, this particular chanting called ‘jo piya
ruchi mahaṁ ruchi rākhē’ is the
most incredible from a philosophic point of view. Sage Narad had described the
philosophy of Bhakti in 84 sutras
(aphorisms) in his writing, ‘Narad
Bhakti Darshan’. However, what Devarishi
Narad Muni could not say in 84 aphorisms, Kripaluji Maharaj has very effortlessly
put in a few lines. So if spiritual
aspirants understand the divine meaning of this keertan, there is nothing that remains to be understood on the
topic of Divine Love.
Let us understand the very first line of the keertan:
jo piya
ruchi mahaṁ ruchi rākhē, prēma rasa soī chakhē rē
The
Bliss of Divine Love is tasted by the one who keeps his or her desire in the
desire of the Beloved.
Here, Shree Maharajji explains how we can get ‘Prem Ras’. You may have noticed that
this word ‘Ras’ figures repeatedly in Shree Maharaj Ji’s writings. His primary book on philosophy is ‘Prem Ras Siddhant’. His primary keertan book is ‘Prem Ras
Madira’. Apart from that, he has
written ‘Braj Ras Madhuri’, ‘Yugal Ras’, ‘Saras Ras’, etc.
So
now the question arises, what is this ‘Ras’?
To
relish bliss – that is ‘Ras’. It is the essence of Happiness.
To understand the whole spectrum of this word
‘ras’ let us start off with the example of
‘Rasgulla’. This Rasgulla is a favorite Indian sweet,
because it gives the person eating it, the experience of ‘Ras’. If the same Rasgulla is made in milk, the Ras becomes greater. It becomes Rasmalai. If you add some cardamom, the
Ras increases further and then throw in some saffron on top, the Ras increases
even further.
In the material realm, all the Rasas can be
divided into 3 categories. One is Tamasic Ras, the other is Rajasic Ras and the third is Sattvic Ras. In other words: the Ras of the mode of
ignorance, the Ras of the mode of passion, and the Ras of the mode of goodness.
The entire material creation is operating under the influence of these three
modes and the individual souls are seeking these Rasas.
Let us take an example to better understand
the meaning of Tamasic Ras. Supposing somebody irritated you or caused harm, a
consequence of which you experienced the emotion of anger. Now by giving vent to your anger, you got ras. So you tell your friend, “That
fellow was troubling me so much. I taught him a lesson that he will remember
for life”. In giving vent to that anger, there was an experience of ras. That is exactly the reason why people get
angry at each other, they are experiencing Tamasic
Ras. This Ras is highly destructive to the soul as it throws the person into
deep darkness.
A higher ras
is the Rajasic Ras of the mode of
passion. This is the ras we get when the senses come in
contact with their objects. For example,
when your tongue comes in contact with a sweet ‘Jalebi’ you experience the Rajasic Ras. But even this ras is not satisfying to us; rather it is very disturbing to the
mind. Because first, one creates a
desire with the senses, and when the object is received, the desire goes away.
So to put the logic in very simple words, the experience of ras is in the release of the desire. Let’s say you’re getting an itch somewhere and
it is irritating you. You scratch it and
say, “Ah, what a relief.” You have released the pain, but that is not the
solution because that itch is going to come back. Then you scratch again, and
then it comes back again, and then you scratch again. This is the Rajasic Ras that you get by enjoying the
objects of the world.
Highest amongst the 3 material rasas is the Sattvic Ras of the mode of goodness,
when the mind becomes peaceful, calm, and serene. This Sattvic Ras is experienced in serving others, in acquiring
knowledge, in practicing compassion, goodness, and kindness. This is elevating
to the soul, but not yet liberating. Sattvic
Ras is much higher than the Rajasic
and Tamasic Rasas. But even Sattvic
Ras cannot satisfy the soul, because the soul is Divine and is looking for
the Divine Experience, or the Ras of God.
So what really is this Divine Ras that we
divine souls are searching for?
Divine
Ras is beyond the three rasas of
material nature. Its first specialty is that it is infinite in extent.
Secondly, once received, it will always remain – unlike the hangover that one gets in the morning
after drinking the previous night.
The Rig Veda states:
tad
vishno paramam padam, sadā pashyanti surayā (1.22.20)
That Divine Ras, once
attained, will remain forever and henceforth there will never be any
discontentment.
But there are many categories and varieties of
Rasas even in the Divine realm. There
is the bliss of the formless aspect of God (Nirakar
Brahm), which is called Brahmanand.
It is so amazing that great kings
renounced their whole families, rejected their entire kingdoms like a piece of
straw and sat in the forest to experience Brahmanand.
However even beyond the bliss of Brahmanand is the bliss of the Personal
Form of God, which is infinite times greater than the bliss of the Formless.
That is why the Saint Tulsidas says:
soi sukha lavalēsa, jinha bāraka sapanēhũ lahēu
tē nahiṃ ganahiṃ khagēsa, brahmasukhahi sajjana sumati
(Ramcharitmanas)
If a person experiences
even one drop of the Bliss of the Personal Form of God (Prem Ras), he will get detached from Brahmanand itself.
So what do we talk about the ephemeral
material bliss like the ‘Rasgulla-anand’?
There is absolutely no comparison. The
Bhagavatam gives us examples of such Gyanis,
who were situated at the platform where they were relishing the Bliss of Brahmanand. Yet when they had the experience of Premanand, they naturally got detached
from Brahmanand and got attracted to
the Personal Form. We have often heard the example of Shukadev Paramhans in
this regard, who worshipped the Formless aspect of God before he heard the
Bhagvatam. Though he was relishing the bliss of the Formless, the moment he
heard a verse from the Bhagvatam describing the beauty of the Personal Divine
Form of Shree Krishna, there was no question of turning back.
What happened with Shukadev Paramhans is
similar to placing a hot Gulab Jamun
in front of a man who was only relishing the bliss of jaggery. The bliss of sweet Gulab jamun is much more than the bliss received from jaggery which
is a crude form of molasses. Hence detachment occurs automatically from the
lesser bliss.
In that Divine Love Bliss, there are other
categories that will be described further, but Kripaluji Maharaj here in the keertan is talking about that Prem Ras, which is the Highest Ras. And
Shree Krishna is the biggest Rasik.
He is called Rasik Shiromani or the
crest jewel of Rasiks. He is
considered Rasik in two ways: rasayatē
iti rasaha, rasyatē iti rasaha. He grants Ras to the devotees, and He
Himself experiences Ras from His devotees. So in both ways He is Rasik which is just like Radha Ji.
In fact the word Radha also has two meanings:
1) She, who worships Krishna, the foremost worshipper of
Krishna is Radha.
2) She, who is worshipped by Krishna Himself.
krishnēna
āradhyatē, iti rādha
The One whom Krishna worships – that is Radha
(Radhikopanishad, Rig Veda)
But if you become a little philosophical, you
will wonder, “Why does God need Ras from us, puny insignificant souls?” Shree
Krishna is called ‘Atmaram’ which
means that personality who is complete in Himself. He has no need for anything
external. Then, why should that Shree Krishna become Gopiram and Goparam – do Leelas with the Gopis and the Gopas to
relish Ras from them?
Understand
this; the Ras that Shree Krishna gets from His own Self is called ‘Swarūpanand’ – the Bliss of His own
Personality. And the Bliss that He
grants His Devotees, who engage in His devotion, is called ‘Swarūpshaktyanand’ – the Bliss of His
Swarūp Shakti, or His Yogamaya energy.
So, He Himself
experiences ‘Swarūpanand’, but to His
Devotees He grants ‘Swarūpshaktyanand’.
That Swarūpshaktyanand
is sweeter than His own Bliss. In other
words He grants His Devotees a higher level of Bliss. And then He sits inside the Devotee, and
relishes that Bliss from within the Devotee.
Since the Bliss that He gets from
His Devotees is higher than His own Bliss, He becomes a slave of His devotees.
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